Moving Today ...

The Graphing Calculator Story

The Graphing Calculator Story is one hell of a story. This is the kind of work I want to be doing at my place of work.

Netflix: The Stepford Wives

I saw The Stepford Wives last night. I did'nt quite get it. I understood in the end that this super-woman was trying to undo the technology that had wrecked her marriage through the same technology she was so adept in. What I did'nt get was the part where robot facsimiles and the brain implants come in. At one point, there is a hint that all the women were robots or androids and all the human wives were killed or dissappeared. Then during the third or second last scene, where they show Joanna and her husband go down in the cellar, actors mentions something about the women having a brain implants which programs them to act like "real" women. So which was it? Did they put implants in their brains and use them to control them or did they replace the women with robots that resembled them, or did they use the robots for all the house hold works (which is kind of cool actually, since no one, man or woman, would'nt appreciate the utility of a personal robot) and the real thing for more biological functions, e.g. SEX? Maybe I should see the original movie...

White Series 100 Spray Kit

White Series 100 Spray Kit. I'll order this when I move to my new apartment. I'm sick and tired of being asked about the "teapot" in my washroom by my friends who do'nt share my faith. That's a lota for you Pakistani puritans. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Apple - Trailers - Sin City

Apple - Trailers - Sin City YAY!!!!! They are making a movie of one of favorite comics!! From the trailer i think its going to be an awesome movie!

Currently Listening to ...

Malena (Main Theme) from the album "Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone" by Yo-Yo Ma, Roma Sinfonietta & Ennio Morricone and the rest of the songs from the album.

Blade Trinity

Blade Trinity: This was a very disappointing movie. Even the action sequences were'nt as good as the first or second one. Instead the super-vampire the vampires had resurrected from the Syrian/Iraq desert, was just some slow moving oaf who mouthed off some seemingly heavy lines as if to show that the burden of his eternal life. The filmmakers threw in the main character from Van Wilder for some comic relief, but after a while even that got unberable. A lot of Macs and iPods were prominently featured. I guess Apple must have paid the producers quite a lot of money for product placement. They should be smarter about their money and not waste their money on dud movies. Click if you want to have a sense of accomplishment of having seen all the movies of the Blade trilogy in the theater, otherwise wait for the the DVD. Or better yet, don't do anything at all.

My "New" Old Car

11-02-96sentra
Originally uploaded by bybitsandbytes.

Netflix: I, Robot

Netflix: I, Robot This was a good movie. The movie is loosely based on Asimov's collection of the short stories about robots (or droids in Star Wars parlance or androids if you prefer Star Trek). The three laws are extensively quoted and it turns the logic of the three laws on itself saying that sometimes the created will turn on the creators for their own "percieved" good. I think the point where the robots go breserk and try to take over the world was inspired from the Zeroth law that Asimov wrote about in his "Foundation and Earth" where explorers final come to meet the 20,000 year old robot Daneel Olivaw (who first appears in "Caves of Steel"). The Zeroth law was something like a robot must preserve humanity under all circumstances. The first, second, and third laws are modified, as a consequence of the Zeroth law, in that as long as they do not conflict with Zeroth law. Anyway, the point that Asimov and the makers of the movie, that we should be careful of what we create and the way we delegate power to our things that we create. That includes not only computers or machines, but also laws, conventions, and tradition. These creations may take a life of their own. Once something takes a life of their own and then it will find a way of its own. That line is used a lot in movies. It was used in I, Robot and, I seem to recall, in the Jurassic Park movies.

Netflix: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Netflix: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen-->CRAP!!!

The Times of India

Everyone says that The Times of India is the most respected newspaper in India, yet I can't get over the fact that a lot of its reporting is little better than a tabloids. In contrast, I think Indian news sites like rediff.com are much better to read for news. The reporters at ToI seem to brag everytime they write about India, write about Pakistan as the biggest "boogeymen/women", and complain how unfairly the US is treating India.
... could someone explain to me why every news site from South Asia have an obssession with matrimonials ??

Hotel Rwanda

Hotel Rwanda
This will be a good one.

Thoughts and comments on MSN Search

Indexing is still running...

Firefox - Rediscover the web

Firefox - Rediscover the web yay!! Firefox finally works on my Mac.

Find anything, anywhere fast with MSN Toolbar Suite Beta

Find anything, anywhere fast with MSN Toolbar Suite Beta
The new MSN search is finally here. According to my friend, I., whose the SDET on it, its really cool, and better than Google's desktop search.

Skill Tracker

Skill Tracker: "Skill Tracker Charts"
Interesting tracker for tracking the demand of computer skills in the job market.

The Official Dune Website

Click here if you want to read more about Dune. The Official Dune Website.
I don't think much of the new Dune novels, by Frank Herbert son, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson, the original novels are in a class onto themselves. Herbert's exploration of the consequences of the dependence of human civilization on one critical substance (in his case, a mind-enhancing drug) is an ominous reminder of our own addiction to oil originating from a region with its own myths, legends and faith. The problem with the newer novels is that BH and KA didn't explore the universe as well as FH did. FH created a universe into which his characters played a part. Instead, BH and KA, created a universe from their characters. I don't know if this is some writing technique, but it was kind of disappointing. My own fascination with Dune is not really with the characters but the universe described in Dune, and how it shaped the characters in the novels. I made some more notes on Dune two or three years ago in my private journal. I think I'll post them sometime.

CNN.com - Poisoning diagnosis 'rock solid' - Dec 12, 2004

CNN.com - Poisoning diagnosis 'rock solid' - Dec 12, 2004
Reading this poisoning story on CNN, really surprised me. I did'nt even imagine that people could resort to such methods. Kind of reminds of Frank Herbert's Dune novels. One of the acceptable methods of inter-planetary warfare in Herbert's Dune universe was to chamurky. Chamurky was a form of delayed poisoning. Assassins would introduce a chemical into the food and/or drink of the target that would be harmless when ingested but combined with some diet, become toxic. I guess Frank Herbert's inspiration was'nt as far-out as I had originally thought. His inspiration was far closer to home.

BBspot - Which OS Are You?

Which OS are You? Hmmm, and I don't even like PalmOS, I guess there really is no justice in the world ...

A friend of mine, R., once asked her Pakistani bo...

A friend of mine, R., once asked her Pakistani boyfriend H. (now her husband) if there were two religious groups in Pakistan, one being muslim and other being punjabi. Apparently, her innocence about Pakistan and Pakistanis allowed her an insight that a lot of people don't have. It does make someone wonder, exactly what kind of people were going abroad from Pakistan. When H. told me this story, I could'nt stop laughing, and the it still makes me smile everytime I see or hear something in punjabi, I say to myself, its only a religion.

Other Movies I Saw this Week ...

The Big Lebowski Not sure what the point of this one was but after you see "Fargo", then you realize that may be there is really no point to their stuff The Core Boring mindless fun. The hacker was atrocious. Are hackers as far-fetched like that? That was one of the worst caricatures of computer hackers ever. I think its been done so many times, I can't even laugh about it any more. The movie was a little far-fetched, but then that what movies like these are. Boring mindless fun on a cold, dreary December evening in NY. Spider Man 2 Excellent Movie!!! One of the rare sequels that are actually as good, if not better than, as the original. The last scene where Peter Parker's best friend finds the secret room with the Green Goblin means that a third movie is probably in the works. Hopefully it will be as good. The special effects were awesome, and makers tied up the store from the first one to the sequel very well. The story this time is much different. The last time, the main chracters are in a phase of exploration, finding who they are and what they are becoming, and, finally, taking themselves a little too seriously. Consider this line "With great power, comes great responsibility". In this one, its about the alienation, rejection, and finally acceptance. As a thematic element, I thought it was much more mature and therefore, more appealing. (To me). The people who chose the soundtrack seemed to have a very earthy taste in rock. The first one of the soundtrack is an awesome number by Dashboard Confessionals. Here are some of my favorites. Vindicated from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Dashboard Confessional Ordinary from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Train (I was kind of surprised that this one got through. Not my taste but may appeal to someone) Hold On from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Jet: These guys are awesome. They kind of sound like the Rolling Stones. In fact, when I first heard their song "Will you be my girl?" I actually thought this was something from the Rolling Stones from their early days). Gifts and Curses from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Yellowcard This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know) from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Taking Back Sunday (Not so good) Give It Up from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Midtown Lucky You from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Lostprophets Who I Am from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Smile Empty Soul The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC from the album "Spider-Man 2" by The Ataris We Are from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Ana Someone to Die For from the album "Spider-Man 2" by Jimmy Gnecco & Brian May

Ocean's 12

Just saw this movie today. Not very smart as the last one. The last one had an amazing story, one continuous thread running from start to finish. This one felt completely contrived as if the writer and director were trying too hard to be smart. The French jokes were kind of lame. I think the media is beginning to overdo this "French" humor that seems to be going around. The bit about Julia Roberts' character in the movie starts playing Julia Roberts was especially. I don't think it added anything to the movie. The cameo appearance by Bruce Willis was ridiculous. One of the reason why I think that Ocean's 11 was so popular was it's stellar cast. In this one it seemed as if they were forcing good looking actors and actresses to increase the movies popularity. As a rule, sequels are as good as the originals (exceptions being "Lord of the Rings" and the "Star Wars" trilogy (episodes IV, V and VI only) ), and Ocean's 12 was no exception. The previews before the movie were good. I'm looking forward to them, sometime next year.

Functional vs Imperitive Programming

I was just comparing the qsort algorithms in Haskell and the ones written in C++. The pseudo-code in CLRS is surprisingly more complex than the one in Haskell, and takes much more time to understand and walk through than the one written in Haskell. I'm guessing that a similar implementation in Scheme or ML would have the same sort of expressiveness. I think the real comparison will be when a programmer or algorithm designer can compare the proofs of correctness of an algorithm. I think that a proof of correctness of an algorithm would be easier in a functional style of algorithm design than in an imperitve style.. However, how does one go about finding the efficiency of an algorithm written in a functional style? More on this later... (Go here for some Haskell related humor)

Currently listening to...

Boulevard of Broken Dreams from the album "Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Single" by Green Day

Programming Contests, Software Development, and Employment Services at TopCoder

Programming Contests, Software Development, and Employment Services at TopCoder Got to get started on this again. Its been ages since I did this ... (even if the results are embarassing :-) )

Working on Numbers

Working Numbers on the Job offer I just got... I realized that will all my expenses that I'm anticipating, I'll probably end with absolutely nothing at the end of the month. The trouble is, that with my options, there's absolutely no room for negotiation. Sites I've been using so far are

• Rent.com <-- All the apartments I like are all 10 miles or more where I might be working
• Car Insurance <-- These guys are expensive
• Estimating Taxes <-- Too High :-(

"strstr"

Out of Cheese: September 29, 2003 Archives An blog message I found while preparing for an interview on the comparing performances of specific algorithms. Fast String String Search An interesting article on comparing performance of various "strstr" implementations.