Movie: Kung Fu Hustle

It has been a long time since I wrote anything here. I guess I have realized that it takes effort to write something here regularly. That too when you do it just for the heck of it.

Recently I had seen the movie, “Kung Fu Hustle” and I liked it. If you haven’t seen the movie go ahead and have a look. It has got some good special effects and good action scenes too. I liked the first half of the movie better than the second half because I liked the three kung fu masters.

This movie has got a rating of about 7.8 out of 10 at Internet Movie Database. So I am not alone in liking this movie.

The best action I liked in this movie is the first fight, by which the three kung fu masters are introduced. Ofcourse you might like a different portion of the movie. Enough said.

Retort to “Linux: A European Threat To Our Computers”

I came across this article. I am responding to only two paragraphs, which I found to be most offending and misleading.

“Like most things that are worth owning, Computers are an American invention. Look at any modern computer and you will see that the whole thing is the product of American brilliance.”

Computers are not an American invention. America cannot take complete credit for computers. There are so many people, who are not Americans, but have contributed significantly for what has now become digital computers. For example, Charles Babbage is British. Americans have definitely contributed, but they are not the sole owners of computer technology. It has come from many other places.

Not everything that is worth owning is from America. Bicycle is an European invention. The internal combustion engine (which is the technology behind motor vehicles) is not from America. Go and check that history for yourself.

“If you see a company using Linux, it may be that they have not paid for this software. Report them to the Business Software Alliance who have the legal authority to inspect any company’s computers for illegal programs like Linux.”

GNU/Linux operating system is used by so many American companies, I don’t know where to start. Infact, GNU/Linux operating system is used all over the world. It is used here in India too. It is used in my home and my office too. It is used by my friends at their homes too. There is nothing illegal about it. I own my computer and I can run any software I want on it. Business Software Alliance or any other such organisation have no legal authority in US or anywhere else.

The original article is full of misleading information.

Transferability of Copyright

I have been perusing the Indian Copyright Office website at

http://www.copyright.gov.in

In that website copyright is talked about as some sort of author’s special rights. If that is the real purpose of the copyright act, then why does it allow the transfer of copyright from one person (or organisation) to another?

Does it make sense to ask for an amendment to make the copyright non-transferable? IANAL, hence this question. Any thoughts on this?
Some of the +ve effects of such clause would be,

• The authors would always be in control. The publishers can license the work from the authors. As far as I can see, in the current copyright system, only the publishers own most of the copyright and not the authors. This non-transferable copyright will set the copyright system in the correct course.
• If the author dies, the copyrighted work gets to public domain. Or inherited by his/her family. This will avoid copyrights for extending for a ridiculously long period of time (when it is not inherited.)
• No author can be forced or pressurized to transfer copyright. For example, if you want us to publish your paper you have to transfer the copyright to us. (http://cr.yp.to/writing/ieee.html).

All your comments are welcome. Thank you.

Obtaining A Copy Of Constitution Of India

The Constitution Of India is a written document, that establishes the principles based on which India is to be governed. I have read the preamble of our constitution and it sets certain lofty ideals for all of us to follow. This got me interested and I wanted to read the whole document. Towards this end I was looking to obtain a copy of Constitution of India in a book form.

I visited the Government of India official website for the constitution to check how to obtain a copy. My first observation was that we will not be able to download a copy of the constitution as a single document. If you want to have a complete local copy, you will have to download many small HTML pages. This is very inconvenient.

Another fact is that only HTML formats are available. Check this against the number of formats in which you can obtain the GNU Emacs Manual. Why cannot we have the Constitution of India available in various formats?

And the CD containing the Constitution of India costs a little more than INR 500/-. Check this information here

CD-ROM on Constitution of India

A CD on Constitution of India has been released on 21st December,1999 by Hon’ble Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs. This CD is available at a nominal charge of Rs. 515.00 and can be ordered from NIC Services Inc. The details can be had from : The Executive Director, NICSI, First Floor, A-Block, CGO Complex, New Delhi – 110 003. E-Mail : nicsi@hub.nic.in

Why would a digital copy of our constitution cost so much? If they charge that much for a hard copy (book form) of the Indian Constitution I can understand? But why is the soft copy so costly?

Finally, there is no mention of a printed edition of Constitution of India. Is it out of print? Infact, this is one more reason why a single downloadable copy of our constitution, that is printer friendly, must be available for all of us.

I am mailing this small piece to Legal Informatics Division, who maintains the above official site. Let me see what they have to say. If you are interested enough, then you can also mail them at the above address.

Rainbow Season Begins

Me too.

When I first thought about blogging, the question that I had to answer
myself was “Why would I do that?”. Its a question that delayed me for
more than 4 to 5 months. I know that most of the people on this
planet don’t give a dime as to what I have got to write here. And the
remaining few people might not like what I write or the way I write.
So why bother to write at all?

I like to write. I always did. It pleases me to see my thoughts and
ideas put into a cohesive prose that is good to read. Other than that
single reason, the pleasure of writing, I am not expecting anything
else. So I’ll keep writing something all the time. I have no clear
or specific goals for this blog.

Ofcourse, what fun is it to write without anyone else to read? Will I
be writing if I know for sure that no one will be reading it? But
then I do expect that someone will read what I write. And I will
write on topics which interests the kind of people I would like to
read my blog. More simply, I will write for myself first and then for
others too.

And what about this name? Missing Rainbow. Why would I want to call
it that? There is a reason for it. I did spend considerable amount
of time thinking about it. And I’ll write about it in my next post.

And all your comments on my language and grammar are greatly
appreciated.