Do you want to change the world?

A friend of mine is supporting this. And friends support friends. That's the unwritten charter of friendship. So here is the link, click it, and follow it if you are on Twitter. If you don't feel like following it, that's also fine. But the overall message is positive, so even if you look at it, that's something in the right direction.

LetsChgOurWorld

Android Waale Baba Ki...

Year: 2069 AD
Place: Baba Sunilanand ka ashram

Baba ke bhakt (more women than men) holographic ghaas par apne-apne PIACS (Personal Information And Communication System, much advanced and portable version of laptop) liye baithe hain. Aashram ki rooftop par badi si dish lagi hai. Wifi signal is strong. Kaune-kaune mein mobile charging points bane hue hain.

Baba ke aane ka sanket hota hai. Bhakt apne PIACS par jalte diyon aur agarbattiyon ka holographic display chaloo kar dete hain.

Baba Geruye rang ke suit mein andar se nikal kar aate hain...

"Baba, Sunilanand ki.."
Crowd shouts, "JAI!"

"Bolo Android waale baba ki..."
"JAI!!"

Somebody plays "Jai ho, ho, ho!" on his device. Kuchh yuvtiyan ek do thumke lagaati hain, then stop.

Baba aasan par sthaan grihan karte hain. Baba ke handsome, tejwaan chere ko dekhkar kuchh yuvtiyaan aah bharti hain. Baba ke kaan mein advanced bluetooth v51.0 ka handsfree laga hai. It can hook up with baba's mobile phone, read his email from his PC, connect to the Ashram PA system wirelessly and is thought-activated. Saath mein machchhar bhagaane ka kaam bhi karta hai.

Baba pravchan aarambh karte hain.

Baba uvaach:
"Bhakto, we are living in difficult times. Microsoft has announced 267th security breach in their operating system last night. We must keep patience. It will pass.

Bhakto, samay bada kathin hai, achchhe log kubudhi ka shikaar hokar apna maansik santulan kho rahe hain. Jis par Apple ki mahadasha chal rahi hai usse sirf Google hi bacha sakta hai.

Apne man mein Google ka jaap karo aur achche, sundar (baba looks at the front row which is full of beautiful bhaktins), vichaar rakho.

Ab question answer."


Ek bhakt aage aata hai, "Baba, naya PIACS liya hai, Windows ka kaun sa version install karoon?"

There's a gasp from the bhakts around him.

Baba uvaach, "Windows nahin, baalak, Google Chrome OS 17.3 install karo. Tumhara kalyaan hoga."

Another bhakt asks piteously, "Baba, MacBook Pro ek week mein teesri baar crash hua hai. Kuchh upaay bataayein, baba."

Baba nods solemnly, "Tum par Apple bhaari hai, beta. Chrome PIACS 5 mein invest karo. Sab theek ho jayega."

There is a commotion in the back. Some disciples come forward dragging another bhakt by the collar. They throw him down in front of Baba's aasan. His device is clutched defensively in his hands. It's showing a Microsoft logo on the screen.

"Baba, he had Windows Vistaria installed on his device!" They shout accusingly.

Baba raises his hand and looks up to the sky, "Forgive him, O divine Cloud, he does not know what he is doing."

There's a puff of smoke, 3.9 seconds later, when the smoke clears the Microsoft logo has been replaced by Google logo on the man's device. There's a collective gasp in the crowd.

The accusing disciples shout vehemently, "Baba ki..." "JAI!"

"Android waale baba ki..."
"JAI!!"

Baba smiles softly.

Baba stands, two bhaktins stand on either side of Baba, Aarti starts, "...Red, green aur yellow ki mahima jo koi gaave..."

Think before you think

An excellent post by Melody on how we make a fool of ourselves by assuming, well worth reading.
http://kittensmits.blogspot.com/2010/08/but-i-thought.html

Biphasic sleep log - Day 48 - March 9th

Evening 9th:
My guitar lesson was one hour earlier than usual today so I tried to squeeze in my nap by taking it half an hour earlier. Here's how I did it.

I left 15 minutes early and got home at 1721. I was changed in bed by 1724. Took me 2 minutes to get comfortable and set the alarm. And I set the alarm for...wait for it..1750! Yes, I gave myself only 4 minutes to fall asleep from fully awake!

And it worked! I was asleep most likely in 4 minutes, maximum 5. And woke up at 1750 by the alarm. I would have preferred to sleep a couple hours more but it was not very hard to get up still.

Energy levels very good.

Guitar lesson was good, no loss of focus or concentration, learning power as usual.

However, back at home, I started feeling quite sleepy about 2200 and thereafter. Could have been the warm milk in the milk chocolate with my dinner (that's my replacement for tea, btw), or could have just been a need for sleep.

Still, I didn't want to mess up my schedule so I stayed up by force. And in the final hour, watched an episode of Big Bang Theory to lie down and relax while still awake.

Morning 10th:
Finally I went to bed at 2340, 5 minutes earlier than my schedule. I think I was asleep in 5 minutes. Alarm set as usual for 0430.

Woke up at 0407. Slept again. Woke by alarm at 0430. Got up then.

Energy levels about 90%. Quite alert and awake. Only background sleep deep in the hours that followed.

I liked today as, other than breakfast etc, I practiced guitar instead of playing around on SL. If this trend continues I might even get to working out before breakfast.

I am wondering if it would have been better to get up at 0407. For one thing, I remembered the dream I had been having very vividly, but when I woke up by alarm at 0430, no such recollection. Also, that may have been the end of a REM cycle, while the 0430 waking up was definitely forced by the alarm.

It's just the psychological pressure of getting as much sleep as possible so as not to be tired in the day. Even though I know that's not correct consciously, at some subliminal level I believe it. Tomorrow being Friday I might take the chance and get up when I first wake up.

People are just amazing!

Google has developed this mobile platform that everybody is going crazy about. Yes, I am talking about Android. And Google being Google (and not Apple) they released the source code also and kept releasing with every new version.

The Android platform is pretty awesome in itself. But then some people, probably young, school-going teenagers, got their hands on this OS code and tweaked the hell out of it. They tweaked stuff, they developed stuff, they fine-tuned and optimized, or whatever you want to call it, but they released something called a custom ROM. A custom ROM is an unofficial version of the Android OS and has even MORE features than the original.

This one guy called Cyanogen (his internet handle not his name), probably a 17-year old genius who goes to school in the day and juggles bits and bytes around at night, publishes this enhanced OS, developed by himself and the other collaborating developers from original Google source. The website is called www.cyanogen.com (what did you expect it to be called?).

I am amazed by how these guys, invidual developers, manage to improve upon the output of a huge corporation like Google! And from all I know, Goole is not the kind of company that stifles creativity in the first place.

Then look at YouTube. People post all kinds of stuff there. Other than the jokes and silly videos, there is a  plethora of useful information on YouTube in the form of tutorials and instructional videos. And most of it done by individuals!

Then look at all these bloggers, they create so much content every day that at a rough guess it's much more than the newspapers of the world. These days when I search for information, the type where I need a question answered, I get most helpful links from YouTube, blogs and forums like Yahoo Answers.

On polyphasic sleep my first source of information was purely blogs.

When making buying decisions, esp. about things like books and mobile devices, my most reliable source of information are personal reviews.

It just goes to show that in this information age, individual is as important, if not more, as the big corporations. And I have seen it happen in front of me during my own lifetime! It still amazes me!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 47 - 8th March

No news is good news!

Evening 8th March:
Had this feeling of background sleep dep from the morning, like I was somehow cheating sleep. Felt a bit more "foregroundy" tired late in the afternoon. Especially in one meeting when I had trouble staying awake. Not entirely a biphasic thing, also a boring meeting.

Got home in time so had my nap regulation style 1800-1830. It was in two parts even though I fell asleep very quickly, I woke up about 1815. Slept again, of course and woke up by alarm at 1830.

Energy levels very good. Feeling of alertness great.

Morning 9th:
Last night, started feeling a bit sleepy around 2200, but perservered and it passed quickly. Was fully awake when I decided to go to bed for midnight. Down at 2350, alarm set for 0430.

I think I woke up once in the night, but I don't remember it. Finally woke up at 0430 by the alarm. While physically it took a big effort in coming fully awake, it didn't take all that much willpower. I think it's psychological. 6 am used to be my hard limit, because otherwise I would not get to work on time. Then it became 5 am, because I wouldn't get to have breakfast and not able to play at all. Now, it's becoming 4.30 am because I feel rushed in playing and having breakfast both if I wake up at 5.

Energy levels: About 80%. Yawning and that feeling of background sleep dep. But I know this will go away once I have a hot drink. Hot chocolate not coffee. Actually going to try a banana and see if that helps.

I am going to continue this pattern for rest of the week. Just so I can get back to the point where I had energy levels close to 100% on biphasic with 6 hours of sleep. I need to achieve the same on 4:50 hours of sleep.

I really want to try Uberman, just for the heck of it.

I like that I have been writing on my blog regularly during this period without missing a day.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 46 - 7th March

Evening 7th:
Even though the day was just so so in terms of energy levels and sleep dep, it wasn't too bad. I could stay awake without trouble in the train home and wasn't DOA when I got home.

But I had been looking forward to my nap. That's the thing with biphasic. I look forward to my nap, even the 20 minute one and I really look forward to another innings after the nap. It's awesome!

Nap was regulation today, 1800-1830, fell asleep easy, woke up by alarm on time. Got up without much difficulty (though some) and felt fine.

Time now 2236, I can feel a bit of need for sleep, but I am going to stay up till midnight and do a core of 0000-0430.

Morning 8th March:

I just love it when a plan comes together! Yeah, yeah, I know I am stealing Hannibal's line but this morning, I don't care.
Last night I went to bed at 2350, leaving exactly 10 minutes to fall asleep. And I think I drifted off to dreamland even before the 10 minutes were up. I love this part!
Then this morning, I woke up at 0417, looked at the time and rolled over to sleep more. Maybe I should have gotten up, but I have this concern about sleep dep still. Next I woke up just before 0430 and decided to wake up. When the alarm went off at 0430, I was already awake and ready for the captcha.
Still it took me 2 tries, I think I need to reduce the speed of the pattern. Also, for several days now, I have put the alarm on Ascending settting, which is harder to ignore. It's been working well.
Energy levels good though not over the top. Staying awake was not a problem. I will continue this 4.5 hour core sleep pattern for rest of the week, unless I solve the midday-nap puzzle

But you said this was vegetarian?!!

I should probably not share this story because it shows what an idiot I can be but what the hell, it's funny.

Once upon a time...actually in 2006, I was working in Germany for the prestigious FIFA World cup 2006 project. I was just a young man then and had so much enthusiasm for learning new things and acquiring new skills. Since, we (myself and a couple of colleagues) were living in a hotel we used to go out quite often, as it got us away from the humdrum routine of eating packaged, ready-to-eat Indian food in our hotel room.

This one time we went to the little mall-type place situated under the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof (Frankfurt Main Railway Station). We saw a pizza shop and decided to try it. I had been boning up on German language (I knew none when I went there the first time), and by now I thought I could order a pizza in Deutsche. (While we call both of them German in English language, the German word for German language is Deutsche and for a German man it would be Deutscher pronounced doe-itch and doe-itch-ay).

My colleague was also Indian but she was not vegetarian. So her ordering was simple. She just pointed to a pizza she liked and ordered a slice. These pizzas were the huge, industrial-size type where you ordered a slice not a whole pizza unless you had your 3 wives and 19 children with you to help you!

When it was my turn I cleared my throat and started in with my fantastic (I thought so) German, while keeping my East Delhi accent.

Me: "Haben Sie vegetarisch pizza?" (Do you have vegetarian pizza?"
The girl at the counter: "Ja. Das ist vegetarisch." (Yes, this is vegetarian.) She pointed to one.
Me: "Ja. Eine, bitte und eine Cola Light." (Yes, one please. And a Diet Coke).

I was pleased as a dog who's just landed a flying saucer when I joined my colleague at a table with my winnings from the purely German encounter!

The pizza was exquisite!

I liked it so much that I decided to get one slice wrapped up for later. I was addicted to internet chatting during that period and usually got peckish about 1 AM or so.

I went to the girl, pointed to the same pizza and asked for another slice.

She nodded, "Ja. Fisch?"

I shook my head, "Nein. Vegetarisch."

She shook her head, "Nein, das ist fisch!"

"What??", my mind went into a tailspin and I very quickly forgot the few words of German that I knew! This girl was telling me that this pizza was not vegarian but Fish! I recalled with distress that every time I told a German friend that I was vegetarian their first question was, "So do you eat fish?". For Germans Fish is vegetarian!

I tried again, "But you said this was vegetarian?!!"

She nodded, "Ja. Ja. Vegetarisch."

I had a sinking feeling in my gut now, "But you are saying this is fish?!"

She nodded again, "Ja, ja, fisch."

I was thinking if it'd be okay if I killer her a little bit. But I couldn't because she was being so sweet and polite. It wasn't her fault she didn't know a word of Englisch! My friend's German was limited to pointing at things and holding up her fingers for quantity so no use asking her to pitch in!

Finally, with the help of a LOT (and I mean a LOT!) of hand gestures and some slow and repeated German, the girl explained to me that the pizza I had ordered was indeed Vegetarisch, but it was sold out between then and now, and she had replaced it with a pizza that contained fish.

Oh my god! I breathed a 2.3 miles long breath of relief and thanked her sincerely for explaining all that to me!

To this day, whenever I think about that incident, I can't help but smile. I am not likely to ever forget when I had vegetarian pizza German style!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 45 - 6th March

Evening 6th:
I was busy today and out of the house so I didn't have the time to take my nap as per the plan today. But good thing is that I was involved in something very creative around my nap time and I didn't feel any loss of energy or loss of creativity then or even later till 1900.

I got home about 1915 and after consideration decided to at least try and stay biphasic even tonight. So, took a nap from 1935 to 2005. Fell asleep easy and woke up when the alarm went off, but felt sleep dep throughout. It felt like being in-between a long nap and a night's sleep while living monophasically. It wasn't horrible though, just a bit off-putting from handling any projects or being creative.

While I was going about doing things during this period, it occurred to me that on polyphasic, even if you are sleeping only from 2 to 5 hours, it'd be important to rest your body and mind periodically. My back would still ache if I sit in front of the laptop 6 hours straight at home.

And, I was feeling stressed as I keep thinking about one or project or another during this time. Tonight it was also because of the deviation from schedule and the sleep dep, but I think it would hold true, or maybe more so, in case of polyphasic.

So, I would need to vary my activities and mix and match different type of activities in a single waking period and also take time out to just sit back and watch a movie or TV show for a while. Fortunately, I have a huge backlog of movies and TV shows that I need to go through and I can try and make a dent in that.

I had several options for core sleep tonight. I could consider the nap a valid one and sleep 4.5 hour core. I could consider today an exception and sleep 6  hours to make up for the missed and botched-up nap. Or I could be a fool and continue with my 3-hour core sleep attempt despite today's variation.

Morning 7th:
I went with the first option and went to bed at midnight with an alarm for 0445. At 0445, I did wake up by the alarm but instead of hitting "Off" I hit "Snooze" by accident, which resulted in 10 more minutes of sleep.

It was still hard to wake up as I was very sleepy, but 5 O'clock I somehow consider more urgent because I don't get breakfast at home or get to do anything on the laptop before leaving if I am not up by 5. So, I got up at 0455.

If I could make a fixed, permanent schedule, I'd use some auxiliary alarm support like video playlists etc. It's tedious to have to change them every day.

Energy levels today are okay, not great. Some feeling of sleep dep.

Some time this week I want to transition to triphasic by adding a midday nap and reducing core sleep to 3 hours. I have permission to use my lunch break for nap, but I still need a space. Space, the final frontier, after all.

The reason for the love for triphasic is that I have added another project to my life and with the time I waste in playing around, I still need more time to work on my projects. Plus, I still find the idea of Uberman quite romantic. And I have done stupider things in my life!

Biphasic sleep log - Day 44 - 5th March

Evening 5th:
Okay, I liked this better. Since I had an extra-long noon nap, I took the evening nap a little late.From 1905 to 1935.

It took longer to fall asleep but not too long, about 15 minutes. I woke up at 1930 and realized I had 5 more minutes. So slept longer and did wake up in 5 minutes by the alarm. I had made the captcha 6-point now and faster in speed. Even without that though it was not hard to wake up.

Feeling fine. Energy level good. No headache now.

Planning to sleep 4.5 hours tonight from 0130 to 0600. We'll see if I have the energy to stay up till 0130. 

Morning 6th: Oh, I love biphasic! Slept from 0130 till 0600 meaning that I went to bed at 0115 and fell asleep by 0130. I noticed a drop in energy only around 0100 so it seems that my body is used to that timing and gets ready for sleep as per schedule. I woke up at 0430, right on the dot of 3 hours and felt like I could get up and I would have if I didn't have a busy day ahead of me where I am expected to operate at peak performance. So I slept again and woke up at 0630 by the alarm. It took some willpower to wake up but not a lot and I solved the captcha in one try. Energy levels good. Mood great. This is what I love about biphasic, I had to start my day early and leave at 0830 but I still had an hour and a half to play before getting ready. And I had time for breakfast!

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Biphasic sleep log - Day 43 - March 4th

Evening 4th:
I wasn't feeling very sleepy even as I got home about 1715. But then as I relaxed, I started feeling sleepy, about 1745. So, just relaxed but stayed up until 1800 and then napped.

Didn't do any subconscious programming, didn't need to countdown. Fell asleep almost immediately. And woke up about 1822. Much before the alarm. Just got up then.

Almost 20:00 now. Feeling great, fresh, energetic, hungry and in the mood to play guitar after I eat.

Morning 5th:
Okay, not very happy with the inconsistency of biphasic this morning.

Started feeling sleepy about midnight last night. But I didn't want to sleep too early as that ends in oversleeping. So, I stayed up and finally went to bed about 0130, setting the alarm for 0430 (3 hours) and another one for 0700 as failsafe.

I did wake up at 0430, but turned the alarm off. Finally woke up at 0630 and had trouble getting up. Also had a headache. So, I got up, feeling okay other than the headache.

Then by noon I was feeling tired and sleepy. So decided to take a nap, thinking it'd help me acquire some energy for the rest of the day.

Nap from 12:20 to 12:50. It was planned that way. But when I did wake up at 1250, I was still tired, lower back aching, headache still there and very sleepy. So I decided to sleep more without another alarm. Slept till 1358. Again I wasn't happy about it. Was still feeling quite sleepy.

It is astonishing that I can solve the 5-point memory challenge to turn off the alarm without coming fully awake. I am astonished, but not pleased. It pisses me off. I might make the challenge harder. And I have some other ideas to fix this.

For tonight, the plan is to keep the evening nap, sleep 4.5 hours core as I have a busy day tomorrow and won't get time for noon nap, maybe not even for evening nap.

Actually, I am so sick of oversleeping on core, I feel like going for Uberman directly. But I know that won't work out right now. 

How to avoid spam with minimal effort

So, you click the link for the information and find out that you'll need to register in order to grab that file/video or other information! You groan, knowing full well now you'll be adding another source to all the people who already send you junk mail or spam as it's called.
But you want what the site has to offer so you have no other choice but to enter a valid email address. Because you know that you'll need to get an activation link from there first. You know what I am talking about, right?

People have different ways of handling this problem, including keeping one email address just for spam. I have a better solution.

I don't usually review a lot of websites but some things are so good that I feel selfish for not sharing them. I will just tell you about this website and then you can decide if you want to use it or not.

Let me clear in the beginning that the website has no affiliate programs, no rewards, no point system, so I am not getting anything by recommending and I can't really get anything because they don't make any money from it. I have to say this because after you see how strongly I recommend this site you'll wonder.

First piece of info, the website URL - www.spamgourmet.com

I won't talk about the design or anything, it's irrelevant. They provide several options to avoid spam, they are all explained on the website. The approach of the website is that you can have a simple solution and don't spend any time on maintaining it, just use it. Or you can create a slightly more complex solution where you'll have to do some periodic maintenance but you will have more control.

All of it is free and painless no matter what solution you choose. And you can switch between them any time and mix and match.

Registration is simple, just your (real) email address and password.

Here's a description of the solution I use and how it works for me. I have created a secret word, let's say it's sunny (I am not gonna share my secret, you know ;) ). And I choose a servername, a suffix for my disposable email addresses. Yes, that's what it's all about, creating email addresses that you can just throw away after use.

That's it, once I create the word, I am done on spamgourmet.

Now part 2. I come to a website where I need to register in order to get an activation link and membership. Suppose the website is www.adobe.com and I can't download PDF viewer without registration.

So, I register and create a new email address, on the fly, without any other set up. My address would be adobe.2.sunny@spamgourmet.com.

Let me analyse this for you piece by piece.
adobe - this can be any word, I use the name of the site so I can remember it later.
2 - this is how many emails they can send me. First 2 emails to this address will be forwarded to me, by Spamgourmet.com after that, they'll disappear into the black hole.
sunny - this is my secret word. I need to keep it very secret or anyone can create email address and spam me.
spamgourmet.com - You can select from one of many domain names like this, I prefer one that doesn't have the word spam in it. Just in case the sites start getting smart.

All of this is changeable, just by logging into spamgourmet.com. In normal functioning, I never have to go back to spamgourmet.com again. It'll just keep working.

But, suppose I need to log into my Adobe account again and I forgot my password. Now they'll send me a new password when I click the link "Forgot password" but it'll go to that email which doesn't come to my real email box any more.

Simple solution. I log into spamgourmet.com and find the address I used for adobe. They are all logged there, but I don't need to care about them until I need one from the past like now. For each one, I can see the address, the quota I had allowed it, and the number of emails they sent that were not forwarded.

Here I can increase the quota, let's say by 1, so their next email WILL be forwarded to me now. I could increase it by 20 if I wanted to or for all time as well.

That's all it takes. I can't praise this site enough! They have simply made my life easier.

Spamgourmet never sells my info, never sends me a single email that's not forwarded or asked for (like if I forget my spamgourmet password), they just never bother me in anyway.

I have been using this site for several years now and I have found it the most customizable and easiest to use solution. 

Riddle of the day

Pre-warning: I would not post the answer to this question here. Anyone who can't think of the answer or can't find it via Google can email me for the right answer.

Warning: The answer is more complex than the question. If trying to balance your checkbook makes you giddy, do not attempt this!

Riddle:
Here are the parameters of the riddle.
A man dies and goes to the transition place.
He sees two doors.
One door is the Valley of Pain, the other is Garden of Paradise.
Both doors are unmarked and look exactly the same.
There is a guard in front of each door. (2 guards total)
The man is allowed to ask one question of either of the guards. (Total one question only).
What question should he ask so that he can DEFINITELY get into the Garden of Paradise?

Your time starts now.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 42 - 3rd March 2011

It occurred to me that I record this log every day and it's as official-sounding and as bland as the "Captain's log, star date 13th...today we found this new planet.." you know? So, let's see if we can use our creative writing skills a bit today.

Evening 3rd:
(Action novel)
As I stood on the cold, windy platform on the slightly bright day looking along the rails for the train that would transport me home away from the boring quagmire that I call office I could not help but realize that I was not as tired as I was yesterday this time. Attributing it to my good nap yesterday and the longer 4.5 hours core sleep last night, I dismissed it from my mind and focused on the bright headlight of the train approaching me at 30 miles and hour and slowing down as it reached closer and closer...

(Horror)
I made it a point not to look my fellow passengers in the eye. Taking out the Samsung Galaxy Tab like it was my only friend in the world I set it up on the seatback table and focused on it with intent as it played gaudy, colourful images, filling the small screen with colours that were supposed to be cheerful and yet... (I was watching Band Baja Baraat)

(Romance)
Ah, the beauty of an afternoon, after a hard(?) day of work! It was a pleasure to slip into bed and feel the soft caress of the duvet against my skin as I slipped off to sleep just as the clock was showing 6 PM on a beautiful March evening.

In about 15 minutes I drifted slowly out of the hazy mist of my dreams and into the real world. Since there was still time, I let myself float on the wings of those fluffy clouds again and start another dream. In another 5 minutes I was ready to wake up as the soft chimes (beeps) of my mobile alarm filled my bedroom. I felt refreshed and happy.

Morning 4th:
(Science fiction)
The clock on the dash panel of my personal productivity enhancer device (laptop) was reading a few minutes past midnight when I decided that it was time to give my microprocessor a rest. I had decided to try a shorter, 3 hour period of rest-and-rejuvenation (sleep) today so I set my automatic, personal mobile device to sound a sonic signal at exactly 30 minutes past 3 in the morning.

The device kept up its bargain but I didn't. I had set up a 5-point-blinking-dot-path challenge for myself that I'd have to solve in order to turn the alarm off. (Feature of my app GentleAlarm). I managed to solve the challenge but still managed to slide back into slumber.

(Mills & Boon)
My emotions were mixed when the backup alarm woke me up at 0530. On the outside I seemed to be perfectly healthy and fine, except for sleep-laden eyes, but on the inside I was enraged for wasting 2 hours of the night that I could have put to good use.

I struggled to open my eyes (took a lot of willpower) and looked at the email from an ex-girlfriend. It said something about discipline and regret that I found all too relevant to my state of mind in the moment.

(Star Trek)
Captain's log, Star Date 4th March, year 2011.
Energy levels: Fully charged
Brain activity: Optimum level
Physical condition: 99.8% peak
Creativity: No tests conducted.
Course: Same schedule to be followed until further notice.
End log.

Thought of the day - 4th March 2011

 "We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons."

-          Jim Rohn

Biphasic sleep log - Day 41 - March 2nd

Evening 2nd March:
The sleep dep was very strong in the later part of the afternoon and by the time I got home I was single-mindedly thinking only of sleep. I had left early today so I was home about 1715 and decided to get done with the nap so I'd have a single big chunk of time afterwards. Not to mention that I was sleepy the half hour would have been totally wasted.

So, nap from 1730, alarm set for 1800. Fell asleep very quickly, I think in like 5 minutes. Woke up 2-3 minutes before the alarm, feeling refreshed. I should stress here that other than biphasic habits, I also program my subconscious to wake up in 20 minutes and wake up refreshed.

Morning 3rd March:
Last night I went to bed at midnight to sleep till 0400. I like to have 2 hours before getting ready for work, so I can do some playing around as well as some guitar in the morning.

It didn't work as well as I planned. I woke up at 0400 with the alarm, but even though I was trying to wake up, I nodded off without warning. To wake up again at 0448. This time I got out of bed.

I still had time to play 15 minutes of guitar other than playing around on the laptop but I still didn't like the fact that I overslept.

I have been thinking about it and reading up on the topic again, and it seems like my best bet would be to go to 3 hours rather than 4 since I am not only getting less sleep with 4 hours, I am also going against the grain by not following the 90 minute cycles.

Then if I do 3 hour core, I might have to actually change to Everyman sleep or E3 as it's called by polyphasers. Due to some change at my work, I will be able to get a nap during my work day, which would make polyphasing possible. With my super-power (the ability to go into REM almost immediately) I will be able to make use of the nap too.

Against this is the fact that, in another month, I would no longer have this work, work-day or the work schedule. Then I might not have the facility to nap in the day. But then I can go back to my old biphasic.

Hmm, fact of the matter is, I am just very excited at the prospect of being able to reduce my sleep further and feeling even better (2 naps are better than one.)

Starting this weekend, I am enrolled on a course that occupy my whole Sunday for 4 weekends. That means I won't even be able to have biphasic sleep on those days.

Ok things are going to change but I don't know in what direction yet. Watch this space and you'll be the first to know what I decide. ;) 

Biphasic sleep log - Day 40 - 1st March

Evening 1st:
I have to admit I had sleep dep today. Not the worst I have had in my life, but still quite strong. Esp. when I got into an afternoon meeting, I had to try everything just to not nod off. I succeeded but with much effort.

So when I got home, 1740, I was ready for my nap. Still wait till exactly 1800. Then took the 20 minute nap. It was good tonight. No interruptions.

Felt good after the nap, quite refreshed, active and hungry.

Morning 2nd:
Started feeling sleepy about 2300 last night. Although I could stay up, it felt like staying up late night on monophasic not on biphasic. On biphasic, even between 1830 and 0100 I feel awake like it's normal day time, there is no effort required to stay up.

Oh, I just remembered, I had tea with my dinner around 2000. And I have read that caffeine, when it wears off, creates a fall in the energy. Could that have affected my performance. No idea but I will try to avoid tea a little more and see how things go. After all, this is all a scientific experiment.

I was doing stuff in Second Life so finally got to bed about 0113. Set the alarm for 4 hours at 0530 (15 minutes falling asleep margin), and a safe alarm at 0600.

It was easy to fall asleep, less than 15 minuets I think. I "think" I woke up once in the night from a unique, never-before kind of dream. Because of the uniqueness of the dream and the strange sensations thereafter (all LD and AP related stuff), I tried to look at the time but didn't want to move my head even to look at the project on the ceiling. So I don't know what time it was.

Woke up at 0530 by the alarm and got up with some effort. Could not get breakfast today because I had only half an hour extra before getting ready, so I thought I need to sleep early or sleep less.

I already have several projects all in top priority, (one of them is my guitar) and expect another one or two to be added from this weekend. This puts me in the same position of wanting more time from my day. I don't have the situation where I could try Uberman so I will have to either try a 3 hour core or make it triphasic with 3 hour core and another nap.

I am still yawning, but it's not unlike the feeling that I have after normal monophasic night.

Absolutely absurd!

Some Hindi songs are so obviously absurd, yet they becomes classics, just because of the love the artists pour into their performance and how they are directed and used in the movie. One such song, that somebody just reminded me of today is a Kishor Kumar classic:

Jab hum honge 60 saal ke, aur tum hogi pachpan ki,
Bolo preet nibhaogi na tab bhi apne bachpan ki?

Akbar-Birbal: The Harbinger of Bad Luck

AH's latest post, reminded me of an Akbar Birbal story.


A poor worker who used to work in Emperor Akbar's palace had the misfortune to be considered unlucky. He was one-eyed and according to a superstition it was very bad luck to see his face first thing in the morning. The legend went that you would not get food all day if you saw his face in the morning.

One day, when the Emperor woke up early and strolled out to his palace balcony. This one-eyed servant, let's call him Sirju, was doing some chores there and the Emperor happened to look at him. That made Akbar groan with disgust as he knew that his day would be ruined now.

Later that day, while coming down the steps of his court, the Emperor suddenly slipped and sprained his ankle. More than the pain, the Emperor felt anger because he blamed the servant, (what did we name him?, yes, Sirju), for his injury.

From his sickbed, Akbar ordered that Sirju be arrested and beheaded at sundown. When some courtiers tried to protest, the Emperor shot them down. Nobody was willing to risk their own lives for the well-known harbinger of bad luck.

As usually happens in these stories, Birbal was the last resort of the poor and the downtrodden for justice. Sirju's wife went to Birbal, crying and begging for mercy for her husband. Birbal promised to try and help him.

A little while before the beheading was to be conducted, Birbal went to see the Emperor and asked if he thought his harsh decision regarding Sirju was just. Despite Birbal's well-reasoned argument in favour of forgiveness and mercy, the Emperor refused to budge from his position.

He said, "Birbal, We (this is the royal WE)  are doing a service to all the citizen's of Agra by eliminating this constant bad luck that plagues them every day. If you see his face in the morning, you have to go hungry for the day..nobody should have to live in such fear."

Birbal replied calmly, "I believe you are right, Your Majesy! But consider this, this morning you saw his face and you sprained your ankle. But the poor wretch happened to gaze upon the Majesty's glourious countenance...and he's losing his life! Who would you say is more unlucky for this fellow humans?"

[Daily soap music and 3-shot close-up zoom shots as Akbar's head jerks up and he stares at Birbal in disbelif!]

Then, of course, the Emperor freed the poor man, and gave him some gold coins so that he'd not file a defamation case against him. ;)

Moral of the story? Never go to see an Emperor before he has had his morning coffee.

Biphasic sleep log - Day 39 - 28th Feb

Evening 28th:
I did feel a bit tired and sleepy towards end of the day (end of day being my nap time), but nothing too horrible.

I was home by 1740 and in bed at 1755, ready to nap. I started the nap at 1800 with an alarm for 1830 as usual. But I got interrupted by a phone call at 0607 when I just drifting off to sleep. The call lasted only a few seconds but I had to go back to sleep now. I was able to sleep easily, but since I didn't change the alarm time after the phone call, I think I slept only about 15 minutes.

But as I woke up by the alarm, I didn't feel too much of a need for willpower to get up. Evening time is my fun time, so maybe I was eager to get started, but felt fresh after washing my face.

Morning 1st March:
Since I didn't have a normal, regulation-size nap, I decided to go to sleep early and take a full 4.5 hour core sleep. I wasn't very tired or anything, but I was a bit bored and didn't feel like tackling a new project. I felt like I could sleep if I tried .

Falling asleep was great as usual. I had set an alarm for 0430, which I don't remember turning off, but when the fail-safe alarm at 0500 went off, I got up. Had to rub eyes a little and use some willpower but it wasn't too bad.

I had an early morning for which I wanted to be in good shape, and I am happy to report that I did very well in the meeting.

Sunil out!