The lack of regular updates from blogs seem to be the flavour of the season as it has been for some time. I've also been analyzing it from a personal point of view.

To me the biggest constraint to meaningful blogging seems to be the definition most people have of a well constructed blog post. Whereas some people are satisfied with putting together a few words and calling it a "post" I have a different idea of what constitutes a good article. There lies the trouble.

So why do I find constructing blog posts on a regular basis troublesome? Well, I emphasize the flow of ideas - they should be readable and coherent - and they should be easily expressible in simple language. Unfortunately most of my ideas stay in cold storage for too long to reach the point where they're "cooked" properly. Since I am very particular about form, I don't want to put them down in a half-baked way. Therefore I allow so many good ideas to waste away without expressing them. I think it's actually a good thing. Sometimes committing ideas to words might make them too clarified when I am not really bothered much. Opinions expressed in words always seem stronger than they actually are and I am careful about voicing random opinions in public as I can never be sure of where it will come back to bite me.

I also consider the costs of cooking a well-defined article out of randomly generated ideas. Issues of time and space get in the way. It's not easy to write naturally and quickly unless an idea is particularly well developed. This lack of focus has happened so many times that I've lost count. I always begin writing something and then lose focus. The best writing seems to happen naturally and flows effortlessly with an idea, developing it into fruition.

This is one reason why I always vary the pace. I don't schedule blogging. It's a hobby and it will always remain that way. Most of my readers know that a sudden rush of activity will be followed by periods of total inactivity here. There was a time when I wrote more opinion articles, but that phase seems to have gradually faded away. I've also slowly moved away from the software and technology focus.

Humour and comics have kept me in business. The motivation to entertain readers has just about kept the engine running.

Not a full post, but more like a filler. I thought I'd just jot down my ideas/ingredients for effective written humour.

1. A funny idea/concept. Or any serious issue that can be twisted enough to make it funny or satirical.
2. A smart punch line. Too much rambling will ruin the humourous touch.
3. At least two different levels of humour - one working on the idea itself and the other with the language usage and delivery mechanism. This can be a bit tricky and might not always work out.
4. A picture or two for effect if necessary.

Straightforward jokes that you read in pocket-size joke books are totally different and unrelated to what I'm talking about. I admit that I'm not very good at spontaneously inventing the kind of jokes you tell at a party among friends, but I do love exploring off-beat humour and parodies.

And while I do enjoy reading regular jokes, I think a lot of them tend to be repetitive and obvious while parodic humour has much a wider scope for individual creativity. More importantly I believe any kind of humour needn't rely on any single technique or method to be effective.

I normally don't write about politics on this blog. So this is not a political discourse or a book review (book review will follow at http://harishankar.org)

I began reading Jack Welch's book "Straight from the Gut" today and I can tell you that part of the story is literally true: it's absolute tripe. I couldn't even read half the book without feeling annoyed by this egomaniac's self-absorption.

Reading these kinds of books is enough to turn even an ardent fan of a capitalistic society towards communism.

Unlike Lee Iacocca, who comes across in his autobiography as a warm human being and a family man though a brash, arrogant businessman, Jack Welch simply comes across as having no humanity and no concern for human life. He is just a corporate machine (though a successful one) and his arrogance is of the "holier-than-thou" smug variety, not the down-to-earth brashness or plain-speaking of a Lee Iacocca.

This is just a rant though. Haven't had much to talk about lately, so I'm just letting off some steam here.

I'm just back from my four-day long holiday to Kulithalai (my grandmother's native place, in Karur District, Tamil Nadu). The Indian summer has well and truly arrived. Although I'm used to high temperatures, what really gets me is the dryness of the heat in the interior regions of the country. Heat with high humidity I can tolerate, because I sweat a lot and cool off in the process, but the kind of heat you encounter in interior South India in summer has to be experienced to be understood. You can almost see the waves of radiation off the rocky countryside in some places. This is heat of the throat-parching, head-splitting variety, not the sweaty, steam-bath kind which has the effect of sapping your energy, but is otherwise tolerable.

In any case, I'm back home now. Still recovering from the after-effects of the journey though.

This is a song sequence from a real movie, honest. Note that I am not responsible for any damage to your delicate eyes and ears.

I am now desperate to watch this movie and declare myself a Disciple of this Actor.

(Discovered through Lightning Strikes Everyday)