What do Facebook and Pirates have in common? The language!

I discovered this feature quite a while ago. It so happened that I was trying to pass some time by browsing web pages at random — about.com, howstuffworks, cnn.com and the likes. At that moment, I came across a wikipedia article on facebook features, and found out an easter egg!

You can change the default language of facebook to be English (Pirate), and ye scullywags’ll be speakin the tongue in a grain ‘o sand! See:

Even if you aren’t a Pirates fan, you can try out the application for the fun of it! Just notice how familiar things change when speaking pirate lingo:

Here, Home becomes Home Port, Profile becomes Me, Friends > Me Hearties, and Inbox > Bottle o’ Messages

Look at some more screenshots:

In the last screenshot, Pocket Parrot stands for Mobile Device! 

I suggest that you give that pirate a try! Furthermore, I can be found on facebook at http://facebook.com/rajatarora.info/. Befriend me!

Ah, btw… If you are wondering what an easter egg is, find out all about them here.

These days, I’m not able to think of a full-post-worthy topic to write about. But I do have a lot of blurb-worthy-only thoughts that play trampoline inside my seemingly small head. Hence, I present to you, a series of shorties:

Of jQuery and related

Contrary to my belief, jQuery is very easy to learn and implement. And to top that, it has a bubbling online community filled with people who are more than willing to help. In fact, most of such Open Source Projects have similar communities, including Linux. This presents a welcome change from the oh-so-snorty college authorities who are a real headache to deal with. I wonder why Microsoft is still making money? 

The Cat and the Baby

The other day I was watching Amazing Baby Videos on Discovery. They were showing some really  humourous videos about babies and pets. But they were really thought-provoking. For instance, in a particular video, the pet cat wasn’t so happy about the presence of the baby in the household, so she occupies his toy chair as an act of revenge. When the baby approaches, she catches hold of his sleeve (thankfully she only gets hold of the shirt!).

Funny, eh? Apparently not. Even the host of the show felt so. Just like elder siblings, even pets need to be prepared for the young one’s arrival. If handled incorrectly, they can even harm the baby!

Of Reading and Writing

A Suitable Boy is turning better by the page (though I agree that the numerous procedures of law sprinkled all over it are a pain in the a** to read!). I’ve even started to identify with one of the characters in the book… Funny, eh? Plus the Chatterji family, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, Maan and Malati make reading the book quite enjoyable!

And I’ve been wanting to write a piece of fiction these days. But the problem is that most of the themes that occur to me invariably contain blood and gore — about which I don’t want to write. The only short story I’ve ever written, Sikandar, was along similar lines… dealing with a bomb blast in Delhi. Perhaps that’s why I’m unwilling to touch on that subject again.

Also, speaking of Sikandar, I’ll publish it here very soon. Its been long overdue!

Everything Else

Piano Lessons? Going good. Movie Watching? Atleast one everyday. TV? Not much. World Cup? Didn’t watch a single match. Roaming around? Next to none. Delhi’s heat? Untolerable. College? I’m better away from it. Love life? Still single! 

Guess I’ll leave it at that!

I’ve just spent the laziest day of these holidays. And no, I’m not happy!!

Today, I I woke up late. Didn’t practice my piano lessons. Didn’t read A Suitable Boy. Then I took a longish nap in the afternoon!!! I didn’t start developing the theme for this blog. Gave a very very very late reply to Prabhjot’s technical questions. Didn’t help mom when she wanted to look up something on the internet.

In short, I didn’t do anything.

I am dreading the day when my sanmacs classes start. Then I’ll have to go there, study, AND do all the stuff mentioned above. I need to be more productive. Immensely more productive.

Shit!!

It will be a while before I get the hang of regular blogging all over again. Remaining out of action for extended periods of time does have its own set of problems, you see!

Wordpress 2.8 has been released. I’ve upgraded. I guess you should do that too.

My piano classes are going great! I’ve learnt the C-Major, and now I can play an oversimplified version of Hickory Dickory Dock with conviction! In tomorrow’s class, I’ll learn the F-Major. Lets see what’s in store for me. 

People (read: Meeta Ma’am) were pestering Mohna to start a blog. She was unwilling. So I decided to take the initiative. I registered a blog for her. And now, our (read: Me and Meeta Ma’am) job is to cajole her to actually write something. She’s a bright girl. I believe she’ll come up with something interesting. Will keep you posted.

I’ve noticed that when I stop doing something, it becomes very hard for me to come back to it. About writing blog posts you already know. But you don’t know about reading them. Ever since I broke the vow of internet-celibacy (I took it due to the exams, you know), I haven’t brought myself to read Ritu’s and Freya’s blogs again. I don’t know why… but that’s the case. These two were the only ones I used to read with some gusto. Sorry guys, I’m working towards making myself click those links! Its not that I ain’t reading any blogs. The other day I was browsing IndiBlogger to look for some new, interesting ones. And I did get myself into reading some of them. But that’s about it. My old reading habits are destroyed.

Speaking of reading habits, I am currently reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. For those who know about it, don’t wince. For those who don’t, it is the sixth longest english novel ever — running for almost 1400 pages. I’ve reached the halfway mark in about 10 days. According to Meeta Ma’am (who has apparently read the whole thing), it is slow and dull. According to me, it is mildly interesting. I got it from the library.

Next up in my reading list is Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie. I bought it from Om Book Shop. They are running a sale these days, with discounts ranging from 10–90%. This book is marked at 15%. The full set of Lord of the Rings is marked at 82%. Some obscure cookbook by some obscure author containing some obscure recipes is actually marked at 90%. You get the picture. The bestsellers are still expensive. The rest come cheap. The store has got a very good collection, though.

As you might have noticed, I have implemented IntenseDebate comments in Talking Talking. Happy Commenting! I’ve never liked Disqus, or WordPress’s very own commenting system.

These days, I’m watching a lot of things. Heroes, Prison Break, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, American Pie, Star Wars, Aliens, X-Men — you get the picture. Its my way of enjoying the holidays.

And I’m learning PHP too! But I guess more on that later.

• My best friend’s birthday came and went.
• IPL 2 started and finished.
• Barack Obama completed 100 days in office.
• The Lok Sabha Elections made huge news.
• The BSE Sensex got back on track.
• There were no movies in the multiplexes.
• And the ICC T20 World Cup started.

Where was I when all that was happening?

I was shut up in my room, buried in books and trying to study. Or rather trying to mug up. I WAS HAVING EXAMS!!

I wasn’t tweeting. My facebook statuses were few, far between and boring. And blogging was out of the question. I was secretly happy (sic) about the producers’ strike, coz there were no movies to distract me. During IPL I was rooting for Delhi Daredevils. So I didn’t watch the other matches. I did vote, though! It was the first time that I was allowed to do so, because the last time I was six days too young. And no, they didn’t ink my middle finger.

As about the exams — some of them went very well while the others didn’t, but that was exactly I was expecting. I’m happy. Perhaps that’s what matters.

Did I have something else to do while I was hooked up with textbooks? Well yes… I made my PC into a downloading machine! I downloaded lots of stuff, some of it NSFW, so that I have a free run during holidays. And that’s what I’m doing these days — having a free run! 

And I started teaching! Oh yes… I am teaching an eighth standard guy about writing skills — you know… letters, postcards, reports and all that. And I am teaching his elder brother JAVA. Its fun, really! Having someone to command! 

Now that the exams are over, I am doing what I really like. Sitting at home. Reading books. Learning to play the piano (yes!). And designing a new template for this blog.

My nephew Aarav turned one recently. He has grown to be a very cuddly baby! He has learned to wish sat-sri-akaal and does it everytime Akshay Kumar comes on TV in his Singh is Kinng avtar! He has learned to squat flies and kick the football. He even played holi this time! Just look at the picture…

Yes! My worst days are over! The infamous exam season of Delhi University has gone! I can be myself once again, and do things I like doing. I can kick those books goodbye for the time being.