My home

cupid ???

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:30:00 +0000

In the last 2-3 weeks I have been using the machine instruction cpuid frequently.
Whenever I try to send a mail which contains cpuid, outlook automatically changes it to cupid :D Luckily , I corrected it all the times (or at least I hope so :))

PS: Luckily blogger didn't have that auto-correct feature :)

Gadgets!

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:43:00 +0000

I started using blogspot only recently and was pleasantly surprised to see the gadgets.

The one I think is most necessary is the "Subscribe to" gadget.

Changing CNAME record

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:28:00 +0000

I currently host siva.co.in at freehostia.com and I want to change CNAME record for mail.siva.co.in but freehostia doesn't support that. I don't host anything related to mail.siva.co.in. I just want to change it's CNAME record. Anyway to do that without moving from freehostia? I tried setting dns servers to two different hosting services, one to freehostia and the second to another hosting service which allows me to edit CNAME. but that doesn't work :(

Any suggestions?

Childhood nightmares!!

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:57:00 +0000

One of the worst nightmares I ever had as a kid was that I was smuggled into Pakistan and left there as a punishment. I used to think that was the worst possible thing that can ever happen to me. I feel those nightmares hold true even now!!

Why do we have to help the poor?

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:57:00 +0000

When I used to think that helping the poor is charity, I attended a seminar given by a social activist. Since then my attitude towards helping the poor has changed radically. Here is the reasoning he gave in that discussion (Although the example is of my own creation, I have copied the main logic from his argument)

Let’s assume A and B are two new-born kids. As you can guess, I start my argument saying that A is born in a rich family and B is born in a poor family. Both A and B grow up enjoying their childhood. But the difference is one is provided education and the other isn’t so lucky. So by the time they grow up, compared to B, A has more realistic chance of ending up in some decent job. I know that there can be some arguments that if B was determined to study, nothing can stop him from that. Let’s be more realistic – B isn’t mature to know all that. Or at least not every B can be so mature in their childhood. So at this stage when B is finding it hard to make a decent living, let us try to understand what might be going on in B’s mind.

Both me and A were similar when we were born. But now he is having a far better life than me. Why is it so? It is because A was lucky to be born in a rich family or- if B thinks more radically – this capitalistic society’s laws gave an undue advantage to A over me. According to B, it is logical to think that the current system is unfair and so he doesn’t have to abide by those laws which are unfair to him. And so he starts breaking those laws which may cause problems to people like A who want to abide by the law. From B’s point of view, all that he is thinking and doing is correct and so he wants to revolt against established laws – after all you cannot expect every B to be a Mahatma, it is more likely that B can think on the lines of someone like Bhagat Singh who believes in forcefully doing what he wants instead of peaceful means and cause a lot of loss to all those involved (all As and Bs).

We all can guess what will be the end result of above situation. If you want such situation you don’t have to help the poor. Else, if you want a peaceful society, help the poor and don’t let them think that they are on the disadvantaged side of this Capitalistic society.

Hello world bootloader!

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 08:54:00 +0000

Hopefully this small program can give you a kick-start w.r.t bootloaders.

Following steps assume that you have access to linux/freebsd (and one USB or floppy)

Step 1: Save the code given below in a file, boot.asm
Step 2: Install “nasm” (assembler)
Step 3: Run the command "nasm -f bin boot.asm -o boot.bin"
Step 4: Connect your USB
Step 5: If it mounts automatically, unmount it
Step 6: Run the command "dd if=boot.bin bs=512 of=/dev/sdb" (Replace sdb with the name of the USB device which your system has assigned, in my case it was sdb)
Step 7: boot with your USB and you should now be able to see that your computer hangs after printing “A”

Note 1: BITS, ORG, times, $, $ are nasm specific

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[BITS 16] ; bootloader need to start in 16-bit mode

[ORG 0x7C00] ; The BIOS loads the boot sector into memory location 0x7C00

mov ah, 0Eh ; We want to print a single character

mov al, 'A' ; character to be printed

mov bh, 00h ; page 0

mov bl, 00h ; color of the text printed on console

int 10h ; invokes the video interrupt handler

halt:

jmp halt ; Halt the program

times 510-($-$) db 0 ; Fill the rest of the files with zeros

dw 0AA55h ; Our boot sector identifier

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reference: http://osdever.net

Cricketing ties between India and Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:37:00 +0000

Many cricketers, current and former, say that sports bring nations together. But I have pondered over it for years without understanding how it helps that cause.

Mostly, I have seen people increasing their hatred towards Pakistan/India because of the way the sport was played. The games between these two nations are advertised as games between arch-rivals. I can't imagine how such a thing would ever help the cause. It keeps on reminding you that both the nations are arch-rivals. The administrators never care of the long-term effect it has on the audience.

I can imagine that even if there is no war between these two countries for the next 50 years, the new generation which would have never seen war will still treat Pakistan/India as an enemy mainly because of the arch-rival advertising of the sport.

I hope the administrators think constructively and put some serious thought into it as to what needs to be done. Some positive advertisement may help the cause!

We are only as good as our politicians are! Or let me put it this way – we are as bad as our politicians.

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:51:00 +0000

Even before the horrifying Bombay terrorist attack was brought to an end many fingers were pointed towards the politicians. I guess many of us have forgotten that the so called politicians are “our” political REPRESENTATIVES. I feel our politicians are the true representatives. They are like us – corrupt, selfish.

It is we people who have elected them as representatives (whether you have voted or not). We had the right to vote and pick our representative. We are the ones who corrupt these politicians. We are the ones who want the politicians to do us a favor instead of considering the betterment of the community as a whole.

It is very easy to blame the politicians for all that has happened. Let us imagine a scenario where all the politicians are very honest. Can we see a bright future with such a situation? To be frank I don’t think anything will change even if the politicians change. There are many others who are in the administration along with the politicians. And these are the common people – who are happy to make money for themselves and don’t care for the disadvantaged. We are the ones who think we waste money by paying taxes, we are the ones who think a police officer should be ready to risk his life for a meager Rs.10,000/-, we are the ones who want others to change but not ourselves. After these terrorist attacks I have seen many people asking for better training and better equipment for these officers but I have seen only one in a zillion who asked for increase in the salaries of these officers.

It is time we reflect on ourselves and strive for a better world!!

Indian politics, Chiranjeevi and the need for a change in the political system

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:07:00 +0000

Like many of those interested in Andhra Pradesh politics, I too have been following Chiranjeevi’s political entry news keenly. At the first thought, I was very happy that some one of his stature is going to enter politics. But if all the rumors coming out in news about him playing caste politics (kapu) , I feel he is just going to be another politician who wants to serve people but can’t do it because he has followed a flawed process to win election – Partisan politics.

Before I go on to explain why I think so, let me explain what I think of the current political scene in India. To win elections one needs to gather supporters (these aren’t likeminded people who work for better society but they are going to support you if you are going to be loyal to them and help when they need your help later when one wins election), make them work day in and out, woo voters with gifts, appease electoral officers, maintain good relations with administrative officers (government servants who can change things unlawfully). The aim of a politician - with a most optimistic view - before becoming a politician is to serve everyone and work for a better society. But the process which he has followed to win the elections – partisan politics – he now has to be loyal to his supporters to make them happy and all those govt. servants happy. In doing so one has to go against some principles and thereby causing injustice to someone. And the above explanation doesn’t include the process of appeasing the political parties to get party tickets and always accept with party’s decisions even though they may be wrong.

So if Chiranjeevi is going to follow this process by using his fans and doing cast politics – the kamma rumor in media – how is he going to be different from any other politician , leave aside those factionists who come to politics for money and/or power. One may argue Chiranjeevi isn’t going to do this as he is a very good human being - I too think so by his appearances in public functions but seeing his movies makes me feels that he tries to appease his already established fans and doesn’t do something creative for the film industry. And for those who are going to say his movies have good message, how many of his fans take his message out of the movie theatre?

All this is with the hope that his party is going to win over others. But I don’t have any such hope. His party is going to try to woo the same fraction of voters, 40%-50% of the electorate which participates in the elections. All other political parties have their flags well set in these voters except for some voters who will change their minds depending on who appeases them most in the form of making false promises. This is an area where Chiranjeevi can gather some voters but other politicians are not fools to keep numb – they too are going to play the game.

What I would like him to achieve is to lay the foundation of non-partisan politics. Winning elections may be a criterion but shouldn’t be the only criteria. In the process of winning elections one should abide by the principles he has set for himself and those he would like to see in a better society. I want him to clean the political system, I don’t care whether he wins the elections or not. There is no scarcity of politicians in India; there is a need for someone who can mend the political system to work for better society instead of loyalty to political parties and party supporters. I dream of the day when a politician has the freedom/courage to support opposition party politicians or go against one’s own political party.

All that is written above looks ridiculous for many of us (including me) who think the political system is designed in such a way that only partisan politics flourish. I am not against Chiranjeevi entering politics. I too admire him and wish he fulfills his dream of fighting for a better society. I just hope he gets good advisors in this process. But the question is how is any politician going to win elections without using partisan politics? There are many like-minded voters who don’t like this partisan politics and have never participated or tried to participate in the election process (almost 50% to 60% of voters I guess). Maybe wooing these voters will be a good idea?

Finally I start blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Siva Krishna) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:55:00 +0000

I am a very lazy guy who always want to post phone things as many of you :)
But I happened to see a video in you tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60cDHb-tvMA - an inspiring speech by Steve jobs, man behind Apple and Pixar. He repeated the same old quote - live everyday as if it was ur last day. My understanding of it was - enjoy everyday. But my understanding of this quote changed after listening to his speech. Now what I think is the meaning of this quotation is - enjoy everyday and at the same time try to achieve your goals - of course one has to enjoy that too!!