Rush-quest

Aerobatic maneuvers

2013-07-18T11:40:00.001-07:00

DSLR & Airshow comes hand in hand. The best place to furnish your photography skills with the changing light and high speed chase. And with the loud sound or aerobatic maneuvers, it takes your breadth away. Followed are few of the shots I took year over year and improved my skills. At the bottom there is a link to explore other photos. Please feel free to leave your comments and critics.

Jelly Belly: 800-pound Interstate Cadet with a 37-foot wingspan.

The Canadian CF-18 Tactical Demo with surrounding smoke and lit up tail.

Sean D. Tucker, Team Oracle flying 10 feet above the earth.

Patriots Team with all black L-39 Albatros aircraft and a multi-color smoke system.

The USAF Thunderbirds: Fast, Low, Loud

The USAF Thunderbirds Reflection

Craving Sweets: Last of Season

2013-07-15T13:22:00.003-07:00

Cherry fading with the season. Gilroy, CA

Normally, the cherry picking season starts typically between May to June in bay area. We planned to go to the cherry farms around beginning of June and as we called number of farms in Brentwood CA, all of them were closed for the season. By the way Brentwood is the prime location if you plan to pick cherries in bay area. However, after calling most of the farms, we just gave up.

With the social media in its full bloom, we got some hints to go south instead of east and eventually started exploring Gilroy(famous for Garlic). In the midst of garlic farms, we figured out there were few cherry farms still open if lucky. Almost with no hopes we headed south to Gilroy and thought we will go to Mt. Madona to meet sankat mochan instead. But how to overcome the "craving sweet", we took a chance to go to one of the farms and got lucky. Aftermath, you can see the colors in the above picture and imagine how sweet it might be. We ate lots of cherries at the farm with little waste did pollinating lots of seeds all over the farm. Later we went to "Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple" which is located in Mt. Madona.

In the form of blessings I even got a Mango which added a high contrast in this image. In all we enjoyed the last of season and hope to visit next year as well.

Cherries picked, washed and photographed in my home studio.

Adding more colors in the background with fruits.

Transformation

2013-07-15T12:23:00.002-07:00

This is taken during the 4th of July fireworks display at Shoreline, Mountain View, CA. The picture is made up of 5 stacked images on top of each other. With a long exposure, I am able to capture the trail of each burst which creates unique shape. Of course, this is not what your eyes will ever be able to capture as our brains process the burst very quickly.

Capturing fireworks display is quiet challenging but with little bit of pre-planning, it may help to capture the beautiful transformation which you will remember for life.

Self Signed Certificate https:8443

2013-04-09T14:07:00.003-07:00

Quick steps to get https working on your localhost using tomcat 6 and self signed certificate. Primarily focused on a quick usage of keytool utility and building a self signed certificate for localhost. At the end one should be able to do https://localhost:8443

Follow the steps to create a self signed certificate

create new TRUST STORE: server.jks
keytool -genkeypair -alias servercert -keyalg RSA -keypass changeit -keystore server.jks -storepass changeit
create new KEY STORE: $1.p12
keytool -genkeypair -alias $1 -keystore $1.p12 -storetype pkcs12 -keyalg RSA -keypass changeit -storepass changeit
Export certificate from the KEY STORE of type pkcs12: $1.cer
keytool -exportcert -alias $1 -file $1.cer -keystore $1.p12 -storetype pkcs12 -storepass changeit
Import the self signed certificate to TRUST STORE:
keytool -importcert -keystore server.jks -alias $1 -file $1.cer -v -trustcacerts -noprompt -storepass changeit
List the certificate from the keystore
keytool -list -v -keystore server.jks -storepass changeit

Once generated and verified one need to update the server.xml in tomcat/conf directory so as to open SSL port 8443 with above self signed certificate. Tomcat config is a part of the following image and probably type it on your own instead of CTRL C/ CTRL V.

Note:
server.jks - you can create any trust store you like i.e xyz.jks
$1.p12 - $1 is just a place holder for a relevant name. Ideally $1 must be some thing like test.xyz.com complete domain name, might save some trouble later.
keytool - is a standard utility provided in java jdk1.6

Cuppod: a tripod for smart phones

2012-04-10T19:15:00.011-07:00

History has proven that problems have always led to new ideas and innovations. Here is a preview of my recent idea which helped me to resolve my problem.

Problem is very simple, I am in the middle of nowhere. I have nothing to hold my smart phone so I can take a stable video. Hand holding is going to be very shaky. What to do?

Solution was to think quickly and find some thing that can hold smart phone in horizontal position. How about a tripod? Yeah, good idea take some sticks from the forest and build a tripod. (very funny). How about a paper cup? Visualize an inverted cup and cuppod is ready for some action. Very cheap, durable and does what it needs to do.

Here is a small video consist of 422 frames taken during my recent visit to Yosemite National Park. Very common vista point however this particular one is little bit peculiar than others. Experimented with my initial prototype. Enjoy the fast paced slow motion.

I know there are many blind folds, like what if there is too much of wind, what if i want a different angle. Well, this was just a prototype and I think it just did fine. What do you think?

Rendering few pencil sketch from top, side, full view.

LVM - life saver

2012-04-10T15:18:00.003-07:00

I am glad I made some right decision in past. When I had built one of my virtual machine which I use regularly, I opted to work with Logical Volume Manager with Ubuntu. Well all the hard work then paid off today.

Just think of this scenario, you have a nice laptop with ample of hard drive space at one point of time. As it grows old, technology consumes more and more disk space. And few months/years down the line you need more space. If it were a laptop, one idea to resolve the space problem will be to buy new high capacity drive and replace it.

Its like having a 5 gallon water tank. Get a new 10 gallon water tank and fill it with 5 gallon tank water. And replace it. Simple.

If one of the constraint is that you cannot remove 5 gallon from its original location but extend by additional 5 gallon. Won't it be Interesting.

That's exactly LVM allowed me to do. I was able to "add" new additional hard drive while my virtual box was running and extend the existing one to seamlessly integrate. Beautiful.

Followed are some steps to remember:

a) Add new hard drive to virtual machine (vmware)
b) LIFE SAVER: Re-scan the new drive that was attached
"echo ""- - -"" > /sys/class/scsi_host/host#/scan
# - is the host number
c) fdisk -l
d) fdisk /dev/sdb
create new partition.
select as primary partition - enter/enter
8e linux lvm partition - enter/enter
preview
write to disk

e)lvdisplay
f) pvcreate /dev/sdb1
g) vgdisplay
h) vgextend VolGroupName /dev/sdb1
i) lvextend -L +10G /dev/VolGroupName/Name
j) resize2fs /dev/VolGroupName/Name

Kinetic to mechanical: a Self sustainable and alternate energy source

2012-02-08T11:55:00.000-08:00

This picture was take at Global Winter Wonderland, CA

Here is what it took:
I started with capturing multiple windmills in one frame. The way in which it was setup, it was really difficult to capture all, unless you have a wide lense. I was primarily experimenting with my 70-200mm, and tried from different angles. And finally tried to capture a portrait closeup.

And it looked good, however wanted add some x-factor, hence took few long exposures for 10-15 sec. And tried until I got a nice motion blur of its blades. But the angle at which I was trying to shoot it seemed that there were those huge bright parking lights in the backdrop which were quiet annoying.

Now the challenge was how to convert the background more interesting. Its like converting your weakness into your strength. Quickly reviewing different shots, I found that longer exposure were converting those bright light into a star like effect. Hence, re-composed and re-positioned to isolate my background in such a manner that only one light on the background was visible at the lower right edge of the windmill. Thereby adding additional effect to its beauty. In post processing I did a little tuning and sharpening.

I know what you are thinking. Don't go and watch movies just by titles :)

Ice Age at Mojave

2011-11-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ever imagined how the lakes turns into desert? And what happens then after? Will they reemerge?

Lake Manly is one of the good example. But how did it disappear, well, simple phenomena vaporization. It turned into what is now known as Death Valley and left behind is the remarkable legacy. A lowest, hottest and driest landscape are its repercussions or is it? In either case, death valley has became a home to rare desert wildlife with an extraordinary power of adaptation and its untouched wilderness. Its unique salt pans and ever-changing pristine sand dunes writes a new history every day. No wonder why it’s a magical place and a photographer’s dream to capture these extremes. Wide variety of colorful rocks and canyons really rocks human world.

Sojourn Zabriski Point at the dusk or dawn and you might travel back in time with the breathtaking landscape and beautiful rock formations left behind by Lake Furnance.

Unlike Dinosaur, these lakes might reemerge. In fact Lake Manly did reemerged in recent years and receded. In all, it’s the desert grace that allows one to explore clay hills, reflective pools and the mysterious race track. This unique geological formation will always resurrect the Ice Age at Mojave.

Up in the air

2011-08-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, up in the air literally. I have been trying to stimulate the heart-rate, contracts blood vessels, dilates air passages. Of course, by staying on the grounds. Not all are great shots but really learned a lot over a year. Primarily, I have been focusing on capturing shots with high adrenalin sports. Anything up in the air and in motion has been attracting me.

Hang gliding, Para gliding, Hornet, F16, Monster trucks, Fireworks, Hot Air Balloons even KITES...

Just adding my photography link on the top menu of this blog if you want to see what I have been onto recently.

Wahweap to rainbow

2011-05-21T21:36:00.000-07:00

Wahweap, very difficult to pronounce, isn't it. One of the most beautiful and sacred place on earth. Man made blue-lake surrounded by sandstone wall and the hidden rainbow bridge. Life never looked as peaceful as it did. No more words to describe, just visualize. Truly awe-inspiring treasure.

Click here to view more...

Marrying SLR - A careful contemplation: Engaged

2011-04-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Choosing an SLR Brand for a first-time can be an anxiety-filled process.
But on the other hand seeking opinions on which one is better "Nikon" or "Canon", was almost like a religious question. I found super-patriot's from either side of the border touting their facts.

Just being passionate did not help, had to put it in action. Started seeking a just-right combination of modest power and performance, advanced features and decent reliability. Of course, they all look good but the price range vs quality became the driving factor.

Read reviews, got feedback but the feel of extreme gratification was only aroused by a bodily sensation. Perhaps the simplest theory was to go to the stores nearby and get the feel. Choose the SLR that feels good on your hands, feel the size and weight, play around with the digital components, observe the view finder and digital display. And you will find a surprisingly complex concept of "Human contact", a pleasure treat. Canon is the ONE I choose. I got ENGAGED.

There begins the the first stage of marriage, now its the time to learn about SLR and prepare for your life together. Perhaps the part of the problem still persist, Canon has a very capacious range of choice.

To the least one can now decide on the Camera Body(APC or Full Frame), Lens (Macro, Wide, Telephoto) and Budget Accessories (Flash Memory and Battery).

Marrying SLR - A careful contemplation

2011-03-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

People marry for many reasons, consider it a legal, social, emotional or economical. But it takes lots of planning to achieve it. I am already married for nine years now and got re-married recently to my passion "SLR". Believe me it takes lots of patience to contemplate the "SLR".

Marriage is a life long commitment and so is my passion. But all in all family first then your passion.

It is important to focus on improving infrastructure and most of you will agree with me. Modernizing infrastructure will help keep competitive, create efficiency while stimulating the growth, and improve the performance. Before investing into "SLR" my goal was to build efficient computing system for the greater performance of post processing digital images and storage. I already described earlier in "It's a Quad ZONE, fast and furious!".

Now having high computing power with four processors, 16GB of RAM, solid state drive and 2TB of RAID, life is beautiful. Still some thing missing, how am I going to view my images? Wide screen, faster response time, and a mega dynamic contrast ratio certainly needed. Ended up with Samsung PX2370 with 100% sRGB Color Reproduction, a faster response time of 2ms, and a mega dynamic contrast ratio of 5,000,000,000:1 and looks pretty thin and impressive. Now I am ready to propose my darling "SLR".

That being said I just started meditating and contemplating my "SLR". And at that point I asked myself, do i really want "SLR". Can't I achieve with the available point and shoot digital ones. Asked again "what do I want to actually do?". I want to shoot my daughter, family, portraits, landscapes, birds, flowers, icons, city and some day shoot the cover page of my own magazine. Okay, Okay, I get you (my conscience).

Point & shoot are getting powerful with 12 mega pixels, compact size and convenience they are really wonderful. But its fixed lens, small sensors are few of the issues as compared to digital "SLRs". Both have their pros and cons but eventually it depends on the purpose.

See, It is just one step to marrying and its already confusing (D already attached to "SLR"). Arrange or Love, to determine only one mantra "Narrow down". And immediately one need to filter and short list the DSLR manufacturers. Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, Panasonic to name the few. Explore world wide web and read more on the shortlisted ones without any prejudice. http://www.dpreview.com is one of the great resource to follow through. This is the most important step to follow, as this is going to be a life long decision. And all your next move relies on it. Every marriage comes with the STRINGS ATTACHED and so is true for my beloved DSLR.

Strings...
body, lens, hood, bag, neck strap, hand strap, battery, compact flash card, extra battery, battery grip, cleaning kit, polarizer, tripod, tripod head, tripod bag, graduated netural density filter, wide angle lense, macro lense, telephoto lense, external flash, remote trigger, cf card readers, powerful pc, softwares.....

After getting consensus, encouragement and appreciation from my wife & family without which all the contemplating was worthless, my passion came to life.

Stay tuned for the second step, this is JUST THE BEGINING...

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Elucidation of reflection

2011-02-04T16:52:00.000-08:00

A common wave phenomenon isn't it. You must have already came across terms like "Controller", "RequestMapping", "Autowired", "RenderMapping" or "ActionMapping". If so you are in right direction. Apparently i am talking about annotations and not on "pretence of reforms" which certainly will not resolve nations crisis. However, with ReflectionUtils from spring comes as a boon to developers dilemma. Yes, let me start with a simple snippet as below:

@Controller
@RequestMapping("VIEW")
public class EgyptController {

......
......
......

@RenderMapping(value = "MAXIMIZED", params = "action=change")
public ModelAndView usView(final Long idea) {
......
......
......

return new ModelAndView("view", model);
}

}

Observe. Its easy to unit test the methods with junit, but that is not the point. I want to make sure that any change to the Elucidation(annotations) signature, is propagated to the view. And want to write a simple test to assert those changes.

Here is one of the alternative, looks simple but some time really helpful during crisis.

public class AnnotationTest {

@Test
public void testUsView() throws Exception {

final Method m = ReflectionUtils.findMethod(EgyptController.class, "usView", Long.class); //1

final RenderMapping rm = m.getAnnotation(RenderMapping.class);//2

assertEquals(rm.value(), "MAXIMIZED");
assertEquals(rm.params()[0], "action=change");

}
}

(1) It uses ReflectionUtils to find the method "usView" of EgyptController with the specified method signature. In above case its usView(Long)

(2) Gets annotations pertaining to the method

Hurray! Now you can put some asserts to test those annotations. Hope this "elucidation of reflection" helps to resolve some of the root cause of crisis.

The Digital Waste: Who is the producer?

2010-09-24T10:58:00.001-07:00

New year comes with clear questions and unclear answers.

When in abundance/free we abuse, don't we? And with this ever expanding digital age, we have started generating digital data which exponentially increases digital waste every moment.

And with storage getting dirt cheap, we have started accumulating immense amount of data. And believe me in no time it is going to become overwhelming and unmanageable. Did you ever think how many things do you refer once you store?

Just bought 2TB backup hard drive at 7200RPM under 100 bucks. 2TB~2048GB~2048000MB~...KB~Bytes - Size does matter. How much waste am I going to produce? Not very sure.

When it comes to digitization, a decade ago we use to store only what was absolutely necessary. Now a days we store every single thing irrespective of whether it is needed or not. We assume that we might need it again but in practice never refer it. We archive? don't we.

On one hand we are saying that we are going green by digitizing. Ask again to yourself, are we really going green?

At first glance you might be right but dig deeper and you might realize the "Green" mirage.

We adopted paperless billing so that we might help reduce paper consumption. But now your bills are residing redundantly all over in the "server farms" which needs energy 24X7 so that you can access it anytime. Of course you might not be receiving any bills for the energy consumption. But does that means you are really going "Green".

Fact is we facetwiuzzmailblogkutpedia and are "Digital-Waste" producers with a record high pace. Consider it to minimize.

Looking forward for a NAS, but every thing seems to be expensive at this point in time.

Hanuman to Jose: A Photowalk

2010-09-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

Recently got an opportunity to join in one of the local photowalk's. It was an amazing experience in exploring the citie's symmetry and streets. Hanuman was our terminus a quo. Enjoyed capturing "Ailuridae" with the bamboo. Patterns and windows got my attention. That's what I thought initially but soon came to know that they were the common point of interest. So, How to make it special? may be the perspective. Which suggest to leave your comfort zone (like lying down on ground and pointing very high). Focus & Observe were the key elements and patience added the flavor. Want to see few selected snaps on the quad's virtuosity? Click on
Gallery - SJ Photowalk 2010

Remember "It's a Quad ZONE, fast and furious!". Yeah, gallery is put up on the same infra. Do comment on the performance and of course if you like any of the photo.

Strenuous, Spectacular & Gigantic Mission

2010-09-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

Strenuous trail with a constant uphill climb until one reach the summit. Got a chance to see a Rattle snakes, a Fox, Tarantula spiders and a spectacular sunset. And it will be unforgettable being my first hike at mission peak. Touchdown is still due from my end and will certainly make it next time.

Logging magic could be a nuisance or pleasure

2010-08-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

There can be lots of agreement or disagreement while using Aspectj. Some think Oil spill in gulf is a worst disaster ever and few believe its been over exaggerated. Either case its ones perspective and depends on what factor it is compared whether environmental or business aspect.

Does following looks familiar:

package com.bp.service;
public class OilSpillServiceImpl {
private static final Log LOG = LogFactory.getLog(OilSpillServiceImpl.class); //A

public Funds getSlushFunds(..) throws BPException { //rem Funds imp Integer will always be zero :)
LOG.debug("In Get Slush Funds"); //B
try
{ .. .. ..
} catch (final Exception e) {
LOG.error("Error retrieving slush funds. Everything is gone", e); //C
}
return 0;
}
}

Now lets say if i have 10,000 files with similar lines A & B i.e 2X10,000=20,000 lines in code. Of course, in real life there are going to be much more lines in single file and much more complicated scenarios. However point is "Is it possible to eliminate above lines?" One way is to delete all the above lines everywhere and give a nightmare to the next programmer or support team. Or you can be little considerate and remove maximum possible lines without loosing the functionality using aspectJ. As mentioned earlier it could be nuisance or pleasure.

Assuming that you have spring framework for the following particular example.

a) Add following lines in context.xml

<aop:aspectj-autoproxy />

<bean id="loggingService" class="com.bp.service.impl.LoggingServiceImpl"></bean>

b) Add following lines in actual implementation class:

package com.bp.service.impl;

import org.apache.log4j.Level;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import org.aspectj.lang.JoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.ProceedingJoinPoint;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Around;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Aspect;
import org.aspectj.lang.annotation.Before;
import org.springframework.core.Ordered;

@Aspect
public class LoggingServiceImpl
{
private static final String PACKAGE_START = "com.bp.";

@Override
@Before("(execution(public * com.bp..*(..)) && !within(LoggingServiceImpl))")
public void logEntry(final JoinPoint joinPoint)
{
final Logger log = Logger.getLogger(joinPoint.getTarget().getClass());

if (log.isEnabledFor(Level.DEBUG))
{
log.debug(joinPoint.getSignature().getName());
}
}
}

c) Now OilSpillServiceImpl will be as followed:

package com.bp.service;
public class OilSpillServiceImpl {

public Funds getSlushFunds(..) throws BPException {
try
{ .. .. ..
} catch (final Exception e) {
//C
}
return 0;
}
}

It is simple yet powerful but remember "logging magic" could be a nuisance or pleasure. I know what you are thinking what happens to //C , well I leave up to you to figure out.

Big Basin 2010

2010-07-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

Big Basin Redwoods State Park
Located in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California

Family, Hike & Redwoods

It's a Quad ZONE, fast and furious!

2010-05-21T13:27:00.001-07:00

Few months ago I started gathering information to build my high performance system and finally I completed it. What a relief. Now that its up, life seems to be running at lightining speed. Yes, believe me login screen comes up after cold boot in about 12 seconds and once key in user/password, it takes about 10 more seconds to fully load.

Highlights:

"Selection", one of the key factor but it becomes confusing and mind boggling in order to explore these vast hardware labyrinths. Finalizing on processor made life little less complex. Opted for Intel Core 2 Quad Yorkfield - 2.83 GHZ and 12MB L2 cache and started a hunt for a compatible mother boards with LGA 775 with 16GB DDR3 support. Are you kidding 16GB DDR3 ram? Eventually found ASUS P5Q3 which satisfied all my requirements as a mother board for future.

Rest was a piece of FRY's!!! Mangaged to get tw0 2TB Hitachi -SATA 3.5 drives with 7200RPM for my RAID 1 configuration. But was still debating on getting Solid State Drive for active drive and finally decided on getting Intel X25-M Mainstream SSD 160GB, I know its going to cost but it will overcome with its performance. Luckily living in Sillicon valley's great neighborhood of intelite's. Very thankful.

With Windows 7 integrity, much better then its predecessors my system is running with charm. Quad, SSD, 8GB RAM and Windows 7 justifies my Quad ZONE. Too fast and furious.

Now off to virtual reality.

Exception for your security exception: createClassLoader

2010-02-26T14:56:00.000-08:00

Turbulence is normal, and so is this exceptions. It will bring down you and your application. You may have to detour but in the end all is well. You may experience this turbulence when you try to migrate your application from Java 1.4 to Java 5 on IBM Websphere Application Server 6.x (WAS 6.x). Good to mention that not all application using Spring 2.5 might face this issue, however if you are in the same situation as i am this might save lot of time .

Problem: Followed is the "exception" i got:

org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException: Error creating bean with name 'messageSource' defined in ServletContext resource [/WEB-INF/s-beans.xml]
.
Caused by: java.lang.ExceptionInInitializerError
org.aspectj.weaver.reflect.ReflectionBasedReferenceTypeDelegateFactory.create15Delegate(ReflectionBasedReferenceTypeDelegateFactory.java:65)
.
Caused by: java.security.AccessControlException: Access denied (java.lang.RuntimePermission createClassLoader)

And after doing some research found this was extremely dangerous situation.

ENV05-J. Do not grant RuntimePermission with target createClassLoader

The java.lang.RuntimePermission target createClassLoader grants permission to code so that it can create a ClassLoader object. This is extremely dangerous as malicious code can create its own custom class loader and load classes by assigning them arbitrary permissions. A custom class loader can define a class (or ProtectionDomain) with permissions that override any restrictions specified in the system-wide security policy file.

Hence, one option was to "fall-back" and another one was to get an "exception".

Solution 1: Fall-back and Convert following to 1.2 style in Spring configuration.

Note: Haven't described a complete solution, just a direction to follow. Ideally, if you are using aop and aspectjweaver.jar, we fall-back by removing aop style and define services by wrapping each one into "TransactionProxyFactoryBean". One will not be able to use tx:advice which allows auto weaving. Involves lot of configuration changes, but is surely a possible solution, if you can't seek "Exception" for your application.

Solution 2: Get an exception for this exception in your WAS environment, if your enterprise does not allow you to add following permission to was.policy file. It may be very likely that this permission is not allowed due to its high security risk.

Add following permission to your was.policy file
permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "createClassLoader";

Read more on Permissions in the Java™ SE 6 Development Kit (JDK) [Permissions 08],

Either you can move backward and fall-back, or move forward and get an Exception for your security exception. And if you have any alternate solution, share.

Recession या re-शोषण

2009-10-11T16:15:00.000-07:00

Recession is really about bringing you back to the basics. Isn't it? Primarily you start to give up unnecessary expenditure and embrace a simple life. If that's the case how can we figure out recession and begin simple life. No simple answer to this simple question. There is no way in which one can foresee or forecast recession as there is no clear distinction as we have between day and night. On the contrary its like a mirage, imaginative and blur.

By the time we realize that its recession, we may be already into it. The important thing to understand is to learn the consequence of recession rather then determining when will it start or end. And as we have already experienced its first wave, let me brief up what i have observed. (By the way, how is "Google Wave", Is it just another fancy chat system? I heard it's only by invitation.)

"Did this wave taught us some important facts? Or was it a re-शोषण (re-shoshan)?"

A common misconception about recession. It is tightly coupled and measured with stock market. And widely believed that as stock goes down and stays longer, the deeper is going to be recession. Is this really true? I don't think so. To the matter of fact, it depends on who took benefits from adversity, who tried and who all failed. During last few quarters, lots of things have changed from individual as well as business perspective. Individuals have started following laws of economics by decreasing their spending and thereby increasing their income. What if i don't have income or i am unemployed? My friend, let me ask you, Are you a citizen? Yes, then STIMULUS on its way.

So how can we decrease our spending? "Negotiation" is the keyword. Start with the most expensive monthly recurring cost, you guessed it correctly, its Rent/Mortgage. If renting, negotiate with your community and if mortgage negotiate on your interest. Secondly, see how much are you paying for your health/automobile insurance and is it still worth. Do you talk a lot on phone, then now its time to join FB!/Twitter/Orkut or find some VOIP alternative.

Another key is to "GO GREEN". Reduce water usage and try and switch off appliance not in use. Have you ever realized those LED's are ON all the time. WFH at least twice a month, and there by reduce some traffic congestion and air pollution. Of course it will help you reduce your gasoline bills. Also try and take some PTO's for consistent income. Don't get it, you will help reduce expense to your company and apparently securing your position(just kidding).

Forgot to mention, try and reduce those channels (250 +). Do you see each channel a day for one year. May be then its justifiable.

Business have their own fancy way, they started by trimming payrolls and overloading existing employees with multiple roles and responsibility but with the same wages. At the same time many companies started reducing expense right from electric, telephone, office-supply, services, travel etc. It has been a ripple effect in the industry and re-शोषण begins. For business it has been advantageous, it has tried to forced many on mergers, acquisition and reducing their competition gradually limiting choices for consumers, who already are reluctant to spend any extra. Well, many business who have not been able to over come this acid test are forced to bankruptcy or complete shutdown. Eventually, its re-शोषण for individuals.

Was Recession, a boon to few? Yes of course! Especially for those owls they stand out at night with their sharper vision. But they are rare to be spotted. Yes i am pointing to those who have made fortune in this recession. In fact, such recession quakes, rattles across geographical boundaries and has helped to incubate new ideas and innovations, which may have been overlooked for years for progress.

Bringing us back to the basics and making us more resourceful or less wasteful. The key to ride this "Recession या re-शोषण" is "Simplicity".

Allium cepa - a sense of compassion

2009-09-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

Do you know how many galaxies are there? Do you know how many living organisms are there on earth alone? I don't think that there is any definite answer to this one. I believe this is the tipping point to boost your self esteem. Now is the time to focus on self compassion. Hence, lets keep aside our skepticism and get comfortable, close our eyes and start to think verbatim about Solo, Ares and Aemette.

Solo, currently residing on plasma. Weather is hotter than yesteryear. Primarily, due to the photofeather forecast about the sunnycane hunters, which are scheduled to investigate cooler darker spots(sun spots) well northeast of coronal. For information, due to the undergoing polarity changes, blue might see some real fireworks by 20:12 PST. Being compassionate in nature have requested solarflare to reduce their frequency for minimal impact. Blue being hardly 93,000K miles away this time, have referred for extra precaution so as to avoid similar catastrophe as it happened with red planet. But be prepared to see the largest fireworks of all times.

Ares resides on red planet and is the only living thing present. Out here it was about -80 F the other day. Ares is helping out blue neighbors to search for evidence of liquid water that may have been present in the planet's past or may be still present. Being 49,000K miles away from the blue planet and on this red rust with half the radius of Blue, he is able to some how sustain all these years with their help. Whew whu!! says Ares, "At least now i have a company, thanks rover".

Aemette reside at anthill with millions others. They have been striving to reconcile their own individuality but facing risks of potentially drowning in this man made lawn sprinkler. "When will this wheumans realize that there are other living beings apart from them. Don't we have brains" says Aemette. Highly obsessed with finding life in outer space while they don't even know how many are breathing around them. I understand if i were single-sensed immobile like cytoplasm, but i am not. I am mobile, multi-sensed and with this soft-body and hard jaws. Can't they see us or their altruism is confined only to themselves?

Just think if solo is living organism, and if it were suppose to create phenomena of solar flares. Considering the size and distance of our blue against solo, we are negligible or even non-existent. One single high frequency phenomena can diminish every single living thing and turn us to be just like Ares. In comparison, we are pretty visible and near to Aemette, that we can sense them. Still wondering why we consider them as non-existent just like cytoplasm. It is not just Aemette, there are millions others that are reckoned to be whimsical, worthless and despicable. Right from onion, egg, fish, chicken, turkey....! Don't want to go that path but envisage next time you order.

"No matter how far, rusty or small one think, one should have enough compassion for others whether it is single or multi-sensed."
- Allium cepa

Credits
Solo as Sun
Ares as Mars
Blue as Earth
Aemette as Ant
Allium cepa as Onion
wheumans as We

Yosemite 2009

2009-08-25T15:16:00.000-07:00

Lights, Camera, Enjoy!:)

The Marathon of life: Endurance II

2009-06-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

But things change as my heart beat increases but if one do not move forward, one go backward. To preserve my family progress, it was my father who took the opportunity and we migrated towards western part of India. Eventually by moving forward, it is my father who did all in his power to ameliorate us, and by balancing future education and social touch, indirectly he brought us a bit closer to our own culture and tradition.

I was ready to run my next miles in this small town at the coast of Tithal, which is overlooking Sindhu Sagar (Arabian Sea). Analogous to mini Mumbai and a place of banyans in abundance this part is very world renowned for its "Alphonso mangoes" - Haafus. I know it’s really mouth watering and delicious. This small town has given many great people to our nation and worth mentioning India's 6th Prime Minister Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, an independence activist and a true Gandhian follower. This part of country is very dear to my heart and it seems my mind is wholly taken up with reminiscences of past. This makes me feel nostalgic when I think of those childhood days, when everything looked so beautiful with sweet thoughts and happy memories.

Those days when one need to quickly get ready for school in early morning. Wearing that purple tie and cream short shirt and short pant. With khaki colored school bag and a small Milton water bottle. Black polished shoes and cream socks. I remember almost all my days right from k.g class. I have never been excellent in my studies contradicting to my sis. She used to be a topper and as I followed her from 1st till 10th STD, all my teachers expected that I am a topper as well. Don’t misunderstand; I was, but not in studies. But that doesn't matter as far as you land up working in Silicon Valley.

I still remember and so will my sis when she reads this, of the school recess time, when my mom brought that big Tiffin box for both of us. In our school's front ground all mom's use to come before time to grab a good shaded place and spread the carpet and use to set up our dining table right in that open ground. As soon as the recess bells goes, we are right set to go to have our lunch. Really, those were great days and I would take this opportunity to thank my mom for all that she did for us. Right from morning's dad's Tiffin to our lunch and dinner and at the same time taking up those tuitions for some extra fun. However, I use to go to others place for tuition, where my mom herself was a teacher. Very soon I think I will come to know how painful it is to make a child study.

One more scene I cannot forget from my childhood is my love towards "Kites". Of course, not flying them but for catching them and one day going behind a tiny black kite whose string was way up in air and my dedication to catch it was so strong that I didn’t saw the iron rods and fall on top. Guess what! I went home showed that wound to my dad, and first reaction. I would like you to give your reactions...

Another game that is really famous out there was "Marbles". Have you ever got a chance to wash, rinse and sleep on 10,000 marbles that you have won on your own? Sounds crazy ha....but I did.

One thing I forgot to tell, you know what happens when you have a sugarcane juice factory below your house? Guess? You end up having braces in adulthood, I didn't but surely my sis did. And the reason was to slit that sugarcane with teeth and then squeeze. Act is very much like "chugali"

Very soon as time elapsed, and studies became challenging and complicated with Board exams, breathing became tougher and tougher. But some how surpassed this phase of marathon, and started heading towards next ultimate challenge...

The Marathon of life: Endurance I

2009-06-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Now Rush jumps into the bloggers contest, publishing his own blog with a tart reply to all the bloggers.

Bloggers have mocked and mixed their theoretical and practical experiences since long in many forms. But with this digital age, micro blogging is extremely spread world over. And it asked, "Is Rush ready to run this Marathon of blogging"

Well, Rush says he's ready to run, and this is his debut to "The Marathon of life". Let’s see how well is he running in his own words.

The time I knew life, I started running. Not sure...why? I feel there are defined goals, and one need to achieve it. But it seems that the track is having an endless end. "Where do you suppose it goes?" I ask myself and start to follow it.

Born in surendranagar, a gateway to Saurashtra and a town of tolerance, I initialize my first mile. With a short span in this town, where weather is extreme, and with mounting water scarcity year by year, I am really amazed by the level of tolerance of the people of this great sand. But very soon I moved to east with my family. I started learning how to sit, crawl and run along the "Hooghly", dis tributary of Ganges River. You are right, it is Kolkata (কলকাতা), anglicized as Calcutta. A city know worldwide for its landmark "Howrah or Rabindra Setu" on river Hooghly and for the first Indian Noblest and great poet Rabindranath Tagore.

With my emerging mind very soon I compelled my mom, dad, sister, neighbors to run for him and keep everyone in dilemma about my choice and interest I will develop. I inherited many qualities from my family. Like my parents, I followed Jain Dharma (जैन धर्म), a science of body and soul. But astonishing part is that I and my sis often use to sit along the road side and gaze cutting of fish, totally ignorant about why one kill, cut and eat such a creature. But very soon I developed the taste of my upbringing and started following vegetarianism by taking its concept of compassion for living beings.

I completed my first mile in this east bay, with a souvenir as a football from my neighbors. Certainly, this can define my destiny of becoming a football player and some day play at the “Salt Lake stadium”, a largest in Indian sub-continent.

to be continued...

Note: * Feel free to provide your critics.