Twitter Updates
Who will win on Super Tuesday
Monday, February 04, 2008
Yesterday, I was at a friend's place watching superbowl - and the only person in the crowd rooting for the Giants.
We all know how that ended.
Today, when people are thinking McCain has it nailed and Obama-Clinton is a head to head competition on super Tuesday, here are my predictions: Between Clinton and Obama, Obama will get >58% of the votes, and between Romney and McCain, McCain will get >54%.
Lets see how this turns out. Of course, this is based on the state of things as they are right now.. who knows what will take place between now and tomorrow, so I will try to revise my guesses tomorrow again.
ByPeeyush 5 comments Backlinks
Taare Zameen Par
Saturday, December 22, 2007
My favorite Bollywood actor, Aamir Khan, has come out with a new movie. And if you know him, you know how rare that is - given that he does barely a movie a year. But the best part is that his movies are a delight.
But it seems there was something special this year. His new movie, Taare Zameen Par (Stars on earth), is his directorial debut as well. And judging by the reactions from the readers of his blog (another first - a Bollywood superstar writing a blog and reaching out to the masses), the movie is probably one of the best in a long time.
I am eager to go see it this weekend. Will post a review once I am done.
If you have seen the movie, let me know what you think.
ByPeeyush 6 comments Backlinks
The video says it all
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
ByPeeyush 3 comments Backlinks
Ready to head out
Sunday, December 02, 2007
As I got ready to leave for India, I was wondering if I was packing enough warm clothes. This meant a quick Google search for weather in Delhi, Bangalore and Bombay, the three cities I will be visiting.
And then, out of curiosity I did a search for Seattle weather.
ByPeeyush 2 comments Backlinks
Uranium on Amazon
Friday, November 30, 2007
If you wonder where all those WMDs in Iraq went, turns out they are being sold on Amazon.
Amazon has a Uranium-238 can for sale. And if you think that is funny, you should read the customer reviews that have been posted.
Now there is something George Bush can give the country for Christmas.
ByPeeyush 0 comments Backlinks
Toyota Prius
Thursday, November 22, 2007
One of the benefits Google currently provides to its employees is a $5000 subsidy towards the purchase of a Toyota Prius or Honda Civic Hybrid.
If you got surprised, you should probably check out this article on various green loving initiatives by Google.
Anyway, back to the point. $5000 subsidy for buying a Prius.
If you know me, you know what I did. I bought a Prius. It just arrived night before last, and I am loving it so far. Not only the geek in me loves to watch the engine/electric motor switching dance, he also loves to adapt the driving dynamically to coerce the car into sipping even lesser gas.
Some of the things I love about this car so far:
- Higher mileage - duh!
- Smart key - I do not need to take the key out of my pocket for to unlock the car, or to start it and be on my way.
- Continuous variable transmission - sometimes reminds me of Kinetic Honda, but the overall performance is excellent, and start/stop/park are all at the press of buttons.
- The steering wheel has all the controls you need, even climate control and maps.
- GPS - once you have it, you need it.
- Bluetooth - so much easier now to make calls on the road. No echo of any kind. Atleast from where I sit :)
- MP3/WMA support - It has a 6 disc CD changer, and all 6 discs support MP3/WMA. This means that you can fit in 72 CDs worth of music, or 144 if you use WMA.
- iPod hookup - Since those 144 CDs are mostly useless music anyway, you can hookup your iPod to it.
- Turning radius and body profile - the car has an amazingly small turning radius and is smaller in body length, making it easy to get around, and park in tight spots. Of course there is fear of the car next door dinging it.
The coolest part was that I got a great deal on it with the dealer making just few hundred dollars on it (won't tell you, but can hook you up on the inside track if you want). Of course, they tried to take more out of me during the final paperwork.
They tried to sell me extended insurance, 7 yrs/70k miles for $2400. I negotiated back and forth, and came to 7yrs/100k miles for $2000. I then found out that the insurance provider was someone called 'National' and not 'Toyota'. I threw a fit and found out that Toyota is cheaper and I could have the same deal of 7 yrs/100k miles in $1800. I tried negotiating, and the guy said 'I will have to ask my manager' when I asked for $1600. Knowing its a charade, I told him to go ahead. While he was gone, I whipped out my blackberry and searched online for Prius extended warranty costs. Found on priuschat.com this same 7yrs/100k warranty selling for $990.
The poor guy's charade cost him a warranty sale. And I got away with a deal.
ByPeeyush 1 comments Backlinks
Are you in Delhi or Bangalore?
Sunday, November 18, 2007
I will be hanging out in Delhi and Bangalore in the first two weeks of Dec. If you live there, drop me a line and we can meet up.
ByPeeyush 0 comments Backlinks
Genetics gets personal
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Nothing is more personal to you than your genes, and now there is a way for you to look through them without a degree in Molecular Biology. I was wasting time on the web this morning, when I ran into this site called 23andme. Turns out Google is an investor in this company.
Advances in genetics seem to have reached your neighborhood Costco. Now you can order a kit that arrives in the mail, you send back your saliva, they analyze your DNA from it and make it available for you on the internet.
Well, now what, you ask?
Once you have that, you can log into their site and read what they have to say about your genetics, explaining any physical traits or risks to certain diseases.
A sample view of such data:
You can also discover more about your ancestry and how it spans the globe.
It seems even Warren Buffet used their services to determine if he was related to Jimmy Buffet. And of course, you can use this data to rich up your inheritance tree.
Obviously, a very fascinating kind of data for anyone. But the question is, is it worth a thousand dollars.
ByPeeyush 0 comments Backlinks
Obama's innovation agenda
Thursday, November 15, 2007
One of the things I really like at Google is the general awareness and activism that engineers exhibit, and nothing can show it better than the current environment.
We already know how YouTube has been used as a means to open up the presidential debate to the whole country by allowing anyone anywhere to pose a question to the candidates. One of the things little known outside Google is that Google has invited all the presidential candidates one after another to come talk at Google and tell us how they will make America better starting in 2009.
Yesterday, it was Barak Obama's chance. And, he used this opportunity to unveil his innovation agenda, so it is worth watching.
Seems like Obama has all the right answers, even to the question "How would you sort 1 million 32 bit integers".
ByPeeyush 0 comments Backlinks
Behind the Pakistani crisis
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
A few posts ago a reader complained about me writing a lot about Google on my blog, and that he or she did not come to my blog to hear about Google - but instead to hear my take on the Pakistani crisis.
So, here I go.
In my conspiracy-theoretic mind, the current crisis is a deliberate move on the part of our own White House.
Whenever analyzing the facts of a criminal event, one needs to look at the means, motive and opportunity to determine who is a suspect. And in this case, the only person who stands out is our own leadership... not just our president, but our top executives.
Here is why:
- Means: No one doubts that Bush has the means to make President Musharraf do what he want. After 9/11 we were able to turn the Musharraf against his own countrymen to the extent that there were multiple attempts on his life. Making him take over his own country by force is like asking Cheney to dig Alaska for oil. Not only it makes the White House a prime suspect in this case, it also absolves President Musharraf himself. Acting alone, Musharraf would not have the courage suspend individual liberty, something which America is actively preaching through out the middle east as the virtue worth preempting
- Motive: Both Musharraf and White House have motive to make this happen. Newsweek's Oct 29th issue proclaimed that Pakistan is currently the most dangerous nation in the world. For the west, of course. For Taliban and militants, it is a safe haven. Now, if such assertions are anywhere close to the truth, not only will President Musharraf want to get a handle on the situation through any way necessary, our own President would also like make 'Patriot's out of the individual Pakistanis. If we want to catch Bin Laden, it just stands to reason that every South Asian give up at least as much freedom as the Americans themselves.
- Opportunity: With the supreme court case, and the upheavel surrounding the return of prior leaders, and the elections, what better time to seize power? If all went well during elections and Pakistan returned to being a democracy imagine how difficult things would become for both the presidents. Both are used to getting their way, and working with a large group of people and bringing them to consensus on issues like support for Islam or hunt for terrorists/freedom fighters, would just be too tedious for them. And in their defense, neither of them can be expected to be used to the concept, given their own dubious use of the democratic elevator for their rise to power in their respective countries.
ByPeeyush 0 comments Backlinks
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