Hari's Corner

Even though this is not the last Boxi and Panjo episode you'll see.

Update: Since writing this article, my plans have been failed because the bloody XP installation does not proceed beyond the initial driver-loading stage on my laptop. I suspect a hardware driver problem which I'm not sure how to solve. Read the rest of this article with caution. If you're going to dump Vista, do make a full System Restore disk and back up all the data on your entire hard disk.

Yes, you read that right. In case you were unaware, Microsoft officially allow downgrades from Vista OEM Ultimate to XP Pro or XP 64-bit. I found this through an obscure document on the Microsoft website titled (not unreasonably) "Windows Vista Downgrade Rights." The catch here is that Microsoft only allows downgrade from Vista OEM Ultimate or Vista Business Edition to XP. If you're stuck with a retail edition of Vista or with a different OEM edition, bad luck. Luckily my particular laptop model came pre-installed with Vista Ultimate 64-bit, so I can follow the downgrade procedure.

The catch is that I need to obtain a genuine Windows XP installation CD. Microsoft supplies these at a cost (not the cost of the full XP Pro license, but the cost of shipping which is still considerable). I can also use any XP installation CD which I might get my hands on but it has to have a valid product key. Then once I install XP Pro, I have to activate it through phone by explaining that I am downgrading from Vista and give them the valid product key. I verified this point a couple of times to be absolutely sure through Microsoft's customer support lines (yes, I did call, why do you ask ).

The reason I'm downgrading Vista is to free up some hard disk space (Vista's system files take up nearly 1/5th of the free space on my Windows partition) and also to get better performance out of my laptop (especially 3D performance).

Here's the procedure I'm following currently,

1. Made a full computer backup using Microsoft System Backup and Restore facility on my external USB hard disk.
2. Copied all my Linux data on another partition in the same external hard disk.
3. Currently making HP recovery DVDs in order to be able to restore Vista (if I want to) and its factory settings at a later point of time.

What I still have to do:

1. Install XP Professional after deleting Vista. Luckily I happen to have an OEM CD which I used for my desktop system.
2. Restore bootloader (I'm sure XP erases GRUB so I cannot boot Linux immediately after installing XP).

Hope somebody finds this bit of information useful.

Of late I've been rather busy. Configuring Wine to work with 3D accelerated games requires too much time and patience, so I thought I'd have to check out some Linux-native games. Here's a small list* to check out. I haven't installed any of these yet, but in my spare time I probably will:

• Lincity-NG - the city simulator game with better graphics than the old Lincity game. Should provide some hours of fun.
• OpenCity - Another city simulation game which appears to be "true" 3D rather than an isometrically tiled 2D game.
• Flightgear - I know that Flight simulators can be tough to learn and addictive as well, but I've never played Flightgear as the download size has always scared me. It might not be as polished (graphically) as commercial and proprietary flight simulator software, but at least it won't crawl like some 3D games do on Vista.
• Simutrans - This looks very much like the old DOS game Transport Tycoon. Even if it is half as fun as that one was, it should be worth playing!
• Emilia Pinball Simulator - Discovered this in the Debian repositories. Having played Epic Pinball and Extreme Pinball in DOS, I know how addicting these type of games can be.

*Caveat: I have no idea which of these games are currently under active development just by looking at their websites.

That's all for now.

I felt that I had to express myself on this topic after I read somebody's post on an online forum which declared that any illegal action automatically had to be a crime. These types of discussions do come up a lot in online debates about software/music/movie piracy. It never fails to annoy me when novice, over-zealous 15-year old kids with loads of time, misplaced self-assurance, very little experience in the real world and a holier-than-thou attitude to boot suddenly become legal experts online. The sheer audacity of such assertions can only be the product of abject ignorance and worse, a lack of common sense. Even a layperson will realize without exercising much brain-power that many actions can be illegal without necessarily constituting a crime. Take for instance the issue of non-payment of rent by a tenant occupying a building or a house. Technically the action of occupying any premises without paying rent to the owner is illegal, but does it constitute a crime which can be punished under the criminal law? In many countries the distinction between civil law and criminal law is very clear and this kind of illegality would clearly be covered under civil law. The landlord has to sue the tenant personally to get his rightful dues. The maximum (in most cases) that the Landlord can hope for is an eviction order (and not imprisonment). The State does not prosecute the errant tenant in this case. The above case is just a simple, obvious example. There are many such instances of "illegal" actions which are not crimes. More practically, the distinction between illegality and crime can be a lot more complex.

That no man-made legal system is absolutely foolproof or crystal clear in every respect is apparent. Far from being clear many Laws actually make very little sense even to legal experts. That's why lawyers are paid so much money to interpret and argue points of law. But on the internet, where everybody has the opportunity to become an instant anonymous expert, it's so easy to make blanket statements about the Law and spread a lot of misinformation. In fact, this level of ignorance is the reason which big corporations tend to prey on small individuals/organizations. The fear of the Law is so great (and justifiably so) that individuals can easily become intimidated when threatened with lawsuits, even if the Law is on their side. Big companies can afford to hire lawyers full-time to take care of their legal troubles.

Even if ordinary people cannot fully understand the intricacies of the law or legal procedures, I believe it's always important to know the principle behind a Law. Knowledge empowers and a basic knowledge of the Law should actually be a full-time subject in schools. Educating young people about their rights and duties should be an important priority in any democratic country with a working legal system. If nothing else, it will at least protect a new generation from smart-alecs online who mouth off any nonsense about Law/legality and crime.

Not a full post, but more like a filler. I thought I'd just jot down my ideas/ingredients for effective written humour.

1. A funny idea/concept. Or any serious issue that can be twisted enough to make it funny or satirical.
2. A smart punch line. Too much rambling will ruin the humourous touch.
3. At least two different levels of humour - one working on the idea itself and the other with the language usage and delivery mechanism. This can be a bit tricky and might not always work out.
4. A picture or two for effect if necessary.

Straightforward jokes that you read in pocket-size joke books are totally different and unrelated to what I'm talking about. I admit that I'm not very good at spontaneously inventing the kind of jokes you tell at a party among friends, but I do love exploring off-beat humour and parodies.

And while I do enjoy reading regular jokes, I think a lot of them tend to be repetitive and obvious while parodic humour has much a wider scope for individual creativity. More importantly I believe any kind of humour needn't rely on any single technique or method to be effective.

Papa Hari News Service

Several months after the launch of the highly successful Papa Hari School of Politics, the Papa Hari Foundation has announced a new School of the Obvious for teaching students about how to communicate the obvious. A spokesman of the Papa Hari Foundation announced that the school would teach students who join the course after paying the admission fees.

"The school of the obvious is a unique concept and will prepare the next generation of jaded television anchors, professional politicians, second-rate celebrities in morning breakfast shows, boring sports commentators and team coaches, obscure government spokespersons, reality television show judges, BBC and CNN Iraq war reporters, PR managers, overpaid newspaper editorial writers and brand managers in low-budget advertising agencies... among others," said the spokesman reading out from the press release.

"It's obvious that such a school would be unique in the annals of history," he continued and mentioned that the Papa Hari Foundation hoped that such a concept would be successful. "We have started this school in the hope that the concept will be a huge success. Students who study at the Papa Hari School of the Obvious will be more prepared in communicating the obvious. We will hire the best teachers and try to provide the best possible education to those who study here."

Stating that the school would charge admission fees from its students, the Papa Hari spokesman claimed that the funds would go towards improving the school and paying the costs of running it. "Students who graduate from the Papa Hari School of the Obvious would get a degree - the Master of the Obvious. Isn't that obvious?" continued the spokesman chuckling at his own insipid humour.

Several press reporters were curious about the nature of the school. "The school will consist of teachers who teach and students who learn. Obviously we will provide the buildings and the infrastructure necessary for the purposes of conducting an educational course," said the spokesman by way of explanation, "The classes will be interactive and dynamic and hopefully everybody comes away enriched by the experience. We guarantee placement for each and every student who passes out of this institute with flying colours. On the other hand, we cannot make any guarantees for students who don't pass out of this institute or who just manage to scrape through the course. Everything depends on the individual's aptitude for learning. Each individual's learning capacity is different."

When approached, several critics were ruthless in criticizing the concept as useless.

"We already have enough people in the world who state the obvious. Why do we need more?" asked a retired socialite (not to be confused with socialist), "It gets boring when people keep stating the obvious. There's nothing more boring that stating something that's boring several times, isn't it? After all, life is a lot more than what is obvious, but most people are so caught up in the obvious that it becomes obvious that they have no vision or imagination. If people had a bit more imagination, they wouldn't state the obvious so many times, would they? On the other hand, I should think that they would actually try and think of something that's not so obvious. But they cannot."

Other critics dismissed the concept as an obvious attempt at pathetic humour. But a few were rather more cautious. "It's either an attempt at humour and sarcasm or it's a genuine concept, but I'm not sure whether it's successful or not either way. It depends entirely on your point of view," said a popular news show host who always refuses to commit himself to any point of view as can be seen from his statement.

When the Papa Hari Foundation was confronted with the criticism, the spokesman brushed it aside. "We know what we're about and we don't need any critics to tell us what we're about." When asked whether he accepted that this was an obvious attempt at humour and sarcasm, he replied that he didn't have any comments on the issue as it was a matter for the public to judge. "We're very clear in our goals and vision," he added. As an afterthought, he mentioned, "It's obvious that the word 'obvious' has been overused by many people. I promise you that students who pass out of this course will be so obvious about being obvious that it would no longer be necessary to use the word 'obvious' while stating the obvious."

The Papa Hari School of the Obvious will be a school which will be funded by the Papa Hari Foundation.