Heluuuuuuuu

INSOMNIUM - Unsung (OFFICIAL ALBUM TRACK)

2011-09-02T23:17:00.000+05:30

Road Trip to Ooty

2011-08-16T01:05:00.002+05:30

This past weekend was an eventful one. Till last week we never had gone beyond the 400km limit on any road trip, but this was shattered last week and we made a new mark of 613km. The road trip wasn't about the kilometers or miles that we covered but was different from all of the road trips that I had done. Firstly, among the riders we had Vivek among us with his R15. Apart from that we had Pandeyji and theGook aka Harsha Gobledegook.

The journey plan was like this -
Start from Bangalore toward Mysore via NH209
From Mysore head to Ooty via Bandipur Forest / Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
Stay in Ooty overnight, roam around place near Ooty and return on the same day.

We started off a bit late, than the earlier planned time which was 4AM. We were four people in total, with one Avenger, one Thunderbird and one R15. So three bikers and one free loader :), who of course was our camera man for the journey. And why not this hunky fella, had got a rather expensive camera recently (a DSLR).

The trouble with DSLR owners these days is they are just addicted with clicking. No matter how useless the place be, they shall and will use the camera for whatever its worth. They will take pics from 100 different angles, use random effects which add no material value and then post the whole shabang on the social junkyards like Facebook, Google+ and Twitter. Someone help us!

The journey from Bangalore to Mysore was rather a dry one. We did not take the Mysore - Bangalore state highway, but rather took a different route. Nevertheless, since we were driving in the first half of the day, it wasn't much of an issue. When we were planning the whole trip (btw we did not spend more than 1 hour deciding and debating on it). we wanted a pleasurable journey on the road, with some natural scenery to enjoy along the way. The destination was not important, it was the road that was more important. So we decided on Ooty, as the journey to Ooty takes us through quite a long stretch of forest land. The journey through the forest turned out to be pretty boring, as no wildlife was visible. The only good parts were the smooth road and nice weather (with no rains).

The fun part began once we came out of the forest, and started climbing the hill towards Ooty. The road uphill had 36 hairpin bends, which kept us always closer to the gearbox and the breaking all along. After 200+ km, this added some fun and brought back the :) on our faces.

We stayed in a Ooty for the night and headed out for Conoor the next morning. Conoor was much warmer than Ooty and was filled with tea gardens. Not much to watch here, but the bends along the route were all that a roadtrip needs. We did see a Nano rushing uphill towards Dolphin Nose Viewing Point, which was rather a strange occurence, as I never had imagined such a small car capable of this. Also one major pain in the ass, were all the big car owners. These big cars, never have enough room on the city roads, just imagine how much space these cars hog when they try to move around a hill. And since these are expensive beastly cars, they would go at such crazy speed levels, that I can overtake them even in my sleep. But of course they wouldn't let me pass!

Loads of trip still left to go, I hope the next one will be even better :D

Insomnium - Beyond The Horizon 2011

2011-07-17T18:05:00.000+05:30

2011-06-29T14:53:00.001+05:30

Watch "Ghost Brigade - Clawmaster" on YouTube

Me and my........

2011-02-22T23:11:00.001+05:30

Songs fill are my inspiration source. Here are some words from Joe Sat's song, I Believe, which just fits my state of mind today

I've been out walking for hours.
I've got something on my mind.
How did we get here? where are we going?
....
I read the stories, see the photographs.
World's in a crazy space.
I've got to hold on to my dreams;
There's just no other place.
....
I believe
we can change anything.
I believe
we can rise above this.
I believe
there's a reason for everything.
I believe
in my dream.

Random 3/3

2010-11-24T09:14:00.002+05:30

This is my toothpaste moment, oh, I'll need to flash a smile
I'll be the super-absorbent-man, watch them flock to me in single file
And I'll need to do it with style, I need to keep me up to date
Swallowing the sun run another mile, it's overrated how we underrate

I dance in tune with what I fear
To do adrenaline
Completely rapt with what I hear
When passion colors everything
The songs I sing, from way out there to deep within
The face I wear behind my grin
......
I have a mind for simple things, but things are not of mind to simplify
There's always some loophole technicality you buy into and pay until you die
Money doesn't bring me joy, it's more like a darling dead weight
And I seem to have lost my appetite, it's underrated how we overrate
........
And when I'm finally brought to my senses
Parade the rain on my parade
Before I'm back to my defenses
To watch the whole thing escalate

Random 2/3

2010-11-23T05:47:00.000+05:30

In these days of manmade wonders we still bicker over flies
When you come seeking for forgiveness, I'll be forced to choose my side
If I deny you what you're searching, do I do it out of fear
Am I ruling out my reason, killing that which I hold dear
Out of my way I'm running, with an excuse just underway Reality is so daunting, and I've got no way to explain

Random 1/3

2010-11-21T23:10:00.001+05:30

I find it hard to live with all my choices
It's time to turn a deaf ear to those voices
Did you ever think to ask my opinion
Did you ever think to ask if i'm ok?

I've burned down every bridge that i've found
Now i limit myself to a six gun quota
I've played down every feelin' i've felt
And i bottled them up 'til the well ran over

Finance :D

2010-10-24T21:46:00.001+05:30

CEO -- Chief Embezzlement Officer.

CFO -- Corporate Fraud Officer.

BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.

VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.

P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the

market keeps crashing.

BROKER -- What my broker has made me.

STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.

STOCK ANALYST -- Idiot who just downgraded your stock.

STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets

equally between themselves.

FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.

MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.

CASH FLOW-- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.

YAHOO -- What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.

WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought

Yahoo @ $240 per share.

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now locked up in a nuthouse.

PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use.

Brobdingnagian !!!!

2010-10-16T11:37:00.001+05:30

Bike

2010-08-25T14:52:00.001+05:30

It’s been almost a month since I last rode my Avenger. I could hardly wait to get my hands on it the night I came back. It was parked in the office and it was pretty late in the night when I came back so I hardly had any options. The next day in the morning the first thing I did when I entered the office campus is to rush up the stairs to where the bike is parked and move the bike around to get a feel of the bike. It felt different but it was good to get back on the rider seat. I wanted to leave off with the bike but unfortunately the office day had just started. Avenger is a bit notorious when it comes to cold start. Often it fails to start off when you haven’t ridden it for some days. With this idea in mind I thought why not give the bike a warm up before I head off back home, so I headed off to the parking area and tried starting it using the electric start (unfortunately there is no kick start). Five minutes into the attempt but no avail. I left the bike there and came back up to my office desk. The latter half of that evening ended up researching on means to start my bike. An article suggested giving the bike a push and while in motion to switch on to gear one. Thankfully it worked.

While on the way back, the bike felt different. It wasn’t sounding bad or giving me hiccups but an improved responsiveness surprised me. It was as if I was riding freestyle with no hooks attached. Traffic didn’t play spoilsport and I got through the evening rush pretty decently given the chaos that Bangalore traffic is so used to. Now the bike only needed was a good wash. And thankfully enough it rained yesterday cleaning up the month full of dirt and other nuances. What a day :D

3 years :)

2010-08-07T01:19:00.000+05:30

Its been three years now. Back then I was a geeky guy who used love computers as if there is no one else. In these three years I have been to different cities and worked with different people, some of whom I still work with and some whom have already left the organization for different roads. During all these years, I learnt the most when I was in Delhi.

To my surprise today, it wasn't the technical know how that I learnt most during my stay there, but it was working with two of the most talented and hard working people that I would always remember. Both of these two people would leave the company I work for in a few months/days, and a lot of times I try to recollect how I first met them/was introduced to them. How I reacted when I met them, is a blur in my memory.

Among these two, one of them is from Kolkata who I guess by my approximation would definitely think of me as just another geek in town. Well when I was in Delhi I did try to impress the opposite, but my love for geeky computer knowledge was too much to avoid noticing. I still remember the way we had to travel from airport to guest house. We were three people traveling in a Wagonr and luggage occupying the fourth seat. Just imagine the seating layout in the situation and you would get the picture. Whenever I recollect that I feel like laughing at myself. Boy-o-boy what a dumbo I was !

Years pass by and somehow, the moments that you remember the most aren't the ones when you're at your greatest, but when you are caught off guard.
After being in Delhi for nearly six months, all I could blabber about when I met someone new was, "I don't want any more travel". I had been on the move for nearly two years and wanted an end to it. Now that I am back at a client site, I would like to blabber that again once more as soon as I get back :P

2010-03-27T12:49:00.000+05:30

All coding related articles will now appear on a separate blog.

http://codaramba.blogspot.com/

Dependency issues with log4j dependency in a maven project

2009-12-16T18:05:00.000+05:30

I added log4j to my maven project and what now I have a jms dependency even though I am not using it ? How to solve it ?

Solution: Exclude all the log4j dependencies in your pom.xml

Thanks:
http://onemanwenttomow.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/maven2-log4j-and-jmx-dependencies/

Bike n Book exhibition at Palace grounds

2009-11-14T21:11:00.000+05:30

Yet another weekend in bangalore, but this time around I was not stuck with my laptop but headed out to palace grounds.

Picasa links for the impatient [ PICASA ]

I had seen the banners for a car and bike show near my office and in the newspaper yesterday. I was pretty excited about it yesterday and had expected a cool bike exhibition there. So I finally landed up here at five in the evening outside the gate where currently there is also a book exhibition going on. The book exhibition had been on for a week now but no clue about it in the newspaper. Lucky day for me :) .

So four of us finally approached the gate where a long queue had been made for entering the stunts ground. Apparently as a part of the bike/car exhibition a stunk extravaganza had also been arranged for. Among the four of us we were really interested in seeing the bikes rather than the stunt tricks so we headed in to the exhibition hall. It cost us fourty nine rupees per head for the entry. To our surprise it wasn't what we had expected. The only pieces worth attracting attention were the Suzuki bikes Hayabusa and Intruder. They looked pretty heavy duty, but when I checked the ground clearance I quickly realized that these weren't meant for Indian roads where almost every road has a speedbreaker whether it is needed or not. Just for the record Intruder has just five inches of ground clearance. We then moved on to the other sections. There were the oldies, ..., Volkswagen Beetle and then there were the dirt racers and none the less the standard BMWs, Hondas, Hyundai, Tata, .....( Yawnnnnnnnnnnn) . To my surprise Yamaha was somehow missing the action. Summary, not worth the money I had paid to get in.

We then headed off to the books exhibition where the entry ticket was much lesser at around twenty rupees. When we saw the number of stalls at the entry gate we were amazed at how many stalls had been forced in (Around 320+ stalls and full of people). If was cramped in there and there was no air conditioning. There were so many stalls that one would easily get lost by the number of books that each one of them had. After a long time when we finally came out, two of us who were the least interested in going to the book exhibition had bought three books and the two of us who were very insistent on visiting the book exhibition ( that includes me ) had polybag's of food items in our hands :D

Sample Code for problems with using spring binding for forms on Appengine

2009-10-16T13:10:00.000+05:30

Sample code for resolution of http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine-java/browse_thread/thread/d93fd7385bf85bf7?pli=1

http://openanimator.googlecode.com/files/springwebbinding.zip

Boss + Twitter = Productivity

2009-10-12T12:01:00.000+05:30

Twitter increases productivity: "

Form Validation using Spring with Freemarker

2009-10-07T22:05:00.000+05:30

Form validation with Spring MVC (SimpleFormController) Freemarker

Here is a simple freemarker template for a form
<html> <body> <#include "spring.ftl" /> <@spring.bind "command" /> <@spring.showErrors /> <form method="POST"> <@spring.bind "command.field1" /> Field <input type="text" name="${spring.status.expression}" value="${spring.status.value?default("")}"> <@spring.showErrors /> <input type="submit"> </form> </body> </html>
The important thing to note here is that the spring freemarker macro to show errors is mentioned twice. The reason is that errors are specific to a bind path. If a error is rejected for a field ( something like ValidatorUtils.rejectIfEmpty(...) ) then it will appear only in bind scope of the field, i.e after you have done <@spring.bind "command.field1" /> . If you have a generic error, something which you create with errors.reject(...), then this will be for the object "command" and will appear in the first <@spring.showErrors />

I hope posts like these get solved

Airplanes and trains

2009-07-20T23:28:00.000+05:30

Aviation boom came a few years back. Today almost everyone who used to take a train in the past can now afford a flight. Air travel is now not an exclusive club. Yet most of us haven't really got used to this change. An airplane to most people sub consciously is still much like a train. As the welcome message announces the landing and advises not to switch on the phones, well that is the exact moment when people switch on their phone and get off their seat to grab hold of their luggage. People stand in a queue even though the stairs are not yet attached to the plane, much like in a train where people queue up when a station is to come up in a few moments and people want to avoid the incoming passengers at the station; though in our case we have no incoming flood of people.

Apart this comparison, there is something that I really liked about a train. With the number of people that travel in a train, there is always an animated conversation happening somewhere in the train for a definite reason. You will find a railway compartment where you won't find a person discussing politics, education, society and what not. All this is nowhere to be found on a airplane. People sit like dummies that have been exhausted by the amount of money they had to shell out for this journey aboard the A320 or some other plane. There's no fun. The only fun high up in the sky is either the eyecandy that carriers like kingfisher have aboard or the serene landscape made by aggregation of the nimbus clouds.

This time around I came back from Kolkata to Bangalore aboard an Airbus A320 airplane owned by Air India. I barely made it to the airport, just 30 minutes before the departure time, but was relieved to find that the flight status was still at SECURITY CHECK. Among all the airports that I have been, Kolkata seems to be in the sorriest of lot. In two years other airports like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai have undergone quite a lot of change but Kolkata seems to be at a status quo. This time I saw some construction going on at the Kolkata airport, I hope that its for the best. Air India has been in news for quite sometime now. Its broke and has yet to find a way to become profitable. If you get aboard an Air India flight you might get a glimpse of why it is in such bad shape. Where should I begin ... Ummm .... For starters, its an old organization. This normally shouldn't be the bad attribute for a company but well when you fail to see any young blood from ticket collection counter to the air strip, there is got to be something wrong with it. Imagine an air hostess ( not in a bad sense ! ), what does one picture. A well dressed polished lady, who is well versed in matters of hospitality. Well Air India is the exact opposite. Imagine a lady in the age group 30-50 with a bias towards the higher side and you have the exact picture of flight crew aboard this plane. I almost forgot; don't forget to factor in obesity that is normal with this age.

It has become quite a big post, and I believe cutting it short here is best to keep thing interesting till next time and give my phone a bit of rest and watch the traffic outside the Volvo bus which I have taken on the way back. Till next time chao.

Kingfisher Airlines no more KING

2009-06-21T21:17:00.000+05:30

Kingfisher Airlines
When I first stepped in a kinfisher airplane two years back it was a young airline, always yearning to attract more people. Though some people would on face object to the eyecandy abooard the flight, I would say it just a means with nothing wrong about it. At that time I used to relish the exquisite food that they used to dish out. But two years fast forward, the only thing that stands today is the cutlery. Massive fuel costs have totally diminished the healthy dose of fruits and other goodies that were a commonplace sometime back.Also the once 10+ channels is now reduced to pre recorded 3 channels. The airplane creaks a lot while landing.

Though there was one pleasant surprise. Kingfisher Airlines uses embedded linux behind the scenes for the onboard TV. :D

If I can get a Jet plane next time, I will take it next time.

Guitar Strings

2009-03-21T21:15:00.000+05:30

Its almost a year since I got my self a brand new guitar and it was about time that I change the guitar strings. For quite some time the thinnest of the pack ( string 1 or the bottom most string ) was sounding a bit wierd. It was looking a bit rusty so I decided that why not get it changed, it had been a long time since the strings got changed.

My brother had mentioned to me a new guitar shop that had opened up in the locality, which according to him has all the good parts. I trusted him and thus I got my first replacement pack from there, and to my surprise a mere pack of 6 strings cost me Rs. 500 . It was a pack of strings branded under the name of "Dean Markley". I had never changed my guitar strings so I was totally a noobie in this area, but due to my own over confidence, I did not check up any guides on howtos to restring a guitar. So as you can imagine, I messed it up and got a horribly over tensioned guitar that could go bust any moment. Consequently, I had to get another pair of strings. This time I went to another shop from where my brother usually gets the strings. From my brother's description I had imagined a big old shop with lots of customers and instruments, but much to my dismay it was a small shop, that had no customers and everything was under the a thin cover of dust. I again got a set of strings ( 6 of em ) , but this time I got the cheaper pack ! Boy o boy, I should have expected this earlier, the sound of these strings was pathetic. They didn't sound right, they were too light and just not suited for the guitar I had.

Thus I finally realized that with a good guitar, you need a good string to make it sound right or otherwise everything will go awry. Though along the course I realized how foolish I was to unload all the strings and then try to restring the whole batch in a go. Also a few broken string, due to excess tension, poor grip, etc got me to learn the practicalality of the Strain - Stress Yield Curve that I had long time back learnt in school, college and university but had never really understood it correctly.

So if any of you are planning to change your guitar string, I would recommend you to see atleast a few tutorials that are readily available on the internet before you get started. Believe me it will save you a lot of money !

Growing up or growing old

2009-02-28T19:41:00.000+05:30

I started my journey through the geek world as a coder, programming in GWBASIC while I studied in class 6, I was excited back then as I am today, learning new things in this new world that I had been brought to the shores of. I had never touched any computer or game console for the matter before this, so it was a matter of exhiliration for me back then.

Today I stand on a verge where I am charged with duties of being both a coder and a consultant, who gleefully doles out advice about technical jargons, though it often turns out that the other side barely understands them. Often in my professional life, I have been asked for technical help on different subjects, but I do sometimes think is it all that I am supposed to do. What do I have to grow into. A manager or a technical expert. When I first began my professional career, I would have gladly answered "technical expert" and infact I did, but these days I have second thoughts. I sometimes try to imagine where am I getting to by observing my seniors/peers, who are playing the role of managing the project and client through their means and ends. Am I supposed to do that ? Nahhhhhhhh. Its too boring. Probably a product dev head would be something more like it. But how will I reach there is another plausable question. What ever be case on the inside I will probably remain a coder, though I would code lesser as I progress through the stages of life. Who knows !

I am still here in Delhi, finishing up a project that should have finished a long time back. Holi is around the corner, and I guess it will be fun again this time around. I hope most of my friends too come back home, so that we can have a wonderful Holi.

Wishing everyone a early Happy Holi
:D

Train Travel

2009-02-03T08:46:00.001+05:30

Train travel, almost everyone of us have availed this mysterious service once in our life. Mysterious, because of the complexity and volumes that it handles here in India and yet manages to make some money. Albeit there are some nuances like the train, which I am travelling in is late by atleast 1 hr on course to nizamuddin, delhi.

A train to me seems like a gathering place of people from varied streams of society. It brings out the good bad and the ugly that exists in the society. An impatient lot is always in a hurry to leave. The irresponsible lot is always acting in selfish ways, pushing people around to get a comfortable seat. Its the survival of the fitest !

New Year New Roomates !

2009-01-02T21:33:00.000+05:30

The new year is here. It has been around a month for me in Delhi and it has been relatively quiet and peaceful time here. The last time I was here I had got myself a brand new Yahama Pacifica Electric guitar. This time around I had pre-planned that I would get myself a guitar effect pedal, which fortunately is cheaper here than in Bangalore. I finally got G2.1u effect pedal. It has tons of effects and I like it a lot. It adds the extra edge to the electric guitar that makes it all the more enjoyable. In fact it has triggered a whooping 200% increase in the time that I spend with my guitar.

I had just begun enjoying my time with the guitar here, that an unexpected calamity happened. I had been enjoying a single room status for all this long, and a few days back I get a message from the caretaker of the guest house : "There a person joining your room on 1st from Mumbai". At first I thought what the h***, its no big deal. Well it turned out exactly the opposite.

This guy is a non-stop blabbering machine, that proved his point on day 1 that he won't stop no matter what happens. Even while I am barely able to write this blog, this guy is continuing on in the background !!!! He recently joinined the company at the Mumbai office and has a whole bunch load of strings of stories which I never would like to hear about, but nevertheless he continues on..... Thought the guy is decent in his manners, yet his non-stop thundering machine never stops. Imagine a day after you have listened to all the rants and slangs at office and then all you want is a bit of peace and yet what you get is a blabbering man, who just doesn't care whether the other end is interested in listening. While I try to be patient enough and answer to his meaningless rambling, with a yes and a no, I don't know how to pass the burying torch to make him stop.

Winter is catching up here in Delhi, its around 7Degrees here in the night these days. Its foggy even at 9AM in the morning, and one can see no more than 10m ahead.

Snapshot of a morning at 9AM(IST):

I hope the winter ends soon here. Im feeling bzzzzzzzzzz cold.

Treking Skandagiri Trip

2008-10-08T10:13:00.000+05:30

Trip Summary in 3 expressions

Awesome scenery, Tiring climb, Missed food at the top

This place is around 60-70 km from Bangalore. We started off from Bangalore at around 7AM in a Toyota Qualis. We had hoped for some food at the top ( such a big mistake ! ) , so we started out with fluid supplies to last our climb up. As we climbed up the hill we rose to an approximate height of 2km and had walked 6km on our way up. Among us Teju and Vivek were the quickest to reach the top, while me, Asur and Teja trailed behind them. Although Teju and Vivek claimed the peak first, we took a slow but steady pace along with lots of photos. During the initial phase it was strenuous, but after a while it was smooth ride.

Enjoyed the whole time there and looking for my next trip :)

Trip pics and videos

Opera

2008-06-24T11:42:00.000+05:30

Check out the new opera 9.25

... it has awesome new gui.

How I learnt to create a firefox plugin which renders using SDL/OpenGL

2008-04-28T00:19:00.000+05:30

I have been hunting for the past 2 days for any howto's to create a plugin. There was no official howto, only the API documentation. It was like “Hey! I shall give thee brick, mortal, paint, etc and you should be able to build a house. Just have a look at the other big houses using the same brick and mortar.” I have managed to get a simple plugin. Here's how I did it.

Objective: Create a simple firefox plugin, which uses SDL/OpenGL for its rendering.
Ingredients: Sample Code for NullPlugin from firefox code tree ( mozilla/modules/plugin/samples/default/unix) .
Procedure:

Get hold of the firefox code from mozilla.org
Run configure so that you have Makefiles created in all folders. ( I don't know how to get a Makefile from Makefile.in. The damn tool(automake) asks for configure.in which isn't there.)
Goto nullplugin.h and change the mime types , to something of your choice. Change the name of the plugin. After all I'd like some fancy name to come up when I check it in about:plugins
Escape all code in makeWidget by adding a return statement in place of all other code in makeWidget function in nullplugin.c
Remove DialogOKClicked ,DialogCancelClicked,DialogEscapePressed as they are not used.
Now add some initalization in NPP_SetWindow and cleanup code in NPP_Destroy functions in npshell.c
Now add some drawing code in xt_event_handler in nullplugin.c
Edit the makefile to add the SDL and OpenGL libraries. Also add headers in nullplugin.h. Also change the library name to somethin other than nullplugin Now use make.
Copy the plugin in the plugin folder of firefox usually /usr/lib/firefox/plugins Now create a HTML file which has the uses the plugin.
You are done.
Code: SDL_simpleplugin

Orkut & Social Engg 2

2008-03-18T19:58:00.000+05:30

http://ha.ckers.org/blog/20080228/orkut-crush-worm/

Orkut & Social Engineering

2008-02-23T00:18:00.000+05:30

> Just another day on ORKUT.

> You receive a scrap with footer "Copy this in your browser blah blah!" or "Click here to send scrap to all your friends".

> You naively copy it and do as it says, hoping the claimed super scrapping event happens due to that. Well that happens. You feel content ( but deep in your mind you think 'Hey! I learnt a cool trick today.' )

If you are one of the above then well my friend you have already been made a big fool !

Welcome to the world of social engineering. What has actually happened is that you have passed all your login information to a unknown person and well he can do whatever he wants with your account.

Protect your account today. So change your password today. Go.

A programmer

2008-02-12T15:01:00.000+05:30

A programmer is a person who passes as an exacting expert on the basis of being able to turn out, after innumerable punching, an infinite series of incomprehensive answers calculated with micrometric precisions from vague assumptions based on debatable figures taken from inconclusive documents and carried out on instruments of problematical accuracy by persons of dubious reliability and questionable mentality for the avowed purpose of annoying and confounding a hopelessly defenseless department that was unfortunate enough to ask for the information in the first place.

An interesting read

2008-02-08T16:11:00.000+05:30

http://www.businessweek.com/1998/23/b3581001.htm

The new and old days

2008-01-29T16:16:00.000+05:30

It's been almost a month now in Bangi and these days, its more fun during the night than during the day when I am in office. As of now I aint got any work in the office, all useless stuff, so I aint doin the office stuff, but doin my own ! Livin in a house with friends from the same college does have some advantages. We all have a much better understanding of each other although we all different in many respects. My day starts in the morning between 8-930 AM , and well for most of the time it is 845+ . I am trying to improve on it and hopefully I'll get better, but a part of me says hey when you'll sleep at 3 how the h___ are you goin to wake up on time. And there is a good reason why I am awake till 2 AM. These days me and my friends have started an informal AOE fest at our house. For the uninitiated AOE stands for Age of Empires and more specifically referes to the Age of Empires 2 edition with Conquerors expansion pack. Although personally I am a Rise of Nations fan, but unfortunately it doesn't run on my Windows 2003 Server machine.

Anyway, it started with me and Avinash and the wave is catching up with the other two of my friends who are staying with me. By 9 almost everyone's home. Everybody is busy checking his mail / orkut / etc and its a time to relax and enjoy. Well atleast for 2 of us. I relocate my bags to Avinash's room and setup a station where I can put my box ( lapi ) and get ready to play. And with that we start our 2+ hr of fun. Sometimes I play well, and sometimes Avinash. And we are improving at it ! Well at the end of it, its almost 0030 hrs and we decide to call it a night (!) and I head back to my room. Now I either start coding again for my XAP project ( not a company sponsored thing ) or start watching a movie / browse net from my super slow GPRS network. So there you have it more or less the whole of my day in office and back to home. So yo AOE and yes yo RISE OF NATIONS too after I get it working again.

A Cold Affair

2007-12-22T21:38:00.000+05:30

My stay in Mumbai is almost nearing its end. I have been staying luckily in a single room for all this while. But recently I had a slight change of inhabitation.

Some wise guy from Kol demanded a single room @ mumbai, so the incharge @ off trying 2 save expenses if he stays @ hotel made me move to a sharing arrangement for 2 days. In back of my mind I thought " who is this lamo who cannot share a room and that too for 2 days. " . But the strange thing to happen was that after he left some other guy gets assigned to the same room and I am deprived of the room that I have been using for the past 1.5 months. I didn't have a problem with sharing a room, but the damn guest house has absolute lack of maintenance and the bed that I was given was just too short in dimension either ways. I was pissed and felt cheated. The next day, after I came back from work I moved all my stuff back into my older room ( although this pissed off the other guy who was in the room - although he never said so ).
He tried to use the guest house's incharge to force me to leave the room, but I didn't move an inch( I am so proud :)) ) .The other guy is a new joinee to the company, and after a little help from the address book I found out that he is 4.3 yr TCS guy. He speaks in a sort of American Accented English and tries to act in a NRI sorta way.

Its December now, but the cold weather that I am so accustomed to is nowhere to be found here. So if I say that I am having a tap stuffed leaking inside my nose in this weather, that would be rather strange. At first I thought it was due to dust, etc, but today it occurred to me. It was the other person in my older room ( the one who came in later ), who had the cold !

TITLE = NONE

2007-12-16T19:10:00.000+05:30

As the next year approaches it would probably the end of my long stay in Mumbai....... well there has been some pretty good times and bad times during this period.

Mumbai is a busy city. Always on the move. But this always on the move behaviour leaves no room for me - a lazy guy ; to rush back home ( guest house these days ). The long travel time has taken a toll on me. So even after almost a month I haven't really gone anywhere much around here, except the usual mAll'S . My hard disk broke down due to my own carelessness. This at first made me sad, because it had all my stuff in it. Being a guy who needs constant feed of audio output from the computer, it made me pretty uneasy as first, but it made me to look at other places. I have been exploiting the GPRS capability that my phone has a lot these days. I use it such a lot that my phone gives up and halts due to low battery ! Well neways ( or anyways - for the purist ) back to the hunt - I stumbled across the AOL Radio with (((XM))) . At first I though it to be just any other radio streaming service - but it was g00d ! It was really good. I liked it so much that I listened to it 5 hrs ( on 1 channel ). It had some good tracks lined up on the alternate xtreme rock section , and I liked em. Although after a while ( a few days ) I realized that they keep repeating the same stuff all over again :) .

Although my current job is my first job, and by the current standards it is an okay company and pays okay for a noobie like me. Some time back I heard one of my friends say what the hell does an experienced guy gain in a year that a fresher does not. My friend at that time was pissed off at the xtra package being given off to a guy who had similar qualifications but had a year experience. I would have agreed to him then, but after a few months of work I would rather say the otherwise. Apart from this usual mumbling of what I am doin and what I am not, I believe I should atleast give the following a informal go. It would appear rather childish / silly of me when I say, that "hey I want to be the ceo/boss of a company" , when I barely have completed my first few projects. Some of friends say that I would be rather soft boss, and would rather not be able to control people. But I say if I was not yesterday, that doesn't mean that I would not be able learn to do it in future. Being rather inexperienced I guess no one would make me a ceo/boss at this juncture of my life - so I thought why not have my own company !! Then there would be no one in this damn world who can not make me the boss ( hehe :) ) . At first I gave a nod to it - agreeing that yes that is the greatest idea I ever had with a smile on my face. But then the pessimistic me came back and said how the hell are you goin to run a company when you dont have anything to run a company ( leave aside the financial part ) . I thought ... for along time then it came back to me ... yes I could create something that I like and something that is really needed in the world out there. For all those ppl thinking that is he thinking about yet another services company - YOU ARE WRONG. Well as of now I don't think that it would be anything like Infi/Wipro/etc , but would be more of a company where everything is done just for fun. And what can be better if this fun can turn out to profit !!

So where do I start, I guess XAP , my long wished app, which I am currently developing. XAP stands for eXtensible Animation Platform( and yes it is not a offshoot of Apache's XAP). When I was working for opensoft during my final yr at coll. I had to build a flash based gui app that worked on algorithmic programs in the background. As a pro Linux guy I was a bit comfortable as it required a windows system to run it. This is where this project was born. As of today there is no app that can rival Macromedia Flash. There is an open flash community but it is more or less geared towards ActionScript compilers, and isn't much help for a animator. Although I aint much of an animator but always would love linux based animation development to happen. Some of the people do it in Macs, but macs aint cheap and there aint a mac store in my backyard, so what if I could do it on linux ! This little dream of mine is far from complete, and probably is not so easily achievable. It will take some time,but at least there is a beginning.

Killing the 4 boxes

2007-12-13T07:38:00.001+05:30

The coolest thing to happen to GNOME

http://live.gnome.org/GnomeDeveloperKit

Unofficial Work

2007-11-24T20:13:00.000+05:30

My Unofficial work :)
XAP : eXtendible Animation Platform

Life v2.0

2007-10-12T22:20:00.001+05:30

How shud I begin.. right now I feel like a thousand people in me want to come out, and scream out loud to say :))

My experience in my new job has been a rather a one of unknown (welcome) surprises. I hav travelled atleast 3000km ( and yes I did not walk ) in just a month. I had never expected that such a thing wud happen.

Next week is DP and yes this means holiday for most of my friends. Like most of my friends I too am looking forward to the coming week. But I hav a different reason. I gotta work. Probably some of my friends wud say that hav u gon nuts, u are getting excited 2 working on a holiday ( phew !) . But when some1 is working in a profession which he simply loves 2 do, work aint work. Its fun and a lot of it. It may be some people's thought that, hey its just the beginning, tht's why u r thrilled 2 get a work. Well my take on tht is I dunno, I dont think tht tht is the right answer 2 the question. Also when u got a 2GB box as ur disciple it like a dream come true.

Well when 1 talks of dreams, there are a few tht I have been planning n planning 2 finish up n they just don't .
TopCoder :: aint happening :: no time :: bad time :: some excuse :(( :: just out of sync
XAP :: <> :: aint that fancy :)) :: workin on it but work goes from the dev phase 2 design phase and then comes back to testing. Its like a hoobaajoo.
Blender :: dunno when I will be able 2 get back 2 it... but yes with a powerful box id really like 2 get my hands wet.

welll thts life as of now... dunno whts in store for me ahead but sure it looks exciting .... :)

it has moved from life v1.0 @ college 2 life v2.0

Yo Samar!

2007-09-20T21:29:00.000+05:30

This post is dedicated for Samar whose super tempo led us to a kewl spot@Sivasamudram

Shivasundaram

2007-09-17T11:11:00.000+05:30

Shivasundaram links :

Images: http://picasaweb.google.com/abhinav.lele/
Videos : http://abuccaneer.googlepages.com/vids.zip

If you have problems downloading the whole files @ Vid / Images, add a blog comment n ill update it accordingly.

Commentary coming up in the next post.

nJoy !

A new life!

2007-09-11T21:57:00.000+05:30

Lets begin....
It has been a really long time since my last blog. I am now in Bangalore or maybe Bengaluru
who knows . Now where to start ... let me begin @ a night before i was supposed to leave Kolkata for Bangalore.

720PM: i am watin for the company bus... i decide not to take up the local bus.. while im in
the bus some1 calls me up asking me "im from pwc.. mitul gave me ur num,..". im thinking
whus this ? ne way i tell him " i cannot hear him clearly .. bcos im in the bus."

930PM: I get the same guy calling me up n wht i finally end up is postponing my plans for
bangalore for a week of stuff @ hyd. ( NB. when i was changing my ticket for hyd my roomie @
kol though i was half asleep! )

Well i reach ther n hav a week of client interaction n then im off for bangi, ( just leaving
hyd on the day of the blasts ! panic @ home )

Now in bangalore :

im staying @ guest house.pwc . the caretaker tells me its better 2 take a auto for day 1.
but i ignore it but take a crowded bus.. result my cell gets stolen..

now lets fast forward to today and let me tell u all wht a day in my life is

i wake up in the timeframe 6 - 7 am ... ( well half awake till 730 AM ) ..
now i either listen 2 music / browse net @ GPRS connection..
leave for office around 940-1000 and reach thr at around 1030... whr i get coffee @ 1030AM (
only )

the day goes on ... with the usual software insustry things... evening comes up n i leave at
around say in the timeframe 6-7PM.

well hey i almost forgot to tell how i get thr... after the bus incident .. i hav almost
rejected the bus service in the favour of the auto... i take an auto in the morning and yes
i hav 2 shell out 30-40Rs daily in the morning... well just to balance it out i walk back

home.. and yes its 6 km if you clock it. some wud say i am a miser.. but hey maybe its a gud
exercise..... :)))

food has / is the same as when i was in bangi the last year... n yes now i say chalta hai !

MAYBE A FEW MONTHS MAY CHANGE THIS

The best part happens when i leave .. i hook my W810i cell with the headphone accessories
and boy when it plays the music it feels like drinking water after a long run... and plus if
its song like nine inch nails - Just like u imagined and u are walking on the road full
with traffic but u only hear the music n the thumping of the music .. it makes even hell
sound like heaven.

well i initially had planned to write some more but ... this is itself becoming too long ..
n i always try to refrain from writing long blogs. bcos i myself get tired when i hav 2 read
em....

so till next time... hopefully soon.. maybe tmrw !!!

Another kewl image!

2007-07-27T13:52:00.001+05:30

Credits GNUcitizen

Web 2.0

2007-07-27T13:32:00.000+05:30

A great pic!The map was designed by Markus Angermeier and published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Feel free to copy.

GPL Flash !

2007-05-11T05:25:00.000+05:30

Lately I have been facinated by the idea of creating a vector animation software, similar to what Adobe Flash does. I tried to see what KTOON a linux animation software did, but I was not able to run it even once. Lets hope my ideas result into something gud !

As of now I have planned to create it using Java, b'cos
1) I require collaborative suport to complete the soft
2) Java has component based development arch which is definitely the thing that I want for this kinda stuff.

Sun Enlists In Free Software Foundation

2007-03-02T00:43:00.000+05:30

http://www.ddj.com/dept/opensource/197008914?cid=RSSfeed_DDJ_All

What !

2007-02-17T09:19:00.000+05:30

Hoping around

2007-01-08T20:23:00.000+05:30

Now that the job hunting season is over from my side, things have settled down. Lately I have been working with Python a lot. I built a alarm clock using gtk+ as gui frontend. I am working on a mplayer gui frontend using python and gtk+ . I have created a project space at sf.net , but I yet have to figure out a way to upload stuff ! I really have to figure out the CVS mess !!

Why Programming is Fun !

2006-12-19T11:58:00.000+05:30

At Dr. Dobb's Portal a very nice article came up which was titled "Why Progamming is Fun!" . Its an interesting read. You can read it here.

2006-12-10T15:34:00.000+05:30

The Next Bot

Mine Field

Introspection 101

2006-11-30T08:48:00.001+05:30

It has been a really long while since I wrote a blog and thins time its almost like I am talking to myself through this blog. Its really amazing how technology changes how people express themselves. Some try to paint, some try to dance and some geeks write a blog ! Well this aint about what technological evolution has taken place but its about what I am feeling right now. Well I missed the project report submission deadline of 29th even though I had the report completed. I did not print it. I messed up with TopCoder last night. A silly mistake really. It has been a really long time since I did coding full time. And I have realized that I really need to get into shape if I even want my dream of a 5+ L job.

I always mess up things. I wanted to start up with something about the tension in my mind, and here I am talking all about something else. Tension is something that always has affected my decisions a lot. Potentially it is the heart that get affected and simultaneously my mind tries to think positive and drive the negativity away b'cos it kills. It kills me from the inside. Right now I am having a thought, do I really need to write this on a public blog ? What will others think about me ? Well let that though go to hell . If it helps me get me out my misery the hell with it. The dialogues of Heroes TV Series + my father's mail well has really given me a lesson. It has probably been the first time when I overcame this feeling and it feels great. Its such a relief ! Well I better watch some more Heroes b'cos I hav to rush to the dep to get some prints. Se ya !

If this article seems gibberish you really dont have to read it !

Internet Explorer 7 still a bug ?

2006-11-02T18:25:00.000+05:30

So, Microsoft has released version 7.0 of Internet Explorer a few weeks ago. The new version introduced some nice security features like "ActiveX opt-in", "Better add-on management", "Phishing filter" and more. But even with those new security features, IE7 is still heaven for spyware writers.

The new version of Internet Explorer is vulnerable to a DLL-load hijacking. When IE7 is executed it will load several DLL files. While trying to load some of those files, it does not provide the full path of the DLL file to the function which loads the DLL file to the memory, and therefore Windows will search for this file in the user's machine using the directories provided in the PATH environment variable, and will load the first match it will found.

Today, most desktop security products include a generic detection for changes in the startup folder and startup registry keys, in order to catch malicious code trying to load when the users boot his machine.

Now, all the attacker has to do to bypass this detection is to put a malicious DLL file (or just a downloader DLL of a malicious file) in one of the PATH directories (e.g. the user's desktop), and the next time the user will run IE7 the code of the attacker's file will be executed instead of the original DLL file.

Moreover, the attacker can hide the DLL file, by setting an hidden file attribute. As most users have the option of not showing hidden files enabled (this is the default settings), it will not show them the malicious file on the user's desktop, but still IE7 will load the DLL file.

This vulnerability also can be used instead of registering Browser Help Objects (which some of the security products also monitor), as the DLL will run in the context of IE7 process.

I've reported this to Microsoft few days ago. Their response: "If the attacker can put a dll on the box in a location that is in the user's PATH variable, then they already own the box. ".
While this is true in most cases, the user will still think he is secure with his desktop security products installed, which is not true as this vulnerability allows spyware writers to execute code automatically without changing startup and BHO information.

As Microsoft intends to fix this issue only in future releases of their OS (according to their response), I encourage security vendors to update their products to detect this behavior as soon as possible.

[ sOuRcE ]

Full Metal Alchemist Phonetics

2006-10-02T21:35:00.001+05:30

tooku tooku omoi hatenaku
futari mu jaki ni waratteta ano koro ni modorerunara
kona gonani kudaketa
ga ra suzaikuno youda
omoide no kakera wo atsumeteru
daiji namono wa itsudatte
naku shi tekara kizukuyo
dou ka douka jikan wo tomete
kimi no omokage wo kono mune ni kizandekure
moshi mo moshimo yurusarerunara
sube te wo giseini shitemo ii
ano egao wo mou ichido

Google Trends

2006-09-24T15:57:00.000+05:30

The image says it all

Server Error in '/' Application.

2006-09-20T20:46:00.000+05:30

http://www.live.com/?%3Ci%3E

Oh my.

Luckily this company doesn't produce anything people need to rely on in terms of security, such as... an OS, a database, a web server, a distributed online authentication system or similar.

The error message that occurs: [ in case microsoft fixes it !! ] link

God save Micro$oft !!!

Source: Full-Disclosure

TORN APART

2006-08-16T16:14:00.000+05:30

These days im preparing for CAT. A side of me says why the hell do you want to give CAT ? I want some freelance / self business thing, and that too related to computer then why the hell should I give CAT and go mug some financial / marketing shit after passing CAT ! Well that is something I am still stuck with and maybe time will decide what I will do ( such A BAD IDEA !! ) .

A Clean Affair

2006-08-03T21:40:00.000+05:30

These past weeks I have been busy with a site named TopCoder. It's a site that is quite similar in some respects to RentACoder when we think of the business model, but when it comes to quality and packaging TopCoder rulz supreme. The competition out there is tough and it would require some for me to get aquainted to that. The prize money is also good out there.

I cleaned up my computer yesterday. I ahem cleaned it a bit too much. After I connected it again it refused to start up. Now that it is up I have learnt it the hard way that never to detach the heat sink and processor unless one knows how to apply the paste.

JINX - a impending reality

2006-03-06T20:13:00.000+05:30

JINX is almost ready and will be out for its first test phase. Linux releases will be earlier than windows releases. The code will be licensced under GPL v2. I dunno much about GPL v3 [ i think its in draft form right now ]. It is really exciting !!!!

Those guys who would like to test it post comments to this post.

TROJANS @ MOBILE

2006-03-02T07:37:00.000+05:30

Trojan-SMS.J2ME.RedBrowser.a is the first malicious program which
infects not only smartphones, but any mobile phone capable of running
Java (J2ME) applications.

The Trojan spreads in the guise of a program called "RedBrowser", which
allegedly enables the user to visit WAP sites without using a WAP
connection. According to the Trojan's author, this is made possible by
sending and receiving free SMSs. In actual fact, the Trojan only sends
SMSs to premium rate numbers. The user is charged $5 - $6 per SMS.

The Trojan is a Java application, a JAR format archive. The file may be
called "redbrowser.jar", and is 54482 bytes in size. The Trojan can be
downloaded to the victim handset either via the Internet (from a WAP
site) or via Bluetooth or a personal computer. The archive contains the
following files:

FS.class - auxiliary file (2719 bytes in size)
FW.class - auxiliary file (2664 bytes in size)
icon.png - graphics file (3165 bytes in size)
logo101.png - graphics file (16829 bytes in size)
logo128.pnh - graphics file (27375 bytes in size)
M.class - interface file (5339 bytes in size)
SM.class - Trojan application which sends SMS messages (1945 bytes in size)

The Trojan can be easily removed from the victim handset using standard
utilities already installed on the telephone.

So far, Kaspersky Lab has only received one sample of RedBrowser, which
clearly targets subscribers of Beeline, MTS, and Megafon, Russia's major
mobile service providers. However, other versions of RedBrowser, or
similar programs, may well be circulating on the Internet. RedBrowser is
a sign that virus writers are extending their reach, and no longer only
targeting smart phones.

Mobile phone users are recommended to be cautious and not to download or
launch unknown programs via the Internet.

Source :
http://www.kaspersky.com

Status here

2006-02-18T02:39:00.000+05:30

Right now i am frustrated. Right now I want to kick Baidya's butt. Right now I want to play aoe. I will play I will.

The weather here is changing abnormally. It reaches a peak of around 37* C in the day and goes low, that today it is even fogging a bit. Exams are going on, but this time it is a different experience. ( The following material is rated mature and should be read under parental guidance ) .

This time study for exams start at T - 12 hours and not a second before. Notes are grabbed from a book that are xeroxed at T - 13 hours. Well you must be guessing why such a delay.... ( except for those who are professionals at this!). The reason is the professor. He teaches us in such arbitrary fashion that no matter how hard you try you would not get a single tangible thing, except for the thought that "Hey this is bullcrap!". Three years in the past I had alternate thoughts coming to a hallowed portal of education *** *** ( CENSORED ) . I had thought of mugging extravagance, and similar thoughts when I was "admitted" here. Well three years down the lane and all has changed. I am just waiting when will I get out from this place. The only good thing around here is the people around here. I am not talking about the workers / staff of "THE INSTITUTE" but the people who were "admitted" here. ( Also the LAN I couldn't just give this up! ). Its 3:06AM and I better start my aoe session or I would not get any time to revise.

( /END PARENTAL ADVISORY)

Junta Add Comments. The motivation behind writing this is that people read it and I know what other people think about it!!! >>>> REPEAT add infinitum

Wanna Play A video

2006-02-15T06:58:00.000+05:30

Microsoft Windows Media Player Plugin Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Windows Media Player (WMP) can be launched as a plugin in popular
browsers to view Windows Media Player file types from web pages.

A vulnerability in the Windows Media Player plugin can be triggered from
several popular browsers such as FireFox and Netscape. The issue
specifically can be triggered when certain browsers launch it with an
overly long embed src tag from a malicious html page.

Upon successful exploitation, attackers will be able to overwrite a
Structured Exception Handler (SEH) address and execute arbitrary code on
the system.
Source: http://www.idefense.com/intelligence/vulnerabilities/display.php?id=393

XAMS running over

2006-02-14T20:52:00.000+05:30

Mid sems are near !!!! but it sure doesn't seem so to me. Baidya's soil does seem to digest quite well. It's a haphazard shit load of nothingness. It's on Saturday, but im yet to figure out a book to read from. JNB must also be hot on his heels since he has hasen't got his taste of us since a long time. Well 3*cheers to Kaushal who out of utter horror of JNB has already worked up the Portal method stuff.

The only good thing about the exams is that there is a weekend after that with absolute freedom to do anything !!

LAN MESSENGER aka JINX

2006-02-05T22:08:00.002+05:30

My Lan messenger is stuff is back in action. After a long consideration i have come to the conclusion to use libsigcxx to use to notify for various events ( Without which I already have overhauled the whole code a lot of times ). Hope it will work. Also after a lot of waiting i found out the destroy event function for a window, which I OVERRIDDDDDDDED and got it to work. I hope it will work now with no hassels and a pure c++ application.

2006-02-02T21:26:00.000+05:30

IE7 Beta 2 Vulnerability Discovered in just 15 minutes!

On the day of its release security researcher Tom Ferris at Security
Protocols needed just 15 minutes to find the first vulnerability in IE7
Beta 2 and write an exploit for it. This is believed to be a new
record.

You can read the article at:
http://www.nist.org/news.php?extend.75

One can only imagine the meetings at Microsoft when upper level
management asked the programmers exactly what they spent the Millions
of Dollars they were given to improve security in Internet Explorer 7.
And why dozens of programmers and testers didn't find a bug that this
one person found in just 15 minutes. At most companies heads would
roll!

KEWl

2006-02-02T21:21:00.000+05:30

I found out a cool web hosting site that offers 150MB space and unlimited bandwidth.

http://roachhost.com/

Wht the heck!

2006-01-26T17:27:00.000+05:30

Days are passing and it seems I have nothing to do. I do not feel like doing anything right now. The free afti have inflicted this disease on me. Wht should I do?

teachers ! o my god

2006-01-19T01:07:00.001+05:30

Well this is one of those blogs I have been procrastinating about writing for quite a few days. At first I thought that I'll do a cartoon sort of thing, but it wud take a lot of time and seriously I don't have time for that now.

This is a story about a teacher in my department { Ba* } [U know what !], he did his doctorate from an institute,where recently there were militant attacks [ I*S* , hehe im using * u keep guessing ]. He teaches in such a un-teacherly way that u can sleep thru his class and yet miss nothing special. He has bunch of notes, [which I bet he has got from his batchmate] from which he delivers his holy gospel of teaching. His batchmate may be wrong at some times and that's when he gets stuck!! At such a situation his face is totally perplexed [ hey! how the hell did my friend write that ! ]. While he is in such a dilemma we watch him making a fool out of himself.

His fellow teacher D. Ro? seems to be teaching better according my 2nd yr sources. D. Ro? is another "strange creature". My 2nd yr experience makes me come to the conclusion that he extracts pleasure by making us miserable students go thru his excruciating lectures ( esp the 2 hr ones ) . He does not stop, and forces his teaching thru us.

Another strange being is "The New Guy". He has a aerospace engg background, and teaches us structural dynamics. We are the first "subjects" that he has to teach to. He goes on and on, scribbling out some mathematical mumbo-jumbo on the black ( hey its going to become green ) board, while almost none of the guys understand it. ( except ofcourse some guys like Shravan, Puspakar ). I bet Shravan will become a prof. one day.

Bored !!!!! I guess I can't make it interesting any more(if u think its interesting/uninteresting do add ur comment). I intend to write something short but rather entertaining. Any suggestions are welcome.

What's next ?

2006-01-15T09:30:00.000+05:30

It has been a long time since my last post, and its about time I start writing again. Keep Watching !

Illumination

2005-11-10T17:37:00.000+05:30

Introduction

Today lets talk about illumination. Well for those guys those who do not have a clue to what this is here is a primer. Illumination is a yearly contest between different halls of IIT Kharagpur, during the festival of Diwali- the festival lights. The objective is to create figures out of diyas , but all this has a "theme". Each hall selects a theme and creates a drawings on bamboo grids and then over them diyas are set into place. On the day of Diwali each hall is judged, on the basis of this BUT with these diya's are lit, and then move on to see the rangoli (which again has a theme) . The students explain to the judges what the theme is and how each figure is related to the theme.

For those guys still don't get a clue here a picture.
Someone rightly said " A picture is worth a thousand words ".

The Scene

The scene thus created is absolutely fantastic. One need to be there to see it. Its a view no camera can capture within its photos. The hard work required to build such a grand scene are obvoiusly huge.
Photos from this year (2005) :
My Hall Pics

The evening

The Beginning

All done

What do you say ?
Write a comment NOW!
Abhinav

BLOG #1

2005-11-09T01:49:00.000+05:30

What to say!

This is the first blog I have ever made.
Its 2 in the night and im listening to testament. As Yahoo! tells me "Testament were the biggest thrash metal band never to reach the platinum plateau." My favourites are 3 days in darkness, true beliver,... well the list is endless. Am I a hard core fan ? Well may be to some extent, but for me doing crazy things, like waiting in line for 10 hrs just to see the band member(s) is wastage of time!

FasterFox and misc.

Its a plugin that claims to give me some performance enhancements for firefox, but it appears to me just useless. Firefox seems to me to be a bit a resource hog. Firefox is fast for surfing but at a resource cost, and especially for guys having low RAM like me it's a killer.

Rise Of Nations

Has anyone ever compared AOE and RISE OF NATIONS. Well I have seen all the versions, and Rise of Nations is a far far far better game than AOE. AOE has just no features when compared with RON. RON has the cool nuclear tech. and the aircrafts with all the ships and everthing.
Let me play some more.

Bye