The Roads Less Travelled …

Some time back Microsoft allowed users to download and use IE 7 beta preview. Though Microsoft has clearly indicated that the product is still in the development phase, it still does not IMO qualify to be a beta release candidate. It might suffer from what Joel terms as the Marimba phenomenon.

The problem is not the browser itself (though it crashes and sometimes leaves zombie processes running on your machine); the fact that MS tightly couples IE with other other applications is what is causing the majority of the problem. For example, my local installation of MSDN has stopped working after IE 7 installation. I did not also, neither see nor hear about what kind of APIs are exposed for developing plugins to this browser. The reason I use Firefox now is not only tabbed browsing. Foxylicious, Performancing, Stumble are the main reasons. Unless MS allows 3rd party developers to build plugins easily it will remain as my backup browser. Lastly, I do not think the IE team has made any significant improvements in the rendering of data. IE 7 still renders entire pages at once. This remains a big problem for AJAX applications running on IE or pages with a huge content.

However, IE 7 apart from introducing tabbed browsing has rehashed the browser UI completely; and in the right direction I believe. Space is much better utilized with the less used buttons not taking up as much real estate as they used to. Coupled with the inbuilt support for RSS feeds, it is most signifcant improvement in browser UI I have seen in some time. Also IE 7 has an inbuilt anti-phishing filter and an ad-blocker; another of Firefox’s biggest strengths.

Overall the beta preview of IE 7 leaves me with a feeling that MS is still not ready to bet completely on the browser as a platform. It’s UI improvements can be easily copied into Firefox by just writing a new theme so in the long run it will not be a differentiator in the market. I have a hunch that IE 7 will lack the extensibility that Firefox provides or its ability to be a platform; but by copying the most noticed features of Firefox it is an attempt by MS to stop the rot of users switching over to Firefox.

Playacting. Diving. Rolling around as if you are going to die. Call it whatever. Its probably the ugliest facet of soccer; the current offside rule notwithstanding.

Lionel Messi, is the new name in the unholy pantheon of stars who seems to have perfected the skills so necessary in theatre and cinema. However it would be naive to blame only the 18 year old; who at this moment is probably the most talented of all the teenage sensations. It is more a failure of the soccer officialdom and mostly the backroom staff at clubs than individual players.

Jose Mourinho, the special one, immediately branded Messi as a cheat and actor in his after match comments. Of course, he had been completely blind a few weeks before when Arjen Robben - yet another brilliant player - managed to get Liverpool goalkeeper Reina sent off for nothing. Or the fact that the Porto side he trained before his current assignment had acting superstars in form of Deco and Carlos Alberto, so instrumental in getting Manchester United out of CL 2 years ago.

I will not judge whether the challenge on Messi was justification enough for a red. What is more important is this developing culture of coaches and players to blame it on the refs when it is they who are responsible for this situation. Messi is a young and reasonably light-weight soccer player. He had been challenged rashly a few times before by Del Horno and this time the defender did not even attempt to play the ball instead prefering to body check him. Even on television the challenge looked bad and warranting a red when it happened. However we had the comfort of later watching Messi looking up and rolling away but for the ref that luxury was non-existent.

And whatever be the ethical side of Messi’s actions, it is very clear what the sporting side was. Barcelona go into their home leg with 2-1 lead. A great plus in their efforts to move into the next stage of CL this year. With qualification to the next stage not a matter of prestige only but also finances, Messi’s actions can hardly be condoned by personnel at Barcelona FC. However it is them and their ilk who have to stop defending the playactors in public to have any chance to stamp out this growing trend in soccer.

Lets start with the most mouth watering one; Chelsea vs Barcelona. Barca are without their influential playmaker/pivot Xavi and Iniesta or Van Bommel will find it difficult to fill his boots. Though oft underrated, Xavi’s influence on this Barca team is very close to that of Lampard on the Chelsea team. Also defensively they will have a few problems with the pace and trickery of Robben and Cole. Though a team with Leo Messi, Eto and Ronaldinho can be reasonably expected to outscore their opponents, Barca might find the Chelsea defense a bit too tight for their comfort. Verdict: 1 - 0 for Chelsea

Both teams are in trouble this year. Though one appears to be sinking deeper with every passing match, the other seems to be rising like a phoenix from the ashes. Real Madrid’s form of late has been spectacular taking them to the second position in the Primera Liga. The pieces (Robinho, Cicinho, Ramos and even Woodgate) seem to be finally coming together and on their day the Zidanes and the Ronaldos can tear apart any team single handedly. Arsenal on the other hand still have not emerged from the shadow Patrick Viera’s departure. That huge gap in the midfield is expected to be filled by Fabregas but it might be too much ask an 18 year old to contain a Real midfield consisting of Zidane, Beckham and Guti. Add to it the fact that of the back four only Toure will be a first choice and one cannot see Arsenal getting from this tie. Verdict: 2-0 for Real Madrid

Talking of heavyweights, clubs don’t come in sizes any bigger than these two; Bayern Munich and AC Milan. Traditionally their strongest point, Milan’s defense has been often the cause of their woe this season. Age coupled with injuries has implied that they now rely on the most un-Italian footballing principle - outscore your opponents. And with Shevchenko, Kaka, Gilardino and Inzaghi they can be condoned for thinking so. Bayern however have looked the most solid of all teams in the competition this year. They bear the look of a well engineered Mercedes (no pun intended). However recent performances have shown their frailities in terms of their dependence on Ballack and Kahn. So if they remain or are made to remain quiet the tie will favour the Italians. Verdict: 0 - 0

Since this is first leg I would expect most of the matches to be low scoring, with the home side anxious not to concede an away goal and the guests happy to go with a single point and leaving all to play for in the second leg in their own backyards.

There are a couple of other interesting matches apart from the ones I have listed but they have well identified favourites and underdogs. The teams most likely to cause an upset are PSV, Villareal and Benfica in my opinion but thats just my choices.  On their day each team is a possible winner; and this is what makes CL so interesting year after year.

I wanted all things
To seem to make sense,
So we all could be happy, yes,
Instead of tense.
And I made up lies
So that they all fit nice,
And I made this sad world
A par-a-dise.

Bokonon on the roots of Bokononism

All I can say after reading this book is that I have probably found my religion - Bokononism. I do not like the Boko-maru part wherein you rub the soles of your feet with another person to get some kind of soul linking; but the basic tenets as espoused in the above calypso appeal to me. And the best part of the deal is that the Books of Bokonon start by declaring that everything inside them are just lies. Too bad it is just a fictitious creation of Vonnegut.

And it would do the world a great of good - letting people know how warped their realities are. And with kind of power some individuals today weild at their fingertips this generates enough panic in me to migrate to Mars at the earliest possible opportunity.

Cat’s Cradle is the tale of a Nobel prize winning scientist, Felix Hoenikker (the father of the atom bomb), creating a substance (ice nine) that can solidify water at room temperature. He was just solving a problem which would have made the life of marines easier because they would not have to wallow in the mud. On his death his children divide this invention amongst themselves. They use it to achieve their own personal goals. And finally due to this substance a whole lot of people in the island of San Lorenzo perish. Who is to blame? The inventor? The propagators? None of them had any intent whatsoever of harming anyone of those who perished. Cat’s cradle at once is a biting critique of the twin problems of nuclear proliferation and religious zealotry - that the world today is grappling with as unsuccessfully as it did when this book was
written.

Vonnegut is a master of writing disjoint stories. His ability to bring together randomly thrown events, without any clear notion of causality into complete agreement as a plot is what distinguishes his writings from other dystopian efforts. Also he very cleverly uses the imaginative substance ice nine and the religion Bokononism to pull the reader into a believable world - into a world which is so much like our own and yet destined to be destroyed. This makes the book a very entertaining and light read - never taking the obvious philosophical, ethical and moral issues at stake too seriously.

This book would rate alongside Breakfast of Champions and Slaugterhouse Five as the best of Vonnegut in my list. His talent in satirizing the common and the blase and the taken-for-granted facets of our existence gives us a way of viewing life that is at once both humourous and profound. A must-read IMO for any avid reader.