• What I'm Doing...

    With family and friends after a long time.
    13 hrs ago

    Love Chrome, but it still needs some ironing
    2 days ago

    scavenging the flea market for stuff for my home
    2 days ago

    More updates...

  • Project Gutenberg - Bibliophiles, Rejoice!

    June 9, 2008 – 9:42 am

    If you are a bibliophile, you’ve probably read some classics along the way, and wished you’d read more. Growing up, I used to look forward to the vacations as that would mean going to the library or the neighborhood flea shop and hunt for books that looked “old“. Why old? There was a certain magic in the writings and the authors wrote because they were very good at it, not because they wanted to appear in the New York bestseller’s list.

    That was then. I haven’t been scavenging for such books since I was 17, blame it on lack of time, or maybe I just grew out of it.

    And then, I came across Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org. Here is what it’s wiki says

    Project Gutenberg …is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works…Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books. The project tries to make these as free as possible, in long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost any computer.

    It means some of the best classical works of literature are now available for download for free! Yes, in an era where this is a price to everything, these valuable tomes of knowledge and fantasies are FREE!

    So what did I find? Here is a sample list.

    The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes
    Around the World in 80 days - Jules Vernes
    Dracula - Bram Stoker
    Kim - Rudyard Kipling
    Moonstone - Wilkie Collins
    The Works of Edgar Allan Poe
    Count of Monte Cristo - Alexander Dumas

    …I could just go on and on. One is spoiled for choice! Here is the URL again www.gutenberg.org, and happy reading and reminescing :)

    PS: Johannes Gutenberg is credited with having invented printing using movable type in 1450 AD.

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    The Ancient Indian History Series - An Introduction

    March 3, 2008 – 2:16 pm

    We are aware of India’s rich past and heritage, but do we know anything beyond that. The legacy of India is rich, deep, varied and spans roughly 10,000 years!.

    The span of ancient India refers to the following periods…
    3400 - 180 BC which covers the Indus Valley Civilization, the Vedic Period, Mahajanapadas, Magadha Empire, Gandhara, Maurya Empire, the Pandyans, Cholas, Cheras.

    250 BC - 500 AD which includes the middle kingdoms of Gupta Empire, Kadamba Dynasty, Pallavas.

    Of these time periods, I shall start with the Mahajanapadas, then to the Magadha Empire and so on.
    I shall attempt to unravel this time period in a concise and interesting manner through the Ancient Indian History Series.

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