Moved

The author of this excuse for a blog has moved the same to : http://my.opera.com/sykora/ The author regrets any inconvenience caused due to this one extra click.

You're telling me...

Here are a couple of statements I definitely don't want to be on the receiving end of:

"Oh my God."
I've heard this statement being used by an atheist. My typical response to this type of remark would be:

"What do you mean 'Oh your god'? You probably even don't know who your god is.

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help you."
I've heard this a lot. The effect this remark has on you changes from place to place. However, there aren't many places now where I can take this positively.

"Go to the Microsoft Help Center"
For me this direction is ambiguous. Is it a place which has been set up by Microsoft to give help to others (In which case I would be better off not going) or is it a place set by someone else where Microsoft goes to get help? You decide.

"I'm a member of Chocoholics Anonymous."
Totally defeats the purpose.

"Are you asleep?"
Cliched, yes, but I've still heard that one.

"Trust me."
If I already trust you, then you don't need to say it.
If I don't, it's not what you say but what you do that is going to change my mind so don't bother.

"What I'd really like to see in Windows is some transparency."

If there are any more, don't worry, I'll let you know.

Just another screenshot for now, these exams are sapping my creativity. I'm in love with that wallpaper though, considering that it's fully computer generated. 3 cheers for Digital Blasphemy! 

My Desktop... 

A conjugal scene

I seem to be taking quite a few hits at the education system this week...ah well.

This post is in reference to an Article in 'The Hindu' dated Monday, January 20, 2006. It's the article at the bottom of the front page, about the AIEE model exam that was conducted the day before. It was only the very last line that struck me as soooo funny that I simply rolled of my sofa laughing...here goes --

"...However a few still feel that the AIEEE standards are high for state board students. "It is based on a thinking syllabus [CBSE], which is difficult for us...""

I really fail to see how anyone can hope to get through an exam without thinking. What worries me the most is how blatantly the person in question admitted that he found it difficult to think.

Reverse Gender Bias?

I had attended many of the shows put on at the recent Saarang 2006 at IIT, and had thankfully been saved from most of the hustle of buying tickets, because it was quite a bit simpler for me. Because of this 'special' treatment, I seldom experience the problems of those who go in the 'normal' way.
   The Reason I called this post 'Reverse Gender Bias' is because at quite a few shows I had to enter the 'normal' way, and was exposed to the biased treatment offered. There were tonnes of policemen (and women), and all of them would jump at the slightest oppurtunity to accuse a male of harrassing a female. Because of this, many boys were dragged out of the waiting lines, (which sometimes stretched for about 100m) and had to go back to the end. On the other hand, the girls, who were the souls of gentility, got preferential treatment by the police and the IIT students who were administrating, and left us in the lines.

Of course almost all the girls who were there will disagree with me, but I'm telling you my point of experience.

For the past I don't know how long, there have been women's rights activists and other related political parties, lobbying greater rights for women. What I think is that in response to these claims, authorities have swung the other way, and actually upset what little balance they could get.

So now it is the men who must protest for their rights and equal treatment, until either everyone gets what they want (which is an impossibility) or nobody does (which is the most possible case, all things considered).

Another example is the new 'Single Girl Child' initiative by the CBSE. It's utter nonsense. In many cases, the families which are unable to afford education, are unable to do so precisely because they have many children to support. Moreover, there are many underprivileged boys who are not given the oppurtunity because they are boys.

Men's Rights Groups? Not yet, but it is coming...

A way with words

While Studying for my English Exam, I came across this nifty passage, which was a declaration made by one of the authors of poetry in my textbook. I liked it so much that I thought I should include it here :

"I am making this statement as an act of wilful defiance of military authority, because I believe that the War is being deliberately prolonged by those who have the power to end it. I am a soldier, convinced that I am acting on behalf of soldiers. I believe that this War, on which I entered as a war of defence and liberation, has now become a war of aggression and conquest. I believe that the purpose for which I and my fellow soldiers entered upon this war should have been so clearly stated as to have made it impossible to change them, and that, had this been done, the objects which actuated us would now be attainable by negotiation. I have seen and endured the sufferings of the troops, and I can no longer be a party to prolong these sufferings for ends which I believe to be evil and unjust. I am not protesting against the conduct of the war, but against the political errors and insincerities for which the fighting men are being sacrificed. On behalf of those who are suffering now I make this protest against the deception which is being practised on them; also I believe that I may help to destroy the callous complacency with which the majority of those at home regard the contrivance of agonies which they do not, and which they have not sufficient imagination to realize".

Succint non?

This is one of the many passages you wouldn't here in a WWI history lesson.