Categories
Software

On (Adobe) Flash

I despise it.

Being a Linux user for a while now, there have been very few instances when I haven’t cursed Flash for what it is. An abomination on the web. I have not investigated whom exactly to blame here – the list of shared objects in `ldd /usr/lib/flashplayer-mozilla/libflashplayer.so` or the actual shit that’s in libflashplayer.so or the browser’s interface with this blob.

Awesome Web 2.0(tm) sites such as slideshare use it and trying to view a presentation fullscreen is more painful than watching your laptop die due to overheating. I’ve given up on watching youtube on the browser too. These days I wait for the video content to load into /tmp and play Flash* file with dear old mplayer. Such is life. Can’t wait to get my copy of Windows 7 license now.

Yes, I’m beating a dead horse here but I post this at the backdrop of the news of Mr. Jobs having announced that the iPad(sic) isn’t going to have Flash on it. I don’t know if I’m ever going to use this piece of locked hardware ever – maybe it’s useful in the hospitals – but the “no-flash” stance makes me happy.

I sincerely hope that HTML5 and related bling really does take off and take Flash off of my laptop.

Categories
Worldly Matters

On arguing with a creationist

This is a link to one of P. Z. Myers‘ posts on his blog titled “Every creationist argument I’ve ever had.”

It’s time for me to move out of the metaphysical haze. This post is just to document that transition as today also happens to be the turning of a new leaf in my book.

Let’s see what 2010 has in store!

UPDATE: (Included the direct link to the youtube page right here)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBHEsEshhLs]

Categories
Entertainment Worldly Matters

On Americanisation of India

I’ve hinted in my previous post about Shell. And it’s unlikely that you haven’t heard of the notoriety of Bangalore for being the outsource sink of the US. Everything you see in the past 10 years in India has increasing doses of Americanisation. The Bollywood movies, the English spelling in your TV ads, the vocabulary, the TV shows themselves.

Yes, TV shows. Did you know that there’s a popular Oprah-clone that’s been running in the regional televisions (Tamil and now Kannada) for a few years now? A famous actress is the host (her name is Lakshmi, she was hot in her hayday.) I can see that women and men don’t think or use their brains the same way and sometimes Evolutionary psychologists do manage to explain certain behaviour. But here’s this show which my mom and sis watch a lot, and I know that a lot of other women watch it too. Heck even the show itself has plenty of women in the audience who all seem to – in a creepy sense – enjoy the domestic battle that’s being gladiator’d out in the middle.

Meh. 😐