An image is worth a thousand words

This one is a great example of a picture telling the entire story. I was paying $1.30 per gallon back in 1999 when I first came to Bay Area. This year I paid as much as $3.30.

technorati tags: gasoline, gas, price, california, opec, failed+policy

A blast from the past - Tintin and Captain Haddock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_exclamations_used_by_Captain_Haddock
Here's a great compilation of all the juicy exclamations used by Captain Haddock in the Tintin comic books. Once again, Wikipedia scores over conventional encyclopedias - show me an article like this in the Brittanica!

Tags: wikipedia, tintin, captain haddock, exclamations

The mathematics of Sudoku, a puzzle that boasts "No math required!"

http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/48550?&print=yes

A very interesting article on Sudoku strategies and the underlying math. It makes for some good, heavy reading over the Labor Day weekend.

"The instructions that accompany Sudoku often reassure the number-shy solver that "No mathematics is required." What this really means is that no arithmetic is required. You don't have to add up columns of figures; you don't even have to count. As a matter of fact, the symbols in the grid need not be numbers at all; letters or colors or fruits would do as well. In this sense it's true that solving the puzzle is not a test of skill in arithmetic. On the other hand, if we look into Sudoku a little more deeply, we may well find some mathematical ideas lurking in the background."

Here is another look at the math underlying Sudoku - an order-3 Sudoku grid (the most popular type with 3x3 blocks) has almost 4,000,000,000,000 unique solutions.

Tags: sudoku, math, mathematics, puzzle, recreation, leisure, labor day weekend

802,000 join nationwide disaster drills as U.S. military participates for first time

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060901p2a00m0na016000c.html

This is what real disaster preparedness looks like - and costs like! In USA we are used to doing everything on the cheap - then we end up with debacles like the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Even the response to 9/11 leaves a lot to be desired - the commission's report on that is only gathering dust with not much action having been taken on the recommendations.

Maybe California should take a lead and partner with Japan for disaster preparedness. After all, we do share the same disaster potential in form of magnitude 7 earthquakes in highly populated areas.

Office 2.0 conference

Office 2.0 has it's own conference

read more | digg story

LibriVox - Public Domain Audio Books

LibriVox

What a great idea - putting out audio readings of books that are now in public domain.

Amardeep Singh: Khushwant Singh's Journalism: The Illustrated Weekly of India

An interesting piece on Khushwant Singh - one of my favorite people - right from the time I was a school kid in Delhi. His"With Malice Towards One and All" column is what got me started on reading editorials as a young school kid.

Khushwant's secularism, his sense of humor, his ability to not be pompous - inspite of his tremendous stature in society and his fair take on history and contemporary events made him probably one of the most admired journalists in India of all times.

Here's a quote from Amandeep's column "I admire Khushwant Singh's secularism, which for me is always best represented by the Mario cartoon he used on his 'Editor's Page' in The Illustrated Weekly: a caricature of himself, sitting next to a pile of books, a bottle of scotch, and a girlie magazine. This is the basis for the familiar Khushwant Singh slogan, 'sex, scotch, and scholarship,' which is also the title of one of his later books of essays. Much has been made of the 'sex' and 'scotch,' both of which are somewhat ironic since testimony from people who've known him has confirmed that he's neither a womanizer nor a heavy drinker. 'Sex, scotch, and scholarship' isn't literally Khushwant Singh's lifestyle (nor does it accurately represent his attitude towards women); it's rather a slogan for his fiercely independent ethos. It's something India still has need of: a willingness to publicly be something other than 'respectable' and 'respectful,' to tell the truth rather than wrap the world in mysticism or one or another political ideology. "

Colbert's take on Wikipedia

Colbert's magic goes on and on - now he's expanding his domain from political to technology. His hilarious take on Wikipedia and the latest word he invented "Wikiality" is a light hearted look at the Wikipedia phenomenon.

Solve Sudoku (Without even thinking!)

Solve Sudoku (Without even thinking!)

For all those Sudoku maniacs out there - here is a method to the madness. All you need is a printed Sudoku puzzle and a pencil - yes, no high tech wizardry here! Try this and you may just get the bragging rights around your office water cooler for being the fastest Sudoku-ist.

technorati tags: sudoku, puzzle

The Ten Commandments of cell phone etiquette

The Ten Commandments of cell phone etiquette - Dan Briody, InfoWorld

1. Thou shalt not subject defenseless others to cell phone conversations.

2. Thou shalt not set thy ringer to play La Cucaracha every time thy phone rings.

3. Thou shalt turn thy cell phone off during public performances.

4. Thou shalt not wear more than two wireless devices on thy belt.

5. Thou shalt not dial while driving.

6. Thou shalt not wear thy earpiece when thou art not on thy phone.

7. Thou shalt not speak louder on thy cell phone than thou would on any other phone.

8. Thou shalt not grow too attached to thy cell phone.

9. Thou shalt not attempt to impress with thy cell phone.

10. Thou shalt not slam thy cell phone down on a restaurant table just in case it rings.

The Dilbert Blog: Burning Flags

The Dilbert Blog: Burning Flags

A beautiful article on the Flag Burning issue (or non-issue) was just published by Scott Admas on his Dilbert Blog. This one sentence says it all "The thing to remember about freedom is that it’s not given, it’s taken."

technorati tags: flag+burning, flag, burning, congress, politics, republicans, senate, democrats

President Kalam's Sukhoi flight

President Kalam's Sukhoi flight:


June 08, 2006

President A P J Abdul Kalam, supreme commander of the armed forces, in the Sukhoi-30 MKI, Indian Air Force's state-of-the-art supersonic fighter aircraft.

On Thursday, the President undertook a historic 40-minute sortie in the aircraft, taking off from Lohegaon airbase in Pune at 10.25 am.

Kalam is the first Indian President to fly in the all-weather, air-dominance supersonic fighter aircraft.

'After flying this sortie, I now realise that India is in safe hands, our borders are safe. We have such good pilots, and good defence personnel,' President Kalam said.

Photograph: Rajesh Karkera

Are you a Googlehead too?

There's a whole new species in the Valley - they're called the Googleheads. You know what the characteristics are :-) are you one too?

Polar Bears- are their days on earth numbered?

Beautiful picture of a Polar Bear - sadly their days are numbered unless there are some drastic breakthroughs in alternate energy sources over the next decade.

Tags: environment, ice age, global warming, al gore, polar bear, polar ice cap, arctic

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Thought of the Day:
"If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion."
- George Bernard Shaw

You the man - Colbert!

The Blog | Arianna Huffington: Is Stephen Colbert the Last One to Know How Amazing He Was? | The Huffington Post:

Here's a great collection of reviews and comments on Stephen Colbert's amazing performance at the White House correspondents' dinner. I have watched the video a few times already - got to say - it's a classic - I don't know when was the last time anyone butchered the establishment quite this way. Way to go Colbert! And what a tough act to follow - for the mentor John Stewart. Looks like with this one performance Colbert totally came out of Stewart's shadow.

technorati tags: Colbert, John, Stewart, white+house, bush, cheney, comedy, truthiness

Gas prices are chaging driving behavior

MercuryNews.com | 05/10/2006 | Chung: Going slower makes driver mighty mellow

Here's a positive spin on the rising gas prices. Seems like a lot of people are driving slower - at the optimum gas mileage speed of 55 mph. I'm sure that would lead to lesser gas consumption and a safer driving manner. But you have to remember that the posted speed limit on most bay area freeways is 65 mph and if a majority of the drivers slowed down to 55 mph we're going to have major congestion problems - on top of already congested freeways during peak rush hours. Already there are reports of hybrid drivers driving at 55 mph or less in the car pool lane and causing major angst to other car pool lane users. I won't be surprised if we see some major road rage incidents due to a lot of people driving ridiculously slow trying to maximize their gas mileage. As for me, I'll stick to the a couple of mph above posted speed limits.

Another thought here - if people really started driving slower, why would we need all these cars, trucks and SUV's with high output engines. I think almost 30% of all vehicles sold in USA are having V8 engines - that is really ridiculous. Even V6 is considered uneconomical and a sinful luxury in most European countries. I would imagine that family sedans like Camrys, Accords and others with the standard 4 cylinder engines would make most sense. Another thing I noticed about European driving -they are getting twice the mileage because they use a lot of diesel engines. I think the whole Hyprid thing is a mistake - diesel can get you all the benefits at lower cost and lower pollution.

Banned in the U.S.A. - Gordon Lightfoot: Canada's Folk Laureate - CBC Archives

Banned in the U.S.A. - Gordon Lightfoot: Canada's Folk Laureate - CBC Archives: "

'Black day in July / Motor city madness has touched the countryside,' begins Lightfoot's Black Day In July, a song dealing with the 1967 race riots in Detroit. In this CBC Radio clip, an indignant Lightfoot explains why top-40 radio stations in the U.S. have banned the song. 'A lot of them don't want to upset their listeners. It's the housewife in the morning, let's give her something that'll make her happy, why give her something that'll make her think?'"

• Radio stations in 30 states banned Black Day In July. The song was released in April 1968, shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Lightfoot believed radio stations banned the song because they didn't want to further stir up existing racial tensions stemming from the assassination. The song appeared on Lightfoot's 1968 album Did She Mention My Name.

Here are the lyrics of this legendary song - and I dedicate it to the spineless American media companies.

Black day in july
Motor city madness has touched the countryside
And through the smoke and cinders
You can hear it far and wide
The doors are quickly bolted
And the children locked inside
Black day in july
Black day in july
And the soul of motor city is bared across the land
As the book of law and order is taken in the hands
Of the sons of the fathers who were carried to this land

Black day in july
Black day in july
In the streets of motor city is a deadly silent sound
And the body of a dead youth lies stretched upon the ground
Upon the filthy pavement
No reason can be found

Black day in july
Black day in july
Motor city madness has touched the countryside
And the people rise in anger
And the streets begin to fill
And there’s gunfire from the rooftops
And the blood begins to spill

Black day in july

In the mansion of the governor
There’s nothing that is known for sure
The telephone is ringing
And the pendulum is swinging
And they wonder how it happened
And they really know the reason
And it wasn’t just the temperature
And it wasn’t just the season

Black day in july
Black day in july
Motor city’s burning and the flames are running wild
They reflect upon the waters of the river and the lake
And everyone is listening
And everyone’s awake

Black day in july
Black day in july
The printing press is turning
And the news is quickly flashed
And you read your morning paper
And you sip your cup of tea
And you wonder just in passing
Is it him or is it me

Black day in july

In the office of the president
The deed is done the troops are sent
There’s really not much choice you see
It looks to us like anarchy
And then the tanks go rolling in
To patch things up as best they can
There is no time to hesitate
The speech is made the dues can wait

Black day in july
Black day in july
The streets of motor city now are quiet and serene
But the shapes of gutted buildings
Strike terror to the heart
And you say how did it happen
And you say how did it start
Why can’t we all be brothers
Why can’t we live in peace
But the hands of the have-nots
Keep falling out of reach

Black day in july
Black day in july
Motor city madness has touched the countryside
And through the smoke and cinders
You can hear it far and wide
The doors are quickly bolted
And the children locked inside

Would you rather be the criminal or the victim?

"Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim." - Bertrand Russell

I just came across this quote on my Goowy Desktop - it just struck me as so insightful that I felt compelled to share it!

USA National Gasoline Price Map

USA National Gas Temperature Map: "Now you can see what gas prices are around the country at a glance. Areas are color coded according to their price for the average price for regular unleaded gasoline"