Fountainhead

It has been more than a month since I read Fountainhead. Some of my friends think that it is a novel so good that it makes reader think about it for a long time and in affects them deeply. But I guess then I am exception to the rule. It's not that I did not like the novel, I really liked the novel but just not so moved by it.

The story and character development of the novel is really good. Ayn Rand , the writer has taken great effort to make character as detailed as possible . She has taken time in letting the plot development be gradual and detailed. The writer's philosophy of objectivism is really enlightening . Although I have not gone into details of it but the overall idea that I got from the novel is really interesting. The novel shows a different light to independence and dependency, art and artist ,love and success.

(Spoilers Ahead)

Peter Keating is the most familiar character in the novel. He is a person driven by glory of success so much that he forgets his self, ego , love all for the sake of glory. His character seemed quite normal at the start of the novel but by the end of it had turned into a complete disaster.

Elsworth Toohey is a really interesting character in the novel. At start of the novel he seems like an epitome of good . Its only later that his ulterior motives are revealed.

Gail Wynand is almost a hero but just could not make the cut finally. He is a really determined person but just could not get through the final hurdle.

Howard Roark the protagonist is really one of a kind guy. His view of life is unique, his philosophy of life is intriguing and the way he finally pulls it off in the end is also terrific.

Dominique Francon is the female lead in the novel . Her character goes a lot of change of colors in the course of the novel.

The story overall seems to be well paced but it drags a bit towards the middle but it accelerates to a good climax finally . The climax is dramatic , over the top you may say, unrealistic yet entertaining.

So I would recommend this novel to anyone who has got little time to spare and is patient enough to hold through some character development phase in the novel where story tends to become a bit slack. If you get chance to read it , just read it . It will influence you I don't know to what extent but it will amuse you at least .

It's too late to apologize

I'm holding on your rope,
Got me ten feet off the ground
I'm hearing what you say but I just can't make a sound
You tell me that you need me
Then you go and cut me down, but wait
You tell me that you're sorry
Didn't think I'd turn around, and say...that
It's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late

I'd take another chance, take a fall
Take a shot for you
I need you like a heart needs a beat
But it's nothing new...
I loved you with a fire red-
Now it's turning blue, and you say...
"Sorry" like the angel heaven let me think was you
But I'm afraid...

It's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late

It's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said It's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late
I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground...

 

Apologize

by OneRepublic (Dreaming Out Loud)

Windows Applications that make my world easy

 

Today I wanted to talk about some programs which can make a lot of difference in your everyday experience with your PC.

Launchy is the first one that comes  to my mind.Ever struggled finding a program's shortcut ,you try to look at desktop and your Quick launch and then you go through the whole list of them at start menu which is again painful if you have lot of programs like me.With Launchy you just need to type the name of program and it comes just like program search in vista. But I like Launchy better because it is very clean.

If  you have used torrents than you would have come across utorrent , if not you must try it . It really is makes  the downloading of  torrents really manageable and easy.

If one want to access your PC from office or anywhere else you need to try LogMeIn or Live Mesh . Both these product are good in their way Live Mesh is a Microsoft  offering to connect your Desktops ,Mobiles and other devices (in future) .It gives a desktop on the web which you can use to synchronize files and folders. I have been using LogMeIn for  a month now and I find its remote control feature which is another name of remote desktop really fast and useful in order to monitor things . There are other stuffs in offering in Pro subscription but I use it for RDP only so I am quite content.

I have lot of browsers viz IE, Firefox,Opera ,Flock,Safari, Chrome installed on my PC.  Although my main browser has been Firefox as would be evident from my previous post. I use IE mainly for sites which open in IE in best manner.(I know I can use IE tab add-on in firefox.)

I have lot of media players on my computer too . I use VLC or Crystal mainly for all the video content. I use Real Player, itunes ,Mediamonkey for songs,audio etc. I like the tool minilyrics which I have installed recently to show the lyrics of the song in different manners.

If one is really picky about the items order in taskbar or saving space on taskbar by sending items to system tray , xNeatLite is a good tool for  that .

I have installed Windows Live package which consists of Writer to publish blog to a lot blog provider which is handy . It has Windows Live Photo Gallery  which is useful for viewing ,uploading , editing pictures. Although I have Picasa to take care of  it as I use Picasa Web Albums . The panorama creation utility in Photo Gallery is  useful. It also has Windows Live Mail  which one can use for one stop to access  a lot of email accounts from gmail,hotmail,yahoomail,aol, etc .

I also use Windows Desktop Search although I have tried Google Desktop Search and Coopernic search too. All of them work good for me.

I like the calender and clock widget of Yahoo! widgets . One can also use Google gadget for the same too.

As a download manager FlashGet has served purpose for me since long time. I earlier had Star downloader and IDM but I have liked FlashGet most .

Feel free to comment what apps you use to make your life easy.

(Mac vs PC ) vs Linux

Novell Linux making fun of Mac vs. PC ads

One More

In case you have missed the Mac Vs PC ads here is a compilation

My Firefox Add-ons

I have been thinking about writing a blog about the FireFox add-on that I like and I am currently using.

I have been using Download Statusbar for some time now and I really like the way it comes as toolbar in browser itself and not as some other dialog.

Other add-on that I really like is Fast Dial it is same as opera's speed dial but with more customizability.I like setting grid size according to me instead of custom 9 and it does not load the page as in speed dial but just the icon.

One really cool visualization add-on is Piclens.It makes browsing picture really cool on site on which it is enabled like Google and Yahoo image search ,deviant art etc. Other add-on from same group is Cooliris Previews which gives a small preview of the link. I do not use it as I did not find it useful.

WebMynd is next good visualization tool if you have a lot of hard disk to spare as it takes a snapshot of every page you visit and stores it so one can browse through once history in pictorial manner. Its a good add-on to try but it consumed too much hard disk so I had to disable it.

Adblock Plus is a good extension to get rid of some annoying ads.

Firebug and Tamper Data are great development tools for Firefox . Firebug lets one inspect the elements on web page and lot more. Tamper Data allows to capture get and post requests sent and modify them.


User Agent Switcher is another good tool to have although I have not used it a lot.I use it mainly to fool Megaupload that I have Alexa toolbar installed.

Recently I looked for the popular add-ons which I did not I have and I found following add-on which I am currently using and are really good.

I like Foxytunes to control my playlist from Firefox itself without switching windows.
The All-in-one sidebar is good tool to access bookmarks,downloads,add-ons etc.

Feedly is a really intuitive way to read one's RSS.It makes going through all the feeds really easy and fun.The recommendation feature from friends you follow is good too. It has been integrated with Google reader in a seamless manner.
Digg extension adds digg features into browser as evident from name. I do not use it a lot though.

Another tool Stealther seemed like replacement for IE8's inprivate mode but I have not been able to figure out how to use it.
McAfee SiteAdvisor is another tool which I have installed at office and thinking about installing at home too.

So that sums up all the add-ons that I use on my Firefox 3 currently to make browsing more productive and easy.