The room choses you

My old room mates moved out this summer and new ones moved in. At that time, I figured that the first two guys in would choose the two largest rooms.............well it did not work out quite that way. The first room mate chose the second largest room. That was understandably a result of the room ddecorations left there by the previous occupant and we shall not ddelve too ddeep into it. However, it is the second choice that stupefied me.The second guy to move in, Narendra, chose the smallest room. That was confusing till we realized that it wasn't his choice at all...............it was the room that chose him. How did we realize that? Well, it was pretty obvious that the room enticed a certain breed of people. The late risers (coz its the only one with no direct sunlight. These people need to love yoghurt, cook well, drink often and have a certain independence around them...............they need a personality you can define only when you see it. But then, it (the room) begins converting those people into health freaks of the highest order. Both Ishmeet, its previous occupant, and Narendra got bitten by the health bug on moving in. Both started eating a lot healthier (one gave up pizza, strictly, and the other oily stuff). The nutritional label on the package became more important than its contents. The health conscious stuff in our house exploded. They both became regular and long visitors of the gym.

Well, maybe I am just paranoid.........but then maybe not. We will just have to wait for the next occupant to know and then the room could fund a PhD for a phychic science student.

Contingency planning

A contingency plan is one that gets you out of shit. Well, in the US, they have a contingency plan for all but shit. Let me clarify. Our toilet started overflowing today and there was almost nothing we could do. There was no mori or water outlet on in the bathroom floor and the flush did not have a tap which we could close off. No contingency plan!!! Well, we just pulled up the ball valve in the flush and have it hanging by a ruubber band. Our good nights sleep depends on that rubber holding through till the morning when the repairman comes along.

Cuil addendum

My last post got me thinking....................do celebrities also search the net for sites about themselves. I admit, I have a propensity to google my name every once in a while......just to check what employers also see ;). But, do you think a Paris Hilton searches for "Paris Hilton sex tape" or a Mohammad Asif for "Mohammad Asif drug scandal"?. After all, they are a lot more narcissistic than we are right? What do you think?

Cuil - Not so cool

I read last week about the new search engine cuil (pronounced cool). Started by an ex googler and her husband, it is supposed to have a bigger search database than google. So, I had to try it out. I tried it out just like you try any new search engine. I searched my name in it. It gave fewer sites than google and missed out a lot of honorable mentions including my own website.

My review: Not so positive

Now I knew people would question as they would call it, my narcissistic methodology, so I used another experiment. I tried to search for 'cuil review' on google and cuil. Google gave me what I wanted. Cuil did not. Here are print screens of the experiment.

Cuil results for "cuil review"

Google results for "cuil review"

So my non technical review on cuil.................Giving a plate full of cooked rice to someone asking for a chocolate cheesecake does not make you a better restaurant.....................similarly in search, u gotta be relevant, not big.



PS: I know a lot of you will be asking me questions about the methodology but I consulted and found out that Kingsley had also used the same method to test..................i guess it is from a famous paper and is the globally accepted method.

Did not touch gator - No longer an issue with me

I was in New Orleans a month ago and went to the swamp where they take you on a tour, get you up close with some gators and even let you touch them. Our tour guide told us that gators are not as dangerous as crocs. A few of us touched a gator. I missed him as he swam away. We saw quite a few gators on that trip including one called 'Big Joe'. Now normally I would not recollect a persons name, let alone an alligator name a month from 'meeting' him fleetingly. However, I just read about the boy whose hand got bitten off by an alligator. The alligator, 'Big Joe' was caught and gutted to get back the kids arm which was then sewed back on. Now I do not feel so bad that I did not get to touch that gator............yup its a bit selfish but as Ross would say, thats all fine after you have had a 'near death experience'