A very interesting thing happened yesterday as I was being a tourist in downtown Minneapolis with my parents. While we were taking pictures, a young American male, probably a college student, stops by and asks us if we were from India. He then asked us if we were in the US as visitors, or whether we lived here. The guy then expressed his strong positive feelings for his country, and said that he hopes that we decide to live here permanently as it is a wonderful place to live. Finally, …

According to the Six Degrees of Separation theory, I am now connected to Bill Gates through a 2 degree long chain.
Here’s my Chain:
Me
|
CliffyB
|
Bill Gates
CliffyB is the lead game designer for Epic Games in Raleigh, NC. I met him for an informal lunch in late 2004 because I was interested in learning more about the gaming industry. He designed one of my favorite PC games, Jazz Jackrabbit, more than a decade ago.
It is amazing how motivation and inspiration guide you towards your aspirations. This guy is a college dropout, and just …

How unlucky do you have to be to have your car broken into twice in three weeks? I mean, seriously. Well, last night, the scum of the society struck again, and stole every single gadget from my car, breaking my glove compartment lock in the process. One of the worst things about driving an old car is that it is TOO easy to get in them. I realized this after I discovered that the bastards had been able to get in without breaking a thing. They broke the glove compartment …

This A.P. poll confirms it. America is full of impatient people that cannot wait 5 minutes in the grocery check out line or on hold.
I wonder if this impatience has anything to do with America’s technological advances and the standard of living!

I was reading the news today, when I came across news that the results of the IBM ACM-ICPC World Finals had been announced. This is a very prestigious programming contest that begins at the regional level and then goes onto the international level, with exciting prizes and recognition for the winners and runners-ups.
I had the opportunity to participate in the 2000 ACM ICPC Asia regional contest at IIT Kanpur. Although, my team did not score an entry into the prestigious finals, I am proud to have represented Kanpur University at …