Friday, April 26, 2013

A wonderful message in place of a legal notice!

In a world of copyrights, patents, obfuscation, anti trust laws, competitive suits, reverse engineering, etc., I came across this wonderful message in the header of an open source code file.

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** The author disclaims copyright to this source code.  In place of
** a legal notice, here is a blessing:
**
**    May you do good and not evil.
**    May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
**    May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
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What a wonderful message! Writing code for the sake of sharing with the world rather than for making a living has elevated the coding as an expression of love!!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

A visitor to the neighborhood

A coyote checking out the neighborhood!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Last day of a long relationship

My first car...what an exciting moment that was in life! Soon after I moved to U.S. I bought this car. My kids call it the "Green car" as opposed to the "big car" the other vehicle, a minivan that my wife drives. Green car has come with me as a reliable friend all through the past fifteen years. It is older than my two children and we were a happy couple even before I met my wife. It took me all around the east coast of US. Together we created a lot of memories claiming up the slippery stretches of Mount Washington, trips to Niagara falls, New York, Washington D.C. and many other places miles and miles away. Brought us back home safely and reliably all the time. It was in this car I took my wife to deliver my two children in the hospital and brought home the babies on their first car ride. The proudest moment of all was when I brought my Mom to US, sat her on the passenger seat and rode her around. Both of my in-laws rode along in this car on their visit to US, and both departed this earth in a gap of few short years after their return to India leaving us only their memories behind.

Well, after 163,000 miles, today becomes the last day for the Green car with me. As with many things in life, it is time to move on. The car is still healthy although it has turned into a slightly high maintenance vehicle. The wear and tear is getting to the performance. It should still run for another 50,000 miles or so. But for me it is time to part with it. The excitement of getting a new car hasn't set in me. It is the pain of parting the Green car, that is dominant. Getting a small white compact hybrid in exchange of my beloved Green car.

So long my friend...in many ways, you are leaving me a better person than how you found me. I only wish I am as reliable and useful to others in life as you were to me.