Blue Jeans and Aliens

What if some aliens were to land on our planet right now. Their first journal entry would be, "We found colorful creatures but they most of them share a common pattern. Their lower half has similar blue colored skin." :P

A great tribute to Nazia Hassan

Disco Deewane - arguably the second most famous song by Nazia Hassan (first one being 'Aap jaisa koi meri zindagi mein aaye') - has been my one of my favorite songs. My father loves her albums and I have been listening to them since .. I don't know.. I was born? I have always been a fan of her voice. Even today, her albums are present on my laptop, mobile, iPod and all the hard disks I own.

Yesterday, I was listening to random songs online when the service started playing a revamped Disco Deewane. Later I found out that it is a part of the song, 'The Disco Song' of an upcoming film 'Student of the Year' by KJo. I was completely startled and started Googling everything on how and why this song reached this platform when no one in the industry even created a remix of it! (during the remix creation era of 2000's)

I feel this is a great step by KJo. Now, almost all the YouTube videos of Disco Deewane have the top comment as "Thumbs up if Student of the Year brought you here!". It is a great tribute to the most beautiful (vocally and physically) singer.

'..and I was like..' Why do you like 'like' so much?

One distinct thing that girls (and some guys) who have lived in US for long say is 'and I was like.. and then he/she was like ..' and I am like why? Why do you need it? Not just this, they say it in every single line! Even to communicate what they did in the past, they say, ".. and I was like .. ".

Initially, I used to feel as if a small girl is learning to speak and trying really hard to communicate herself. Nowadays, I try and avoid "I was like" people. Conversations with them progress 50% slower because of the redundancy. On secondary thought, imagine the amount of 'word power' US loses because of this. :P

Obscurity and Security

People keep getting confused between obscurity and security. I was having a discussion with some CS guy and he was having trouble getting the idea of security. His idea was, if you are able to hide a thing, it is secure. Actually, by doing that a object becomes obscure not secure.

So here is my small explanation :
Obscurity is when you hide stuff so that people won't be able to get it in one shot. But once you know where/how it is obscured, the obscurity vaporizes. Its no longer 'secure'. Security is different. In security, you 'secure' it using some mechanism and you provide details of the mechanism. You provide how the whole system works. You just need to keep some parameter(s) (inputs or keys) secret which will allow you to access the object. Without the parameter, if you can't retrieve the object, it is secure!

Computer Smash! WTF!

I am subscribed to an engineering frat house. Today, I received this totally idiotic event invitation.

"XYZ Fraternity will be hosting the best rush event ever at 6pm.  It is known as Computer Smash.  We will be taking old computers, printers, or anything electronic and smashing them to pieces.  Come let out your frustration of old technology with a sledgehammer or baseball bat.  You are also invited to dinner at the house at 5pm."

My first reaction.. WTF! I agree you don't have any use for it but why smash such tech? Give them for recycling or donate it somewhere. Describing it as 'best rush event ever' was even more infuriating. I should do something about it!

Tata Consultancy Services at Career Fair

My first reaction on seeing Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) at Career Fair, "Scope hota hai! Jaan chali jaaye but resume nahi jayega" :P

But yeah, its good. It's good to see a Indian Software Company making this big and hiring CS@UIUC!

Murphy's Law

I recently bought a long poster containing various Murphy's Law. Some of my favorites are -

-> Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

-> If you try to please everyone, nobody will like you.

-> Friends come and go but enemies accumulate.

-> In order to get a loan, you must first prove you don't need it.

-> The chance of a piece of bread falling with buttered side down is directly proportional to the price of the carpet.

-> When a broken appliance is demonstrated for the repairman, it will work perfectly.

-> A repairman will never have seen a model quite like yours before.

-> No matter how long or hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper.

-> The other line always moves faster.

-> Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will use it (I dedicate this to all the Apple fans).

-> If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

-> Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

-> If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

-> Smile.. tomorrow will be worse.

and my favorite is


=> It is impossible to make anything Fool-Proof because Fools are so ingenious.

One should believe in coincidences!

What are the chances!

Poster of Kramer's Painting

Yesterday, I was watching Seinfeld season 3 episode 21 (aired on March 25, 1992) (for the first time in my life) in which a character draws a painting of Kramer. The episode was one the best episodes of Seinfeld.

Today, I went to a poster sale and saw this full size poster of the same painting! I mean what are the chances! (Somebody should really calculate it. I would really love to see the solution.)

After this, I have been thinking.. I should see a making of Samsung Galaxy Tab! ;)

Rhinoplasty - seriously?

As per Wikipedia - 'Rhinoplasty is a plastic surgery procedure for correcting and reconstructing the form, restoring the functions, and aesthetically enhancing the nose, by resolving nasal trauma (blunt, penetrating, blast), congenital defect, respiratory impediment, and a failed primary rhinoplasty.'

First thing that came to my mind was, why Rhinoplasty? Just because Rhinos have large horns on their nose, calling a medical procedure by this name sounds ridiculous to me. Consider a person with a thin and sharp nose like rhino. What will he tell to his friends? 'I am going for a Rhinoplasty!'

Appreciating Brown Skin Color

Its well known that our (Indian) society appreciates fair skin color (read white) more than their own color (In  almost all recent Bollywood dance videos, there are only white girls dancers). Somehow, I don't really feel whats the fixation with white. Personally, I find fair brown girls more attractive than white. (Keeping all other parameters constant except hair. :P)

In midst of all this, the song 'Brown Rang' by 'Yo Yo Honey Singh' stands out. I think this is the only song which advocates brown skin color and deters white colored chicks. The song is super catchy with its rhythm and the lyrics are great too!