tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80646133155680430472024-03-13T06:04:00.382-07:00Irrationally rationalAn irrational mind with rational thoughts.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-29420094871077522092007-11-03T04:09:00.000-07:002007-11-03T05:27:18.857-07:00Water by Sine wavesSee <a href="http://chir.ag/493/water/">here</a>. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/RyxpA-IS4hI/AAAAAAAAAaA/3GHLjywoAXc/s1600-h/water.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/RyxpA-IS4hI/AAAAAAAAAaA/3GHLjywoAXc/s320/water.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128589541066859026" /></a><br /><br />Chirag Mehta made this java app, which makes sounds of water. It <span style="font-style:italic;">makes</span>, which means it is artificial. Pretty cool to play around with the number of drops, size of the drops and other such variables.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-21449943260277084732007-10-27T06:59:00.001-07:002007-10-27T06:59:47.869-07:00Banks run by Street Kids in New Delhi<p>See <a href="http://www.springwise.com/financial_services/bank_run_by_street_kids_in_new/">here</a></p> <p>Out of New Delhi from where rarely comes good news, a volunteer bank run by street kids. <a href="http://www.butterflieschildrights.org/">Butterflies</a> is the volunteer aid group which supports children's rights and also helps the <a href="http://www.childrensdevelopmentbank.org/">Children's Development Bank</a>. Great thing about this initiative is it provides work, micro-loans and a way to manage these kids money, which would rather be spent elsewhere. </p> Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-47424548511812343152007-07-26T18:50:00.000-07:002007-07-26T19:01:17.412-07:00Simpsonizeme TroubleshootingI have been getting traffic through web searches for trouble-shooting of the <a href="http://www.simpsonizeme.com/index.php">simpsonizeme</a> site about which I posted <a href="http://gyaniblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/simpsonize-me.html">earlier</a>. The site does have a very friendly error message system with messages like 'The doo-hickey does not work with the whatchamacallit', which is way better than Error 419. One cannot argue with such thorough explanation.<br /><br />To be successful in your pursuit of simpsonizing yourself, you need to read the instructions, slowly. The best way is to get a picture in megapixel format and a format of 640x800 or better is recommended. Also a good contrast picture where the background is plain or of light colour is better suited. A prison mugshot would not work for the very same reason, I tried. If you get the doughnut for too long then it is better to start with a better picture. All the best.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-69440830944639778092007-07-26T05:09:00.000-07:002007-07-26T05:34:55.476-07:00Sleeping on the floorWhen last week I wanted to watch a movie while trying to fall asleep, I had to sleep on the floor as the couch is too small to hold me comfortably. I retrieved the sleeping bag and laid it on the floor with my pillow and blanket arranged.<br /><br />While the falling asleep part did not work out too good as the movie turned out to be very interesting, some interesting thoughts struck the rational mind. While the carpet is not very clean with bits of food, nails (results of my bouts of adventurous nail-biting) and other bits and bobs I wonder wherever they came from, I had a comfy pillow and a heater with the blanket rounded things up in the keeping-me-sleeping department. The one discomfort was the shoulder and neck not sitting right as there was no bed to offer any support. When one stares at the ceiling when lying on the floor things look very spacious. I wanted to shout out 'O Captain, my captain!', just 'cause the view was different.<br /><br />Thoughts went too to the countless homeless people who sleep without pillows, blankets or heaters, no movie to get them to sleep nor a ceiling to wonder how it feels to touch. Cardboard boxes seem very good blankets for them and a shoulder-neck problem would be the last on their mind.<br /><br />The vibrations of the Earth are a thing to be experienced lying down. Especially when the tram track is just next door. I remember those summer nights in India when all kids slept on the roof and the ceiling fans attached underside would make their mechanical presence felt with each rotation.<br /><br />I cannot do the sleeping on the floor everyday, but it just one of the little things that make you happy.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-34460668049091276522007-07-18T19:11:00.000-07:002007-07-19T05:17:41.043-07:00Simpsonize me<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/Rp9WOeXjBaI/AAAAAAAAAWg/srUGv-1uotM/s1600-h/your_image.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/Rp9WOeXjBaI/AAAAAAAAAWg/srUGv-1uotM/s200/your_image.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088880910621935010" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/07/make-yourself-i.html">Wired Blog</a> points to <a href="http://www.simpsonizeme.com/index.php">Simpsonize Me</a>. Very cool if you are Simpson's fan and wouldn't mind a bit of exploring. The site is to promote the new Simpson's movie. So go and get one. By the way, that is how I would look in Simpsons.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-41808875707256428082007-06-29T20:16:00.000-07:002007-06-29T20:31:19.059-07:00Multiple computers? Synergy can helpI have a laptop and a desktop sitting on my not so huge desk and I particularly hate typing on my ancient (4.5 years old) laptop when few of the keys are missing and the mousepad is sticky. The conveniently placed keyboard and mouse of the desktop are very handy, so when I heard about <a href="http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/">Synergy</a> it made things very easy to handle. <br /><br />The small application lets you share your keyboard and mouse across all the monitors and also across multiple platforms, Windows, MAC OSX and even multiple variants of Unix (Linux, Solaris etc). <br /><br />The small application runs on multiple platforms and is very easy to configure and install. It took me about 5 minutes to install and configure on both my laptop and desktop, but another 20 minutes to figure out how to connect them both. The problem was the firewall client. <br /><br />The software has stopped evolving after 2006, may be some popularity will help. <br /><br />Download link - <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/synergy2/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/synergy2/</a>Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-46687173484450947632007-06-23T18:10:00.000-07:002007-06-23T18:18:15.037-07:00You thought your job was bad?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.sfgate.com/n/pictures/2007/06/21/foam5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://www.sfgate.com/n/pictures/2007/06/21/foam5.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />No protective clothing to collect the potent solution of our sins and industrial effluents from the Ganges. Hopefully Ganges will keep his skin clean for some time. <br /><br />Courtesy: <a href="http://www.sfgate.com">http://www.sfgate.com</a>Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-19356442891006194572007-06-23T06:59:00.000-07:002007-06-23T07:07:37.093-07:00Online Recognition<blockquote>Reflections of A 90-Year Old Man; At the Mid-Point of His Journey. Looking Back On the Events That Have Shaped a Life. Exploring Dreams Of The Future. How Did You Get Here? Where Are You Going?? Seconds Turn Into Months. Days Pass Into Decades. Time Marches On Relentlessly. These Are The Days Of A Life...<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></blockquote><br /><br />This is what <a href="http://thelivesandtimes.blogspot.com/">The Lives and Times... of Anthony McCune</a> introduces himself as. And this person stumbled across my blog and listed me without me asking for it. Thank you sir.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-10923929916176671152007-06-22T20:29:00.000-07:002007-06-22T20:39:51.509-07:00Ghost riders in Hyderabad OMGWTF!!I am not sure if these guys are not trained professionals as they don't wear any protective gear. Watch them perform these stunts in the pothole ridden roads of Hyderabad (India) during day time traffic without the fear of other vehicles on the road and as it so happens almost all the time on the streets of India, general disregard for law. But the stunts are impressive. Warning: OMG moment at the end. <br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/RDMwWdCtj3Y"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/RDMwWdCtj3Y" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-50479395045099407462007-06-13T05:34:00.000-07:002007-06-13T06:15:05.964-07:00Namesake: ReviewI normally do not do movie reviews. I don't have much opinion about many things and I certainly do not discuss movies a lot. There is also the fact that almost everyone who maintains a blog does review movies. Namesake is different. <br /><br />I have read Jhumpa Lahiri's book 'An interpreter of Maladies', the pure joy that is felt from reading the stories of that book not only touches one's heart's emotional strings but relates to each Indian that tries to live in a western country. The need for Indians to really mix into the western world along with the longing to get back to into the company of Indians to celebrate the culture is depicted very well in the stories. <br /><br />Mira Nair's 'Monsoon Wedding', gave one the warm, fuzzy feeling after watching it. It is not so much as the characters of the movie, but the way the movie was made to make you watch it again and want you to dance in the Baaraat (Indian bridal procession.) at the end of the movie. <br /><br />Ashok Ganguli (Irrfan Khan) loves to read Nikolai Gogol and is an Indian expat in New York. He is married to Ashima (Tabu) an English major who has to deal with moving to a new country with a man she hasn't met before. The first few days of them being together are really depicted well. At one point Ashok says he would make tea for his jet-lagged wife and the pure terror of this culture shock in Ashima's eyes are felt without any words coming out of her mouth. And I thought there would be more moments like this. Only 10 minutes into the story and this was the high point of the movie. <br /><br />They name their son Gogol (which is meant to be his pet name) and he wants to keep this name and not his 'good' name Nikhil. It is this name that the story is based on. Why the father names him Gogol and how Nikhil tries to understand his father and his roots later in his life also forms part of the story. <br /><br />Where the movie disappoints is that the characters are mostly emotionless. When reading most books I wonder how a director would portray the thoughts of each character on the screen. Mira Nair attempted to do this through the expressions of the eyes, but it doesn't show. At one point Gogol tells his wife that 'thats not why I loved you', thing is, we do not know why he did. There was no reason at all why he loved his wife. <br /><br />Nor does the movie really depict the real issues an Indian proud of their culture would face in a different country. Except for the first real culture shock Ashima felt. There is no longing for them to go to India. The younger Gangulis do not question the differences between themselves and the westerners, which in a story like this would highlight the revelations felt by Gogol later in the story. <br /><br />If I had read the book before watching this movie, I would have been really disappointed at the portrayal and the screenplay. To really understand how Jhumpa wanted to tell the story, reading the book would be better.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-22876683318816606912007-04-01T03:34:00.000-07:002007-04-01T04:44:11.702-07:00Ruby on RailsI first read it on Wired about Ruby-on-Rails being the next big thing in web development. So, when I went to Borders last week and the geek that I am went straight to the computer's section and checked out the RoR book and bought it.<br /><br />Most books, actually all books, leave out the error messages that I get. It is never smooth going with me and learning new software or systems. I had great adventures with installing mod chips on my Xbox, installing Ubuntu, installing Beryl on Ubuntu.. the list is long. The interesting thing about stuffing up is the solution is simple and there are many people who face the same issue, but the manuals turn up with blanks for the error messages I get. May be it was because of me not following the instructions (yes, I am the typical male) or just because I say 'Let me try this' and then it goes all awry.<br /><br />I had to download and install Ruby Interpreter, Rails (the framework), RadRails, MySQL and MySQL Administrator just to start off. The Ruby and Rails went smooth, but MySQL started giving problems.<br /><br />Errors with MySQL service starting:<br />When trying to start the service I got this message: "Could not start the service MySQL Error: 0", I looked up and found that running the command, "sc delete mysql" at the command prompt in DOS stops the already running service if it has been installed previously on the PC. I built the PC myself and I am sure that I have not installed MySQL before.<br /><br />But that did not fix the issue, the "MySQL Server Instance Configuration Wizard" has to be run again, and you will have to select "Reconfigure Instance" and run the wizard all over to start it. That should fix the issue.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Errors with RadRails:</span><br />The instructions in the RoR book asked not to use a password, which I did read but did not follow and put in a password anyway. I have to admit I picked up a book in the Dummies series and that meant no password and all the easy options. That threw up a few surprises. When I created the table in the database through RadRails and then run Rake, I got "Could not connect to the database 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)", error message, that was simple to fix, as I knew that I did put in a password, when the book asked me not to, I had to go in somewhere and change it. Smart person that I am, I figured it out that the password has to be put in the database.yml file. In RoR parlance it is the yaml file. I had a smug feeling all over after I did that.<br /><br />But after that I got another error message not letting me go through Rake: "28000Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)". This was interesting, I checked the password and it was correct in the yaml file. It had to be put in three times and all times it was correct. The fix is to leave a space after "password:" and then put in the actual password.<br /><br />After this, I thought it would be all downhill and then I created the scaffold for my first database and tried to run it in the browser. The browser threw up a nice big error about "Access denied" again. Where do I change the password again? What do I do? I had to uninstall MySQL and MySQL Administrator and then reinstalled them, but the browser still will not run.<br /><br />The solution was the restart the server on RadRails, so that it gets the new password details in, that did the trick. Now, I have to start my real studying of RoR.<br /><br />My girlfriend was complaining that I was spending too much time with Ruby, little did she know that I was having so much fun. ;-)Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-80708386313086322322007-03-25T17:21:00.000-07:002007-03-25T17:24:35.511-07:00I want Sandy tooOk, a personal email assistant, who wouldn't want one? Technology, laziness blah:<br /><br />These are the services that you get for free from Sandy:<br /><br /><ul><li>Turn your “email to self” into <span class="highlight">an actual to-do</span> — and get it done.</li><li>Maintain <span class="highlight">an up-to-date address book</span> without even trying.</li><li>Get <span class="highlight">appointments into your calendar</span> without wasting time cutting and pasting.</li><li>Automatically <span class="highlight">gather the web addresses</span> friends email to you.</li></ul>Go over to <a href="http://iwantsandy.com/">http://iwantsandy.com/</a> and she will do the rest. But only from April.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-5258541476497505792007-03-14T05:33:00.000-07:002007-03-14T05:46:39.346-07:00Cost Life Game<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/RffudurO3XI/AAAAAAAAAAo/E1obIfHlQLU/s1600-h/costoflife.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/RffudurO3XI/AAAAAAAAAAo/E1obIfHlQLU/s200/costoflife.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5041760502377536882" border="0" /></a><br />I have recently stumbled across this site where one has to play a family of third world kids trying to make a living. The game is being developed by game lab and has a very good music running through it. It shows the real issues that the family of kids face and one has to pick one of the four targets to play the game, Health, Happiness, Education and Money. The kids have to be taken through four seasons each year while trying to maintain a balance of all.<br /><br />Game play is good and the music is upbeat. In my first attempt, I managed to drive two kids to seriously bad health situations, making it frustrating for me, but subsequent tries was good fun. If only it was this easy to actually do something about the kids living in conditions like these.<br />http://www.costlife.org/Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-83080681398967372742007-03-13T05:14:00.000-07:002007-03-13T05:24:08.226-07:00Cricket World CupAbout the only sport I follow is Cricket and the greatest tournaments of all has started yesterday. Not all matches are being telecast on free tv, and the ones I want to watch are the ones India play in. So, no chance of that being aired here in Australia.<br /><br />The time difference doesn't help much, but I am following it. <a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=cricket+world+cup&btnG=Search+Blogs">And so are many bloggers</a>. I am not good in predicting and do not have an opinion about cricket at all. But would like India to win this one and give the Aussies here some looking down and rub it in for them. An India-Australia final with India winning it convincingly would just about make my month.<br /><br />It has been four years since I landed in Australia, and the world cup was on then when I landed. We did not win then, my spirits are up this time. Go India!!Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-70447816022349221692007-01-31T00:38:00.000-08:002007-01-31T03:05:59.156-08:00Microsoft over the agesI have been around computers for pretty much all my life. The best pastime was when I first bought my own PC, the endless times I formatted and reinstalled the whole OS, for Window 98 installing all the drivers all over again. Misplacing CDs, partitioning hard drives, copying large numbers of music files from one Hard drive to another, changing hard drives from master to slave, upgrading to Windows XP and Windows 2000 and also trying out different versions of Linux. All of this without a cheap internet connection, which was used only to check email.<br /><br />If I had access to cheaper internet, may be I wouldn't have learnt as much about computers.<br /><br />So, these pictures from Wired of Microsoft OS have brought back fond memories of my PC adventures.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/RcBy1-Jb7WI/AAAAAAAAAAY/J2OmY2KVGHE/s1600-h/windows1screen_2.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/RcBy1-Jb7WI/AAAAAAAAAAY/J2OmY2KVGHE/s200/windows1screen_2.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5026143455686684002" border="0" /></a><br /><br />You can see the whole gallery of Windows history <a href="http://blog.wired.com/wiredphotos31/2007/01/windows_10.html">here</a>.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-44681987424619580092007-01-29T04:16:00.000-08:002007-01-29T04:26:31.156-08:00How to get lots of traffic to your siteAsk <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/">the Age</a>, they posted a story about a python in Malaysia which ate 11 dogs and it has been in the top ten news items for no less than three days. So, how to get good traffic to your site? Post an image like this one..<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/Rb3nk-Jb7VI/AAAAAAAAAAM/Pgx6coOEMrw/s1600-h/PYTHON+DW2076-360.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_1PICbm23oUU/Rb3nk-Jb7VI/AAAAAAAAAAM/Pgx6coOEMrw/s200/PYTHON+DW2076-360.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5025427381559225682" border="0" /></a><br />or may be porn. I will settle for this.<br /><br />-Picture courtesy http://www.magicalkenya.comAravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-74447641706194987942007-01-28T00:52:00.000-08:002007-02-05T20:32:46.965-08:00Picasa Web SoftwareI am just back from a month long holiday and had to organise the pictures from my camera. Logged in to yahoo photos and uploaded about 45 of them. It was painfully slow. Then I downloaded Picasa web software available from <a href="http://pack.google.com/">Google Pack</a>.<br /><br />The installation file is only 5 MB. And right after installation finds all the pictures on the hard drive, I found a few photos I misplaced and then gives you very easy options to organise them. Also, this free software has image editing options for novices, the red-eye feature is very easy to use. Another feature I found was the timeline which gives an option to view the pictures according to dates.<br /><br />The best feature of this software is the web connection feature, where you can upload the pictures to <a href="http://www.picsaweb.com/">http://picasaweb.google.com</a> if you have a google account. The one touch upload option is cool and very fast way to upload your pictures, beats the yahoo option. You get 250 MB of free space on picasaweb.<br /><br />-GyaniAravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-56262253804479751262006-10-18T07:14:00.000-07:002006-10-18T07:15:46.125-07:00How they built Stone HengeI have seen lots of stupid things on YouTube. This is not one of them:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lRRDzFROMx0"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lRRDzFROMx0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-57846574933742344582006-10-05T05:42:00.000-07:002006-10-05T06:10:40.718-07:00Mozzies RuleThey are at every corner, every turn, turn of the lights and there they are, turn of the fans and they attack. They are the mosquitoes (mozzies) and they rule.<br /><br />Epidemic in Delhi, epidemic in Kerala, both caused by the mosquitoes, do you think they care if the <a href="http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200610051510.htm">government doesn't declare an epidemic yet</a>? I live in Melbourne and am spared by the mosquito bites and also spared from biting the mosquitoes when I accidentally open my mouth while riding my bike. But, I am seriously worried about the state of affairs in India at the moment.<br /><br />Foresight is not a human thing, humans do not necessarily plan for the future. No one acts on preventing or preparing themselves against future issues. Just look at our environment. I am sure the relatives and friends of the people who have been killed in the Mumbai blasts in July are very upset at what happened to them, but are any of us upset now? It didn't affect any of us did it?<br /><br />So, why now should we worry about Chikungunya or Dengue? It is happening somewhere in Delhi, and it is happening somewhere in Kerala, the rest of us are not dying, yet. I say it can happen to any of us, we live in the same society, poor mosquitoes do not know the rich from the poor, <a href="http://www.andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=10937">ask Manmohan Singh</a>.<br /><br />I have met Indian men here, no doubt very intelligent, came from top schools and got top grades, they will not think twice before opening up their zippers to relieve themselves on Indian streets. The women, will not mind for their husbands/boyfriends doing that. After all, applying that education to some civic sense is not filling up their bank accounts is it? They daren't do that here overseas, they might get fined. Economic sense over Civic sense makes common sense.<br /><br />Too, the same educated junta will quote the Geeta and try to explain Hindu rituals scientifically. Do not eat non-vegetarian food twice a week, not only is God happy with that, it keeps your digestive system well-oiled, scientific you see. God is also very happy with the cleanliness of your house, as long as you make sure the banana peel is not dropped in your room.<br /><br />So, when I tell them India is having issues like these epidemics, they do not blink and say, 'Urine and shit does not cause Dengue or Chikungunya', bring on Plague again I say. Then we will do something about it: blame the government.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-87727285060928567892006-09-27T04:04:00.000-07:002006-09-27T04:06:25.222-07:00Funny ads on RadioOn the radio while driving back to work. <br /><br /><blockquote>Advertise your car to sell for free in our newspaper and you will go in the draw to win a free glass tint</blockquote><br /><br />!!!!Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-7237655804212182662006-09-23T08:12:00.000-07:002006-09-23T08:44:36.887-07:00Of Time and its managementSo, when the timing to create a new blog just wasn't right. Especially when a friend had to set up shop in my room to complete Uni assignments, increasing the productivity of my PC. I think my PC was well utilised, coz the friend is expecting good marks.<br /><br />Networking jobs usually have long shifts, kinda like the interns at hospitals, who have to work 48 hours at a time. Which is a scary thought, imagine you having a deep cut on your back and you get to the Emergency Room to be invited by the residenty sleepy, imagine him or her(for the PC*) to be drowsy while putting those stitches.<br /><br />Ok, my job does not have 48 hour shift thankfully. I got a 10 hour shift though. Which means not much time to sit down and pour out the thoughts into bits on the PC**. There are quite a few things for me to learn, one of them being time management. So, will hopefully keep this blog updated.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-51670262701912653582006-08-31T03:05:00.000-07:002006-08-31T05:17:30.275-07:00How to save Youtube Files and Convert themReading the title makes me think I am some kind of evangelist. I seriously get annoyed when we do a google search for something like that and get no step-by-step information for this. Me being technical can figure it out if I really want to. But wonder how much trouble someone less associated with the computer's million types of configurations.<br /><br />Ok, so this old friend of mine has her assignment and part of it is to submit a video file which was on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/">youtube</a>. How to save them:<br /><br /><ol><li>Make sure you are using Firefox to watch the video. Get it from here - <a href="http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/">http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/ </a>. There is a reason for this IE downloads your video twice.</li><li>Copy the link of the video (e.g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkTpUxh8Vxc) from the address bar of Firefox.<br /></li><li>Paste the link in this site <a href="http://www.youtubex.com/">http://www.youtubex.com</a> and click on download. Now if you were using Firefox to watch the video and then click on download the download is instantaneous. But if you were using Internet Explorer the video downloads again. It has downloaded before when you were watching it.<br /></li><li>Once the file is downloaded, rename it with .flv extension.<br /></li><li>There are quite a few softwares to convert a flv file to mpeg or other video formats, but I found Total Video Converter good for this. Get it at <a href="http://www.effectmatrix.com/">http://www.effectmatrix.com/</a> and install it.<br /></li><li>Once you got the software it is very easy to select as it is very user friendly to select source and destination files.<br /></li><li>Don't forget to ask for favours from your friend in return..<br /></li></ol>Hope that helps.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-60966679680226172112006-08-29T18:52:00.000-07:002006-08-29T19:00:47.253-07:00Free music downloads coming soonAccording to <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/digital-music/free-music-download-deal-takes-aim-at-itunes/2006/08/30/1156816908993.html">this report</a> in The Age Free music downloads is on the cards from <a href="http://spiralfrog.com/">Spiral Frog</a>. While this is great news for all of us music buffs, it is just available in US and Canada for starters. The service has not started yet though. But it sounds too good to be true.<br /><br />This site will be an advertising supported service. While popular sites make loads of money on the internet, I think this site is too good to be true. I always thought that the best way to make some illegal (non-serious, like illegal music downloads) operations stop is to make them legal and let the authorities deal with real problems.<br /><br />Hopefully this will start a new trend for music lovers across the world. As for now only music from Universal Music Group will be available.<br /><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/post" onclick="window.open('http://del.icio.us/post?v=4&noui&jump=close&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'delicious','toolbar=no,width=700,height=400'); return false;"> Save This Page to del.icio.us<br /></a>Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-35669811886514861112006-08-27T00:41:00.000-07:002006-08-27T01:05:21.592-07:00Ganapati Bappa!"Please wait till 12.30, today is Ganesha's birthday no, we give free food to everyone.", quipped the lady in the temple. Now this made me fill with happiness, the operative words 'free' and 'food' made me feel so very good. Also the fact that today is Ganesha's birthday keeps me in good spirits, he being my favourite god. I am not religious at all, but have certain very good memories of this festival.<br /><br />I had to pay for the south Indian breakfast elsewhere, could not wait till 12.30. Have a happy Ganesh Chaturthi.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8064613315568043047.post-85388346289769822532006-08-26T08:06:00.000-07:002006-08-26T08:15:48.673-07:00Welcome to my personal blog!Ah! Well! So many thoughts, so few avenues to let them out. I always keep a low profile in general, I am the quietest at work (bad), noisiest at home (bad again) and inanimate when discussing something, which is no good as well. All of these actions get reversed when I am drunk, no I don't drink at work.<br /><br />I started a blog with gung-ho, look at <a href="http://ozdesi.blogspot.com/">Desi in Golden Land</a> if you really are interested (Look at that blog.. pleaaase!). I thought that blog's name was brilliant. I thought that kinda name will bring me fame and a bit of fortune on the side. But it didn't. Besides that is more of a travel blog rather than a personal blog.<br /><br />So, here it is, yet another personal blog! Hopefully it will be entertaining for all those who read this blog of mine, It will certainly be entertaining for me while I am writing it.Aravindhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00943566460178076351noreply@blogger.com0