Update (Sticky Post)

And this time, it is from me...


Head over to Adlergedanke (my main blog), for an announcement you might like. (And no, I am not going to stop blogging, neither am I going to stop blogging about Harry Potter).

Update: Given the difficulties of maintaining three blogs, and contributing to some more, this blog will no longer be updated. The major series, and other random thoughts will continue on Adlergedanke (unfortunately, Blogger doesn't have a "import" function). So please update your bookmarks.

Of course, all the comments will always be answered.


See below for past programming...

Hogwarts, Here I Come...

Well, I am not bragging here, nor am I trying to gain looks of admiration and pats on my back from you (got the hint?)..

Anyways, I won't sing my own praises, but let the certificate talk for itself...




And now, let's see how I did on WOMBAT Grade 2, shall we?



So, I improve my grades, I passed both WOMBATs easily and that's an O baby...

Any suggestions which job I should apply for at Hogwarts?

Rush Your Entries...

Aerie Institute is proud to present first "Mighty Sword" and "Ink Pen" awards...



Deadline to submit entries: 15 May 2007.





For details, see this.



So send in your entries and help make these awards a success...

This Week by Fleiger- April 8

It's statistics time at Aerie as the blogs follow NSE index. A scoop makes future look bright.



Those stories plus a surprise announcement, coming after the break... This is Adler, welcome to this week's edition of "This Week by Fleiger"...

This part of the program brought to you by Silverine, the topmost referrer for "Adlergedanke"

Who doesn't like to look at nice statistics? Well, the numbers are in for the month of March, and there's a good news. "Adlergedanke experienced the most traffic this month, and broke 500 figure. Even the figures for 'Talons' are very good. Of course, April and May are going to be busy months at Aerie, but we are pretty sure that we can get to our target of 750 this quarter," said an obviously excited spokesperson.



And the people at Aerie are sure looking like they will get there. In a surprising scoop, this week saw the famous "Silverine" joining the list of writers (the list already containing illustrious names) at the newsblog, "Khabari LOL". Though it is reported that she has currently joined as a freelancer, "we are pretty sure that we can convince her to join full time very soon", said the spokesperson in answer to the question.



And that was not the only surprising news this week. Stay tuned, we will be back after this short break...

This part of the program brought to you by "Sid", the top referrer for "Talons..."

Today, in a packed press-conference, the director at Aerie, Fleiger announced a new site, "Eagle Writes" which will be the main portal for the institute soon. Though the site is "in pre-beta stage" according to Fleiger, it is expected to contain all the stories, books and other major content the institute has and will develop. "We are opening it to public so that we can get reviews/feedbacks in parallel with development. Of course, the site does not have any feedback mechanism installed yet, but leave comments on any of our blogs," announced Fleiger.



So, go ahead and visit the site... And don't forget to leave me feedback for this show. This is Adler, signing off till next week...

Fount of Knowledge Part IV

When I posted the chapter excerpt for "Fleiger and The Art of Computer Maintenance" last week, Sid and Iyersir replied with suggestions to include some more keys (which I had thought of being specific to software engineers, and not for general public). When I thought about it, I realised that even general bloggers and forum-dwellers have to be educated about those keys. So, here's the addition to the chapter:

4. Ctrl key: (Normally used with "a", "c" and "v" keys) Two such keys are placed on either side of your keyboard. This probably explains why these shortcut keys are used so extensively by every software engineer. You can also use them in your blogs and forums to "quote" somebody or reply to selective parts of the comments you get. Of course, like all good things (except maybe chocolates, books and one or two such things) too much use can result in bad results.
   Let's again take the example of public speaking, shall we? (The proper answer to this is "yes sir" or "do let's") If you stand on the podium on 15th Aug, and start quoting parts from the "Freedom at Midnight" or "Gettysburg", people will applaud. But if you start giving the entire speech, you will be heckled unless it is a competition to memorise famous speeches.


5. Del key: (and backspace) As the name suggests, this is used to delete the (type-)written word. Again, excess use will result in an empty post, but judicious use is useful for correcting your grammar, spelling and improve/change the posts you have already written if you change your mind about something. There is also one more important use I want to tell you about. You can use this key as a "counting to 10" key. Say you want to write something inflammatory, spam somebody or shoot a hate mail to somebody. Write it, so that the hate is out of your system, then instead of hitting Send, hit this key (or backspace, based on position) and delete the entire thing. You know, no hate, no regret. Peace rules...


6. Alt key: Again, this key (normally) exists in duplicates. Used with "F4", this key is your friend in need. Say your boss walks in on you while you are writing/reading a blog, or doing something you are not supposed to do on your machine. Hit this combo, and all is well. You are very angry about something somebody has written, and the "Del" key is not enough to drain your anger. Hit it, and the offending material is out of your sight. All in all, friend indeed...


7. Of course, any discussion on keys is never complete without the Grand Universal Combination, "Ctrl-Alt-Del". Like "Alt-F4", this is your friend in need. But while "Alt-F4" is at best a bunker-buster, this combination is known as "The H-Bomb" of all combinations. But of course, desperate times (you boss/wife/gf walks in while you are "stuck" on an unwanted website, or maybe just closing the window is not enough to fully purge your rightful wrath) call for desperate key-strokes...

Again, as I said before, all these keys are your friends. But just as you like your friends to take bath everyday, keeping your keys from getting stuck is necessary, if you want people to like you (and after all, why else are you on the web?). Remember that "too much of anything is bad" and "cleanliness is necessary for politeness" (or something like that).

And don't take my advise too literally. Your computer will not like to take a "bath" in water, or any fluid for that matter.

Have I missed anything? Want me to include/change anything? Leave a comment and I will consider...

This Week by Fleiger

After finishing with all "desi" ones, the detective series takes a break (What is the future of the series?)... "Adlergedanke" celebrates its second b'day ("Where are all the presents?" we ask)

These stories, and more, coming after the break... This is Adler, welcome to this week's edition of "This Week by Fleiger"...

This part of the program brought to you by "Fleiger's Shared Items", the box displaying best posts read by Fleiger...

In today's main news: after writing about all the famous "desi jasoos", the series is taking a break. "The break will allow us some time to collect data about future series, which will include either 'Kids' or 'Foreign' ones", said the spokesperson in a statement issued today. The decision will be based on a poll, which is expected to be posted on the site very soon.

Meanwhile, in a related news, the creators of the series are also asking for comments or suggestions on the series. "If we have missed anyone you like, or if you want to write about your favourite (or most hated) "jasoos", send us the link to the article, so that we can link it in the series", the statement continued.

In other news, the "Top" posts on both the blogs continue to maintain their positions. "Adlergedanke" experienced one of the busiest weeks, but the heavy traffic failed to change the top positions.

Coming up, "New and Noteworthy", something special for the occasion. Don't go away, we will be right back...

This part of the program brought to you by "Khabari LOL", a group blog Fleiger is proud to be a part of...

Welcome back... On the occasion of second anniversary of "Adlergedanke", Fleiger will be inaugurating "This Week in History", the links to the posts you would have seen if you had visited the blog last year, the year before that, and so on. The first link is skewed a bit, because the actual "first" post Fleiger wrote is no more.

As a part of the celebrations, there is also one more "secret" change in both the blogs. "We have changed something in just 1/2 most recent posts, which will continue in all coming posts. Do tell us if you can find it", said the spokesperson before running off to party.

On that note, this is Adler signing off at "This Week by Fleiger"... For any suggestions/improvements, leave me comments. Till next week...


P.S. Remember that "This Week..." is different than the normal programming when searching for "secret change".

The Fount of Knowledge Part III

An excerpt from my upcoming book, "Fleiger and The Art of Computer Maintenance". This chapter shows how maintenance your computer is necessary to your public (or rather, web) image.

So, you have got yourself a new computer, a new blog, registered on a public forum and are ready to make an impact in today's world of Web 2.0? But keep in mind that as with any other profession/hobby, the tools of the trade must be top-notch if you want to impress other or simply get the maximum profit or fun out of the activity. Towards that end, keeping your computer spic and span is the most important thing you will do in your web experience.

Let's start with the keyboard, your "mouthpiece" on the web. As you have heard the importance of "oral hygiene" many times, I think it should not come as a surprise that I am going to talk about keeping your keys clean...

1. Caps Lock: A quite big key (mostly) placed on the left hand side, near the alphabet "A". All this makes it the key which is most likely to get stuck (how many times have you found out that you are typing something which involves "A", and find suddenly that everything you type is coming up in upper-case?). But remember, when somebody sees you comment/write something all in upper-case, they are going to be as impressed as when you stand on a podium with a large green spinach leaf in your front teeth.


2. Shift: The key below "Caps Lock", so it is often the one key which is most ignored. The key makes it possible to insert punctuation marks (see below) and make "selected" letters upper-case (key word being "selected"). This makes this key one of the most important to be used for the correct and grammatical writing. Now I am not the first person to talk about the importance of grammar, and I will not be the last. Well, just think of the difference between "he" and "He" (Hint: the same as calling the President of a company clerk).


3. Punctuation Keys: These keys (including full stop, comma, exclamation mark etc.) are spread throughout the keyboard, which makes it very hard to use if you want to type something quickly (and some of these need Shift key, making it doubly hard). But of course, as I said before, they make it easier for others to understand what you are saying, don't they? So, as much as I like the convenience of fast writing (smsese, as I have heard some people call it), doesn't somebody saying, "paneermutteraloomuttergobimutter" make you long for a menu card which tells you, "Paneer Mutter, Aloo Mutter, Gobi Mutter"?

Of course, Shift and Punctuation keys are also prone to get stuck with overuse, so it is also important to clean the keys as much as it is to use it.

Next chapter: "Grammar and Spelling: When It Is OK to Ignore Them?"

Know anything I have missed? Want me to include any more chapters/parts in the chapter? Any comments on this chapter (or any mistakes I have made)?

The book will be published as soon as my keyboard stops putting ellipsis in place of every other full-stop (which is making the book trifle long than my publishers want to pay for)...

This Week by Fleiger

Planning to make this into a weekly series, where you can get information about the changes I've made on my blogs in that week and other interesting happenings. So, without further ado,

*introductory music*

• Template Changes: As I said before, I have changed both of my blogs into 3-column templates and introduced "post-summary". Also, details of the recent comments will be shown in sidebar from now on. The results are awaited. For other changes, check this post out.


• Request: I'm still not completely satisfied with the current template. Any suggestions for a nice templates, where I can put the "Contact info", "Top of..." etc. in a prominent position?

*Commercial break*

• Jasoos series: The series continues to grow. I have also added that links to the series in my "I wrote..." page.


• Poll: Do you think adding links to websites or Wikipedia articles about the detectives in the series would be better? If yes, please to vote in the poll in left sidebar or leave a comment.


• Tops: The "Top Of..." section is proving to be interesting. I didn't know that the top 2 articles in my main blog contribute about 7% of the entire traffic on my blog. So as I said, even though there is a stiff competition between those two, they have left others far behind, which means there will be very few changes at the "Top".

*Special music*

• Coming up: My main blog's second b'day is coming up. Any suggestions for a nice gift to a 2-yr old blog?

- For I am The Great Eagle...

Re-Mona, Re-Lilly and so on...

Karamchand got new Kitty (OK, that does not prove my point, let me try again…) Loyan will get a new Mona Darling and not-silly Lilly (Will get? Still not the point, so let me start again…) Don got new Anita, and Kamini too (Finally…). Gabbar is going to watch a new “Mehbooba”. So I thought it better to get myself a 1985 (ke aas-pass) ka latest model (Calculate the age, then you will get it)…


Now that I have stretched the “Vamp-Revamp” metaphor to it’s limit (and some miles beyond that), let me tell you what I meant to say is that I have revamped my blogs.

1. 3–column template: Now, I don’t want to brag… Oh, who am I kidding, I want to brag: it took me about 30 minutes… for both my blogs… including 2 min coffee break… and some remodeling to get it just right.


2. Peekaboo: Every post on the blog will have a small post summary visible, which will let me put more posts on the home page and let people read any post they like out of that. Which should help me improve my “advertising” skills and (at least in theory) give me more “hits” (the hits have gone down in last 2–3 days). This was prompted by somebody telling me a typical person spends not more than 96 seconds on any page reading.


3. Babel fish: So that you can see my blog in Japanese, Nikichan, among other languages (but don’t tell me if something is wrong, I don’t know Japanese)


4. Top Posts: Both my blogs have links to Top 5 posts on the blog (“Eagle’s Top Thoughts” and “Top on Talons”), which will be updated every week. (But some posts are way ahead of competition, so don’t expect too many changes in coming weeks)

Coming soon:

• I have updated the list of books and series I have read in “My Book Reviews” list, and the links will be updated as and when I finish the reviews.


• The “Detective” series goes on…


• There will be some polls on the blogs which will let you (my readers) tell me which book review you would like me to write. (Or maybe a “Coming Soon” list till then)


• I am looking for ideas to improve “Book(?)…err Scale” and its use.

Any more ideas for me to plan a grand party for my main blog’s coming second b’day?



- For I am The Great Eagle...

P.S. Try saying “Re-Lilly” fast out loud 10 times

Bheeshmpratidnya

Main apne laptop pe haath rakh ke kasam khata hoon ki:

• I will not comment on India's performance in Cricket World Cup 2007. (Unless of course, India is winning or losing spectacularly)


• Given the long list of book reviews yet to be written, I will not read any new books or start any new book series till I have finished the backlog. (On second thoughts, till I have finished my exams. On third thoughts, that's too long, so no new book till I have made serious inroads in the backlog.)

And if I break any of these promises, let my net connection give me worse than dial-up performance, and let my backup hard disk crash. (I cannot imagine my laptop crashing)

Also, check out the new "Detectives" series on my main blog. Anybody who can tell me where the title of that post comes from gets to tell me what my next post should be about (from given topics, obviously).


- For I am The Great Eagle...

Maa... Mein Aa Gaya...

To be read as "I've Arrived" and not as "I am here" (and not be be asked "arrived where?" or "here where?")

There are different ways you can know that you have "arrived" in blogosphere. Some people know it when others start copying their art. Other know when they break into top 100 on Blogstreet. Some others know when they are nominated for (or get) awards. My way has been different. After all, it's the destination that matters, not the journey, right (or something like that)?

Whenever I find myself bored, the one way to come back on track I have found is to go through "search terms" people use to get on my blog (please milord , I will prove a connection between these two paragraphs). Though there are no "such" search terms I have found in the list, but it is nice entertainment to know what things people search for (and a nice ego boost to find your blog in top 5 on anything).

And so, when you see that your blog is one of the top five people reach when they search for "definite answer" on Google (there are such people, I know), you know you have broken through the top ranks of people on this earth (and not just blogosphere). And which has prompted me to add a line to the description of my blog, "Providing the "Definite Answer" from Sept 2006".

So, don't be surprised when I start sprouting fountains of Knowledge (concentrate on the capital K, which will keep you away from the disturbing pun and imagery) or zen-like philosophical posts. After all, apart from this proof, I am almost an octogenarian by now (in terms of posts on this blog, I mean).



- For I am The Great Eagle...


P.S. There's more to it than just "42" you know...

(Type) Writer's Block

I want to write... I want to tell the people about a very good book series, and a very good (though old) TV serial. But, somehow last few days all I am doing is sit around and watch episodes of West Wing and Sports Night. The Office just came back on the tube after the Christmas break, and Studio 60 is on the break till 24 Jan, and I fear it might not finish the first season. I have the entire post in my head, but no wish to type anything.

In short, I am suffering from Typewriter's block (not Writer's because I have the post in my head).

So, please bear with me till I overcome the block (and no, it is not laziness).



P.S. The picture at the top remains there till my college starts or till I feel, whichever is later.

Post Mortal

PuLa in his memorable essay entitled "तुम्हाला कोण व्हायचे आहे, मुंबईकर, पुणेकर का नागपूरकर?" or "Who you want to be? Mumbaikar, Punekar or Nagpurkar?" said that the life's aim of every Punekar is to "be recognised" after he retires. But, today's generation of Punekar does not have such small ambitions. We don't think that gaining fame in the life after retirement should be The Aim of one's life.

I mean, supposing a person retires at the age of 55 (if retirement age is not there, it will be when it's our time), and assuming a normal life expectancy of 90 years, we are looking at 35 years of fame. 36, if you are really good. That's not even a lifetime. So, we should be looking beyond just these 35 years. We should be looking at our "life" after death. That's when the fame counts. Like they say, very few great persons are "recognised" in their lifetime.

Keeping that in mind, today I found a great barrier in the efforts of my future biographers. Every great person seems to have written a lot of letters in his life, and books containing his letters to his parents, wife(/wives), children, friends, enemies (the list goes on) and the commentary on those letters are always bestsellers (among the historians and suchlike). But, my innate laziness and the advent of internet has resulted in the letters written by me being very limited in number. And the ones I have written, when edited will not even fill one good-sized book.

When I realised that, I felt like I am not doing enough for my future biographers when they will start writing their thesis on The Great ... me (I have yet to decide what Great ... I will be), and given my nature, it is very difficult that the condition will change in foreseeable future. This would greatly inconvenience them, and probably make them turn away to a better "lettered" subject.

But then I hit on the solution. The envelope left with my attorney (to be opened after my death), along with the post to be put on my blogs, will also contain the passwords to all my e-mail accounts. I will also leave instructions to clean the accounts of spam mails at regular intervals, to further convenience others after me. I also realised that this will also give me great advantage when compared to other, similarly lazy, internet-crazy people of my generation.




S.P. (i.e. small print): This idea, as all my other ideas is copyrighted. All disputes should be contested in the court of God.

New Awards

We here at The Aerie Institute are always trying to find new ways to provide information to people who may or may not have access to it earlier. This includes public service announcements (from our Immunology department), or developing a new scale (from our Literature department) to provide a reliable basis for comparison of books we like (the definitive work on which is still in progress).

This time, our Media department has come up with a new idea to recognise the Great Television Serials we have watched over the time. And so, without any further ado, let me present to you,

*Drum Roll*


The Amye Awards for Excellence in Television Programming (known as The Amye Awards in short, pronounced Amy)




The awards will recognise the contribution of the television to improvement of human life. Since we at the Aerie believe in circular time, the awards will be presented without consideration of the time period in which the program was aired (which makes sense in current era of re-runs). Also, the award will be given to television programs in any area.

And, the first awards go to:

*Drum Roll with a close-up of all nominies*

• Brainiac - Science Abuse, and
  


• Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister

Please join me in a standing ovation for the winners...



P.S. For all curious toms, the "e" at the end of name was added for numerological reasons.

Update...

Haven't commented on any blogs for last 2 days, finished replying to comments on my blogs after 2 days today. Have a tag pending (on pain of getting frozen). But then, let's just say that last 2 days have not been the best days in my life, and leave it at that. Something like what happened to this fellow, though not the same reason or occasion:


I swear on my iPod and vaio (taking a leaf out of Silverine's book) I will finish the tag and comment on all blogs over the weekend (which hopefully starts Friday).

Till then, some of the things I learnt at my bio lab today

• Killing 100 honeybees, and cutting them in 3 parts (head, thorax and abdomen) on a table of 4 (you do that math per person) is somehow soothing, and makes for a lot of fun when nobody is stung.


• Either I am very good with scalpel or I am a genocidal maniac. I did more than my share of cutting.


• Crushing 100 bee thoraxes in a mortar is gross. And while we are at it, my friends who are ayurveda doctors are going to kill me when they hear what I used their patented mortar and pestle for...


• That said, last but not the least, I can have a bottle of potassium cyanide sitting on my table, and avoid the urge to use it to create some scene á la some Agatha Christie novel.

Book(?)...err Scale

We felt a dire need of ranking books read by us. As most of these books lie in either bestseller or unheard of categories, the rankings you can get from the different lists is not reliable. (I mean, how can you differentiate between "Angels and Demons" and "A Song of Ice and Fire" given that both enjoy bestseller status with 4 to 5 stars each?)

So, the idea of creating our own book scale was brought to the table, seconded and agreed upon. After a lot of research, the select committee of a writer (me), an ex-chief editor of a magazine (again me) a reader (yes, me) and a book critique(got it?) decided on a scale of 1-10, calling it Book(?)...err Scale. (The sarcastic reference due to the unique critical sense of humour.) The actual count on the scale is decided by a complex formula which essentially calculates whether the book in question can be called a book at all (in layman's terms).

So, 1 on the Book(?)...err scale would be a book you can't put down (think of "Great Indian Novel"), and 10, by extension refers to a book(?) which you cannot put down, but need to throw down hard. (Tough competition between "A Song..." and "Executive Orders"). The inverted scale is again thanks to unique critical style.

Music lovers might think of the scale as going from Asha/Lata's songs (1), through the voices of Shaan, Lucky Ali (insert your favourites here), all the way down to Himmesh with a sore throat (10).

A rough guide to the BES:

• 0-1.5: Books you would take to Desert island, moon, Andromeda etc. etc.


• 1.5-3.0: Books you would take to Desert island, just that you would use them to light the fire in extreme conditions (even though it might break your heart)


• 3.0-5.0: Books you wouldn't mind picking up again in case there is nothing new


• 5.0-6.0: Neutral zone, Read them once, forget them if you want


• 6.0-7.5: Mildly irritating. Finish them just to see if they improve (or just to get every penny worth of reading)


• 7.5-10.0: Books you will take to desert island, because it's not easy to find wood on the island, and they would normally be easier to carry than wood anyways...

There are further plans to award the highest ranking (nearest to 10) book in the year "Book(?)...err Prize". The current books in the competition are (in alphabetical order):

• A Series of Unfortunate Events


• A Song of Ice and Fire


• Executive Orders

The committee would further like to take this opportunity in calling for candidates to serve on the committee from the fellow readers. The qualifications needed are that the person should be capable of reading and willing to read books.

Also, any other nominations for the "Book(?)...err Prize" are also welcome, preferably along with a short/long review.

Talons scrapping...

This is the blog where everything too small or too big to fit my main blog lands up... including background informations, links, jokes et al.

If talons scrape properly on the board, you get music. If scratched... I think you get it...