Mario’s World

All you techies out there, watch this and think about it!

And for all you fools who take open source lightly, think again.

Bayt now has this great new interactive dashboard. It’s got all kinds of new career tools that help you look at your career a completely different way. I love this “who’s looking for you” chart. Makes you wonder if you should start looking at other industries or countries.

There is also this great new keyword tag cloud widget. It basically shows you how the people who look at your resume found it. So if I see the tag “crazy foo” in big and bold, then I should probably remove Mr. T as a reference on my CV.

I also like the interactive skill demand and supply reports. Tried it out and looks like there is high demand and very little supply for some skills. This could be a great place to start for freshers instead of just following randomly in someone’s footsteps.

Overall, a great improvement but it looks like the data might be too much to handle right now. The site went down for quite some time yesterday. I’m assuming its the new features. Time to optimize those queries …or just get better servers!

On our last vacation in India we managed to visit the beaches at Goa as well as Chennai. There was a huge difference in the lifeguad / beach patrol services at both places.

In Goa they patrol the beaches in jeeps equipped with surf boards and other life saving necessities. The lifeguards themselves wear sea-worthy wet uniforms. They do seem more prepared for an emergency. Of course non of that is of any help if the guy has fallen asleep under one of the palm trees at Anjuna or Vagator.

In Chennai, I like the idea of moving around on these smaller ATVs. Comes in very handy during the very crowded weekends. However, these guys are not really dressed for the job and will need to call for help in case of an emergency.

What do you think is the best option for these beach patrols?

I woke up pretty early today morning and when I glanced out the window, in my half-sleepy mood, I got a shock looking at my neighbors balcony. You would too if you saw 5 giants staring back at you.

Seems it is just the picture on the curtain they hung up. It’s a nice idea and I can just imagine the fright some people might get if they look up there at night. Ghosts of Salmiya? Wonder what it would look like after a decent sand storm.

Came across this pic on All Things D.

Just 2 days ago when I decided to try out Google+ I got the message that it was under testing with limited invites. And then in about 20 mins I got an invite and went ahead to invite most of my contacts and today it looks like all the techie people I know are already on Google+ adding me to their circles, uploading their albums and what have you. So much for a shortage of invites.

Ro and I stepped into this hotel for dinner and since it was Wedding Season in Sri Lanka, the hallway at one point was blocked for the wedding procession. And the procession was led by “Ves” dancers.

Seems its a tradition at most weddings to hire “Ves” dancers. These guys are amazing. They wear about 50 kgs (i’ve been told) of costume which is mostly metal. And they dance real fast in a very tribal fashion and include a lot of acrobatic moves in their routine. It’s very cool to watch and very entertaining for those watching.

I came across this very interesting “Insights for Audience” section on YouTube.

Basically it’s an interactive dashboard where you can query on gender, age, location and interests and then interactively drill down and play with the data. Very cool indeed. I guess its always good to know what other people like you are looking for on the net.

Too bad they don’t have any Middle East countries to query on. Or maybe they don’t have a good audience here since YouTube is banned in most offices …just like mine.

Came across this article through Bayt & Creativity Online.

This could be the best ever invention of all time. Design your own chocolate and then print it. No more struggling with cones and other baking paraphernalia. I love the concept of 3d printers and using chocolate is just genius.

What is happening in Goa? In most villages along the main roads you can see these “do not dump your garbage here” signs and people seem to dump their garbage only in those places.

I found this video on YouTube. Reminds me of the Jetsons. This is travel in 2121. I think most of this is possible in the next 5-10 years. Well almost at least, I doubt the bit with the Martians will happen anytime soon.