Nitin Khanna

I was once described as a philosopher programmer. I think I'd like to describe myself as a lifelong student.

Notes for Week 19 of 2014

The last time I did this, it was week 2 of 2014. But here we are again, with a bunch of nice links to share with you nice folks. Enjoy!

 

Internet –

Which is the most popular IP among network engineers? It’s 8.8.8.8, which is Google’s DNS. But this wasn’t always the first IP to be pinged. Before this was Level 3’s not-really-public DNS on 4.2.2.2. Here’s an excellent roundup of the story behind the company across the hill.

Critical Thinking –

Here’s a very simple, very straightforward approach to critical thinking. Be advised, I love repeating this ‘program’ over and over again. Do bookmark it.

Religion –

Here’s an image explaining why religion can be a bad thing sometimes. Enjoy. 🙂

Writing Tools –

There are some really interesting writing tools on the Internet. Here are two that blew my mind with their approach – Gingko and Lines. Do tell me what you think about them.

Finally –

Speaking of writing tools, here’s one of my favorites. It’s a beautiful idea, embodied by the simple example that the developer created called “I Made Tea”. I’d really like to know what my readers make with something as elegant as Telescopic Text.

 

On the Absurdity of Subconscious Thought

As I stood there in the hall, waiting for the pizza delivery woman to figure out down which path lay apartment 219, I felt the overpowering urge to rip out my beard from my face. My beard was itchy and irritating, having not grown fully as it has now and I just felt like tearing it out, along with the skin just below it, leaving behind the same smooth skin that I get after every shave. I covered the hair with my hands and imagined doing just so, knowing full well the impossibility of the task. Yet I imagined it away and just imagining it made me feel better. Continue reading →

n+1

A couple of weeks ago, I learnt an important lesson – there’s a difference between “you’re not understanding me correctly” and “I’m not explaining it well enough to you”. The former is a very Indian thing. We love passing the blame. The latter is an American (and possibly Canadian and Australian/basically First World) method of argument. I have not had the chance to test it out in public, but in online discussions, I’ve seen some success when trying to get my point of view across if I don’t try to pass the buck to someone else. That’s a testament to human behavior. But we’re not here to talk about that, are we?

It feels like almost yesterday when I was talking about rhinos and having lived for a quarter of a century. In fact, that date was 42 blog posts and 365 days ago. It’s been another year. Not a pivotal one, but there’s always next year, as they say. I’m 26 and I’ve come to a conclusion – if I live to be a 100 and more, I’ll call every year above a 100 as a +1 life. It’s a good game I look forward to playing. I know what you’re thinking – this overweight, under-active boy (Man) isn’t going far. But hey, science and technology do this thing called progress. In fact, I read somewhere that the person who will live to be a hundred and fifty years of age, thanks to medical science, was born as early as last year. That person will see civilizations change, Nations rise and fall and will put Queen Elizabeth’s view of the history of the world to shame. I look forward to not being that person.

I was reading recently, about a person named Geoff Dyer, who was explaining about his ordeal through something called an ischemic stroke, a condition which cuts off blood supply to the brain and causes things such as loss of peripheral vision and middle of the day trips to the hospital, both of which happened to Dyer. He went on to talk about his experience and his surprisingly speedy recovery (he was out the next day) as well as the absurd uncertainty that now lurks about his every day. But Dyer is a writer and as a favor to all of us, he included a quote from an old Russian sci-fi movie, something that’s become an absolute favorite for me. It says –

we never know when we’re going to die and because of that we are, at any given moment, immortal.

So yeah, that’s it. Another year’s gone by. There are things that have happened and are still in motion. I’ve been reading about the Mahabharata thanks to an amazing book on the topic of Dharma by Gurcharan Das and it’s led me to discover some amazing things about the history of India.

I feel amazingly optimistic about the future and hope to keep cranking out stuff for others to read. My regards to all those who drop by and poke around, even the hacker who loves trying to get into my blog (seriously, why would my password be ‘nitin123’??).

In other news, a funny incident happened with a good friend, Bhaskar Vaish today. But he’s asked me not to blog about it. So this is me, not blogging about you Bhaskar. 🙂

His Last Laugh

Khushwant Singh, noted Indian author and journalist, died last to last week. I’ve been meaning to write about it, but my memory of him is like a warm, if foggy feeling and I didn’t want to put it to paper yet. But, here we are, talking about the man, because he deserves an audience. Continue reading →

To the Team behind Threes

Today, I read one of the most awesome blog posts I’ve ever read about the creation of something. The post was by the team behind the popular mobile game Threes (yes, the one that spawned the even more popular 2048 series of games) detailing the 570 emails and 45,000+ words exchanged between them over a period of one and a half years to make a game that has broken away from the entire mobile gaming market and shown us what wonders can be done on a four by four game board.

I must confess, I did not read the whole thing. I read about a quarter into the page before skipping down to look at the artwork and reading the conclusion. I found the developers talking about how Threes has turned out to be a lot more famous than they had imagined and how amazed they are at the growing community around it. They are also highly critical of the fakes, the ‘inspired’ games and the outright rip-offs that are flooding the markets.

But here’s the thing – 2048 became famous because it’s gimmicky. The clones are famous because of the original, not on their own merit. But Threes? Threes is unique. There’s no match for the excellent game, the wonderful team behind it and the level of innovation that’s gone into the making of the game.

Along the way, in the article, you can download early prototypes that can be played on both Mac and Windows and are excellent games in themselves. They are different from the gameplay of the final game, yet are impressive in their own right. Here’s one such game that I downloaded and played and was instantly addicted. It’s a brilliant take on Threes, twisting the game with a new angle of gameplay.

So this is what I have to say to the team behind Threes –

Do not lose heart. Scammers will come and go, but your hard work is what stands before the public today. They will approve.

But do not stand on your laurels either. I believe it was the CEO of Rovio (behind Angry Birds) who said, “Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day.” He’s not wrong. You called out 2048 as a game that’s inherently flawed as it can be finished too easily. That’s true. But it’s popular and it’s a derivative of your work. So go ahead, steal what is already yours and add it as a fun mode to your game.

Do not hide your excellence. You are a runaway success. You may need more money, but get more people, finish those games you have showcased in the blog post and show them to the world. The one I played is nothing short of amazing. It made me fall in love with Threes all over again. It’ll bring people back to you. You are at a similar stage which Angry Birds was at with their games. They innovated only a bit every time but every game they released was an instant hit. Your ideas are already a hit. Bring them forth.

Finally, yes, pursue the Mobile App Stores. Tell them to remove the fakes and the rip-offs. But don’t wait for them to do anything. The thieves don’t have the one thing you do – an original idea. They’ll disappear into ignominy soon, but Threes will live on.

 

For all Threes lovers, I leave you with this artwork that I hope will inspire you to keep playing Threes and keep aiming for the Lion. Cheers!

The Threes Monsters.

The Threes Monsters. Source – http://asherv.com/threes/threemails/

And some other Threes Artwork –

Stacking the Cards

The Pirate

Threes is infinite. No, really.

How I Follow Blogs on the Open Internet

Colin Devroe’s post about Fred Wilson’s post about how hard it is to follow blogs on the Open Internet is interesting to me.

Ok, before we go any further, yes, this is very meta. Yes, I could have written this entire thing as comments on Colin’s blog (no, it doesn’t support comments) or Fred’s blog (has nice disqus comments) but I didn’t because that’s the point of blogging. I can write this ‘commentary’ on my blog. Sort of like Greek philosophers writing entire books just discussing each other’s books. Very meta indeed. Continue reading →