DRM Free Music

With DRM (Digital Rights Management) more a pain than a useful thing, the music industry must come out with DRM-free music.

Misusing technology to harass users will only alienate the companies further from the consumers. I personally believe that this ostrich-in-the-sand mode of the music companies will do no good to the companies. While they should get a fair price for their services, it is important to realise that the market fundamentals have changed and while they can hold on to their empires for some more time, it will soon be beyond them to control such sweeping technological changes.

Here are two nice articless on DRM - one on how to buy DRM free music which is legal, and the other on how to remove DRM protection from songs that have such protection.

Are you looking for it?

This is very cool :)

Free Rice and Good Vocab

Try Free Rice, an online initiative to help improve vocab and distribute free rice to poor!

Optimism

A tale of optimism to ring in the good times! This is from Academy Award-winning screenwriter William Goldman. Here Goldman recounts his first trip as a young boy to Broadway where he attended the Gershwin play Porgy and Bess:

"My family went and we sat there and if you don't know the story, it's about this cripple, Porgy, who can't walk, and he gets around on this pathetic goat cart, towed by a scrawny goat, and we're someplace in the Deep South. Porgy is hopelessly in love with Bess, a beauty but weak. Toward the end, Porgy is sent to jail (he saved his friends by murdering the village monster) and while he is there, Bess is wooed by a pusher, Sportin' Life, who, using drugs as a lure, steals her away, takes her to New York City, which is the other end of the universe as far as anyone in this town is concerned.

"Porgy gets out of jail, and I am dreading the moment when he finds out Bess is gone. I mean, cripples don't win beauties in this world, not unless they are very rich indeed, and Porgy is a beggar. So he is out of jail and I am so scared for him, his life is over, how is he going to survive his loss, and he chitchats with the villagers and then he says it--where's Bess?
"No one wants to answer but finally he finds out - Bess is gone, she is gone forever, gone to New York City.
"Silence in the theatre. Then Porgy says these three amazing words:
" 'Bring my goat.' "

Hmm...thought provoking!

• Exaggeration misleads the credulous and offends the perceptive.
  - Eliza Cook
• False eloquence is exaggeration; true eloquence is emphasis.
  - William Alger
• Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
• We pay a person the compliment of acknowledging his superiority whenever we lie to him.
  - Samuel Butler

Religion in Definitions!

• All religions are the same -- basically guilt, with different holidays.
  - Cathy Ladman
• People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
  - Dave Barry
• A religious war is like children fighting over who has the strongest imaginary friend.

Saawariya Review

I recently chanced to see Saawariya, and then read this review. I sometimes read reviews after watching the movies, to decide whose reviews are best (Rediff's suck big time, especially Raja Sen). This review here is spot on, bang on!

ICL is "Netaji's baby, not Goel's" !

This report has prompted this report. Funny!

Some lovely quotes

Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself: "Lillian, you should have remained a virgin."
-- Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: "No good in a bed, but fine against a wall."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.
-- Mark Twain

The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending; and to have the two as close together as possible.
-- George Burns

Santa Claus has the right idea. Visit people only once a year.
-- Victor Borge

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
-- Mark Twain

By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher.
-- Socrates

I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
-- Groucho Marx

Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
-- Alex Levine

I don't feel old. I don't feel anything until noon. Then it's time for my nap.
-- Bob Hope

I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it.
-- W.C. Fields

We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.
-- Will Rogers

Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
-- Winston Churchill

Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty. But everything else starts to wear out, fall out, or spread out.
-- Phyllis Diller

By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere.
-- Billy Crystal

The Grade

A professor stood before his class of twenty senior organic biology students about to hand out the final exam.

"I want to say that it's been a pleasure teaching you this semester. I know you've all worked extremely hard and many of you are off to medical school after summer. So that no one gets their GPA messed up because they might have been celebrating a bit too much this week, anyone who would like to opt out of the final exam today will receive a 'B' for the course."

There was much rejoicing in the class as students got up, walked to the front of the class, and took the professor up on his offer. As the last taker left the room, the professor looked out over the handful of remaining students and asked, "Anyone else? This is your last chance."

One final student rose up and opted out of the final.

The professor closed the door and took attendance of those students remaining.

"I'm glad to see you believe in yourself," he said. "You all get 'A's."


How many have taken the easy way out?
The short road, the easy path, the light load, all lead to lower grades in the school of life.

How to Predict the Future

How to Predict the Future is an excellent article! It focuses on how to predict the future ;)

Typical Sarkari Attitude

I have a strong premonition that the Sarkari Attitude shown by Sarkari Companies is the final death knell for these unfortunate souls.

E.g. have a look at www.licindia.com - Till yesterday, it was the official website of LIC of India. Today, suddenly it has transformed into a parked domain from www.networksolutions.com !

Why?

Because the domain expired - that's why!!! - Howzzat for an explanation?

I wonder if they can't even get their domain name renewed on time, how do they manage my investments!!! It gives me the jeepers to think of that!

Why Osama Bin Laden Hates Microfinance

Why indeed? Here's the answer!

The 15 Laws That Delhi Lives By

The 15 Laws That Delhi Lives By

1. The Other Side Law:
If my side of the road has a traffic jam, then I can start driving on the wrong side of the road, and all incoming cars will be rerouted via Meerut.

2. The Queue Nahin Rule:
If there is a queue of many people, no one will notice me sneaking into the front as long as I am looking the other way.

3. The Mind Over Matter Law:
If a red light is not working, four cars from different directions can easily pass through one another.

4. The Auto Axiom:
If I indicate which way I am going to turn my vehicle, it is an information security leak.

5. The In Spit Of Thing:
The more I lean out of my car or bus, and the harder I spit, the stronger the roads become.

6. The Cinema Hall Fact:
If I get a call on my mobile phone, the film automatically goes into pause mode.

7. The Brotherhood Law:
If I want to win an argument, I need only to repeatedly suggest that the other person has illicit relations with his sister.

8. The Baraat Right:
When I'm on the road to marriage, all the roads in the city belong to me. To ME.

9. The Heart Of Things:
If I open enough buttons on my shirt, the pretty girl at the bus stop can see through my maldeformed chest into the depths of my soul.

10. The Name Game:
It is very important for the driver behind me to memorise the nicknames of my children.

11. Parking Up The Wrong Tree:
When I double-park my car, the road automatically widens so that the traffic is not affected.

12. The Chill Bill Move:
When I park and block someone else's car I am giving him a chance to pause, relax, chill and take a few moments off from his rushed day.

13. The Ogling Stare
If you don't ogle and drool at every hot Chic that passes by, you're gay.

14. The Bus Karo Law:
If I stop my bus at the correct place near the bus stop, the city will explode and blow into 6 million pieces.

15. The VIP Rule:
There are only 7 important persons in this city-Me, I, Myself, Main, Mainu, Assi.

I don't want an iPod

I don't want an iPod, I want a better MP3/MP4 player!

HR crunch hits industry

A pretty accurate state of affairs!

The life cycle of a project

Any new venture goes through the following stages: enthusiasm, complication, disillusionment, search for the guilty, punishment of the innocent, and decoration of those who did nothing.
- Unknown

Hoodia

Hoodia!

A Muslim Astronaut's dilemma

How to pray in space facing the Mecca correctly? That's the dilemma! Have a look at some solutions. Personally I agree with Dr Kamal Abdali's word.

TIME's photo essays

A nice collection of photos on a topic. Here are a few:

• Window Cleaners
• Africa Under Water
• The Arctic
• Marcel Marceau
• Beijing's Changing Skyline
• Ramadan Has Begun
• London Fashion Week