Who? Me??

I am sure that by now most of you have heard of this song.

If you haven’t yet heard the song, then do give this video a look-see -

There is a huge hype around this song, for a multitude of reasons -

• It’s written and sung by the son-in-law of Rajnikanth
• The main keyword of the song, kolaveri actually has no meaning per se. It’s sort of an accepted slang which means rage … murderous rage to be exact
• The song is half in tamil (no frilly lyrics there), but simple casually strung lyrics, and half in english … in fact I do not understand Tamil, yet I could make out the gist of the song
• The gist of the song itself, is identifiable by the multitudes of youth
• The beat of the song is catchy, in fact I can imagine this song being put on full blast on speakers on a lazy afternoon in the locality
• Is this simply a good song bolstered by viral social media or is this an internet meme ala Rebecca Black’s Friday? Well, it’s a viral phenomenon for sure.
• Dhanush seems to be enjoying the creation of this video as well, and you can see the support of other stars such as Shruti Hassan in the background
• The part where the song goes “pa pa pa paan, pa pa pa paan … ” that’s enjoyed by both my daughter and wife

The internet is virtually an infinite source of inspiration, great news, stupidity and entertainment. I thought that I might share some gems which are either relevant to me, or which I think you might find interesting.

• It’s been a month that I have been a father of two, oh, we are going to name him Malhar!
• Hilarious sledging of Delhi boys, by a Madrasan (damn, that post has generated 2.3k comments in a week!)
• My organization got funded last week, by the very firm which funded some awesome products such as Facebook, Bittorrent, etc.
• The Big K from CrazyEngineers embarks on a Journey of a Lifetime

Oh, in case you are wondering what the heck is Blue Nothing, it’s a term I read in one interesting novel on Social Engineering (and it’s evils). The internet is the Blue Nothing!

With too many blogs, media shows and news announcements on the Lok Pal Bill, I thought I would add my $0.02 on the subject.

I confess that I am no expert on this, but neither do I want to be. I do not want to add to the voice of social passivism.

It’s sad to think that the country would require one support system to keep other support systems in check which were meant to do their job. That’s it in a nut shell.

What guarantee do we have that the Lok Pal committee will not do their jobs?

Here’s my favorite quote which is so apt in this context – Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I wanted to make this a special post. It’s my 400th one on the blog.

However, 2 busy weeks and a sad case of writer’s block later, I decided to let myself go … where I get the inspiration, but cannot put pen to paper.

Nothing is special. It’s a post, there.

On the other hand, it does not have to be something unique or worldly … it does not have to be an insight. The mere number should make me happy … on to # 500 then!

Although if mere number of posts are going to satisfy my ego, then perhaps I should look at integration some sort of an RSS to my RPC. That never was the point, was it.

There is a forum that I visit every once in a while, a place where a lot of youngsters flock for sharing ideas and seeking help on technical topics. As would happen due to my strongly felt statements, I recently got into a flaming match. Fortunately this is being conducted via IMs and not on the public forum directly.

I am finding it noteworthy because a decade back or so, I would have taken the stand that I am currently speaking against. The topic at discussion here is what should one do if one wants to build great websites. As always, I have chosen function over form and gone for learning design patterns, frameworks, understanding how logic is written and how algorithms can make you code better.

The youth (I am assuming that he is one, since his language reflects the brazenness of a college brat), has a simple argument. Since the end point of all websites is HTML, one should learn HTML inside out (HTML, CSS, JS, validations, the works). In all probability, I would have chosen the same answer … but that’s what decades are for – telling us our past answers were wrong

As I was trading IMs, I realized that perhaps there is more to this question than a simple answer -

1. Form V/s Function: Firstly, there is the age old looks v/s functionality argument.
2. You have the what makes a website great topic (Purpose, Usability, Functionality, what?)
3. Then there is the Purpose of a website tangent
4. And if that’s not all, you have the you cannot teach creativity argument

All the aforementioned approaches can enable one to make websites. They are tools. But first, do you have an idea as to what problem are you solving with your website?

Get an idea.

I have taken naturally to car philosophy. As I sat behind the wheel one fine evening, this thought came into my mind. That life could be interpreted as a long driving lane with a series of traffic signals, twists and turns, short cuts, the entire works.

• Some people rest at traffic signals, while others seem impatient to move on
• Some people jump signals while morality in the form of a khaaki policeman blows a shrill whistle
• Some people just want to get ahead
• … those that do, do not know what to do when they are ahead, so they keep on cruising
• Some people do not want to take risks, so they go with the flow
• Yes, there are beggars!

I think I can go on and on with this analogy … what do you think?

Scratch that picture of a feline with cheap make-up and gaudy mane!!

I mean the new style of declaring yourself as a LION (Largest Internet Open Networker) on LinkedIn to say that you are open to connect with one and all. In other words, you are connecting promiscuously – a connection whore.

I am not taking a disparaging view of this, since I have on several occasions done this (for building a strong gaming network on Facebook, for checking the limit of friends you could add on Yahoo Messenger, for adding folks on Orkut left right and center, etc).

It’s just funny to note that when you say LION, it sounds like self-aggrandizing.

I am a LION!! 

Instead of just saying (and people don’t do this btw) …

I am a connection whore!

Interesting to see that by a simple change in analogy (whore to LION), people are suddenly willing to declare it on their profiles. Well, for me they are still the same … LIONs are whores!

I was on Google Suggest, and it’s wonderful what little insights you can get on how and what are people searching for – go figure!

I really do not see how is it any different from any other enterprise? I looked up the wiki page for Social Entrepreneurship, here’s what it says -

Social entrepreneurship is the work of a social entrepreneur. A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change (a social venture). Whereas a business entrepreneur  typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur focuses on creating social capital. Thus, the main aim of social entrepreneurship is to further social and environmental goals. However, whilst social entrepreneurs are most commonly associated with the voluntary and not-for-profit sectors, this need not necessarily be incompatible with making a profit.

How in the world is this any different from what a good business does? It recognizes a social problem (read loosely as a problem that the society in general faces), and it solves the problem. For any enterprise, over a period of time there will be performance metrics – profit and return merely build sustainability. These would be needed by the social entrepreneur as well. So what makes it any different? Social capital is also created by enterprises. If you go through any of the annual reports that a firm publishes, they have this term – Goodwill.

If good will is not social capital, then what is? I think social entrepreneurship is just a term invented by hacks to make themselves feel good. Or maybe its just a marketing gimmick for generating funds.

PS – Before you hit the comment button to rant, do not misread me. All I am saying is that any good business is as good as any “social entrepreneurship”, then why make the difference? Is social entrepreneurship the new green?