Declamation

New post so soon? Well, Me, myself, I'm surprised enough about that. This post is about my funny experiences during a club meet I've attended yesterday.

There's a club here in Vijayawada, focussed on developing Communication Skills. The club is called The Felines, which is a initiative of students from Career Launcher Vijayawada. Each week there'll be a club meet during which various activities like debates, group discussions, extempores etc., are conducted, and is open to any student.

One of the events conducted yesterday was called Bulls Eye. It's basically a guessing game which involves strategy. The rules are like this: The game master will think about a personality, and the team has to guess who it is, by asking questions which can be answered only by a Yes or No (Like Male? Indian? Actor?) There'll be a limit of 15 questions. It's a really a good game involving formulating a strategy of asking questions basing on previous questions. Well, though intellect, there were quite a few instances where there was lots of fun.

One guessing round, the team asks:
Q: Male?
A: No
Q: Female?
A: ???
It's obvious that if it's a No to male, then the personality is female... A question got wasted!

Another round: In this, the team got so involved, they were assuming they were posing questions to the personality instead of the game master. The questions were like this...
Q: Are you a Male?
A: Of course I am.....
Q: Oh sorry, Male?
A: Yes
Q: Do you play sports?
A: Yeah, I used to play chess during schooling, but these days it's cricket....

Bits & Pieces:
Q: Is it a Male?
A: Yes, "It" is a male

Q: Indian?
A: No
Q:South Indian?
A: No

Q: Which country are you from?
A: #$%@$@!

Q: Politician? (That was their 15th question)
A: No, It's Osama Bin Laden.
Team: Hey you said Yes to Female...
A: No, I said No to female..
Team: No You said Yes
A: I said No (Spectators supported that)
A: Well, If you feel female, Ok, then it's Mrs. Osama Bin Laden (In a lighter tone)
Spectators: Well, which one? He got more than a dozen...

Q: Fine Arts related?
A: No
Q: Fine Arts includes Music, Singing, Movies, Painting right? (They asked in generic sense, to know about the game rules)
A: Yeah, that's right
Spectators: Hey that makes two questions....
Q: What? Doest that count as two questions?
Spectators: That makes three...

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Wow, almost an year I've made my last post... Time flies, isn't it? So busy [:d] with studies and exams, I almost forgot about the blog. Okay, no more suspense about the post title... "Why did the chicken cross the road?" is one of the oldest and most famous riddles still in use in the English language. Lately some of my friends and I got into a philosophical discussion about "What came first? the chicken or the egg?" and this riddle made it's way into the discussion and that's where the philosophy was gone to a six and the discussion got filled with subtle riddling and puzzling.

Amused by the riddle (Even though I've heard the riddle n number of times before, it's still interesting to have a fun discussion on it), I researched a bit in the net and came up with something I thought to share with you. The most common answer to the road crossing is "To get to the other side." When asked at the end of a series of other riddles, whose answers are clever, obscure, and tricky, this answer's obviousness and straight-forwardness becomes part of the humor.

There are many riddles that assume a familiarity with this well-known riddle and its answer. One class of variations enlist a creature other than the chicken to cross the road. For example,

A turkey or duck crosses "because it was the chicken's day off."

Another variant: "Why did the dinosaur cross the road?" "Because chickens weren't evolved yet."

Also include "Why didn't the skeleton cross the road?" to which the answer is "Because he had no guts," or "He had no body to cross with him."

"Why did the chicken cross the road halfway? To 'lay it on the line'."

Another class of variations for oral transmission:

• Karl Marx: "The chicken was driven by the lash of economic necessity."
• Amelia Earhart: "She could have flown."
• Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that one day chickens will be able to cross roads without having their motives called into question."
• Central Intelligence Agency: "We can neither confirm nor deny any involvement in the chicken-road-crossing incident."

The joke is reportedly codified into law in at least one municipality. A Quitman, Georgia ordinance prohibits chickens from crossing the road.

Quite funny, especially that CIA one. LOL :)

Update: Just found out that there's a website dedicated to this [:o]:
http://www.whydidthechickencrosstheroad.com/
And an article with famous people's responses: http://www.freemaninstitute.com/chicken.htm

A Rainy day

Now , why am I writing about such a childish thing?

Does it read like a first standard essay topic? Actually, rains are the source of joy and sustenance to us Vijayawadaites, who are at the mercy of the sun and sweat all year long.

A ride in the rain might be difficult for the rider, but nothing like it for the pillion riders. Thanks to the water pools, the children can let paper boats afloat. Have you ever ridden a cycle through a puddle of rain water? It is fun! A hot cup of tea, some oily savoury snack, open windows and balconies to let the rain in, the picture is complete.

Yes, they say that the first rain carries impurities. That is true. So, wait for the second spell. Get drenched. Have a hot water later to ward off an unwelcome cold. Enjoy the rain and welcome it , because the rain isn't very generous when it comes to our city!

An Unforgettable day...

Note: You wont find this post any fun bcoz i'm not any funny rite now. May be i'll post a funny version sometime later..

Today is the birthday of one of my best buddies, and to celebrate we went to Liquids yesterday night. After three hours of rocking music and sweating hip-hops, cake-cutting at 12.00 Mid, we came out at 1.30 AM, boarded our Ford Endeavour, and started off for a ride..

Around 10-15 seconds passed by as we left Liquids, and suddenly we felt like we were in a roller coaster. As it was past mid-night, we were going at speeds of 120-140 and a sudden brake made the Endeavour skid and at that speed it skipped off the road on to a small divider, took a 180 degrees rotation vertically in air and finally hit the road with the wheels facing sky.

We came out breaking the glasses. No screaming, no shouting, we were as cool as we used to be. Luckily no one has broken limbs or bones, except for strains and scratches. We left the car there and went to hospital.

This post is made as a memoir of this day, the day on which i've learnt a lesson my parents, and my best friends used to teach me all the time.. What it is, i cant reveal now. May be in someother post..

Boring boring boring..

Well nothin much happened these days to post upon..

Of course i've been to hometown a couple of times, lost my mobile (a theft), bought a moto e398, had a couple of parties with my friends, few weeks later my roommate lost his cell, few outings on weekends etc etc.. of course much is happenning these days, but you see nothing much that can be posted.. got me?

Well ther's a saying that most of the blogs die after a month of their start.. i too started to feel the same.. i was thinkin my blog is dead!!

Well here i am, and i am posting, even after a long gap..

So my blog's not dead... and neither am i.

I'm not afraid to die. I just don't want to be there when it happens. :)

So, What's ur question??

Background Info: I am doing a course of ABAP module of SAP in a institute renowned for it's SAP faculty.. The faculty of my batch is Mr. Santosh kumar, a realtime faculty, and a damn good one, i say. This post is particularly about his style of responding to silly doubts when asked (When a real doubtful question is asked, he really gives best explaination leaving no traces of doubt in us).

Just like everyday, today's class begun almost 15 minutes late from scheduled 7.30 am. Today's topic was Variables and Data types that are used in ABAP programming, and my tutor did a great job. No doubt in why he's payed so much for just a 1 hour class, he's really worthy of it.

(Note: The next two paragraphs contain purely technical information, so the non techies may leave them)

Just like every programming language, ABAP has it's own way of declaring variables, and has different keywords to specify datatypes(like c for character, i for integer, N for numeric character etc...). One of the most beautiful features of ABAP is it's built in type conversion, i.e. variable of one data type is assigned to another variable of different data type, SAP converts the value internally (For eg, If we assign a string 10045 to a integer variable, built in conversion routines convert the string 10045 into a number 10045). In process of explaining this, he wrote the following small program..

Data: i1 type i,
i2(4) type c,
i3 type i.
i1 = 100.
i2 = '20'.
i3 = i1+i2.
write:/ 'Sum of ', i1 ,' and ',
i2 ,' is ', i3.

Here, since i3 is of type integer, the character string 20 is converted into integer 20 and then added to i1's value i.e. 100 and the resultant 120 is stored in i3, and all the values are displayed in output using the write statement. One more point to remember here is that Character strings are always left justified i.e. If we declare a character string of size 10 and assign a string 'Hello' to it, it will be stored as H e l l o x x x x x i.e. out of the 10 spaces, the assignment will be done from left. All other data types are right justified i.e. the assignment takes place from right hand side (eg. if 100 is assigned to i4(10), it will be x x x x x x x 1 0 0).

The above program was given as an example to explain about the built in type conversion of ABAP. At the end of the class, confused by the justification of elements, a guy started the doubts session by lifting his hand indicating to sir that he wants to ask a doubt.

Guy: "Sir, i have a doubt."
Sir: "What is it?"
Guy: "What would be the output of above program sir?"
Sir: "What do you think it would be?"
Guy: "Umm... the character string 20 would be converted to numeric 20..." (He stopped here with a doubtful gaze)
Sir: (looking at the whole class) "Isn't that what i've explained from past 15 minutes?"
Guy: "Hmm.. So, it would be a addition arithmetic on two numbers, 100 and 20, so it would be 120.."
Sir: "So, what is your doubt?"

Almost everyone in the class chuckled, including me (i have the least idea that i am going to be the next). This is the way he handles silly doubts. By the time we are done with the question-answer session, the instructor would have asked us twice the number of questions we asked him. But damn, I never know we have all the answers within us. Probably, like the way God is within all of us.

Also, during the class, he explained about Numeric Character type, A datatype which has the combinational behavior of integer and character strings(The integer type holds a number, where as Numeric Character holds no. of numbers.. i.e. just like an integer array. ABAP dont have the concept of integer arrays, only Numeric characters). The class ended with the following disc..

Me: "Sir, can we select a number or a substring of numbers within a Numeric Character value? just like as we do with strings?"
Sir: "Well, if you are writing a program, Will you write a function which has no use?"
Me: "No, sir"
Sir: "Do you believe SAP is a great tool?"
Me: "Yes"
Sir: "When you dont write any useless routine in your program, do you think the people who developed SAP will?"
Me: "No, sir"
Sir: "Is it of any use to have a function, to select numbers within a number?"
Me: "Umm.. No, sir"
Sir: "So do you think there is a function that can be used to select a substring from an Numeric Character value?"
Me: "No, sir"
Sir: "So, what's your question?"

Of course he later gave the explaination that if i really want to do such a thing, just assign the Numeric Character to a Character string, and then perform the position based string operations. You see, my doubt isn't that much silly.

Magnificent Desolation - Imax 3D

Yeah yeah u are right about the title (If u did gave it a thought), it's influenced by Magnificent Desolation:Walking on Moon 3D by Tom Hanks, which i watched a few hours ago. It's being played at Prasad's Imax from past two months, and i heard a great talk about it. Today, getting bored with nothing to do, i ended up at Imax to watch the show.

The show was scheduled at 1.30 pm. Since I tele-booked two tickets (i thought that i'll get my buddy Ramz for company. I booked the tickets without informing him and later smsd him about the plan), I spent the earlier part of day in a meaningful manner, relaxing myself, thinking about nothing. Believe me, It felt good to think about nothing. (It's not that i'm straining myself too much these days, but u know, watching Basic Instinct 2:Risk Addiction on Friday night at Prasads, and then again V for Vendetta on Saturday night in Prasad's Imax, i felt i'm in need to relax..)

At 12.30, i got phone from Ramz that he won't be able to make it b'coz he's still engaged in the personality development programme he's attending, in Ramakrishna Math. Heck, i thought as it flashed my mind that i booked two tickets. Thinking that they wont cancel the extra ticket if i'm late, i quickly got ready and reached Prasads by 12.40pm. I went to the tele-booking counter and said my highly-confidential code-word(just an confirmation code that would be given when we book tickets through phone). I was thinking how to convey him that i need only one ticket, but for my ease the fellow asked me how many tickets i need. "Great!", i said to myself and took a ticket paying 155 bucks.

Still 30 minutes to go for the show, i ended up at the games room playing a couple of SuperBike games. At 1.25, i went to the entrance gate, and there's already a long queue to enter the theater. I spent some time gulping down a chicken sandwitch, and took popcorn and cold coffee thinking that it would be a long movie without a break. As i was doing this, to my disgust, the queue hasn't been lessened, it got longer. I wasn't worried about the time since i felt they wont start the movie unless until everyone's in. By the time they checked my ticket, gave me the 3D glasses and walking through the corridor, It was 1.45 when i entered the hall, and to my astonishment, the show has already begun.

I quickly rushed to my seat, adjusted my Cold coffee and popcorn into the cupholders, and put on the glasses, almost 10-15 minutes of the film passed. The next 10 minutes, i was adjusting my 3D glasses to get a clearer view. The picture was all fogged to me. I looked by my side and my co-watchers seems to have no problem at all and were watching the movie with full attention. They were so deeply immeresed that when i was going through them to get to my seat, i actually landed my foot(no dudes, not on the moon) on the foot of a guy, he did not show any reflex actions(at that time, i thought the film seems to be too interesting.. i had the least idea that it's gonna be not that way). After struggling for some time, i found out that the problem's not with me, but with the glasses. Someone who previously used that glasses made impressions of his greasy thumbs all over the glasses(What was he thinkin? maybe he felt leaving his thumbprints like leaving foot-marks over the moon)

10 minutes passed watching the movie, and i started to realize that it's not actually a movie.. it's something different than that.. that it's... it's.... it's a documentary!! Just like the routine informative documentaries that are aired in Discovery or National Geographic. The movie pictured triumphant moments in history of mankind, short videos of the six Appollo missions to the moon by US. I did enjoyed the 3d effect of being in space and sometimes chuckled when i felt the 3d experience. 10 more minutes passed, and the narrator in the movie started to give closing statements.. 5 more minutes, and the ending titles began to scroll...

Slowly the lights in the theater started to brighten up. People started to leave the theater chitchatting with their fellows about the movie. I was still sitting there in my seat, still trying to digest the fact that the movie's over. Suddenly i heard my inner self calling me, "Aka, aka.. get up. It's ok, the movie's running time is 45 minutes only. The movie's over. C'mon, let's go home."

I call it Magnificent because the 3D experience in Imax indeed is characterized by grandeur, and i call it Desolation because after spending 155 bucks+transport+refreshment costs, what all i'm left with is a feeling that i could have spent my money on something more worthy of.

That's how my weekend movie was, and I, to my utmost satisfaction, call it Magnificent Desolation:Imax 3D