Hey, below is the blog mulletization code for WordPress powered weblogs. It’s damn easy. Have fun!


<?php 
  // to count posts inside WP loop
  $postCount=0; 
  // number of full posts to display
  $displayNumPosts = 5; 
?>
<?php
  // WP loop
  if(have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); 
?>
    <?php
      if($postCount<$displayNumPosts) {     
    ?>        
        <!-- TEMPLATE CODE TO SHOW FULL POST -->
        <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
        <?php the_title(); ?>
        </a>
        <div class="content">
        <?php the_content(); ?>
        </div>    
    <?php } else { ?>
        <!-- TEMPLATE CODE TO SHOW MULLETED POST -->
        <?php the_time('M j, y') ?> 
        <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">
        <?php the_title(); ?>
        </a>        
    <?php } ?>    
    <?php     
      // increment $postCount
      $postCount++;   
    ?>
<?php
  // WP loop ends
  endwhile; endif;
?>


Hmmm… I thought the main page was getting too damn long, and also people didn want to read all of the older content. So, I mulleted the main page. So now, the page shows 5 most recent posts and then gets tired and spits only post titles with hyperlinks. Nifty, eh?

Have done this through PHP code in template. Maybe making a plugin for this will be a good idea!

Here is a very good discussion on ‘blog mulletization’ on Jon’s blog.

Guys, I got the audio of Rang De Basanti recently. And as I listen to it, I am liking it more and more. The music is awesome (A R Rahman hain bhai!), theme is good and the tracks are very diverse. And for heaven’s sake, its not all about loads of some silly mush. Believe that – it even has a track for you and your mother. I hope the movie also turns out to be that good.

Seen the “pay service tax or your child will harass you” ad campaign lately? The concept is very novel at its core.

This puts all defaulting dads in an awkward position. They are goin to be nagged by their children if they pay service tax or not. Children dont know or care what service tax is and why should one pay it etc. All they understand is that if their dads dont pay it, then they r the bad guys. And no caring dad can afford to present that picture to their children. Gotcha! Good work tax guys!

Way out: Erring dads, learn to lie to your children. Eye to Eye.

Hey, Uzanto has a new website – http://www.uzanto.com/. It is a much better design than the earlier one and focusses on what we are trying to do in a better way. And yes, its on WordPress. Yippee!

Saw the latest Ford Fiesta ad featuring Baby B? Fidaeen ad. Aint it?

Heh. Guys you wont sell ur stuff by showing Baby B ridin it at 1 in night. Need to tell whats so cool about it man!

It came, it shook, and it left us bamboozled. The most coveted exam in India, the tough-nut-to-crack, the ticket to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management and the what not – Common Admission Test or in short, CAT 2006, lived up to its expectations of being unpredictable. The best of strategies needed thorough rework to crack it. In one line I would say that it needed good practice and a very good strategy to kill the CAT this time. The paper was not tough qualitatively (except DI maybe!). Anyway, at the end of it all, I feel amused. Quite amused actually!

I reached the exam hall full 45 mins before start – at 10:15. Man, I was bored to death till it started. Reading some displays carrying sanskrit shlokas, traffic rules, stuff on moral education etc put by school students on walls of hall was fun indeed. And, then looking at all those faces with ‘just bring it’ look made me chuckle! More than 5 months of preparation for this – they wanted to beat it up badly, baby.

And then it started. I took a hurried look at the paper, made a few quick decisions like a top manager and jumped onto DI 2 marks questions. Got first 4 questions and started feeling ‘it’. Then wasted approx. 20 mins on 8 questions which did not yield any answer. Dented, I looked further and solved 4 more. So, I was done with DI in about 45 mins. Could have done some 1 markers if I had not wasted time in those 8 questions. Anyway, I was happy with the start.

Then I picked up Quant. This is where I started to loose. Now, the time was running faster than my watch. I was trying hard to solve them, but they didn budge. I realized I hadnt practiced much. There were so many which I felt I should have got, but I didn. Anyway, fast forward 40 mins and came Verbal Ability. I realised it did not have many passages for reading comprehension and the questions were a touch tougher than usual. Till this time the ‘it’ feeling had transformed into ‘i dont care’ thing. Probably, thats why verbal went smoothly (not good though).

And alas it ended.

Ok. So, why am I amused at my debacle? Well, as I am writing this, I am feeling a very strange feeling inside me – utter respect for CAT and the urge to tame it just for the heck of it. CAT is a very unusual test. It takes a lot out of you and one really needs to be on top of their game to counter its challenges and unpredictability. Frankly, I am impressed with the shock that it can give you. Probably, I am starting to enjoy the challenge. Maybe I will become obsessed with the idea of taming it. Just maybe.

Endnote for everyone who read till here – I ran into CAT without any serious preparations. I am not even highly inclined to do MBA at this stage and the _rest_ is another story altogether. As I perceive it, to crack CAT, one needs to be a master strategist. You dont write CAT, You play mindgames with it.

I just love my car’s brakes and also that of the car behind me, for they saved me at least twice today, if not more.

Man, Delhi traffic is soon (I mean very soon) getting dangerous. Jams, bad roads etc dont look like a big pain to me now, for they just slow you down. My biggest concern is the sudden halts in which you need to come from 60+ to 0 in less than 2 seconds. And also expect the guy behind you to do the same. Or else, what starts is a New York style chain smashing, one-by-one. Front and rear gets badly damaged. And you sit inside feeling concussions. I have been thru one and hence, I know how it is. Wasnt physically challenging, but it burnt a hole in my pocket!

The reasons for this could be many – bad lighting on roads and hence ppl spot a hurdle (like a big stone which fell off from the road partition) right when they are about to run it over OR a mad frustrated rickshaw puller coming into your lane without bothering to look at you OR (this is the funniest one) the guy ahead of you sees a road mantainence vehicle in his lane and keeps on moving at 80 until he is really close to it and thats when he realizes that the vehicle is actually not moving! screeeeeeech! booooom!

I am betting on Delhi Metro to make driving in Delhi a pleasure that once it was. Till then, God, keep me safe!

Guys! This is news!

We at Uzanto have rolled out MindCanvas. MindCanvas is an online research tool for anybody and everybody looking to get information architecture design, product design, brand positioning etc. research done in awesomely quick time with awesome results. With clever implementation of Game-like Elicitation Methods (GEM), it digs deep into your customer’s mind, thereby gaining otherwise impossible insights of how and what they think about your product/website. The whole survey taking experience is based on classical concepts of Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) and is written in Flash, thereby creating a compelling, engaging and satisfying user experience. And the cherry on the cake – it analyzes all the data collected using proven statistical methods and generates visually appealing and interactive ‘deliverables to go’ which you or your designers can use to play with the data. All this with rapid turnaround time. I mean it.

Read more about MindCanvas at Rashmi’s blog – she describes the vision behind GEM.

Jon also has written comprehensively about the vision behind MindCanvas and it being a RIA here.

Get a complete picture here.

Ask me if you don’t understand anything – spent over an year on this now! : D

I havent written anything in this space for over 2 months now!