Happy Festivus!!

During Christmas, ever wondered if there is festival for the rest of us?

Well worry not for it's the season to be jolly and celebrate Festivus. For the ignorant few - Festivus is the celebration for the rest of us. Festivus came into the limelight after an episode of Seinfeld called "The Strike". The history of how it begins is Frank Costanza tries to buy a doll for his son George but tears the doll during a struggle with another person for the same doll. The doll was torn to smithereens but a new festival was born - Festivus for the rest of us!

Traditions of Festivus

Festivus Pole

This is eqivalent of the Christmas tree but without the tree. Instead, a aluminium pole with no decorations is to be used.

Airing of Grievances
This is where the family gather together and complains and find faults in each other. The louder and noisier the merrier. We insult each other in the spirit of the festival. The others sit around and watch this in amusement.

Festivus Dinner

Anything can be eaten for the dinner like pizza, hamburger. Criteria is that it should be some junk food. It should not contain any nutritional value.

Feats of Strength
The grand finale to the Festius celebration. The head of the household is pinned down. One can refuse to do so only if one has something better to do.

Miracles of Festivus
No miracles happen on Festivus. The only reported Festivus Miracle was a coincidence.

My First Color TV Experience

Forget the Internet. There was a time in India when even Television was scarce. This was the time when Doordarshan(DD) was King. Daily entertainment on TV meant watching the Krishi Darshan (information show for farmers), Sansad Samachar (parliament news) and English/Hindi News. Wednesdays were for "Chitrahaar"(4-5 Movies songs) at 8:00 PM and Sundays for Hindi Movies at 5:30 PM.

This was about the time when I first laid my eyes on a Color TV. It was at Shankaranathan Uncle's house. He was an elderly man who was a bachelor by choice due to a heartbreak in his younger days.

So anyway, there I was watching the opening ceremony of the Asian Games(Delhi 1982). It was a small television but large enough for my small eyes. The color setting on his TV set was on the max (he probably did not know how to reduce the color). He had darkened the room and the net effect was that everything appeared extra bright and colorful. The opening ceremony of the Asian Games in 1982 itself was a colorful event, made all the more colorful on Uncle's TV set.

So there I was, sitting in the dark, looking at the wonder in front of my eyes. Never had anything fascinated me so much than those few hours in front of that TV. Incidently, the theme song of the Asian Games was called "Swagatam, Shubha Swagatam", which translated means "Welcome, Auspicious Welcome" (the translation could be a bit off). Welcome, indeed.

The pest that I was, I lingered on even after that for the TV movie of the week - "Geet Gaata Chal". The image of the actor Sachin singing the title song as the title credits rolled are still fresh in my mind.
At that time I was 8 years old and these were the most wonderous images that I had ever seen.

Problems with the Multi-tab Internet Explorer

I had posted previously that the new Multi-tab Internet Explorer using MSN Toolbar. I have been using it for 3 weeks now and I have noticed some issues with the multiple-tab.

1. The IE window looses focus on occasions. When I open a new page as a background tab, after a while the IE window itself looses focus.

2. The MSN toolbar goes missing on occasions. This sometimes happens when I am switching tabs. This does not come up all the time.

3. Sometimes minimizing the IE when multiple tabs are open is not possible. One of the tab pages appears (out of focus) when trying to minimize the IE windows. The weird thing about this page is that it does not have the standard Min/Max/Close icons on the Top Right corner. Instead a really small close button appears.

4. If a pop-up is blocked by one of pages, then the view is suddenly switched to the page where this has happened.

I think these issues arise because of the implementation of the multi-tab in Internet explorer. What I think is done to achieve multi-tab in IE is that the tabs are not actually and MDI (Multiple Document Interface) version of IE. Instead I think they have programmatically made multiple instances of IE appear as if they are multiple tabs. This is why focus changes or prompts in other windows are causing the focus problems.

To summarize, I think this is not the best multi-tab browser available right now. Firefox or Opera would still be any day better than the multi-tab IE (courtesy the MSN Toolbar). Somehow, Firefox seems the more seamless browser for multi-tab operations.

I hope Microsoft works out these issues in the next version of the MSN Toolbar. Or you could just wait for the next IE (to be shipped with Windows Vista) which is the real multi-tab implementation of IE.

Siddhuisms

The title says it all. For those who came in late, these are the comments made by the Indian Cricketer-turned-commentator Navjot Singh Sidhu. Following is a list compiled from various websites. You are welcome to add more to this list

• There is light at the end of the tunnel for India, but it's that of an oncoming train which will run them over.
• Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald.
• Kenya in South Africa was like a mountain having labour pains.
• India look like a crippled cobra whose fangs are clipped.
• Wickets are like wives - you never know which way they will turn.
• If ifs and buts were pots and pans, there would be no tinkers.
• Statistics are like miniskirts, they reveal more than what they hide.
• Sri Lankan score is running like an Indian taxi meter.
• He is like Indian three　wheeler which will suck a lot of diesel but　cannot go beyond 30.
• The Indians are going to beat the Kiwis.
• Let me tell you, my friend, that the Kiwi is the only bird in the whole world which does not have wings.
• The gap between bat and pad is so much that I would have driven a car through it.
• As uncomfortable as a bum on a porcupine.
• The ball whizzes past like a bumble bee and the Indians are in the sea.
• The Indians are finding the gaps like a pin in a haystack.
• He is a dibbly dobbly bowler.
• The pitch is as dead as a dodo.
• Deep Dasgupta is as confused as a child in a topless bar.
• We are all Adam's children. It's just the silk that makes all the difference.
• The way indian wickets are falling reminds of the cycle stand at Rajendra Talkies in Patiala. If one falls and everything else falls.
• If my aunt was a male, she would have been my uncle.
• He's like a cool cucumber fried in snow.
• Darker the berry, sweeter the juice.
• Indian team without Sachin is like giving a Kiss without a Squeeze.
• You cannot make Omlets without breaking the eggs.
• Deep Dasgupta is not a Wicket Keeper, he is a goal keeper. He must be given a free transfer to Manchester United.
• He will fight a rattlesnake and give it the first two bites too.
• One, who doesn't throw the dice, can never expect to score a six.
• This quote was made after Eddie Nichols, the third umpire, ruled Shivnarine Chanderpaul 'NOT OUT' in the second test at Port of Spain, T&T. "Eddie Nichols is a man who cannot find his own buttocks with his two hands."
• Anybody can pilot a ship when the sea is calm.
• Nobody travels on the road to success without a puncture or two.
• You got to choose between tightening your belt or losing your pants.
• The cat with gloves catches no mice.
• Age has been perfect fire extinguisher for flaming youth.
• You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard-boiled egg.
• He is like a one-legged man in a bum kicking competition.
• The third umpires should be changed as often as nappies and for the same reason.
• That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it.