Kamen … said every entrepreneurial innovator he’s ever seen shares a few characteristics.

“It’s not that they’re brilliant or well-educated,” Kamen said. “They work all the time. They don’t let failure demoralize or destroy them. They pick themselves up and keep going and eventually, every once in a while, one of your ideas actually breaks through and works, and it makes all that stuff seem worthwhile.”

In other words, Mr. Kamen agrees with Ammi :)

Dekhiye paate hain usshaq buton se kya faiz,
Ek brahman ne kaha hai keh yeh saal accha hai.

Hum ko maaloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat laikin,
Dil kay khush rakhnay ko Ghalib yeh khayal accha hai.

And here’s the wonderful Jagjit Singh version from the Mirza Ghalib soundtrack. His voice is superlative: mellifluous like no other and with an emotional depth that draws the listener in. Absolutely delightful.

The second misra is confusing to me; the literal translation is ‘what benefit is to be gained from gazing upon a loved one’, but there’s an undertone there that I don’t understand, since ‘buton’ (statues) suggests coldness or aloofness. Or maybe Ghalib is just pointing to the impotence of the situation, since that’s the general direction of the third misra too.

It’s interesting that each shair stands very well on its own, almost inviting other interpretations.

• WhyNot.net: I was Googling to see if anyone else was curious about using active noise-cancelling techniques for turning down the volume (in some sense) on babies. There are serious technical challenges (such as that current noise-cancelling devices target a point sink), but it’s a cool idea and even if you could get a 50% effective system, it would be immensely useful. And profitable. Anyway, Google turned this up. It’s a bit disappointing that this is another idea that someone’s already thought of, but on the other hand it’s cool to be able to read the comments and see useful extensions (eg, this would be a godsend for snorers’ spouses). The website’s like a catalogue of people’s if-onlys and what-ifs — a goldmine for potential entrepreneurs.

• BookMooch: This one has me seriously excited. I have a bunch of books that I have to lug every time I change flats. I really like most of them but haven’t really picked them up since I first read them. BookMooch is a community of people just like that who are happy to exchange books with each other. Last night, for instance, I got online and listed the 20 or so books I’m willing to give away, and requested a math book that someone in Illinois has. This morning, my inbox had an ‘accepted’ message from the Illinois dude and 4 requests for my books (one from New Zealand!). You might argue sending the book to NZ will pretty much offset whatever money I saved by getting the math book for free, but there’s a larger point here: this is far more efficient than stockpiling books that one never reads. And in return, I get access to a pool of books that might not be available in local bookstores, or even be out of print. Of course, countries like Pakistan have a very active second-hand book market where one can often exchange books with minimal friction/costs so this might prove less useful, but here in the UK, the second-hand book scene is much more limited. There’s an analogy to zakat (and more specifically, keeping money circulating in the economy) taking shape in my head that I think is appropriate; also, it appeases my burgeoning sense of eco- and anti-consumerist responsibility.

• The final Wow will be shared between coLinux and andLinux. coLinux compiled the Linux kernel to run on Windows, where it’s hosted as a guest operating system with virtualised access to your hardware. It’s a really cool idea and its performance is pretty impressive. I haven’t run anything really heavy (ie, OpenOffice), but the things I have run (Perl, Octave, Vim) run superbly well on my Centrino 1.6/1.25GB. The caveat in that last sentence isn’t even that much of a problem for me, since I already have MS Office and am not interested in OO. andLinux built on the coLinux base to provide an easily installable package (2 packages actually: KDE (!) and XFCE). Installation was light and problem-free, and now I can install any additional packages I want with Synaptic. Unlike VMWare, I don’t start the VM manually, and while idle the resource consumption is completely unnoticeable. I have a nice auto-hiding XFCE bar from which I can bring up a terminal or launch the file explorer and that’s that. Linux the way I always wanted it: on my terms, and as I need it.

BTW, my laptop is falling apart. Seriously: it’s cracked in two places, scratched all over, the palmrests are a little worn down, and now the USB and power ports are starting to get loose. It’s lasted 4 years without a single hitch though, which I think is serious testament to how solid Fujitsu machines are.

(Obligatory disclaimer: I don’t trust Aitzaz Ahsan for a minute.)

Slate’s awesome Today’s Pictures recently did a gallery of Dali pictures. Dali Atomicus, above, is my favourite of the ones in the gallery — absolutely striking. This is the sort of art I can appreciate: no blather about the artist’s background or influences, just switch off your brain and look.

Everyone visiting London should plan to spend an hour or so at the Dali Universe. It’s on the South Bank just across from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (and just along the bank from the Eye), so it’s right where it needs to be for tourists to take advantage. Some of his work is just stunning; my favourite is the sculpture of Alice in Wonderland. (I’m not attaching a picture because the ones online do absolutely no justice to the actual thing.)

One more reason to visit Spain. Or St. Petersburg, Florida, I guess :)