<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917</id><updated>2011-07-08T01:22:21.242-07:00</updated><category term='twilight'/><category term='transistor'/><category term='CAT'/><category term='spoof'/><category term='education system'/><category term='henchman'/><category term='hindi film'/><category term='TV serials'/><category term='satire'/><category term='engineering'/><title type='text'>Random</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>11</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-116913635835849891</id><published>2010-07-11T00:53:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-07-11T01:21:29.981-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='twilight'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='spoof'/><title type='text'>How to read twilight</title><content type='html'>I read twilight about a year back, and i really enjoyed it. Seriously. And it was really perplexing to see so many of my friends ridiculing it utterly. These guys have tastes very similar to mine, so i had absolutely no clue why they hated the book so much. After a while it dawned on me that they probably didn’t read it the way I did. This post shows how I read twilight and why i enjoyed it so much.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It starts with a girl who apparently looks like a mouse but is called swan. The first three chapters was about how she moved to a new school, I've moved to many new schools, so it was nothing new to me so i finished that part in about 5 minutes. Then all of a sudden there were vampires!! It was pretty cool because one of them could see the future and one could hear thoughts. The book was getting promising.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the next few chapters one of the vampires kept coming, but he didn't kill anyone and wasn't hearing the girl's thoughts(In one of the later books I realized he actually couldn't hear her thoughts, but it didn't affect the core plot of this book) So i directly moved to the parts with more vampires. There was one about an old vampire's history. He was apparently everyone's dad and was supposed to be very white, very blonde, and yet good looking (I was able to make a mental picture of him, but only after rejecting the 'good looking' part, a small permissible mistake by the author) That part was pretty interesting as it had italy in it and vampires killing people and how this guy a was wuss for killing only animals (His whole family ate only animals, which explained why the mouse girl was hanging out with them. Also somewhere in between i caught that she was now the mind reader's girlfriend. Again pretty low on the relevance scale).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After that chapter the book became from ok to pretty good. Somehow there was this only vampire baseball game that was organised, and there were other new vampires. These ones killed people and one wanted to eat mouse girl. From then on there was a chase sequence, and vampires shaking of other vampires, the attacker vampire trying to eat mouse girl a fight sequence. It all happened pretty fast and the thing was written so well that I didn't have to actually read word to word to get a good picture of the whole scene.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Finally there was one very cool part about the future reader's past and how she was related to one of the new vampires. It confirmed my suspicion that she was the protagonist and suggested something about the future stories. It was a pretty good way to pass a couple of hours.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Later I realized the rest of the novels were equally entertaining and I may post something on them too.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-116913635835849891?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/116913635835849891/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=116913635835849891' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/116913635835849891'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/116913635835849891'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-to-read-twilight.html' title='How to read twilight'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-1497336139888214133</id><published>2009-10-16T08:37:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-16T08:39:22.948-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='education system'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='TV serials'/><title type='text'>Television Serials and Education</title><content type='html'>Parents blame their child’s poor grades on TV. Be it school kids or college students, they are scolded for watching too many serials on TV. It is true, TV watching has an adverse effect on children who are enrolled in the current education system. This is a problem, and there are two ways of tackling it. You either stop the kids from watching TV, which leads them to pursue other less decent activities to kill time, or you modify the education system in such a way that it makes TV serials an integral part of the curriculum. This post strongly advocates the adoption of the second method.&lt;br /&gt;But how can TV watching be an educational activity? Firstly the so called ‘educational channels’ that are present are not the solution. All they show are lizards and crocodiles. Real education can be attained from the various TV serials that are already present. In fact most of the things you learn from these shows can almost never be found in books. For example, many physicists will tell you all the intricacies concerning time travel, but none of them will tell you that repeated time travel will give you frequent nose bleeds and will ultimately result in your death. Something only a person who has watched LOST will know. TV serials have a way of giving only relevant knowledge that is applicable in the real world. For example in TV serials you never encounter a situation where there’s a frictionless surface, since it doesn’t happen, it’s completely useless.&lt;br /&gt;In the current system, the biggest problem is attendance. The root of the whole issue is getting up and going to the lecture hall. Students just can’t get up. We’re not made for things like that. TV serials provide a very easy and nice way out. With the concept of reruns, shows that air at 8 in the morning will also air at 2 in the afternoon, so you really don’t have to get up early. And for those who do get up early, the 2 PM show serves as a revision exercise.&lt;br /&gt;Another problem faced today is student satisfaction. Most kids find the curriculum boring, and with good reason. The fact that the voltage at the gate of a transistor, makes electrons flow from one side to another, is hardly as cool as say, Michael Scoffield having a tattoo of the Fox River prison blue prints all over his body in the show Prison Break. With TV serials students will be actually interested in what they’re studying, and hence perform better in the examinations etc.&lt;br /&gt;One of the biggest issues with TV serials today is the content. Them government officials might argue that the content in TV serials might not actually be ‘educational’. No one knows what they mean by that. But if anyone says, “Learning about transistors is essential; all your devices run on them.” The best way to counter them is by giving them an example. When you’re in a deserted alley and suddenly you find yourself surrounded by three demons, what would you do? Sure you could flash all your gadgets at them in the hope that those transistors would do something magical, but it is highly unlikely. Instead if you’d paid attention in the last class which featured the show supernatural, you would instantly reach for the nearest barrel of holy water and splash the demons with it, and come out of a life threatening situation without knowing anything about transistors. Another example is interviews. No matter what you learn in college, you screw up interviews, because books don’t help in such matters. But now we have reality TV. Every reality show has interviews, where you see everyone making fools of themselves and you learn exactly what NOT to do in an interview.&lt;br /&gt;TV serials help in all aspects of education an example of this would be moral education. Usually in schools moral education is zero, and the classes never happen. In case a teacher does show up for moral education class, she is swarmed by kids shouting, “Ma’m PT period ma’m, please ma’m.” To which the teacher replies, “But students , I thought today we’d talk about the secularism and respecting other religions.” And the students would chant, “Ma’m secular tomorrow, PT today.” The teacher would sigh and let them go. So in effect there was no moral education in school. But when TV serials are a part of school, the whole situation is different. Kids watch TV in school and come out telling each other, “Dude, we humans have got to stick together, irrespective of religion we should stand together and fight those mutants.”&lt;br /&gt;Everyone talks about ending terrorism, by educating the narrow minded terrorists somehow. This couldn’t be easier and more achievable with the help of TV serials. If TV serials are somehow broadcast to terrorists infested areas, Achmed the instructor would tell the child recruits, “Come on children, time for some shooting practice.” To which the children would reply, “After half an hour sir, we’re busy watching HIMYM,” Achmed would furiously snatch the remote and just before switching off the TV he would stop and unable to contain himself, he’d smile. “That Barney Stinson,” he’d say shaking his head. “These American’s are not all that bad, I couldn’t bear the thought of killing Barney or Robin.” To which one of the students would reply, “But sir, Robin is Canadian!!” and they’d all share a nice laugh. And when the head of the squad calls upon volunteers for the next suicide bombing mission, no one would raise their hands. The terrorists would look at each other and say, “Dude, LOST season finale is coming up in a couple of weeks, there’s no way I’m gonna miss that!!” In the end the terrorists and humans will get together to form a huge army to fight the mutants.&lt;br /&gt;I could go on but the new House episode is coming up and I really hate missing class.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-1497336139888214133?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/1497336139888214133/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=1497336139888214133' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/1497336139888214133'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/1497336139888214133'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2009/10/television-serials-and-education.html' title='Television Serials and Education'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-1456857791937681496</id><published>2009-10-10T04:27:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-10T05:07:40.266-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Imagine there's no Twitter</title><content type='html'>Twitter is awesome!! Evereyone loves it. The whole world loves it so much, it makes you wonder. What if this was all planned. What if there's a hidden motive behind twitter? Our lives are so inextricably twined with twitter,that what if, one day, twitter was shut down!!&lt;br /&gt;Who would stand to gain?&lt;br /&gt;The suspects&lt;br /&gt;1) Them mobile phone service providers -&lt;br /&gt;These companies are hungry for money, and you can't blame them. They employ the maxim, "If you want to chat with your girlfriend for hours, you might as well pay for it." But the day twitter dies, its Christmas for these guys. Imagine that two minutes after Jack posted he'sabout to finish his sandwich, twitter died. Then Jill and five others would be frantically calling jack to find out if he did in fact finish the sandwich. They would HAVE to know, it would be impossible for them to sleep otherwise, and if they did manage to sleep, they'd be dreaming about Jack and his sandwich and just when he's having his last bite, they'd wake up!!&lt;br /&gt;Considering that there are a billion twitter users, and that finishing a sandwich is just about the most boring tweet possible... anyone can see them company guys swimming in gold.&lt;br /&gt;2) The Undertakers -&lt;br /&gt;We might not like to think about it, but its a very real possibility. The day twitter shuts down the suicide rate will quadruple. There are those whose lives revolve around twitter, and if they die, only one group stands to gain. The undertakers. Are they the ones behind the twitter phenomenon?&lt;br /&gt;3) Other social networking sites -&lt;br /&gt;Yes there are many of these and we keep getting invites to them all the time. But do we actually join them. If not why? Its because of twitter.We feel we're following thousands and there are thousands following us, so there's no need to be more connected.&lt;br /&gt;But the day twitter dies, these sites will be our saviours. Jill would tell Jane, " Dude, I'm dying to know if Jack finished the sandwich!!" To which Jane would reply, "You don't know yet!! He's totally updated his status in xyz.com."&lt;br /&gt;"I have got to join that site!!" Jill would say and xyz would have one more user. Scale that up to twitter's user base, and you have xyz's popularity sky rocketing.&lt;br /&gt;4) The Transport Industry&lt;br /&gt;Twitter has brought out the social beast inside us. Earlier we were content talking to our neighbours and friends, now we are talking to everyone and still go to bed reluctantly.&lt;br /&gt;So once twitter is dead, and you feel the need to talk to someone, halfway around the world, or even a different part of the city, its the transport industry you turn to.&lt;br /&gt;There are of course certain drawbacks in each point mentioned above&lt;br /&gt;1) Mobile phone guys :&lt;br /&gt;There may be a spike in their earnings the day twitter dies, but humans by nature are cheap. Once they get their phone bill they'll stop.&lt;br /&gt;2) Undertakers :&lt;br /&gt;I've always imagined them to be gaunt, dressed in black with a black hat, and living in the early 1900s. I'm guessing they probably don't really know about twitter.&lt;br /&gt;3) Social Networking sites:&lt;br /&gt;Man is not just a social animal anymore. He's a socially hungry animal, who would probably already be on site xyz and all the other ones anyway. Jill would probably have the same friends in five different sites and also read their status messages in all five of them. If twitter died she'd know about Jack's sandwich by checking out the photo he posted in xyz which shows an empty plate&lt;br /&gt;4) The transport industry :&lt;br /&gt;As far as the transport industry is concerned, refer to point one.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On a (partially) serious note the consequences of twitter's phenomenal popularity is quite thought provoking&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-1456857791937681496?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/1456857791937681496/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=1456857791937681496' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/1456857791937681496'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/1456857791937681496'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2009/10/imagine-theres-no-twitter.html' title='Imagine there&apos;s no Twitter'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-7132885247061404929</id><published>2009-09-01T06:36:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-01T06:45:55.397-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='spoof'/><title type='text'>You know you’re living in a crappy place when…</title><content type='html'>1) On the first day of the monsoon, instead of dancing in the rain, you’re busy throwing you’re belongings onto the loft, because your house is turning into a giant (dirty) aquarium&lt;br /&gt;2) You stop caring about the poor farmers and start praying that the monsoon never begins&lt;br /&gt;3) You stuff your ears with cotton every night so that none of the countless centipedes, millipedes and all other kind of pedes get in&lt;br /&gt;4) You catch yourself googling, “Can a millipede in your ear kill you?”&lt;br /&gt;5) You get up in the morning and offer a prayer of thanks to God that you’re still alive after you realize that one of the cotton balls actually fell of your ear in the middle of the night&lt;br /&gt;6) You sadly reminisce about the days when you laughed at people who lived off their suitcases, because now you’re doing the exact same thing, with one exception… The suitcase is on the loft, and you’re not tall enough to reach it&lt;br /&gt;7) You say TGIM instead of TGIF and work late just to avoid going back&lt;br /&gt;8) The landlady assures you that smoking and drinking would mean certain eviction, while her son, just to tick you off, enjoys a smoke right in front of your door every night&lt;br /&gt;9) During a storm water starts seeping through the front door and the drainage outlet at the back, and you are stuck in between with all your possessions&lt;br /&gt;10) One fine day, when everythings bright and sunny, you still find water seeping through the drain at the back&lt;br /&gt;11) You think you’ve seen everything until you realize that the small noise you heard the previous night and the small black thing that ran past you is in fact a rat&lt;br /&gt;12) A couple of minutes after seeing the rat you see that he’s brought his family along&lt;br /&gt;13) You wake up at three in the morning just because you heard it rain and its your turn to check the drain&lt;br /&gt;14) You wake up at three again, but this time its because there’s no power&lt;br /&gt;15) You actually think of staying overnight in the company because there was a storm in Delhi&lt;br /&gt;16) You always happen to be in the bathroom when the power goes out&lt;br /&gt;17) The water seeps in again and as you try to gather the mattress and throw it onto the loft the power goes out&lt;br /&gt;18) Your landlady’s grandson buys a bike with the most horrible horn that gives you a splitting 24 hr headache, and of course, it plays five different tunes&lt;br /&gt;19) Your nicest friend who wouldn’t badmouth the Bug Blatter Beast of Traal, after meeting with the landlady smacks his forehead saying, “Kya paka rahi hai yaar!!”&lt;br /&gt;20) The landlady tells you that the only way to dispose off your garbage is to go at midnight and throw it under the sign that says ‘NO LITTERING’&lt;br /&gt;21) She also makes it abundantly clear that, if you are caught, she’s not to blame&lt;br /&gt;22) You find the whole cake of Mortein Rat killer that you placed last night is missing, but you can still see the rats&lt;br /&gt;23) You start getting the dead rat smell everywhere, while your roommates call you paranoid&lt;br /&gt;24) No matter what the situation your dreams always have rats in them&lt;br /&gt;25) You try to position yourself at night in such a way that even if a rat does come to get you it would have to bite your roommate first&lt;br /&gt;26) Inspite of your well thought out positioning you get bitten by a rat, whereas your roommate is fine&lt;br /&gt;To Be Continued&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-7132885247061404929?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/7132885247061404929/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=7132885247061404929' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/7132885247061404929'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/7132885247061404929'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2009/09/you-know-youre-living-in-crappy-place.html' title='You know you’re living in a crappy place when…'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-5381383214338805189</id><published>2009-08-24T06:50:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-24T06:50:55.920-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Truth Ka Facing: Featuring Popeye The Sailor II</title><content type='html'>"Next question Mr Popeye,&lt;br /&gt;7) Who is the one person you adore the most?"&lt;br /&gt;Olive Oyl's face perked up, but Popeye's went lower, he mumbled reluctantly,&lt;br /&gt;"Jack Sparrow"&lt;br /&gt;Sensing a storm, Truthman threw the next question before Olive Oyl could react...&lt;br /&gt;8) "Do you really believe that Sweet Pea is your illegitimate child?"&lt;br /&gt;This time however there was no embarassment in Popeye's face... "No (toot toot)" he said clearly and loudly. Truthman seemed confused, he consulted his notes, and then realisation dawned on his face. "Aah, sorry about that, I mixed up the questions, this was meant for Bluto who'll be facing me next week.&lt;br /&gt;"What?" blurted Bluto, "I'm going to have to answer that?"&lt;br /&gt;"Oh, no don't worry," said Truthman, "You mostly won't have to, you probably won't even get past the, "Do you have a secret crush on Popeye?" question."&lt;br /&gt;"Now, Popeye" said Truthman facing him, "here comes the second last question,"&lt;br /&gt;9) "Do you think that, Pappy is in fact not your real father?"&lt;br /&gt;"Popeye," said a hurt and broken Pappy, "This ain't true is it? You really don't believe that?"&lt;br /&gt;"Tis' true Pappy," said Popeye, "How else can you explain the fact that you got a long beard and I ain't got none. It don't add up."&lt;br /&gt;"But Popeye!!" pleaded Pappy, "I told you a million times, yer Mum ain't got no beard either!! That's why you ain't got none!!"&lt;br /&gt;Before Popeye could reply to that the Truthman cut in, "We're running out of time Popeye, so I'm gonna shoot the last question for 10 million bucks!!! (The lights went off)&lt;br /&gt;"It's ok folks," said Truthman, "Their just extra extra dim, we keep forgetting to brighten them after the question is asked. Anyway now for the tenth question,"&lt;br /&gt;10) Popeye is it true that, eating spinach does not actually make you stronger, and that you use a muscular body double to do the after spinach scenes?"&lt;br /&gt;If Popeye looked broken earlier, he looked a lot worse now, "Please!!" he pleaded, "anything else!!"&lt;br /&gt;"This is the question Popeye, you can answer it if you want the money."&lt;br /&gt;"But there be kids watchin'!!!"&lt;br /&gt;"All the more reason to tell the truth," said Truthman calmly&lt;br /&gt;"Yes," he said finally, "But it wasn't my fault!!"&lt;br /&gt;"Then who's was it?"&lt;br /&gt;He looked right and left and said in a low whisper.&lt;br /&gt;"It was them Spinach Companies!!"&lt;br /&gt;And thus the show ended&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-5381383214338805189?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/5381383214338805189/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=5381383214338805189' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/5381383214338805189'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/5381383214338805189'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2009/08/truth-ka-facing-featuring-popeye-sailor_24.html' title='Truth Ka Facing: Featuring Popeye The Sailor II'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-2639696630142431908</id><published>2009-08-23T04:31:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-23T06:25:16.735-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Truth Ka Facing : Featuring Popeye The Sailor I</title><content type='html'>It was another episode of Truth Ka Facing. The Truthman was seated as usual and opposite him sat the sailor of international repute, Popeye. His family and friends were seated in the audience. Ten questions he would have to face, ten answers he would have to divulge, to win ten million bucks&lt;br /&gt;Truthman spoke, "Well Popeye, lets start with the first question," as he said this the lights dimmed and an audible "Oooh" escaped the audience. "This seems to be an easy one" the Truthman added,&lt;br /&gt;1) "What was your childhood ambition? What did you always want to become?&lt;br /&gt;"It's simple," said Popeye smiling, "I always wanted to be a sailor." "Aah, but our machine here doen't agree," said the Truthman,"Tell us the truth Mr Popeye."&lt;br /&gt;"All right then," said Popeye sighing , "Me childhood dream was to be a ..." he said the last part in a scarcely audible tone.&lt;br /&gt;"A Rap Artist?" said Truthman loudly.&lt;br /&gt;"Well, yes" agreed Popeye, "I even wrote a couple of songs." "Can you sing one for us?" asked Truthman. "All, right, here goes," saif Popeye and began singing in his gruff voice,&lt;br /&gt;"Yo, yo Me name is Popeye&lt;br /&gt;Me gives Bluto his black eye..."&lt;br /&gt;"Thats very charming Mr Popeye, now for the next question," cut in Truthman&lt;br /&gt;"But me ain't done yet!!" protested Popeye,&lt;br /&gt;"Yes you are Mr Popeye, if i let you go on we risk losing half our viewers, trust me, we learnt a huge lesson when we invited eminem last time."&lt;br /&gt;"Coming to the next question," &lt;lights&gt;,&lt;br /&gt;2) Mr Popeye what is the one thing that scares you the most?&lt;br /&gt;Popeye fixed a hard look on Truthman , "That be an embarassing question."&lt;br /&gt;"The answer please Mr Popeye," retorted Truthman with a harder look.&lt;br /&gt;"Fine, I get scared of the fact that ..." he hesitated a little, and then hurriedly finished the rest of the sentence, "that Olive's arms are longer than her feet."&lt;br /&gt;"Popeye how dare you," said Olive standing up, "But me Peach," reurned Popeye utterly helpless, "Its true, you can touch your toes without bending your back!!"&lt;br /&gt;Before Olive Oyl could say anything, Truthman hurriedly went to the next question, "Popeye," he said as the lights dimmed even further,&lt;br /&gt;3) "What is your favorite food?"&lt;br /&gt;"Aah everyone knows its spinach," Popeye said smiling proudly, "But, "interjected Truthman, "our machine knows its not, come on Popeye out with the truth."&lt;br /&gt;"Well, all right, if you have to know my favorite food is Chicken Tikka, but kids," he said looking sternly at the camera, " even if you don't like it you have to eat it to remain strong."&lt;br /&gt;"Thank you for delivering that message Popeye, now the next question for you is,&lt;br /&gt;4) Do you think Wimpy has been a good friend to you?"&lt;br /&gt;At this Wimpy for the first time looked at Popeye, in fact since the start of the show it was the first time that he looked at anything apart from the hamburgere he'd been eating. Popeye shifted his eyes away and answered,&lt;br /&gt;"Me thinks he has not been a very good friend at all now that you've mentioned it, he's borrowed about a million bucks from me and never paid me back! Everytime i ask him, he says he'll pay me on tuesday, but if i ask him on tuesdays he tells me next tuesday and borrows some more." At this Wimpy got up, "I've never been so insulted in all my life," he said indignantly, after which he sat down and all of his concentration was once again taken up by the hamburger.&lt;br /&gt;"Well Popeye are you ready for question no 5?" Popeye shrugged,&lt;br /&gt;5) Who's legs do you like more than Olive Oyl's?"&lt;br /&gt;"Popeyeee" came a warning shout from Olive, Popeye looked the other way and in a barely audible whisper said , "Malaika Arora"&lt;br /&gt;"But how!!" shrieked Olive, "My legs are so much longer!!, Popeye you're dead when you come home tonight!!"&lt;br /&gt;Popeye his head still down muttered a small, "I'm sorry," while Truthman deciding he'd had enough drama, went on to the next question,&lt;br /&gt;6) "Popeye, how many times have you been out in the sea?"&lt;br /&gt;"Ha!" said Pappy, "he's a sailor of course he must have gone out to sea million times."&lt;br /&gt;"Popeye," prompted Truthman,&lt;br /&gt;"All, right," he looked broken, "I've never actually been out to sea. I only work at the docks."&lt;br /&gt;"Impossible," said Pappy. "It ain't me fault ok," said Popeye bristling a little, "its just that i can't swim and i get sea sick very easily, I've just been watching out for me health."&lt;br /&gt;"Then what about all those episodes where you were at sea?" asked Truthman&lt;br /&gt;"CG" replied Popeye shrugging...&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-2639696630142431908?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/2639696630142431908/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=2639696630142431908' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/2639696630142431908'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/2639696630142431908'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2009/08/truth-ka-facing-featuring-popeye-sailor.html' title='Truth Ka Facing : Featuring Popeye The Sailor I'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-2877942922049441863</id><published>2009-06-16T04:50:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-06-16T05:02:55.711-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='henchman'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='hindi film'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='spoof'/><title type='text'>Musings of a Hindi Film Henchman</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;My name is Amit.  I actually did my B.E from a pretty decent college in Mumbai, however because of the general degradation in the economy I failed to land a job. That is when I joined the gang. They said they’d give me a place to stay and feed me well. And the only qualification you needed was to be fat, ugly and stupid, three things I was very good at. I was also required to arrange my face into a scowl all the time. The job description said, I had to negotiate dealings between my gangster boss and his ‘clients’. Of course, I soon discovered there was no pleasant discourse; rather it was more of threatening and beating up people. I also had to do a lot of laughing out loud at my master’s extremely crass remarks.&lt;br /&gt;My name is nice, because there’s no need of a nickname for it. It’s short and sweet, but when I joined the gang I learned that a nickname was compulsory. So I was christened Kallu. Seriously Kallu. Of course I was probably better off than my friend from college who was called Dimple.  Anyway the nickname I could live with, I mean I have put up with worse in college. The first few days there wasn’t much to do so I was quite contented with the way things were going. I was making a living for God’s sake. But that’s when my happy world came crashing, because the Hero had made his entry.&lt;br /&gt;The thing I hate about heroes is that they’re tiny. I mean it is so damn easy to beat them up and throw them aside. But no, that’s not how things work in the film world. No you have to get beaten up by them and not just once. OK so the hero wants to take it out on you and your buddies, fine hit us and get it over with. But that’s not how it works is it, the damn film requires us to come again and again. He hits me once, then I have to wait for Dimple, Phattu, Chiclet and Kanchi (yep you heard correct) and then its my turn all over again. And that goes on for five times at least until the hero thinks of moving on.&lt;br /&gt;After that it just gets worse. There we are all beaten up, and do we get to go to the hospital? No we get to report back to the boss, who gets pissed off himself and kills some of us. They are your own people douschebag, how can you even expect to win at the end of the movie after reducing your own force. The people who are left alive are worse off now. We all know the boss isn’t gonna come up with a good plan, so we’ll have to resort to fighting the hero again and with lesser people he beats us all up and the boss kills some more.&lt;br /&gt;Another really bad thing about fights is that, you’re not allowed to take guns. For whatever reason we never get guns. Once one of us got hold of a gun and used it. He shot the hero twice but he didn’t die. Later we realized that someone had filled the gun with blanks, and the damn hero used ketchup for blood. I mean it’s totally unfair. The only thing worse than a hero is the heroine.&lt;br /&gt;Heroines are a menace, believe me. Firstly the really hot ones never come in your movies. Under normal circumstances it’s ok if the heroine is ugly, as long as it has nothing to do with me. But that is rarely the case. You’re always obligated to make cat calls and whistle at the heroine. I seriously hate that part. Here we are trying to make lewd remarks and all when the heroine attempts a belly dance, while in reality we’re all unanimously puking in our own mouths. Most of us have moral issues too. We’ve tried to bring it up in front of the boss but he never listens. But that’s not the worst part about the heroine. They always despise you. Ever seen a movie with the heroine being nice to a henchman? If you say Tamil movies, you’re wrong, look closer, that’s not the henchman it’s the hero.&lt;br /&gt;Ok, so we ourselves haven’t been very nice to her, but that still doesn’t justify what happened to me the other day. There I was in the market. I thought I’d do a little shopping, you know, get away from the general routine of being despicable. There I was minding my own business when all of a sudden I hear someone screaming. I turn around to find the source. And there she was the heroine, and guess what, she was pointing directly at me! I mean for God’s sake I didn’t even know she was there. And I get beaten up a little more by the hero and I get back to my daily routine.&lt;br /&gt;Only once did I suggest beating up the hero, but I was hushed down by my other ‘gunda’ friends. “Dude!” they said “You wanna end up like old Kalia?” It seems old Kalia snapped one day and let the hero have it. The next day the hero slapped him with a lawsuit. That’s when hero bashing became a taboo thing among henchmen. A little later villain bashing became taboo too.&lt;br /&gt;We’ve often been accused of faking our beatings. I must say that its true. But think about it, there’s no way a movie will allow us to win against the hero, so some time ago a henchman adopted this idea (‘some say it was old Kalia, before he succumbed to the injuries he sustained after getting hit by that law-suit). The best way to escape with minimal injuries is to jump before the punch lands and then roll twice on the ground, so that the hero is convinced he gave a good punch (yep, he’s usually that thick).&lt;br /&gt;Another big problem is that the boss no matter how rich he is, is a cheapskate. I mean he won’ give you enough money to eat in a decent place. I mean it’s been ages since I’ve been to CCD. To everyone out there who are unemployed or are feeling generally pathetic about themselves, take solace in the fact that you’re not a Hindi film henchman. And if you are a Hindi film henchman, take solace in the fact that you’re not a Tamil film henchman… They have it a lot worse.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-2877942922049441863?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/2877942922049441863/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=2877942922049441863' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/2877942922049441863'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/2877942922049441863'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2009/06/musings-of-hindi-film-henchman.html' title='Musings of a Hindi Film Henchman'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-6727965259357144991</id><published>2008-12-09T04:29:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T06:07:02.994-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='spoof'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='transistor'/><title type='text'>The Principle and working of a MOSEFT</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;The MOSEFT is an extension of the EFT family, where EFT stands for Engineering Friendly Transistor. To understand the principle behind its working it is necessary to start from the basics.&lt;br /&gt;The first MOSEFT was synthesized in January 2008, by a group of college dropouts. The aim was to reduce the complexity involved in studying the working of transistors to make lives of electronics engineers much easier. It was understood that the concept of electrons and holes was the root for the problem; hence it had to be eliminated from the transistor operation. This lead to the discovery of ‘magic particles’. These particles are the basic components of MOSEFTs. ‘Magic particles’ (MPs) in short have very attractive properties that make them ideal for transistor operations&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Advantages of MPs over holes and electrons&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;ol style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;li&gt;There are only one type of MP particles, hence it is impossible to mix them up during exams&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;They have automatic charge formulation property. This means that they decide their own charge depending on the situation, independent of what is assigned to them in the equation. Meaning, that negative sign in the equation can be left just as it is, the magic particle will make it positive; and the solution correct.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The M factor: This is a factor that arises from the derivation of MPs on the Magic Particle Theory, which is beyond the scope of most texts that make sense. However the M factor can be understood without doing an in depth analysis. It basically has the property that it abstracts all the interactions between MPs. This is very helpful in understanding MOSEFTs. Due to the M factor all the inner working of the transistor is automatically abstracted.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Principle of MOSEFTs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;MOSEFT Structure&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;The MOSEFT structure is a very simple one. There is no mucking about with emitters and collectors and drains, etc. There is only one central element in the MOSEFT, it is called ‘The Box’. It is named so due to its appearance. The Box has certain properties that makes it an ideal candidate for the MOSEFT structure.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;ol style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;li&gt;There is only one ‘Box’, there is no box1, box2 and so on. Even if there is more than one MOSEFT in succession, all one has to do is to put them all in one ‘box’. This will be proved shortly.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;There are no constraints on the shape of the box, though it is generally assumed by engineers throughout the world, that it is rectangular in shape but this is not necessary. In fact boxes which are not perfectly rectangular are seen to be more effective. Thus it better if these boxes are drawn on the exam paper without a scale, as that gives a more accurate description&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;MOSEFT Operation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The MOSEFT transistor performs the basic transistor task of controlling a voltage or current with an input voltage or current. This is done with the help of the MPs. Consider a ‘Box’, this box encapsulates the whole transistor. Now if an input current is given to the transistor, an output current or voltage can be obtained. For understanding how this output is controlled it necessary to understand the IC theorem&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;IC THEOREM &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The IC theorem states that, when there is a variable to be controlled and output required, it can be assumed that a controller is present. This controller can then perform the controlling operation. The proof of this theorem is loosely based on one of Schrodinger’s theorems (to find out which one, refer SCH [33]). By going up one level of abstraction one doesn’t really need to see the variable being controlled. Instead one can assume that there is a controller doing the controlling. This is valid as according to Schrodinger’s hypothesis there is a probability that there is a controller present. Since there is no way ascertaining that a controller isn’t there due to the abstraction we might as well assume that there is one present. Thus it is called the Imaginary Controller (IC) theorem. This theorem blends in beautifully with magical particles as we shall see.&lt;br /&gt;Thus according to the IC theorem there is a controller inside the box controlling the input and hence the transistor operation is performed. The conversion from voltage to current or vice versa is performed by the MPs. As the inner working of the Magic Particles is abstracted by the M factor, the need to understand the operation is eliminated.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Cascading of multiple transistors&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As with other transistors multiple MOSEFTs can be cascaded. The individual Boxes can be combined into one single ‘Box’. The proof for this is straight forward. The crux is to understand that, none of the workings within the ‘Box’ is understood. Hence if one has n boxes, then one does not understand the working of any of them. Therefore these can be clubbed together in one big ‘Box’ whose working will not be understood by anyone either.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Current Voltage Characteristics of the MOSEFT&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The current voltage characteristics of a MOSEFT unlike other transistors do not have a graphical description. This saves a lot of time for engineers who need to have complete and thorough understanding of the MOSEFT but are facing time bound constraints (for example one day before the exam). The characteristics of the MOSEFT are best explained by an example.&lt;br /&gt;Consider a MOSEFT, when you give an input current to it, you automatically obtain a suitable output at the other end of, ‘The Box’. This is due to the automatic satisfaction property of the EFT that arises due to the magical particles. A detailed explanation of this is given in the following section.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;The Magical Effect&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;When you give a current of 5mA into the transistor and you already know that at the other end the voltage must come out to be around 7V (which is gathered by referring to the answer at the back of the textbook) the MPs are accordingly adjusted to generate the voltage. This occurs due to a property of the MPs called the ‘Look Ahead Property’. This property actually enables the MPs to look ahead in time to see what output is needed. So while solving the problem though the person hasn’t reached the end of the solution yet, the MPs by virtue of this property are able to know what output (or answer) is required and hence generate it. Thus the solution is arrived at.&lt;br /&gt;This procedure is a watertight one. Meaning, it cannot go wrong and gives hundred percent accuracy. This is one of the biggest reasons for the popularity of MOSEFTs. This effect is called the Magical Effect. When asked how the current or voltage output is determined in a MOSEFT, it can be said that, “It occurs magically” or, “Its magic”. Before the discovery of the ‘Magical Effect’, another theory was used to explain input/output determination, called the ‘Tunnel Through’ theorem. This is theorem was however discarded as it suffered from a few obvious deficiencies.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Tunnel Through Theorem&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;To explain how the MPs always arrived at the right answer to a given problem, the Tunnel Through Theorem was suggested. According to this theorem, just like holes and electrons in normal transistors can tunnel through energy barriers, the MPs can tunnel through barriers too. Due to this property it was suggested that the MPs tunneled through the pages of the text book, and reached the solution page, thus recognizing the answer before the problem was solved by the user. Hence the MPs were able to generate the solution for the user. This theorem was however unable to explain the following points&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;How were solutions arrived at when the answer page was in a different text book? &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;What about the problems whose solution are not available?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;However, for the first case, it was suggested that MPs could tunnel all the way through to the other book and find the solutions. And for the second case, since engineers never deal with problems whose solutions are not known, it is safe to assume that the second case never arises.&lt;br /&gt;Thus with the help of the Tunnel Through Theorem and The Magical Effect the automatic satisfaction property of the MOSEFT is explained. Meaning, the MOSEFT outputs automatically adjust themselves to the users need.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Conclusion&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This far it has been shown that MOSEFTs are the most engineering friendly transistors available. There are no complicated wires or circuit diagrams to be drawn. No graphs are required. The various parameters of the MOSEFT (MPs , Box etc) carry huge advantages over normal transistors. The only downside of using the MOSEFT is that it has only been realized on theory, but however it is still a great help to engineers and is an essential tool in making their life easier.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-6727965259357144991?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/6727965259357144991/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=6727965259357144991' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/6727965259357144991'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/6727965259357144991'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2008/12/principle-and-working-of-moseft.html' title='The Principle and working of a MOSEFT'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-6012277499363357142</id><published>2008-10-04T10:36:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-10-04T10:48:36.677-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='engineering'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='spoof'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='CAT'/><title type='text'>The Legend of the Ninjaneers Chapter -1</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Chapter 1 – The Evil Trainers from Chu Lei (Part-1)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;A long time ago, about a million years to be precise, there was an ancient civilization. The people of this civilization were a very skilled in diverse arts and professions. However each and every one of them had been part of an elite group, an academy of sorts. This group was referred to as the Ninjaneers, the protectors of ancient civilizations. This is the long forgotten tale of these brave warriors. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;Jin Wei lifted his head up. “There’s something off,” he thought. “Hey Huang”,&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;he called out to his friend. Huang lifted his head up, &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“What is it?” &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“Can you smell that?” asked&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;Jin Wei, “It seems to me that a storm is brewing.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“It’s the monsoon, what do you expect?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“I don’t mean a storm literally. I mean there’s something’s wrong with the world,” said Jin Wei.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“Of course, there’s something wrong. Here we are; a couple of soon to become Ninjaneers sitting by the lake in the middle of the day when we should be off training,” replied Huang.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“So what do you suggest Huang? That we go to class? That’s probably the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Anyway that’s not what I meant when I said something’s wrong. I think something bad is going to happen, my Ninjaneering instincts are sure of it.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“Ninjaneering instincts?” replied Huang. “When did you develop those? While sleeping by the lake all day?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“You can make fun of me all you want. But I’m going to make a fine Ninjaneer, and I’ll be well versed in all the martial art forms, and I’ll become a strong &lt;u&gt;dauntless&lt;/u&gt; warrior.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“Dauntless warrior? You’re just full of jokes today.” Said Huang chuckling. “How many warriors do you know. I mean pretty much everybody did Ninjaneering so how many of them became fully fledged warriors?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“You’re right?” said Jin Wei standing up. “I’m not going to become a fearless of warrior I’m going to be the first fearless warrior of all time!!”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“Yeah, and one day us Ninjaneers will have girlfriends!!” replied Huang.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“Yeah, it does sound ridiculous doesn’t it? I just thought it’d be possible if I really concentrated and trained hard, and attended all the training sessions too. ” &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“Don’t get disheartened now,” said Huang standing up and walking to Jin Wei. You’re going to make a terrible Ninjaneer, we all are. How can we become good Ninjaneers if our trainers themselves get beaten up by little girls. Come on let’s go back to the quarters. The new script for ‘Gossip Maidens’ is out, I want to read it before someone ruins it by telling me what happens.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"&gt;*************&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“What’s this entire &lt;u&gt;furor&lt;/u&gt; about?” said Huang walking towards the notice board (yes they did have boards then!!) where a bunch of Ninjaneers were huddled. “Look, didn’t I tell you something bad was going to happen?” cried Jin Wei pointing at a notice. It was a call to all Ninjaneers who were planning on leaving Ninjaneering after their training was over. The people who had put up the notice said they represented the trainers of Chu Lei. They offered to train those who were planning on attempting the Sacred Challenge of Answering Timepass questions. Also known as SCAT (they didn’t bother putting in the Q, it didn’t sound catchy that way).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;Chu Lei was a reputed organization and it was well known all over the world for its timepass training. But among the Ninjaneers it also had a bad name. It was said that the trainers of Chu Lei were an evil folk. That anyone who’d venture into the grounds of Chu Lei would never come out the same. Of course it wasn’t as horrible as the myth about the B-Dojos, that story however is for another day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“So, what do you have to say to that?” said Jin Wei indignantly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“There may be something in what you say,” replied Huang. “It seems that their representative is going to give some sort of demonstration today. Lets attend it and see for ourselves whether the rumors surrounding the Chu Lei are true.” &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"&gt;*************&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;“I am sensei Chu,” said the bearded man staring at everybody, “You have no doubt heard about the SCAT. There have been some terrible rumors flying around about SCAT. But reality is different. You may think that becoming clearing SCAT and joining a B-Dojo is not your only option. I say that it is. You may think that clearing the SCAT is not a very tough task, because you are a Ninjaneer and have the expertise and skill for clearing any challenge. But I say that clearing SCAT is extremely tough and without the help of the Chu Lei it is impossible!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;I myself was a Ninjaneer once. One day I was walking by the training grounds looking at a bunch of enthusiastic first years practicing ninja. When I looked at them I felt something was off. I remembered that I myself shared the same enthusiasm as them when I joined the Ninjaneering institute. But at that moment I felt empty inside. A feeling I’m sure all of you have. Upon a long and deep &lt;u&gt;introspection&lt;/u&gt; I finally realized my purpose in life, and the steps I needed to take in order to achieve it. Take it from a man who has had an infinite number of experiences and who has attained enlightenment twenty three times!! This world is not a place for Ninjaneers. Where will martial arts take you? Sure you’ll save the odd person in danger, impair the neighborhood thief’s chances of robbing someone, or help the country during times of war, but what will it do for you? Ninjaneering for the sake of becoming a good ninja is foolish!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"&gt;There’s only one thing in which Ninjaneering will help you, or rather it already has. It has prepared you for this moment. You my pupils are the perfect trainees for Chu Lei. When we are done with you’ll be ready to appear and clear the SCAT. Not because you are in any way smarter than everybody else. After two years of feeling completely incompetent for not being able to learn the way of the Ninja, you’ll finally be able to do something that you can actually get the hang of. Something that doesn’t require you to be different or be truly skilled and intelligent! All you need to do is work hard, do what we tell you to do and you’ll be the perfect SCAT answering machine!! I mean… you’ll be ready to face the SCAT.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: justify;"&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"&gt;**************&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-6012277499363357142?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/6012277499363357142/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=6012277499363357142' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/6012277499363357142'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/6012277499363357142'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2008/10/legend-of-ninjaneers.html' title='The Legend of the Ninjaneers Chapter -1'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-6858458676158956857</id><published>2008-08-25T10:30:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-08-25T10:54:43.836-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='education system'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='satire'/><title type='text'>The Newton Incarnate</title><content type='html'>Years ago, it was said that a man shall walk the earth, one who would redefine the world of science and technology, persuade Microsoft to go open source (yes, he also predicted the existence of Microsoft), would cause &lt;u&gt;rapprochement&lt;/u&gt; between Google and Microsoft and devise a drug that would cure cancer, cure AIDS and give the patient a month long high. This man was supposed to be Isaac Newton but due to a few &lt;u&gt;trifling&lt;/u&gt; mistakes in the Department of Messiahs and Prodigal Heroes (DEMPH) Newton was born a little early. The error was however not an &lt;u&gt;irremediable&lt;/u&gt; one. For a couple of centuries later the Newton version 2.0 was unleashed upon the earth. However DEMPH made a small error again, because the new Newton was placed in India.  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;During the first few years of his life Newton 2.0 felt bewildered, he found himself to be a &lt;u&gt;mote&lt;/u&gt; in the vast expanse of the universe. His thirst of knowledge, and want to understand the universe was even more than before (he was 2.0 after all). His genius would have been recognized early in school were it not for the unfortunate but not entirely unusual circumstance he found himself in. His teachers thought him to be a &lt;u&gt;miscreant&lt;/u&gt; because of his tendencies to solve their problems and questions for them instead of sitting quietly and copying down the steps involved memorizing them and repeating them in the exam. But that did not &lt;u&gt;dispirit&lt;/u&gt; 2.0, after all he was an upgrade over the last Newton. He got into high school with a feeling of hope, that his genius would be recognized, but no luck there either. His subjects, were no longer interesting to him, mostly because he’d finished them all in fifth grade. He tried to pursue something higher and more interesting only to be rebuked by his coaching class teacher, who told him to stop being a smart ass, and be a normal ass like everybody else. The classes were becoming his &lt;u&gt;bane&lt;/u&gt;. Why was he going there in the first place? Because everybody else was going there. How else can you get into an IIT. Only once did he try to ask his parents why it was necessary for him to get into IIT. They had looked at him as if he was &lt;u&gt;deranged&lt;/u&gt;, as if he had just said, “Come Mom, Dad lets have &lt;u&gt;anthrax&lt;/u&gt; for dinner!” They thought that it would not be &lt;u&gt;becoming&lt;/u&gt; of their son to become a scientist or anything else for that matter. The neighbors’ sons were engineers from IIT, and they earned a lot, so who cares if they were a couple of losers who were totally unhappy with their lives.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;He topped the IIT entrance exam, it was the happiest day in everybody’s life except his. In IIT he found engineering an interesting field. However his friends didn’t share the same , they told him that he was being an idiot for taking this so seriously. He felt aggrieved at this and a little confused. They told him there was no future in engineering. “But you make things in engineering, invent stuff that others can use.” He argued. “Why bother?” came the reply. “We don’t need new stuff, there’s no future there. You’ll probably invent something awesome only to see someone else take the credit for it. Then you’ll be left poor and miserable.” “But,” 2.0 argued again, ”what’s the point in living if you thought that way. According to you there’s nothing you can do to become happy.” “There’s one thing you can do,” was the reply, “a profession where all you need to do is talk and wear suits. Meet people and trick them into believing that you’re good.” “How do I do that?” asked 2.0&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;“Become a Manager!! “&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"&gt;Up in the heavens, in the offices of DMPH to be precise, no one knew why the screw up had happened, was it because they were busy organizing Jesus’ comeback or because they were busy designing their logo, we’ll never know. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-6858458676158956857?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/6858458676158956857/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=6858458676158956857' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/6858458676158956857'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/6858458676158956857'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2008/08/newton-incarnate.html' title='The Newton Incarnate'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4257696092235111917.post-1947729693243644234</id><published>2008-08-23T13:55:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2008-12-09T06:20:10.958-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Waves 08 II – The real reason</title><content type='html'>&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;This is probably the last thing I write. They’re watching me. They know I’m on to them, but that isn’t going to stop me. For years they’ve been trying to &lt;u&gt;incite&lt;/u&gt; humans against each other. It has worked well, and now they’re ready for their final conquest. They’re coming here this November to finish us off. You know what I’m talking about. I’m sure you can feel them too. Those darned aliens!!&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;I know to most of you this may sound &lt;u&gt;preposterous.&lt;/u&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;But I’m not drunk, or &lt;u&gt;babbling&lt;/u&gt; because I watched all 53 kinds of close encounters in one sitting. It all makes perfect sense when you think about it. It struck me just a few days ago. When it was announced that waves was being held in November, it felt odd. As if things were being decided by someone other than us. When a bunch of people proposed, the holding of Waves 2008 again, there was no &lt;u&gt;rebuke&lt;/u&gt; from the faculty. The same faculty that rebukes everything else from healthy medical facilities and stripper joints to common sense. What does that have to do with aliens? You may ask. Well then I’d ask you to let me finish.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;There was a meeting on waves with the faculty members. The upshot of which was that, waves would have to be organized in two months time with a budget of less than one lakh rupees.&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;This was the point that really got me thinking about alien involvement. It is obvious that no fest could be run with less than one lakh. So how would the BITS students manage to find more money. A few minutes of thinking made it all clear. If humans don’t fund it, who do you think is left?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;There was a however a part of this theory that perplexed me. To pull off something of this magnitude you have to have an inside man. Who could that be? I wondered. The answer however was simpler than I thought. One piece of information was all that I needed. Humans have always thought that aliens could disguise themselves perfectly. (Douglas Adams is not an exception, he’s not human. How else could he have given such an accurate description of the Galactic Empire). So I started thinking on the opposite track. What if they disguise poorly, or not at all? Then the answer struck me. I knew who the inside man was. For now let’s call him by his alien name, Alpha-Vega-Kappa (Alpha for short). He was part of the discussion, he also persuaded the student body to manage with a budget of less than one lakh. He was the man behind it all.&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Then came the last part of the puzzle, how were they going to use waves, and why are they specifically planning to attack in November. It’s the perfect cover. Waves is the one time Bitsians will let their guard down. Bits G is right between P and H, so it is going to become their headquarters. Once they use it to their advantage, they can take over Bits P and H, and from there, the world. Don’t ask how though…&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;But why November?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;There’s only one answer that fits. The Victoria Secret Fashion Show. When the whole world will be watching and talking about the fashion show, waves will be sidelined. The aliens will then &lt;u&gt;feint&lt;/u&gt; a sighting at the fashion show, so that when everybody’s searching for aliens there, waves will be taken over by them. Unless I stop it. I shall reveal the name of the alien spy. Wow what’s with all those bright lights in the sky? Anyway the earth name of Alpha-Vega-Kappa is…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt; &lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Harry-whatra-entra was here&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Erase&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;How to erase?&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Crap&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;The above work is completely fictitious…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;We aliens do not exist…&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Even if we do… We’ll be at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4257696092235111917-1947729693243644234?l=prak-slarti.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/feeds/1947729693243644234/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=4257696092235111917&amp;postID=1947729693243644234' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/1947729693243644234'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/4257696092235111917/posts/default/1947729693243644234'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://prak-slarti.blogspot.com/2008/08/wavz08-ii-real-reason.html' title='Waves 08 II – The real reason'/><author><name>slarti</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08283069579153707627</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
