Of Web Feeders and Readers

Technology freaks would know what I am talking about here. Web Feeds and Aggregators(Readers). Using Web Feeds offers the users a convenient non-intrusive access to an aggregated update of the on-goings or updates of your website. At the same time, it also offers you an opportunity to integrate various elements to your website, automatically. Subscribe to blogs, news, website updates, offers; its all made so easy with feeds and readers. Come to think of it, you can theoretically play with it to render a complete web page that only offers "web-content" customized online based on the user-behavior. Its more than the Google ad-sense marketing that I trying to suggest here. Its your behavior that makes the web page render to you meaningful updates and/or content from the other side of the humongous internet repository.

There exist two main standards as far as feeds are concerned - RSS and Atom. Various options exist for burning feeds for your website or blog, but one of the most popular ones is FeedBurner, now acquired by Google. And for readers, of course, there are many players in the market, but Google Reader is one good option.

BTW, now you can subscribe to my blog - either use Google Reader (or some other aggregator) on your machine, else subscribe via email. Its simple. Its safe. Every time I post an entry, you will be notified. And if your are a web-publishing entity, its also a good way to ensure regular and guaranteed traffic to your website ;)

Time's Arrow (The Nature of the Offence) (1991)

Time's Arrow is a great read. Another one of Martin Amis' on my shelf. Its one of the most adrenalizing works that I have encountered.

As you stride though it, and time goes backward, quite many aspects of life seem to be upside down. While others like relationships appear to be the same, whether followed in a backward or forward manner. He touches upon the brutality and the lucidly ignoble acts of inhumanity by the Nazis in a skillful way. Quite aptly said, its the only way, those acts can ever make sense. As you enter the time when he was a German Holocaust Doctor, "THE WORLD IS going to start making sense...", and you witness that "Creation is easy. Its ugly" as men, women and children are gifted a human body in the ovens in those camps and reunited eventually.

Its interesting to see how backward chronology makes some phases of life "make sense" whilst other utterly cynical; few so appealing whilst others damn disgraceful, and yet others remain changeless.

Any memoirs of Adolf Hitler's dream of a race...the third Reich are gruesome (unlike this one). A gripping thought remains - Each of Albert Einstein, MK Gandhi and Adolf Hitler impregnated this world with their everlasting "contributions" about at the same time. Doesn't it resemble the concept of Trinity in Hinduism - the creator, the keeper and the destroyer of life ?

Overall, loved it! :)