Yes, When I was a kid, I wrote some poetry. Now I don't. Maybe because I have become more realistic? Or maybe there is not much ROI? I once got mentioned for having Poetry Writing as a hobby on 15to25.com in their Hobby of the Week section. The site was run by Harbinger Systems in Pune, India. Now I get a 404 Error :-(.
My dear Ma made a soft copy of my poetry and gave it to me as a "surprise gift" when she and Pa visited me for my Graduation Ceremony. Going through my past creations brings me a chuckle.
Here's one of the poems I wrote. It is named Figures of Speech. This is when I discovered about figures of speech used in Poetry. I have made some changes (not much) just to make some things clear(er).
FIGURES OF SPEECH
Just for the sake of emphasis
The poets tilt the language phrases
They employ ANTITHESES
So show they know opposites
Bluffs are similar to PERSONIFICATION
Poets change harsh to mild by EUPHEMISM
It’s awkward what’s APOSTROPHE
& I can’t understand what’s ANASTROPHE
They compare with SIMILE
And mean something else by IRONY
Don’t Mention ANTICLIMAX
As I’m doubtful about CLIMAX
I’m bewildered when employed is ONOMATOPOEIA
Shouldn’t the poets be left in Siberia?
METAPHOR is an element of comparing
How are PARADOX & OXYMORON differing?
SYNECDOCHE seems without neck
METONYMY seems without much head
Poets TRANSER EPITHET from one
Character to another
And by LITOTES mean something other
It is better, best than PARADOX
To be followed by an angry OX
Poets advice by EPIGRAM
And That’s to be sowed in our mental farm
But I like best
And prefer INTERNAL RHYME
More than TAUTOLOGY or PUN
Serving at a poet’s dine.
-Keshav
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
LunchBot
At both work places, current and previous; we mused on a program that tells us where to go for lunch. There is one Wheel of lunch; if you are looking for a quick solution to your misery. Let me explain you what this misery is. Its when you can't find a place good enough for today. Its a decision to be made, and that too, quick; because you are running out of your "lunch time". Your taste buds have gone on a vacation; they don't recommend you anything. Maybe you are not a food loving person like me, but its possible you have other constraints like time, money, <__add your constraint here__>.
So, lets get to business without any further delay.
What we need is a customized wheel of fortune. Something we all (we ~~ all lunch buddies) agree on.
The solution:
1. We need to create user accounts for our lunchbot.
2. The users will add restaurants to the lunchbot.
3. For each restaurant, you can have a simple 5 point rating. However, you can add information about the restaurant inside your application like menu, distance to the place, etc. (Probabely, somebody in your office has menus from nearby restaurants.) But, for a starting point, we can have a simple 5 point rating. However, knock yourself out by enhancing the system according to your tastes; pun intended. I recommend you do so after completing a basic lunchbot. But while designing the bot, make sure to have it future-compatible.
This means that its very easy to change the behavior and/or enhance it. I don't understand why future-compatibility is not one of the core characteristic of acceptable programming. I haven't even encountered anywhere else. It is just what other tasks can be performed by your system.
At this point, we have all the data needed to play the wheel - the players and the machine .. ahm .. the lunchbot.
Selection:
1 simple strategy is to get all restaurants we didn't go to in this cycle and select a random one.
Variants:
1. While getting the restaurants, add the ones that have 5 ratings; 5 times in your selection queue to increase their probability to be chosen. So, the ones having a rank 4 are added 4 times, ones with rank 3 are added 3 times, etc.
2. In addition to above, you can have a "repeatable" flag for favorite favorite restaurant(s). But after selected once, the rank of the restaurant has to be decreased to avoid going there everyday in the week.
3. You can also have "specialty override" flag for restaurants that have special menu on some days -or- u can have a "manual override" and go to the restaurant whatsoever.
So, lets get to business without any further delay.
What we need is a customized wheel of fortune. Something we all (we ~~ all lunch buddies) agree on.
The solution:
1. We need to create user accounts for our lunchbot.
2. The users will add restaurants to the lunchbot.
3. For each restaurant, you can have a simple 5 point rating. However, you can add information about the restaurant inside your application like menu, distance to the place, etc. (Probabely, somebody in your office has menus from nearby restaurants.) But, for a starting point, we can have a simple 5 point rating. However, knock yourself out by enhancing the system according to your tastes; pun intended. I recommend you do so after completing a basic lunchbot. But while designing the bot, make sure to have it future-compatible.
This means that its very easy to change the behavior and/or enhance it. I don't understand why future-compatibility is not one of the core characteristic of acceptable programming. I haven't even encountered anywhere else. It is just what other tasks can be performed by your system.
At this point, we have all the data needed to play the wheel - the players and the machine .. ahm .. the lunchbot.
Selection:
1 simple strategy is to get all restaurants we didn't go to in this cycle and select a random one.
Variants:
1. While getting the restaurants, add the ones that have 5 ratings; 5 times in your selection queue to increase their probability to be chosen. So, the ones having a rank 4 are added 4 times, ones with rank 3 are added 3 times, etc.
2. In addition to above, you can have a "repeatable" flag for favorite favorite restaurant(s). But after selected once, the rank of the restaurant has to be decreased to avoid going there everyday in the week.
3. You can also have "specialty override" flag for restaurants that have special menu on some days -or- u can have a "manual override" and go to the restaurant whatsoever.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Do you really really need it?
I just shifted about 1200 miles north and it took me a car load (a very small sedan) and 15 boxes to move my life's belongings. We got our stuff in 2 weeks but even 2 weeks later than that, 9 of our boxes lay unopened. Our kitchen can qualify as fully functional for someone who enjoys to cook almost everything from scratch and I have no piece of furniture except a bed for my wife and me. We are searching for a dining table which can also be our study-table, a place to keep our books and some living room furniture.
Even after 2 months; our situation is the same; except for the fact that the boxes are opened.
All this make me wonder...what exactly do we need to live through a day? How much of the stuff we buy do satisfy *Return on Investment* ? How much we buy for our use v/s how much do we buy just for the heck of it?
We threw a lot of stuff in our old home while moving for a reason :- we wanted to travel light & it was not worth it to transport that stuff. Now; in our new home; we had to start from scratch. Not wishing to pile up our new home with stuff that we really don't want; we ask ourselves twice "Do we really need it?" before buying anything. Result: A very low consumer footprint. It has been okey without some things I might use just once in a blue moon.
We have browsed through catalogs from stores and online stores. There were things like orange peeler, onion cutter etc. It would be nice to have them but really? Do you need it? Wouldn't it be nice to develop the skill to perform such tasks with your knife? Do these gadgets really make it easy for you? How much time do they actually save?
I don't say we should go back to stone age; but sure there are things we can avoid to reduce clutter in our house and in our life without hurting our lifestyles.
So, next time you visit a store and you see a fancy gadget, ask yourself...
Do I really really need it?
Even after 2 months; our situation is the same; except for the fact that the boxes are opened.
All this make me wonder...what exactly do we need to live through a day? How much of the stuff we buy do satisfy *Return on Investment* ? How much we buy for our use v/s how much do we buy just for the heck of it?
We threw a lot of stuff in our old home while moving for a reason :- we wanted to travel light & it was not worth it to transport that stuff. Now; in our new home; we had to start from scratch. Not wishing to pile up our new home with stuff that we really don't want; we ask ourselves twice "Do we really need it?" before buying anything. Result: A very low consumer footprint. It has been okey without some things I might use just once in a blue moon.
We have browsed through catalogs from stores and online stores. There were things like orange peeler, onion cutter etc. It would be nice to have them but really? Do you need it? Wouldn't it be nice to develop the skill to perform such tasks with your knife? Do these gadgets really make it easy for you? How much time do they actually save?
I don't say we should go back to stone age; but sure there are things we can avoid to reduce clutter in our house and in our life without hurting our lifestyles.
So, next time you visit a store and you see a fancy gadget, ask yourself...
Do I really really need it?
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