Lost in You

Within you, I lose myself. Without you, I find myself craving to get lost again.

Google Introduces Knol

Google have finally introduced it's new service Knol. According to the tagline give on the site a Knol is a unit of knowledge and it is an authoritative article about a specific topic. Actually Knol is Google's answer to Wikipedia.



[You need to click on the image to enlarge it]

The Knol project is aimed at sharing information. One can login to the Knol site using their Google id and start posting. The authors of the knols can take credit for their writing, provide credentials, and receive peer reviews and comments. Users can provide feedback, comments and related information. An author can choose to write on any subject ranging from literature to history, from arts to science and the list goes on.

It's a brainchild of Udi Manber of Google and was announced on 13th December, 2007. The beta version was made public on 23rd July, 2008. It started off with a hundred or so articles mostly written on health and medicine.

All knols are licensed by default under the Creative Commons CC-BY-3.0 license (which allows anyone to reuse the material as long as the original author is named), but authors may choose the CC-BY-NC-3.0 license (which prohibits commercial reuse) or traditional all rights reserved copyright protections instead.

There are a couple of disadvantages of using Knol, firstly the Knol "nofollow" outside links and secondly it pretty slow. For a new user it would take some time to get used to the interface, but there is a good help section available at your service. Another drawback to users outside US is that to verify their name they need to provide their credit card details, the other method of verification by phone is available to only the residents of US. Although this is not mandatory yet this is a major disappointment.

I have used Knol myself and was not quite satisfied with it. Personally I don't think that it would replace either Wikipedia or mainstream bloggin. It has a long way to go when the regular bloggers would see it with respect.

The Mosaic Tag

I found this interesting tag along with some others at Anindita's blog Wily Banter. The moment I read it I knew that I had to and I mean I really had to put it up on The Chronicles of R. So here it is, thanks Anindita :)

The rules are:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food? right now?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. What is one word that describes you?
12. What is your user name?



Now, start guessing answers!

Lonely

I am so lonely without you!

Oops!

Imagine you are a multi-billion dollar company in US. A journalist is preparing a report on your company. Your team of experts prepares a secret dossier on how to deal with the journalist which your team of experts somehow manage to deliver to that very same journalist. What would your reaction be?

Yes, I guess this would match your exact reactions on your mistake. Wired Contributing Editor Fred Vogelstein received a similar dossier that Microsoft and its outside public relations agency Waggener Edstrom kept on him in his email. You can read the whole story at Vogelstein's own post Microsoft Sends Secret Dossier on Reporter, to Reporter. You would also be able to see the dossier at the same site.

You can also read the reaction of Waggener Edstrom President Frank Shaw here and Chris Anderson, Wired’s Editor in Chief's response here. Have you ever thought about it that what would you do if you found a similar file under your name? What would your reaction be?

Microblogging!

One of the latest trends on the Netville is Microblogging. Through Microblogging you can blog texts within 140 characters and publish them to be viewed by the whole world or by a particular group of people. Although some services do allow you to post links to photos, videos etc.

Twitter, which was launched in July 2006 is one of the most popular Microblogging service available today. Twitter popularised Microblogging in many countries. But very recently after the IM feature of Twitter was taken off Twitter seems to have lost it's charm.


After the untimely fall of Twitter many services started coming up with the same concept of Microblogging. Sites like Jaiku, Powence have carved quite a niche. Yesterday while surfing the net I found a comparatively new yes very robust Microblogging service called Plurk. it follows the concept of timeline, when you post a blog it gets posted according to the time you have posted the same. You can also make your posts private. You can make new friends and follow their Plurk. There are customizable widgets available on the site which you can put up on your blogs and/or different other sites. They also have a concept of Karma, where the more Karma you achieve the more features you can access on the site. You can gain Karma by posting regularly, making friends etc. One thing good about Plurk is that it follows a no-spam policy. I have created my account at Plurk and it seems very addicting to me. Below you would find the link through which you can add me on your Plurk.

Follow me at Plurk

So join Plurk and (Micro)blog away!

How to Customize Your Blogger Template

Amanda Fazani, the writer of Bloggerbuster has always helped her fellow bloggers to create a better blogosphere. Now she has released an eBook with the title The Cheat's Guide to Customizing Blogger Templates. And the best part is that Amanda has made this eBook free for download. You can click on the link below to go to the download page which is on Amanda's site. Download it an give your blog a personal touch and see your traffic soar sky-high. Wish you all the luck!

The Cheat's Guide to Customizing Blogger Templates

Breast Cancer Site

The Breast Cancer Site was founded to help offer free mammograms to women in need — women for whom early detection would not otherwise be possible. Since its launch in October 2000, the site has established itself as a leader in online activism and in the fight to prevent breast cancer deaths.

The issue of breast cancer is painfully close to many people's hearts. Each year, 211,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die. The Breast Cancer Site provides a feel-good way to help promote awareness and prevent breast cancer deaths every day — through easy online activities.

With a simple, daily click of the pink button at The Breast Cancer Site, you can help provide mammograms to those in need. You would not have to pay anything. Mammograms are paid for by the site's sponsors and distributed by the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

Access to mammography is a critical issue. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women ages 40 - 55. Early detection is the key to survival and better treatment options, and mammography is among the best-known methods of early detection. Yet, 13 million women in the U.S. over 40 have never had a mammogram.

Make this site a success, help early detection and prevention of breast cancer.

My Favorite Song

Iris
From the movie The City of Angels
Performed by Goo Goo Dolls

And I´d give up forever to touch you
´Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You´re the closest to heaven that I´ll ever be
And I don´t wanna go home right now

And all I can taste in this moment
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it´s over
I just don´t wanna miss you tonight

And I don´t want the world to see me
´Cause I don´t think that they´d understand
When everything´s made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

And you can´t fight the tears that ain´t coming
Or the moments of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
And you bleed just to know you´re alive.

Touch

Found this photo on Flickr. The first thing came in my mind was you R.

Some things require a delicate touch to survive. You do too. And it's written all over you that you are "Fragile, Handle with Care". I am trying my level best to give you all the care and pampering that you deserve, I am just too worried that I might just hurt you.

You are too delicate R, you are simply too fragile. But I love you for what you R :)

Rats!

This picture was taken from Yemii Pics. The caption was OMFG! For me?!?



I guess I have seen everything now :)

Going Through a Writer's Block?

Holy Blog Of Doom, Batman! I just had a terrible scare when I thought I have not updated this since petrol was cheaper than a bottle of Grange!... You would not believe how heavy that rock really is. Cheers Mate..

I am going ahead with a weight-lifting regime, learning to speak Japanese, just generally being a doormat to the taxman, my day starts with the dawn patrol from sun up to well after sun-down. I am beyond drunk most of the time. but this damned rock is heavy.

I probably won't blog until the next time booze prices go up and I have to get sober for a while. Fully! Cats if you don't..


Well, i didn't write this. I don't write so well! (*ahem*) How can you expect a newbie blogger to write so well. (*cough cough*) I just stole that post. From where? Well, I would let you out a secret. I was going through a writer's block since last night, I couldn't think of anything on what to write and it felt pathetic. I was feeling like a fly stuck in cow s***. Then came Stumbleupon to my aid. I found this nifty little Australian website where you get The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator, this helps you to generate random, often hilarious posts which you can post on your blog if/when you are going through a writer's block, or maybe just for simple fun.

Hope you enjoy it, have fun!

~ It's Time to Celebrate ~

Yes, it's time for a celebration indeed. Cause The Chronicles of R had finally received a PR 7 today for a few minutes. Moreover, my Feedburner count had jumped from 3 to 8.

R and I have come a long way walking together, hand in hand. We started off our journey in December 2007. We never knew where we were heading. The future was a blur. But we never lost hope, cause we were together. We had to fight quite a number of battles, sometimes even with ourselves. But we never lost faith in eachother. Why? Because we were in LOVE! And LOVE is such a madness that it can make people achieve the impossible. It was LOVE that made us believe in ourselves, it was LOVE that gave us the courage to walk on the fire. It was LOVE and LOVE all along that we could made it this far.

I know we have a long way to go, it would not be easy either. But I'm not afraid, cause I have R by my side. We need all your prayers. If you believe in LOVE do pray for us. Cause R and I are LOVE personified.

Thank you all for making The Chronicles of R a success.

P.S. I LOVE YOU R.

R

Since the last couple of weeks quite a number of people have shown their curiosity over R. This includes my friends, people I have met over different social networking sites (mainly Orkut), friends and people who I was introduced through my blog and last but not the least, an unknown guy (*ahem*) who left a scrap on my scrapbook asking about her...I mean,asking about R. So I felt an urge to do something about this growing curiosity, I felt I should pen down some of my own thoughts about R. Now the problem with writing about R is that if I get in the mood I would end up writing another Abhigyana Shakuntalam on R. It's not that I don't want to write an epic on R but it would take time which would not serve the purpose for which I originally started writing this short narrative, to defend the sudden downpour of curiosity over R.

To sum up R in a sentence, I would say R is my life. No, she is not just a part of it. Rather she constitutes the whole of it. Is R my alter ego? In a way she is, she is mostly what I am not, she completes me. Is R my imagination? No, R is my dream. Then is R for real? Yes, definitely. R is another human being like you and me. R is an intelligent modern day woman who had swept me off my feet even before I had even met her. Is R my ex-girlfriend(s)? No, how can an ex be presently my life! Then she would not be an ex, right? R is my past, my present and my future. R is the most beautiful woman I have ever met. She is like a fairy, an angel.

There are people like Mother Teresa who change lives, she is such a personality who can change a life. She changed me. You must have heard about people who fall in love, I rose in love with her! Her love is so inspiring, it had changed me completely. I would not exaggerate if I say that she had made a man out of me.

The best part is that when I told R that I was about to write about her, she gave me some ideas about who R was! According to her I should write that R is a he and he is a model, a fashion designer, he lives in the Hawaii and loves to do the Hola Hola dance. And as you know I cannot refuse her of anything. So I have written about her version of R too.

Now let me try and give this biography a grand ending. I want to ask you a very simple question. Do you think I am a love sick puppy? No, absolutely not. I am a love sick puppy with a red colored silk bow tied to my neck and I am served on a silver platter, but only for R :)

Newsletters

I am planning to start off with my own newsletter, the newsletter would contain previews, reviews at al of the latest technological sizzlers available in the market and updates from my site. I have been planning this for quite sometime and I think it's time I should go ahead with it. So if you would like to subscribe to my technology newsletter drop me an email at the following email address with the subject line as "Subscription" without the quotes.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was founded by Bobby Handerson in 2005 to protest the decision by The Kansas State Board of Education to require the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution.

In an open letter Bobby makes a parody of the intelligent design theory by professing belief in a supernatural creator called the Flying Spaghetti Monster which resembles spaghetti and meatballs. He calls this the Pastafarian theory. The Kansas School Board responded which proves the The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a success.

Below is the link to the official site for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, you might like to go through it. Who knows you might become the true believer of His noodly appendages.

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig the eminent author of The Future of Ideas, had very recently persued his publisher to permit The Future of Ideas to be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license. The good news for us is that all his 3 books are now available for free download.

The his book The Future of Ideas he explains the devastating power of the Internet. You would be able to download a free copy of the book by clicking on the following links:

The Future of Ideas

Free Culture

Code v2

I hope you would find these books resourceful. This gives you a lot of insight on the latest internet trends.

Ghalib

hazaaro khwahishein aisi ki har khwahish pe dam nikle
bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhii kam nikle

dare kyu mera qaatil kya rahega uski gardan par
woh khoon jo chashm-e-tar se umar bhar yu dam-ba-dam nikle

nikalna Khuld se aadam ka sunate aye hain lekin
bahut be-aabru hokar tere kuuchaa se ham nikle

bharam khul jaaye zaalim tere qaamat ki daraazii kaa
agar is turraa-e-pura pech-o-kham ka pech-o-kham nikale

magar likhwaye koi usko khat to hamesha likhwaye
hui subah aur ghar se kaan par rakkhar qalam nikale

hui is daur mein mansuub mujhse baadaa-ashaamii
phir aya woh zamaana jo jahaan se jaam-e-jam nikle

hui jinse tavaqqo khastagii ki daad paane ki
woh hamse bhi ziyada khastaa-e-teg-e-sitam nikle

mohabbat mein nahi hai farq jine aur marney ka
usi ko dekh kar jeetein hain jis kaafir pe dam nikle

zara kar jor seeney par ki teer-e-pursitam nikale
jo woh nikle to dil nikle jo dil nikle to dam nikle

khudaa ke vaaste pardaa na kaabe se uthaa zaalim
kahi aisa na ho yahan bhi wohi kaafir sanam nikle

kaha maikhane ka daravaza 'Ghalib' aur kaha vaaiz
par itna jaanate hai kal woh jata thaa ke ham nikale

I was Tagged!

TAGGED!

Shweta tagged me. So here you go -

1) LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATER?
Jannat

2) WHAT BOOK ARE U READING?
The Cruel Legacy

3) FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Chess

4) FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Playboy ;-)

5) FAVORITE SMELLS?
The smell of rain soaked earth

6)FAVORITE SOUNDS?
The sound of silence

7) WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
Feeling lonely without R

8) WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?
I think of R

9) FAVORITE FASTFOOD PLACE?
Pizza Hut

10) FUTURE CHILD'S NAME?
R should be the right person to be asked this question.

11) FINISH THIS STATEMENT - "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D"
Have gone to Switzerland for my honeymoon

12) DO YOU DRIVE FAST?
Let's rephrase the question, DO U DRIVE?

13)DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
No

14)STORMS - COOL OR SCARY?
Cool

15)WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Hot Wheels

16) FAVORITE DRINK?
Coke

17)FINISH THIS STATEMENT - "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD"
Have gone for a movie and dinner with R

18)DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
No

19)IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Salt and Pepper

20)NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN?
Calcutta, Delhi

21) FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
WWE, Cricket(if the Aussies are playing), Football(if the Argentines are playing)

22)ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
She is a very good friend

23)WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?
Mini-me

24)WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
Always

25)MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?
I was always a creature of the night, so a Night Owl

26)OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Sunny side up

27) FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
In her arms

28)FAVORITE PIE?
Chocolate

29)FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Black Forest ice cream cake

30)OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
Who would publish the reply to this tag first


My turn to tag.

I tag Shruti

David and Goliath

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages! Today I am going to tell you the story of David and Goliath. Do I see some sneering faces? Some frowned eyebrows? There, a half-open mouth open in utter horror! How disgusting, even before I started you have already assumed that you know the story. Did Nostradamus possessed you last night? Or are you a distant cousin of Bejan Daruwallah, eh? If this orative speech has not created even a little bit of interest in you then go on, go to the next blog on your blogroll. And don't you dare come back again!

Now now, for those of you hapless souls who stayed back and are still reading this, today I am going to tell you the tale of David and Goliath. But here David is my dog Joji who happens to be a permanent resident of Neverland, even after 1 year he still thinks himself to be a puppy! And who is Goliath? Well, we'll come to that. Please hold on to your horses for a few minutes if you may!

Now in this story David slain Goliath single-handedly. He conquered his fears, fought his adversary and showed his bravado by barking his famous bark after his opponent was vanquished. There lay his eternal enemy, his bogeyman who had left him sleepless for nights. He stood atop the ashes of Goliath...er...the chewed bits and pieces of Goliath with a smile of triumph on his triangular face as if to tell me see, I did it what you could not do it for years now Bozo!. And I stood with tears in my eyes. Tears of sorrow, which is the only thing I could do to lament the demise of my newly bought Samsung mobile phone worth Rs 20k.

And seeing tears in my eyes David, I mean Joji felt something amiss. This was not the way it happens in those stupid movies that this man watches. Where's my heroine! Well, what happened after that was another heart wrenching story of me spending a fortune to repair my phone. But that story would remain untold. This is the end of this story, the moral of this story is don't assume that you know everything judging the circumstances. You would end up making an ass of yourself.

By the way, please don't forget. All hail Joji...

My Life

I am confused, perplexed!
Are you inside the cage, or
Is it just an illusion?
You have her with you, you
Can touch her, love her,
Smile at her and talk. Then
Doesn’t that make it your
Home?
Is it you who is inside that
Cage, or is it me?
I roam around freely, traversing
Great Length, but I don’t have
Her beside me!
I can’t talk to her, I can’t
Smile at her!
Love is long lost and
Forgotten!
And see, today
I have almost even forgotten
To breath! Why? She was my life.
Without my life, how can
I live, breath or die?