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RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
AddType x-mapp-php5 .php
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AddHandler server-parsed .shtml .html
AddHandler x-mapp-php5 .php

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It had been bothering me for a while and thanks to WordPress Support I’ve been able to figure out the solution. Let me know if it helps you.

Fast forward to today – I’ve an hour train journey daily and after discovering a public library close to home with tons of great books, I see no reasons why I should not indulge a lot more. Another great thing about reading books is that is that it goes well with my new years resolution of blogging more interesting stuff often. In the age of 140 chars, blogging might actually sound wierd to some people — I’ve my reasons and thats an another post, a long one actually.

This is my current queue of books. I’ve read a lot of science fiction and am looking to branch out. For some reason, I also want to read Milton’s Paradise Lost this year.

Dune by Frank Herbert

Complete Guide to Guys by Dave Barry

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

1984 by George Orwell

Short Stories by W.Somerset Maugham

Have any comments, suggested reading lists/books? I’m all ears.

Side Note : I used Amazon Showcase for WordPress for the display above, and the geek that I am, spent more time hacking the CSS and the widget code than for the actual writing of this post.

1. When Rajnikanth enters a room, he doesn’t turn the lights on, he turns the dark off.
2. When Rajnikanth looks in a mirror the mirror shatters, because not even glass is stupid enough to get in between Rajnikanth and Rajnikanth.
3. Brett Favre can throw a football over 50 yards. Rajnikanth can throw Brett Favre even further.
4. The last digit of pi is Rajnikanth. He is the end of all things.
5. Rajnikanth does not know where you live, but he knows where you will die.
6. Bullets dodge Rajnikanth.
7. A Handicap parking sign does not signify that this spot is for handicapped people. It is actually in fact a warning, that the spot belongs to Rajnikanth and that you will be handicapped if you park there.
8. Rajnikanth’ calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, no one fools Rajnikanth.
9. If you spell Rajnikanth wrong on Google it doesn’t say, “Did you mean Rajnikanth?” It simply replies, “Run while you still have the chance.”
10. Rajnikanth can do a wheelie on a unicycle.
11. Once a cobra bit Rajnikanth’ leg. After five days of excruciating pain, the cobra died.
12. When Rajnikanth gives you the finger, he’s telling you how many seconds you have left to live.
13. Rajnikanth can kill two stones with one bird.
14. Rajnikanth was once on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and was the first to spin. The next 29 minutes of the show consisted of everyone standing around awkwardly, waiting for the wheel to stop.
15. Leading hand sanitizers claim they can kill 99.9 percent of germs. Rajnikanth can kill 100 percent of whatever he wants.
16. There is no such thing as global warming. Rajnikanth was cold, so he turned the sun up.
17. Rajnikanth can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.
18. Rajnikanth has a deep and abiding respect for human life… unless it gets in his way.
19. It takes Rajnikanth 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.
20. Rajnikanth once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by yelling, “Bang!”
21. In an average living room there are 1,242 objects Rajnikanth could use to kill you, including the room itself.
22. Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Behind every dead man, there is Rajnikanth.
23. Rajnikanth destroyed the periodic table, because Rajnikanth only recognizes the element of surprise.
24. Rajnikanth got his drivers license at the age of 16 Seconds.
25. With the rising cost of gasoline, Rajnikanth is beginning to worry about his drinking habit.
26. The square root of Rajnikanth is pain. Do not try to square Rajnikanth, the result is death.
27. When you say “no one’s perfect”, Rajnikanth takes this as a personal insult.
28. Rajnikanth makes onions cry
29. Rajnikanth can delete the Recycle Bin.
30. Ghosts are actually caused by Rajnikanth killing people faster than Death can process them.
31. Rajnikanth can build a snowman out of rain.
32. Rajnikanth can strangle you with a cordless phone.
33. Rajnikanth can drown a fish.

I am sure there are more things Rajni can do that are not here. Share them and your favorites in the comments. Americans can go ahead and do a “%s/Rajnikanth/Chuck Norris”

Source : Unknown. A hilarious email forward.

Don’t know if I should be thankful for that or should feel sad that I am missing out on something different. I seriously am hitting the sack really hard. Just a couple of minutes on the bed and I am off to sleep, blissful sleep. Makes me wonder what has changed. Is it the work and just that I am tired at the end of the day? Is it that I am happy and content, completely relaxed and so can sleep without any worries? or Is it just that I am used to this mundane schedule of sleeping at 12 in the night and not after breakfast. Probably there is more than meets the eye.

God, can I please have my insomniacity back. Just for a little while, maybe only on the weekends so that I can relive all those seconds that seem like minutes, never ending. So that I can have time to write and read more. So that I can have time to email my friends and family. So that I can have to do everything that I have wanted to do….

Just copy paste this code into your blog with changes wherever necessary especially the highlighted line and it should work. Let me know here how it goes!

<div id="twtr-search-widget"></div>
<script src="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/1/widget.js"></script>
<link href="http://widgets.twimg.com/j/1/widget.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet">  

<script>
<!-- Change settings in this code to whatever you want (subject, search, ...) -->
new TWTR.Widget({
search: '@ev',
id: 'twtr-search-widget',
loop: true,
title: 'My Live Twitter Stream',
subject: 'Search @ev',
width: 600,
height: 200,
theme: {
  shell: { background: '#bbb', color: '#ffffff' },
  tweets: { background: '#ffffff', color: '#444444', links: '#1985b5'}
  }
}).render().start();
</script>

If you don’t want to copy the line numbers, use the copy to clipboard option that shows up on the right when you hover over the code

Followed by the Terminator

A proud moment in my twit life. I am being followed by @Schwarzenegger ..  ani is a big fan and my Masters degree has his autograph already. Kewwl!!

After umpteen changes, from google app engine  @sumanth-blog to finally settling down with WordPress, I am finally done with most of the changes that I wanted. However, I am pretty sure that I would definitely want something or the other to change and will be always a work in progress aka BETA forever.

The previous blogs that I had, have been random ramblings and as Rama succinctly puts it  “Californian Pleasures”. I wonder if the theme would change and I would write something useful for others, maybe .. only time would tell. Anywho, let me know what you guys/gals think about the blog and if any suggestions do spring to mind,  holler at me!

Live long and prosper

Source

[Copy paste from an amazing blog ]

So over the weekend me and a male colleague of mine decided to go shopping. “What and Why?” you question with a raised eyebrow. Brace yourself – you aint the first person to question the activity. Another friend of ours raised similar questions too with the “Aren’t both of you confirmed heterosexuals” look. So I did what any sensible man facing such a question in this century would do – post on my blog abt it.

I think the society is strangely skewed in its choice of activities the sexes are allowed to do together. Every time I hit the malls, I see tons of women who come to shop by themselves. Two women, all dressed up, giggly, trying out different clothes and asking each other questions like “too short?”, “too low?” “does my stomach show?”. Perfectly fine. No one questions them and their motives. Now imagine two guys doing that. Imagine me walking into a store with my male friend and trying out a shirt and asking him “too tight?” “will this go with green?” Yeah!! You can’t imagine that – can you?

So let me spell it out again – two fully dressed men in an attempt to dress themselves further will appear queer in our society but (yes, the quintessential but) boxing – that is just fine. Seriously. The act of two almost naked men, wearing nothing but literally boxing shorts, touching each other while sweating is perceived to be an act of oozing machoness but the thought of the same two guys buying shirts together is strange!!!! The same holds true for working out. Two buddies pumping those heavy weights in the gym is completely fine – where one man in his sweaty T shirt standing right above his buddy’s face, helping him do bench press is fine – but the same two men if seen in a classy restaurant, eating dinner together in formals, will be questioned. Oh yes, that brings me to restaurants. Isn’t it strange that we draw the line across some special kind of restaurants – two men having burgers in a fast food restaurant is cool (coz they are buddies grabbing a quick snack) but if they go to a sushi bar by themselves then it is not (coz then people think that they are just buddies try to grab each other while they snack).

Which is why I love Indian men. Coz we all know that Indian men hate it more than anybody else to have their sexuality questioned. At the same time most acts Indian men (or Indian men I bump into) do together are … err … quite questionable – going for Friday night movies together, always having their arms around each other while taking photographs, going to the sea beach all by themselves and then running into the water and splashing each other??? Sounds familiar? Yes, these are some of our favorite bonding moments. But we never come across as questionable because Indian men follow the rule of the jungle – whatever you do, DO IT IN HERDS!! Yes, Indian men flock in large quantities. Coz we know that two men hugging and taking photographs is queer but twelve of them doing it is just plain old weird and we are fine with weird!! This is the same reason why you can safely go to any night club in areas with high desi population and see a dozen Indian men dancing together and still not question their sexuality. Pretty neat, heh?

Society and its biases – I will never understand

Edit : I just came across this strip and it kinda looked apt here. Trust me, grad life isnt that bad It doesnt fit into my blog layout and you probably should see only the image.

thanks·giv·ing (thngks-gvng)
n.

A celebration of being thankful for what one has and the bounty of the previous year.

So, what have I been thankful for over the last one year? Apart from the usual : my family, my friends and their support, without which I wouldnt have been here in US, doing what I am doing now, I am thankful this year for

1) Dec 11-12, 2005 :- ” Life is filled with so many exciting twists and turns. Hop off the straight and narrow whenever you can and take the winding paths. Experience the exhilaration of the view from the edge. Because the moments spent there, that take your breath away, are what make you feel truly alive.” — Copyright © 2000 Stacey Charter .

Certain moments take your breath away. Certain decisions you know would change your whole life. One of those moments that would forever remain etched in my memories.

2) Dec 3, 2005 – Dec 30, 2005 :- Placed in TCS and Kritikal Solutions. I am thankful to Gaurav Somani for me getting into Kritikal . Its a long story.

Interview to Job Conversion percentage : 100%. Okay, Agreeed, I screwed up tons of written exams including Sarnoff. A totally different story though. I was really careless and am like so glad that I got placed. Looking back, it really felt good that I would be earning and I guess I will have to go through this one more time !!

3) Mar 2, 2006 :- UCSC admit. Ufff.. finally an admit. And it was like the day of my life. My dream of Californication finally being realised. I literally jumped with joy that day and remember having a bash. It was something I really waited for, for such a long time and I had started to give up on MS and settle for working @ Kritikal. It felt really good.

4) July 14, 2006 :- VISA Interview. I was just so freaked out some days before the interview, I finally managed to make it. It was the shortest interview of my life. Barely lasted 30 secs. I was done with just a couple of Qs. Was so relieved that it was finally over. Was just looking forward at the shopping and all the fun I would have back home.

5) Sep 2, 2006 :- California here I come. Flight, Stay at Gaurav’s and Chikki’s place. Its all a blurred memory though it happened in the recent past, probably the jet-lag had its toll. I really liked US and still do. And I am surprised when someone tells me that they had a really bad first experience with US. I really had a nice time, and the transition was pretty smooth, more so cos I was so excited about California.

6) Nov 23, 2006 :- Thanksgiving dinner at a chum’s place, ( turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, apple pie and et ) a walk to the campus, which I would rmr for some time, and finally some decisions that would probably change the course of my life .. I am thankful for being able to think really clearly after a long time. I am glad I finally have blogged abt something I have wanted to for a long time.

Apart from these moments, there have been tons of happy times, nostalgic moments (Farewell n Graduation), a new found interest in cooking, esp chicken. All in all, its been an eventful year filled with fun and frolic.

Graciis

P.S : 1) I dont actually remember the dates and had to get them courtesy gmail. 2) Why on earth would this picture signify “thanks”? ?

Everything is okay in the end. If its not okay, then its not the end