Open Book

Celebration of Friendship - Union and next level

2015-11-15T11:50:00.000+05:30

I dedicate this to all the friends who are still in touch or separated by distance and united by thoughts.

Friendship is a wonderful and unique relation given to mankind and it has a fusion of many emotions such as love, affection, anger, pride and what not. End of the day if you can be totally yourself and completely "non-layered" with a person, that can be with a good friend of yours. I always wonder how we can be so selfish when it comes to others and so selfless when it comes to certain set of our close friends and relatives and are we that complicated.

There are very few persons who can guide you in the crucial moments of your life and at the same time share their happiness and sorrows on an equal footing and respect your emotions as well and correct you when you take a wrong decision. There are very rare set of people who think of your upliftment on holistic scale and in an unconditional way. These kind of friends are like shooting stars. When they are with you, you should make a wish and enjoy the moments with them. Eventually, they shall transform you into a shooting star by identifying your strengths and minimizing your weakness and your wish shall also be granted.

I got these kind of friends bit late and I had a great time with them. Since we were away from our families, we had complete independence and it means more responsibility. We went out to movies, dinners and long road trips. The friendship unfolded only after when we started sharing the same apartment. One can get to know about their friend in depth, if they stay together. Together, we faced many situations and encountered various problems and found innovative approach to face life. We could identify one anthers' strength and optimized on them. Maybe, I can safely say that I had a great bachelor life with my friends.

The next level comes when one escalates to next phase in their life, i.e marriage. But, the beauty in friendship is the pervasive care that is always shown despite of whatever stage of life you are in, as it is bit flexible and unconditional. I was very happy when the bachelor friend of mine got betrothed. The funny part is he is insisting me to get married soon so that we can relive our bachelor's life as a family.

I certainly do not know what is there in the cards for me, but at this juncture, it truly calls for a celebration of "bachelor's friendship days" as we cannot get those days of pranks, humor, fun, late night outings, family get together and most importantly, our road trip. I have decided to relive those moments with our other mutual friends and send him off as a responsible husband and of course he will be giving us a bachelor's party which is separate.

For those of you who were in this phase, reconnect with your friends and try to recollect the wonderful memories you had as a bachelor with them. For those who are still bachelors, make the most of it right now so that you can again celebrate extravagantly later.

Helly Delhi & Shameless media

2012-12-29T23:25:00.002+05:30

Candles are lit near the India gate. Many mourn for one’s death. Many are fighting for justice. There are many protesters holding placards asking for stronger legal enforcement and others to give capital punishment for crime against women. News channels are having these protesters as an appetite for a real big time and churning money out of them by conducting debates and having question and answer sessions which is known to every individual across the nation. Few news channels have given tag names to the victim who was the reason behind the protest across the National Capital, such as “Nation’s Daughter”. I really don’t know what is actually happening.

When the victim was taken to Singapore for medical treatment, every politician tried to politicize the matter and tried to gain some leverage for their party. What a shame? It is like stealing from a house which is ablaze. Again, coming back to these protesters all I am going to question them is where is their protest headed towards? Is it having any goal, if at all it had one? If something bad happens or if someone calls out for a protest, everyone gather at Jantar Mantar, and then shout slogans against the Government. Few of them will get arrested and a handful amongst them will again get cheap publicity for some of their thoughtless behavior in front of media and finally everybody will mind their business waiting for another opportunity to protest.

Every Indian can proudly write in their resume that “protesting” is their extra-curricular activity or hobby.

In a day or two, all these people who were protesting are going to happily welcome 2013 by celebrating New Year. This victim is dead and gone and she is now considered as equivalent as a freedom fighter and is conveniently forgotten by people – a history.

The main reason behind this forgetfulness attitude or selective amnesia of Indians is the Indian media. They come out with news of their whims and fancies at times, which is known to everyone. They do so because people have started liking that kind of news and all these channels have cleverly done their homework by reading the pulse of Indian Television viewers. Some of the news broadcasted will not be of much importance at all, but still they have made these monotonous people to watch them and get used to it thereby making whatever junk news or spams they show as a part of our lives. Indian media does not have any ethics, or if they are having one, it must be unfit for them.

To conclude in this case, the issue will be politicized as usual and these incidents shall continue because most of the culprits are already know to the police or a name sake law shall be enacted for consoling the protesters which will be highly inaccessible in a country where law takes its course of action in different pace for different people.

Happy (Bloody) New Year to all those who cheat themselves!!

Health Foods - Myth or Truth

2012-09-26T13:28:00.004+05:30

I find many sites offering advice and comprehensive plan for reducing weight through "health food" and "diet planning". There are many ads which give emphasis to food as directly related to weight and health. Many people are weight conscious or at least more worried about how they look. So whenever they come across such advertisements, people tend to change their diet pattern and are willing to go through a course of such diet which they feel that it will reduce their fat/weight.

But, is diet planning alone sufficient? Why many people fail to realize that they have gained weight because of that diet only. Just by planning their food pattern alone won't get them a slim, sleek and robust look. Physical fitness and activities are also required. Both food and physical activities go hand in hand. But, today's media is giving more emphasis for food and lesser emphasis for physical activities and people are misguided that if they are going to follow "diet" then their body weight will reduce.Some of them realize soon, but some realize it very late.

Better wear your shoes and go for a jog, before having an oatmeal.

Chakravarthy

Hard Reality

2012-09-17T21:56:00.002+05:30

I woke up and suddenly i came to know that I was 25 years old this day. When I looked back all these years, all I have is a glorious school life and college life. Now I am struck and unable to move ahead. When I further analysed about myself, I found that the mistake was with me. All these years, I didn't have anything passionate in my life. I didn't stick on to any particular thing. I just did what others did and no one around me instructed or said that it is good or bad, because they let me choose my way.

Time and again, I came to cross roads of my life and become very indecisive and sometimes I laugh at myself for my "lack passion" attitude in my life. I always want to achieve something real big in my life, but I didn't know what to do. It is like taking a white canvas of largest size and having all colors and different sizes of paint brushes without knowing (what) to paint. Many friends were with me so far, and I hope at least some remembers me. Many have forgotten me, though I haven't forgotten them. I guess it is the society and their social commitments apart from their personal priorities, which has pushed me away from their mind. Or also because of my stagnancy and others' progress, due to which I may not be visible in their line of sight.

Sitting in home and trying to attain something in order make people around you happy for 3 years is difficult because I know, and that is what I am doing and unfortunately it is not synchronized with my likes and desire. But life is like that only. People around you expect you to finish certain unfinished business even though you may not like it even a single bit. At times, I also regret why the hell I am still confined inside 4 walls called home. I just feel like going out somewhere unknown and unaware and start a new life out there and I do believe in me and I have the capacity. But by doing so, I will be breaking hearts of many loved ones who were by my side during my troubled times and such an act of mine will turn out be a "real selfish act".

Come what may, I have decided to finish off the task in hand. I know it is difficult. Nothing in this world is very easy. I know, I don't like it. But now I don't have a choice because earlier it was my call and I chose this task. I know, I have to struggle and it would be very bitter. If a nation needs independence from its conquerors, it needs to put up a bitter struggle. To make my life better and not to repeat the mistakes, I have to put the same kind of struggle with myself.

Whatever that has been done, cannot be undone. But, whatever that needs to be done can be done in a better manner.

Chakravarthy
(Dedicated to people of all walks of life)

Winamp in Linux

2012-07-30T19:25:00.000+05:30

Winamp + KDE = Qmmp

These are times of Cloud music storage and players, when one can choose to store music on the cloud and listen to it anywhere from any device, or stream it from one of the available sites out there. Having said so, I guess there are still people like me, who also like to keep a local music collection and play it using more of a good old installed player. In fact, we Linux users are fortunate, because there is a plethora of audio players available in Linux these days. From the feature-full likes of Banshee and Amarok, to others that are maybe less powerful, but in turn lighter and faster, there is something for everyone.

Back when I used Windows as my only OS, I was a big Winamp fan, so I have always enjoyed using it in Linux. Nostalgia is a part of it, but also the fact that there are few others that work as fast. I usually go back and forth between the powerful media players and Winamp clones, but at the end of the day, I usually realize that I just need something that plays the music I like to listen to.

As far as Winamp clones go in Linux, there are a few alternatives, Audacious probably being the most popular one. However, Audacious is GTK based and I have experienced issues in the past when trying to make it work under KDE. QMMP is a much better option for KDE users, for it is QT based.

Like others Winamp clones, Qmmp supports skins (unfortunately only the old .wsz ones, not .wal ones), which allow users to choose between a lot of beautiful options, as shown in these screenshot.

All the usual classic Winamp features are also there, such as EQ, playlists, etc.

(Details as shared by Mr. V Narayanan)

Scientific Linux - Detailed Review

2012-07-27T10:11:00.000+05:30

Scientific Linux - It blinded me with science!

The credits for the catchy title go to legendary Thomas Dolby, but the real thanks go to the team of scientists, engineers and geeks at CERN, who developed this distribution. If you're into science, you will, sooner or later, run into Linux. Any serious mathematical, computational work is done on Linux. From amazing 3D movies to simulating the Big Bang over to crunching sparse matrices in a cloud and folding proteins at home, it all comes down to using Linux. As a single host, Linux is merely a machine, but it starts to shine in its hundreds and thousands.

Scientific Linux is a distribution based on RedHat, designed to work out of the box and make the job of assistants and PhDs that much easier. As such, it comes with a few extras that you do not normally see in stock RedHat, without losing the heavy anchor of adamant stability that RedHat brings.

Get Scientific Linux

The distro comes in several flavors, much like the parent distribution. You can go for the full-fledged DVD or download live CDs, running either KDE or Gnome desktop. The website is SSL-secured and is uses a rather simple wiki-style design. But you'll manage all right. The current edition is at version 5.4, just like RHEL, named Boron.

Speaking of names ...

Considering the fact several previous versions were already knighted the same way, it's a bit of a disappointment. There are so many cool physical terms, using Boron twice is somewhat bleak. Then again, Scientific Linux only had four names over the lifetime of no less than 22 releases. Creativity, anyone?

Using Scientific Linux

The boot menu is spartan, old style, with a rather classic interpretation of an atom for the logo, most likely Boron. After you make the choice, a very standard RHEL boot splash follows, taking you into a very standard RHEL desktop.

Wireless & Bluetooth

Having tested the raw RedHat functionality in my CentOS 5.3 review, I did find some problems with Wireless connectivity. Not so in Scientific Linux. Either because of the changes in 5.4, custom additions in the distro - or both, Wireless worked perfectly out of the box. I selected one of my WPA2-encrypted routers and was on my way.

Look & feel

While the desktop feels slightly archaic, it's very easy to make it look great in just a few short minutes. You already have a very decent theme and great fonts, you only need a small change of wallpaper to get things right.

Personally, I found the classic atom impression rather boring. For one thing, the hottest physical thing in the world now is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), so why not make it the focus of the distro? Or you can use the default RHEL5 desktop, and none's the wiser:

Multimedia

I was not expecting anything, which made the full plethora of codecs a genuine, pleasant surprise. Flash, MP3 and DVD playback were all there, out of the box, smooth as silk. Great job...

Compiz

Believe it or not, geeks seem to like eye candy! Scientific Linux comes with the drivers built in, waiting for you to start playing. Even on T42, everything worked out of the box, no glitches or slowdowns. The basic subset of effects is rather small, but it's still good and impressive enough.

Samba sharing

No problems either. Worked as expected. What more, my external USB drivers, formatted both in FAT32 and NTFS connected without any problems. I did have some issues in CentOS, but not here.

Applications

I must say I was surprised not to find any one of the free numerical computation programs included, FreeMat, Octave or Scilab. Could be the licensing issues, the packaging or just ole plain support, but there are not available, even in the extra repos.

Not a big deal, when you really think about it, because most engineers use Matlab for their work, but if you're in a mood for some free dabbling in matrices and fancy graphs, you will have to grab the scientific programs yourself. Oh, in my Science sites articles I promised you we would talk about a science-oriented distro, so here we are.

Still, the existing bundle of programs is quite decent. The full DVD gives you more, but you can easily replenish missing bits using the package manager. The default set includes Firefox, Thunderbird and a few interesting nerdy tools like Emacs, nedit, GhostView, and others.

But you also have X-CD-Roast CD/DVD burning software, some OpenOffice programs, Totem, a range of network tools, and other useful applications.

Package management

Scientific Linux uses a remixed, upgraded version of the YUM package manager, paired with the Yum Extender GUI, which does a very decent job. There was an issue with the proxy, but more about that later.

You can add extra repositories very easy, just a click of the mouse.

And then look for the cool programs you need. The package manager is simple, clean and easy to use. For example, here's the list of programs available in the Engineering and Scientific category. Most people would not want or need them, but geeks doing their Masters might.

That said, I would appreciate more geek tools. For example, some sort of LaTeX frontend, like LyX, since writing theses in an office suite is an abomination. More math tools, more graphs and plotting apps. Eclipse is available, which is good.

Stability

Scientific Linux is rock solid. There were no crashes or any other bugs. Laptop modes worked great. Suspend worked even in the live session, taking mere seconds to sleep and resume. Very nice. Oh, you can install the system from the live CD, unlike stock RedHat, did I mention that?

Usability

As you've seen so far, Scientific Linux is a very friendly distro. It offers Wireless and Bluetooth out of the box, comes with multimedia codecs, Samba sharing works, Compiz works, it's really great. Where are the problems, then? Well, there were a few, rather minor ones, I would like to say.

Conclusion

I was tremendously pleased with Scientific Linux. First, it's a RedHat distro, which means you get the classic Linux usage model, excellent stability and many years of support. Second, it has everything you need - multimedia, desktop effects, Samba sharing, anything. A serious question I have is, who needs Fedora?

Fedora is the new, modern experimental testbed for the RedHat family, and it has the cool and exciting technologies you want. But so does Scientific Linux, minus the stability problems of the ever-beta Fedora.

Scientific Linux does itself a great injustice by using its name. It frightens away normal people, who think this is some geeky distro, when in fact, it's just a super-polished RedHat, with all the extras you may want.

If I had to think of a RedHat-based distro for home use, it would be the academic geek distro called Scientific Linux. It bridges between spartan RedHat and futuristic Fedora by taking the best of both worlds and dropping away the problems. Really neat.

If you like you distros to be super-stable, robust, fast and supported for a long time, derived from the leading giant of the Linux world, and equipped with the trove of great programs and utilities, Scientific Linux is the one you want.

Honestly, if you ever think of recommending Scientific Linux to anyone by pointing to this article, perhaps, make sure you direct them to the Conclusion first. Let them not think for a moment that this is a geek gadget. Scientific Linux is a perfect desktop distro. Drop the nerdy wallpaper and you have a cutting-edge home system with everything you could ask for. Well, I guess, that would be all.

(The above is in depth review by Mr. Dina A Das, a friend of Mr. V Narayanan who is in BSD Legal Department.)

Hope you all would enjoyed this review

Get Rich Slowly - Personal Finance That Makes Cents

2012-07-26T20:59:00.001+05:30

Get Rich Slowly - Personal Finance That Makes Cents:
This site is one big thing that has been helping me save some pennies for sometime! I really wanna let you all know about this!
It does a really good job helping a large community!!
'via Blog this'

Mac feel in Dreamlinux

2012-07-25T15:41:00.001+05:30

DREAM COME TRUE

Dream Linux is a Brazilian computer operating system based on Debian GNU/Linux. It can boot as a live CD, from USB flash drive, or can be installed on a hard drive. The distribution's GUI aims to have a centered animated toolbar. The Current version is 5. The home page of the Linux is http://www.dreamlinux.info. This was started in 2007 with a version called 2.2 MM GL and in 2008 the version no. 3 was released. In 2009 they came up with Version 3.5 and this is their 4th Version.

My Opinion

Best Multimedia Support. The distro promises a lot. First, Dreamlinux 5 claims 100% multimedia support out of the box, something that any living being using computers will appreciate. Every one appreciates this for that and it stands No. 1 in handling Media from 2008.

Really a wonderful and beautiful Desktop Environment. Dream Linux comes with a very sexy Xfce desktop, adorned with the Avant desktop manager, offering Mac OS-X like looks with minimal hardware requirements. I have seen Mac OS environment in gOS Linux and Pin Guy OS. However Dream Linux aims to take the bar, one notch higher. I am amazed by the GUI of it and want to have it installed in my PC as I am bit lazy to back-up my data and change Fedora, I am not attempting it. You may see the Linux on this video at You Tube the link for the same is given below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS0nb4kXbCM

On Packages - Acrobat Reader is installed on default – this is the first Linux to have it on installation. This uses Softmaker a derivative of Open Office instead of Libreoffice. Generally Many do not like Softmaker as it looks pretty old similar to MS Office 1997. The other lists of applications are same like Mint. Pin-Guy is superb in this regard as it has all one needs. Except for Virtual Box & Chrome – I have not done anything on it.

Conclusions drawn on Expert's Opinions:

It is fast, smooth and beautiful after installation. XFCE is used as the default Desktop Environment, it is light, and the OSX-like theme is stimulating and is superbly dressed-up.

The multimedia support is phenomenal and should win over every single Windows user in a blink.

Dream Linux starts off modestly, drops low and then vaults high, emerging as a winner. This is not a bad way of leaving a solid, lasting impression, provided you can take the risk. Most users will not have the stamina to endure the horrors of the installation and wait for the post-installation paradise. This is the complete opposite of Sabayon, which begins with the absolute perfect live CD session and then somewhat disappoints with the package management.

Dream Linux has the potential of being a superb distro. It just requires some polishing. Fonts, Network Configuration, etc., are difficult. Hence an average user would lose his patience with this Linux.

(as told by Mr V Narayanan)

A brief history of Linux

2012-07-22T09:00:00.000+05:30

Since 1969, the computing world is being revolutionized by the advent of various operating systems. UNIX (Uniplexed Information and Computing System) was found by AT&T Employees at Bell lab and kick-started the OS revolution.

Then Xerox invented a PC and an ideal Desktop OS but was shy to market it. On a friendly visit to Xerox, Mr. Jobs of Apple saw the project and wondered as to the GUI. He set the Mac Project on. It was a big hit in 1985 and revolutionized the Computer world.

Since Mac is a closed project in the sense is not available for all hardware, IBM tried to find an OS-2 to compete with OS-X of Mac and failed miserably in 1987.

Hence MS was called to develop a OS for all systems having OS-X features to the extent possible by all Computer Manufacturers. The reason is two :

a) MS have been working with Apple for 10 years at that time and

b) Excel & DOS designed by MS was incredible.

Thus windows was born and it was a Very Big Hit and Windows 1987 to 1995 became the standard for all OS Development.

People wanted to give OS Free, this is an idea borrowed from Hackers and Wazinok of Apple. Therefore two separate Open Source Project was born from Unix – BSD and Linux.

BSD stands for “Berkeley Software Distribution”. It is the name of distributions of source code from the University of California, Berkeley, which were originally extensions to AT&T's Research UNIX operating system. The BSD is being academic focused and is always used by closed group of persons, it is not known and I too despite a fact used it for a month, find it difficult to trace it back and use it.

Linus Torwalds of Finland invented the Linux Kernel and the platform on which all Linux Distros works. The word Linux stands for Linu's Unix. However again the Bell Lab guys put a case and the Linux no more represents Unix.

Then in 1991-4 Red Hat made a Binary Based Linux called Red-hat Enterprise Linux. They used Restricted Binary Package Manager – the concept found by themselves and as every one used the same concept and is made available free, they changed it to Red-Hat Package Management Concept to make it a proprietary one.

The Red-hat was forced to give some thing free to public as they are using GNU & Linux which are essentially open source. Hence they created two Projects – CENT-OS and Mandrakes Red-hat. Later on Mandrakes was spun off and it went to join a debian based linux company called Connectivia. The space was given to Fedora.

Debian came for academic purpose and then went on for Home and Office use.

From Red-hat and BSD some engineers moved and started a Gentoo Linux which have no per-compilers. Finally recently Arch Linux and few arch-based distributions have also come. (As told by Mr. Narayanan)

Linux OS reviews - an insight

2012-07-19T23:07:00.000+05:30

I AM ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU

List of Open Source OS Tried by me

S. No.	Linux OS	Pros	Cons
1	Ubuntu V. 10.04. 10.10, 11.04 & 11.10 Debian	Ease of Use, Great Screen Resolution and have more windows compatibility Least in Size – CD & USB Supported The default applications are sufficient for home & office use.	Not Stable. Initial Speed is lost over a period of time
2	Mandriva V 10.2 Debian	Windows 7 Like Desktop Environment, Ease of use The default applications are sufficient for office use. Plug-ins needed for home use	Not windows compatible like Ubuntu. Updating & Upgrading is a problem 1.6 GB – downloading the OS itself is a problem
3	Fedora 15 & 16 Red Hat	Gnome – Look & Feel is great KDE – Windows 7 Like Look Easy to use	Not Windows compatible. Except for the programs in repositories, installing from other sources is cumbersome. Default Applications are not sufficient like Ubuntu or Mandriva
4	BOSS V. 4 Debian	Windows Like Look Mandriva Like Operating Environment	4.5 GB Size – Downloading is a big problem. Not compatible for all laptops
5	YLMF Debian	Windows XP Environment Easy to use	Unstable Not compatible for all laptops
6	MEPIS Debian	Same like Mandriva – but the graphics are not good	Same as Mandriva
7	CENTOS Red Hat	Simple, Safe, Secure & Stable OS.	Default Applications are not sufficient Not windows compatible
8	Open Suse Suse	Gnome Environment Look & Feel is highly professional Default Applications are sufficient for home and office use	All drivers are not supported. Not sure of windows compatibility 4.5 GB – Downloading is a problem
9	Sabayon Gentoo	Soothing Desktop Environment The default applications are sufficient for office use.	Not windows compatible. Updating & Upgrading is a problem Further installation of apps is a great problem. 1.6 GB – downloading the OS itself is a problem
10	Linux Mint V 11 & 12 Debian	Perfect Windows Replacement.	Have the same issues as Ubuntu in terms of stability
11	Backtrack V5	Speed, Secure and Stable OS Has the best Wine Has 12 sets of audit tools - one can learn CISA & CEH practically	Not for newbie
12	Fubuntu Fedora + Ubuntu Mix	Easy to use Google Focused and hence easy on-line usage. Has VLC and hence plays MP3 and MP4, DVD, etc.,	Not having off-line productivity
13	g-OS Debian	Google Apps focused. Easy to use and is better than Fubuntu theoretically	I could not install and use
14	Chromium OS Gentoo	Highly resourceful OS, theoretically most superior	I could not install and use

My Personal Ranking:

Rank	OS	Remarks
1	Linux Mint	Easy to use, Speedy and best Linux Distribution with all needed applications and plug-ins. Perfect Windows Replacement
2	Fedora	Secure and Stable OS. Easy to use and has the best Hardware Support. However windows applications will not run on it and if one tries he would go mad. Fit for those who are disciplined and want to go out of Windows completely
3	Fubuntu	Easy to install and use. Best for those who want Google based OS
4	Ubuntu	Best for those who want support and windows compatibility
5	Back Track	Best of IT Professionals and System Auditors. Difficult to use for a newbie. Yet I consider this to be best in terms of speed and stability. Of course the security is the best
6	Open Suse	Best of Networking and allied functions. Stable and Secure OS but 100% not friendly with windows applications
7	Sabayon	Best OS with perfect set of default applications for home and office use. However the number of applications is not like Linux Mint. Theoretically a strong and better OS but my test did not produced the results
8	BOSS	For those who want to be Truly Indian, otherwise same as Ubuntu

Click here to see the OS Sheet ratings
(as told by Mr. V Narayanan)

Linux Distributions

2012-07-19T12:43:00.001+05:30

Some of the Linux distributions are given in here. Based on my experience and its performance, I have rated them.

Among the Debian Distros my Top 5 are as below:

1) Linux Mint 13 Maya MATE Edition

2) Pin Guy OS 12.04 LTS

3) Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

4) Mandriva 2012

5) PC Linux

Among the RPMs my top 5 are as below:

1) Fedora 17

2) OpenSuse 12

3) Fuduntu 2012.3

4) Oracle Linux 6.3

5) CentOS 6.3

Among Pacman Based Linux My Top 5 are

1) Sabayon 7

2) Google Chromium - OS

3) Kahel OS

4) Chakra Linux

5) Funtoo Linux

I would say, if a guy is not trained in Linux, he should not go for Pacman Releases

Ideal is RPM; workable is Debian.

(As told by Mr. V Narayanan)

Linux

2012-07-19T12:23:00.000+05:30

Yet again, I am gathering information from one of my well known technical geeks, Mr. V Narayanan, whose ideas shall be put forth by me in this blog. Mr. Narayanan is a Chartered Accountant and Information Systems Auditor, who has a keen interest in testing and building Linux based OS. He along with few more friends will be throwing some insight on Linux and I hope you will get benefited by it.

You can find all the articles relating to Linux in a separate label called "Linux" itself.

Let the Penguin jump out of the Windows!!

Health and Medicine

2012-07-14T10:47:00.000+05:30

I often find that health and medicine are somehow related to each other. In this age of 21st century, with advancement of medical science, our longevity has also increased considerably. But we must also ask ourselves whether, we are living a QUALITY LIFE or not.

Here comes the question, WHAT IS QUALITY LIFE? Just think upon the following and you will understand what it is.

Having a tablet for common cold or leaving it to our immune system to cure it in a day or two.
Having diet supplements apart from normal diet to get the extra proteins, vitamins or whatever.
Living with medicine till the age of 85 or 90 and claiming longevity.

Are these instances of quality life? If you still disagree with me then unfortunately, it has become the order of the day.

We always go for unwanted medications and thereby we do not allow the God given immunity to do its role. Or to put it in other words, we are impairing it and we are making our body dependent on medicines, which is a pity.

Proper balanced diet with all nutrition and exercise should keep the troubles for our body at bay. But we also have to admit the fact that everyday some new disease is also cropping, which is mainly because of our lifestyle.

Before turning to medicines directly, it is always worth trying the nature’s therapy for they don’t have any side effects and cure for some of the frequently occurring health problems are well established in it. In the upcoming topics, I’ll be giving maximum remedies for small health issues from various medicinal plants.

I hope everybody will be benefited and suggestions and criticisms are always welcome.

Rock Band is back

2012-07-12T09:11:00.000+05:30

DMB is here to rock the floor. Freeze your tickets here. dave matthews band tickets

Guess what, David Crowder Band is here for ROCK WORSHIPERS. Book their shows here. david crowder band tickets

Alternate Rock lovers, Death Cab for Cutie is coming. Catch them here death cab for cutie tickets

AdSense or NonSense

2012-05-08T19:26:00.002+05:30

AdSense is a concept developed by Google Inc. by which revenue can be earned from a particular site or blog based on number of clicks or viewer's impression. A separate AdSense account is to be created and after Google approves that your site is worthy enough to place their advertisements, it will send you an e-mail and there after start publishing its ads in your site.

At its inception, this was lauded by many and Google Inc. Monetized many sites. Many started to abuse this project of AdSense by creating an "artificial click mechanism" of Google's ads and many started making money out of it. As a result of this, many of the Google's advertisers lost revenue and Google had to tighten its grip.

Google started to reject AdSense to those sites which were inactive or which had very less activities. Its team weeded out the artificial traffic creators and "artificial clicks" successfully but unfortunately, many innocent subscribers also lost their AdSense account in this process. Earning money via AdSense became very difficult.

With due respects to the AdSense team, they failed to appreciate a lacuna in this very concept of "click". Money can be earned by the users only when the viewers are going to "click" the ads presented in the site/blog. Unfortunately 99.9% of the readers are interested in the contents of the site and are not interested in "clicking" the advertisements. This led to forming an artificial viewers and "artificial clicking", and more sophisticated methods of earning money with dummy sites thereby many innocent users loosing their AdSense accounts just like a lamb in a flock.

At present if you want to earn through AdSense you should be a professional blogger with fair knowledge in Java and equipped with the techniques of catching viewership using AdWords or "attractive words" or "frequently searched word in Google." Many of those who had a bitter experience told me "BAd Words are better than AdWords for a site to get a decent traffic" and "Google's AdSense is a sheer Nonsense."

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN by OBAMA

2012-05-04T20:21:00.000+05:30

Presidential campaigns are going in a heated way in US and it is yet to start in India. By the way, let me make one point clear at this juncture. To qualify as the President of India you just got to be immune to your surroundings and sign whatever papers your subordinates give to you. In return you can earn both in cash and kind. Kind means not the kindness of the people (you only get their curses in India). Kind means "Vacant land", bailing out your indebted relations, so on and so forth.

Let us come back to Presidential campaign in US. To become President of US, you got to have stuff and earn respect of the people and it is indeed powerful position and it is not a "name sake" post. Why this comparison of President of US and India?

There are many methods of campaigning. You can campaign by highlighting your past glories, success and achievements (if you have any) or you can directly start hitting those who are contesting against you below the belt. What US President Obama is doing right now in the name of campaign is "hitting below the belt" kind and unfortunately he is pulling in other nations in an angst while trying to defame the other candidate, not understanding the fact that he is defaming himself.

Whenever you are going to talk negatively about a particular person and complain that "he is like this and he is like that" it won't be received in a positive way amidst the people. As a leader, if Obama was matured enough (I hope so), he wouldn't have talked about the character of Romney. His desperateness to retain the Presidentship has pushed him to this extent.

Some of his remarks were so amusing about Romney, that if they were true, he would be an ideal contestant for India's President post too. Here are few points made by Obama against Romney:

He is rich - Go to India Romney. You will become richer as a politician. Come on, this cannot be accepted.
He got Swiss bank account - An essential requirement/qualification to be a politician in India. Romney, you got bright future in India.
He will be hard against women tax payers - Sorry guys. In India, at present these matters are under the control of Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee. He treats women of India at par with men by raising the basic exemption limit of taxable income of men. (I wonder, if he knows anything about tax or for that matter, politics.)
He outsources jobs and makes Americans jobless - Without outsourcing, US cannot survive. I was given to understand that Obama's mother's X-Ray reports are outsourced to hospitals in India to report upon it. What a shameless allegation!?

Finally, Romney beating Obama is very difficult. Whatever said and done, all cheap languages, methods etc. shall be resorted to at times of election. One thing is for sure. Whoever becomes US President is not going to:

Completely stop outsourcing
Completely eliminate Taliban (because it was grown by Americans to keep a check in Asia)
Stop this "international police" behavior unless China looks into this matter.

Let us answer this question honestly. China comprises of Chinese, India comprises of Indians, Korea comprises of Koreans and Japan comprises of Japanese.

WHAT DOES AMERICA COMPRISE OF? Does it have "native Americans"!? Does it have a culture!?

The world knows what it comprises of....

AGNI 5

2012-04-21T10:01:00.000+05:30

AGNI 5

Agni 5 was test fired successfully on 19th April 2012. Before and post launch it has been covered by media and much of hype was given for this particular missile. Maybe, for India it is a feather on their hat. Otherwise, this missile doesn't call for that much hype. India should have been more modest, given the fact that its neighboring countries are having far better and superior missiles. Unfortunately, the kind of coverage given by the Indian media made its key partner in BRICS and back door neighbor, China to comment adversely and of course, Pakistan too did the same.

DF-4

Let us take a classic example: China developed a series of missile called "Dongfeng" or DF series. Its DF-4 with the range of 5550 - 7000 km was developed in way back 1960s. Now this missile is scheduled to be replaced. In 1986, US developed "Peacekeeper" missile, which had a range of 9600 km. By 2005 this missile had been removed from US arsenal. Coming back to same DF series of China, the latest one is DF-41. Its range is 15000 km with variable payloads of 20/90/150 k tonnes.

PEACEKEEPER

Similarly there are other neighboring countries which have superior missiles with better range, whom Indians wouldn't have even expected to have. Example, Israel's Jericho missile is expected to have a range of 4800 - 11500 km developed in 2008.

DF-41

So what should Indians know from this launch of Agni 5?

They have came late to the show.
They should acknowledge other superior contestants and their potentials.
They shouldn't publicize their defense ops, especially to Indian media.
Finally, they should learn from China, and other nations, as to how to keep their mouth shut regarding the specifications of any missile or weapons as they are sensitive issues.

I still can't understand why each nation is continuing its Arms race. I don't think another World War is going to come, because for whatever harm we have done to nature, nature herself shall eat us up....

Courtesy: Wikipedia and Google - images and information.

Linux: An helping hand

2012-04-10T17:25:00.000+05:30

One fine day, my PC crashed suddenly. It is a 7 year old desktop and I knew it is because of old hardware. At the same time I didn't feel like junking it as its motherboard was still running like a horse and its RAM capacity was also upgraded.

I decided to format the entire system and I was perplexed, as to how to retrieve the data. Then I heard this word L-I-N-U-X. I installed a live Ubuntu in my pen drive and accessed my data with the help of Linux. Backup has been taken and system was formatted.

I freshly installed my Windows (a genuine one folks) to start afresh. After a few days, new problem came w.r.t "system 32". I got fed up with Windows and Microsoft and shouted at the monitor F*** you.

I formatted it once again and this time I wisely installed, Ubuntu Linux. It was going on smooth, but the one I installed was a "beta" version and couldn't withstand my system's impairments.

Finally, a friend of mine came up with Linux Mint (Lisa) and she is been managing my PC smoothly. Though rolling updates aren't available for Linux Mint, I am satisfied because my PC isn't hanging anymore.

I broke those "Genuine Windows" CDs. Screw them!!

MLB Ball Tickets for Safeco Field and Rangers Ballpark

2012-04-06T13:43:00.000+05:30

Tickets for the MLB ball is available at your favorite Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for

Safeco Field safeco field tickets and
Turner Field. turner field tickets

Tickets are available at any day and at any time at TICKETAMERICA.com.
rangers ballpark in arlington tickets

What are you waiting for?

Go Ahead and Cheer your favorite Team!!

When shoes and slippers failed, came the SLAP!!!

2011-11-25T00:33:00.000+05:30

For the past few years, shoeing and throwing slippers are a way of venting out angers at politicians and big shots. Some of the notable events were at George Bush in Baghdad in 2008 and at Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at London in 2009. These are some of the happenings in the international scenario. What is the impact of these happenings in India. Certain Indian extremists and patriots resorted to throwing slippers, as shoe prices were also costly just like the essential commodity and to vent out their anger, it would be costlier for an Indian.

Some of the notable events in India of throwing slippers/shoeing started with Home Minister, Mr. P.Chidambram, upon whom a shoe was hurled by a brave Sikh journalist, which unfortunately went off its trajectory, just like a GSLV rocket. Even Indian Prime Minister was attacked and he was also missed by few meters. Other notable persons are former Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr. B.S.Yedyurappa and L.K.Advani, a senior person of opposition party in Indian politics. All these above events happened in year 2009 and courtesy to wikipedia.

Let us drop the International affairs and come to Indian scenario. Why this shoeing is happening!? Answer is known to politics. It is a known secret. People want to show their anger against corrupt politicians and they resort to these kind of activities and whether it hits or misses, they get arrested.

"India is the largest corrupt democratic nation." Country is under the control of corrupt MPs both in the Centre as well as in the State level. Indians, poor people, have no choice. They first elect a political party thinking that they are better than the previous one. But when the elected ones come to power, they slowly unwind their tails and abuse the power given to them either to fulfil their needs or finish their political vendettas. Tired of food inflation, price rise, scams and what not, an average Indian in every part of the country is so angry that they cannot express their anger.

Then came the "anti-corruption crusader", who was a ray of hope for the Indian masses. Joined with many notable faces and getting support from many social network sites as well as through hunger strikes and campaign for the sake of getting a strong Lokpal Bill enacted, his efforts was put to test by the Centre. The Government, as usual resorted to its nasty tricks of delaying the issue so that the people will forget. I believe the crusader has been crucified.

"If you don't like something, try to change it or change yourself according to it" goes the saying. In India, except for handful, many change and adapt to whatever the Government says and do the same with a grumble. Who are those handful?

From pre-independence, till date, Indians are classified either based on caste or domicile. Earlier by Britishers and now by the politicians. All said and done, these Sikhs are to be adored and admired, for they are rightfully called as "Lions of Punjab." Earlier, they were known for their contribution to agriculture and now they are almost in all facets of the Indian economy, as well as in abroad. In every Sikh household, one child is separately groomed for Indian army and that is why we are having Sikh Regiment. Unlike other Indians, who are just made of blood and flesh, Sikhs are made of bravery and patriotism.

Why is this lavish praise for Sikhs? They only have the boldness to stand against the corrupt suo moto when compared to other Indians, who don't even have back bone. Others just want food grains from public distribution system and pay off their taxes and voice out against the corrupt indirectly like me through blogs or news papers. They effectively accept money from politicians to exercise their fundamental duty of voting. What a shame and I am also ashamed!! Leave these issues.

Hats off to the courageous man who slapped Mr. Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. This slap is not for Mr. Pawar, but for the entire corrupt Ministers. Many condemned, but only these people who condemned provoked the people to such an extent that, at least by slapping them, they shall be awakened.

It is high time that the politicians in India stop this activity of burning a middle class man's money for their luxury, because they should always look back and look ahead. It started with a slipper and now with a slap. If corruption as well as people's mood is left unchecked, something unimaginable might happen which is not new to the family of Congress or end up in a civil war.

Mend your ways, you corrupt jerks!!!

Biased Media in a Puppet Democracy!!!

2011-11-24T00:09:00.000+05:30

1. NEWS FLASH: Popular actress divorced her Ex-Boy friend.

What is so flashy here, I mean why this news deserves attention. In Bollywood, if you are a successful actor, then it is understood that you are like a waste paper basket. Only the waste papers inside is thrown and not the basket. So divorcing and marrying is like having a cup of coffee for them.

It should not come in flash news, but GAS news. Crazy Indian media, who once again make Indian people, still more foolish

2. BREAKING NEWS: Maharashtra Cricket Board has agreed to give 100 gold coins to Sachin Tendulkar (not Sachin Pilot) if he hits a century and completes 100 centuries in Test Cricket.

This news is bit sensible, but unfit to be categorised in BREAKING NEWS. Every piece of rubbish in some news channels are shown as "breaking news", with a guy shouting in his high pitch asking the people related to the issue whether, what has happened in right or wrong and make them shout too and there will be a multiple screen telecast. Finally, these kind of jerks land up fighting law suits filed against them.

Coming back to the second news, i.e. the gift of Maharashtra Cricket Board to Sachin - It is quite obvious that he will hit a ton and giving 100 gold coins and all is too much. Don't make the rich, still richer. There are better batsmen than this Sachin in same Maharashtra and those gold can be used to train them. Once again, Maharashtra Cricket Board wants cheap publicity and after they rewarding, BCCI will follow them because it is a matter of pride for them.

Cricket - one of the stupid games found by a group of stupid people and lavishly praised by the stupidest country.

3. PATHETIC NEWS: India won 2011 Kabaddi World Cup.

Man 1: What is Kabaddi?
Man2: Did Sachin and Dhoni played with other team members?
Woman3: Morons! Kabaddi is not cricket, for Sachin and Dhoni to play.
(When I heard this I got relieved, but when she continued, I got a severe headache).
Kabaddi is similar to that of Gilly Kricket (desi game, similar to cricket).
(Oh no. These Indians will RIP with Bats and Balls only).

What an obsession towards cricket, cheap news and crazy politics. Is this all what India has got?

Team India won Kabaddi World Cup and it was not even telecasted in TV (leave Doordharshan - still remains unclassified). Many wants to know about Sachin, Aishwrya Rai's daughter, Raja and Kanimozhi, Rahul vs. Maya and not but not the least, is Manmohan Singh a "Dummy Prime Minister" (for which, the whole nation knows the answer.)

I really cannot understand, why media is still covering either known issues or probing into personal affairs of big shots life. It is like peeping into one's bathroom when someone is taking bath and that is what the Indian Media is doing instead of covering unexplored beautiful nature outside, which are craving for attention.

Please do some Home Work and do not always focus upon TRP ratings. Do take this as a healthy criticism for Indian media is claimed to be the media of the "so called largest democratic country in the world." Having such a reputation, you guys should elevate your levels.

Morning Walk - Adyar Bridge

2011-11-22T22:11:00.000+05:30

I was advised by the doctor to go for walking because of my sudden increase in weight and I dilegently followed what he said. From my childhood days itself, I was very inqusitive and I always question things or go in search of things till I get satisfied personally. I have frequently heard my dad saying that he used to go by cycle to office before his marriage and he used to cross the Adyar bridge, which is not being used now as it became very weak and was forced to abandon.

A new bridge was constructed parllel to the old one and the new one has been put to use. I always craved to go to the old bridge which was abandoned and it was blocked tokeep public away from it. Few years later, the State Government came with a plan to construct one more bridge to meet the increasing traffic in between the 2 bridges and the construction work of a fresh bridge began.

This morning, I went for walking till the bridge in which traffic was closed and I could see a new bridge was being constructed in between. The water flowing beneath the bridge was untreated sewage water and I really did not know how those workers manage to work under those horrible conditions. They had raised a temporary structures for staying in the beginning of the abandoned bridge and many steel sheets and rods were scattered for the construction of fresh bridge.

I knew that there was a way to reach the abandoned bridge, and I casually walked inside entrance of the old bridge and asked the watchman, if I can further proceed. He allowed me and I strolled in and after proceeding further, what I could find was horrible smell from the water which I got used. After one point, the labourers out there started to give a strange look at me, which made me uncomfortable and hence I had to come back to the entrance and asked the watchman, if there is a way to get up there. He asked me to go to the other side.

I had to take the main bridge, where the traffic was open and the pavement for the pedestrians were too narrow that if someone is going to walk on it, he will surely fall down from the bridge in the Adyar river flowing down. So I had to walk all the way on the road along with the traffic and reached the other side of the old bridge. To my horror, I just found 2 pipes connecting the broken bridge and one has to walk over the the pipes to reach the bridge, else, the same result like walking on pavement.

I carefully walked upon the pipe and reached the old bridge and to my right side, I saw the beautiful sea far away, where the river underneath goes and meets the sea, with an island and few islets in the middle of the river. On my left, I found the bridge which was full of traffic. Then 2 workers came to me and described their works and what sort of difficulties they undergo and the proposal to raise the new bridge and completely abandon the old bridge. I listened to them patiently and then walked over the old bridge which was said to be pulled down soon.

I relished all those moments of walking in that bridge finding the river flowing underneath. Though, it was having a real bad smell, I was just praying God that the Government would clean up this wonderful river which was once used as inland water transport.

2011-11-22T20:21:00.000+05:30

Get your mom a plastic spoon

Dream Lecturer

2011-09-30T23:27:00.000+05:30

It has been a lull day after seeing my results going negative for the second time. Still, my parents were very supportive and they wanted me to pursue this professional course and finish it off at my convenience and to that extent I am always lucky. I quickly decided to join a coaching class which was offering rapid revision sessions.

When I entered the class I had a strange feeling, a déjà vu, as if I have came to that place earlier itself. When I saw the students around me, to my astonishment I found many faces somewhat similar to some other persons, with whom I would have worked or my college mates etc, but they were just look alike.

Then entered the lecturer, who was from a typical orthodox South Indian Brahmin family, wearing dhoti and a shining shirt with a “U” shaped holy marked creating an impression and commanding respect. I am seeing him for the first time. He started the class and explained the concepts with crystal clear clarity.

Days progressed, and throughout the sessions, I had a strange feeling about the people attending the classes and the whole environment. Whenever I tried to make an eye contact with those persons whom I felt that they are resemblances, they look back at me as if they too knew me for quite a period of time and I was taken aback.

On the final day of the class, our lecturer was concluding and giving ideas as to how to approach the professional exams. Suddenly during the course of lecture he looked at me and asked to stand up. I thought that he was asking someone besides me to stand. He became more serious and called me by my name and asked me to stand up. I was shocked and stood up wondering what I did.

He smiled at me and asked, “Are you feeling something strange or uncomfortable that you don’t have words to explain?” I was perplexed and shivering as he was literally telling what I was going through all these days. I replied, “No sir.” Then he started laughing and said “Tell me the truth and be honest.” I reiterated whatever I said earlier.

Then he told, “Let me make things easy for you. Just patiently look around you and tell me your opinion.” I looked around slowly and one by one, students started vanishing. I could not believe my eyes. Only a bunch of students were left and I couldn’t believe the happenings around me and looked at him. “Now, your opinion please?” he asked. “Yes, yes, and please stop this.” was my reply in a shaky voice. His smiled and said “Be calm and now look around you.”

When I turned around there were few students sitting whom I had earlier felt that they were resemblance of some other person. Suddenly their faces started changing slowly, many of the faces become recognizable. Most of them used to be my peers from my college days and those who used to be my colleagues when I worked as an apprentice and these people have finished this professional course and are settled. After looking at them I hung my head low. Tears were brimming in my eyes because of my inability of 2 things – for not accepting who they are and my inability to finish this course.

My lecturer’s hand reached to my chin and lifted my face up and told, “This is the reality son. Look around you.” I looked around. He continued, “People around you are progressing, but for you.” I was seeing them and they too started dissolving in thin air, one by one. The hall was almost empty as one by one started vanishing but for me and my lecturer.

I looked him eye to eye and he told, “Did you see them, they achieved something, but at the end all these known face vanished uniformly. You have to realize that you can go far beyond them and win over the sands of time. You are someone special. Just think about it. I have done my duty.” and he gradually disappeared and only the holy mark which he used have in his forehead was there for a while and a bright light shown upon my face.

Then I saw my brother holding a pen torch upon my eye. I got frustrated and woke up and shouted at him. He told that my eyes were partially closed and tears were coming and he was afraid to wake me up and that is why he did like that. Then I realized that all this was a lengthy dream in a short sleep. Suddenly I looked at my brother, and asked him to come besides me. He came. I asked him, “Shouldn’t you be in Germany? Aren’t you the project manager? How come you are here? What the hell is happening around me?”

I woke up with sweat and anguish in my air-conditioned by early morning 3.30 on the day when my third round of professional exams begun.

Borderless World

2011-09-27T10:37:00.000+05:30

Every now and then disputes relating to border always arises. The leaders of the respective nations shall talk about the issue and God only knows what they are talking and this will prolong years together, if this is going to be in East Asia. Later, mightier nation will have its chunk of land after a brief period of time. If a border dispute is there in West Asia the one which presses the button and proves it military power shall have its piece of cake. Not withstanding the fact that the other country shall also retaliate and United Nations later coming in offering solace and these kind of stereo type dramas have been witnessed by the world.

Similarly, to keep a check in the growth of Asian countries, certain countries bred its own set of extremist groups. Later, its own loyal bread started attacking its master because of lack of trust. Cleverly, they were branded as terrorist and those nations which bred them called themselves as counter terrorists and started their drama.

End of the day what is happening? We are cheating ourselves. To grab what is lost terrorist groups are formed by weak minded people and to combat them counter terrorist groups are also formed by foolish people. What is the solution? One keeps on attacking the other and the other spends his lifetime to foils his attempts of attacking at the cost of taxes paid by the people of respective nations.

What does this show? People around the globe do not have faith in each another. We draw up our own borders and pile up nuclear heads and have allies whom we don’t even trust. Then conduct a get together in UN and agree to REDUCE nuclear war heads and NOT ERADICATE the same.

I have always wanted a world without any borders between countries where, people can move from one place to another and mingle with each other and co exists peacefully. A world in which people can move with open mind and share their thoughts freely and be more peaceful avoiding this hatred and racism. We can get know one another more personally rather than virtually and listen to them and understand their feelings. We can share whatever we have without expecting anything in return and live a joyous life. We can move and live together as “homo sapiens”.