Upgraded to Blogger Beta

Blogger recently launched a new beta version with new features like Labels, New Layout etc. As you might have noticed, this blog is now running on it.

The switching process was a breeze. The whole process including updating to a new layout based template took like 30 min, during which I played around with all the new things I could do with it.

The most important feature that compelled me to switch to this beta is the labels support. Now I can label my posts and clicking on a label takes you to all the posts with the same label. There is a labels box in the left hand sidebar which lists all the labels I have created. Hence readers interested in philosophical posts can find all of them together and need not be bothered with the tech posts. This feature was long overdue as most other popular commercial blog services provide it.
This feature also eliminates the need for me to maintain a separate tech blog. Its really difficult for me to maintain a separate tech blog, and hence I would not update the other blog anymore.

There have also been some changes in the template. There is a hierarchical blog archive on the left sidebar which provides much better navigation to the old posts.

Another change is the change in the feed url. In case you use a rss reader, please subscribe to this new feed url. There is also an option to subscribe to all comments on the blog. Or to comments of this individual post.

Overall, I'll give Blogger thumbs up for incorporating some long due changes which brings it at par with the commercial services out there.

Update 2/11/06: Looks like their is some issue with Blogger Beta feeds. The feeds do not show the date and time of the post when it was published. Instead it shows the last updated time of the post. I don't know whether its a feature or a bug but I liked it the earlier way.
Also, I have migrated my feeds to feedburner and updated the feed url links.

The K Types

A friend of mine once classified me as a K type individual rather than an H type. According to him, K type individuals are people who would come up with great ideas to make your life miserable and they will show off their power by telling you these ideas and scare you off. However, K type people rarely implement these ideas. Showing off the power gives them great fun, actually implementing it takes away the fun. The H type people on the other hand may or may not come up with their own ideas, but they have a higher probability of implementing those they have. They are more of the practical jokes variety.

While I tend to agree with this judgement, I begin to think why is it like that. I believe it all started the college ragging days(healthy interaction period :-D). IIT Delhi has a very different kind of ragging culture as compared to other institutes. Here a freshman has to face ragging for only the first 15 days of his college. During this period, seniors never resort to any physically harming activity as they consider it an insult to their mental torture skills. So ragging in IIT Delhi is all of a K thing. As a freshman, I remember how my seniors would try to scare me telling all the bad things they would do to me and make my life a hell in college. Knowing that they would never do any of such things, I always felt like laughing and let me tell you that its really difficult to maintain a frightened face when you are laughing inside.
Then as a senior, I would do the same to freshers. And this kind of thing continues after the interaction period too, but then its an equal oppurtunity on both sides.

I remember that this same friend of mine, who at that time was my junior in college, had understood me very well and would never get scared no matter what I do. I actually had to move towards the H type once to actually get him scared. But that wasn't much fun.
So friends, feign fright, it keeps me away from being a H ;-)

P.S. for people who are wondering about K and H, I'll quote my friend - Shakti Harami nahi hai, Shakti Kameena hai

Sabka Katega

bodhiTree is talked about either because of "XL ki kudiyan" or for the unconventional lyrics in their songs. However, I feel that they have huge potential as a band and they should not restrict themselves to just another college band. I can understand that these people are MBA students from XLRI and a music career might be a huge risk to take. However, I am a big fan of bodhiTree and the only reason why I am not able to discuss their music with many people is their lyrics. Hence I feel that they should create some songs with conventional lyrics too if they want to get into mainstream music.

Here I write the lyrics of one of their song which I like the most and which preaches the eternal truth of life - Sabka Katega.

Din kate na raat kate na subah kate na shaam
dhoop hate na chav hate na gum hate na jaam
Dekho sabka katega, sabka katega raam
yuhin katta rahega, sabka katega raam

teri yaadon main kalki rain bitai thi
meri aankhon main phir se aas bhar aayi thi
shaakon se phoolon toote, raahon main jiske
dil dooba, namm hua pyaar main uske
pyaar ghate na yaad bade, yaad bade har saans
pyas main teri jaane kitne kaat chuka main jaam

jaise sabka katega, sabka katega yaar

phir se subah hogi, kabhi to tere dar par
phir se tere mann main, hum rahe har pal

kya hua jo jhooth kaha ki mujhe na tumse pyar
maan bhi jao kat jayega pyar main jeevan yaar

jaisa sabka katega, sabka katega yaar

So rememeber, you are not alone, sabka katega ;-)