To Genius

I doubt if better passwords would have helped stopp the hacker who published a list of 100 email accounts - along with the passwords - of government establishments. But the situation does seem appalling when the usernames are much more difficult to guess than the passwords. No? A few samples:

Username: commercial@indembassy.be
Password: india01

Username: mis
Password: misadmin

Username: amb@indianembassy.org.cn
Password: 1234

Username: rb1002p1
Password: consind1

Username: amb@indianembassy.org
Password: 1234

Username: jpsingh@drdo.com
Password: password+1

Unbelievably the Indian embassies in China and the US use the same password: 1234. Sad.

(Original story via The Indian Express.)

Thank God I am A Man...

.. I can use a public toilet without being shit scared:

some women won't sit on the seat to relieve themselves. Rather, they hold themselves above it and pee all over the seat! Worse, they don't clean it up. I've always thought this to be the height of arrogance. They are too pure to sit on the sit but they see nothing wrong with sullying it for others who come after them.

This excerpt was from a comment on BPS Research Digest. Personally i feel that the women who peed on the seats were scared of sitting on a seat which might have been peed upon by somebody else. Such is human nature.

Adicolor Pink

Awesome and disturbing. Created by Charlie White, it is the best ad in the adicolor series. Once you are done with this one, do check out the other colors in the series here. Guaranteed to elicit at least a Wow.

Robert Frank

The Economic Naturalist Robert Frank at Google:




Interesting questions that were analyzed:

• If seat belts are provided for kids in cars, why not in airplanes? In-flight turbulence is at least equivalent to that experienced by people driving on a highway. Then why this apparent lack of concern for infants in flights?
• Why does a flight from Hawaii to the mainland cost more than one from the mainland to Hawaii? The distances are the same, the route is the same. The fares should be the same. No?
• Is depending only on people's self interest a good strategy to ensure a better allocation of economic resources?

But what caught my interest the most was Robert's analysis of the teaching of economics. Students not grasping concepts is understandable when even the professor's don't know much about them, it gets disturbing.

Robert proposes a method of teaching economics using narratives and repetition. Sounds intuitive and fun. I for one am not gonna forget any of the principles that i learned, any time soon.

Orkut Redesign

Rather than going for any radical changes in the site structure, Orkut has decided to just tweak the appearence a little with better icons, rounded corners and the like. Nothing special, mind you; but definitely better than the previous version.

A comparision between the two versions at flickr.

Misleading

Headlines like "Internet Communities: make Modi the Next PM" make it seem as if a large survey was conducted to reach to this conclusion. But what was the story actually about? A poll in an orkut community in which 365 people participated. Newsworthy... Not.

P.S. I have an idea. Why not gang up and form a poll on who should be the next president of India. We can rig it and make sure that Cthulhu emerges as the overwhelming favourite. Now that's newsworthy. Amit will be proud.

Not Alone

Moral policing in India incites emotions ranging from bewilderment to disgust. At times, even jealousy at the relative freedom that the citizens of the west enjoy. No more. Proof that human insanity is distributed equally all over the globe:

Atlanta considers banning baggy pants: Convinced that sagging pants are an "epidemic" that is becoming a "major concern" around the country, city councilman C.T. Martin has sponsored this rather absurd legislation. Apart from boxer shorts and thongs, bra straps will probably be banned too. Violation ofany of these laws will result in strict fines. Apparently they are not the first to think up something like this:

Earlier this year, the town council in Delcambre, La., passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

Feel free to sell guns, but dildos? Never.: Blowing up people's heads may be a pretty reasonable thing to do, but a blowjob? Good God No.

And its not just evil dirty dildos that these paternalistic lawmakers have saved the state from, they have banned casinos, lotteries and betting parlours too. Utopia, no?

(Stories via digg)

The Secret To Longevity

Camlin permanent markers are the secret to a long life. Applicable only if you are the husband. Brilliant.

Embedded Video

Touch Me Not

On the 15th, Anwar Jahan Zuberi, VC of Calicut University, hoisted the national flag at the University Administrative Block. But something was amiss: the tri colour was the wrong way up. This error can result in two scenarios:

1. Fiction: An embarrassed  VC orders the flag to be hoisted as it should be. Followed by a little apology to all present for the goof up. The end.
2. Reality: The mistake is noted, the corrections are made. The end? Not so. The members of the Kerala Students Union see an opportunity to add a political twist to the proceedings. A complaint is promptly registered and the police file a case against the authorities under the absurd Prevention of Insult to National Honour Act. Not to be outdone, the Muslim Youth league shoots of a letter to the Governor demanding action against the University Registrar.
   

Another opportunity to practice our very own desi brand of patriotism. As matters of real importance very rarely penetrate the formidable walls of our collective apathy, we assuage our consciences by protecting and nurturing meaningless symbols and irrelevant customs. Why? Because they conveniently allow us to pretend to do something while doing nothing.

(Source: Hindustan Times)

The Injustice Of It All

Scott Adams points to an article which takes a new step forward in stating the obvious:
The smarter you are the less chicks you get to lay.

The more i think about it, what troubles me is not the lack of opportunities for born geniuses like me; what gets to my nerves is the relative lack of trouble that smarter women face. True, for getting the man of their dreams they may have to work on that hour glass figure or have plans to get rid of those braces. But for pure unadulterated sex they just need lower their standards. Men will swarm to them.

Sigh. The injustice of it all. Why oh why do they get to choose? Just because we have more numbers and hence they become a scarce commodity? If the answer is yes, then Babu Bajrangi and me may have a common cause now.