The End

This blog will no longer be updated. Kindly remove the RSS feed from your readers. In the words of Jim Morrison:

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

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Migration

Inspired by Vivek, I have decided to migrate this blog to Wordpress. I had been playing around with Wordpress for quite some time and now that they have an import feature, there was no reason for me to say no to a powerful blogging software.

So please update your RSS Readers and visit me at my new Wordpress Blog

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Swiss Pics

Currently on project at Switzerland. Did some sightseeing on the weekend and here are the snaps.

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Yahoo Mail Beta Screenshots

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Partially Colored Images

The Technique:
Open image in GIMP or any other photo manipulation program. Select from Menu: Layer -> Colors -> Hue-Saturation. Click the radio button of the colors you DON'T want in the image. Set their saturation level to -100. From Flickr Technique

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Customer Service and Fuji

For quite some time, I have been unable to update my Flickr photostream for a simple reason. My camera was undergoing repairs at the authorized Fuji repair center. While I had given the camera to the repair center quite some time back, they were dragging their feet as the part (Power Circuit Board) was not easily available in India.

One mail to Fuji guys and they swing into action. Harmeet, the Fuji employee at India, personally called me on 5th April and promised to have the defective part flown in from Hong Kong / Singapore within 10 days. Yesterday, I got a call from Harmeet. My camera has been repaired fully and as a small compensation for the inordinate delay, it will be personally delivered to me at my home. In addition, Harmeet said they will be providing me with a set of rechargeable batteries along with a battery charger as a complimentary gift.

Since my battery charger too had conked off, this is a real welcome move on their part. While Fuji may have taken time to get things functioning, they do know how to keep their customers happy.

If any Fuji guy reads this post, I am also looking for UV / Polarizing / Macro filters. A set of complimentary filters might not be a bad idea. Errr, I guess that is expecting too much. :))

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Email in the Subject Line

Some people I know, use the email Subject line to draft the complete email. I recently received an email with the subject:

If anyone has access to analyst reports on Videocon Industries/links where I can access these reports, can you please forward the same to me urgently - Thanks EOM

For some strange reason I find such emails very irritating. Is it because they convey a sense of "I am too busy to move the cursor to the body of the email" and a sense of lack of courtesy to the intended recipient? Or is it because Gmail does not allow me to see beyond 10-12 words of the subject and I have to anyway open the mail to read it? And more importantly, am I the only one that finds such emails irritating?

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Misc.

Cowards of the Year: They came, they saw, they caved in. Fast Company profiles 10 antiheroes who turned their backs on what they knew to be right. And guess who tops the list?

AjaxWrite: The look, feel, and functionality of Microsoft Word, in a completely web-based AJAX platform.

The Rorschach Test

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Graphical Novels

Here is a list of highly recommended of graphical novels. I have a few of them (marked with an *), am looking for others. If you have any of those and wish to exchange, drop me a line. If you feel there are others which are worth reading, let me know via the comments section.

Bone by Jeff Smith (*)
Concrete: The Human Dilemma by Paul Chadwick (*)
Contract with God by Will Eisner (*)
New York the Big City by Will Eisner (*)
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (*)
The Ghost World by Daniel Clowes (*)
Black Hole by Charles Burns (*)
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman (*)
Watchmen by Alan Moore (*)
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore (*)
Sin City by Frank Miller(*)
300 by Frank Miller(*)
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller (*)
Maus by Art Spiegelman (*)
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan (*)
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis (*)
Blankets by Craig Thompson
From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Berlin: City of Stones by Jason Lutes
Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Kim Deitch
Buddha by Osamu Tezuka
The Golem's Mighty Swing by James Sturm
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware [Had a copy, but seem to have lost it! :(]
Palomar by Gilbert Hernandez

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Sikkim Panoramas

Tsomgo Lake, Indo-China Border, 12400 ft.

Hotel Nor Khill, Gangtok

More photos from my Sikkim Trip here.

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Small Pieces, Loosely Joined

Collage of night of celebration after three days of training at E&Y Senior Consultant School. Some more snaps from S.O.A.R have been uploaded here.

In the meanwhile, I finally managed to lay my hands on Will Eisner's Contract with God and New York: The Big City. Currently reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics: the Invisible Art and Charles Burns's Blackhole.

Will be proceeding on a long vacation and this blog will not be updated for around a month or so during that period.

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Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

Slow, languid, relaxed, melodic! No wonder, Kind of Blue holds the record for being the best selling Jazz album of all times. Even a beginner like me could easily follow the whole album. And the best part, unlike albums released today, each and every piece is worth listening to.

Ashley Kahn in his excellent book Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece points out, "Copies of the album are passed to friends and given to lovers."

So guys, drop me a line if you are interested. :))

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