S Anand

Guardian’s favourite blogs. Satish’s Random Thoughts is on it.

Why is a CD 74 minutes long? Answer: Beethoven. Sony and Philips worked under the following constraints: The bits to be etched the CD had to be 0.83 microns long and 1.6 microns apart. Hence about 750,000 bits fit in 1 sq. mm CD uses 16-bit audio with 2 (stereo) channels. Sound is sampled at at 44.1 KHz for historical reasons. So 1 sq mm translates to about 750,000 bits / 44,100 Hz / 32 = 0.53 seconds of music. Philips came up with a 11.5cm CD that could store about 65 minutes of music. Sony made that 12 cm because 11.5cm can store around 65 minutes of music, while a CD that’s 12cm can store about 74 minutes. One of the supposed reasons is that a slow rendering of Beethoven’s 9th symphony (a popular piece in Japan) would take 74 minutes. ...

Yet another “googlebomb” on the name David Gallagher.

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser. A graphical representation of your site’s Internet neighbourhood.

Weblog tools and more weblog tools.

I was planning to go to Matheran, and found some good reviews at MouthShut.

The billionth computer.

Just read Forsyth’s The Veteran. Excellent.

The 4'33" is a work by John Cage, comprising of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of absolute silence. (A tribute to absolute zero: 273 seconds of silence). Is there a copyright issue here?

Microsoft ended up distributing the Nimda virus. Gee! (Update: They may well do it through Media Player.)

Accounting scandals: Enron, Worldcom, Xerox, Tyco, Elan, … there’s more. (4 July update: Vivendi)

The ABC’s of good restaurant manners. Comments ROSH 25 Aug 2008 11:01 pm: We had a debate at the office canteen, and i happened to mention that it was not right to ask the steward tomato sauce while having your meal…..as this may be an insult to the Chef……my question is “how right am i”…can u kindly explain in detail…..thanks mate

My weblog’s second birthday passed unnoticed. On 19th June, it turned two. (My website itself is nearing its 6th birthday.)

Wired tells you how to disappear. Online and offline.

James Bond artwork. I was fairly impressed by the crisp images.

If Microsoft released Linux… but then, they may not need to.

While on the subject of spoofs, gatt.org is a pretty good one on wto.org. WTO doesn’t like it, though. Links: 1 2

Spoof on Monday (PwC) at introducingmonday.co.uk.

An article in Time about Vajpayee’s failing health has provoked some controversial responses.

Fame has its ironical twists. I was searching in google for someone who could deliver movie tickets on the phone at Bandra. The irony is that my site landed up on top. P.S: The title is sarcastic. I DO NOT deliver tickets. I’m a consultant, not a ticket distributor. So please don’t try to book your tickets in the comments section below!