Friday, November 23, 2007

Books….

I thought I might mention some of the books I have read that I could recommend to others who read fiction. Maybe you, the reader could recommend me some of the good books you've read? So feel free to post comments. Today I write about two of the greatest books I have read.


To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee

ToKillAMockingbirdCoverPulitzer Prize winner published in 1960. One of those very few books I've read whom I could actually call "English Literature” and "novel" at the same time. Written in the first person, this book shows the world from the perspective of a small girl - Jean Lousie "Scout" Finch, and as a grown woman reflecting on her childhood. The author has acknowledged that this character is loosely based on her own childhood. After I read this book, I learned that this novel is widely taught in schools in english speaking countries; and I was surprised at the same time because I never thought I would like a book that was actually taught as literary text. This entertaining and extremely well written novel is tied to the themes of tolerance and prejudice. The character of Atticus Finch, the narrator's father is one of the most enduring fictional images of integrity. Atticus is certainly one of my heroes in the literary world.


 


Catch 22: Joseph Heller

Catch22CoverResulting from its specific use in the book, the phrase "Catch-22" became a term of common usage in the English language meaning a “no win situation”. When I picked up this book, all I knew about the book was that it was based on humor. As I finished the book, I realized that it is also a general critique of bureaucracy and human reasoning.


The writing style of the book was unlike anything I had read before. The prose is circular and paradoxical, something you get used to soon. Normally one would think that such a kind of writing won’t be funny, but the author’s majestic control over the language and the words he chooses makes it a real winner. A lot of the events in the book have been repeatedly described from different points of view at different times; and the description is as if the reader already knows about them. So, with each iteration, we learn a little more about the story.


The way the characters have been developed (and a lot of them), is simply majestic. I think each character represents one facet of human nature. Yossarian, the protagonist of the story is one of my favourites in the literary world.


Books....

I thought I might mention some of the books I have read that I could recommend to others who read fiction. Maybe you, the reader could recommend me some of the good books you've read? So feel free to post comments. Today I write about two of the greatest books I have read.


To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee

Pulitzer Prize winner published in 1960. One of those very few books I've read which I could actually call "English Literature” and novel at the same time. Written in the first person, this book shows the world from the perspective of a small girl - Jean Lousie "Scout" Finch, and as a grown woman reflecting on her childhood. The author has acknowledged that this character is loosely based on her own childhood. After I read this book, I learned that this novel is widely taught in schools in english speaking countries; and I was surprised at the same time because I never thought I would like a book that was actually taught as literary text. This entertaining and extremely well written novel is tied to the themes of tolerance and prejudice. The character of Atticus Finch, the narrator's father is one of the most enduring fictional images of integrity. Atticus is certainly one of my heroes in the literary world.


Catch 22: Joseph Heller

Resulting from its specific use in the book, the phrase "Catch-22" became a term of common usage in the English language meaning a “no win situation”. When I picked up this book, all I knew about the book was that it was based on humor. As I finished the book, I realized that it is also a general critique of bureaucracy and human reasoning.

The writing style of the book was unlike anything I had read before. The prose is circular and paradoxical, something you get used to soon. Normally one would think that such a kind of writing won’t be funny, but the author’s majestic control over the language and the words he chooses makes it a real winner. A lot of the events in the book have been repeatedly described from different points of view at different times; and the description is as if the reader already knows about them. So, with each iteration, we learn a little more about the story.

The way the characters have been developed (and a lot of them), is simply majestic. I think each character represents one facet of human nature. Yossarian, the protagonist of the story is one of my favourites in the literary world.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Skype woes with IIS

I had installed JBoss on my machine to get Scrumworks Basic working. Somehow that stopped my IIS from working on port 80. So I uninstalled Scrumworks. For some unknown reason, the default website on IIS still wont start. There was this red icon beside default website in IIS. When I tried to start it, it kept giving me the error: Doesnt start -> Unexpected error 0x8ffe2740 occurred. I restarted IIS a number of times, even uninstalled and reinstalled it, but of no avail. I figured that some other application was listening on port 80 which was causing a conflict. But I uninstalled JBoss, then what was causing the issue? Couldnt figure out what application was listening on port 80.....did a google search and found that skype (of all things) could be a culprit....


I did not even bother to look inside the 2nd link (which mentioned the skype). I just exited the thing, and my default website started! Then I read a little further and made a small little change in the skype connection settings as shown.

Skype woes with IIS

I had installed JBoss on my machine to get Scrumworks Basic working. Somehow that stopped my IIS from working on port 80. So I uninstalled Scrumworks. For some unknown reason, the default website on IIS still wont start. There was this red icon beside default website in IIS. When I tried to start it, it kept giving me the error: Doesnt start -> Unexpected error 0x8ffe2740 occurred.

I restarted IIS a number of times, even uninstalled and reinstalled it, but of no avail. I figured that some other application was listening on port 80 which was causing a conflict. But I uninstalled JBoss, then what was causing the issue?

Couldnt figure out what application was listening on port 80.....did a google search and found that skype (of all things) could be a culprit....

http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=cannot+start+default+website+%2B+unexpected+error&btnG=Search&meta=

I did not even bother to look inside the 2nd link (which mentioned the skype). I just exited the thing, and my default website started! Then I read a little further and made a small little change in the skype connection settings as shown.