ThePanda

Running up against ze good and ze bad points of ze open source way of life has become hilariously common, and zis is one of the few things for which ze beast that is the internet can be blamed…. Take BBC’s H2G2 which is differently different version of WikiPedia (ze place wher most of my linx eventually lead 2), H2G2 is meant to be something like ze Guide as described in Douglas Adam’s H2G2 (not surprising ‘coz BBC seems to be using a lot of his ideas including ze Book of the Future) and is supposed to be openly created by ze humans, chimps (oh ya zey get preferential entry everywhere) & (hopefully) pandas….. Every time u wanna add an entry to ze guide, it (reasonably since the guide belongs to everyone in ze galaxy) goes thru a peer review phase, and zis is where problems crop in…..... As u add increasingly larger number of guide entries, u become known to ppl and zere r always certain reviewers who wud eventually know abt ur writing style and content and maybe start liking it, and zis means zat some guys can get reviewed earlier than others….. All pigs being equal, some r more equal zan others….... This phenomena is not wrong since at ze endo of ze day reviewers r humans and have very human tendencies, however it probably leads to a lot of writers (researchers in ze guide’s terminology) who wudnt send in an entry after zeir firs one ‘coz no one seems to be encouraging them to do zat….......... Zat is an essential problem with joining such a movement late, ze advantage being zat ze H2G2’s collection of articles is impressive to say ze least, mostly becoz of ze involvement of netzines…...............

Me finally got me calendar for ze year, and zis times theme seems 2 be “Nature’s Hidden Charms”..... Guy still sticks 2 2 photos of polar bears (though one of zem is surrounded by flowers instead of snow), an arctic wolf, and a group of penguins (again on a cliff surrounded by flowers)..... Newly featured animals include a herd of elephants (zat I have seen though zis is the African variety) and a lone giraffe…........ Me am happy zat ze deferment wasn’t all zat long, since me reallllllllllllllllly need a calendar infront of me while me am on ze phone, failing which I’d probably end up fixing weird dates, ‘coz I never know what day what dates on (though I can very sanely, independently count thru both).......

Zis might come as a surprise to a lot of ppl who know me really well, specially those who have been harping me abt how I shud have written a book that I never did…... Well starting (most probably) today, I’ll be publishing all my blog entries in a book (the physical kind) available online (follow the link on ze left to go 2 wherever its available), with a new edition arriving once eery fortnight …. Though zis change doesn’t mean that I’d be closing down my archives or commercializing ze Blog as it exists today (its gonna be free for eternity, don’t worry) and while I know zat ze books pricing is pretty steep (mostly becoz of ze damn free binding charges which r something like $5), and zat as long as zis is available online most of u won’t buy it (neither wud have I), if u think u have neone in ze US or newhere, or zere is someone who’s rich enuf and who’d be interested in buying an archival copy, maybe becoz zey r new and there’s 2 much data on zis site for zem 2 go thru, or maybe ‘coz u want zem to waste a little bit of zere money, pls get them to buy it, ‘coz my current pricing aim is to earn 75¢ per copy sold, and all of zat will be going into my college fund, since I realllllllllllllly need ze money zis yr, more so since I still don’t know where I am gonna be ending up by ze end of ze year…...................... Besides a book (its more like a fortnightly magazine except zat old copies r never gonna go out of print) is probably more enjoyable for some ppl, and well whatever come up with some reason to buy it…........ Ok zat was just a joke (wasn’t until a few minutes back when I suddenly realized that no one, hell no one wud wanna buy a book with my blog entries, since I ain’t even listed in Google), though I did come across zis nice site which lets u get on with ur publishing 4 free without worrying 2 much abt ze money and all…....... Someday when my Blog’s more famous I’ll do it, though not today, since it ain’t famous enuf, and I ain’t worth a nickel…..........

It finally hit me today, my trip to Jalpaiguri didn’t serve either of two main reasons I had gone there for…... Ze food was horrendous and not worthy of a mention here, and well after seeing my photographs from ze trip I realize zat most of them r just repeated exposures of the same thing, and a majority of these things happen to be flowers I can come up with in Delhi (oh and I lost most of my photos from ze last day, film went bad or something, most of it is white, which means that it was pre-exposed or expired).... Sad part is zat that now I am gonna have 2 rummage thru my old photos to come up with photos zat can be sent to three universities….. One of ze main reasons y I was so concerned abt photos from zis particular trip (I love photography, but don’t usually attempt to get pics if there’s nothing worth capturing) was becoz I needed a few good photos that I cud send off without having to rummage thru a pile of junk, but it looks as if that’s not gonna be happening, so me back to rummaging photos…..........

Someone did talk 2 me abt yesterday’s idea (I kindda knew he was gonna) and well he feels zat P2P radio’s pretty cool, but he isn’t gonna be implementing it, so my hunt for a partner to implement zis with continues…...

R all geniuses monsters (zis is something which has been troubling me today ever since I watched some part of The Peacemaker, ze part where ze Serb tapes his confession and his explanation for IFOR)???? Everyone of ze geniuses I admire has in some way or ze other aided in human destruction, Einstein by suggesting ze A-Bomb project in ze first place, Feynman by being a part of ze Manhattan project, Nash by cracking codes which undeniably heightened tensions, Newton (who was an inspector of currency, and of his own admission used to enjoy watching criminals hang), and pretty much everyone else I know….. I don’t know whether I am a genius or not, but I am pretty gooooood at thinking up uniquely strange things, and at helping ppl solve problems (solving my own problems is kindda harder), but even then am I gonna end up being a monster and killing ppl, ‘coz both my parents have worked all there lives to save every guy zey can…. I know for a fact zat my dad wastes huge amts of money from his projects providing the most expensive diagnostics freely to ppl, becoz he believes that if he started charging money, ze only ppl who’ll pay will be ze poor ones (‘coz in India the rich ones never pay nething)....... Am I all zat different from my parents, ‘coz more than 50% of all physics funding worldwide is military in nature, and I doubt ze military wants to have ppl who help zem save lives rather than take it…............. So this is where ze actual question emerges, I know I love physics, and math, the later probably as much if not more than the first, and I love computer sciences, the kind where I don’t have to worry abt how a program looks on screen, or abt how many ppl r gonna buy or use it, and well all of these fields have only one thing in common, zey all r strongly dominated by defense research… Does that mean zat eventually when and if I do become a scientist (ze if ‘coz I can never tell someone that I am 100% gonna be zis since I get bored with a lot of things) I will be doing little more than devising fiendish ways to kill or threaten other ppl, like all my favorite geniuses did?????????????????? Wat is a panda supposed to do in a world so geared up for killing humans and chimps (me just wanna destroy zeir Conspiracy Ray, don’t much care abt killing zem) hmmm….............................

I was supposed 2 go out for a movie today and well I refused to go for some strange reason, don’t know didn’t feel like it, strangely wanna stick at home, even though there’s only zis one guy I am supposed to go with, I guess I m becoming addicted to home, ze computer, ze TV and ze books (oh and ze blog), can’t really be sure abt zis….... Still will be heading out shopping with me parents tomorrow, gotta get my monthly mags, and try and hunt for new music (I am particularly hoping that I finally get hold of Dido’s No Angel, which has been strangely unavailable, maybe bcoz of some chimpish conspiracy, can never be sure)......... Books have been out for sometime, ‘coz my two fave authors (they r pretty much alive and kicking) have not really been writing a lot of new stuff lately, in fact one of them has been revising his old stuff and putting it out in ze market with a new cover and in a thinner version, which is sad ‘coz I liked ze level of details his books provided….. And well all of my other fave authors have been dead for sometime, and I have kindda gone thru most of their books (ze others I cudnt find, I guess ‘coz until a few yrs back a lot of books which ze USSR didn’t approve, didn’t find mass readership in India), sad…................. Me now really need a college, a confirmed college zat I am sure I wud be joining, ‘coz once thats here I cud go out and spend my time doing photography and troubling chimps, and going out with ppl (hmm I cud do zat now 2) and things…..

Ze Panda
Still wondering abt whether he’s gonna end up as a monster….

P.S. Got replies at H2G2 finally….. Yahoooo ppl think that with a little bit of work my entry can be included in the Guide…...