Context menu in OS X for Firefox 2.0

In Firefox 1.5.x on OS X, I could bring up the Context Menu for a link by pressing and holding the mouse button. But since I upgraded to Firefox 2.0, I noticed that this technique does not work anymore. So the only option left was to use CTRL + mouse button to bring the context menu. Now this was getting annoying. Why would you break backward compatibility?

If you want to get the old behaviour back here is the solution.
1. Open Firefox 2.0 on your OS X machine.
2. In the location bar, type: about:config.
3. This should load a page with list of all preferences and their values.
4. Select the preference: ui.click_hold_context_menus. Notice that its value will be set to false by default.
5. Double click on this preference. Notice that now the value will change to 'user set' and true.
6. Restart your Firefox.
7. Your press and hold the mouse button should now bring up the context menu.

Cheers!

Corporate ... Greed for the lack of a better word is bad

Corporate is the story of two tycoons fighting for control in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) section. A US corporation Freescon (hopefully this is not a real name :)) wants to enter the growing Indian fast food market. But due to the red tape, it has to partner with local companies. Govt. of India is also considering disinvestment in its ailing PSU MBD or Maharashtra Bottling and Distribution. Now the value of this PSU is in crores of rupees (or millions of dollars) and it is also situated on a viable piece of land.

So the war begins. Swords are drawn, cries are shouted, spies are put on payrolls, honey traps are planted, govt. officials are bribed. In short, both the rival companies Marwa and Sehgal do all the things that Chanakya or Rasputin would have recommended to achieve their goal.

Now this is not just a business story, it also has a light vein of a love story between Nishi and Ritesh. Ritesh is the brother in law of Sehgal and Nishi is an empowered woman and top executive in the Sehgal group. In Nishi's bad times, Ritesh has given her a helping hand and support. So Nishi tries to help Ritesh with his new project.

But if everything goes smoothly, why would you and I watch a movie? Marwa group wins the PSU bidding by bribing a minister in the state govt. To encounter this move, Nishi steals the secret of Marwa's new soft drink from the CEO of Marwa group using what she could use best, or worst for that matter. Although this scandal ruins the life and career of the CEO of Marwa group, it gives Sehgal an edge in the making of new soft drink. But alas, what goes around, comes around. And the water that Sehgal was using to make the soft drink is found to contain pesticides. So the reputation of Sehgal group along with its market value is reduced to dust due to the lawsuits filed against it.

Here the movie takes an interesting turn. To save his skin, Sehgal asks Nishi to take all the responsibility and face the inquiry commission. Poor Nishi, in one stupid emotional moment she loses what she has been trying to achieve all her life and goes behind the bars.

So what happens in the end? I will not tell you. Although the ending did not come as a surprise to me, the movie has been directed well and lives up to the expectations.

Among the good points I would like to mention, everyone has acted really well. Especially Vinay Apte's role of a corrupt state minister is worth watching. It is heartening to see that talented Marathi actors are moving beyond the roles of housekeepers. This is the second movie in which I liked Bipasha's acting. She has done quite well as a ruthless executive and also as a helpless single mom. Other actors including Rajat Kapoor and Raj Babbar are veterans what more can I say.

The movie is a bit long for me. Also there were some logical flaws. But I can live with that.

To summarize the message I think "Greed, gentlemen, for the lack of a better word, is bad" (Thanks to the movie - "Wall Street" for this quote).

पडू अाजारी...

Note: To read this post, your browser needs to be able to display Devanagari fonts.

लहानपणी अाजारी पडलो की अाजी एक गाणं म्हणायची.
"पडू अाजारी मौज हीच वाटे भारी ..." जणू काही अाजारी पडलं की सगळं काही हातात मिळतं अाणि शाळेला पण सुट्टी अशा अर्थाचं ते गाणं होतं. पुढचं गाणं काही अाठवत नाही. पण अजूनही अाजारी पडलो की मला पहिली अाठवण होते ती माझ्या अाजीची, वडलांच्या अाईची.

कर्जतच्या जवळ कोंढाणं म्हणून एक गाव अाहे. एकदा मी तिथं कुठल्याश्या उत्सवाच्या निमित्तानं गेलो होतो. भर पावसाचे दिवस. अन त्यात मला झालेली चिकार सर्दी. वर तिथं मी काय तेलकट खाल्लं हे तो रामच जाणे. पण मला शेवटचं अाठवतं ते म्हणजे मी टेम्पोतून कसाबसा उतरलो अाणि थेट घरी गेलो. काहीही सुचत नव्हतं अाणि डोकं एकदम जड झालेलं. सगळं खाल्लेलं घशाशी अालेलं.

घरी गेल्यावर अाजीनं फर्स्टक्लास चहा बनवून दिला अाणि दडपे पोहे खायला दिले. मग मी मस्तपैकी अाजीची गोधडी (तिला मी 'लाल' म्हणतो, ती वेगळीच स्टोरी अाहे) घेऊन अाणि चहा, पोहे अाणि एक पुस्तक घेऊन वाचत बसलो. नंतर छानपैकी पातीचहा पण प्यायलो. बरं कधी वाटलं ते कळलंच नाही.

गेले दोन दिवस मला खूप बरं नव्हतं. सर्दी, खोकला, ताप ... एकंदरीत तब्ब्येतिची तुतारी वाजली होती. पण अाता बरं नसेल तर जवळ घ्यायला अाणि थोपटायला अाजी नसते. फक्त तिची गोधडी असते अाणि अाठवणी.

Deutsch, Warum Nicht?

For so many days I have been trying to find a good source to learn German. I started with a course that had a book, a cassette and an interactive CD. The course itself was very good. But unfortunately the CD would not be OS X compatible, only Windows. So I had to find another alternative. Secondly I would need the CD all the time.

I literally went to the public library 'n' number of times in search of books. I love the US public library system, it is awesome. Their resources were really good. So I started with an old book written by an English author. The format of the book was very similar to the one with which I started learning English; Mr. Tarkhadkar's English grammar. But soon I realized that this approach would not work in practice as I was not going to write exam based on that book. Then I got another book. It claimed to be equivalent of 2 years college course. It was quite a comprehensive book and I was almost halfway through it when I stopped. Again, the reason was it was not compatible for my needs. It had day-to-day dialogs and grammar. But it was all text and I needed some conversation that I can listen to. Learning a new language is sort of like learning Waltz. If you do not have anyone to practise with, you will soon forget. I had also got some exercise books and some books about simple daily conversations. But again, they would not contain grammar. So sometimes you just need a different approach even though the existing ones are very good in their own place.

And at this point, I found a nice website; Deutsche Welle. It has a very user friendly section on beginner German course. They have the dialogs online. In addition to that, they also have transcripts of those dialogs. They have small exercises for each chapter and word lists. Another thing I liked about them is that they provide simple phrases for a conversation. Even at the beginner level, the course has 4 sections. Each section has 26 chapters.

So far I am doing good. I have solved all the exercises and listened to all the conversations. I have completed 15 chapters from series I. That means I have a long way to go. But now I think I have finally found my source to learn a language I have always liked. So I am quoting their slogan here as well as in the title.

Deutsch, warum nicht? German, why not?