Mumbai by morn

Took a 6 a.m. drive to the airport today. (Well, more like 6:20 a.m.)

Literally hundreds of runners, joggers and fast walkers along the entire stretch from Cuffe Parade to the Sealink - all, no doubt, practicing for the Mumbai Marathon next Sunday. The roads were what Mumbai's roads should always be but only are during the wee hours - fast, clean, clear.

The airport too was blissfully uncrowded. Usually, the ratio of people coming to see off (or welcome) a traveler is 16 to one. And they all hang around till the flight takes off, probably in the belief that they can be seen from the air during take off and thereby provide support and reassurance to the traveler. Today there were barely ten or twelve cars at the departure gate and even the lone cop on duty couldn't bring himself to toot his whistle at them. Felt like Newark - except for the construction all around.

On the return drive, dawn was breaking and smog smothered the city. Roadside fires from pavement dwellers added black smoke to the pall that hung over the highway. From the Sealink, one could see the towers that define the city's skyline, emerging ghost-like from the mist. I couldn't help wonder what this city looks like to someone who visits it for the first time from rural or small-town India. Like some other-worldly place, no doubt, forbidding, alluring, foreign. It's no wonder it's been a magnet for so long.

And as we turned past Babulnath onto the ridged and scalloped surface of Marine Drive, the sun hung over Nariman Point like an incandescent fried egg.

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Withdrawing from Facebook. Gently.

For some time now FB has been cheesing me off. Big time. They keep changing the look. They add in features I don't want and can't turn off. They remove features I had got used to.

I get strange invitations to weird games that I don't play. I get 'friended' by people I have no clue to. A friend's FB account got hacked. I read about features like Timeline that resurrect the dead past uninvited. And it doesn't get activated on my account. Dunno whether to rejoice or mourn.

If I comment on someone's pic I get inundated with everyone else's comments on it. It's like being at a wedding reception and having to listen to each guest wishing the couple. Gets old fast.

And may be that's what it is. I'm getting too old for this social media claptrap. Perhaps.

Or perhaps it's just FB that's stepping on my bunions. Besides, FB makes me lazy. Post a picture. Browse through some pictures of people who are only marginally relevant (at best) to my life. Read inane comments by all and sundry. Too passive by far.

So here's my resolve for 2012. Wean off FB. But breaking a habit, even one as sporadic as my FB habit is, is not easy. So, baby steps.

Step 1 - turn off notifications from FB on my mobile devices. Check. (Do I really need to know that someone somewhere commented something on someone else's photo of somebody altogether different sometime in the last two minutes? No.)

Step 2 - turn off email notifications. I will have to dive into FB's innards to achieve this and not altogether sure I want to do that. Will probably be simpler to set a filter in GMail to treat these as spam. 

Step 3 - Stop visiting FB in my browser or my mobile apps. Check. I hardly ever do that nowadays anyway unless prompted by a notification. And see steps 1 and 2 on how to fix those.

Step 4 - Start blogging again. Haven't done so in a long, long while. And blogs are so last decade. But what the heck.

Finally, one day, delete my FB account. May, just may, come to pass.

Ironically, my blog posts will be posted to FB. For all those FB fanbois.

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Worth the (long) wait

How to Become Clairvoyant

Robbie Robertson's first solo album in a decade? Worth the wait!

Robertson's solo albums have always struck me as more 'atmospheric' and 'portentous' than the Band's masterpieces. I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it's throaty whisper-singing, perhaps it's the lyrics. Perhaps it's the theatricality of them all. Check out the first song of his first solo album - Fallen Angel, to see what I mean: the delayed start worthy of Pink Floyd, the falsetto whispery lead-in and that glorious angelic chorus that makes you want to throw back your head and join in with your eyes closed.

Well, the good news is that How to Become Clairvoyant offers more of the same. Age has not withered Mr. Robertson's talents. He has said in interviews that this is probably the most personal album he's ever made. It also features some of the classiest rock guitar playing I've heard in a long time - subtle, nothing in your face, perfectly fitting each song. The throaty whisper is intact and the fingerwork is as reliable as ever. He has sterling help from fellow old fogies Eric Clapton - who co-wrote a couple of songs and offers up a wonderful lesson in class on an instrumental bluesy Madame X a little past the half way mark on the album - and Steve Winwood, and a line-up of current rockers like Trent Reznor, Tom Morello and others.

Robertson's lyrical strengths are also firmly intact - 'we had dreams when the night was young' and 'I was only trying to make the right mistake' are cases in point. The whole album has a solid, yet laid-back feel to it. No pulsing beats and show-off guitar solos. Just some classic bluesy rock like they don't make any more. And there's never a dull moment. Surprises pop up, like the twangy lead guitar in He Don't Live Here No More or the fiery fretwork in Axman.

He Don't Live Here No More? Glad he still does.

BMC sponsored graffiti - an alternative

This morning, over my kadak pau and chai, I was greeted with the news (in the Mumbai Mirror) that the BMC planned to send surveyors around to conduct a survey for the Unique Identification project that is the current baby of the redoubtable Mr Nandan Nilekani of erstwhile Infosys fame. (As an aside, why is "Unique Id" abbreviated to UID? Makes it sound like a birth control device. Should be UI, would sound intelligent.) The news item reported that the surveyors would make chalk marks on the walls of the buildings that they survey and that anyone tampering with these chalk marks faces a fine of Rs.1000.

There are so many things wrong with that, I don't know where to begin. But let's try anyway.

One, why is the BMC disfiguring the walls of my building? It's bad enough that courier guys come around and scribble my name and phone number on my door and next to it. Now, the BMC wants to come and do that too and, to add insult to injury, fine me if I clean my own property. I thought one of the things the BMC was supposed to do was clean up the city not promote graffiti on private property.

Two, how does a marking on my wall help the Ward Officer or Mr. Nilekani or his cohorts when they are back sitting in their own offices at their desks? They can't see it, they don't know if it's really there, they don't know what it really is... how the devil does it help?

Three, if it's supposed to prove that the survey has been carried out, a scribble on a wall does no such thing. Anyone can scribble on a wall, and plenty do anyway.

Four, if it's some kind of memory aid to let other surveyors know the survey has been done or not, surely there are less intrusive and destructive and more efficient methods of doing this. (See below.)

Five, the UID is supposed to be a voluntary scheme - read its charter if you want corroboration - so what's with these threats of fines and the like?

Six, this initiative is spearheaded by no one less than a technocrat - one of the country's leading technocrats at that. Surely he and his merry band could come up with a technology solution for this.

Well, I could, so I'm sure he can do better.

Here's my alternative:

First some facts:

• All the surveyors surely have cell phones (that's a given, even the sweeper in my building has one). 
• Mr Nilekani has oodles of tech expertise at his beck and call (and companies like TCS and Infosys are falling over themselves to get in on the UID project). 
• The BMC has maps, surveys, records, whatever of the various wards in the cities and knows which buildings are where and which slums are where (of course it does, get real, that's its core).

Now, do this:

• Establish an internal protocol for identifying each dwelling unit on the basis of the area, building, floor, flat/door number and make sure all your surveyors know how to use this. Give them laminated how-to sheets so they can refer to it in the field.
• Make a deal with the cellcos for a reduced rate on a special SMS scheme restricted to the cell phones of these surveyors and/or to/from a specified number.
• Tie that number up to a server and a database (companies do this all the time - SMS whoever if you want this offer, and so on).
• Get one of the aforementioned tech experts to write the required software (this is not rocket science, believe me - insurance companies, credit card companies, banks, contest companies do it all the time).
• When a surveyor lands up at a doorstep and does the survey, she sends an SMS to the server with the dwelling code (based on the internal protocol) and a simple DONE or NOT DONE message. If you want to get fancy and depending upon what it is that they are surveying, she can also send the results of the survey ("4 male adults, 2 female adults, 1.5 brats"), but that would be icing on the cake.
• The server records that in its database and the survey moves on.
• If a surveyor comes back fifteen days later and can't remember whether she surveyed flat 23, she sends an SMS to the server with the dwelling code and it checks its database and replies with a MEH, DONE or a DO IT NOW, YOU SILLY ASS message.

Benefits:

No new equipment required on the field, just your simple everyday cellphone.

BMC gets a centralised database of dwellings (imagine the joy that can provide when it comes to slum dwelling cut off dates which change with the phases of the moon, figuring out which building collapsed during which monsoon).

BMC saves paper, chalk, time, space.

My wall stays clean (well, as clean as it possibly can in the City of Grime).

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My Name is NOT Khan

Today I received a forwarded email letter penned (do we 'finger' emails rather than 'pen' them?) by a Mr. Arindam Bandyopadhyay taking Mr. Shahrukh Khan to task for some of his recent remarks. Much as I did not want to jump into this fray, for some reason this email was the final straw that precipitated the email I sent back to the sender of the forwarded email.

I hesitate to reproduce the forwarded email in full in this blog both for space reasons (my own email is long enough!) but also because I have no wish to get into a copyright argument with anyone. If you wish to read it, please email me and I will happily forward it on. However, I have reproduced below my email (correcting a couple of silly typos). I hope it strikes a chord with whoever reads this.

Open letter to all (please forward as you see fit)

I trust that all who have diligently circulated the well-meaning and well-researched epistle from Shri Arindam Bandyopadhyay (AB) will do the same with this email. If possible, please include AB's original email which is below this one [not in the blog], since that contains links to other information on the web (and following those links and reading the comments below them is a sorry reminder that to use a computer all you need are fingers, a mind is optional).

I hold no brief for Shri Shahrukh Khan (SRK) or, indeed for AB, but just as each of them is entitled to their point of view, I trust that I am entitled to mine.

I followed the link to the DNA India site that contained the remarks made by SRK. On reading the penultimate paragraph I was struck by the language used and I quote it below in full:

Khan felt that the youth should circumvent all that is said about India and Pakistan by the politicians and say, "It (Pakistan) is a great neighbour to have. We are great neighbours, They are good neighbours. Let us love each other."

Read it again, please. If the writing is accurate, and there is no reason to suppose it isn't, what is actually being reported is that SRK is proposing a point of view that is entirely in keeping with that of such enlightened thinkers as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jesus Christ and indeed, with the basic tenets of Hinduism. And for those who have trouble remembering the latter (or dispute my remembrance of them), I recommend the following links:

http://hinduism.about.com/cs/basics/ht/idealhindu.htm [particularly item 12], and

http://gurudeva.org/basics/nineb/ [items 8 and 9, in particular]

Re-read the quoted paragraph. "Khan felt that the youth should... say," that Pakistan is a good neighbour and etc.

It sounds to me as if he is proposing a way forward out of this horrible, miasmic, quagmire that we of the subcontinent have been bequeathed by our ancestors. He is proposing that the youth, the ones who have to live with this going forward, make a breakthrough in solving this dirty problem that has killed millions and continues to poison every step we take towards 'normalising' relations with our neighbours.

It does not appear that SRK is "claiming that [Pakistan] is a great neighbour". Some unintentional misreporting by AB, there. It looks more as if he is trying to employ some positive psychology by getting the youth of this country to start thinking positively about a neighbour that we cannot simply wish away. Much the same appears to be the motivation behind the recent Times of India initiative, Aman ki Asha, to foster friendship between the peoples of India and Pakistan. The reasoning appears to be that we cannot put generations of hatred and enmity behind us in a day, but if we are to do so ultimately, we have to start somewhere. (Btw, wonderful choice of word, that: Asha, hope - that's all we have today.)

It is a geographical fact that we have Pakistan as a neighbour (and arguably the most troublesome one, though businessmen and economists are probably more worried about China and perhaps, rightfully so). We cannot wish that away. We have to live with it. So, sooner or later (probably much later), we are going to have to learn how to co-exist with them. And do so, despite the terrorists and the narrow-minded bigots (on both sides of the border), and the mealy-mouthed politicians, and the trigger-happy revengeful idiots (on both sides of the border). No country has a monopoly on idiocy (though some try very hard to corner the market).

Let us sell our share of idiocy and try to build a bull market in common sense. Please give it a thought.

As Karan Thapar is wont to say (paraphrased), "if you have been, thanks for reading".

sd/-

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it. (attributed to Voltaire)

[And as I write this blog, the TV is on and Karan Thapar is discussing a possible Government response to the Pune blast with a couple of wonderfully articulate policy wonks (I haven't caught their names yet). Is restraint a sign of weakness or strength? The consensus appears to be that a heightened response plays right into the hands of the terrorists and those elements in the Pakistan government that support or sponsor them. Common sense appears to be prevailing. Thank you, whoever.]

Interesting twitularity stats

Thanks to Shashi Tharoor's tweets, I came upon tweeple.in which has a ranking of Indian tweeters by popularity as measured by the number of followers. There are strange things to be discovered if you scan the top ten list (and doubtless stranger things if you go further).

For starters, the number one position goes to Padmasree Warrier, the CTO of Cisco, with close to 1.5 million followers. I'm sure she's a great CTO and Cisco is certainly a company to be reckoned with, but it is more a B2B company than the sort of company one would have thought the aam janata would be interested in and ditto for the role of CTO - not exactly one to set the heart thumping or the imagination whirring or the loins stirring. Either Ms Padmasree is a heck of a tweeter or I'm missing something in this tweeting business. I shall follow her tweets to find out more.

[Update: On closer inspection, she's listed as being in California, so I would think a fair chunk of her followers are the techies in the biz looking to see what Cisco is up to. Makes more sense.]

Number two on the list, and a mere 200k followers behind, Om Malik, a venture capitalist. Hello? Again, not exactly the kind of profession I would have thought would grab the masses.

Shashi Tharoor, writer, diplomat and politician, comes in at number three. I think he should be higher up, but this ranking is the first that makes sense. Politics is important business in India, so an interest in politicians is understandable. But he's the only politician in the top 20 (probably the only tweeting Indian politician, in fact). Speaks volumes for the accessibility of Indian politicians both to their fans and to technology.

Four, is Vir Sanghvi, journalist, political and social commentator, writer and five is Deepak Chopra, new age Guru and writer - makes sense. One can fathom their popularity.

Six, yes, outside the top five, six is where we find our first film star and she is not Amitabh or Shahrukh or Aamir, but the delightfully nicknamed Piggy Chops - Priyanka Chopra. So much to wonder about here. No film star in the top five. Priyanka more popular than Shahrukh. An actress more popular than the actors.

Shahrukh Khan or Shah Rukh Khan, as he's listed himself, comes in a good three spots down at number nine, barely squeezing into the top ten, beaten by a marketing consultant (patently good at marketing himself) and a web techie.

Ten is the redoubtable Karan Johar, who restores the film profession's standing by enabling them to grab 30% of the top ten. There are four more film stars in the top 20, giving them a 35% ranking share. More in tune with one's perceptions of the importance of film stars to the average Indian's life.

Barkha Dutt and Chetan Bhagat are the only non-filmi names I recognise in the top 20.

Surprising omission: No cricketer or cricket commentator. C'mon guys, whatever happened to 'cricket as religion'? Not techno-literate enough, are we?

Interesting aside on self-descriptions: Priyanka describes herself as 'Da Real Deal' in block capitals, no less. Shahid Kapoor feels the need to describe himself as 'Actor - Indian Film Industry' and Sonam Kapoor as 'a female actor'. Gul Panag is an 'actor' among other things. Whatever happened to the word 'actress'? No longer politically correct, I guess. What a shame we forsake precision for politics.

Deepak Chopra, Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar feel no need to describe themselves. Their names speak for themselves. Way to go, guys!

And I just love Shah Rukh's handle - iamsrk. Say no more.

Aside on 'twitularity': I thought I had serendipitously coined this word, but mistrusting my genius (rightfully so), I Googled 'twitularity' and found it's been used to denote a 'new humanity' as in singularity, twitularity and as shorthand for 'twitter popularity' which is my use of the word.

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iPhone delusions and the reality

Smacked into an intriguing article at http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10414356-71.html?tag=rtcol;pop on how iPhone users are delusional, referring to the report from Strand Reports available at http://www.strandreports.com/sw3896.asp, which apparently busts some myths about the iPhone.

Since I'm an iPhone user I was intrigued at the thought that I might be delusional and I was tempted to register for the free Strand Report. However, on a little reflection, I haven't requested a copy of the report for the following reasons.

One, it deals with the implications of the iPhone for one's business. Not interested currently.
Two, based purely on the review of the report and my own introspection about my iPhone usage, if I'm delusional, then that's okay by me.

Whatever the shortcomings of the iPhone (and there are plenty - crappy business card exchange, mediocre camera by comparison with other phones, so-so battery life especially when doing non-phone stuff, no copy-and-paste till generation 2 came along), it is still one heck of a device.

In the palm of my hand on a single device, I read books, play games, watch my favorite serials, listen to music, exchange messages with family, do maths, read the news, check my email, log my exercise, manage my appointments, track my music/movie/book collections, check the weather, use maps to find directions, take casual photos... oh, and make and receive phone calls.

In my 49 years on this planet, this is the first device that lets me do all of those things pretty damn well and still fits in my pocket. Could it be better? Sure. And it probably will as time goes by and versions come along. But does it work for me right now? Sure does.

Ok, so I'm delusional. Bite me.

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iPhone apps for the new addict

A dear, dear friend of mine has just got herself an iPhone and I thought of putting together a list of must-have apps for her. I discovered I have 76 applications downloaded, but I end up using only a handful of these. But it's a large handful and the list got so long, I decided to blog it instead. 

In doing so, I reveal my inner soul, I guess. And the sorry depths of my addiction. So be it.

Descriptions are mine, prices are as in the US store as in December 2009

So here goes:

Games - Naturally, that's what you do most on a phone, no?

I prefer the no-pressure, minimum motor skills kind of stuff - logic, word and brain-dead games.

The ones I return to time and agame.

Bookworm - $2.99 - Word game to flex those little grey word cells

Bubblewrap - Free - Mindless workout for the thumbs; deeply satisfying, nonetheless

Drop7 - $2.99 - Tetris-like but surprisingly strategy-oriented, great fun, time flies

Marple - $1.99 (Free Lite version available, if you want to try it out) - logic game, addictive

Sudoku - $1.99 - Need say no more, except that there are lots of versions available. I use the one from Electronic Arts because the interface is sexy and dead simple and the puzzles are coherent and require no guessing

Touch Poet Lite - Free - d-i-y haikus for the rest of us, wonderful

2Across - $5.99 - crosswords on the go. The most expensive of my games but worth every cent, with downloads of crosswords available from 4 or 5 newspapers, so you never run out. I only do cryptics but quick crosswords are even more plentiful. And a great interface.

The others I have and either dabble in occasionally or intend to try out one day are:

PuzzleManiak - $4.99 - collection of logic puzzles, some very satisfying, some very okay. Interface has improved over versions.

Labyrinth Lite - Free - iPhone version of those little puzzles I had as a kid where you guide little steel balls into the centre of a maze. A whole new ball game with the accelerometer!

Paper Toss - Free - Chuck the ball of crumpled paper into the bin. Fabulous graphics.

Pac-Man Lite - Free - An old favourite from the age of monochrome monitors and late nights in office

Myst Free - er, Free - Another old mind-bending classic from my PC days, as far as you can get from Doom and Quake et al.

Books: I now do all my reading on the iPhone and no longer buy dead trees. I am green. I save the planet. I jump tall buildings with a single bound.

eReader - Free - my favourite reader. Connects to my bookshelves on fictionwise.com and ereader.com and allows me to carry my collection of 243 eBooks (and growing!) on my iPhone 24/7. Wish I could do the same with my 1500+ dead tree ones.

Classics - $2.99 - Collection of 20-or-so public domain never-go-out-of-style-or-become-irrelevant classics packaged in a great UI. More promised via free updates.

Kindle - Free - Haven't tried this yet since I haven't bought any Kindle ebooks because of copyright restrictions in selling outside of the US. But may become useful in the future now that the Kindle is being sold internationally.

Stanza - Free - Looked promising but it kept locking up on me. Others have good reviews, so maybe it's just me. YMMV.

News:

Netnewswire - Free - Spiffy RSS reader that syncs with your Google Reader account

NYTimes - Free - Access to the latest and greatest of the New York Times. Good UI.

WSJ - Free - Access to the latest and greatest of the Wall Street Journal. Good UI.

Streaming Music: Sure, there's the built-in iPod, but you know you always need more music, right?

ConcertVault - Free - Internet radio stations are all over the place, but where do you go when you want to listen to entire concerts by the biggest names in rock? There's only Wolfgang's Concert Vault - http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/concerts/. The site itself is an incredible cornucopia and the app puts all of that on your iPhone. Technology rocks. Literally.

Utilities: Can't live without these.

Convert - $1.99 - aka Convert the unit calculator - easily convert kgs to lbs, kms to miles, C to F and many more such indispensable aids to transnational communication and global integration. Also forex currency conversions. Plus, an object lesson in iPhone UI. They should give this one the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dropbox - Free - www.dropbox.com is the best file sync solution out there. It just works - between my laptop, home machine, daughter's laptop, wife's laptop, friend-I-want-to-share-file-with. And now my iPhone.

Box.net - Free - access to my box.net shelf should I need stuff from there. Occasionally, I do.

Evernote - Free - Access my notes and web clippings from anywhere

Remote - Free - Controls iTunes on my home iMac and everything on my Apple TV so I can couch my potato and keep watching/listening.

Zenbe Lists - Free - Syncs browser-based to-do lists at www.zenbe.com across my laptop and my iPhone

Emoji - Free - Emoticons to the max to incorporate into my SMSes and Pings and Notes and wherever I can type

1Password Pro - $7.99 - Yes, steep, but who can remember all those passwords and PINs and girlfriends' names? I can't. And this helps me keep them safe.

Communication: Proof you can communicate via phone without opening your mouth.

Echofon for Facebook - Free - Haven't actually tried this out yet, but the UI looks fast and its Twitter sibling is sexy and hey, it's free. 

Facebook - Free - Duh.

Echofon for Twitter - Free - Does everything you need to Twitter. In style. And now that they have a free Mac version I no longer need to read the same tweets on my Mac and my iPhone, this little babe syncs the two. Neat.

Skype - Free - Works like a charm on WiFi and helps you stick it to the Telecom Man.

Ping - Free - Hands down the smartest way to SMS a fellow iPhone addict. And with emoji, it's sexy too. With a data plan and/or WiFi it's basically free international SMSes between iPhones. Keeps me in touch with my daughter in Singapore and my wife in touch with her family in the US. All for f-r-e-e.

I also have a bunch of other stuff that I use occasionally or specifically, e.g., city Tube maps, city guides from Frommers and the Collectorz suite of apps for tracking my collections of music, books and movies. But that's specialist stuff.

It's pretty amazing that the most frequent word in this entry is Free.

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Ruminations 2 of 3: Adam Lambert - For Your Entertainment

The first time I heard Adam Lambert scream his heart out (and his head off) on American Idol, I sat up. To my mind, this was Robert Plant reborn. All he needed was his Jimmy Page alter-ego and we would have our very own Led Zep of the new century.

Alas, the music industry machine has grasped Adam in its maw, swallowed him and spat him out again as a cookie-cutter nondescript papster (yes, a popster who proffers pap is a papster).

On For Your Entertainment he dabbles in electronica, techno-pop, strange popping arrangements and generally forgettable gimmickry. (Case in point: Sure Fire Winners. Blech.) Occasionally, he goes completely over the top with strings and orchestra as in Soaked. Aerosmith or Guns n’Roses could pull that off. Adam sounds uncomfortable. Even the hard-working guitar solo in the middle of Sleepwalker can’t quite wake me up.

Adam shares writing credits on no fewer than four songs of the fourteen, so he really must get a fair share of the blame for this pedestrian run-of-the-mill affair.

It’s not that these are bad songs. From an artist with lesser potential, I would probably have rated this album higher. From Adam Lambert, however, this is a disappointment. I doubt that this album merits too many re-listens.

About the only song worthy of a re-listen is the one from the mega-disaster movie 2012, Time For Miracles. Mega-disaster this album, may not quite be, but it is time for a miracle to pull this chestnut out of the fire.

On my personal, arbitrary scale, I’ve rated none of the songs of the fourteen as five stars, one as four stars, most as three stars, and one poor unfortunate as two stars and a half.

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Ruminations Interrupted by: Allison Iraheta - Just Like You

Another great album from a talent show finalist. I had intended to review Adam Lambert’s offering next, but I just got Allison’s album and on listening to it, I decided it merited a review way before Adam’s.

Her distinctive rocker husky growl and yell is put to good effect in this selection. Forget about her being 17 years old. She’s a natural who sings with the authority and experience of a thirty-seven year old - that’s a heck of a compliment. Reminds me of Joan Jett, Janis Joplin, among others.

Good, solid songs, not a turkey among them, but the standouts are Holiday (co-written by another talent show finalist, Dilana - we have a lot to be grateful for as far as these shows go) and Still Breathing. Honourable mentions to Friday I’ll Be Over You, Robot Love, Beat Me Up.

Allison plays to her strengths and doesn’t put a foot wrong. 21st century girl pop/rock with strong hints of classic rock chops. 

On my personal, arbitrary scale, I’ve rated two songs of the thirteen as five stars, seven as four stars, two as four stars, one as three stars and half a star, and two as three stars.

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Joys of open source and customer satisfaction how-tos

Quicksilver b57 was not working for me - a specific little bit was not working. I posted a question on this on the Quicksilver forum 14 hours ago. 

3 hours later I got a response from one of the developers saying that they were aware of the bug and would post an update, date not specified as it wasn't a priority, but if I wanted a quick fix, he'd upload a patch. I responded after 9 hours (time zone differences, I was asleep) saying it wasn't a big deal. 

34 minutes ago, the developer notified me via the forum that he'd made a patch available anyway and gave the URL it could be downloaded from. I downloaded it, it works like a charm and I thanked the developer 8 minutes later.

14 hours from problem to resolution across countries, time zones and languages. Customer satisfaction to the max. Customer treated as king even though he doesn't pay a dime. Lesson in professionalism, labours of love and how open source works. Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, et al - you guys listening?

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Back in QuickSilver's arms - b57

Apropos my last post on QS problems on Snow Leopard - just found beta 57 update, downloaded it and am feeling the Quicksilver love again. Truly a remarkable program. The only thing that still ain't working for me is the Large Type display on the CalculatorAction. It's a geek thing.

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Top 2.5 programs for a new Mac

I'm setting up a new Mac for a neophyte. I discovered that without thinking about it, the first two programs I downloaded immediately after setting up Snow Leopard were Caffeine from Lighthead (http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/) and Firefox. Caffeine does one thing and does it very well - temporarily prevents the Mac from going to sleep; indispensable when doing stuff that requires you to watch the screen and not play with the keyboard/mousepad, like downloading tons of updates. And, Firefox, well, naturally.

The .5 program? That would be Quicksilver. Used to be my numero uno go to program but though it works fine on my iMac on Snow Leopard, it's become buggy on my Macbook Pro on Snow Leopard. Dunno why, but that's the reason I no longer automatically download and install it. My fingers though still automatically go to the Ctrl-Space. Old habits.

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Guidelines for Good Clear Writing - school notes rediscovered!

1. Subject and verb always has to agree
2. When dangling, watch your participles
3. Do not use a foreign term when there is an adequate quid pro quo
4. If you must use a foreign term, it is de rigor to spell it correctly
5. It behooves the writer to avoid archaic expressions
6. Do not use hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it effectively
7. Avoid cliches like the plague
8. Mixed metaphors are a pain in the ass and oughta be thrown out the window
9. Placing a comma between subject and predicate, is not correct
10. Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas
11. Consult the dictionary frequently to avoid mispelling
12. Don't use tautological, repetitive or redundant statements
13. Don't use tautological, repetitive or redundant statements
14. Remember to never split an infinitive
15. Puns are for children, not for readers who are groan
16. The passive voice shouldn't be used
17. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed
18. Don't use no double negatives
19. Proofread carefully to see if you have any words out
20. Hopefully, you will use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them
21. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do
22. Avoid colloquial stuff
23. No sentence fragments
24. Remember to finish what you
    

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Quickfox Notes

I spend most of my online life in Firefox. And when I need a scratchpad to jot down stuff I tend to use Stickies (Mac only). Now, there's Quickfox Notes. http://inbasic.mozdev.org/root/ext3/home/index.html

Looks interesting. Also, the notes sync online via XMarks, so theoretically they will be available on any computer I use to log in to Firefox. Let's see how much use I actually get out of it.

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Ruminations on Albums Three - Primo

Susan Boyle - I Dreamed A Dream



A glorious showcase for this lady’s remarkable voice with some predictable song choices and one truly inspired, unlikely winner. For Ms Boyle to have recorded I Dreamed A Dream (from Lés Miserables) was a foregone conclusion since that was the song from the British talent show that launched her into YouTube stardom and brought goose bumps to millions, yours truly included.

Other chestnuts, while perfectly worthy renditions are nevertheless fairly predictable (though no less beautiful for that) when a voice like Ms Boyle’s is on display. Amazing Grace? Check. Cry Me A River? Check. How Great Thou Art? Check. Silent Night? Check.

Ms Boyle’s voice seems custom-fit to soar in cathedrals and echo in spires and the apparent preponderance of religious-themed songs or, at least, songs that sound religion-inspired on her album is not very surprising. A hint that Ms Boyle may be more than a one-trick pony, however is provided by three song choices on the album.

One is Daydream Believer, originally recorded by The Monkees as a chirpy, peppy uptempo pop song. Ms Boyle slows it down and gives it gravitas and depth. Another is Madonna’s You’ll See, again suitably measured in pace yet dramatic.

But the song that really blew me away was the unlikeliest choice of all: Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones. Susan Boyle doing Mick Jagger? Holy guacamole! She pulls it off and how! Wild Horses is a stand out bluesy number from the Stones’ Sticky Fingers album and Ms Boyle treats it with great respect. The delicate piano accompaniment and her wonderful voice, restrained at first, then soaring gloriously through the chorus makes this an instant and complete classic, a beautiful reinterpretation of a great song that transforms it into something wonderful and fresh.

On my personal, arbitrary scale, I’ve rated seven songs of the twelve as five stars, two as four stars and half a star, two as four stars, and one as three stars and half a star.

Ruminations on Albums Three

Over the last three days, while alternately galloping and plodding through the dying days of NaNoWriMo, I encountered three new albums, one by an established multi-Grammy Award winning artiste and two freshman efforts by newcomers, each of whom had been the runner-up in their respective talent competition.

The contrasts could not be starker.

Watch this space for entirely subjective reviews of:
I Dreamed A Dream - Susan Boyle
For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert
The Wall - Adam Lambert

NaNoWriMo Euphoria

50,000 words, 30 days, blood, toil, tears and sweat.

Okay, skip the blood, sweat and tears (and the Earth, Wind and Fire), but make that t a capital one: Toil

And Fun with a capital F.

I'm now tuckered out from all that writing but two consecutive years of this puts me up there up Herman Melville, no? Probably not.

Watch this space.

Euphemisms, PC and problems

The continuous trend towards the use of euphemisms in the service of political correctness has resulted in a dangerous blindness (visual challenge).

Let's take the current economic crises (there are more than one of them around) that are plaguing the world. The crises have some of their primary roots in the collapse of the US housing market and its consequent domino effect on the hundreds of financial institutions that were participating to some degree (often third- and fourth-hand) in this bubble.

This participation was encouraged and facilitated largely because either nobody understood what was happening or nobody gave a damn as long as their short-term goals were being met. Assuming a charitable mantle and discounting the effect of the second alternative, why did no one understand what was happening?

Because, financial markets and marketeers have proven themselves past masters of the euphemism.

"Subprime" is such a reassuring, gentle description. It has the merit of having "prime" in there, which conjures up such rosy optimism that the mind shuts off the prefix "sub". No one really cares that sub denotes "below" - it doesn't register. That's a classic euphemism. These weren't just subprime loans. They were loans that never had the remotest chance of being repaid.

Ninja loans, in fact. Doesn't that sound macho and action-oriented? Try (loans given to those with) No Income No Job as an Acronym. Ninja. Masters of spin.

Let's get back to calling a spade a bloody shovel. That way, we just might recognise it when someone clobbers us over the head with one.

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Federer - Nadal / Michelangelo - ?

The 2009 Australian Open final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal made me restless. Not the duel - that was entertaining. But I couldn't think of a suitable analogy to compare these two artists and my reactions to them. Until the morning after.

Nadal is all power and fury, brute aggression, grimaces, grunts, mad dashes across the court. But one can't deny that he has the shots, he finds impossible angles and he can play the delicate drop shot as effectively as any. Federer is grace, artistry, elegance, magic - understated power and effortlessness.

Federer never looks like he's trying like mad, even when he is. Nadal always looks like he's trying like mad, even when he doesn't need to.

Nadal shares a name with a sublime artist - Raphael or Raffaello. Raphael was Michelangelo's contemporary and competitor, though he was eight years younger. The comparison is tempting, given the five year age gap between Federer and Nadal. Federer is undoubtedly Michelangelo, but Nadal is no Raphael.

Nadal is Jackson Pollock - insane energy, controlled chaos, relentless, pumped-up, tireless - "action painting". Federer is Michelangelo - sublime wizardry, poetry, adriotness, legerdemain, finesse - "beauty for the ages".

Jackson Pollock's "No. 5, 1948" became the world's most expensive painting in 2006, when it was sold privately to an undisclosed buyer for the sum of $140,000,000.

Michelangelo's frescos in the Sistine Chapel are a priceless gift to humanity.

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