The Writer Within...

2011-09-08T09:12:00.001+05:30

IBM and 3M join forces to fab 3D microchips, create mini-silicon skyscraper valley

Google Maps Gives Wrong Directions This Time

2011-08-21T00:15:00.000+05:30

Noida to Agra directions, as given by Google Maps uses Yamuna Expressway which isn't ready yet.

Attaching the map / directions .

The Brain on Trial - The Atlantic

2011-08-01T12:48:00.000+05:30

The Brain on Trial - The Atlantic

Software Patents

2011-07-31T16:55:00.001+05:30

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/07/26/138576167/when-patents-attack

2011-07-23T02:18:00.001+05:30

Going into hospital far riskier than flying: WHO

2011-07-23T01:45:00.001+05:30

A Cloudy Future: Tough Questions for the ISPs

Why there shouldn't be data caps.

I want a 4k display; gaming, movies, topologies

2011-07-19T12:01:00.001+05:30

Windows XP on a 4K Display Makes Eyeballs Bleed [Video]

Gingerbread battery stats graph

2011-06-03T15:59:00.001+05:30

A cool feature on the Android is it's Battery Use or consumption stats meter which tells you the distribution of apps that ate your cell battery.

It also shows a graph with battery power on the y axis and time on the x axis; so you know how much was spent when. Cool!

Then I thought that what if I had the option of viewing a derivative graph. This would tell me the rate and would make it a lot more easier to read the differential and slope values.Moreover, it would be very helpful and droidy :)

Gingerbread on my HTC Desire HD

2011-05-31T10:51:00.001+05:30

I was eager to upgrade to Gingerbread when I read about it's release. However, there's something about us Indians, that we are always at the end of the update queue for OTA updates.

So, I went ahead in time (set the month to July) and did a force checkin: *#*#2432546#*#* (spell "checkin" using dialer keypad. The "Updates available for your phone " notification showed up. After updating Froyo, many apps broke and the phone would hang / became unresponsive many times. I tried to install a different rom as I knew I'd have to format the phone and wanted a change desperately.

After rom browsing, I settled on "Android Revolution HD 5.1. 7". However, that needs root which needs downgrade, which needs me to use Gingerbreak. And Mr. Gingerbreak uses the "vold exploit" which was patched by Google recently and HTC was kind enough to provide their Indian customer base with the updated rom. So, I'm stuck with it, but atleast my phone's back to the way it was, though faster than Froyo.

I'm back to stay

2011-05-31T10:35:00.001+05:30

I've tried to be regular with blogging but it never took off with me. However, I'm hoping that my mobile will help me feed this blog with content from now on.

Let's see where this goes.

REVIVING THIS BLOG

2007-02-18T02:33:00.000+05:30

This is a lame but true effort to revive my dying blog. I shall try hard to blog, though I won't promise I will. Initially my blogging would consist of basic updates, but maybe later on I'll go further than than and actually take interest.

**This blog is "feed-ready". So, turn on your feed-readers, so you won't have to bother paying a visit, when there's nothing new.

UPDATES

I recently bought a Kingston mem drive and it's called "Mini Fun". It's tiny and cute.
Today I visit the profiles of many of my buddies at Univ. of Idaho, while I was there. It was nice seeing them all grown up and married :))
Ate Domino's for dinner tonight
I'm STILL single
Can't find my Def Leppard Video's DVD
Found my chess board in the loft. Had to clean all the dirt it was collecting all the while. Now i'm ready to play Chess.. Those interested, page me.
Installed Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional w/ MSDN. I feel happy. Ready to do some development now.

MOVIES

The Wicker Man (2006 Release): CRAP !!
Holiday: Ok Ok Romance ... A little overacting by Diaz, but that's ok.
Black Friday: Too long...Ok Otherwise
Parzania: Same stuff.. Religious intolerance..Starts off good, but drags towards the end
Blood Diamond: Worth watching.. Leo really performs

MUSIC

I've been analyzing Marillion for sometime now..I was inspired by my long lost friend from Alaska, Justin Cassidy, to listen to such music. This British band has come a long way with much success, but less publicity. Listen to them if you get a chance. Switchfoot rocks too.

BOOKS

Professional C# -- [In Progress]
CCIE Study Guide -- [In Progress]
30 Seconds -- Good
Blowback -- Good
Mating Mind -- [In Progress]

FAMILY

My sis - Sonali, visited us alongwith her Hubby-Tejus, and bro-in-law Nirav. We had fun .
Then they left for Bombay and back home. Then my mama visited us and left last week.

FRIENDS (In Random Order):

Bhavna Returns
Aviral As Usual Meets me regularly
Vandana / Anurag Are Learning how to repeat 9/11 (jk)
Namita Drove me to Tea Shop
Aparna's over with exams
Holly is patiently waiting for my email
Shanu Gets back to life
Suhaas' working with dad and fixing his comp
Fio is leading a family life
Zara Gets back to life
Pratik is still a Blue moon
Kanishka calls me today. Back from USA
Arati learns Dreamweaver
Ashish Wah Java inspires me and quizzes me nonetheless
Tarun's still figuring out life
Rahul's job hunting
Sheehij / I hope i Spelt it right, just showed up for coffee
Megha / Priyanka Get back to orkut life

==============================================
Can't Say "NOMORE"... I'm Outta Here ===>--->>====>>>
==============================================

I'LL BE BACK

2006-08-13T11:23:00.000+05:30

Next Post This Saturday / Sunday, 19th / 20th

Out-of-town

Cya
Buddies :)

HASSAN JAHANGIR

2006-07-07T02:49:00.002+05:30

Popular in the late 80's, Hassan Jahangir, is a Pakistani Pop singer, who likes to mix Paki-Indian music styles. Most of his songs depict the North Indian Culture.

I grew up listening to this talented artist. Everyday when I would go swimming to RSI in Pune, the Hawa Hawa tape would be in the car deck, and off we went. All four of us, knew the lyrics by-heart. Those were the days.

Tonight, I decided to listen to hindi songs (a rarity). One of Hassan's songs was used in the Hindi movie, Don. That song, lifted from the movie, is the modified version. Thus, initiated of my quest for Jahangir's "Hawa Hawa" in its original form.

One search on google for "Hawa Hawa" returned an interesting match of an online desi radio/jukebox. It was exciting to see all the songs of the album listed, with a choice to play them. It sure was music to my ears. PRESS PLAY ON TAPE > DONE !!

That wasn't enough; it's never enough. Google.com is always there to help. And I dived into this site:
http://www.papuyaar.com/music/index.php/o/pakistani/Artist/Hassan%20Jahangir/did=476//t=65/x=1

I spent quite some time downloading MP3s !!

I am a happy man, now.

MANAGEMENT BY JUGAADS

2006-06-30T03:10:00.000+05:30

******************************************************************************
Adopted From: http://www.dinkercharak.com/mgt/jugaad.htm
******************************************************************************

Introduction

Jugaad is a colloquial Hindi word that means a quick-easy-dirty fix or a resource that can be used as such or a person who can suggest, conjure or implement a quick-easy-dirty fix.

Even though in everyday life, a Jugaad can be a solution, in context of Management, Jugaad is essentially a person who has some special capability or access to a resource or even access to another Jugaad that can be useful under extreme or special circumstances.

A Jugaadu person is one who has numerous useful and cashable Jugaads.

When spoken in context of people, there is a slight connotation of sly behaviour attributed to a Jugaadu person, though in Management by Jugaad any such connotation is discouraged.

Building a Jugaad

Building a Jugaad is solely a human interaction process.

A Jugaadu person typically has ability to network and establish relationships of trust.

Generally, a Jugaad may or may not know that he or she is being considered a Jugaad by a Jugaadu. The relation has to be nurtured with respect and reciprocity or a Jugaad might feel as if he or she is being used.

Reciprocity is one simple and effective way to make sure that the relationship is dignified and no one feels used. Another way is to makes sure that the right Jugaad is used at right time and for right duration. Until those special circumstances of need appear, a Jugaad is mostly of little or no use to a Jugaadu.

Often when a Jugaad is used, it is a very high profile situation. The exposure of a Jugaad and the way a Jugaad is used may add to success of handling a situation and make the Jugaad useful in the future as against have a spent bullet in hand.

Using a Jugaad

A good Jugaadu typically will have more than one Jugaad in hand to handle a situation. One must be careful of what Jugaad to apply at what situation.

"WHEN LOVE & HATE COLLIDE" - D.L

2006-06-17T01:07:00.000+05:30

THE QUOTE

"There comes a time, in every man's life, when he has to decide, whether he should have sex with an object of desire, or whether he shouldn't waste his manhood over such a worthless piece of trash" -- Quoted rarely, authored by ME.

CAUTION

For all you ladies out there, this blog isn't about "Sex with women". It's about Mathematics.

THE STORY

I always had a love and hate relationship with maths. Up until 10th, I loved it. Then in 11th I didn't bother to open the book, so no hard feelings there; I just didn't bother. In 12th I really wanted to understand the depths of calculus, but I didn't study 11th (pre-calculus), and to my dismay, I just had to make do with algebra & statistics.

At Idaho, I can safely say, I had the worst Prof. you could ever have for Calculus II. BTW: I jumped Calc I. So this was my first Calc class in US. Point to be noted your honor: "Americans chew maths with Graphs". Here, in Delhi, they don't even come close to working with graphs.

And I was gifted with this Prof. who was in his own world and would tell us stories about the mountains we could see from the classroom, and how the birds chirp while we talk, etc .etc....wait..he even mentioned the blue skies, the snow flakes and the maple leaves flying in the misty rain. Basically, he covered every detail of happenings out the window.

In the last 10 minutes, he would explain how this related to some formula that gave rise to some differential equation (did he say partial?), and how this would all combine to make maths so amazing. Well, I would genuinely look around, only to find half the class asleep, and the other half looking at each other, amused or bemused. After a few weeks, I had to take a decision.

Every now and then, we have to take such decisions. That day, we had a pop-quiz (surprise test), and the questions were fascinating. No mention of the snow fall the night before, or the occasional misty rain. It was all Greek Symbols, numbers, integrals, analytical geometry and things I had never seen or heard before. However, I was supposed to know how to answer the 2 questions.

The problem was, that the 2 questions were tightly knit. The answer to the 1st was needed to hunt the treasure of the 2nd. It were the blue skies that would help me pass the quiz. I simply walked out. Never to see Mr.Calc II Blue-Sky Maple-Leaf again.

INFINITE SERIES

An area of study in maths, which we shouldn't involve ourselves with, due to it's infinite vastness, else we'll diverge.

MONTANA TECH

"Here I am, This is Me, There's no where else on earth I'd rather be" - Bryan Adams

Or was I wrong. Anyways, I had to take Calc II again. This time I was dead serious. The Prof. was decent. But just before I could regain my consciousness, I was in a KLM flight back to Upna Noida. A short Episode. Some complications, are best ignored.

IGLOO

Naah. It's actually IGNOU. It's just that, I sometimes feel, it would be so much cooler, had it been IGLOO: Indira Gandhi Leftist Opium Opposition. This was my rescue team. They like to call themselves IGNOU. I gave myself to them, to save me. That was 3 years ago. Had I known that I was entering a death trap, I would run like my ass was on fire.

"Too late, to hate, the fate, I ate"

2nd Semester Maths: A combination of 3 courses from the Maths Curriculum and many short extracts from over a thousand math-texts, which we have to finish in 1 semester. It has no relation, whatsoever, to Comp.Sci. But it's there, and there's not much I can do about it.

I studied, and I failed. So, I studied again, and so I failed again. Ok. PAUSE. Meanwhile:

5th Semester Maths: The kind I like: Numerical Analysis. It's the cool maths, and it's related to my field of study. It's calculation intensive, and there's a lot of number crunching to do. However, on the arrival of December 2005, the IGLOO people thought differently. They, for the first time in the history of this exam, refused us, the anyways discarded lot, the privilege of a scientific calculator. No notice was given, and after 5 years, I was again shitting in a classroom full of students, half of who were looking each other, and the other half, abusing.

The bell rang, and I had finished a little more than half the paper. Long division of a 10 digit decimal point number with the natural log of 1.8394, four times in succession, MANUALLY, on scratch paper, wasn't really my idea of "Good Maths". So, as the IGLOO people would have it, I flunked again.

PAUSE-RESUME - PLAY: This semester, armed with decades of experience in flunking all sorts of math, I hope to clear, not with flying colors, the last of the dreaded math courses, still pending.

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

I told God today, during our personal session, "But, I don't cheat", and he replied, "Thine shal cheat, if thy IGLOOs cheat with thee."
Now, I don't understand Ol' Inglish, so I just hung up the phone. But something tells me, I'm just going to have to give it another try.

SHAN'T I BEGIN THE CONCLUSION?

"To conclude, it to have the last say, and shut-up the opponent a.k.a. The respected reader"

Inspite of the ongoing battle with maths, I still love this enemy. It's the object I desire, filled with complexity, though not as complex as most women. Maths in fun, when you open the book, and is a hard nut to crack, by the time you're on the 2nd question in the problem set. But still, it has a charm, the kind I like. It's mystery makes me wanna go wild.

I'll hate it today, and yet love it tomorrow, I'll explore it today, yet, deplore it tomorrow. It's why I think, Def Leppard wrote a song, "When Love & Hate Collide", and just so you women out there don't feel lonely, they wrote one for you too, "Sorrow is a Woman". It's so touching.

THIS IS MY LAST SONG

I have, inspite of the numerous failing attempts, managed to learn a sizable portion of the following Math Courses:

Calculus I, II, III, Differential Equations, Discrete Maths, Graph Theory, Linear Algebra, Real Analysis, Numerical Analysis, Theory of Computation, Analysis of Algorithms, Higher Algebra, Probability & Statistics

"I'm surprised too."

THE BARBER'S TAIL

2006-06-16T01:53:00.000+05:30

This not-so-sunny afternoon, I decided I wanted the Straight-Out-of-Boot-Camp hair cut. I entered the Den, and an unknown pair of hands was ready to trim the shabby fibers rooted in my head.

He looked fresh, like those guys who just got recruited before they even went to final year. You could see the inexperience in his eyes. I thought I'd give the lad a chance. So, I sat on the coveted, pumped-up chair, and "Army-Cut" is what I uttered. Mist was about to fill my hair, just when I reminded him that the "machine" (clipper) needed execution to get rid of excess hair; 1/2" attachment is what I prefer to start with.

He ignored and nuked my hair with mist from the atomizer; very well. He must have a style of his own. It wasn't easy to use the clipper on my wet strands, as they clung together and refused to give-in to this electrical knife; they've seen better, trimmers. He carried on, switching between "scissors & comb" and "Clipper".

Forty-five minutes later, the growth on the hind, was gone 3/4ths from the bottom. He was painstakingly fine-trimming the hair on the sides and back. I looked at him in dismay, but he was "concentrating", or "ignoring". He heard me guide him every now and then, but that didn't make much difference, either. After he left me with much hair not finely chopped, I requested if I could get an "Army-Cut / Crew-Cut", the kind you see on a Cadet's Head; didn't want that extra blackness on my head. He resumed.

An hour, and I was Pissed. Sitting in that pumped-up seat, wrapped in a white sheet, I saw myself in the mirror, when he said he was done. Has anyone heard of Laloo Prasad Yadav? That was me today. For some godforsaken reason, his best effort, resulted in me looking like the perfect DORK. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeks!!

And all this while, I was just "giving the lad a chance"; a chance to try a clipper and scissors on my hair, and to present me with an appearance resembling a Minister of Parliament. Not bad, shall I say. Afterwards, I noticed in the mirror, an uncontainable giggle from a pro. barber relaxing behind me on the sofa. I yelled out to him, to rescue me. Then came my savior.

DAMAGE CONTROL

He had a hard time, to begin with, but was able to help me smile. His hands were magic: 10/10. Atleast I look like a haryanvi Jat. I realize how handsome I look now, thanks to my comparative analytical skills, I picked up in IDAHO.

Will post a pic soon (don't have my digi-cam). Those of you who want to imagine what I look like, close your eyes, and visualize your local Doodh-wala.

A PICTURE OF ME -- 4 ALL TO SEE

2006-06-15T13:11:00.000+05:30

This one's just to upload my cute pic. Blogger.com doesn't have a way to directly upload photos from the comp: weird.

MY VERY 1ST BLOG

2006-06-15T00:28:00.000+05:30

I'm finally blogging. What a word: blog. Sounds much like HOG.

This one's going to be brief, as I need time to get rolling :

BCA Exams till 26th June
BCA Practicals till 27th July
MCA Classes start 1st August

This year is devoted to academics. Much to do, and very little time at hand. I party occasionally with my dear buddies. I like to end my day listening to music and reading.

Now that I've started, I'll try to be regular. Who knows when my lazy bones will stop working.