Dialog from Chenkol

Dialog from Malayalam movie Chenkol (1993).

Seven-layered vegetarian tostadas

Ingredients:
Pack of round tostadas / tortillas (available in Mexican aisles), canned pinto beans, avocados, roma tomatoes, salt, minced jalapenos, sour cream, lime juice, grounded cumin*, red chilly mix*, canned tomato paste, oregano, parsley, lettuce, shredded cheese. 


(*if needed)

Steps:
Layer 1: Preheat oven, and bake the tostadas for just under 3 to 4 mins. Keep aside.
Layer 2: Take 2 cans of pinto beans, wash away the preservatives, add a little salt and smash. Add water and cook for a while to smash easily. Keep aside.
Layer 3: Make the guacamole (explained below). Keep aside.
Layer 4: Make the salsa with tomato paste (1 can) + 2 minced Jalapenos. Add oregano, parsley and such Italian herbs, and enough water to make it semi-thick. (Add red-chilly for extra spice!) Keep aside.
Layer 5: Keep the sour cream ready.
Layer 6: Take the lettuce, peel each layer, roll up and chop into thin strands. Keep aside.
Layer 7: Shred the cheese, or keep aside the shredded cheese.

Take one tostada on a plate, forming layer 1. Thinly spread layer 2: pinto beans; layer 3: guacamole; layer 4: spicy salsa; layer 5: sour cream; layer 6: lettuce and top-up with layer 7: some shredded cheese. Hold the tostada on your palm and eat as messily as possible. Repeat, and compete on how many you can devour in one round!

Making guacamole

Halve, seed and spoon-peel 4 to 5 semi-ripe avocados. Keep the seeds aside since they help to preserve the guacamole. Dice 3 or 4 roma tomatoes into tiny pieces. Smash the avocados and add the tomato pieces. Add salt, minced jalapenos (red chilly for a spicier mix!), sour cream and lime juice. Mix ingredients well. We may add grounded cumin if needed. Add back the seeds and make sure to use within the same day.

(Courtesy: Pritesh and Kinjal)

Searchwiki can only be an experiment

On November 22, 2008 (a week earlier in Europe according to reports), something strange started to happen with Google's biggest source of revenue - that ubiquitous service in which the monolith has virtually no competition - Google Search.

Around November 21, we saw a heavily publicized launch for what Google termed as SearchWiki. (Even the WSJ prominently carried this story.) Some claimed that it was not a "Wiki" at all since it was not essentially a socially-driven search system, while some others said that Google was just trying to copy Wikia. Read the Google Operating System blog post about the launch.

Few actually saw the fully-functional version of the modified search system until November 22. But taking us by surprise, by afternoon, Google made a hushed withdrawal, replacing the original search system. Read the TechCrunch post about the withdrawal.

Soon, Searchwiki made a reappearance in Google Experimental (Google's description mentions a cheesy "sound-effect" recorded by Sergey Brin himself - aargh!)
Worst of it all, the Experimental version didn't work - (It doesn't work the moment I am writing this blog!)

What really is happening at Google? The way it's happening, it doesn't seem intentional. The reception to SearchWiki has been very divided. While one side maintains that it will kill the manipulation of searches by SEO's and foster better search results providing for a combination of search and social sharing capabilities, the other side says that unmoderated commenting will prove to be a haven for spammers, and cannot do well because the mass customer is always "dumber" than the search engine developer.

My take? This technology is so new and immature that it should only remain an experiment. Search results are more vulnerable for manipulation in Searchwiki, say for instance, if a website starts hiring people to just promote their website for specific keywords. Of course, Google says that your preferences will not affect another user, but that doesn't make sense since we already have an array of bookmarking options. I believe that Google's plan was definitely to slowly transition to a user-influenced search system. Also imagine searching for "ExxonMobil" and getting the first page full of links to exxposeexxon.com. The "dumber than thou" argument also underscores the fact that Google should not impose something that's so noisy and complicated on every user especially given its reputation for simplicity. Obviously, the ramifications of such a search model can be huge since the internet is getting more and more search-driven.

It was not too wise of Google to launch such a huge change directly in its most used service. Actually it's much worse of a trip-up than what facebook did by not involving its users when it launched its new interface. In case this was just an effort to collect a larger sample of usage data, Google should've informed the users that it will be temporary. This unacknowledged blooper from Google is certain to fuel the argument that Google is foraying into too many things than it can effectively focus. Since every product Google launches leverages at least some share of Google's impeccable search capability, a faultering step here can be disastrous. Will Google be able to maintain the small-firm approach that it had 10 years ago even as it has become the biggest "portal" to the web, given the mess in which Yahoo has submerged itself? The task is tough for sure.

As an aside, an SEO professional came out with a script to turn wiki on and off, which was kind of neat, had Google stuck to its earlier plan. Also read: Networkworld critical about Searchwiki

Update: As of 11 p.m. on November 22, SearchWiki has made a full-fledged comeback. Now that it's going to stay in one form or the other, you should read this awesome illustrated guide to SearchWiki entirely so that you get an idea of the do's and don'ts in a changed search environment. I maintain my stance that SearchWiki should be allowed to gradually graduate from a experimental release - there are too many jitters as of now. And I'm not happy that they removed the "Note this" feature from search. I used to love the ability to privately bookmark my searches. Give it back to me, Google!

Update (Nov. 24): To de-personalize your search, add the string "&hl=all" to the address bar once your search result comes up. It not only removes SearchWiki but also prevents your web history from influencing your search. Get your de-personalized Google search Firefox plug-ins here.

Filter Kaappi!

To help my coffee addiction be unconstrained by the tightening economy, I purchased a manual drip filtration coffee brewer today. It has been a while since I stopped drinking instant coffee because I began hating the very taste. To be honest, I miss my favorite South Indian filter coffee every morning, and I'm trying my best to make up for it. I know that the filter is just one component - next will be to figure out the right kind of coffee (chicory-blended, if I can get hold of it!), the right kind of milk, and the right mixes to give me the taste I long for. That's why I would prefer to call it kaappi than just coffee - it is something different!

I got my filter from the nearby grocer. In case you want to order online (in USA), you may do so here.

To use the filter, take off the lid and unscrew the inner screen. Place the filter on top of a cup, or better, on top of a metal glass collector. Add 3-4 teaspoons of coffee and moderately tighten the screen. Fill a quarter of the filter with boiling water and wait for less than half a minute for the water to start dripping. Unscrew the screen a bit, and refill filter with boiling water. Place the lid tightly so that the fragrance of the coffee does not escape.

Once the collecting glass has enough coffee, pour it into boiled milk, and add sugar to taste, to enjoy a refreshing cup of coffee. I will update this post once I get the right coffee-chicory blend.

The necessity of the word

THERE is an ancient legend which tells us that when a man first achieved
a most notable deed he wished to explain to his tribe what he had done.
As soon as he began to speak, however, he was smitten with dumbness,
he lacked words, and sat down. Then there arose - according to the story - a masterless man, one who had taken no part in the action of his fellow,
who had no special virtues, but afflicted - that is the phrase - with the magic of the necessary words. He saw, he told, he described the merits
of the notable deed in such a fashion, we are assured, that the words
"became alive and walked up and down in the hearts of all his hearers." Thereupon, the tribe seeing that the words were certainly alive,
and fearing lest the man with the words would hand down untrue tales
about them to their children, they took and killed him.
But later they saw that the magic was in the words,
not in the man.

"The record of the tribe is in its enduring. The magic of literature lies in words and not in any man. Witness, a thousand excellent, strenuous words can leave us quite cold or put us to sleep, whereas a bare half- hundred words breathed by some man in his agony or in his exaltation, or in his idleness, ten generations ago, can still lead a whole nation into and out of its captivity, can open to us the doors of three worlds, or stir us so intolerably that we can scarcely abide to look at own souls."

-Kipling, Kipling's Analysis of True Literature, The Scrap book

Truths

Ask a famished kid
in any deprived ghetto
deep within
the bowels of the world

and he will say
starvation
was not his choice
poverty
was not an alternative.

But the devil
says
the choice
was yours.

Change motivates,
motivations change
change responds,
responses change.

The power to choose
is still yours.
Ask a famished kid
in any deprived ghetto.

----
"piece.of.mind"