Sachha TDC

TDC is short for a 'Typical Delhi Chutya'. If you believe that you have never ever seen them before in your life.. well you are wrong. They are everywhere. India is plagued with TDCs as Hamelin was plagued by rats. Sadly, there is no Pied Piper who can rid us of this evil, instead we have a Honey Singh who brings out the TDCness in everyone. Identifying one is no rocket science either as they wanna stand out so people notice them. It is really quite simple -

They are the people who wear weird-ass clothes in the name of 'Fashion'.

They are the people who wear sunglasses at night in malls to look 'kool'.

They are the people who strike '\m/' and 'V' poses with every photo.

They are the people who use 'dude', 'faak' and 'ma' in every single sentence.

They are the people who create and highlight life events whenever they fart, piss or take a dump.

They are those facebook friends who post emo messages and then don't tell you what happened.

Coursera - Learn To Program : Crafting Quality Code by Paul Gries and Jennifer Campbell

This course is a continuation to the previous Coursera course Learn to Program : The Fundamentals by Paul Gries and Jennifer Campbell . While this course will be much easier if you have taken the previous course, it is not mandatory according to me. If one has some basic knowledge about Data Types, Loops and Function Design Recipe, he/she can tackle this course without much difficulty.

The course spans 5 weeks with lecture videos, weekly quizzes and bi-weekly assignments. I was pretty disappointed as there was no final exam. A final exam tests the application of the course-wide knowledge gained and how they can be put to use together in one big project. It is essentially is the crux of any course. Each quiz was worth 15% and to get the total 15%, one had to score more than 80% in that particular quiz. There were also assignments as mentioned which were worth 20%. To exploit both computer grading and peer assessment, 1 was computer graded while the other was peer graded. To get a certificate one needed to get 70% in the course assessments.

Voldemort vs Joker

Movies come and go ... Awesomeness stays forever !! The Dark Knight Trilogy and The Harry Potter Series are something that people wont forget very easily but when two of the greatest antagonists of the series face off.. Who shall win the battle?

Presenting to you, modeled after the JLA vs Avengers series - Voldemort vs Joker

Name: Lord Voldemort (Tom Marvolo Riddle) / You Know Who
Affiliation: Leader of Death Eaters in JK Rowling's Harry Potter Series
Background: Through his mother's family, he is the last descendant of wizard Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is the leader of the Death Eaters, a group of evil wizards and witches dedicated to ridding the Wizarding World of muggles and establishing Voldemort as its supreme ruler.


Name: Joker
Affiliation: The Dark Knight's biggest enemy
Background: Joker is depicted as a maniacal criminal mastermind who terrorizes Gotham City and whose goal is to plunge it into anarchy. The Joker has been described as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy."

My Son Failed By An Inch: Chapter 3

A Story Ends While Another Begins

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Moscow was half red and half snow when I was at the subway and a man, immaculately dressed and probably Spanish came to me and asked if I wanted to play for Real Madrid in the winter of 1956. I gave him a muddled stare and told him to find his way back home trusting that a deal to play for the elite club had to bear some sense of pomp and publicity. But all he offered was a pen and wanted a yes or no.

“I’ll come with the papers if you are willing” was what he told before he wasn’t to be found.

I wanted to tell him he was good at trying to put up a mockery but instead, “Who are you. Where do you want me to come?” poured out, probably due to a disharmony between my intellect and instinct. He told his name was Alberdo Sanchez and confessed that he had been scouting me for weeks now. Post a visit to the Santiago Bernabeu and a tour that gave me a glimpse of its glorious past, he signed me for the Real Madrid Youth Academy on the 31^st of July, 1966.

Your Eyes

Sushma Sharma

Sushma Sharma is a graduate from BITS Pilani. She presently works in Ernst and Young and loves drawing cartoons and writing poems. A fun-loving character, she was part of the Publicity team for the fests in her college. She is also known to be a tom-boy and a certified-master at the art of cracking PJs. She is a recurring guest author on Bytes and Banter, click to read her poem - Let Me Live Some More.

I'm dead, I am alive

I'm weak, I am strong

Trying to figure out whats wrong I see no birds, no air
I'm just a thirsty lonely tree
Every time I see your eyes
I shine more than one can see

Coursera - E-Learning and Digital Cultures by University Of Edinburgh

Maria Karmanova

A 25-years old post-graduate student from Saint-Petersburg, Russia, she is currently working on her dissertation on Philology with a specification in Old Russian literature. She takes part in different MOOCs, mostly in humanities to know about other researchers and events . One of the most important principles both in her study and in her work is to maintain the balance in different activities, interests and areas of knowledge.

E-Learning and Digital Cultures MOOC was organized by The University of Edinburgh, and it had a different structure in comparison with what I see as typical Coursera course.

First, there were no video-lectures. Each week students needed to watch some YouTube videos related to the topic of current week, and read some articles, and then discuss them. Each week there were at least three videos, at least two core articles, and some additional material to watch or read.
Second, all students were encouraged to communicate via Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, not via the Coursera forums (The course was held before some significant improvements were made at Coursera forums, so this decision had some sense). There was a news-feed with tag #edcmooc for all publications, and people could add their blogs and feeds to it.
Third, there were no Quizzes or other kinds of homework during the course. The final assignment was to create a "digital artifact" (e.g. video, picture or presentation) related to some of discussed topics (education, technologies, utopia and dystopia, artificial intelligence).

My Son Failed By An Inch: Chapter 2

These shoes are for you!  

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Age might season your wisdom and wither your physical attributes. But it instills in you energy. Energy that won’t help you lift weights or run miles. Energy that will keep you guessing and compel you to find answers. After all the travail and burden, this is when you have time to dig the answers that stand between you and your exit. Foolish it may sound, but this is when you feel you had that extra calorie to help you reach the park. I was lucky to have managed one time and again. Today was no different. I reached the park late after a hectic walk through the town and traffic only to find my bench was occupied, by Santo. He was sitting with his limbs falling apart and head down as if he'd lost all that he cared for and neither had anything to do nor anyone to answer to. I knew what he was thinking. I was there to give him exactly that.

#9: She - Hulk vs Wonder Woman

Being one of the finest and most skillful woman in the DC Comics universe, the Amazonian Wonder Woman tests her mettle against the immensely powerful green she-thing from the Marvel Comics, She-Hulk.

Name : Diana of Themyscira

Affiliation : Justice League

Background : Born as a princess in Themyscira, an ancient Amazonian tribe of Greek Mythology, she was carved from the clay beaches of the island by her mother and Queen Hippolyta. She was given various powers by the Greek Gods and ultimately donned the costume of Wonder Woman to act as an ambassador and emissary from Themyscira fighting against crime along with Justice League.

Name : Jennifer Walters
Affiliation : Avengers and Fantastic 4
Background  : Jennifer Walters was a lawyer before she was seriously wounded in a fight. For her survival, her only cousin Bruce Banner had to give her a blood transfusion. She thus gained the power of the Hulk and could transform to cause some great deal of damage. She joined the Avengers and also temporarily worked with the Fantastic 4.

LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!!!

Credits - OrangePickles

The Imperfect Organizer

Dee Dee

Dee Dee  is a hardly working employee from Mumbai with a passion for blogging and reading chick-books, crappy music and dirty dancing. She is an extrovert who is insanely straightforward by day and a drama-queen at her blog. A silent observer and dreamer, her list goes on as she reveals the layers of her personality. She loves what she writes and cares about what the world thinks. She speaks her mind and has enough slang in her purse to put even an uncouth truck driver to shame. Visit her at Meri Nautanki ke Nautankey

First, I really wanna thank Bytes and Banter to give this insane-brain damaged psycho a chance to be their guest blogger. Hats off to you buddies..you do have some guts there along with an awesome choice for a guest blogger :P

Why India Should Re-Elect Congress !!

Aniruddha Rege

Aniruddha Rege is a bored engineering student, who has recently started Blogging in a desperate attempt to get rid of the boredom. He runs an Entertainment Blog, Andy Chills, where he gives reviews of Movies and TV Shows, along with Top 10 lists. He sometimes goes off-topic and gives out unsolicited opinions! He is also very active on Twitter.

You must think I'm mad. With the current Anti-Congress fad in the country, I'm sure I won't be able to gather much support for this campaign of mine. But, I do not wish to force your decision. I only ask that you hear me out, and then make the right decision!

My Son Failed By An Inch : Chapter 1

Santo, He Said His Name Was!

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A cloudy Sunday morning invited a breeze that swept past me as I sat in the Community Park by the Calangute beach in Goa, watching him whizz past beyond the last defender and put the ball into the net whilst the keeper was waiting to fetch the ball that would land in sooner or later. He was moving his legs almost involuntarily as if he’d programmed them to do what was necessary. Fourteen, I presume he’d be, not much of age to choose between good and better before things could take a turn for the worse. He was playing as a free spirit, one who had no strings attached or bills waiting- the very spirit which feeds on peace that I hunted for the past few decades and found it here, in a beach house in Goa.

My Son Failed By An Inch

We are proud to bring you the first of our short stories in our initiative to spice up the blogging experience and give you one more reason to hang out with Bytes and Banter. In this edition, we leave you with...

A story that saw dreams shape into reality…

A lesson that  teaches how fame faded to failure…

A fable that spoke of a coach and his protégé…

MY SON FAILED BY AN INCH

Chapter 1 : Santo, He Said His Name Was!

Chapter 2 : These Shoes Are For You!

Chapter 3 : A Story Ends While Another Begins

Chapter 4 : I Present To You, Santo De Souza

Chapter 5 : Minutes To Kick Off

Chapter 6 : Glory and Guilt

Chapter 7 : You Grew Bigger Than I'd Thought Son!

Chapter 8 : Old Men Old Habits

The Right to No-Education

Some articles have the potential to baffle you. This is one of those articles.

April 1st is the third anniversary of Right to Education Act (RTE)'s implementation. The present Government of India considers RTE as one of it's major achievement. If you are one of those who prefer knowing what is currently happening in the country to watching Veena Malik's cheap item numbers, you might have seen Kapil SIbal with his Peter Pettigrew face claiming RTE as one of those milestone acts.