Hari's Corner

Want to become THE SUPER Joker? Come, learn in the Papa Hari Institute for Humour and you can also produces the jokes that make your Friends laugh loudly all the times.

Today the Papa Hari Institute are proudly announces prize-winning entries of First Batchs of OUR GOOD STUDENTS:

Third Prizes

man walk up to other man and asked "Are you fine?" other man said, "I am fine." Man said "I am fine." then other man said, "Is your wife fine?" man said "Yes, she is also fine." other Man said "So u r both be fine?" Man said "If I am fine, she is also fine." Then other man said "Why?" man said "Because we r Mr. and Mrs. Fine!!!!"

:lol:

You are laughed loudly at that, no???? OK, OK, No problem!!!! Control yourselfs and read next joke, which is second prize's joke.

Second Prize

Q: why is the rich man rich? A: Because he is not Poor. Q: And why he Is not be poor? A: Because he is the rich!!!!!

:lol:

Please... please... to control yourself!!!! We are now gone on to the first prize's winning joke.

First Prize

A: why that watch is not telling the time properly? B: because it cannot speak. A: If it cannot speaks, it Should be talking, no?????

:lol:

NOW WAIT............ calm yourselfs with tumbler of a water before you read next. Only with CLEAR MIND you will able to understand the remaining stuffs below.

So you are by now knowing the qualites of this SUPER jokers? We have The Super Faculties using latest SUPER COMPUTER technelogicals so NO PROBLEM FOR YOU!!!!

This IS ONLY THE ONE oppurtunity!! NOW Enrolled for the Classes Today! Starting at Rs. 1299.95 1499.95 only for the beginners courses (admission fee/donation seperately pay Rs. 5,25,499.95 only). PLEASE: WE DON'T ACCEPT THE CHECKS. Only by cashes we always received the money from students parents (There are lot of ATMs these days so please DONT give these excuse that you are not having the cashes. It is TOO EASY to get cashes from the machines than MAN).

CLASSES BEGINNED ON 15th JUNE 2007 Batch 1: 1:00 to 2:00 (in the afternoon time all days of the weekdays except on Saturdays and Sundays) Batch 2: 3:00 to 4:00 (same like the aboves, but opposite of the days)

TELEPHONE NUMBER: 3847010239 (PLEASE: make call only at the OFFICE TIMINGS otherwise we are not there)

Testimoniels: "Papa Hari Institute made me SUPER joker" - ALL Students

Our MOTTO: BECOME THE SUPER JOKER TODAY ONLY!!!!

Update: The offending site seems to have been removed by Blogger. I really appreciate their quick response to my complaint and hope that all cases of content-theft will be dealt with in a similar manner.

I'm really annoyed now. :evil: I just found that my Linux self-hosting HOWTO article has been copied by a blogspot.com splog (I will not bother linking to the offending website). I am particularly enraged by this, because it's an article I took a lot of trouble over and will not have third-party sites profit by it.

I went through the trouble of reporting this infringement to blogger/google and I got an officious, automated response which wanted me to file a formal complaint through fax or by regular post. There was a lot of legal junk in that e-mail which I found hard to wade through with equanimity in my current state of mind.

Let me make one thing clear. I don't have the time or resources to go the legal route and secondly, how on earth do I find out who really stole my content? Most sploggers are anonymous anyway. All I'm asking is that google remove the article from that URL as soon as they can verify that it's a violation of their ToS. Simple, right? I've provided the necessary proof by linking to my own article as well. Do I, as an individual with limited time and money, have to go through so much trouble just to get my due? I am the affected party here and it's infamous to be put through so much hassle just to ensure that my content is protected against blatant copyright violators.

Just consider this: It takes two or three seconds to rip off another's hard work by hitting the Copy and Paste buttons. Why should it take complicated legal procedure to undo that? Why should I spend so much effort drafting a legal document and send it, wasting money on international postal charges and so on, particularly when the anonymous content thief will almost definitely get away with it? It's like being punished for being in the right. Absolutely ridiculous.

I know that the google/blogger staff must be receiving tons of complaints of this nature. Is it really hard for them to verify content theft particularly with the kind of resources they have at hand? Please act against content thieves, google!

RT recently posted an article on his blog with a piece of advice which is fairly common on the internet: do not feed the trolls. But day after day, month after month, year after year, trolls continue to enjoy the same level of success that they have done since the beginning of human debate and discussion. Why? I think what is fundamentally missing from such advice (anywhere) is how trolls operate and why they succeed and how they hit you where it hurts the most (metaphorically).

So the next time you read something on the internet which makes your blood boil to such an extent that you are dying to respond with a stirring, stinging reply, stop just a moment and ask yourself the question: Am I a reasonable person?

If the answer is: yes, then ask again, Is the person who wrote this article a reasonable person?

The question should be asked not because you were at boiling point. In fact, chances are you are a very reasonable person and you are open-minded enough to participate in debates and discussions without losing your cool. You are wise enough to know where to draw the line and when to withdraw decently from an argument. At the same time, everybody in their senses gets upset at issues around them from time to time. No normal person can remain perfectly unaffected by everything written or said about certain issues. The key here is whether the piece of writing which affected you was deliberately written in a manner which would emotionally affect any reasonable person. Because, once emotion takes over, logic goes out of the window. It always happens.

Internet trolls operate on this principle - they don't care for factual accuracy of anything they write about so long as it sounds reasonally logical or intellectual and is superficially subtle. I say "superficially" because closer, dispassionate inspection would definitely reveal their true colours. But for that you need to remain unaffected by emotion while reading such provocative content.

Those of us who have been online for any length of period have experienced trolls in one form or the other, knowingly or unknowingly. We also know how immensely frustrating such trolls are because we are dying to prove that they are absolutely wrong and misguided in their writing. But at this precise moment, consider for a moment whether the person who wrote that article was honestly misguided and if so, whether your efforts at "correction" will actually be received in an open-minded manner. At some stage, I realized that it doesn't matter whether a person is deliberately intellectually dishonest or honestly misguided. It works to the same thing. Very few people will admit to making a mistake in real life and even fewer will do so online. The very open nature of the internet makes it nearly impossible to admit an error without losing face. And most people, right or wrong, don't want to lose face.

So rather than analyze why somebody would write such a provocative, misguided and factually incorrect article, you would be better off asking whether anything you add to the discussion (if it is a public forum) or communicate to the author (privately) would really be of any use. At best your response will either remain ignored or get buried under a huge pile of other responses. At worst, you would get rude replies which drag you further into personal conflict with the parties involved.

It's better to be cynical about such things rather than implicitly believe in the honesty of such people or try to beat our heads trying to expose their dishonesty. I think a problem is that too many people are tricked into thinking that it's their duty or obligation to respond to every argument with counter-points to show that they are not afraid of discussion or debate and so find it extremely hard to get out of a debate once they get in. Well, so what if you are afraid of debate? Does it matter when a nameless, faceless stranger thinks you are a sissy? So what if people think you're rude by not responding? Are they related to you in any manner that their opinion about you will affect you in any way? Is the stranger who wrote that crap really going to have the last word on the issue under discussion? Isn't it better to leave rather than make emotional outbursts and give them the pleasure of seeing you dance to their tunes? If you focus on the person rather than the debate, you would realize how stupid it is to even converse with a stranger on an issue that you feel so strongly about.

Getting drawn into argument with such people can get dangerously addictive and emotionally sapping. There's nothing constructive in debate, genuine or not, beyond a point. Really.

The best response is to clear out and never return to that website to read it again. It can be hard for a while, but it is the only thing that works effectively in the end. Everytime I stumble across something disgustingly objectionable online, I make it a point to completely forget the URL by wiping out the browser history.

For a long time, something kept annoying me about Indian blogs. I couldn't figure out the reason. I confess that this annoyance was rather vague and I feared that I might never find out the reason or be able to express it in any coherent way.

Today I discovered the Desi Blog title generator and I found out the cause - it's those corny (clever) sounding names that people choose. If you're a resident or NRI blogger with a "desi" outlook, you could probably use this for inspiration. Hilarious! Stereotyping is so much fun.

Note: I'm more convinced about my theory that you come across such gems on the Internet only when you're not looking for them.

Breaking a near-month silence, Papa Hari returned to the world stage with a bang and delighted all his fans by reaffirming his faith in January 1st being the first day and December 31st being the last day of every year under the Gregorian Calendar. In a related statement, he also assured that all holidays (national or religious) declared by the respective governments would remain valid under this scheme of things.

Speaking to reporters during a video press-conference from an undisclosed location, Papa Hari reiterated his faith in January 1st and December 31st as the first and last days and further added that it would be a "tragedy" if this was not taken in the right spirit. Papa Hari Fan Club members from all over the world celebrated the declaration with fireworks and distributed sweets amongst their friends and relatives. Asked for comment, the leader of the Papa Hari Fan Club, Papa Hari stated that it was indeed a great honour to be the first one to receive the news of Papa Hari's declaration. When it was pointed out that he was the one who made the declaration, Papa Hari agreed that it was implicit in what he said. On behalf of all his fans, Papa Hari thanked Papa Hari for this important message of clarification which would lead to greater understanding among nations and an atmosphere of international harmony and co-operation.

When contacted for their views, many world leaders welcomed the announcement and said that it was a refreshing change for a person of Papa Hari's stature and importance to come out boldly with his stance on such a fundamental issue. US President Bush also complimented Papa Hari on being a "personality" and stated that Papa Hari was an important ally in the war against terror. "I compliment Papa Hari's personality," he added further. Other leaders were satisfied that Papa Hari had said the right thing at the right time and hoped that this declaration would clear all confusion in this regard.

"Not many leaders come out with such statements every day," said outgoing British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, "He has maintained the status quo and we are grateful for his reassurance on the subject. The Calendar is the most important part of our lives." Others were less forthcoming in their praise for Papa Hari, but agreed that the statement assumed importance in the context of the war on terror. "Without a calendar, we cannot find out when a terrorist strike can be expected," said the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh. He also added that "the peace process with Pakistan will also get disrupted because we cannot fix a date for fixing a date for agreeing to agree on the necessity for agreement with our neighbours." When contacted for his views, the Pope welcomed the spirit in which the message was made and hoped that "Papa Hari's statement would lead to religious peace and harmony in the world and understanding among nations." He also said that "peoples who follow other calendars need not be alarmed. Their right to choose their own system would not get affected by this message." UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that it was necessary to set up a committee of leading nations to consider the long-term implications of Papa Hari's statement and that he could not comment on the issue at the moment.

People from all parts of the world welcomed Papa Hari's statement and noted the fact that he had not tampered with their holidays. "It's so important. I'm glad we have a champion who stands up for our holidays," said Mr. Jo-Jo who works in a government office. A few critics (and cynics) were left wondering what the fuss was all about while some of them were concerned about the fate of other Calendars currently in use. However, many Papa Hari Fan Club members defended their hero by saying, "which other contemporary world leader has had the guts to make a statement of such magnitude which affects each and every one of our lives?" Papa Hari's media secretary later confirmed that the statement concerned only the Gregorian calendar and that people following other systems have no cause to be alarmed.

Here are a list of impediments I come across regularly with commenting systems on blogging platforms. This is a personal list, so obviously you'll see my likes and dislikes here. I am not targetting any particular blogger, so don't take it personally.

For what it is worth, here are my pet annoyances.

1. CAPTCHAs - I've said enough about this in the past, so I won't elaborate except saying that typing down civjsiwep or 53912681 every time I want to comment on something is no fun. It gets worse over time, not better. Asking me what is 10+2 is slightly better, but still a nuisance.
2. Moderated comments - while not annoying as much, author-moderated comments (where comments appear only after approval) break the flow of conversation since all traffic is directed through one person. It really slows down discussion.
3. Comment popup windows - definitely most annoying. I prefer inline commenting systems. Popup comment forms are awkward.
4. Wrong tab order in comment form - Blogger.com is the main culprit here. You would think google would have fixed something as basic as this after so much fanfare about the "new blogger". But they haven't. The tab order on the commenting fields should make it easy for me to post comments without using the mouse. Every time I use the mouse to highlight a field, I get annoyed. I'm sure a lot of bloggers feel the same.
5. Not "remembering" comment authors - I like the system where a cookie is stored on the end-user's machine and once a name/e-mail/URL is submitted, I don't have to type it every time before commenting. Of course, I can always remove that cookie from the browser, so that's not a problem. Having to fill out name/e-mail/URL for every new comment is definitely a chore though.
6. Aggressive comment spam filters - I don't want to be told that my IP is blacklisted and I should get a "anti-spyware tool" because my computer may be infected. Duh, I use Linux. It's not my problem that anti-spam authors have no idea about dynamic and shared IPs used by public ISPs in many countries and the stupidity of implementing IP blacklists in the first place.
7. No acknowledgment - The best incentive to keep commenting is acknowledgment from the author. If I don't get acknowledgment over a period of time, my motivation to continue commenting is definitely reduced. Even if it's something as simple as "thank you" I prefer that to nothing, especially if I've posted a long, thoughtful comment
8. No reciprocity - I generally do not expect anybody to post a comment on my blog just because I posted one on theirs. However, over time, I do expect some form of "giving back." Either through links or through the occasional reciprocal comment. Nobody likes being neglected.
9. Too cluttered - If the blog style is too cluttered, I have to search for ten minutes before I can find a small "comment" link tucked away somewhere in the corner.
10. Requiring registration for commenting - Blogs are not discussion forums. So mandatory registration before posting is definitely a way of saying "no comments invited here." There are better ways to fight spam.

I hope I've not annoyed too many of you out there. However, if you are guilty of any of the above and I still comment on your website, it's because I really like your content enough to put up with all that. So be flattered.