Jab Mein Chota Bacha Tha ...

Jab Mein Chota Bacha Tha ...



Nangu pungu nahata tha...



Dandi Dance karta tha...



Style mein Pose deta tha...



Jhad pe chada hua rehata tha... (abhi bhi thoda hoon ;)

Rising every time we fall

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
-- Confucius

The Serenity Prayer

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

-- by Reinhold Niebuhr

MY GOD IS DIFFERENT THAN YOUR GOD

Don’t call me atheist, I do believe in god. But the only difference is that my god is different than your god.

“No!!!!!!!!!!!” some soul urged, “There is only one god, there are many religion, but one god”. I differ from this convention, that’s why my god is different than your god.

So, “What’s the difference?” cried a soul. Read on……

1. My god does not ask me to pray to him.
2. My god will not get angry if I do not visit the temple, in his honor, daily.
3. My god will not complain if I do not remember him in good times.
4. My god never gives preference to any animal or phenomenon over humans.
5. My god is there for me always, unconditionally.
6. My god loves me always, unconditionally.
7. My god never asks anything in return, no sacrifices.
8. I can always count on my god.
9. My god says “Seek and you shall find, ask and it shall be given, knock and it shall be opened for you”
10. My god never wants me to be unhappy, even for good reasons.
11. My god never asks me to be always rational.
12. My god did not create this “universe”, he does not take credit for any part of it.
13. My god is not does not say “Right” or “Wrong”, he says “People” and “Circumstances”.
14. I owe nothing to my god and he owes nothing in return.
15. My god changes his opinions, and attitudes, he grows with me.

And these are my beliefs, which can change if I find more empowering ones.

-- Jigar Gosar.

Ruby: Can a ruby statement break into multiple lines?

Yes,
A statement break into mutliple lines if it is not complete,
i.e. "if the last token on a line is an operator or comma".
But you can also use \ as the last character on the line, to
continue on the next line.

a = 2 +
3

a = 2 + 3

are both equivalent to a=2+3

The Screen IS the Application

The Screen IS the Application and How to Design Your Rail Application. These articles have a very practical approach to building user-oriented-applications , especially web-applications

sketch the most important pieces-> db -> model, testcases -> html
sketch the second most important -> db -> model, testcases -> html
etc.

Currently I am skipping the "TestCases" part, but sooner or later I will have to start. TestCases becomes more and more crucial for scripting languages because they don't have the advantage of compiler . And without TestCases, refactoring even a medium sized project(scripting language) is a potential suicide.

Alias for yahoo id................hurry

You can pickup an alias for you existing Yahoo mail id with “dot” in it.for eg. mine is jigar.gosar@yahoo.co.in

go go go

Riders on the storm

Riders on the storm
Into this house we’re born
Into this world we’re thrown
Like a dog without a bone
An actor out on loan
Riders on the storm

lyrics of the song "Riders on the storm"

Hyper-enthusiasts & Anti-anti-hype

Just finished reading following articles. Very interesting read indeed. Don't miss it if your are anywhere near Ruby or Python.

* David Heinemeir: quoting Bruce Eckel: Ruby is bad Python, but good Perl
* Bruce Eckel: The departure of the hyper-enthusiasts
* Steve Yegge: A little anti-anti-hype

Running, The Destination in itself

I see no Goal,
I see no Destination.
Road, I see
And running, I like.

Wanted to run, always,
Running, I truly enjoy.
Not, running away,
I am now on the run.

But I cant be all running,
Will stop for chores, I care.
But only when the guilt,
Is too large to bear.

Not running, I am
To the destination.
On the Run, I am,
Running the Destination.

--jigar.g

Firefox Extension: Dictionary Tooltip

Quick Description:
Press ctrl+shift+D (or) double-click (or) right-click after selecting a word to see its meaning. This extension is ideal for those who doesn't like to switch their window to see the meaning of a word.

Now this is definately better than my bookmarklets

go get it.

Firefox: BugMeNot plugin

Bypass compulsory web registration via Firefox’s right-click context menu (get this plugin here). What more can one ask for?

go get it.

Bookmarklet: Google Define

Just Follow these Quick And Easy steps:

1. Google Define: <--- drag this link to Bookmarks Toolbar.
   
2. Now select any word and click on the bookmarklet.
   
3. Pat on your back, now you know the precise meaning of another word.
   
4. Use back button to return to your previous page.
   

Q: What is it?
A: Use this bookmarklet to quickly and effortlessly lookup meanings of words while reading any article online. Then immediately return to article by pressing Backspace/Back button.

If you are fan of dictionary.com or wikipedia the here is something for you too:

1. dictionary.com
   
2. thesaurus.com
   
3. Wikipedia.org

Note: Currently, when bookmarklet is clicked with nothing selected, an empty search is still performed. To handle this case I'll add javascript to ask for word, in couple of days.

Quick Access: Control Panel Shortcuts

Q. How to quickly access Mouse, KeyBoard, System Properties? What about "Add/Remove Program"?
A. Just Press Ctrl+R (Run Command) and type any of the following commands:

Command	Function
access.cpl	Accessibility controls
appwiz.cpl	Add/Remove Programs
desk.cpl	Display properties
inetcpl.cpl	Configure Internet Explorer and Internet properties
main.cpl	Mouse properties and settings
main.cpl,@1	Keyboard properties
mmsys.cpl	Sounds and Audio
ncpa.cpl	Network Connections
nusrmgr.cpl	User accounts
powercfg.cpl	Power configuration

Also, as Rushabh Shah pointed out, use WinKey+Pause/Break to access "System Properties".

There's lots more to accessing ControlPanel. Find more information at vlaurie.com.

The Genius of the Hole

"The genius of the hole: no matter how much time you spend climbing out, you can still fall back down in an instant."

one of my favourite quote form MaxPayne 2

Thunderbird Tip

Q: Can i group mails according to subject in thunderbird?
A: yes, just click once on subject header and press g ;)

Firefox: Quick searches and keywords

Its one of the most useful and rarely used feature of Firefox. Try this, in Firefox, key up to the location bar (Windows: Alt-D, Mac: Cmd-L), type dict eschew and hit Enter. You’ll be automagically transported to the Dictionary.com definition of “eschew” (to avoid, shun). That’s a Quick search in action.

To learn more visit lifehacker, or wikibooks.

Movie: Memento

My Rating: 9.5/10
Viewed on: 14th Dec 2005 (on pc)
Hardcore. One of the Best Movies I have ever seen. Somebody has already said the rest.
Excerpts form http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/memento.html

Every so often, a movie that challenges what we consider a movie to be comes along. Such movies are an intense experience...

Memento demands a lot from the audience. Being passive means you end up missing an important part of the experience of watching a film like this. The movie is told backwards, to illustrate the plight of the protagonist, Leonard (Guy Pearce), who lacks short-term memory. This condition was caused during an attack where (according to him) his wife was killed and his brain was damaged. Since Leonard remembers all the events that occurred before he was attacked, he is on a quest to avenge his wife's death...

Director Christopher Nolan has made a memorable film in Memento, which serves as a metaphor for forgetting everything we hold dear when humans embark on a quest and want to succeed at any cost. Don't miss this film...

Movie: Apaharan

My Rating: 7/10
Viewed on: 11th Dec 2005
Prakash Jha's harsh and brutal political commentary on the state of anarchy a.k.a Bihar. Another Ganga Jal type movie. Ajay Devgan's acting was brilliant as usual. And Bipasha looks decent for a change and for good.

Strokeit: The Killer App

Strokeit the one of the best software out there second only to keynotes. I have been using it for about 3 years for now. It has passed the test of time with flying colours.

So what is StrokeIt?
StrokeIt is an advanced mouse gesture recognition engine and command processor. What is a mouse gesture? Mouse gestures are simple symbols that you "draw" on your screen using your mouse. When you perform a mouse gesture that StrokeIt can recognize, it will perform the "action" associated with that gesture. In short, it's a nifty little program that lets you easily control programs by drawing symbols with your mouse.

The installer is around 120k. Best of all its free for personal use. So what are you waiting for, go get it.

Looking Smart at "Sun Moon And Potatoes"

Looking Smart at "Sun Moon And Potatoes"
Originally uploaded by Jigar Gosar.

Food is absolutely delicious at "Sun Moon And Potatoes" in Malad. Next time I'll get flicks of the amazing food there, instead of mine ;)

Tanishq Blooper - How embarrassing?

At my last visit to R-mall Mulund, I came across a Tanishq showroom. The outer display window had a monitor (obviously attached to computer). It was supposed to display a slideshow/presentation of the jewellery, instead it was asking "To Fix the file size of C:BOOTLOG.PRV?"

First step towards Abstinence and Self-Control

As of this moment, I have decided to abstain my self from all kinds of flavored soda, including but not limited to, Pepsi, Coke, fanta, Sprite. So the only soda allowed is "fresh lime soda". And this public commitment will strengthen my resolve even further.

Now coming to the almighty question, Why ever do it? I don't really know for sure, but exercising abstinence and self-control is very empowering. May be its about "Having less and being more". May be its beginning of a new way of life, or philosophy. Whatever the reason, it feels great for sure.

Movie: Home Delivery

My Rating: -1/10 (yes that's negative)
Viewed on: 2nd Dec 2005 (just seen another bore yesterday)
"Pathologically Pathetic". First 15-20 minutes fooled me into thinking, its a good movie. Total waste of time and money. Although, Ayesha Takia looked good. But can please someone tell her she does not need any padding to look sexy.

Movie: Deewane Huye Paagal

My Rating: 6/10
Viewed on: 1st Dec 2005
Very good comedy by Akshay Kumar and Paresh Raval, in small doses. Rest of the movie is bore. First half is better than second. It does not even come near Awara Paagal Deewana. Story is a complete rip-off of "Something About Marry".

I was searching for file synchronizing solution across multiple PC's and look what I found

I needed to access my keynote file from home as well as office. So I started looking for windows clone of popular rsync utility. Didn't find anything I like. One morning I has a Eureka moment and decided to install Subversion on my vps. After painful installation(some bash scripts were in DOS file format instead of UNIX, I wonder why) and spending almost a day Subversion was all set. Then it struck me to that I should have tried searching on techsupportalert. And look what I hit, another jackpot, https://www.foldershare.com/.

"Keep important files at your fingertips - anywhere. All file changes are automatically synchronized between linked computers, so you are always accessing the latest documents, photos, and files"

The interesting part about it is that Microsoft has recently acquired FolderShare, and is currently providing the service free of cost. A search on Google News reveals

"Just days after outlining its new software-based services strategy, Microsoft announced the acquisition of yet another offering to add to its growing portfolio of on-line services. Microsoft will hope to use FolderShare, a file-synchronization technology provider, to help it eclipse Sun's Open Office initiative and Google's own ambitious plans in this very same area."

"Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said the acquisition will help it bolster its new strategy of providing more software-based services over the Internet, an initiative called Windows Live that was announced earlier this week."

makes me go hummmm.

The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities

I usually try out all software in given category, before settling with one. But as fun as it is, its also very time consuming, so I usually consult download.com for user reviews of all the contenders. Popular download section also helps a lot. But this time I really hit jackpot, this guy has researched best available freeware utilities, in all of commonly used software categories. So if you are looking for Best Free Anti-Virus Software, Best Free Adware/Spyware/Scumware Remover or Best Free Anonymous Surfing Service, look no further. The 46 Best-ever Freeware Utilities is the place to go. Also if you are looking for a software for a particular need then do google site search on techsupportalert.com
e.x. site:http://www.techsupportalert.com thesaurus

GoGoGo

Personal Content Management with Keynote

Keynote, an extraordinary tool for content management, one I was searching for very long. Everybody who uses dozens of text files should try using it, I assure you , you wont turn back.

Previously I used editplus for storing all kind of information in text files. The problem was managing these files. Every time I create a file I have to think of a name and place before I can be assured its saved on disk. Also each of these files had multiple sections, for e.g. copypaste.txt had sections like urls, scripts, logins. Finding information, as no of lines in file grow, becomes tedious.

Then Kenote came to the rescue. Keynote is a flexible, multi-featured tabbed notebook. The basic idea in KeyNote is that you can have many separate notes within a single file. It's always acessible with a single keypress (ctrl+shift+F12), even if you work in another application. This means that you do not need to open several files - for most purposes it is enough to create only one file and several notes inside it. With the addition of the tree-type notes, you now have a three-dimensional notebook: many notes within one file and a multi-level, nested pages within a single note. How cool is that ? Huh.

External files can be attached to a node, so you can view/edit your old text files in keynotes itself. Has keyboard shortcut for ever operation and cool keyboard navigation features.

There are only two things missing in keynotes 1. RegEx search and editplus style wordwrap (it has notepad style wordwrap.) Also project is no longer under development.

Nevertheless, I am a happy keynotes user. Now all I need is a notebook pc, so I can carry keynote with me where ever I go. Did I mention its opensource and free? Oh, it is :)
download it directly from here.
Go Go Go.

A Wonderful Voyage - Part 2

So I had reached Ethical egoism in my last voyage.

"Ethical egoism is belief that one ought to do what is in one's own self-interest. What is in one's self-interest may incidentally be detrimental to others, beneficial to others, or neutral in its effect. Ethical egoism is not to be confused with rational egoism, which holds that it is rational to act in one's self-interest, but not that it is ethically imperative."

This page had a single External Link: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Egoism. The word Stanford Encyclopedia made it a must read. Here egoism was defined as:

" Egoism can be a descriptive or a normative position. Psychological egoism, the most famous descriptive position, claims that each person has but one ultimate aim: her own welfare. Normative forms of egoism make claims about what one ought to do, rather than describe what one does do. Ethical egoism claims that it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be morally right that it maximize one's self-interest. Rational egoism claims that it is necessary and sufficient for an action to be rational that it maximize one's self-interest."

I just skimmed the page and the footer had a must-follow link prisoner's dilemma. How could I not resist clicking. But it was a dead link, so I turned again to Wikipedia.

"The classical prisoner's dilemma (PD) is as follows:
Two suspects A, B are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and having separated both prisoners, visit each of them and offer the same deal: if one testifies for the prosecution (turns King's Evidence) against the other and the other remains silent, the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence and the betrayer goes free. If both stay silent, the police can only give both prisoners 6 months for a minor charge. If both betray each other, they receive a 2-year sentence each."

Now this some juicy stuff. It had Game theory written all over it. I had come across this word few months back (thanks to Sandeep), but did not dwell much on it.

"Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics that studies strategic situations where players choose different actions in an attempt to maximize their returns"

"In addition to its academic interest, game theory has received some attention in popular culture. An important figure in game theory, John Nash was the subject of a 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind. Several game shows have adopted game theoretic situations, including the game show Friend or Foe.[1]"

Now it is added to my to read list ;)

Also before I end this voyage here a link to PDF document, I found on prisoner's dilemma page.

"A good introduction to game theory with a terse and accurate treatment of the prisoner's dilemma complete with a glossary of defined terms."

Astalavista.
May the force be with you ;)

A Wonderful Voyage - Part 1

Long back I had some (actually lots) ambiguity/curiosity regarding the difference in meaning of words Morality and Ethics. I did talk on this with some people (which I cannot recall now).
So today I decided to do some goggling on "ethics vs moral" . I was slightly surprised at number of direct results I found. I checked these results:

• deeperwants.com
• triberecords.net
• randomhouse.com
• humanists.net

It was an insightful read I found some really interesting examples differentiating the two.

1: "One of the Bible's teachings is that parents should kill unobedient sons or that prostitutes or even women who wear mixed fabrics should be stoned to death. Such acts were at one time considered moral and really for those who adhere to a literal interpretation and inerrancy of the Bible should be considered moral today. However, we would be hard pressed to find anyone in our present day culture espousing such behavior as ethical."
2: "So, as an example, although within our society it is commonly held that murder is immoral within the Mafia this deed would not only be ethical but, in the eyes of the group, necessary."

But still I did not get an single authoritative answer, that would satisfy me. So my next stop was Wikipedia. Here again I was surprised as I did not find any page directly discussing this topic. So I turned to searching word Ethics. The first paragraph said:

"Ethics is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong."

This rekindled my quest for learning philosophy and I just wanted to click on each of the four links and start reading. But I controlled my curiosity by saving the links and continued to read on. I came across another tempting word Moral absolutism

"Moral absolutism is the position that there are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged, and that certain actions are right or wrong, regardless of the context of the act. "Absolutism" is often philosophically contrasted with moral relativism, (i.e. situational ethics) which holds that the morality of acts depends on the context of the act"

and here is an appropriate example of Moral absolutism:

"Modern human rights theory is a form of moral absolutism, usually based on the nature of humanity and the essence of human nature. One such theory was constructed by John Rawls in his A Theory of Justice."

So satisfied with the definition I returned to Ethics page. Quickly skimmed through it (its is a long page). And reached the "See also" section which was full of fabulous words like Consequentialism, Objectivist ethics, Situational ethics, Ethical nihilism, Ethical skepticism. But the word that caught my eye was Ethical egoism.

Right then I knew another voyage was about to begin.

A Wonderful Voyage - Part 2

What plant is this?

What plant is this?
Originally uploaded by Jigar Gosar.

Any guesses? No way, I am telling where I found it.

Attack of the killer bottle

Attack of the killer bottle
Originally uploaded by Jigar Gosar.

This is what happens when you go crazy with mobilephone cam. Half the credit goes to Sandeep Shetty.

Mumbai's Railway-Announcers are for REAL

This is from an interesting article from today's Times of India page 9, pointed out to me by Sandeep Shetty.

"Mumbai: When Suresh Vinarkar discusses politics with his friends on the train, everyone listens. They even ignore the announcement at the platform, to hear his views on Natwar Singh. Some stare in awe, others in disbelief, as he holds forth. But when a curious co-passenger asks him about his profession, Suresh stops talking. He simply flashes his identity-card that says "‘Railway Announcer, Dadar Terminus "— he knows by now that "“they wouldn't believe me otherwise". "

this reminds me of a conversation with Arsalan Zaidi, where he commented about the announcer at malad station. "i have been hearing this same voice(of a lady announcer) since past 4 years, it's surely recorded" and i agreed with him ;)

Hummm, what will I blog about?

• Interesting news I come across.
• Photos taken from my phone cam.
• Developer's toolbox - all tools that a developer must pack.
• Object Oriented Programming Principles
• Design Patterns.
• Software, Books, Games.
• And everything else that gives me a WOW effect.

I am wondering whether should I write a separate blog only for technical stuff or maintain a single blog?

For now I am sticking with this single blog, till I figure out "How many blogs do I need?"