'Seeing' the girl!

If you all thought that an arranged marriage, that too in the late seventies was a boring and insipid affair, you have another think coming; HipHopGma gives a rollicking account of her engagement. :)

Of Marriage, Mythology and Murder Cases

Sandhya, the Piscean Dreamer, has got a job! So her blog has been rechristened from Of Marriage, Jobs and Murder Cases to Of Marriage, Mythology and Murder Cases.

Some of her latest posts:
A Tribute to the Human Spirit
Hail the Ashwini Kumaras
Sudama and Mob Justice

She still retains her style of writing, weaving together the apparently unconnected, and her penchant for murder cases hasn't dimmed one bit, but info on the marriage front seems to be a little scanty.

In want of being me...

In want of being me says, "Sometimes, everybody at various different circumstances crave to be themselves.To not wear a mask and just be themselves. This place is one such attempt."

I loved the idea and the blog - In want of being me.
Sample posts - Destination US of A.
How my thoughts wander.

Nothing philosophical, nothing too deep - just life. :)

God of All things

I have been pretty ambivalent with regard to my belief in God. Even now I am confused; but reading Tharini's post on this, God of all things, showed to me that God is a matter of faith and not one of proof. Reading her post was a kind of revelation to me. I reproduce a part of her post where she realizes God:

[...] It was near midnight and the house was quiet. We spoke in hushed tones, so as not to wake her parents, and the room was bathed in the soft glow of the lone bedside lamp. And in that charged and vibrant atmosphere, the mellifluous notes of the flute wafted from the player. Soft, soulful music of enchantment. I had goose pimples listening to it. And the myriad questions I had, came tumbling out of my head and the answers that I sought found me so easily. And all the pieces of the puzzle that were dancing wildly over my head and just beyond my reach, now seemed to fall down into their respective places, and they fused together to form a complete whole. And out of that, rose a beautiful vision....a vision of God, his divine grace and his far reaching ways, and my soul was alight. [...]

I am a frequent reader of Tharini's blog Winkie's Way though I have not taken the effort to comment on her posts; she comes across as a sensitive, thoughtful and caring person - she has many more lovely posts, its worth going through her archives.

Courtesy: Kathambamaalai.

G'ma is back hip-hopping.

G'ma did say that she'd be taking a break and I thought I might as well skip the commercials in the mean time; but to my dismay she has not only returned but has also come up with 4 posts since! For a person who needs the daily dose of Kolangal, I was almost in tears. :( But thank God being late to see posts isn't as serious as missing an episode about Abhi's latest problems; one is at least able to have access to the posts. Here are some that I liked which happen to be a couple of philosophical questions:
Is being good bad?
Does candor pay?

Welcome back G'ma; Happy 'hip-hop'-ing.

Welcome back!

Quite a few of my blogging buddies seemed to have gone into hibernation and slowly they are getting back; it could also be that I haven't been visiting their blogs as much as before. :( Sorry folks.
Here is what they have blogged on recently:

Shikha - An end to the hiatus - Part 1 - Does she mean that part-1 of the hiatus is over and another one is in the offing? ;-)
She describes the wonders of traveling in Europe.

Raman - Even this regular blogger seemed to have gone into a shell - what with his marital duties and trying to get a good name from the wifey, I don't blame him. ;-)
Now he seems to got out her clutches and has posted quite a few posts:
Deprivation Syndrome - or the sour grapes reaction.
GPL for dummies - a non-techie explanation of the meaning of the GPL license of software - even I understood.

Brownie- has 2 posts since her return:
World cup - she discusses the 2020 World cup win by India in her characteristic style.
She has another post, laced with her brand of humor, - Ignore this - where one can feel her sense of ennui after her return from England.

Boo - back to her blogging duties after a break of nearly 4 weeks has a new template. She records the darndest things that kids say. She seems to have had a whale of a time in Madras and is now back in Zurich, confused about how she is going to catch up with all the reading that she has to do in blogosphere. PS: She has to take an exam on this shortly. All the best Boo. ;-)

I know this is a poor effort, because all of you would have already read these posts, but the doctor has prescribed that I need to necessarily persevere and be active, if I am to get out this feeling of indolence.

Will come back with more from blogging buddies.

An Awww... Post :)

An "Awww... post" from srini_vas.
Courtesy: RKVS Raman - Quarterly Report.

Blog Interviewer

Deepa, whom we know as the person who knows a lot about adding widgets and things like that to make one's blog look swankier has recently been interviewed by Blog Interviewer. Besides the template-tips blog she also hosts a poetry blog - Appreciating Poetry. Please have a look at her interview to Blog Interviewer.

A random note from a Pakistani diary

Read one of Bubbles' random thoughts.
And this part About her struck a chord:
My views on everything and everyone change so continuously that I think I need this blog just to remember how I was feeling about something a week ago.

PS: Bubbles sounds so much more positive and better than confused babbler. :)

How to get a driving license

Tintin recounts his experience while trying to get a driving license - mighty useful for DL aspirants.
Learners license
Driver's license-1, DL-2 and DL-3.

Tintin has an interesting blog, aptly called Reflections, as he does reflect on life.

Nice place to be

Getting rid of my blues...

Pri's post on Airlines Hotel and her links to Preeth's posts, Nice place to be-1 and 2 have helped me get back on my feet. Bangaloreans would identify with these posts.
Tata. :)

The Brownie is back!

The abdicating / absconding / whatever Brownie is back, although at a different address. :) Now I have to update all the old links. *sigh*

Many of her older posts are available, but the chronological order of the posts is lost. Oh, we can't have everything can we?

Who is Gavin?

Sounds pretty much like the first sentence of Ayn Rand's Atlas shrugged. I am spending the last half hour reading negative reviews of Fountainhead and immensely enjoying myself. For all you Fountainhead enthusiasts please have a look at these reviews.
Coming back to the question - Can Gavin or GB clarify?

For Book-lovers

There is this site, Shelfari, which a friend of mine introduced me to. It is a social networking site that aims to bring together people with a passion of books. (Pingu, are you reading this?)
It facilitates

• creating your own cyber-bookshelf (Jay - you have your own library, right?)
  
• creating a network of friends
• reviewing books (Brownie, Manasi, Madura, Peej, Frida and others)
• exchanging messages with friends and others about books (Vishesh)
• and probably many more things.

Its a great site for book-lovers. I don't know if there are any other similar sites to do a comparison.


Links to some interesting pages:
Abha-Interesting set of quotes about words in her profile page.
A random page of reviews of Rohinton Mistry's - A Fine Balance.

PS: The site sometimes is quite slow and probably has a few bugs.

Collective failure of society

Collective failure of society reminds me of the story of four people: Everybody,
Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There are different versions of the story. This might look like a funny read, but on reflection one is likely to see the tragic outcomes of this attitude as is revealed in a number of instances.

Arunn expresses his anguish at one such instance that he came across in his post - Sad but true.
Mridula records two such incidents in her posts -
A Tragic Death at IIT Kanpur.
More deaths at IITK.

Can we do something about it?

Your life in your thumb-print!

To be honest wth you all - I am in the mould of all those muggles who consider anything related to magic or the supernatural as unbelievable. But now evidence is provided by a man of science (whom I also trust) that these things do work! Dr. (Daddy) Narayanan records his own experience of Nadi Jyothidam. Nadi Jyothidam is a divination method where the thumb print of a person is taken and used as an index to retrieve the scrolls (leaves) from an ancient archive of predictions made for literally everyone.

Stray Pup for Adoption

I was walking down Church street and saw this absolutely cute advertisement in front of Glenands - The Pet Shop:

I'm black & white
my one eye is blue
It doesn't work
but I can still see you

PLEASE adopt me
i'm only 2 months old
helpless against the
             RAIN+COLD.

ADOPT
this stray
          puppy


For more information
RENUKA 99869 20656
  +
  PALLAVI
      99864 23534(?)

Made me misty-eyed.
Any takers?

PS: This pup is still available and is with CUPA now.

PPS: Do you want to pamper your pet?

Feeling maudlin...

Listening to I wanna grow old with you.
View it here on YouTube:

Westlife - I wanna grow old with you


Westlife - I wanna grow old with you - Spiderman-2


Westlife - I wanna grow old with you - lyrics.

Feeling maudlin.

Of Experience, Swami Vivekananda, marriage ...

There is no substitute for experience.
I've taken the liberty to rework Mrs. Indira Gandhi's favourite quote during the emergency: There is no substitute for hard-work.* I fully agree with Mrs Gandhi, but I cannot fully agree with the former statement, which is what Raman seems to imply in his post - The Experiential factor.

Interestingly he quotes a friend of his who holds the view, "Vivekananda never got a first hand experience of what a man enjoys in marriage and so whatever his views are on Brahmacharya as a better way of living are totally based on half knowledge . They cannot be complete and authoritative." He further goes on to substantiate this statement by relating his experience of his marital life (bliss?) till date, which has made him change his attitude-to / view-of life. Raman also observes that we might say this is just a honeymoon period and things would look rosy now since each of you are in a condescending mood. Quite clairvoyant, Raman seems to be. ;-)

I am not a Swami Vivekananda buff to either accept or reject the statement about him, but one of the commentors, multisubj yb, on Raman's blog gave a link to one of his blogs, Vivekananda YB which apparently studies and analyses [on] Vivekananda's epistles, with a different perspective.

* This quote is originally attributed to Thomas Alva Edison.

Spice up your blog.

A few days ago I had posted on some tools that could be used to communicate with 'visitors' to one's blog. One of the things suggested was rating of posts, without having to go through the bother of commenting. Two blogs where I've seen a rating tool being used are:
Priablog and
Deepa's - Some Template Tips and Tricks - This blog has a most comprehensive coverage of the different things that one can use to spice up their blog. Here Deepa describes how to add the rating feature to posts.
As a test I've added the rating feature to just this post. I seem to have encountered a bug. So I am taking it off for the moment.

Now, I've put the rating feature on all the posts.
Deepa spent the better part of today afternoon helping me to do this, because it required a template upgrade. Thanks Deepa.
PS:Itchy, now you know who to go to if you want help regarding your blog widgets and layout.

I am removing the rating feature; nothing against it, just that I am not using it.

Nita Writer

Nita Jatar Kulkarni (aka Nita Writer?) is a multi-faceted person - mother, writer, journalist (now freelance), teacher, palmist, and many more, I'm sure, can be added. She writes on topics as diverse as Ordinary Truck Art on a Highway to a discussion of healthcare delivery systems in different countries.

She is a prolific writer, with an output of almost one post per day - this might not seem significant if one were to create skimpy posts as I do; all her posts have a focus, they discuss multiple angles of the topic, are mostly comprehensive (yet, giving enough scope for further discussion) and are copiously littered (might not be the most apt word) peppered with cross references. To cap it all, the discussions in the comments section are vibrant and healthy adding muscle to the structure she has provided; she also never fails to answer any queries put to her.

The name of her blog - My Writings - A wide angle view of India aptly describes her blog. Her post Why I blog makes for interesting reading.

Thanks Nita for the great work that you are doing.

Message from The Brownie

Gounder Brownie has left a new comment on your post "Missing!":

Thank you for all your support. I am going through a rough patch right now and I don't feel like doing the things I used to like doing. I'm sorry to have disappointed people who liked my writing, I didn't stay to say my goodbyes with grace...but I'm hoping I will be able to come back. Once again, thanks a lot everybody.

Take care GB. We are all hoping to see you back soon. :)

Social conditioning and Identity

A lot of one's identity is conditioned by the environment (family, society) in which a person grows. A friend of mine had posed an interesting question to me, quite a while ago.
Assume that there is a person who is brought up in an environment that says that his/her own race (caste/religion/language) is superior to that of others' and the person is also a proponent (subconsciously or vocally) of that creed. Now if it is revealed to that person that (s)he is indeed a person belonging to the others' race/caste/religion/language, how would that person react?

Mosilager sent me this link, Reflections of a Queer Dalit; though not an exact fit to the situation above, it does have elements of similarity. It highlights the problems faced by people who don't fit into the hetero-patriarchal order. It analyzes the different axes of discrimination and their inter-connectedness. A very well articulated post.
Another post by the same author relevant to this topic - My Gender Dangles On The Margins.

* About the author - Sumit Baudh works on sexuality and law. His areas of interest include the human rights of queers, dalits, and undocumented migrant workers in India. Sumit obtained his LLB from the National Law School of India University and his LLM from the London School of Economics. An Advocate (Delhi Bar), and a non-practicing Solicitor (England and Wales), he has worked with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and the AMAN Trust, both NGOs based in India. Sumit is presently located at the South and Southeast Asia Resource Centre on Sexuality, in Delhi. He self identifies as a Queer Dalit Buddhist.

Multicultural India

India as a country probably contains one of the most heterogenous set of people, differing in culture, religion, language etc. This is brought out by Nita Jatar Kulkarni in her post Multi-cultural, multi-racial India. I don't know about China and the erstwhile USSR, which might have as varied a population as India.

There is an interesting debate in the comment section, on the language issue / north-south divide, of her post South India is better developed than North India says CNN IBN

How to communicate with visitors

I am not talking about myself here - (though it'll help if more people communicated with me). ;)
This page gives a list of link to resources / tools (video, text chatbox, ratings, comments, etc) that one can include on their blogs to increase their communication with visitors.

I've always thought that including a tool for rating a post would be cool, because, it helps delurk people, without having them to type in text, negative feedback can be given without having to coin it diplomatically and questions with multiple choice answers are easier to attempt than those requiring a descriptive answer. I hope that Blogger provides this feature in addition to the comments feature.

The History of Love

Have you ever wondered how emotions evolved? Here is an interesting POV taken from the novel, The History of Love written by Nicole Krauss. Courtesy Broom. An excerpt:

Just as there was a first instant when someone rubbed two sticks together to make a spark, there was a first time joy was felt, and a first time for sadness. For a while new feelings were being invented all the time. [...]

Struck a chord.

My first crush

Well I'm not saying anything about my first crush; except that it was at a fairly early age. Here are some posts on first crushes posted at BUF (Between Us Friends).

BUF is a multi-author blog, which invites posts from members on chosen topics. To know more read - BUF rules. Thanks to Vishesh for introducing me to BUF.

Missing!

Brownie is missing since today morning! :(

Harry Potter by ...

I was always scared as to whether I would run out of links for this blog, but such an event seems unlikely at least as long there are HP fans (to read the stuff) and HP buffs (to provide the material).

My last post was to acknowledge JKR for what she has given us. Now to more timepass stuff. Dr Mosi having successfully completed his doctoral studies in virology has now taken up serious writing that would be of great value to the world, as is evident in his recent post - Harry Potter by.... We, The Visitor editorial team, thank him for his yeoman service and wish him success in his endeavors.

Keep them coming Dr. Mosi. :)

Thank you, Ms Rowling

Its more than a month since HP-7. Most people have read it; I am one of the few who is still saving it and savoring it slowly.
How is life going to be after HP-7, particularly when JKR has said that it is the last of the series? Well, one survives by rereading the seven again, or reading interesting bits of trivia relating to it, or sharing experiences with friends and so on. I recently came across this very nice tribute by Broom to JKR - Thank you, Ms. Rowling. The post appealed to me because I too started off on HP in very much the same fashion, and it allowed me to recall my own experiences. Thank you, Broom.

Surprises!

Do you like surprises? Maybe all of us do. But not everyone is like that - some like to have everything planned and in order; surprises of any kind quite often displeases them. I've been accused of creating confusion in the name of giving surprises, at least by certain sections of my family (post-marriage) :(. I envy anyone who indulges in it.
However this loony-bin family seems to thrive on giving surprises, as a member proudly proclaims, We are like this only. :)

Many of Boo's posts bring up a lump in my throat.

Celebrating Sexuality

In the early period of my bloghopping I wasn't bound by any image in blogworld; I felt free to post whatever I wanted. But over the last one year that I have blogged, I have probably veered away from topics considered taboo in Indian society. Then there were these posts by GB and Pri on Pridefests held in Brighton and Denver respectively; I thought twice about linking them, as to whether it would be 'appropriate' on my blog (LOL, goes to show how even in 'anonymous' blogworld, one can be straight-jacketed - pun unintended - by a perceived image).

What finally pushed me to posting these links was a hypothetical question somebody put to GB:

[...] She then placed a hypothetical question, the answer to which I realized I don't know- IF you were gay, would your parents disown you? [...]

GB - Pride and Prejudice
Pri - I'm so making this an annual event

I am not sure how I would react if my children were LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender). While I may not disown them, I would still be 'troubled' by that fact. I haven't yet moved out of my mindset. Time for introspection and coming to terms?

I am normal (almost) :-(

I've always thought that I was crazy and would be a psychiatrist's dream patient. I came across this test for Personality disorders on Lakshmi's blog, and got the following results:

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Low
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Moderate
Narcissistic:	Low
Avoidant:	Moderate
Dependent:	Moderate
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Low
-- Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Information --

Of all the online quizzes this was the most disappointing :( It rated me to be as normal as normal can be! Wouldn't it feel nice to be a little crazy?

Anatomy of Addiction - Orkut

Shadowy Pilgrim outlines the phases of addiction - to Orkut. One could probably replace Orkut with email (in those days), chat, discussion groups, blogging or any other activity and the phases don't change. I certainly concur, because I have been/am such an addict - and there are several other bloggers who are privy to the fact. :(
Pilgrim surely knows his(her?) onions.

I got to know quite a few 'discerning' bloggers from Terri's - Thanks Terri. :)

Cross posted on Kathambamaalai.

Ghost

I was a participant in an online course on creative writing, twisted text once again, conducted by Frida. This blog has some useful references, including links to Douglas Adams' The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series of books.

At that time PeeJ was a co-participant. PeeJ, according to me, has excellent writing skills - even at the time when he was a participant in the said course. He turned in the following short story, Ghost, as homework for one of the sessions. One should go over his different writings.

Frida 'disappeared' from the blogworld midway through the course; I wonder what happened to her. :(

What do you understand by the term - Hinduism?

Surprisingly some of the recent posts that I've read had to do with religion and more specifically about Hinduism or being a Hindu.

Hinduism! - I think it is very difficult to have a common definition of what it is. If a set of Hindu's are asked to define what it is - I am of the opinion that there are likely to be as many different perceptions of the term as there are respondents. This difference could be in the God(s) worshiped, rituals followed, religious texts followed etc.

That is part of my comment on Hip Hop Grandma's post on her understanding of Hinduism. Personally I dont have any belief or non-belief in religion or hinduism. Given below are a set of links to posts about different people's understanding/views of Hinduism/Religion:

Hip Hop Grandma on Hindu way of life

Kurrodu on To hug a tree

Bharathis on Being a Hindu

Noble Savage (Jay) has several posts on Hinduism. Among these her post on God/belief system probably reflects her own beliefs. Another post (drawn from another source) gives a general overview of Hinduism.

Mister Pregunto - asks a very general question - If you were to create your own religion, what would it be like?

Do you have your own take on the topic?

Note:This is a topic I'm a little wary of touching, because of the emotions that it is likely to rouse and the differences of opinion possible.

Blogs and Identity.

The virtual world, blogs, anonymity/identity, true/pseudo self all seem inextricably linked. Here are some posts that discuss these issues:

Blogs and Identity - this post by Kasthuri Srinivasan and the comments below make interesting reading - regarding how much a person reveals about him/herself despite, or perhaps due to, the anonymity that the virtual world provides.

Cyber Personality - Madura's take on her own blog persona.

Who is Mad Momma - she asks us and herself. (I've taken some liberties with the title).

Are you your real self and Identity crisis are old posts on this blog.

Cult of Bad Mama

The redoubtable Ammani is at it again. This time around she has created The Cult of Bad Mama, a forum, for the less than angelic moms, to give vent to their feelings.
Read how it all started.
Note:Yummy-mummies not allowed. LOL

She amazes me!

Do you belong here?

I was reading the profile of a blogger - Musaphir. The About Me appealed to me, which I reproduce below:
Caught in a life where nothing makes sense, I am from what I call the "transistor generation", who has grown with TV and now trapped in the WWW... I am of the lost generation, the one which fell between the cracks when my Parents' Age makes the decisions and the New Age makes things move... So, who am I? I travel along unknown paths to find out...

Musaphir - if I may - why do you think that you've fallen between/into the 'cracks' of two generations; why not think that you straddle two mountains? Of course, it's an individual's perspective and each has a right to one's own perspective. :)

Musaphir authors 2 blogs

• My Dreamlets


• Tasveer-e-Musaphir

Half-yearly review

That was the title of Sidewinder's post. That's a positive way of looking at things. You look at yourself and ask:
What have I done?
What should I do?
'Where' am I going?
Is this 'where' I want to go?
'Where' am I now?
Should I do course correction?
Is the destination important?
or is the journey more important?
and so on.

Sidewinder's post - Half Yearly Review - reflects on some of these questions. He also gave me a link to a video about happiness - Dan Gilbert: Why are we happy? Why aren't we happy?
Relevant to the topic is the post by Adrianne Tan - What Am I Doing Here?

There are others who call this kind of activity - a post-mortem. A negative view? LOL.

Nomenclature might have something to do with age also - those who believe they are in the last leg of their journey might call it as above. But again - 'Looking Back' - is a positive way of saying it, isn't it?

Age too might not be an important factor, because an elderly relative of mine does only 'reviews' periodically. So its a matter of attitude, I guess.

What do you think? Do you want to do a 'Review', a 'post-mortem' or a 'Looking Back' activity/post?
I'd love it if any of you could do this as a tag.

Tags and tags

Blogworld never seems to run out of ideas when it comes to tags. I have a suspicion - that tags are generated when people run out of blogging ideas. Atleast that would seem so reading Tagged.

Anyway tags are useful to the Tagged, as a time for some introspection as well as an opportunity for creative writing.

As for the readers, tags are useful in giving an insight into the writer's mind, how they interpret tags, their perceptions, attitudes and values in life etc.

Right now several tags are doing the rounds, of which the tag on judging people caught my eye. I am presenting two tags here:

Itchy's - The Judgement Day - because, Itchy's lists are incomparable.

Hip Hop Gmom's - Judgementally Yours!
Now, G'mom isn't one who talks only of negatives, so here's another tag on An Admirable group!, a tag that very nicely complements her other tag. Very rarely do I get to see such a point of view as hers. If I were to do that tag - G'mom would be there on the list, for this quality of hers.

Though I haven't done the tags mentioned - I would like to tag Alpha to do the above tags, just to see she her 'perspective' of the tags. :) One might wonder at this sudden love for Alpha that I've developed, but you've just got to go through her picks to understand. I dont know how to put an appropriate emoticon here.

Biology between two persons...

Biological relations - nope; Relations in Biology - terrible; Relationships explained in Biology - hmmm; Nomenclatural classifications of organismal interactions in real life - yuk - sounds like a title of a research paper. Biology between two persons... YES!

That was a tough one - I mean - getting the title for this post right. Finally I gave in to sensationalism rather than to correctness. After all we bloghoppers need to live a life - and the number of hits/comments do make our life.

After having met
Alpha The Storyteller
Alpha The Intrepid Host
now meet Alpha - The Biology Teacher in her post La Symbiose à Paris

PS: Don't blame me if you didn't get what you expected. I too was expecting more, only to see that the narrative, after a gripping start, ended rather tamely. :(

1001 ways to have a social life...

You are in a new town/country; you have no friends, atleast none who fit your expectations as friends - what do you do? Forget the 1000 ways that normal people would prefer - here's the one idea that makes you one in a million. For those who don't understand the math involved, please contact me.

You put up a friendimonial [the word is already copyrighted :( ].

Now who would ever answer such an advertisement unless they were_____ (fill in the blanks as per your perception/choice).
Alpha might qualify for whatever word you've chosen to fill the blanks with. For she did respond to the friendimonial - read her account in One Desperate Soul to Another.

But, there are the doubters, who say that the entire episode is a fast one pulled off by Alpha, and would not believe it unless Alpha put up the reply, which Alpha has promptly done and is documented at - Only Fools Rush In.

Have a nice weekend preferably looking at some of the Pieces of The Puzzle.

Update on 'Are you rational'

The problems of inadequate research, jumping to conclusions, and the need to meet a deadline are all evident from this post and the earlier one. This has necessitated me to post another separate post with an update.

I wanted to post the earlier post last evening, so to meet the deadline I went ahead and posted with insufficient material (which would have been available had I looked at Arunn's posts a little more in detail.

On a more leisurely look at Arunn's posts, I found that there was a separate link to a post and a site where you could have your worldview 'assessed'. That might have been a more appropriate link than the link to the discussion of rationality vis-a-vis, Godel.

Enough of the blah... here are the links:
What is your Worldview ?
Arunn's Worldview quiz.

Now here is a link that would justify my haste in producing an 'incomplete' post - Worse is Better.

Where do I stand as far as my Worldview is concerned?
My results are given below (on a max score of 10):
Your rating regarding science/non-science: 8
Your rating regarding values & humankind: 7
Your position on the worldview spectrum: (7,8)

Are you rational?

Arty has come up with a dilemma - is she rational or irrational? Have you done any of the things she mentions? .. or anything similar to it. I confess that I have done many similar things. Read Rationed Madness.

A related post by Arunn in nOnoscience, where he asks whether it is possible for a rational being to know whether it is rational or not - Rationality and Gödel.

And The Question is...

All those who have read the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy probably know the answer to the great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. For those of you who don't know anything about it please read the background in the link given above. A must read.

However those of you who know the answer and are now pondering about The Question might have your own hypotheses. Here Arunn gives his own Question, which is a totally plausible and convincing question. And The Question is...Read here

Amazing commercial!

I saw a link to this video on a "friend's" blog, who I am not at liberty to disclose.
One thing is true about it's claim:
... You’ll replay it more than once trust me.
Amazingly Brilliant Commercial.

Publish or Plagiarise, else Perish

This is an blogpost by Prof Arunn Narasimhan, a faculty at IIT, Madras. Though this post is related to plagiariam in science, I think it could apply equally well in any other field. The post is about what constitutes plagiarism, and what pressures drive the plagiarist.

Well worth having a look. Read on - Publish or Plagiarise, else Perish.

The post appears in nOnoscience, a blog(?)/site "on Science, Math and related research, educational and social issues, with occasional humor and personal asides and plain blah", maintained by contributions from Arunn and Lakshmi.

Storytime with Alpha and Rhyncus

Alpha & Rhyncus - sounds Greek? Sure does!

Apart from seeming to share a common heritage, they also seem to share a literary bond, in that Alpha ('s real life incidents) has proved to be the muse of some of Rhyncus's writings.

Alpha's - Good Samaritan under Trial - poses a Great Dilemma. One can only speculate what could have been, had Alpha.....
Now stop tut.. tutting and read what Rhyncus has to say - Chivalry is death.
Ah, Now you understand!

Here is another episode from Alpha's life - Encounter in The Train, and Rhyncus completes the story by giving a gripping account of the other side - Close Encounters of The Train Kind.

Vaarwel. Does that sound Dutch? How right you are! It is indeed Goodbye in Dutch.

Firefox bug Blogger bug

The last couple of days, bloggers using Firefox have not been able to navigate to the Title textbox. This problem does not happen with IE.6.

After discussing with a friend - we found that you could reach the title using the TAB and/or SHIFT TAB keys.

Latest: Working around the problem. Move the cursor over the Title text-box, from below-upwards, when the cursor changes from 'arrow' shape to the 'text-select' shape (looks like a Capital I, click on the mouse, and you will be able to enter text.

Blogs - Comments, Disclaimers and other stuff.

Blogs- comments, disclaimers.

Recently I've been having a tete-a-tete with Sundar regarding various things. One of the things that came up was regarding disclaimers about the blog-content and the comments of others.
He has a Disclaimer on his blog as well as a disclaimer regarding other's comments. There is a history behind his move that can be read at Disclaimers. In that post he links to another useful resource - Crafting the Perfect Blog Disclaimer.

Sundar also has set of posts about blogging available in the side-bar titled: Blogggging. You can find information that may be of use while blogging. For the LBs I am giving a direct link to some of the posts:
Blogging should be easier
Me scared- are you?
Blog flu
Blogger comments
Blog Spam


Incidentally, the disclaimer on his blog was the smallest, that I couldn't see. See if you can spot it. No hints. If after searching you are about to give-up, just CTRL F Disclaimer, you might locate it.

Orhan Pamuk

Does the above name ring a bell? For me, it didn't. Shows how much out-of-date I am on current affairs. What happened to my aspirations for a career in the civil services. :(

Actually I first came across Orhan Pamuk's name on Madura's post about Appreciation of Art. Later I came across the name when it was mentioned by Manasi on her blog. The news (to me) is (or rather, was) that he had won the Nobel prize for literature in 2006, for his book, My Name is Red. Again, what happened to my aspirations of winning the Nobel prize? :( Manasi has an excellent review of the book in her post - Black, White and Shades of Red. Here is a review of another book by Manasi in her post Of Tears and Fiction. Sometimes I feel that I ought to have studied literature. *sigh*

Wanted: Humour Writers

s.b. (mentioned in the previous post) had posted this link at Terri's, in his capacity as anonymous commentor there. Quoting from the link:

If you can tickle a funny bone or two with your wit and sarcasm, do write for us.

For more details visit the above link. The author, Rashmi Bansal, of the above blog, Youth Curry, is the Editor and publisher of the magazine JAM.

Latest update on JAM: Sidin is Deputy Editor of JAM at the time of posting.

s.b. - My Guru

I created this blog primarily to be able to read AND comment on the blogs that I visit. This gives me a persona in cyber-space. Don't expect anything significant from the blog.

Does that look familiar?
If it isn't, then just read the description under this blog's name.

Why am I bringing this to your notice?
Well, perhaps to re-evaluate the objective of the blog and also to see if the author is sticking to the objective.

Actually the objective brought to my mind another kindred soul in the blog-world, s.b. This remarkable person, does rounds of different blogs, conscientiously comments and leaves.

In my travels, my path has crossed his/hers on several blogs, to the extent that we've become nodding acquaintances. (S)he also gives links to other sources / blogs in the comments where relevant. The most surprising thing is that s.b. is truly anonymous - does not possess a blog, a user ID or even a nick! All comments are by anonymous but signed at the end with the characteristic - s.b. The point that I'm trying to make is that - s.b. has been doing what I've proclaimed to do, but without any brouhaha. s.b. and I are now nodding acquaintances in blogosphere.

This post is to honor s.b. - my guru.

Some places where I've met him/her are:
Hip Hop G'ma's
Are we born women
Random Thoughts

Another common watering hole is Terri's turf (Terri, hope you dont take offence at the description :p)
Tourists Gone Wild
Senior Sampats

Surprising that I've never introduced Terri to you before! Read about Terri - The VIP

s.b. has also commented in this blog. :) I hope that s.b. notices this post.
I wonder why s.b. doesn't have a blog of his/her own!

Storytime

I haven't done any real bloghopping these days. At odd intervals I do check out my regular blogs. I then remembered a short story that I had read as a child, which had a huge impact on me. Though I did not remember the details of the story, I remembered that it had to do with moral values; I also remembered the title of the story, The Bottle Imp.

Then there was Google, and in a matter of a few minutes, I had a link to an online resource(link given above), in addition to having a Wiki entry. The story is by R L Stevenson, the author of Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, apart from numerous other novels and stories.

Enjoy.

PS: Visited Itchy's blog just now. What a makeover! She has added a lot of timepass widgets. Good for a lonely weekend.

Appreciation of Art

How do I start this post...? For want of better words I quote Madura:

I am clueless when it comes to art. I think I dont hate them. I just dont know what to be excited about. Yes I hold many a guilt for showing fake excitement over a painting which didnt make any sense to me. Picasso could be a classic example, if not MF Hussein.

Very much true for me too.

But recently something has happened to my art appreciation longing. First it was in the art Museum in the middle of Mumbai, a MF Hussein painting, suddenly revealed itself to me. It made complete sense. ...

Madura goes on to describe her experience (joy) of discovering the language of artists in her usual honest manner in her post, Learning to appreciate art. I'd call it poetry in prose.

I remembered that Brownie had written a post on Appreciation of Poetry quite some time back. Poetry being akin to Art, prompted me to dig this post out and link it here. This post was, in The Brownie's inimitable style, about what constitutes good poetry.

I quote again:

I was reading Gokulam in the loo.

I then came upon this poem titled 'My Neighbour'. It was all about a lady called Mrs.Brown who seemed to be a wonderful person. The sole ambition of Mrs.Brown's life it seemed, was to feed pastries and cakes all day and all night to the poet.

Will I ever be able to grow-up to appreciate the finer things in life? Only time can tell.
Happy weekend! :)

On Becoming a Child

Childhood - ah that lovely phase of life, when we flitted like butterflies, without a care in the world...

Don't we all yearn for it? On hindsight everything looks so beautiful.. sigh.

The Brownie, doesn't seem to suffer from such illusions. Here's her rocker of a post On Becoming A Child.

Dusty trophy - Interesting Conversation

Barath has an interesting perspective on winning trophies - Meer and Naeem in: My Girl ... My Dusty Trophy?. Is that what happens with all that we desire and acquire? Find out.
PS: Reminds me of Ammani's quick tales and Itchy's - Factual Fiction series.
Credits to Dhananjai and Hrushita.

Sidin has relocated

Sidin is pretty well-known in the Indian bloghopper's circuit. I chanced upon him in my early bloghopping days, when I read Sidin’s guide to the greatest Indian cricketers of all time especially that period between 4 and 6 pm last week. I was hooked.

Reading his profile raises the green monster in me - I wonder how these guys/gals do it? (This is a rather long list of accomplished people I've come across during my travels in blogworld).

He was then posting on blogspot. Recently, he has moved over to Wordpress. He can be read at Domain Maximus. Except for the location change, he remains the same as before. Go through his blog on a leisurely weekend and have fun.

And all the best Sidin.

The QFI Open Quiz 2007 (Chennai)

Vinod Ganesh of 'Mostly Thoughtless' has announced the The QFI Open Quiz 2007 which is conducted in Chennai.

Apart from being original, well researched and immensely entertaining, the QFI Open also aims at making quizzing a fun experience for everyone involved. It will try and bring to a wider audience the same mix of light-hearted fun and serious high-standard quizzing that is seen at QFI's fortnightly meetings.

Bare-bones details (is that an oxymoron?): For more information see the above link.

Date: 3rd of June 2007 (Sunday)
Schedule: Prelims - 14:00 p.m. and Finals - 15:45 p.m.
Team size: Maximum of 3 members
Registration Fee: Rs. 50 per team. (This fee is waived for school teams. The registration fee must be paid at the registration desk in front before the quiz.)
Venue: 'Tattvaloka' Auditorium
No. 76 (Old No. 138), Eldams Road
Teynampet,
Chennai 600018
Ph: 044 24328124 / 25 / 26
Sample Question: The members of the Muduvar tribe, which inhabits the mountain ranges around Valparai (Tamil Nadu) and Munnar (Kerala) in the Western Ghats, have a unique method for calculating their ages. What is it?
Answer: They calculate their age with the blossoming of the Kurinji flower, which blooms only once every 12 years.

You can read The Hindu's review of the QFI Open 2006 here.

An opportunity for Chennai bloggers to make a team and participate?

Thinking Blogger Award

The Brownie has awarded me the Thinking Blogger Award! Its quite an honour - no, I am not referring to 'getting the award' part, but to the 'who gave it to me' part. Thanks GB. :)

GB has already 'claimed' one blogger from my list, apart from GB herself. But that doesn't matter - there are a large number of bloggers who have made think. I would have liked to cite more than the stipulated 5 bloggers to whom I am passing this meme, but I will stick to the rules.

By the power vested in me, I hereby confer the Thinking Blogger Award to:

Raman - He almost always says things, that is not the 'normal' way of looking at things. He begins by demolishing your own set of assumptions, creates a framework with his set of beliefs and assumptions and makes his point(s), which now seem to make sense. If there is anything that I learnt from his posts, it is being open to alternate viewpoints.

Hip Hop Grandmom - A person from the old guard, open to new thoughts, equally at ease with the young and the old, she is the symbol of stability in this fast changing world. Her posts and comments give solace to the generation that is caught between the two worlds.

Vishesh - A person from the generation to come, surprisingly, talks like an old person, having beliefs of an older generation. He has a wide range of blog interests, as is evidenced by the number of blogs in which he is a co-writer. Has a wide network of friends in blogosphere, and is a keen commenter in many, many blogs.

Itchy or Itching to write blogs - is a person from the present generation, has energy levels that amaze me no end. She is a working mom, looks after twins - her daily routine would send anyone into a tizzy - and a prolific blogger. Her lists, and now, her factual fiction series, are famous amongst her readers.

Rohini - another working mom and a mom-blogger, writes of her experiences in raising her child, coupled with the pressures of her job. She effectively communicates her emotions and feelings involved in the process; for all that her posts are well researched, balanced and cogently presented, revealing the academic in her.

To the five I've tagged, if you choose to pass it on, these are the Thinking Blogger Award rules:

This award was started here. You have to award five others whose blog you think deserve this award. Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

The participation rules are simple:

If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.
Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all — blogs that really get you thinking!

Near Death

It's not yet time for my next post, I like to space my posts, as Rajinikant spaces his moveis. :) But then sometimes one has to yield to pressures of real life. One was the promise to give link-love and the other was the availability of a post with a similar theme, which I have been wanting to link for quite sometime.

These posts relate to thoughts, that the bloggers had, when they thought their final moments were imminent.

Umesh - To be at death's door. Umesh has multiple interests that are captured in multiple blogs. His blog on photography, Photography Tip, that he co-writes with others has a truly wonderful collection of pointers to resources in photography. A useful link for people starting out on photography.

Rauf - Mother Earth Alive. Rauf's blog is a veritable treat for photograph lovers, as his posts are liberally peppered with lovely photographs. His blog contains links to other photoblogs.

Update:
Events, good or bad, seem to have the strange habit of happening in batches. After I had published this post, I heard of 2 such instances happening to people I know in the blogworld:

1. Arty - had published a similar post where Navy, Anush, Arty and her mom had a 'miraculous' narrow escape in an automobile mishap. Luckily no one was hurt.
2. Shikha too had a shaky experience in an airplane flight.

What comes through after such experiences is probably a relook at all the things that one wanted to do and to rearrange priorities.

A couple of motivational links

I put up the following links under the "On the spur of the moment" column. But they both deserve to be highlighted with separate posts.

“Professions for Women” is an abbreviated version of the speech Virginia Woolf delivered before a branch of the National Society for Women’s Service on January 21, 1931. (Link provided by Brownie).

What Am I Doing Here? seems to be the constant refrain of Adrianna Tan's life. (Link provided in Kathambamaalai by Premalatha.)

My comments would be superfluous - read for yourselves.

Literary lists, The Potter Saga Prophecies and so on...

I've always kept my distance from the literary types, being of the view that they would be dreadful bores, and would talk in some abstruse language, that I wouldn't understand. But The Brownie undid my misconception - but then for every rule there is an exception, and as they say, the exception proves the rule. See how poor my understanding of the English language is. :(

Recently I was pleasantly surprised to read Manasi, another literature student from that eminent institution - The Star of The Sea college. Far from being boring, her posts were quite engaging with their conversational style.

She discusses the Times list of 100 greatest books of the century in her post - Listlessness.

And the post, The Prophet Speaks, in which she prophecies the possible turns the final Harry Potter book would take, is ever so delectable. From that post I was surprised to know that there are people, who write books (and make money) on what will happen in HP7!

Happy weekend. :)

I dont lend books...

...so says Pingu...- a self-confessed book addict and book collector. She is quite the martinet when it comes to lending books. See what she has to say on the subject:

....Even when I very graciously, on very rare occasions, agree to lend someone a book; I, like a veritable pain in the neck, keep repeating my set of instructions on ‘How to Hold a Book While Reading.’

Yes, there are certain rules to be followed:

* The book must be covered in a temporary newspaper or brown paper cover.
* While reading the odd-numbered pages, one can/must hold...

Adoption

Today CNN-IBN was flashing a 'news' item about baby Shiv being given for adoption to a family after a court battle - read Court gives abandoned baby to millionaire family.

In my youth, after reading 'inspirational stories' in Reader's Digest, in a bout of idealism, I too had often harboured visions of having adopted children. I remember that some friends of ours, a childless couple by choice, had adopted a boy and a girl. I used to be surprised that they had decided to have only adopted children, because I think it requires mental maturity and strength to be able to do it. Today, if I ask myself whether I am mentally prepared to adopt a child, my response would be no. I think I dont possess the mental reserve to take up such a commitment.

From what they said, I gathered that the legal adoption process in India, was a rigorous and often times a time-consuming process. And not without reason - they check the background of the prospective parents, their marital stability, financial stability, mental preparedness and various other parameters.

Recently in Indian Mommies, in a debate on whether one should have the second baby or not, some mommies had expressed the desire to adopt a second child.

I thought it might be useful to share some information regarding the adoption process in India. (Courtesy: Google) :)

To start with one can see the FAQ section of indianngos.com - which gives a brief outline of the process through its FAQ.

ICHILD - India Adoption Resources - is a website and mailing list, that gives support to persons who are thinking of adoption. I quote from their web-site:

The purpose of the ICHILD WEB SITE & MAILING LISTS would hopefully be to offer a source of inspiration, information, support & resources for those interested in adoption from India and the subcontinent. And of course, to help bring together prospective adoptive parents and children in India who wait for their families.

This link takes you to the adoption process page from their site.

Alliance for Children is an adoption agency that places children with adoptive parents.

The Alliance for Children, Inc. is a non-profit international adoption agency based in Massachusetts, serving families throughout the USA.

We have placed thousands of children from around the world in permanent adoptive homes.

They are currently not accepting applications for adoption of children from India.

Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) - This site also provides some info on in-country adoption process, costs etc.

Catalysts for Social Action (CSA) is a Social Welfare Organization promoted by Kale Consultants Ltd., India, a reputed IT Consulting Company with global presence. CSA commenced operations in September 2002. We work on Child Welfare which includes Adoption, Foster Care, and Institutionalised Rehabilitation. Our specific focus is on Adoption. A key role for us is to work as Catalysts / Change Agents. Our aim is to enhance the total number of adoptions in the country. Also, to work towards better child care while the child is institutionalized.

CARA - Central Adoption Resource Agency - this site provides information on adoption in/from India. One can download relevant forms too from here.

Central Adoption Resource Agency is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Women & Child Development, which functions as the Central Authority of the Government of India in matters related to adoptions.

Read their FAQ.

Here is a review in The Hindu of , "Adoption in India - Policies and Experiences", a book by Vinita Bhargava.

I have obtained all the above information from the web. The information is neither comprehensive nor definitive.

Teeny Weeny

Introducing Damsel in Distress writing on teeny weenies in Shiny Happy Talibans.

I am alive :)

I've been quite busy, reading blogs of course. And I now contribute my mite to another collective blog aggregator - Kathambamaalai - கதம்பமாலை, hence my blog has been neglected. But thanks to Kathambamaalai, I have been able to read many more blogs. Now there were some simply fantastic funny posts there, which I thought I should share here too:

Here Sayesha's rollicking account of her experience of playing Pictionary with Viv.

And in this series Dubukku shares his college day kadalai(கடலை) experiences.

1. ஜொள்ள ஜொள்ள இனிக்குதைய்யா


2. கிட்டப்பா


3. காலனியில் கிளி புதுசு


4. கிளியும் கபாஸ்கரும்


5. இது குத்துவிளக்கு


6. பம்பாய் பார்ட்டி


7. காத்திருந்த கொக்கு அதைக் கவ்விக்கொண்டு போனதேன்


8. கொட்டுதூக்கி


9. கிளியே ரவை கிடைக்குமா


10. பராசக்தி ஜிகிடி


11. தங்கமணி இன்ட்ரடக்ஷன்


12. முற்றும்

அப்படியே சுட்டுட்டேன் பிரேமலதா
Courtesy: Premalatha

Then there was a post by the Kid, Man write on identifying the gender of the person, using a program. One just has to paste his/her writing and submit it to the Gender genie, the program analyses the data and returns the gender of the writer. Thanks Kiddo for the link.

The Lords Prayer

All of us who have studied in christian run schools are sure to remember the Lords Prayer, whether or not we remember the "Charge of the Light Brigade" of Tennyson or the 13 times tables (upto 20). Link to the poem.

Several 'versions' of the prayer have come into existence owing to the genius of creative persons over time, who have modified it for their specific domain.

Surya of Barnyarns has posted a bloggers version of the Lords prayer. Makes for interesting reading.

PS: It is not a regular post, but appears in the right sidebar of her blog.
PPS: The original source of this prayer is Andrew as acknowledged by Surya. Sorry for this oversight.

Are you your real self?

This post of Mad Momma brings me to my favourite topic - that of anonymity in the blog world and the blog persona.
MM introspects and compares the blogger MM and the real-life MM in her post - Who is Mad Momma. She has also asked other bloggers to share their own experiences. Reading through the comments shows that while some quite openly blog about their lives, there are many who have a blog persona and keep their real identities anonymous.

Some links related to Blog Persona, anonymity:
Overexposed in blogosphere
Web anonymity can sink you
Why you need a blog persona

Behind Dow's Human element mask

Thanks to Jace for this link.

Dow Chemical, unapologetic perpetrators of the Bhopal tragedy, have launched a “Human Element” campaign that “reintroduces the company and announces its vision of addressing some of the most pressing economic, social and environmental concerns facing the global community in the coming decade.” While continuing to deny responsibility for Bhopal.

This naturally requires a rebuttal. Paul Phare’s series of artworks, A glimpse behind the mask of Dow, is a personal response to the campaign. The series including 16 pieces, available in high resolution for distribution as printed posters or online. Spread the word.

Creativity redefined!

Backstreet boys -I want it that way- a must see video. Njoy! :)

Pakistan travelogue

Pakistan - to me - was just a neighboring country, probably very much similar to India, and I'd never ever imagined that I'd want to visit it, until I read this Pakistan travelogue (in 6 parts) by Mumbai Girl. Her narration kept me captivated throughout and gave me a new perspective about the people and the country. The posts have done much more, for me, in making the country and the people real and alive, than any advertising bash could have done.
Start here.

Thanks to Premalatha for having posted it on Kathambam.

Hmm...

Is it possible to guess the gender of a person, from the way a post is written? This was a question that was raised by The Girl, co-writing Spoken Like Two ENFPs with The Kid. Well it seems that it is possible to easily figure out man-write from women-write. :)

Quite some time ago, if you recall, Ammani had a feature called Letters For All. I was looking at some of the letters again, when I came across this letter. If you look at the comments, one of the commenters thought that the letter was written by a lady, while another thought that it had been written by a man. I re-read the letter and found that there were no references to gender in that entire letter, and the individual perceptions of the commenters, must've been influenced by their own preconceived notions, based their experiences. If you have nothing else to do, Try to guess the gender of the letter-writer. ;)

Happy Birthday Dear Piscean Bloggers

What should the title be?
My homage to Piscean bloggers?
They are'nt dead - one pays homage only to dead people.

Perhaps - A Tribute to Piscean bloggers?
Well, looks OK, but again I am not sure that tribute is used on living persons, think again.
Hmm...
Of forget the title -here's what I have to say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR PISCEANS
Paint the town RED.
Have a grand birthday and a great year ahead.

I am partial to Piscean bloggers - somehow I find their posts appealing to me. Here's my list of fellow bloggers who are pisceans:

Boo
Madura
Gounder Brownie
Premalatha
Jay
Marutham
1$saint
Syam
Harini
AS of Unrestrained Verbosity

I thought there were some more in the list?! *puzzled* My blogroll is not appearing - so I couldn't look at everyone on my blogroll to verify their sign.

I would love to extoll on each person's posts and given links to some special posts of theirs. Maybe I'll elaborate on another day. But some general comments are in order.


From various readings about signs of the zodiac (specifically Sun Signs /love signs by Linda Goodaman) my idea of 'the fish' is that they are romantic, idealistic dreamers, prone to a lot of introspection and such. I cannot say that this holds for the above clutch of pisceans. Each of them is different from the other as chalk is from cheese. The one common thread is that I like all of their writings. But then I do like a lot of other bloggers' writings too, who are not pisceans.

Addenda
Boston Bala of E-tamil has posted a comment to this post! Wow! And from his comment I deduce that he too is a Piscean.
There is a comment from Sandhya (another self-confessed 'weird' piscean) - Of Marriage, Jobs and Murder Cases. If you are one who likes to read about murder cases - you can go there. She has a delectable style of writing.... I suggest that you start from her first post.

PS: If you cant understand what I am trying to convey in this post - do not be worried - I too don't know what I want to convey. The Visitor is afflicted by senile dementia.
PPS: I will try to get in a "real" post sometime soon. :)

A clarification on the title:
* I looked up tribute and homage on dictionary - both the terms would have fitted my feelings for pisceans, but then its better to wish them a grand, freaky birthday than make them self-conscious. ;)

I don't know what to say

These days I spend more time in just reading other blogs and commenting (when possible). Seem to have lost the drive, energy etc. Maybe some steroids would help :)

Just resurfaced to say that I'm alive and Ranjit gave me a link that I felt I should put up. Thought-provoking post by Siddhu - A lament for my motherland. I didn't have any answers - except retreat further into my shell/cocoon.

The common theme for the links in this post seems to be anguish, even though the topics of the posts are totally unrelated:

Summer in my veins
My Valentine Guru

An Interesting Experiment

I read RKVS Raman's blog, because quite often he gives quite different perspectives of life and one's attitude to life. In his most recent post, The Game of Giving,he describes an experiment done by a friend of his (the results are not yet out).

He has numerous thought provoking posts, a few of which I present here:

Open Intentions Initiative

Riding with the drizzling cloud

The Experience Capsule Technology

Lurking, Delurking and Comments Policy

Boos recent post, Here's to more comments prompted me to write this post. She writes about lurkers and the move to delurk them. Read about it on her post.

I myself love to have comments to my posts and also responses to my comments. :)

In my travels across the blogworld, I've come across some interesting Comment policies. I did think that some of them were interesting reads by themselves. Unfortunately I did not keep a tab on the sites.

Here are some that I can recall:

Here's what Shelly has on her blog Retrospectacle
Commenter Policy:
I love constructive comments! However, I reserve the right to delete comments that abuse this forum. Voicing your opinions is great, just be respectful. :D
She also asks a question: Is Commenting a Right?

Kevin Vranes of No Se Nada has this comment policy

Mike the Mad Biologist says: Comment policy: say what you want, but back it up with an email address. I don't like anonymous trolls.

Razib of Gene expression has this comment policy

Many of the above were from scienceblogs. Now here's one with a religious background

One of the most comprehensive comment policies that I have seen is that of Thinking Girl.

The Darwiniana comment policy states that good comments may be converted into separate posts! That's nice.

How about your own comment policy?

In case you don't have one - here's a post on developing a blog comment policy.

Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive survey of all possible blog policies. Most were from Scienceblogs and random selections based on a search of blogs using the search string Comment policy

Emily

This post of Emily's was so powerful, that I couldn't help putting it up as a separate post - Me First.