The last CD that I got was that of James Blunt: Back to Bedlam. It was recommended by a friend and I have fallen in love with it ever since I started listening to it. Terrific songs. I love the music. Strongly recommend.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
James Blunt
The last CD that I got was that of James Blunt: Back to Bedlam. It was recommended by a friend and I have fallen in love with it ever since I started listening to it. Terrific songs. I love the music. Strongly recommend.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Quotes from the Gladiator
Maximus Decimus Meridius: At my signal, unleash hell.
[Maximus looks at images of his wife and son]
Juba: Can they hear you?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Who?
Juba: Your family. In the afterlife.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Oh yes.
Juba: What do you say to them?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: To my son -- I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife... that is not your business.
Gracchus: I don't pretend to be a man of the people. But I do try to be a man for the people.
Gracchus: He enters Rome like a conquering hero. But what has he conquered?
Falco: Give him time, Gracchus. He's young, he may do very well.
Gracchus: For Rome, Falco? Or for you?
Lucilla: Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome.
Commodus: Am I not merciful? AM I NOT MERCIFUL?
Marcus Aurelius: Let us pretend that I am a good father, and you are a loving daughter.
[To his dead friend]
Juba: I will see you again... but not yet. Not yet!
Commodus: The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You would fight me?
Commodus: Why not? Do you think I am afraid?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I think you've been afraid all your life.
Lucilla: I want to help you.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Yes, you can help me... Forget you ever knew me, and never come back here again.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."
Commodus: I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You must know. He was your father.
Commodus: You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? [stabs him] Smile for me now, brother.
Lucilla: Is Rome worth one good man's life?
[Watching Lucius sleep]
Commodus: He sleeps so well because he is loved.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I am required to kill, so I kill. That is enough.
Proximo: That's enough for the provinces, but not enough for Rome.
[after swiftly dispatching another gladiator]
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Would you, Quintus? Would I?
Marcus Aurelius: When was the last time you were home?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning.
Lucius: Are you the one they call the Spaniard?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Yes.
Lucius: They said you were a giant. They said you could crush a man's skull with one hand.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: A man's? No. A boy's?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing.
Marcus Aurelius: There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the Gods' desire for my future. Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air. Ancestors, I honor you and will try to live with the dignity that you have taught me.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I may die here in this cell or in the arena tomorrrow. What possible difference can I make?
Gracchus: He will bring them death, and they will love him for it.
Gracchus: But the Senate IS the people, sire. Chosen from AMONG the people. To speak FOR the people.
Commodus: I doubt if any of the people eat so well as you, Gracchus. Or have such splendid mistresses, Gaius.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Strength and honor.
Commodus: It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.
[addressing his troops]
Maximus Decimus Meridius: If you find yourself alone, riding through green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled, for you are in Elysium, and are already dead.
Titus: We who are about to die salute you.
Proximo: Those giraffes you sold me,they won't mate. They just walk around, eating, and not mating. You sold me... queer giraffes. I want my money back.
Proximo: Listen to me. Learn from me. I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You risk too much.
Lucilla: I have much to pay for.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You have nothing to pay for.
Marcus Aurelius: Let us pretend that I am a good father, and you are a loving daughter.
Lucilla: Is this not a pleasant fiction?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Proximo, are you in danger of becoming a good man?
Lucilla: My brother hates all the world and you most of all.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Because your father chose me.
Lucilla: No. Because my father loved you. And because I loved you.
[Maximus looks at images of his wife and son]
Juba: Can they hear you?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Who?
Juba: Your family. In the afterlife.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Oh yes.
Juba: What do you say to them?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: To my son -- I tell him I will see him again soon. To keep his heels down while riding his horse. To my wife... that is not your business.
Gracchus: I don't pretend to be a man of the people. But I do try to be a man for the people.
Gracchus: He enters Rome like a conquering hero. But what has he conquered?
Falco: Give him time, Gracchus. He's young, he may do very well.
Gracchus: For Rome, Falco? Or for you?
Lucilla: Today I saw a slave become more powerful than the Emperor of Rome.
Commodus: Am I not merciful? AM I NOT MERCIFUL?
Marcus Aurelius: Let us pretend that I am a good father, and you are a loving daughter.
[To his dead friend]
Juba: I will see you again... but not yet. Not yet!
Commodus: The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story! But now, the people want to know how the story ends. Only a famous death will do. And what could be more glorious than to challenge the Emperor himself in the great arena?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You would fight me?
Commodus: Why not? Do you think I am afraid?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I think you've been afraid all your life.
Lucilla: I want to help you.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Yes, you can help me... Forget you ever knew me, and never come back here again.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."
Commodus: I wonder, did your friend smile at his own death?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You must know. He was your father.
Commodus: You loved my father, I know. But so did I. That makes us brothers, doesn't it? [stabs him] Smile for me now, brother.
Lucilla: Is Rome worth one good man's life?
[Watching Lucius sleep]
Commodus: He sleeps so well because he is loved.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I am required to kill, so I kill. That is enough.
Proximo: That's enough for the provinces, but not enough for Rome.
[after swiftly dispatching another gladiator]
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Would you, Quintus? Would I?
Marcus Aurelius: When was the last time you were home?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Two years, two hundred and sixty-four days and this morning.
Lucius: Are you the one they call the Spaniard?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Yes.
Lucius: They said you were a giant. They said you could crush a man's skull with one hand.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: A man's? No. A boy's?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Five thousand of my men are out there in the freezing mud. Three thousand of them are bloodied and cleaved. Two thousand will never leave this place. I will not believe they fought and died for nothing.
Marcus Aurelius: There was a dream that was Rome. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the Gods' desire for my future. Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air. Ancestors, I honor you and will try to live with the dignity that you have taught me.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: I may die here in this cell or in the arena tomorrrow. What possible difference can I make?
Gracchus: He will bring them death, and they will love him for it.
Gracchus: But the Senate IS the people, sire. Chosen from AMONG the people. To speak FOR the people.
Commodus: I doubt if any of the people eat so well as you, Gracchus. Or have such splendid mistresses, Gaius.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Strength and honor.
Commodus: It vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.
[addressing his troops]
Maximus Decimus Meridius: If you find yourself alone, riding through green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled, for you are in Elysium, and are already dead.
Titus: We who are about to die salute you.
Proximo: Those giraffes you sold me,they won't mate. They just walk around, eating, and not mating. You sold me... queer giraffes. I want my money back.
Proximo: Listen to me. Learn from me. I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You risk too much.
Lucilla: I have much to pay for.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: You have nothing to pay for.
Marcus Aurelius: Let us pretend that I am a good father, and you are a loving daughter.
Lucilla: Is this not a pleasant fiction?
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Proximo, are you in danger of becoming a good man?
Lucilla: My brother hates all the world and you most of all.
Maximus Decimus Meridius: Because your father chose me.
Lucilla: No. Because my father loved you. And because I loved you.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
net neutrality
another post after a long time...
There is an important piece of legislation that is doing the rounds in the US congress... It directly affects a slew of big companies in the US, including the telcos like Verizon and the new internet companies like google and yahoo besides Microsoft. This is one point where all the non-telco companies, including Microsoft and Google see eye to eye and are in fact fighting the case together...
Net neutrality is simple terms means, all content on the intranet, irrespective of the nature of content, who generated it, who owns it and who accesses it, should be available on equal terms to every user on the net. Now, you may ask what is so special about that. Well, the telcos, who are investing loads of money in the telecom infrastructure, want to take control of their customers... and how... they want to be able to charge the different companies that generate content on their networks in different ways...
what this means is that, a google which can tomorrow provide a Voice over IP telephone service can be charged differentially (higher) for the bandwidth they use by their service provider, than say other companies, which may not have services that compete with those provided by the service provider...
naturally this seems unfair on the googles and yahoos of the world... the telcos argue that having invested so much money on their infrastructure, they own the right to exploit it to maximise value, that just left the so called "over the top" operators like google ride ove their network and gain the value that the customer generates... so you see, that seems fair enough too...
this is going to be an interesting battle... if you want to know more about the topic, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality
There is an important piece of legislation that is doing the rounds in the US congress... It directly affects a slew of big companies in the US, including the telcos like Verizon and the new internet companies like google and yahoo besides Microsoft. This is one point where all the non-telco companies, including Microsoft and Google see eye to eye and are in fact fighting the case together...
Net neutrality is simple terms means, all content on the intranet, irrespective of the nature of content, who generated it, who owns it and who accesses it, should be available on equal terms to every user on the net. Now, you may ask what is so special about that. Well, the telcos, who are investing loads of money in the telecom infrastructure, want to take control of their customers... and how... they want to be able to charge the different companies that generate content on their networks in different ways...
what this means is that, a google which can tomorrow provide a Voice over IP telephone service can be charged differentially (higher) for the bandwidth they use by their service provider, than say other companies, which may not have services that compete with those provided by the service provider...
naturally this seems unfair on the googles and yahoos of the world... the telcos argue that having invested so much money on their infrastructure, they own the right to exploit it to maximise value, that just left the so called "over the top" operators like google ride ove their network and gain the value that the customer generates... so you see, that seems fair enough too...
this is going to be an interesting battle... if you want to know more about the topic, check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality
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