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Quote On Power

Recently I read this blog post by a friend about her unpleasant experiences at workplace and her annoying boss.

I have very strong feelings against such people who misinterpret their 'authority' or 'power' and exercise it in wrong manner. Using your power in a work related matters is understandable - but cannot be justified when your boss tries to use it as per his whims and fancies.

In this context I remembered a quote from our MBA module called 'Mindful Manager'. Though we all made cracks at those Mindful manager sessions (needless to say I was at the forefront!!!), I must admit that I liked the basic concept a lot... (Candid confession! Does this qualify to be a 'Breaking News'??? Any India TV reporters out there?)

So here is the quote on Power:

“Power is the illusion people get when they are obeyed…[they] discover what their power is really made of when they start to lose it. They realise, but too late, that it was ‘made’ of the wills of others”

[Latour 1986 p 268]

I completely agree with this - and to add to it...it is the 'lack of will of others' that allows the people holding power the luxury of misusing it.

'Millionth English word' declared

First there was lot of hype in the Indian media when it was declared that 'Jai Ho' - the Hindi phrase popularised by Oscar-winner Slumdog Millionaire is competing to be the 'Millionth English word'

There is still a wide debate on exactly how many words English language has - some say its impossible to decide exactly while others say there are more than a million words already!

Here is the list of words that were competing for the Millionth spot:

Global Language Monitor claims to keep track of these words.

And according to the results published by them - 'Jai Ho' has lost the race to 'Web 2.0'. 'Jai Ho' stood at 2nd spot - thus becoming 999,999th word in English language.

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Obama recently gave a wake-up call to his countryment when he said 'Buckle up as the Indians and the Chinese are coming'

So Millionth word or not - it doesn't matter. The fact is more and more Hindi words (and maybe other regional words thereafter) would make their way to English language.

So the one word the US and the rest of the English speaking people should adopt (and start using) is our very own filmy outcry - 'Bachao!' :)

निशाणी डावा अंगठा

नुकताच मी ’निशाणी डावा अंगठा’ हा चित्रपट पाहिला...सुंदर चित्रपट आहे! बरेच दिवसांनी एक चांगला आणि आशयपूर्ण चित्रपट पाहिल्याचे समधान मिळाले. (याआधी डोंबिवली फास्ट आणि वळू हे चित्रपट मला आवडले होते....आणि चेकमेट हा आणखी एक वेगळा मराठी चित्रपट आठवतोय. तसे मधले काही चर्चित चित्रपट पहायचे राहून गेले आहे. उदा. गाभ्रीचा पाऊस)

बुलढाण्यातल्या रमेश इंगळे-उत्रादकर या प्राथमिक शिक्षकाने ’निशाणी डावा अंगठा’ नावाची एक कादंबरी लिहीली. १९९७ ते २००० या काळात ’प्रौढ साक्षरता अभियान’

हा उपक्रम सरकारने खेडोपाडी राबवला. करोडो रुपये खर्चून केलेले हे अभियान लोकांपर्यंत पोचले - पण ते कसे, यावर नर्मविनोदी आणि उपहासगर्भ पद्धतीने लिहिलेली ही कादंबरी आहे...कागदोपत्री यशस्वी झालेली योजना आणि प्रत्यक्षात तिचा उडालेला बोजवारा ह्यावरच ही कादंबरी बेतलेली आहे. त्यातल्याच निवडक प्रसंगांचे चित्ररुपांतर म्हणजे हा चित्रपट.

अशोक सराफ, मकरंद अनासपुरे, निर्मिती सावंत, मोहन आगाशे, दिलीप प्रभावळकर ह्या कसलेल्या अभिनेत्यांचा सहजसुंदर अभिनय आणि इतर कलाकारांची तितकीच दमदार साथ - वर बोनस म्हणून संदीप खरे यांची गीते आणि सलील कुलकर्णी यांचे संगीत.

ह्याच्या आसपासच ’झी मराठी’ चा ’गल्लीत गोंधळ...’ रिलीज झाल्या मुळे ह्या चित्रपटाला म्हणावी तशी प्रसिद्धी मिळू शकली नाही... पण तरिही ज्यांनी तो पाहिला त्या सर्वांना तो आवडला.

अगदी काहीच उणीवा नाहीत असे नाही - म्हणजे भरत जाधव आनि संजय नार्वेकर या ’स्टार्स’ ना उगाचच ओढून ताणून एक सीन दिला आहे ज्याची काहिही गरज नव्हती...पण असे १-२ किरकोळ मुद्दे सोडले तर चित्रपट चांगला आहे. जरूर पहा.

Just for fun...What is the difference between ignorance and apathy?

My friend: What is the difference between ignorance and apathy?

K (in an irritated tone): I don't know and I don't care.

He said: Well done! Right answer :)

~ Kaustubh

Dilbert on Wikipedia

Many people consider Wikipedia as an Encyclopaedia and believe everything up there to be true. (I have even seen some post-graduate students using Wiki as one of the References for their thesis!)

Though most of the time information on Wiki would be authentic and credible, Wiki is not the ultimate word on knowledge.

A recent Dilbert toon in the Economic Times (dated 2nd June 2009, Mumbai, India edition) had a very good comment on authenticity of Wiki - where the character being questioned about his claim says 'Give me 10 minutes (to update Wiki page) and then check Wiki to verify my claim' :)

~ Kaustubh

Microsoft is back with a 'Bing'

Microsoft is back with a bang Bing

Further to my post about Kosmix here is another search engine aiming to pose a serious alternative (and threat) to Google.

And this time it is worth taking note; for it is none other than software giant Microsoft.

Microsoft recently launched its new search engine called 'Bing', what they call as 'decision engine' instead of a mere 'search engine' (Bing would replace existing Live Search - which is a distant third after Google and Yahoo, with less than 10% market share)

And the initial reviews have rated it Very Good (Don't know if those are 'paid reviews'; but witha marketing budget of 80 to 100 million USD for 'Bing', it could easily buy all these Tech Review magazines - let alone just getting the favourable reviews)

Haven't tried Bing yet but the look and feel seems attractive. Try it - Go Bing yourself...

By the way, Bing is already in (gossip) news for (allegedly) using a lame shortform for BING i.e. But It's Not Google (suggesting that it can do everything that Google does - BUT it is not Google)

~ Kaustubh