The most hated phrases of 2011

That's right.. I have a "Top 10" too (Only, its a top 7). Why should news channels and Time magazine have all the fun? I mean what's the difference between them and me anyway? We are meaningless, give a hoot about research and invariably come up with inane arguments. So Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the list of phrases which irked me the most... the phrases which made RA.ONE posters tolerable.. the phrases which made Donald Trump seem bearable .. the phrases Which made me pull my hair off (and hence left me with a balding head). Are you READY?

1. superlike: Following it's predecessors kewl (2010) , LOL(2009) and anywayz/anywho (2000-2008), superlike is used by Facebook peeps. I mean, that Mark dude gave us a "Like" button.. but what if you really really like something? Can we like it twice? No! Clearly he did not think this through. No worries folks, our enterprising Facebookers (BTW, this phrase missed the list by a whisker) have come up with superlike and it's cousin doublelike . You see how smooth this is?! Remember, you don't really love her cat's picture if you "like" it... you need to "superlike" it. Do we have a petition for adding a superlike button to Facebook? No? Good!
2. R.I.P: Alright people. Listen to me and listen good. People are born, they live and then they die.This WILL happen. It's kinda sad when people you like die and even extremely painful when someone you know personally dies. But when Facebook and Twitter are the first things you see every morning, news about a list of dead folks I don't know (or know only as public figures) is not pleasant man! I mean.. I know it looks like you are showing compassion and all, but your "social life" needs to be more than R.I.P <random dead celebrity>" and "Happy Birthday <random Facebook friend> "
3. Hundredth 100: This phrase has seen the entire life cycle. From expectation to anticipation to anxiety to exasperation to anguish. Now every one of Sachin's innings has become like my Job Hunt from the Spring of 2010 ( Apply apply.. no reply). I wish this is not on the "The most hated phrases of 2012" list. Of course, as we all know, granting the wish is in "God"'s hands.
4. Job Creator: This may have something to do with the fact that my primary source of American political news is The Daily Show. I am from the land where there are a LOT of absurdities (Look at the next phrase), but a whole political party replacing the word "rich" with "job creator" is messed up. How many Daily Show clips do you need to watch before you give up? Give me a number and I will post the links!
5. Jan Lokpal: Or as I call it, "Don't look pal". Does not rhyme? No fucking problem! No phrase has messed my head as this one has. Some really smart man came up with the idea that what feeds hungry people is a policemen! But hey, the systems are old and reforms are necessary, right? How can systems built for the 20th century pre-capitalism era work in the modern society? How does CBI's autonomy affect the "common man" corruption you talk about? Is punishment the solution for systemic diseases? Answer: "Screw you.. you are JAILED".
6. Open Letter: On multiple occasions I have thought about writing "An open letter to all open letter writers". I really should write one! I mean, there have been "open letters" written to everyone from Gaddafi's supporters to Delhi Boy to Madrasi Girl. Somehow, you can seem a whole lot of smarter if you put your opinion in an Open Letter . Maybe this post should be an "Open letter to the almost dead English language"
7. Hope: No word took a beating the way this word did! It's taken such a beating, that no one dares to use it anymore. Not in Eurozone, Not in Egypt, Not the Republicans and certainly not Obama. It's not the over use of this word but the lack of it that irked me. Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies - The Shawshank Redemption
   
   
   
   
   

In hindsight, this was the year India won the world cup.. So I really need to stop complaining. Here's to an even better 2012!

+1 to G+

Here's my observations on G+ after using it for a little over a week.

What I like (In no particular order)

• G+ can potentially replace Gmail, Twitter and FB for all my non-professional communication. I rather share a post with my friends about a possible holiday next weekend, than send them an email with an URL. If it's an opinion about the latest movie I watched, open the post up to public and voila! it's your Tweet. How does it replace FB? Read on..
• This deserves a different bullet! Contrary to popular opinion, I am glad G+ looks similar to FB. This ensures that there is not a whole lot of relearning. I can upload pictures, share videos in almost the same way as I can in FB, and mind you FB does this really well. So why reinvent the wheel?! Well done Google, imitation is also an art (FB should be flattered).
• I absolutely love the fact that a lot of thought has gone into the way the pictures are displayed (I have some dis-pleasures as well, but that's in the next section). You can see a picture and the comments without scrolling (unless you have a zillion comments), the nifty little UI (seemingly flicked from Bing Image Search) where you can see all pictures uploaded by your circle and the crown jewel.. the fact that you can see photo information from the actions menu (Aperture, Shutter Speed et al.). A brilliant feature for a photo enthusiast.
• The gloss is taken out of the limelight and buried into the corner. Relationship statuses and Poking do not take center stage and inane games and quizzes are not here yet (although, I may soon be disappointed). If you rate my comic skills in a quiz.. you are probably going to be in my "Annoying" Circle :P
• Sparks! What a brilliant concept! Half baked features for now, but I am willing to patient on this one. Six months later I see myself using this every morning. Fingers crossed!
• G+ Huddle on Android. I see this replacing my ultra-useful but somewhat limited WhatsApp. This will probably be the only such messenger where I can potentially SMS non-phone device (such as an iPod Touch). I can't wait for the App to be available on other platforms (I think Apple is sweating bullets on this one as this is a huge blow to their proposed iOS messenger)
• Now to Circles.. A bit of love hate here, but overall I like the fact that it's a lot more intuitive to segregate people. I also enjoy the twitter-like setup where I decide to see your "public" posts in my stream without your approval.

Things I Dislike

• While I can replace Twitter, Gmail and FB.. I can't replace Blogger and that pains me. Why can't they have HTML Formatting on posts?! Instead of posting this link on G+, I would love to write this on G+ and share it with the world. Shouldn't be too hard.. no?
• I might be a little too demanding here.. but I rue the fact that privacy settings can't be changed on individual pictures. There are different parts of my trip to the beach that I want my friends co-workers to see. Why can't I do that?! (I am reasonably sure this feature does not exist, but I am keen on being corrected :) )
• As much as I like Circles.. it is quite complicated for someone who logs in every now and then and does not analyze the tool. Add to that, the fact that you need to add every one of your contacts to "some" circle can be frustrating for someone who is not excited as I am about G+. This maybe FB hangover, but there should be a more intuitive way of knowing what friend A posted to friend B. To clarify, if I want to compliment a friend on her looks at the party last night and I don't mind my college buddies (who are also her friends) knowing about it.. I need to write a post tagging that lovely lady and share with her and my college buddies.. kinda counter-intuitive don't you think? Right now, FB and Twitter does this brilliantly without messing privacy.
• I am sorta disappointed that Google did not go on overdrive and mention there interpretation of "Public". So I write a post about dinner at an Italian Deli and since it's not a "private" post, I open it up to the world. Some random person can now find my post from Google search and comment on it?! This takes getting used to and Google should have clarified!

Wishlist!

• First of all, I want all my "Dislikes" to be worked on :P
• Sparks needs to be better! I want to decide which of my Sparks topics are shown first (right now, the one's added latest are first on the list) and I want Google to import my Google News topics.
• As developers get involved in making Apps, I really hope Google does a better job than FB at keeping out Spam and Malware.
• Unlimited photos in Picasa is cool, but what we really need is High Resolution support, Slideshow Capabilities and Picnik integration. Won't you love it if G+ could replace Fickr too?! (Even if we need pay some bucks to make it happen)
• Already available nifty features such as notification alert on Tab/Window Title (like what Gmail does when there is an email or FB on notifications), Group/Company profiles etc.
  

Note that, I am not a huge fan of Video Chat and I am not a over concerned about privacy either (Nothing can be "truly private" on the internet). Hence those aspects have not been reviewed.

Overall, I am absolutely loving the G+ experience and I hope the FB friends I like port over. Some Twitter celebrities moving here would help too.

Bottom Line? +1 to G+!

Things that come to mind about the "Anti-Corruption" Campaign

Understandably, the piece of news that has consumed me completely since the Cricket World Cup has been the Anti-Corruption movement. Here are some thoughts that come to my mind (in no particular order).

1. At the time of writing this article, 10,36,582 across India people have joined the anti-corruption movement. H.D. Devegowda won the 2009 Elections by a Margin of 2.9L votes from a single constituency(Hassan, Karnataka). The Largest Margin the the 2009 elections was by Anil Basu of CPM by 5.9L votes (Arambagh, West Bengal). Remember these are "margins", not the total number of votes.
2. The average age of "civil society" representatives for the Lok Pal bill drafting committee is 65.2 Years (71,86,55,71,43). So much for being the "movement of youth"
3. How on earth is the Lok Ayukta of Karnataka (Santosh Hegde) part of "Civil Society"?!
4. Everyone who believes "Civil Society" should be a part of law making should realize that Rahul Mahajan is part of the same civil society that Kiran Bedi is.
5. The city contacts page on the IAC website is worth visiting. There's Belgaum and there's Belgaum (Karantaka). Interesting!
6. We suddenly have a Billion Navjot Sidhu's. Rajdeep Sardesai called Jantar Mantar the "Tahrir Square of India". Pritish Nandy said "If the people unite behind Anna Hazare as they united behind MS Dhoni, the war against corruption will be won". Not to mention half of my FB friends feel "History has been made"
7. For the first time in four years, IPL news has taken a back seat in Times of India, NDTV and ibnlive to something more meaningful. Never mind the constantly increasing font size on NDTV's Home page (It's time they hire an engineer who has at-least heard of the term CSS)
8. "candle light vigils" and "protest rally's" have gone beyond the biggest cities of India. When was the last time we saw "citizen activism" in Agra and Ghorakpur? Bravo!
9. There is hope!

Lastly, I hope everyone who's shouted a slogan, lit a candle or attended a rally in the last fortnight goes out and votes in an election next time they have a chance! While politician bashing is fancy and feels patriotic, the only one's who can really weed out corruption are politicians. Everyone else can at most become Suhel Set; Loud, Annoying and MIA when he has a chance to join the movement. While it is tempting to declare victory, we need to remember (As Anna Hazare says) the battle has only begun.