Superman was a nerd

Ever wondered why superman wears his underpants over his clothes & a cape. Its because he was a nerd. Sounds unconvincing doesnt it. well here are the facts.

The term nerd in the 19th century and early 20th century meant a circus clown/entertainer which included acrobats. The acrobats were dressed up in brighly colored underpants and capes and would do death defying acts. The majority of the earlier superheroes including superman design was influenced by these acrobats and hence superman is attired like a circus gymnast. hence superman=nerd.

-Amit

Googleplex

Just came across a few news artcles about the new Google complex around 80 miles of Portland,Oregon,USA. Finally after a long time some investments seem to be flowing back into the Portland area.

The interesting part was that Google claim that google has approximately 450,000 computers in its grid. And they plan to to use the new center as a data center so this number is going to rise .

Wehn I visted the Silicon Graphics meuseum in the bay area one of the exhibits was a 16 node rack which was the first computer which ran the google search engine. The unique thing about the google architecture is the complete unreliance on any special interconnect, they just use simple cheap ethernet. This has helped them in exponentially scaling the number of nodes in the google grid.

Best of luck google as M$ is after you with plans of boosting thetheir grid to 800,000 computers by 2011.

-Amit

Fanah Movie and Shayaree

Fanah is a hindi movie which was released recently after much hype. As expected it didnt live up to the hype,but it did have some good Hindi/Urdu Shayaree(poetry)

Here are some shers from the movie:-

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Khuda Aaj Ye Faisla Karde,
Use Mera ya Mujhe Uska Karde.
Bahut Dukh Sahe He Maine,
Koi Khusi Ab Toh Muqadar Karde.
Bahot Muskil Lagta Hai Usse Duur Rehna,
Judai Ke Safar Ko Kum Karde.
Jitna Duur Chale Gaye Woh Mujhse,
Use Utna Kareeb Karde.
Nahi Likha Agar Nasib Me Uska Naam,
To Khatam Kar Ye Zindagi aur Mujhe FANAA Karde
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Tere Dile mein meri saanson ko panah mil jaaye
Tere Ishq mein meri Jaan Fanaa Ho jaayeā.
-----
Ankhen to pyar me dilki zuban hoti hai,
sachi chahat to sada bezuban hoti hai,
pyar mai dard bhi mile to kya gabrana,
suna hai dard se chahat aur jawan hoti hai
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Phool hun Gulaab kaā?
Chameli ka mat samjhnaā?
Aashiq hun aapkaā?
Apni Saheli ka mat samjhnaā
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Dur Humse Jaa Paoge Kaise,
Humko Bhool Paoge Kaise.
Hum Who Khushbu Jo Saanson Mein Utar Jaye,
Khud Apni Saanxon Ko Rok Paoge Kaise
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Bekhudi Ki Zindagi Hum Jiya Nahi Karte,
Yun kisika ka Jaam Hum Piya Nahi Karte.
Unse Kehdo Mohabbat Ka Izhaar Aakar Khud Karein,
Yun Kisika Peecha Hum Nahin Karteā
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RONE DE TU AAJ HAMAKO TU AANKHE SUJANE DE
BAHO ME LELE AUR KHUD KO BHEEG JANE DE
HAI JO SEENE ME QUAID DARIYA WO CHUT JAYEGA
HAI ITANA DARD KI TERA DAMAN BHEEG JAYEGA
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tere dil mein meri saanson ko jagah mil jaaye
tere ishq mein meri jaan fanaa ho jaaye
adhoori saans thi dhadkan adhoori thi adhooren ham
magar ab chaand poora hain falak pe aur ab pooren hain ham

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Cambridge MBA yahoo group

The Cambridge yahoo group that I had started for my fellow classmates had been going oslow organic growth to around 16 members till last week. Finally I sent out a mail and invited everyone on the official site to the yahoo group and now we have 45 members thats more than 2/3rd of the current class.
I have also been planning on reducing my active role on the yahoo group and now that the two new moderators have started taking care of business I can kick back and relax.

cheers
-Amit

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cambridge-mba-2007/

Eating leaves

Another bout of overactive imagination.

I was wondering why cant humans eat only leaves and survive. And I dont mean spinach and the kindd but simple tree leaves like oak leavers etc. Well Our ancestors i.e monkeys still survive on leaves and fruits. So we can aslo survive on leaves,shouldnt we. There seems to be tribes which eat one particular tree leaves as part of the diet. I kept on googling but I couldnt find any study or report on a person who just eat leaves.

Can I survive only on leaves,maybe if I add as much spices as the leaves.

-Amit

The philosophy of the stock market.

An old floating mail. Just got it again today so thought I would share it as its quite insightfull as to how people make money out of false supply gaps.
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Once upon a time in a village a man appeared who announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for Rs. 10. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys went out in the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at 10 and as supply started to diminish and villagers started to stop their effort he announced that now he would buy at 20 rupees.

This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching moneys again. Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to 25 and the supply of monkeys became so that it was an effort to even see a monkey let alone catch it.

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at 50!

However, since he had to go to the city on some business his assistant would now buy on behalf of the man. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at 35 and when the man comes back you can sell it to him for 50.

The villagers queued up with all their saving to buy the monkeys.

After that no body found that man and that assistant, only monkies and monkies and monkies.....

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Da vinci and Munich review

If you have read the da vinci code dont bother to watch the movie. I didn't know that Tom Hanks could act so bad. The only positive was that I know have a picture of the french pyramids in front of my eyes when I think about the book. They have even managed to ruin one of the most sensitive character from the movie the albino monk. They have failed to portray his inner pain and just focussed on the rituals.

As for Munich it is a thoughtfull movie. Slow and steady but it didnt hit me as hard as I expected it to. It sort of looss the punch in the end depicting only panoroia instead of guilt. Its still definately worth a see as you can easily picturise yourself as one of the leading protagonists.

-Amit

God save the Queens, atleast her college

The last hurdle in my Cambridge Judge MBA application is over. I got a mail from Queens college saying that they have offered me a place in the college. As all three requirements , i.e. 1) deposit 2) finaces(i.e loan) 3) college admission are fulfilled I should get a unconditional offer some time soon.

And yeah Queens colleg rocks they turned around my application witin 3 weeks whereas St Catherine sat on my application for 2 and half months .

cheers
-Amit