Wednesday, August 3, 2011

IQ to IE...Where do you stand?

So dumb people use Internet Explorer, how can that be a shocking eye opener is what I am wondering. Let's be honest here, it comes as part of the windows operating system and doesn't involve downloading and installing it.
What I am perplexed about and to me, anyways, seems a no-brainer is what prompted someone to go and do a research on this. Did someone, at a Geek party, getting bored of what the others were discussing, suddenly think "This party is soooo boring, I need to bring in some zest, some fun.....how should I do this? Oh Yeah I know....lets start with Microsoft products, they are always fun to make fun of." and hence started the great debate of which web browser is the best leading to the demographics of the user?
Or did some noob watching TV get bored of watching Harbhajan Singh and Saif Ali Khan constantly annoying him/her asking the question "Have I made it large?" get curious as to what web browser these people used and if their IQ had actually made it large?
Whatever it was, someone (more likely to be more than one) somewhere had to be really really bored to go through with it and not only did they (I use "they" as this could not have been a one mind scam err...I mean scheme) break it down to different web browsers, they actually went ahead comparing the IQ levels of users using different versions of IE and how the gradual updates in the version led to the increase in the IQ levels. So there we go, while you might not be a total fool while using IE9, you still have some way to come up the IQ ratings by using more sophisticated browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Camino.
So the next time you see someone using Internet Explorer, try not to snigger and judge, just remember the wise word uttered a long time ago by Confucius - "Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change".

Monday, August 1, 2011

Where Did My Money Go??

The great American Debt crisis, can't come as a shock to many of us for what more could we expect from the nation that gave us our greatest vice - Consumerism. Ah yes, buy stuff that we really didn't need with the money that we really didn't have. It basically took greed and covered it in a nice sugary flavour (or deep fried it in batter for those who don't like sweets) and presented it to us, with the notion that if we didn't spend money the world would come to an end or something to that effect. We got so used to it that we spent money on novelty items such as "Colour Changing LED Rose" or a "Designer Gnome" or a clock that doesn't resemble anything like a clock. We received catalogues for this in the mail, emails, newspapers, online ads. Yes, our emails were cluttered spam mails selling us everything from the novelty items to prescription drugs to pills that could work wonders yet could not be advertised on national television and then there were those emails from the African Royalty. Ah yes, now the African Princes did not want any money from you, in fact they wanted to share their enormous fortune that the silly Government of theirs was trying to steal from them. All they wanted was my bank account, and though it has been over 8-9 years and apart from the bank losing a chunk of my money I am sure the cheque is going to be in the mail any time now.
No, consumerism has not been put to death, its merely taking a bit of a nap right now and probably using the latest dreaming gadget churned out just before the recession hit. So as goes the line made more famous in the Will Smith starer "Independence Day" - It ain't over till the fat lady sings!

Captain Invincible and the Invisible Vaseline

Cricket is a gentleman's game or so we have been hearing ever since we started watching the game, which of course is pretty much since we were born. Now, I got into cricket pretty late when I was about 13 or maybe 14 since I grew up in a country obsessed with football (soccer to the folks who don't play it). However, with my country of origin it was just a matter of when not if, till I started to follow it religiously and ever since then the thing that comes up is the comment on how gentlemanly the game is. In the last decade give a few more years, the whole playing in the spirit of the game has made a lot of noise with a few teams trying push each other in a corner and win playing on the mind game than by actually playing the actual game. There has been a greater scrutiny of the umpiring and as the game has gone on to be more corporate than just be a sport the stress levels amongst the players and the officials have hit the roof.
Little would Douglas Jardine have known at the time that bowling the bodyline would have the spirit of the game linger on for the rest of the playing history as now everything that can't be controlled by the umpires goes back to the players and how much friendly spirit they show whilst playing.
Having said all that, do players really abide by the whole statement of the game being one of the gentlemen or the whole playing in the spirit of the game? Just a look at the present Test match going on between India and England has given us an indication of the extremities of the way things are played. Michael Vaughan, ex-captain of the English team recently tweeted that VVS Laxman might have applied vaseline to the bat to avoid being detected by the hotspot on the nick that may have been. The fact that the bowler at that time checked the bat (again I suspect the gentlemanly conduct there) and confirmed there was no substance - vaseline, water or otherwise on the bat. The tweet brought a bit of condemnation from the Indian camp with the former captains wondering loudly if Vaughan really knew what he was talking about, only for Vaughan to retort with "where has the humour gone?" response. Now Mr. Vaughan, I might not have played any professional cricket but to accuse a person of cheating is no joke, in any sport or profession for that matter, unless you have some concrete evidence and what you have based it on was as slippery as that alleged vaseline which surprise surprise according to an English camper was mysteriously missing.
Next came an incident where Ian Bell in a world of his own started running amok the field to get to tea before the umpires had called for it and was run out, and from the rule books, it seems was really out. All of a sudden there was a huge discussion about how the dismissal would be in the spirit of the game and if the Indian fielders should have appealed. As, tea got over and the fielders came on the field, we suddenly saw Ian Bell walk out with his bat and it was obvious the appeal was reversed and the Indian camp thought better than to react a la Vaughan and probably allow the game not to be thrown into another controversy. The question that shall probably linger on, is that would England in a similar situation have done the same thing, and even Bell could not give a proper answer to that. Dhoni might have given away the top spot in the Test rankings but he certainly has left cricket a question to ponder whenever, if ever, a situation like this arises again. I would not be surprised to see at least one comment which would go like this "I wonder what Dhoni would have done in this situation". So, after the vaseline-gate there still is hope that Cricket might still have a few gentlemen left in the game and that the spirit of the game might still be going strong.

P.S: A few lines I wrote to share with my friends on facebook about the whole cricket saga from the last two days summed up.

Nasser Hussain : I can't believe the BCCI would have objections to the use of UDRS with Hawk Eye. That is just beyond reproach
Ravi Shastri : I think you are going beyond the boundaries of commenting Nasser.
Ian Bell : I don't care about the UDRS and the umpires any more, I want Dhoni to take decisions on every thing cricket going forward.
Strauss and Flower : Amen!