The COEP Network Administrator CAN beat love

I guess I have a sort of love-hate relationship with the COEP Network Administrator. Though I am grateful that a lot of measures have been taken so as to prevent wanton downloading, there always seem to be some stupid side-effects which make me hate him even more. The most notable of them being the ban on Cricinfo, which fortunately did not last long.

I have blogged earlier about the pesky url filters which made the Middlesex CC site inaccessible. But something that I have only recently noticed is this - even the word 'love' is banned. Though as of now I don't think that this is going to have any disastrous consequences, it does seem rather silly.

But I think I really shouldn't complain much. After all, I only have to spend a few more days in the kingdom of the COEP Network Administrator. After that, I can freely access any site I want! The mere thought of it makes me ecstatic!

Random tags for the last few days

mega-feast, farewell, viva, 'Get up, you idiot!', Monty Python, Arthur C Clarke, bills, last few days at the hostel, stupid fights, CAT online, CAT class, IPL, laundry, 2BHK apartment, Facebook, LinkedIn, quizzing, Mahabharat, Dostoevsky, Dev D, BPlan, parties, dinners, all nighters, Football, Lawn Tennis, jogging, movies backlog, heat chamber, Happy Days, tandoori chicken, shorts, wasting time?, bad hair, sleep lots, 'Get up, you idiot!', Cricinfo ban, Facebook ban, Cricinfo ban lifted, no lab access, project viva?, IIML?, presentation, home, vacations, job!, future?

CAT goes online

Like the majority of peope who would be appearing for the 2009 CAT, I was not very happy with it was announced that it would be conducted online this year. The CAT had a certain charm, being conducted on the same day throughout the country. Discussion boards would be full with everybody presenting their own solutions, waiting for coaching classes to come with their solutions and cut-offs and in general worrying about who would get a call and who wouldn't. I really enjoyed all of this last year (though of course I was hoping that the ouycome would be different) and it does feel bad that all of that wouldn't be happening this year.

But other than the 'charm' factor, there are a lot of reasons why I would not like the CAT to go online this year. Firstly, having taken the good old pencil-and-paper CAT, I would obviously prefer a similar format again. Also, I would really not want the CAT to be adaptive like the GRE. That was a great advantage in the CAT - all questions had equal weightage. And that's only fair - I might find a question on functions easy and geometry tough while someone else would feel the exact opposite way. So its not right for a third person to decide which questions are 'easy', which are 'tough' and set the paper accordingly. One more issue that might come up in the online version is the easy of manueverability between various questions and sections. Earlier, you had all the freedom to solve any question or section for as long as you wanted. Whether that stays or is discontinued remains to be seen. However, that need not be abandoned totally - the BITSAT which is also conducted online, gives you complete freedom to roam between questions and sections. Something like that would be absolutely great.

There are of course other issues like whether the candidates would be knowing the weightage of each question, the availability of rough papers to work on and so on. But other than the fact that it will be conducted over ten days, we have no other information. Hopefully, the picture would become clearer in the days to come. I hope the CAT does go online, that would be a move in the right direction, but I hope it still allows all the candidates the liberties which the pencil and paper CAT gave. That would be the best solution.

Headline or headache?

This you have to read. Though I hope none of you use them, especially if you happen to be a journalist.

4 years 7 months 13 days

.... is the maximum age that you can be if you really believe in Lalit Modi when he says that the 7.5 minutes break is for deciding 'strategies'.

My latest hobby...

Constantly reminding people that their college life is coming to an end, thus making them all sad and nostalgic.

P.S. : For those who haven't realised it yet, consider it to be a tribute.

You know you're terribly in need of sleep when....

.... you start reading Pune Mirror and doze off before you reach Dr. Mahindra Watsa's column.

Lets make a deal

I have always felt that I get the raw end of whatever deals that I make with people in my personal life. I am pretty good when it comes to negotiating with people when money is involved, but somehow I always end up losing out in my personal deals with people, mostly because they generally refuse to accept the existence of such a deal and question its validity.

But no more shall I suffer from such problems. This site should take care of things. It allows you to make deals with friends, family, employees or absolutely anyone. It then sends out mails to them and you can even opt for further negotiations. And I hope the site's tagline - "Asynchronous Negotiation Favors the Underdog" - proves to be true.

(Link courtesy : Marginal Revolution)