Sir, code delivered Sir!

I was watching "A Few Good Men" yesterday in AMC and the military style of working caught my imagination. I started pondering how would be if the entire IT service industry was run like a military barrack? It was a typical pathetic fantasy i regularly have, but i decided to spend more time letting this imagination run wild.

Lets look into the bad aspects first,
1. High ranking officials(managers in our world) will have the final say. They will make all the decisions for us and a foot soldier (developer) will have no say in them. He will be forced to follow the orders of his managers, but thats what he signed up for initially.
2. Also there is very high possibility of nepotism even though it is supposed to be a merit based system.

Well how do we counter these in our current software industry? We dont need to counter this, we are already accustomed to such a system. It is not like every organization is purely driven by their employees, it is the managers who decide on everything including the future of his developers. So that wont be really bad to get accustomed to. Nepotism .. hahaha .. no need to say more, the software industry is rife with that. All the "Merit based organization" crap in the HR meetings are just salt on the wounds. So the two bad things i could think about are already present in the system, so we wont even feel a pinch!

The good aspects
1. There are lot of good aspects in this type of system. Discipline will be injected into the system, all the flexi-timing bull crap is done away with. People will report at 8am and leave at 5pm, end of story. Get the maximum out of the 8hrs and you will see efficiency increase automatically.
2. Managers make all the decision and its their headache to meet the deadlines and extract work. Manager word is final and if anything goes wrong, for a change, the manager gets the "Kick in the ass" and we developers can always point back to the manager. So no developer heart burn.
3. Attrition headaches are not there! Yeah, you dont run from the navy to join the airforce, it is all the same. Same discipline and same set of rules, same song and dance.
4. I saved the best one for the last. Translate the "Unit. Corps. God. Country" into S/W industry lingo and you get "Team.Code.Delivery.Company". WOW, it would be awesome if everyone could relate to this discipline and passion. May be every delivery from the IT industry will become a zero defect and first hand quality certified code delivery!

I know it was a silly fantasy build upon, but some how when an imagination runs wild, you dont want to stop it. BTW my knowledge on Military is entire film driven and i owe everything to the film industry!

Man on the moon

"Man on the moon" is one of the best films i have ever seen in the recent days. Jim Carrey has played the role of Andy Kaufman, one of the best "Sound and Music" man we have ever seen. I havent seen Andy Kaufman on TV before, but the movie generated so much interest and curiosity on him. May be it is Carrey's portrayal but somehow this movie is a far better and intensive performance from the master himself. Somehow i felt Jim Carrey was tailor made for this role, his body language or voice overs did really take this movie to a new depth. One of the best sequence in the movie is the scene where Andy (Jim Carrey) breaks the news that he has Cancer to his Shapiro and Zmuda, couldnt have scripted the scene any better. A total stand out in the movie. Dont miss the last one hour in the movie, Jim Carrey has done one of his best performances.

Movie info on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125664/

Andy Kaufman, the entertainer, has given a brand new dimension to practical jokes. He has played the public mind at his will. He has tapped into the public's taste for a hero and villain routine and all his pranks were on the public themselves. I think the entire WWE concept running today is all based on this "heel"/"hero" public sentiment. Few of the jokes like the simulation of static on a television on an uninterrupted program is total GOLD. Amazing imagination and he was/is/will always be an amazing show artist.
More on Andy Kaufman here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Kaufman

A sample of the man live on national television. Just check out his facial reactions in the first 2 mins into the video.

Company Logo(s) over time

Ran into this link yesterday and it is an interesting collection of logos over time. I think Canon and IBM steal the show in here

http://designcow.net/identity-design-samples/evolution-of-famous-brand-logotypes/

Another observation is the Coke and Pepsi Co logos. I think so many changes over time just shows the constant need to reinvent themselves to beat the competition. Saab logo is too much for me to absorb, i spent 5 mins trying to find its evolution but couldnt and did Nokia start of with a fish in their logo? What the hell was that?

Windies Cricket

The amazing picture of Chris Gayle at the last one day against India at Kingston. I think his hair style says it all! Cant imagine Windies board dumping a player of his caliber, i think he deserves the respect he demands. Hopefully the morons on the Windies cricket board solve all their EGO issues with Gayle before the test series.

They are an amazing team if they apply their mind to it. Hopefully we get to see a decent West indies team in the next decade. All my hopes are pinned against the charismatic Brain Lara ver2 Darren Bravo!

Smartphones

Bumped into this video on youtube where stand up comedian Seinfeld mocks people using Blackberry and iphone. It was a nice observation and the final sign off on iPhone was excellent.



Watching this made me think how addicted i am to my smartphone. On retrospection, these smart phones have spoilt me in a lot of ways,

1. They help me avoid boring people
2. Fake a call and skip out of awkward social situations
3. Kill my time when nothing is interesting through games, videos, books, songs etc
4. Essential app like maps (yes, i get lost a lot), Yelp (always wanted to try exotic food!) etc
5. Ofcourse showing off (though smartphone has become common, few people still dont have it)

Also, now i have an attention span of a 2 year old. Yes, all i do is keep watching my phone for news feeds, mails etc. I am not able to sit down and talk to some one for more than 10mins, I keep watching my mobile screen. I feel sorry for the other person to have engaged on a war to make me listen to them. Also when people remind about things i forget or fail to complete, i seriously miss the notifications and alerts i get in my mobile.

Why cant life be a smart phone? Apply the life = mobile analogy brings forth hordes of options

1. Press the home button if you dont like a situation and run back to home screen
2. Kill an infinitely running irritating program(?) on a single touch
3. Facing a problem - restart the whole life system!
4. Regular updates to make your life easier and better
5. Have infinite options to entertain yourself
6. Be in control of everything that happens to your life (WOW! Nirvana!)
7. Run your fav song in the background as you live

The next one is my favorite

8. Get a new life if you have f***ing messed the old one up

he he he!

Surfing in Chennai?

I read a newspaper article recently about the growing trend of Surfing and surfers in Chennai beaches. I was surprised and also excited that Indian east coast has finally caught up with this "wave" sport. Looks to me they have home made surf boards and also our own local surf instructors, pretty amazing eh?

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-22/chennai/29571110_1_surfing-competitions-surfing-spots-kishore

I think it will slowly catch on with the Indian population who as of now spend their time making their feet wet when they visit the beach. I think it does cost less, equipment wise (just a surf board!) and it has got more to do self learning after getting to know the basics. May be if i get a chance i would like to try my hand on this.

Sick Comedy?

I was reading through Ken Levine's blog and found an interesting MTV animated series he had blogged about at http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2011/06/clone-high.html. He has embedded the pilot and two more episodes in it and i kinda liked it! It is an interesting premise when all the great leaders and historical figures are cloned to harness their strength. Sadly it ran only for one season and was stopped due to a sequence involving Gandhi getting bullied by a muscular man and ofcourse an outrage in India and no more Clone High! I think we need to take things easy sometimes, but again this is me! It is not like we dont insult him, we use Gandhi's name for political mileage, publicity and what not, but some one hitting Gandhi is a great insult to us? Oh comon, are Indians that sensitive? Anyway there is even a line by Gandhi in this pilot - "Gandhi is only anti-violent, not anti comedy!"

More information in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clone_high, to me it looks like a fantastic idea to develop. Bad luck we couldnt get to see it go beyond a season.

Explain this!

There was an auction at my client location where they had all outdated monitors, laptops and CPUs (though just an year old) were up for bidding. I was eager to get my hands on a monitor to aid me in watching torrent downloaded HD movies on a bigger, better (?) screen. I also won the bid for a 15" monitor at 15$ (Note to myself: It was a NOT A stellar deal. Someone got it for 5$, so stop bragging) and was asked to collect it the next week. The biggest surprise was when they said that they would just give the monitor and not the essential power chord that comes along with it. Yeah, you read it right, only the monitor, no power or SVGA cable with it.
I was surprised and even more interesting was the reason stated by the computer guy here "Ï dont have enough power cables around, so I cannot spare one". All i wanted to know was, where the F*** was the power cable that came along with it? How can someone run out of power cables, every equipment is provided with one and i have heard monitors going blip or laptops going blank, But no one ever comes complains that the power cable is broken or lost and that too for a monitor. I stood there brain frozen for almost 2 minutes trying to comprehend this situation. After two minutes, my brain could still not understand this situation and i looked at him like someone asked me if i could travel at the speed of light? All i could blurt out was a single "Wat" and walk back.
I have still not convinced myself over this and i think i never will.

The Matrix

I am watching 'The Matrix' for the nth time now and everytime i watch it, I am overwhelmed at the imagination involved in creating this movie. When i first saw this movie, i didn understand a bit, i saw it just for the stunt sequences and graphics involved. It was indeed mind blowing and way ahead of its time when it was released in 1999. But after 3-4 viewings, i was amazed at its storyline and narration/screenplay. It does really have a profound meaning in its story. The best portion should be the trivia section in IMDB for this movie http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/trivia . The original sound track for 'The Matrix' is also great so are the 'Reloaded' and 'Revolutions' always a treat to listen to them along with the movie.

DB Blues

Got myself to listen to Delhi belhi after my friends email stating it is good. In the last three days of hearing i havent gone past three songs, the DK Bose song was awesome in its "Grunge Rock" Style and held me captive on the first day, the video for "Nakkaddwaley Disco" held me for few hours on the second day, but it is the pure Guitar rendition and the captivating, dark voice in the "Saigal Blues" that took me a new level in "song obsession" (If i may call it that). I have been listening to the same song over and over again from dawn to dusk. I cant have enough of that song, literally. My iPod reads 287 against the number of times i have played this song in the last 2.5 days. I dont know whether it is the plain guitar or the uniqueness of the fusion between a 70s voice and strumming, somehow i cannot get this out of my mind. It is slow in its start, but brings in the guitar innocuously in the first few seconds, then the voice and guitar gel so well, that they rule the rest of the song. Like how the voice started the song, the guitar solo ends the song which leaves you wanting for more. This should be the most captivating song i have heard in the recent times, i think it has got more to do with the final solo guitar rendition than anything else.

Being Social? Think again.

All the world is deeply confined to the walls in the facebook. Everything now needs to be "Like'd" or posted on the wall or needs to be shared with someone. Living social is the trend, everything is shared or done in public. Every picture, every activity and every check ins are tracked amongst friends and somehow every friend has got a comment for what you do. The more comments and suggestions you have in your wall, the more socially networked you are. Well enjoying your happiness or memories or experiences within yourself is the greatest joy in my opinion.

Well, it reminds me of Ayn Rand's words - "Every form of happiness is private. Our greatest moments are personal, self-motivated, not to be touched. Those things which are sacred or precious to us are the things we withdraw from promiscuous sharing. But now we are taught to throw everything within us into public light and common pawing. To seek joy in meeting halls". I think she is a visionary!

Fasting - A new trend?

Anna Hazare and now Baba Ramdev! They are doing what the media was supposed to do. Check mate the government on critical issues. I suppose the burgeoning Indian middle class has grown over the basic survival instinct and want to have a civilized society to live in. They are so desperate that anyone could voice their thoughts become a hero. I dont understand why this is so difficult to understand for the political Babus. All the Indians expect is a corruption free governance. They dont expect to pay every government employee to just get their basic work done. Anyways, if something remotely good is gonna happen through these fasting events, i can click a "Like" on it! No questions asked.

Kung Fu Panda II

Finally dragged my friend along for Kung Fu panda 2. We chose this movie over "Thor" just for Jack Black's voice over for the panda and its promos during our previous movie visits. The dialogs were excellent with timing and wit. A must watch.
"Inner Peace" friends, "Inner Peace"!