A sunset on sundays

Lotus Temple, Delhi, India

Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 has been released!

Great news! We are now one step closer to version 3 of Firefox. See the release notes at the official Mozilla web site.

I've been using the new Firefox since its beta 4. The Mozilla Blog has been talking about it for a while now but it is never too much to highlight the completely renewed and integrated address bar and bookmarking system plus the more efficient memory management. All great!

If you already use Firefox 2, I sincerely recommend you to try the new version. It is definitely stable enough for any user and you can use the Nightly Tester Tools to run most of the add-ons that are incompatible just because the interface to identify the add-on compatibility changed.

One night of chaos in India

It all started when I left the shopping mall. The large and yet packed-with-cars avenue was duping the incautious dwellers with its traffic lights and the impractical number of headlamps. The glare was blinding them and everything seemed normal; whatever normal means in India. But I noticed the difference. Half the city was already under complete darkness and a thunderstorm was approaching.

My watch was marking 10pm sharp. The mall was closing and its staff was going home. For them, nothing else mattered, so selfishly minding their own business. But I noticed a flare. It came from the building across the avenue and it looked like it was exploding. And indeed its transformer had just blown and with it all the nearby electrical network, leaving a path of sparks over the wires like scary fireworks. I glimpsed at leaving the place but nowhere would be safe if the whole city was collapsing.

I took a rickshaw. This little devil, covered with some synthetic fabric, completely opened at the sides, was to me the fastest means to get out, zigzagging through cars in a cacophony of horns and moos and barks and shouts, in roads full of bumps and puddles. It was cold and the open sides meant no windows to close and a freezing wind surrounding my body. It was the heavy storm now all over, striking glances of light to the blackout. The lightning could be seen from a distance; 1, 2, 3 and there it was the thunder adding one more percussion to the cacophony.

With all the water everywhere, I should have expected what was coming next. A truck ran over and obviously hit one big puddle and splashed all of us. Remember, no side windows in the rickshaw. And after strings of curses from the driver, another truck came and, probably on purpose and on behalf of the previous truck, splashed us again. At least I think they were having fun.

When we finally reached destination, I was cold, wet, and in the dark when I realized I had to money to pay for the ride; Just a credit card. I didn’t speak Hindi or Kannada, he didn’t speak English. I tried to say sorry. But he probably cursed me as he did with the truck driver. The security guard of my building ended up paying him; what else could I do? Well, I did what I could to finish that day as soon as possible: took a shower and went to bed, hoping for a new day to come with better moods…

Note: This is a work of fiction. Although some true events inspired it, the intensity of the story is beyond possibly any reality. Even in India.

Damn you Rubik’s cube

After 4 hours, I managed to finish Rubik’s cube for the first time ever (I’m so happy!). In my childhood I never had one but I remember playing with it for a while in my cousin’s place once. A couple of weeks ago, a friend’s play triggered my curiosity again and I decided to buy it.

For me, after reading some general instructions, it was not hard at all to cover the first two layers and reach a state that seems almost done. Almost. The damn thing was laughing at my face after several failed attempts from that point on. “You are a fool!” – The cube kept telling me.

So I succumbed to step-by-step instructions. “Solving Rubik's Cube for speed” by Lars Petrus was the most comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide I found. But that doesn’t mean that the last layer is as straightforward as the other two. It’s not. There are several different moves and combinations that you must memorize. Lars names them after people (Bruno, Sune, Allan, etc.) and I guess it’s his friends and family - Though it seems like he is casting a whole generation of his family. Even if you get the logic as I did, it is almost impossible to see it 10 to 14 steps ahead of time, so only logic won’t help you.

Now, I think I can finish it in 30 minutes. I will keep practicing for a while in my free time to see how fast I can get. My target is a 3-year old kid that can solve it in less than 3 minutes. And lets ignore a 6-year old who solves it in 37 seconds...

You have to burn the rope!

This game is so hard...

[Hat tip to Osias for the link]