Not really sure of what attracts me to this instrument. I have been fascinated with this instrument from a very young age. My maternal uncle used to play it & was used to see it at my grandparents home every time I visited them.
Been lucky to witness some great performances in Bangalore over the years. Now here is a 3 part documentary title Story of the Guitar from BBC. Enjoyed watching Part 1. Now, waiting to watch the remaining 2 parts.
Curiosity just landed on the RED planet a.k.a Mars 9 hours ago, with a perfect landing.
I'm safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!
Just spell bound by the success of the mission. There is so much of complexity involved in every stage of the project till the Curiosity is safely landed and does it's job for what it has been sent to. I can only imagine the effort put by various teams which were involved in this epic journey.
The work is Magnificent. I am into software development. My work isn't as complex as these guys; rather some simple social web applications which helps businesses and customers. The nature of such work just eclipses mine.
To achieve a near perfect landing, it would require a lot of testing. Testing on various levels - electrical, mechanical, pressure, EDL (Entry, Descent & Landing), software, environment, etc. If testing fails to uncover any faults, then project would just burn Billion Dollars of tax payers' money. Therefore for such kind of projects - test plans, coverage, benchmarking, regression - is very vital for the final outcome. I feel testing is more valuable than development at certain phases of the project. The statistics from the endless testing would finally pay the dividend for the over-all success of the project.
Bugs / Faults are essentially part of the software development system. The journey of the product is to evolve every passing. If it isn't, then it's better to quit! In a mission critical project like MSL (Mars Science Laboratory ) my guess is that the fault tolerance level would be a near 0.
Here is a video which covers the various teams who are involved in developing the rover over many years. Gives us an insight into various domains and the kind of rigorous testing it undergoes before lift-off.
Curiosity is also Social Media friendly. It has a tweet handle - Curiosity Rover - in case you want to follow it's life on Mars on a daily basis.
I became a SWITCHER five years ago, while I was consulting in the UK. Thanks to Rory & Martin, who sold me on OSX & MBP. However, my house-mates thought I was blowing my money on piece of hardware that was nearly 40% more than the Windows equivalent option.
Since then I have had no qualms about moving to OSX. Have enjoyed the stability n features of the operating system, design of hardware & the simplicity n UX of the applications.
I have been waiting for Apple to refresh their MBP line and eventually they did couple of months ago. I would have upgraded to MBP, but then they introduced MBP RD. Was contemplating whether to upgrade to RD or not. After reading iFixt tear-down of RD, was bit held back.
After speaking to Navneet & Rory, there was no looking back from RD. I have taken a 3 year warranty, in case of any contingency. Thanks to Deepak R, who helped minimize the financial effect on my wallet :)
I eventually got to lay my hands on the MBP RD on Sunday. TBH, I was pleasantly surprised with the form factor. Simply beautiful. My old MBP was twice the size of this and heavy. Of-course Retina Display :) Boy, this one beats all the ultrabooks which are in the market.
After 3 days of usage, there are couple things which I miss as of now:
The keys on my earlier MBP were much softer than the latest iteration.
Chrome for RD is surely missed. Safari does it's job better for rendering websites.
Here are some pictures of 2007 MBP against 2012 MBP RD.
If you are looking for more detailed review. Anandtech has a detailed one.
Last year I happened to write a post related to eye sight. Today I stumbled upon a tweet which led me to a brilliant letter by Hellen Keller, deafblind activist and author.
In March of 1906, unable to preside over a public meeting of the Association for Promoting the Interests of the Blind, deafblind activist and author Helen Keller instead sent the following stirring letter to her good friend, Mark Twain. On the day of the event, Twain, who was chairing the meeting in Keller's absence, read her stunning letter aloud to all attendees and later included it in his autobiography, predicting that it would "pass into our literature as a classic and remain so."
Wrentham, Mass., March 27, 1906
My dear Mr. Clemens:
It is a great disappointment to me not to be with you and the other friends who have joined their strength to uplift the blind. The meeting in New York will be the greatest occasion in the movement which has so long engaged my heart: and I regret keenly not to be present and feel the inspiration of living contact with such an assembly of wit, wisdom and philanthropy. I shall be happy if I could have spelled into my hand the words as they fall from your lips, and receive, even as it is uttered, the eloquence of our Newest Ambassador to the blind. We have not had such advocates before. My disappointment is softened by the thought that never at any meeting was the right word so sure to be spoken. But, superfluous as all other appeals must seem after you and Mr. Choate have spoken, nevertheless, as I am a woman, I cannot be silent, and I ask you to read this letter, knowing that it will be lifted to eloquence by your kindly voice.
To know what the blind man needs, you who can see must imagine what it would be not to see, and you can imagine it more vividly if you remember that before your journey's end you may have to go the dark way yourself. Try to realize what blindness means to those whose joyous activity is stricken to inaction.
It is to live long, long days, and life is made up of days. It is to live immured, baffled, impotent, all God's world shut out. It is to sit helpless, defrauded, while your spirit strains and tugs at its fetters, and your shoulders ache for the burden they are denied, the rightful burden of labor.
The seeing man goes about his business confident and self-dependent. He does his share of the work of the world in mine, in quarry, in factory, in counting room, asking of others no boon, save the opportunity to do a man's part and to receive the laborer's guerdon. In an instant accident blinds him. The day is blotted out. Night envelops all the visible world. The feet which once bore him to his task with firm and confident stride stumble and halt and fear the forward step. He is forced to a new habit of idleness, which like a canker consumes the mind and destroys its beautiful faculties. Memory confronts him with his lighted past. Amid the tangible ruins of his life as it promised to be he gropes his pitiful way. You have met him on your busy thoroughfares with faltering feet and outstretched hands, patiently "dredging" the universal dark, holding out for sale his petty wares, or his cap for your pennies; and this was a man with ambitions and capabilities.
It is because we know that these ambitions and capabilities can be fulfilled that we are working to improve the condition of the adult blind. You cannot bring back the light of the vacant eyes; but you can give a helping hand to the sightless along their dark pilgrimage. You can teach them new skill. For work they once did with the aid of their eyes you can substitute work that they can do with their hands. They ask only opportunity, and opportunity is a torch in the darkness. They crave no charity, no pension, but the satisfaction that comes from lucrative toil, and this satisfaction is the right of every human being.
At your meeting New York will speak its word for the blind, and when New York speaks, the world listens. The true message of New York is not the commercial ticking of busy telegraphs, but the mightier utterances of such gatherings as yours. Of late our periodicals have been filled with depressing revelations of great social evils. Querulous critics have pointed to every flaw in our civic structure. We have listened long enough to the pessimists. You once told me you were a pessimist, Mr. Clemens, but great men are usually mistaken about themselves. You are an optimist. If you were not, you would not preside at the meeting. For it is an answer to pessimism. It proclaims that the heart and the wisdom of a great city are devoted to the good of mankind, that in this, busiest city in the world, no cry of distress goes up but receives a compassionate and generous answer. Rejoice that the cause of the blind has been heard in New York, for the day after it shall be heard around the world.
There is no point in boiling an ocean or re-inventing a wheel. You build upon something which already exists to make it even better. That's the power of ideas.
What triggered me to write this post was the simple UX flow of the ever growing mobile OS - Android. Android so far in its latest iteration i.e. ICS has evolved & has much better UX than the previous versions (Note: Am referring to Stock Android devices). But, even the stock UX doesn't come close to what Sharp AQUOS has to offer. I'm taken by the simplicity & minimal event triggers across various actions.
OEMs (Samsung, Sony, HTC, Motorola) who patch a layer of SHIT over stock Android should be watching this video to learn more about UX, Design & Minimalism. Above all, Google should be paying more attention to this video.
You should ONLY remix original if you can offer something better. Else don't remix.
The power of being open - where you have the option to create / improvise, something better than the original. Unlike WALLED gardened products or approach.
' don’t say you don’t have enough time. you have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to helen keller, pasteur, michaelangelo, mother teresea, leonardo da vinci, thomas jefferson, and albert einstein.' - h. jackson brown, jr
