Confused Soul

The picture was shown at the recent "Apple Notebook" event at Apple HQ. They claimed that everybody here in this classroom is using a Mac but didn't mention the name of university. For live coverage having time-stamp please click here.

I found a very interesting online flash game and really loved it. I'm embedding it here and expect every visitor to give it a try. The goal is to click the tiles until no open end is left.

Instructions: Click to start. When left clicking a tile it will rotate 90 degree. With the left and right cursor keys you can navigate between already solved levels.



If you like it, you can also download this game from here.

When it comes down to the wire, there are frayed nerves, trembling hands and palpitating hearts. One who is able to conquer and rise above these emotions walks away with his head held high, experiencing an adrenaline surge which will be remembered by that individual for a long time to come, if not for ever. For 11 gentlemen on the field, the last ball of the final match between India and Pakistan in T-20 world cup 2k7 will be narrated over and over again for eons to come. And for Misbah-Ul-Haq, the scar will probably never heal.

Last year on this day, India won first ever T-20 world cup and created history. This match was special not only because of its heart throbbing climax but also for other reasons:

• It was a match between two arch-rival India and Pakistan. Every match between these two teams is special but this was extra special being the final of first ever T-20 world cup.
• The last match between these two teams (league match in same tournament) ended in the most exciting manner in T-20 history.
• These were the 2 teams, which were out in the first round in ICC ODI world cup earlier in the same year.

Audience always expect a great piece of game every time these two teams face each other on field and this match wasn't a exception. This match saw many shifts in its lifetime but finally it was India which kept their cool and ended on the top of the world.

Today is the first anniversary of India's historical win. Let's recall those ravishing moments of jubilation, moments of celebration and moments of history in the making and hope to continue the trend in upcoming world cups.

Last Monday, Adobe Toastmasters Club held its Annual Humorous Speech Contest. There were 6 speeches and all the 6 contestants tickled the funny bones of the audience which gave them tremendous response. I'm embedding the video of the winning speech of that contest. Since the camera angles are not at its best, please concentrate on actual content (i.e. speech) and enjoy the humor :-).

This is a very short post just to show you an example that how a simple 3 word sentence can turn into a complete paragraph. Look at this example and see how a paragraph develops from a simple sentence.













Certainly, its creation did require imagination. The thing is, whether you’re writing a diary, a blog or a column for a magazine, writing remains a creative process.

It has been not more than 2 months when Google introduced its own Wikipedia like product KNOL. But it seems that Google itself forgot about its own child, I've never heard anyone talking about KNOL, in fact all the focus is on Chrome(which itself isn't a great product till now). The best part is that when you search for "what is knol" in google, you’ll be surprised to see a suggestion like "Did you mean: what is knoll." That is really funny and a perfect example of how one can forgot one's own child.

This post is in continuation with my last post on jigsaw puzzle. Currently we are trying our hands on some practice puzzles and we finished a 6000 pieces puzzle on this weekend. This is a great achievement as this puzzle was harder than the actual target 24000 pieces puzzle, LIFE. There is a lot of learning which we have learnt while solving this practice puzzle. I am putting some of our learning here and those who are interested can get benefit from that.

• Solve Puzzle on a table; solving it on floor may need you to see a doctor for your back...
• Make sure the light in the room is vertically top of the puzzle; reflections with tube light from an angle sometimes make you color blind.
• Counting helps, for example for a 600 piece puzzle 20*30 can assure you that many pieces in a particular row/column.
• Borders as usual are very easy and should be taken up first.
• When stuck on a pattern, leave it and try another (that will also reduce no of pieces spread around so less options to choose from)
• Don't forcefully try to fit in pieces. If it’s in the flow, the piece will fit in very easily; else it’s like CAUGHT- IN-THE-WRONG-JOB.
• When tired of searching for pieces in a particular section, switch the views/sections. This will be quite refreshing.
• Learn to sort & operate by shape, in our case we have changed our strategy many times and continuously switched fitting the pieces based on shape/color/design.
• We learnt that prior experience or level of expertise doesn’t matter, whereas it is the observation power that is more important than anything else.
• Sorting is the most important activity of this exercise and that too not only in the starting. Sorting is needed on every stage. The mantra is THE MORE SORTING THE EASIER. We sorted pieces on every stage of the puzzle. Also we have sorted them by every possible shape and color: FLAT HOLE, FLAT BULB, FAT PIECE, TILTED HOLE/BULB etc etc...
• If you are working in a group, keep the atmosphere humorous and motivating. This is an absolute must.
• Last but not the least, we used to play music throughout our exercise; else we might die in monotony?

In addition to this, we found a great breakthrough when we were working on the hardest part of the puzzle. We found that the puzzle is orthogonally similar in cut of pieces. So once you are done with the easier half of the puzzle, you can solve the harder half by solving that on the top of the easier half using shape oriented approach. This finding eased our work by a factor of at least 10 and made ourselves stuck with it when most of us were losing our patience.

This was all from my side. I will keep you updated about our efforts to solve the largest puzzle :-)

I found an amazing presentation on current Indian scenario explained by the use of cartoons. I am sharing it with you guys, please have a look at it and don't miss any slide. You will find every single slide very true to current Indian scene.

वक्रतुंड महाकाय कोटिसूर्यसमप्रभ .निर्विघ्नं कुरु मे देव सर्वकार्येषु सर्वदा...

This is my 100th post and what else can be a better topic for this post. Yesterday was Ganesh Visarjan and the crowd was in full josh in Maharashtra. In Delhi, Serial blasts, high security and overcast weather with rains failed to deter the devotees as they went in large groups to immerse idols of different colors and various sizes.

You must be knowing that Ganesha is always worshiped first in Hindu Pantheon for any purpose. He is the lord of wisdom and intellect so lets pray him to give us wisdom and pray. Ganesha's unique elephant head makes him easy to distinguish and everything associated with him symbolizes something. Let's look at a picture, which shows significance of his unique appearance.