All Posts in General Stuff

|In: Events|Last Updated: | 5 Comments
Time again to throw some light on an activity where every individual’s contribution is highly valued.An off topic post yet again, but could not have found a better place than my blog neutral

What is WINGS:
WINGS stands for opening up a whole new mindset among the differently-abled who feel resigned in life due to circumstances and society which limit them. It is about giving them a voice, enabling them to overcome their barriers in “Dreaming Big”. And it aims to achieve this through adventure sports.

How would WINGS help physically disabled?
This is a project initiated by a group of like-minded individuals. After our experience with adventure sports, we started thinking about how to reach out to youth with disabilities through this powerful medium. We first heard of such adventure activities being pursued by youth from National Association for Blind (NAB-Mysore).

Some of the past events:
A new High in their determination
The Himalayan battle against disability

Similar event in Bangalore:
BlindNews: Despite disability she soars to heights: student tries Aqua Parasailing

When does the event happen?
The event is scheduled in the weekend(1st or 2nd week of August,2007)

How can you contribute?
You can contribute in multiple ways:

  1. By being a volunteer.
  2. Getting us sponsors for the event.
  3. Spreading the message by linking this article in your blog or website.
  4. Or any miscellaneous way….
If you wish to discuss more in detail,kindly get in touch with Mahalakshmi Viswanathan(09886403269) or Ashwin Murali(09886742019) or Himanshu Sheth(09242471228).For more details, refer to this document.

Let us make this place, a better place to live by helping the cause of humanity!!

|In: Business|Last Updated: | 3 Comments
Picked up the latest edition of Business and Economy and found a very interesting and funny stuff from it.Everyone right from 18(or less) to 50(or more) is on the internet and are becoming more and more geeky.So keeping the so called GEEKY audience in mind,below is the list of Commandments of the Geek World…Read it and I am sure,it would bring a smile on your face(just as it did on mine) :

  1. Thou shalt not leave the cubicle without thy’s Palmtop
  2. Thou shalt always upgrade needless software to look busy
  3. Thou shalt sigh loudly for effect,giving the impression that thou art under pressure
  4. Thou shalt ask silly questions that are already explained in the manual book
  5. Thou shalt program bugs
  6. Thou shalt remember the E-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail
  7. Thou shalt not crave for thy colleague’s faster CPU
  8. Thou shalt always remember that computer is mightier than the pen,the sword and the programmer too
  9. Thou shalt remember to err is human and to blame thy computer is,but natural
  10. Thou shalt not think twice about the social consequences about the virus thou code
  11. Thou shalt obey these laws or be spammed into the next generation biggrin

|In: Business|Last Updated: | 11 Comments
This one is for all the guys who HATE Microsoft to the core wink There is an article – “Why I hate Microsoft”, the complete story of (not so innovative) Microsoft !!!

From the pages that I have read so far in the (lengthy) story, I liked the following:

Gates: don’t develop, copy

By the time PC-DOS took hold, Gates had already shown that Microsoft’s future would hold very little innovation indeed. Gates’ views on development are probably best illustrated by the following:

From: ‘Programmers at work’, Microsoft Press, Redmond, WA [c1986]:
Interviewer: “Is studying computer science the best way to prepare to be a programmer?”
Gates: “No, the best way to prepare is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and I fished out listings of their operating system.”

Seldom have both Microsoft’s lack of innovation and their kludgey, ad-hoc approach to software design been explained so concisely. It’s also interesting to note that while many people have called Microsoft products copycat, trash or garbage, most of them probably had no idea how close to the truth they really were

Read the complete chapters of the original MS story here

Thanks Mahesh for sharing this wonderful link with us !!!

|In: Bangalore|Last Updated: | 7 Comments
After season of unconferences, now comes the season of movies or should I say “Roof Top Movies“biggrin After the success of RTFF in Chennai,the filmi fever would be in Bangalore.

In very simple words,RTFF means “Underground Movies Outdoors” and more is described below:


Roof-Top film Fest (RTFF) is a film festival born out of the desire to provide a platform for people to enjoy movies and share their criticism in an open environment. An intense atmosphere will be created for the screening of the films and the discussions that follow. The Roof-Top Film Fest will focus on independent films, short films, cult movies and films that changed the way we looked at cinema.

“Roof Top Film Festivals” are typically where people get together on somebody’s rooftop with a projector and a screen and watch movies which are not very popular in India or not released in multiplexes. These screenings are interspersed by independent film maker’s movies and discussions on the movies screened.

The Bangalore chapter of RTFF is led by Hrish Thota and is scheduled for the month of July,2007.You can register for the RTFF here and do feel free to add the movies , you would like to watch in the movies section.See you all at the Bangalore RTFF…Did this sound,as if I am inviting you for the Oscars or the IIFA Film Festival…huh…wink

|In: General Stuff|Last Updated: | 1 Comment
I was tempted to put this post on my blog.Was just reading Digital Inspiration, where I came across an intersting website GuessTheLogo where you need to identify the real logo of the companies.

I got around 7(out of 10) answers correct at the first shot,which according to me was not so bad biggrin So, go ahead and try your luck.

Important Announcement:
I invite bloggers to come and blog on ThoughtsPrevail on their favourite topic(keeping in mind the theme of this blog).Since Finance is a very important aspect for Startups(and in each and every aspect of the organization),my first guest blogger had to be from the field of finance.He is Ranjan(not to confuse him with Amit Ranjan of Uzanto) who blogs here

I would introduce Ranjan in more brief in the upcoming posts on this blog.

(Note:Guest blogging is not an attempt to get more traffic or to earn money through this blog.It is just an attempt to touch upon diversified areas)

|In: Brand Building|Last Updated: | 8 Comments
Ever thought how advertising could be used for brand building..Check this hoarding in Chennai which indicates the open fight between Kingfisher and Jet Airways.

Now,after few days,one more flier,the low cost airline Go Air also joins the bandwagon.Guess,if Air Deccan also joins this fight,than it’s hoarding would say “We don’t think we need to change“(though I can only afford and love Air Deccan) wink

Definitely you would have a smile on your face,when you see this one biggrin

|In: General Stuff|Last Updated: | 3 Comments
Just happened to speak to my friend Manish and guess what “He happened to meet Dr C K Prahalad, the author of the book “Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid” and was he was lucky enough to ask him few questions”.But the points that Dr Prahalad has stressed upon in this short conversation is excellent and definitely according India has a very bright future lol

The most interesting and motivating parts of the conversation are given below:

Availability of resources in India:
As per Dr Prahalad, these are types of resources in India
1. Misallocated resources
2. Trapped resources
3. Wasted resources

For effective utilization of resources , “we have to convert our asset to capital“

Strengths of India:
a. Remote Delivery:
The actual progress in India is not only IT but also Medical Transcription,Call Center.An excellent example : “Now it is very simple to make a Jyoti to speak English in an American Accent , all due to call centers in India biggrin

b. Global scale:
There are no of problems like water,power but we need to export it.There is excellent infrastructure to combat these problems and we need more companies like Reliance.

c. Emerging Competence Base:
Post-liberalization era has opened up the door for competition in the global market. We have opportunities in India also to utilize that same developed competency.

Manish’s Q&A session with Dr. Prahlad:

Q. Your views about brain drain?
A. First of all, I do not like this word, brain drain. Let me remind you that Mahatma Gandhi was also NRI. When you are abroad, you can see the India form outside. You do not have to face day to day problem that you are facing here. You can see the phenomenal great strength of India.

Thanks Manish for sharing this wonderful piece of information with us.You can find the entire coverage of this interesting talk here

|In: General Stuff|Last Updated: | 93 Comments

Happened to watch this news on TimesNow and it is really a shocking news.Sanjay Kedia,an ex IIT alumini and a post graduate from University of Carolina was arrested in a drug dealing case.He is the head of Kolkota based BPO firm Xponse.

Some facts about the incident and the charges against Sanjay Kedia:

Officers from the Narcotics Control Bureau raided Kedia’s office on the seventh and eighth floors of Kariwala Towers on February 1 and took away several documents and software.
After scanning the seized items, the sleuths arrested him late on Sunday night from his home in Salt Lake’s EE block. The raid yielded Rs 24 lakh in cash and $300.
Kedia was produced in a city court today and was remanded in judicial custody for a fortnight.
“Officials of the Drug Enforcement Administration (US) tipped us off,” an officer said. NCB officials refused to make any comment on record.

Kedia has been charged under sections 24, 29 and 30 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Read the complete article here