A few weeks ago Google launched their Web Fonts Directory. All the fonts in the directory can be added to any web page with a few simple lines of Javascript; they can subsequently be used in CSS stylesheets just like regular fonts. Those with a keen eye for detail might have noticed some changes in the fonts around here. Now you know where they are from.
Here’s a simple snippet to add Webfonts support to your Thematic child themes. Just add it to the functions.php:
The ToI reported a few days ago that there are five finalists for the Indian Rupee symbol:
I had previously written about the Rupee symbol here. The ToI seems to suggest that #4 is the likely candidate. According to the article, the symbol should have been decided by now, but I haven’t found any information to that effect. Does anyone know the final outcome? I can’t say I like any of the finalists that much, but I guess out of the five #4 is probably one of the better ones.
My wife often jokes that the ads here in the US are extremely complimentary — half of them entice you towards more and more (junk) food; the rest sell you medications that seem to create more problems than they solve. In honor of the remarkably consistent bad ads on television, I’m starting an “ads that suck” series. To kick-off the series, I present to you, the Tax Masters commercial:
Some observations:
More to come.
This post has been sitting around in my “drafts” for more than a year now. I just figured I would get it out of the way — better late than never.
In March 2009, the Indian government (specifically, the Finance Ministry) announced a contest to design a symbol for the Indian Rupee. Sometime in April, the Ministry put out a press release listing all the eligible applicants; there were around 2300 eligible candidates it seems.
At some point after that, images of a few of the designs started surfacing:
Rupee Symbols
As is the case with most Indian Government websites, the Financial Ministry website is a disaster. There is very little useful information there, there is no way to search for information. Case in point — I was not able to find any information about the design contest on their website. The image above is the result of a Google search.
Couple of thoughts on the designs above (note that I do not know if these are even actual candidates. I’m assuming they are):
In December 2009, the Economic Times reported that the Ministry had shortlisted five finalists. Really? Wow. Again, no information to be found from the Ministry itself. It would have been pretty amazing (and easy to set up) if the Ministry had set up a public poll and asked Indian citizens which symbol they liked best.
Does anyone know what happened to the Indian rupee symbol design contest? I couldn’t find anything on Google after December 2009.
SIGCOMM goes to Delhi
For those of you who don’t know, SIGCOMM is the one of the most prestigious conferences in the networking community. SIGCOMM is the ACM Special Interest Group on Data Communications. Unlike SOSP and OSDI which alternate every year, SIGCOMM is an annual event showcasing the very best in networking research from around the world.
I was quite thrilled when I found out that SIGCOMM 2010 is going to be in Delhi this year!! While some of these conferences are known to pick “exotic” venues, it is also an encouraging nod from the academic community. This is probably the first top-tier systems/networking conference to be held in India and I hope the local universities in and around Delhi will take advantage of this opportunity.
It is shaping up to be an exciting year for Delhi, with the Commonwealth Games coming up soon after SIGCOMM. A glance at the organizing committee for this year suggests that Geoff Voelker might have been involved in pushing for this venue :)
I personally am not very fond of Delhi, however. Out of curiosity, I looked over the local information page on the SIGCOMM 2010 web site and found myself both agreeing with and a bit disappointed at some of the tips listed on that page:
I do hope all visitors to SIGCOMM have a fantastic stay and that more and more conferences choose India.