This morning, I received two "pings" on G-Talk from my batchmates at IIT-Kharagpur, and both seemed to be in an excited state. The first one pinged a link that most of them had put on as their Status Message, some story from Outlook. It seemed IIT-Kharagpur had yet again emerged as the No.1 Engg.college in the country in a survey that's normally conducted around this time of the year, during the admissions-counselling period. Not only did it beat the closest competitor, IIT-B, by a huge margin of 90 points, it had also topped the Architecture Schools list.
The implication might have been that IIT-Kgp was in fact the best place for an undergraduate student to be in the country. The 2nd ping, however, was quite in contradiction. It was not reconfirmed by anyone else, no news source carried it, and most said that the news wasn't being released "due to ongoing IIT-JEE counselling at IIT-Kgp." Somehow, a lone news source is carrying a report on the incident as of now. Oh, and the incident. Yeah, another student died at IIT-Kgp, nothing new...
Police said they broke into the room at the Madan Mohan Malaviyya hostel in the campus and recovered the body of Manoj Kumar (18) after the hostel cleaning staff complained of a stench emanating from it.-- The Indian Express
Police said prima facie it appeared to be a case of suicide and investigations were on.
Following up on the exciting sport of Wikigroaning, here's some more wiki-bashing for the weekend. CollegeHumor brings to you, Professor Wikipedia:
And yup, this was a filler post. By the way, I finally have some stuff to do in the summer, so while I don't have to go job hunting or bother you about it, it's leaving me little time for the Blog. :(
Anyway, I'll try to come up with two new posts every week (With no fillers, promise!) now on, mostly follow up on earlier posts, and some stuff I've been wanting to write about since quite some time.
Peace...
What is the capital of Czechoslovakia?
Who about what ?What comes to your mind reading the above? What could it be, a movie, a book...? The answer is surprisingly simple to deduce.
“I think it is timeless because it's about making love in the summertime. There is a slight misconception it's about a year, but it's not. It has nothing to do about a year , it has to do with a sexual position.”
The discovery of _____ dates from the 1890s when a German (Hans Henning) offered it as a medicine. It's other properties were discovered later on. In the United Kingdom ____ was manufactured at the Research Department at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, where new projects were identified as 'Research Department No.' followed by their identification number. For some reason, this project not given a number or kept 'unknown' either with the intention of adding the number later, or for reasons of secrecy. What are we talking about?Now how do we go about doing this? It's obviously something well-known and prominent. And why has the naming pattern of the Royal Arsenal mentioned in the question. Let's see, what they would have called it: Research Department No. "Unknown", or Research Department X, which shortens to RDX. There you are, RDX!! And the best thing about such questions is that now you also know that RDX was once offered as a medicine in some form, and why is it named so.
What is the greek word for circle of animals?You don't need to say "It's Greek to me" to that. Think about it. Try.
Where would you come across the above sight?You see a chimney with white smoke, a chimney with black smoke, and huge gathering watching intently. Where in the world does a chimney get so much attention?
Inquizitivity by The Editor
Food For Thought by Varun & others
James Daly's Homepage by Johny Walker & sumo_ftb
Intricate Ramblings by IIT-Kgp's very own Jean Valjean, Lord Maldy & Darth Shak
Qutopia by sinister.ankit, Abhi Binani, Saket and others at KIIT
Sharp Shooters by Rithwik Kalandy (Believe it or not, the guy's a high schooler!!)
DREAMZ Quiz Clubs by Chandrakant Nair and others
The NSIT Quiz Club, by a bunch of NSITians
I'm just doing what I do when I come across something worth sharing... and when I have no time or ideas for a new post and still want to maintain a respectable frequency. Here's the second best commencement speech I've come across, second only to Steve Jobs' Stanford commencement speech. Incidentally neither of these possess a college degree.
Please, please, please go through it. Funniest common-cement speech (by a non-aluminium) I've come across, Ellen DeGeneres taking on Tulane University's Class of 2009.
Transcript:
Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished guests, undistinguished guests - you know who you are, honored faculty and creepy Spanish teacher. And thank you to all the graduating class of 2009, I realize most of you are hungover and have splitting headaches and haven't slept since Fat Tuesday, but you can't graduate 'til I finish, so listen up.(Source)
When I was asked to make the commencement speech, I immediately said yes. Then I went to look up what commencement meant. Which would have been easy if I had a dictionary, but most of the books in our house are Portia's, and they're all written in Australian. So I had to break the word down myself, to find out the meaning.
Commencement: common, and cement. Common cement. You commonly see cement on sidewalks. Sidewalks have cracks, and if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back. So there's that. But I'm honored that you've asked me here to speak at your common cement.
I thought that you had to be a famous alumnus - alumini - aluminum - alumis - you had to graduate from this school. And I didn't go to college here, and I don't know if President Cowan knows, I didn't go to any college at all. Any college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time, or money, but look at me, I"m a huge celebrity.
Although I did graduate from the school of hard knocks, our mascot was the knockers. I spent a lot of time here growing up. My mom worked at (?) and I would go there every time I needed to steal something out of her purse. But why am I here today? Clearly not to steal, you're too far away and I'd never get away with it.
I'm here because of you. Because I can't think of a more tenacious, more courageous graduating class. I mean, look at you all, wearing your robes. Usually when you're wearing a robe at 10 in the morning, it means you've given up. I'm here because I love New Orleans. I was born and raised here, I spent my formative years here, and like you, while I was living here I only did laundry six times. When I finished school, I was completely lost. And by school, I mean middle school, but I went ahead and finished high school anyway. And I - I really, I had no ambition, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I did everything from - I shucked oysters, I was a hostess, I was a bartender, I was a waitress, I painted houses, I sold vaccuum cleaners, I had no idea. And I thought I'd just finally settle in some job, and I would make enough money to pay my rent, maybe have basic cable, maybe not, I didn't really have a plan, my point is that, by the time I was your age, I really thought I knew who I was, but I had no idea. Like for example, when I was your age, I was dating men. So what I'm saying is, when you're older, most of you will be gay. Anyone writing this stuff down? Parents?
Anyway, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and the way I ended up on this path was from a very tragic event. I was maybe 19, and my girlfriend at the time was killed in a car accident. And I passed the accident, and I didn't know it was her and I kept going, and I found out shortly after that, it was her. And I was living in a basement apartment, I had no money, I had no heat, no air, I had a mattress on the floor and the apartment was infested with fleas. And I was soul-searching, I was like, why is she suddenly gone, and there are fleas here? I don't understand, there must be a purpose, and wouldn't it be so convenient if we could pick up the phone and call God, and ask these questions.
And I started writing and what poured out of me was an imaginary conversation with God, which was one-sided, and I finished writing it and I looked at it and I said to myself, and I hadn't even been doing stand-up, ever, there was no club in town. I said, "I'm gonna do this on the Tonight Show With Johnny Carson"- at the time he was the king - "and I'm gonna be the first woman in the history of the show to be called over to sit down." And several years later, I was the first woman in the history of the show, and only woman in the history of the show to sit down, because of that phone conversation with God that I wrote. And I started this path of stand-up and it was successful and it was great, but it was hard, because I was trying to please everybody and I had this secret that I was keeping, that I was gay. And I thought if people found out they wouldn't like me, they wouldn't laugh at me.
Then my career turned into - I got my own sitcom, and that was very successful, another level of success. And I thought, what if they find out I'm gay, then they'll never watch, and this was a long time ago, this was when we just had white presidents - this was back, many years ago - and I finally decided that I was living with so much shame, and so much fear, that I just couldn't live that way anymore, and I decided to come out and make it creative. And my character would come out at the same time, and it wasn't to make a political statement, it wasn't to do anything other than to free myself up from this heaviness that I was carrying around, and I just wanted to be honest. And I thought, "What's the worst that could happen? I can lose my career". I did. I lost my career. The show was cancelled after six years, without even telling me, I read it in the paper. The phone didn't ring for three years. I had no offers. Nobody wanted to touch me at all. Yet, I was getting letters from kids that almost committed suicide, but didn't, because of what I did. And I realised that I had a purpose. And it wasn't just about me and it wasn't about celebrity, but I felt like I was being punished... it was a bad time, I was angry, I was sad, and then I was offered a talkshow. And the people that offered me the talkshow tried to sell it. And most stations didn't want to pick it up. Most people didn't want to buy it because they thought nobody would watch me.
Really when I look back on it, I wouldn't change a thing. I mean, it was so important for me to lose everything because I found out what the most important thing is, is to be true to yourself. Ultimately, that's what's gotten me to this place. I don't live in fear, I'm free, I have no secrets. and I know I'll always be ok, because no matter what, I know who I am. So In conclusion, when I was younger I thought success was something different. I thought when I grow up, I want to be famous. I want to be a star. I want to be in movies. When I grow up I want to see the world, drive nice cars, I want to have groupies. To quote the Pussycat Dolls. How many people thought it was "boobies", by the way? It's not, it's "groupies".
But my idea of success is different today. And as you grow, you'll realise the definition of success changes. For many of you, today, success is being able to hold down 20 shots of tequila. For me, the most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity, and not to give into peer pressure. to try to be something that you're not. To live your life as an honest and compassionate person. to contribute in some way. So to conclude my conclusion: follow your passion, stay true to yourself. Never follow anyone else's path, unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path, and by all means you should follow that. Don't give advice, it will come back and bite you in the ass. Don't take anyone's advice. So my advice to you is to be true to yourself and everything will be fine.
And I know that a lot of you are concerned about your future, but there's no need to worry. The economy is booming, the job market is wide open, the planet is just fine. It's gonna be great. You've already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you? And as I mentioned before, some of the most devastating things that happen to you will teach you the most. And now you know the right questions to ask in your first job interview. Like, "Is it above sea level?" . So to conclude my conclusion that I've previously concluded, in the common cement speech, I guess what I'm trying to say is life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain, and if they like what they see, you'll have more beads than you know what to do with. And you'll be drunk, most of the time. So the Katrina class of 2009, I say congratulations and if you don't remember a thing I said today, remember this: you're gonna be ok, dum de dum dum dum, just dance.
I have lost friends, some by death, others through sheer inability to cross the street.One cannot stop gaping at how technology has changed our lives, and wondering what it will bring on next. Yeah yeah, we all know we can chat with people sitting half-way around the world, voice chat with them in fact, with video as a matter of fact, while reading their blogs and looking at their picasa web albums, and all this using a phone perhaps. And facebook and youtube and twitter. And a lot more. Add to it the fact that today's World Telecom Day (Purely a coincidence, believe me), I'm sure this is what you've been reading in the newspaper, and news feeds all day long. So easy to stay in touch with friends, from the comforts of your room. Staying in touch...
--Virginia Woolf
