The Funny McCoy's

Check out this funny bit. ...

Real McCoy's chips with flavours such as Roast Ham and Mustard are 'Suitable for Vegetarians' (see the pic!)! Funny isnt it? I wonder which vegetarian would enjoy the taste of Roast Ham. Would they even know/remember the taste of Roast Ham?

> In fact the main thing is... what does it mean to be a vegetarian now?

> Is vegetarianism just about not eating meat?

> Is it ok if synthetic compounds, tasting like meat, are used?

> Does that still come under vegetarianism?

From IP to HoIP

What is IP (Internet Protocol)?

- It is the protocol used to create the internet. In conjunction with TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) it forms the logical basis for the internet. This blog post is not about IP or its details. If your interested in IP check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol

Networking is defined by the famous OSI 7 layer stack.

IP is defined in the Network Layer (3rd layer). The entire stack uses a different set of protocols at each level. All the protocols taken together form the 'protocol stack' which defines how applications running on your PC communicate through the protocol stack over the network. Kind of like how the CEO of a company reveals long term strategy to senior managers who in turn assign specific goals to middle managers so that the goals can be attained. In turn middle managers break down goals into specific sub-tasks and assign them to different teams.

So when you click that send button in your chat window a whole series of activities occour up and down the protocol stack in micro-seconds before your message is sent across the network.

IP is quite old (late 1970s). It was used as the foundation for richer applications like HTTP - for web-pages and FTP - for file transfer. But all this also quite old (around mid 1990s).

Following up on this was the concept of transmitting voice over IP (VoIP). This allows for efficient transmission of voice over traditional network systems (all this by creating stacks of protocols). VoIP has come into its own since 2002 and more and more data traffic on the worlds network is VoIP related.

So if we look at a time scale it is something like this -

-30 years (approx) - Internet Protocol - low level usage.

-10 years (approx) - Applications over IP (AoIP) such as mail/web/file-transfer.

-3 years till current (2007) - Voice over IP (VoIP) - integration of voice communication with packet based networking technology as compared to traditional circuit based implementations of communication systems.

I was reading "The world is flat" by Thomas L. Friedman. He predicts that the next big thing is going to be Services over IP (SoIP). SoIP is about delivering services like TV, Radio, Telephony etc. over a single connection. Treating everything like a packet of data - be it TV signals or voice signals. Where the money is charged for the services being used and not the duration of their usage.

I agree with him, IPTV is already making waves. Streaming movies and video content are already popular (e.g. YouTube). The hardware is available along with the storage to run the mutlti-media content servers.

So over the next few years we would see a growth in SoIP. But what next? What is the next thing afrer SoIP?

I think after SoIP it is going to be HoIP.

Human over IP (HoIP)

Where two people will be connected through IP directly. As computers come closer to the human, the day of embedded computers talking to each other through IP is not far. Computer based interfaces are going to form a separate sense for humans and IP is going to be the foundation to achieve the interconnect at that level.

That would mean I can talk to ANYONE or SEE ANYONE on the Earth AT ANYTIME! Usually one can just talk to the people around you (through voice). For people further away one needs to use a phone. But what if human senses were converted to IP?

So if I wanted to SEE you, you could convert your image into a live video stream and send it directly to the computer interface for my eye and it would be shown within my eye. Same thing can happen with voice, touch, smell!

Digitization of voice is already possible. With a wi-fi connection I can talk to anyone in the world (through Skype)! Down the line the other senses will get digitized and all humans will be connected.

You're never going to keep me down!

I get knocked down.

But I get up again.

You're never going to keep me down!

- From the song I get knocked down by Chumbawamba

The above lines are really inspiring. We all get knocked down at-least once in our lives. By knocked down I mean we feel as if life couldn't get any worse. Whenever you feel that way remember those above lines. Realise that those who turn failure into success are the biggest winners.

Say to yourself:

'I will smash through all barriers that stand between me and what I want to achieve, like a tank through a brick wall.'

Give yourself a confidence boost. You KNOW you can do it!

Be a tank. Let nothing stand in your way. Make your path clear through the problems that surround you. Grind your problems into dust.

The Price of Dreams

The other day I was thinking about fulfiling our dreams and the price we pay to fulfil them.



Most dreams have a clear price that you can pay to fulfil them. For example a car enthusiast might dream about owning a particular car which will most certainly, have a clearly defined price.

Then there are dreams which do not have a fixed price. There is no upper limit to the price that one might have to pay to achieve those dreams. Dreams of fame and fortune, for example, have traditionally compelled people to pay a very heavy price.

One might have many dreams to go after but limited resources to use in their pursuit. Therefore in the end it is down to a kind of cost benefit analysis to select the dreams to pursue.

All the analysis cannot answer the one moral question that has plagued mankind since the beginning: What is the price you should be willing to pay for your dreams?

Is there anything like an 'excessive' price?

What are the moral implications of chasing your dreams?

Will the paying of the price and achievment of the dream benefit a single person or a large number of people?

These are some of the questions hidden behind the one moral question, which one must think about.