Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Arz kiya hai....

Now this was long due....



jeevan ki kashti ke kinaare badal gaye,
yaaron ki dosti ke sahaare badal gaye.
ibaadat ko jo band kari ye nigahein,
kholi to jahaan ke nazaare badal gaye.

that were among the first few lines I wrote.. :)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Feeling CHESSY

Hey, I just got a brilliant chess position, and so I thought of sharing it with you all...
Those who want to go through in a hurry directly jump to the image and read below it.. (Only some basics are told before the image)

Here is a game of 1908, the black being played by a player who was supposed to be the best and yet never won any championship...
The position shown below was reached by around 21 moves.

W B
1. d4 ,d5
2. Nf3 ,e6
3. e3 ,c5
4. c4 ,Nc6
5. Nc3 ,Nf6
6. dxc5 ,Bxc5
7. a3 ,a6
8. b4 ,Bd6
9. Bb2 ,0-0 (Black did castling)
10. Qd2 ,Qe7
11. Bd3 ,dxc4
12. Bxc4 ,b5
13. Bd3 ,Rd8
14. Qe2 ,Bb7
15. 0-0 ,Ne5
16. Nxe5 ,Bxe5
17. f4 ,Bc7
18. e4 ,Rac8
19. e5 ,Bb6+
20. Kh1 ,Ng4
21. Be4 ,Qh4

Hmm, now before I begin let me explain some very basics...
You see its traditional to name the chess squares by an alphabet followed by a digit.
The a-h alphabets represent the vertical columns and no.s 1-8 represent the rows starting from down to top.
Its quite similar to representing coordinates of a point.
Q, K , R , B, N represent Queen, King, Rook, Bishop and Knight respectively.
Whenever a 'x' is used eg. Nxe5, which signifies that the knight has moved to e5 position and taken over the piece that was present at that square.


Hmmm, that was really basic. What I am showing below is a position, which shows some brilliant sacrifices leading to the winning of black.
Check it out...It would be more fun if you try it on ur chessboard...




The immediate move after this position was


White's move Black's move
22. g3 , Rxc3
i.e. White moved a pawn to threaten the black queen. Instead of saving his queen, the black rather took the white's knight at position c3, with his rook.

23. gxh4 , Rd2
In next move, white took black's queen with his pawn and thus moved his pawn to position h4. In Black's turn, in another shocking move, he brought his another rook to position d2, that too without any support. Moreover, if white player wouldn't have taken the rook, the black was threatening to take the pawn just above the king on behalf on Knight's support and check mate the white king.

24. Qxd2 , Bxe4+
White Queen takes the rook. In Black's turn he takes the White bishop, at position e4, whose support is now withdrawn with his own white-squared bishop, (Queen's bishop), now also delivering a check to white king. (the + sign signifies the check)

25. Qg2 , Rh3
White queen comes to block the bishop's diagonal and save his king. The black rook now comes to position h3, just one step away from checkmating the king with Rxh2 checkmate....



Now that was amazing... In fact I read that moves no. 22 and 23 are supposed to be one of the best moves in the history of chess.

Cheers!!!!!!!!

Do visit the site : http://www.mychessblog.com/
It has some real neat problems on chess... I hope u'll like it...!!!!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

MUST READ- A commencement speech at Tulane University

I was surfing through one of the blogs i follow, and struck this....
It is one of the funniest speeches i have ever read. (which obviously are not great in number)

Ellen DeGeneres gives a commencement speech at Tulane University on May 16, 2009.


QUOTE

Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished guests, undistinguished guests - you know who you are, honored faculty and creepy Spanish teacher. And thank...
Thank you, President Cowan, Mrs. President Cowen; distinguished guests, undistinguished guests - you know who you are, honored faculty and creepy Spanish teacher. And thank you to all the graduating class of 2009, I realize most of you are hungover and have splitting headaches and haven't slept since Fat Tuesday, but you can't graduate 'til I finish, so listen up.

When I was asked to make the commencement speech, I immediately said yes. Then I went to look up what commencement meant. Which would have been easy if I had a dictionary, but most of the books in our house are Portia's, and they're all written in Australian. So I had to break the word down myself, to find out the meaning.

Commencement: common, and cement. Common cement. You commonly see cement on sidewalks. Sidewalks have cracks, and if you step on a crack, you break your mother's back. So there's that. But I'm honored that you've asked me here to speak at your common cement.

I thought that you had to be a famous alumnus - alumini - aluminum - alumis - you had to graduate from this school. And I didn't go to college here, and I don't know if President Cowan knows, I didn't go to any college at all. Any college. And I'm not saying you wasted your time, or money, but look at me, I"m a huge celebrity.

Although I did graduate from the school of hard knocks, our mascot was the knockers. I spent a lot of time here growing up. My mom worked at (?) and I would go there every time I needed to steal something out of her purse. But why am I here today? Clearly not to steal, you're too far away and I'd never get away with it.

I'm here because of you. Because I can't think of a more tenacious, more courageous graduating class. I mean, look at you all, wearing your robes. Usually when you're wearing a robe at 10 in the morning, it means you've given up. I'm here because I love New Orleans. I was born and raised here, I spent my formative years here, and like you, while I was living here I only did laundry six times. When I finished school, I was completely lost. And by school, I mean middle school, but I went ahead and finished high school anyway. And I - I really, I had no ambition, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I did everything from - I shucked oysters, I was a hostess, I was a bartender, I was a waitress, I painted houses, I sold vaccuum cleaners, I had no idea. And I thought I'd just finally settle in some job, and I would make enough money to pay my rent, maybe have basic cable, maybe not, I didn't really have a plan, my point is that, by the time I was your age, I really thought I knew who I was, but I had no idea. Like for example, when I was your age, I was dating men. So what I'm saying is, when you're older, most of you will be gay. Anyone writing this stuff down? Parents?

Anyway, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, and the way I ended up on this path was from a very tragic event. I was maybe 19, and my girlfriend at the time was killed in a car accident. And I passed the accident, and I didn't know it was her and I kept going, and I found out shortly after that, it was her. And I was living in a basement apartment, I had no money, I had no heat, no air, I had a mattress on the floor and the apartment was infested with fleas. And I was soul-searching, I was like, why is she suddenly gone, and there are fleas here? I don't understand, there must be a purpose, and wouldn't it be so convenient if we could pick up the phone and call God, and ask these questions.

And I started writing and what poured out of me was an imaginary conversation with God, which was one-sided, and I finished writing it and I looked at it and I said to myself, and I hadn't even been doing stand-up, ever, there was no club in town. I said, "I'm gonna do this on the Tonight Show With Johnny Carson"- at the time he was the king - "and I'm gonna be the first woman in the history of the show to be called over to sit down." And several years later, I was the first woman in the history of the show, and only woman in the history of the show to sit down, because of that phone conversation with God that I wrote. And I started this path of stand-up and it was successful and it was great, but it was hard, because I was trying to please everybody and I had this secret that I was keeping, that I was gay. And I thought if people found out they wouldn't like me, they wouldn't laugh at me.

Then my career turned into - I got my own sitcom, and that was very successful, another level of success. And I thought, what if they find out I'm gay, then they'll never watch, and this was a long time ago, this was when we just had white presidents - this was back, many years ago - and I finally decided that I was living with so much shame, and so much fear, that I just couldn't live that way anymore, and I decided to come out and make it creative. And my character would come out at the same time, and it wasn't to make a political statement, it wasn't to do anything other than to free myself up from this heaviness that I was carrying around, and I just wanted to be honest. And I thought, "What's the worst that could happen? I can lose my career". I did. I lost my career. The show was cancelled after six years, without even telling me, I read it in the paper. The phone didn't ring for three years. I had no offers. Nobody wanted to touch me at all. Yet, I was getting letters from kids that almost committed suicide, but didn't, because of what I did. And I realised that I had a purpose. And it wasn't just about me and it wasn't about celebrity, but I felt like I was being punished... it was a bad time, I was angry, I was sad, and then I was offered a talkshow. And the people that offered me the talkshow tried to sell it. And most stations didn't want to pick it up. Most people didn't want to buy it because they thought nobody would watch me.

Really when I look back on it, I wouldn't change a thing. I mean, it was so important for me to lose everything because I found out what the most important thing is, is to be true to yourself. Ultimately, that's what's gotten me to this place. I don't live in fear, I'm free, I have no secrets. and I know I'll always be ok, because no matter what, I know who I am. So In conclusion, when I was younger I thought success was something different. I thought when I grow up, I want to be famous. I want to be a star. I want to be in movies. When I grow up I want to see the world, drive nice cars, I want to have groupies. To quote the Pussycat Dolls. How many people thought it was "boobies", by the way? It's not, it's "groupies".

But my idea of success is different today. And as you grow, you'll realise the definition of success changes. For many of you, today, success is being able to hold down 20 shots of tequila. For me, the most important thing in your life is to live your life with integrity, and not to give into peer pressure. to try to be something that you're not. To live your life as an honest and compassionate person. to contribute in some way. So to conclude my conclusion: follow your passion, stay true to yourself. Never follow anyone else's path, unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path, and by all means you should follow that. Don't give advice, it will come back and bite you in the ass. Don't take anyone's advice. So my advice to you is to be true to yourself and everything will be fine.

And I know that a lot of you are concerned about your future, but there's no need to worry. The economy is booming, the job market is wide open, the planet is just fine. It's gonna be great. You've already survived a hurricane. What else can happen to you? And as I mentioned before, some of the most devastating things that happen to you will teach you the most. And now you know the right questions to ask in your first job interview. Like, "Is it above sea level?" . So to conclude my conclusion that I've previously concluded, in the common cement speech, I guess what I'm trying to say is life is like one big Mardi Gras. But instead of showing your boobs, show people your brain, and if they like what they see, you'll have more beads than you know what to do with. And you'll be drunk, most of the time. So the Katrina class of 2009, I say congratulations and if you don't remember a thing I said today, remember this: you're gonna be ok, dum de dum dum dum, just dance.

Source : http://www.entertonement.com/clips/wfxbjlpnnh--Ellen-DeGeneres-Commencement-Speech-at-Tulane-University

I do credit the blog : http://shrey-knows.blogspot.com/2009/05/common-cement.html

Enjoy!!!

U being nice...I getting a guilt free pass???

What I am telling you is this...
Me chatting wid one of my gud old friends, who happened to be an 'atheist'.

Me- Don't you think you should be quitting fake swearing before your girl?
Fr- My girl would never come to know about it.
Me- What if she actually comes to know someday?
Fr- I'm pretty smart for it and she's too dumb to figure it out.
Me- And what about the name you are swearing under?
Fr- There is no 'he' whose name I use to swear.
Me- And supposedly if he is?
Fr- Then he'd be too nice to mind it. That's why God is.
Me- You don't believe in God?
Fr- No, I don't. And even if there is some God, he is supposed to be the superlative for nice. Right?
Me- Amm Humm...So?
Fr- So, he won't even give a damn' if I don't believe in him and misuse his name. He won't punish me for putting false promises under his name. He'd be too good to do that!
Me- :O :x


Doesn't this conversation reveal one human tendency? That we misuse one's goodness, if he's proclaimed not to feel bad about it.
So should you be revealing your anger on the person who hurt you? Or should you be just forgiving him for that???

That reminds me of one of those old statements that
If we all were better people, the world would have been a better place to live in.

Surely, if the whole world would have had the same ideology of "moving on", forgiving would have been easy; more importantly there would have been no situation of one being guilty.
But we are not good people, (leave alone the adjective better); as for world, I'm still not sure if the world is better place to live in or not.
Considering what goes today, I feel, there are times, when you need to show that you are not giving your consent to his actions; there are times you need to show, that you do not approve the person's behavior.

Coz if you stop being "all time nice" person, I would stop using my guilt free passes !!!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Got Tagged...

Ok, so Andy tags me this time...But after reading his seven characteristics, I guess this would be pretty interesting.
As for Andy, here you go:- <3
Coz u can flip it either way u like and assume whatever you want to, but I'm more than contended with this recent discovery... hehe..

Ok, as for rules :-

* Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
* Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
* Let them know they have been tagged.


Here you go :

I am simple at core. Really don't understand them who wants to do things or wear things for flattering.. please dont get offended
yup..that last line reveals another of my attribute, i'm too concerned abt not making others unhappy...sure I cant go on Vito Corleone's way to get them happy...
hmmm...ya that also means I try not be aggressive. Hardly do I remember any of my fights....(marna hai kya..pit jaunga! )
ya that means i'm pretty talented and know my limits :P
hehe..just trying to put things in a different way...
sure that sums me being tactful...yeah, i even have had arguments coz i was advising what to do and what not to one of my closest frnds..
ya i love giving advices...
Infact if you happen to read a Piscean character sketch, u are bound to get adjectives for me..


so nw i need to tag others rite...
Now Andy has already tagged poor kp...but k...
since i'm already falling short of people to tag, so let it be

kp- he hasnt done the homework yet, so let it be for my subject too... :P
vince- coz i hardly remember when he wrote something recently...
arvind- not that i dnt knw him, but wud like to knw whether he does :D
aamir- i knw he may not write abt this, coz its nt related to either of us, iraq or Palestine...but its fine...i recently saw Kung Fu Panda...and so trying again..once again hitting the wall.. (sach bolun to i dnt knw anymore ppl..lol )
that finishes my list.....if anyone recently reads this...he/she too must write...

lets see hw many of these turn out to be sincere students...