CHUPPANDI CHATS

The World's Largest Telescope to be built in Hawaii -

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:45:00 +0000

The world's Largest Telescope to be built in Hawaii

Astronomers the world over will be beside themselves with glee with the news that the latest stage in the development plan of the world's largest telescope – the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) – was given the green light over the weekend.

The project's backers described the permission, given by the Hawaiian Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR), as "another important step forward for the future of astronomical discovery and economic opportunity on Hawaii Island."

The next-generation observatory, set to be built close to the summit of the dormant 4,205-meter (13,796-ft) Mauna Kea volcano at a cost of $1 billion, will be the most advanced telescope on the planet, able to observe light and objects from some 13 billions years ago, encompassing the early years of the universe.

Thanks to its 30-meter-long (98.4 feet) segmented primary mirror, the enormous telescope will have nine times the collecting area of the current optical telescopes, while images will be three times sharper.

The project is the result of a collaboration between educational institutions and scientists in five countries – The US, Canada, Japan, China and India.

It does, however, have its opponents, with a number of local groups concerned about its impact on the environment as well as the heritage of the native Hawaiians. To allay fears of damage, those working on TMT are promising "responsible development and environmental stewardship of Mauna Kea in close partnership with local interests."

TMT now requires final approval of its construction plans from Hawaii's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR). Providing it can get it, it'll still be a few years before the observatory actually goes into operation, with 2021 currently being touted as the most likely date.

If everything goes to plan, however, we can expect TMT to capture some pretty stunning images from the edges of the universe, with those working on the project claiming the telescope will allow astronomers to "study the universe as never before, finding answers to many of the grand challenges of science."

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Quantum domain

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 09:03:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Well.. that explains why im often lost looking up the sky night and day... :P

Jokes apart thatz a great message from C&H that quite often the problems we ponder with aren't as deathening as we used to think.. there are hell a lot more of important things in and beyond the world that we live today...

*** Credits to me for inventing the word deathening :P this isn't no big a problem either..

Me(a)n and Matters...

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 13:39:00 +0000

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. Oscar Wilde demotivational poster - Oscar Wilde

Very True... The true self of every men is behind the facade that they've built as a bait to decoy others like a predator lures its prey !! Which also proves my point essentially man has never lost his predator instinct given all these years of evolution and so called Orthogenisis to a six sensed creature..

Also brings to the fore the essential primordialistic nature of Human Beings.. which in my view is going to be eventually consumed by the all powerful nature that will live for even given all these abuse of mother nature by the greatest ever predator on earth that will eventually dig its own grave..

Nature will heal all by itself just as a cut in your hand and the wound that heals by itself.. We the beings on earth currently inheriting the title as a greater predator are not actually worried of the earth or mother nature our concern is only that we will eventually pay our own way to the extinction and the mother earth will re-invent itself in its own way at it had been of all these infinite years..

The end is nigh.. and we are paving our own way.. It seems we cannot do anything much for the world we created is racing in its own pace like the amplitude of the variation keeps increasing with the time period like a in frequency plot.. not sure about the transfer function and if we can map it with any function that we have invented all these years.

But yes evolution is a complex function even far less comprehended by the greatest ever who tried their best to map the function.. even far inconsequential is the musings of a brat like me.. Hope sanity prevails..

The wall stands tall - A tribute to the cricketing legend of our times...

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:41:00 +0000

The true Gentleman of his time

There are several things I savour from the days I started to watch cricket with my grandpa.. Since my days as kid, there were more and more ppl around me who were fawning over Azharuddin's swagger, Sachin's raw talent and Saurav Ganguly's off side shenanigans - I was simply smitten by the quiet, paavam looking, Dravid.

Those were the times when Ajay Jadeja was considered to be the eyecandy of the Indian team so stylish his shots that comes quite naturally to him, not even those staggeringly required run-rates bothered him, Sachin was praised for his sheer brilliance with bat, Azharuddin for his flamboyance with bat, those flicks with immaculate timing and the way he simply outdoes the oppn is considered as bliss. Sourav's arrogance and heart throbbing hooks off the leading bowlers of his days and his ability to piss off his opponents even after caving in to those rib-cage breaking bounces that goes inside to trouble him.

Always feeling disappointed and learning

There came a man so calm and so perfection personified. It was pretty awful to watch him during the titan and singer cups during his earlier days. and he was surely not happy with himself for not having to rise to the occassion. The emotions were quite palpable. Not much of those maddenning maniacs the Indian fans would've spared him even before bed for ruining their day.

That was a time when the game was in total turmoil the whole country was shell shocked and shattered to hear the game they held so close all these years is orchestrated. They were so disheartened to see their gods have let them down.The game was hit an all time low marred by the scandals and What followed was total chaos.But amid all these there rose a man so silently, so mentaly at peace, never feared to focus on the task at hand how unsurmountable the situation may be. Most of his counterparts became a fan of this man so perfection personified. He always said that only the passion for the game he held so close and loved playing made him see through all these. He is never feared to go back to basics, to start from scratch, to go to the levelling ground where he started as yet another young bloke among thousands of those waiting for that elusive break.

Calm and Ecstatic after one of his Centuries

With his long playmate in tests who clocked playing
together in the field more than anybody else mostly saving
from the turbulent situations - The Saviours

His favourinte cuts he enjoyed the most. Playing on the backfoot

He too was vicitimized in the cash rich board where even politicians had a say in every series, where not juse merely performance counted anymore, favouritism, bias an politics are the only factors that decided who gets to represent the country. But he made them so grittingly under pressure only by his performance. He was a great learner of the game. Both on and off the field. always willing to contribute in what ever way he can. Donning the wicket keeping gloves was one such example. That was when the team could not simply afford another specialist wk in place of a batsmen or a bowler. He was more than willing to step into the glove of the

Of his ostentatious compatriots, Rahul Dravid batted exactly like the person he is: stately and upright, dignity and poise his two shoulders, standing up to everything coming at him with minimum fuss. He picked his shots carefully, almost like he was weighing the risk for fear of letting himself and his side down. There was little about him that was flamboyant - there isn't with an oak - and patiently, brick by brick, he built giant edifices. He is a good man and he batted like a good man.

And this is what make me like the man he is. So grounded in whatever he does in whatever way. Like with most of his choices in life, he has chosen well again. He has not craved a full house on its feet, there has been no grandstanding. The retirement is a sports-page event not a gossip item. He knew it was time.

Ever so dedicated even during practicing in nets. Always
willing to learn, playing the ball straight

Relished playing his part and always contributing
to the team in every discipline

The contrast couldn’t be sharper. He would come in and look to defend the first ball, let it hit the middle of the bat and slowly build his innings… the others would walk in looking to smack the leather off the ball – Sehwag with disdain, Tendulkar with authority, Laxman with his wrists and Sourav Ganguly through the off-side. In a partnership, Dravid was always the proverbial anchor – trying to keep the others firmly in the grasp of reality. But for them, it was easier to take the flights of fancy that Dravid could only dream of.

He spent more time in the nets than the others, he worked on his fitness, he worked on the little things that came easily to the others, and he worked on keeping his head above water… why he even worked on his wicket-keeping to stay in the ODI team. But hard work has a sort of mortal, doable quality to it. We can all work hard – if we have the motivation and the belief… that’s all it takes

His ODI pal with whom he went on to pile
lots of runs and enjoyed playing with

But to do it over 17 years requires the kind of genius that not everyone is born with; the genius of hard work. We can all work hard for a while but after some time, we start to falter. We get bored. We get distracted. We want to do the extraordinary. We want to play beyond our limitations and that is often where we go wrong.

For many of Dravid’s contemporaries, the nets were a place to try out new things, to hit the big shots, to build confidence before a big match. But for the Bangalorean, it was a drill – something that had to be done as a matter of course. Throughout he would make tiny adjustments, trying to get as close to his sense of perfection as possible, because he needed to be at his best to survive. The difference between the Dravid that we saw in England and the one we saw in Australia was minute – a matter of his feet not moving a few inches more – but that’s all it took to make him crash and burn.

He realised that, which is why every waking moment was spent thinking about the game – his technique and the opposition. It was the kind of focus that bordered on the maniacal but it was also the kind of focus that made him loved and respected. People could see he wasn’t frivolous. He was the serious kind and he took the game very seriously.

Reaching out - Always willing to connect to his fans

If he shied away, he would never know how good he could be. He kept wicket in about 70 one-day internationals, never most convincingly, but he allowed himself to look bad for the team to look good. It was always the team for him and as he had once quoted Kipling: for the strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf. It was nice to see a cricketer quoting from literature.

He wasn't the Wall, not for me though. Yes, his defence was as perfect as it could get, his steeliness so admirable, but he played shots that warmed the heart. The cover drive, with the big stride forward, and the prettiest of them all - the whip through midwicket played so late and while so nimble on his toes.

In cricket as in life, the debate over what leads to genius has been dominated by a simple argument: is it nature or nurture? While Dravid’s team-mates often colluded with nature, the right-handle was clearly nurtured to an exalted status through the self-effacing quality called hard work.

Partnership stands during recent tour of England'12
goes to show his contribution even in modern times

Dravid doesn’t inspire the impossible. But what he does do is stretch the limits of the possible to a point where the thin line dividing the two starts to blur. And THAT is his genius. He didn’t start off as a man blessed with greatness but each year he seemed to add a new chapter to the legend in the making. And THAT is his genius too.

When kids walk in to meet their coaches for the first time, they often harbour dreams of becoming the next Tendulkar or Sehwag. Who wants to present a straight bat to everything? You might hear Gavaskar praise you but the crowd will mostly boo. And nobody likes to be booed.

But their coaches will point them in the direction of Dravid. ‘Be like him – he is a genius of hard work,’ they will say. He wasn’t blessed but he had his sights set on a goal.

Showing his grimace - Announcing his retirement
at at a press conference in Bangalore recently

And in the end, he can proudly say – he got there. He isn’t the bridesmaid any more, he isn’t second best. He’s first among equals and he’s pretty much earned the right to be called a genius through hard work and you can’t say that about too many people right now, can you?

Not just cricket he is a man so passion personified always focussed and ever willing to go wherever the goal he held so close takes him to. Makes you say 'IN LIFE BE LIKE HIM'

Trying hard to control his emotions
during his Press Conference recently in Bangalore

He will be missed, as the great always are. He will see his children grow, take them to school, imbibe in them the reading habit (for hez a avid reader and learner than most others), hopefully from time to time he would instill his fire to the new flowers that will inevitably bloom in our cricket of the need to put grit over beauty, team over self, challenge before rejection, humility before arrogance, for that is what he stood for. Surely the Wall stands Tall !!

Wisden cricket - Famous five of Indian cricket

A good compilation from UPCRIC

Rahul Sharad Dravid is born in Indore on 11 January 1973 and makes his first-class debut for Karnatakaagainst Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy just after his 18th birthday, scoring 82. He makes his India debut

Soon after stepping down as captain, Dravid loses his place in the one-day side but remains a constant in the five-day arena, passing 10,000 Test runs in 2008 as well as signing for the Royal Challengers Banga

Dravid is India's man of the series on their 2011 tour of England - which is widely expected to be his last - as he finally records his first Test century at Lord's, and adds two more rearguard hundreds as India

Dravid is man of the series on India's tour of England in 2002, scoring 602 runs in four Tests, includingcenturies at Trent Bridge and Headingley and a double ton at The Oval, but a Test century at Lord's,

Dravid is the top run scorer at the 1999 World Cup with 461. He makes 145 against Sri Lanka, sharing a second-wicket stand of 318 with Ganguly, who smashes 183. It is the record ODI partnership for any wicket

Later that year, he is handed his Test debut against England at Lord's. Fellow debutant Sourav Ganguly scores 131 at number three, while Dravid, at seven, compiles a characteristically painstaking 95 from 267

Although he is nicknamed The Wall for his safety-first batting style, Dravid's career hits a purple patch inthe winter of 2003-04 when he hits double centuries in successive series against New Zealand,

Australia's record run of 16 consecutive Test wins is ended in an astonishing game at Kolkata's Eden Gardens in March 2001. After India are forced to follow on, Dravid (180) and VVS Laxman (281) add 376

But another 4-0 whitewash, this time in Australia, leads many commentators to question the future of India's old guard and a disappointing series for Dravid - in which he averaged under 25

By 2003, Dravid is India's vice-captain and although he is a losing finalist in that year's World Cup in South Africa, in May he marries surgeon Dr Vijeta Pendharkar.

Dravid remains a prized wicket for opponents, but his captaincy is criticised after England's first Test win on Indian soil in 21 years comes in March 2006, when stand-in skipper Andrew Flintoff

Dravid signs for English county side Kent for the 2000 season and has a successful summer, scoring 1,221 first-class runs at an average of 55, including an innings of 137 at Portsmouth in a fascinating duel

Having deputised as captain for Ganguly on occasions, Dravid is handed the captaincy on a permanent basis in late 2005 after Ganguly's very public row with coach Greg Chappell, the former Australia skipper

Dravid soon establishes himself in a powerful India batting line-up which includes former teenage prodigy Sachin Tendulkar, elegant left-hander Ganguly, the free-scoring VVS Laxman and aggressive opener Virend Sehwag

In April 2009, Dravid sets a new record for Test catches by an outfielder when New Zealand's Tim McIntosh becomes his 182nd victim in Wellington, overtaking the previous record set by Australia's Mark Waugh.

The 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean is a major disappointment for India, as they lose to Bangladesh in their opening game and fail to make it past the group stage. They win that summer's Test series in England

When the cricket world comes together in January 2005 to raise money for victims of the Asian tsunami, Dravid takes his place in a star-studded Asia XI which play an ICC World XI containing players from Aus

While Dravid is an automatic choice as a batsman and an excellent fielder, he would occasionally be asked to keep wicket in order to improve the balance of the limited-overs side, picking up 14 stumpings in on

I just wish...

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Mon, 21 May 2012 08:23:00 +0000

How many times did I posted starting with 'I just wish'?? not sure but am certain of some good numbers though.

Don’t you just wish that someway somehow we all have just a sliver of control of the outcome of our own life??

That even though God is in control, that maybe, just maybe, that certain something happens that can control the falling dominos seemingly in an ordered disarray due in part to something you did, wished, or prayed??

‘Life’ can definitely throw some curve balls once in a while, and when it does it’s so weird how it “puts you back in place”, almost as if it’s a medicinal humbling pill.

I’ve experienced it way too many times. I call it’s God’s test of perseverance. Others call it life. But regardless it feels the same for both. Humbling, contrite, and sorrow for the soul and with a HOPE full of vivid optimism and gushing spirits.

Destiny Calls - Welcome aboard poor soul

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:19:00 +0000

So here we are again…

Yes.. I was in a kind of state of pause. I’ve been here loong time before. A month or two between posts and so much has gone unwritten. I fast forward to now and I will be adding a few from the back burner soon, that I had kept for so looong. Obviously wondering if it ever matters to anyone but there are lot many things to be told, more views to be shared. So Gear for another round of the roller coaster ride that my life is as the clueless, hapless soul in me trying to comprehend what have I build with my erector set and where this run-away train is leading me.

It isn’t exactly describable,… that being how I feel. I can only say that days go really, really fast and my mind is not the same anymore. I try to ignore it and sometimes it helps, but in many other ways it makes the things only go worse.

Tonight I try again. I’ve told myself this for the last 12 odd (though numerically even) weeks, and it’s really getting tiring. Not sure why it would change now. I’ve been asking almighty for plenty of help.

It has been really hot this week not a pleasant time of the year to be in. Wonder how we had spent those year-end annual holidays playing all along under the scorching sun. May be time makes you so weak that you live the days of agony wondering if those days would ever come again.

The sudden surge of happenings since a while had me perturbed and left me gasping for breath (Why is it so ??, not that I know !!!). It’s not that I’m up to a race to the Mt. Everest. It’s just that I had been so institutionalized within my surroundings for a while. Now that things are beginning to change it seems life has started to knock me off my balance. I ain’t afraid of it as I hope that it could at least help in stirring the dormant underdog in me.

The thinking or rather Musing Monkey

And obviously life is now taking me to those turns I never knew existed or rather paid attention to all the while. Its like things have gone so much into auto-cruise mode. I no longer have any control of the happenings these days. Not that I had it steered all the while the way I wanted but still it was comforting that I can have the control whenever I wanted to. Well, hoping this might well take me to the avenues that I never were and could somehow make truce with it to steer towards a common destiny.

Destiny eh ?? I wonder where it really is now. May be I have to find the lost ones dusting off from my old thoughts deep down my mind. Sure thing that most of them would've become all so meaningless like those insignificant entities trying to make something out of themselves. To sound hopeful, this puts me into some kind of better situation that I can mend myself in ways I can and have some accountability towards my destiny for its not just me no more.. For in pursuit I only worry about the piteous unfortunate one hoping to transpire its own destiny while its already destined to be doomed.

Yet another Arduino GSM-CDMA cell phone Adapter

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:35:00 +0000

How often you had imagined if you could use arduino to do this, that and what not... I always had felt if i could put this + arduino.. that + arduino like.. was actually wondering if only i get some problem on my way would hardly hesitate to make some soln out of Arduino :)

This shield has the ability to connect to high speed WCDMA & HSPA networks that could launch us perfectly to the "internet of things" era as they prefer to call it.

With an internal GPS wit hmobile cell ID triangulation using both assisted-mobile (A-GPS) and mobile-based (S-GPS) modes this gizmo of dreams surely lives up perfectly to fill the void in the hyper market.

what more.. with a cam of 640x480 resolution for both photo and video recordings, SD file system and all those fancy little things that gadget of todays come....

I don't necessarily believe throwing more hardware at a problem will fix it but I have not seen this brought up in here. Will this device make up for what the phonedrone is missing and save you guys some work?

The link to Arduino 3G-GPRS-GSM-GPS

Cartoon Scape - Anna Hazare teams up with Ramdev to fight corruption

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:49:00 +0000

Funny Cartoon appeared on THE HINDU - Cartoon Scape

Anna Hazare teams up with Ramdev to fight corruption. Too late to act perhaps. For he even didn't am in doing..

Original link below...

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/cartoon/article3342928.ece

Arduino Based Auto Timer / Stop Watch Timer for stroking time Measurement

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Wed, 02 May 2012 17:56:00 +0000

See my Instructables below for full version of this article

http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Based-Auto-Timer-Stop-Watch-Timer-for-st/

The Need:

Last week around at work I had another usual un-usual problem to face with. Having to make lots of mechanisms n components to work with-in seconds or fracs at times I kind-of knew this was always coming.

And invariably so my poor mind couldn't think of anything but Arduino for a handy solution that should be compact, flexible, highly customizable, rugged and most importantly easier to work around.

Step 1The Problem:

What we had is an arm moving around from an actuator which we would like to tap with some contact type micro switces (limit switches) to give a feed-back signal as the awkward figure suggests.

Step 2Components:

I franatically searched for the components from the Junks I always treasured with the hobby kit coming-in handy..

LCD Display (16x2) - 1

Micro Switches - 2

Hook-up wires for (bread board) - Plenty (see Fritizing schematic for actuals)

Bread Board - 1 (for Prototyping)

LED - 1 (fok blinking indication)

Resistors 330 & 2K - 1 each

potentiometer 4k - 1 ( I had used one 2k Resistor and a 4K POT in comb. instead of a 6k pot to control the display as it came so handy from the junk parts)

Arduino - 1 (Duemelanove is what I had)

Step 3The Methodology

Now that all I/O's are wired in order as per the schematic, it pretty much works-out itself and it all boils down to the programming now..

I had used the StopWatch library to evoke the timer and initiated the millis() function to record time step value as soon as Arduino is started.

But what I need is just a differential timer with the simple math which gives us the time on air or otherwise.

All that I did is declared some run-time variables and do some math to display the difference value to show only the time between micro-switches getting energised. Otherwise to display the time correctly in the format is similar to Dan Thompson's method as it only records the time values in millis and we have to convert the values to sec, min, hr and microsecs.

The other problem i encounter is the sign reversal as arduino cannot handle large buffer. I finally managed to overcome this error by using the unsigned longint as integer data type.

Step 4Display Shield

The display shield is constructed of pretty much the same components over a matrix board with pin rails for piggy-backing Arduino.

Had used some old components from an electronic choke for compacting

Step 5Arduino Sketch - Programming

Final sketch\code for Arduino below:

Sketch \ Code by Chuppandi aka Subu

Chuppandi@gmail.com

www.chuppandee.blgospot.com

#include

LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12); // LCD pins decleration

int switchPin1 = 3;// switch1 is connected to pin 3

int switchPin2 = 2;// switch2 is connected to pin 2

int ledPin = 13; // LED is connected to pin 13 in arduino

int val1;

int val2;

int frameRate = 500; // the frame rate (frames per second) at which the stopwatch runs - Change to suit

long interval = (1000/frameRate); // blink interval

char buf[15f00]; // string buffer for itoa function

unsigned long starttime = 0;

unsigned long endtime = 0;

unsigned long lasttime = 0;

unsigned long currenttime = 0;

StopWatch sw_millis; // MILLIS (default)

StopWatch sw_micros(StopWatch::MICROS);

StopWatch sw_secs(StopWatch::SECONDS);

void setup() {

lcd.begin(16,2);

pinMode(switchPin1, INPUT);

pinMode(switchPin2, INPUT);

pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);

Serial.begin(9600);

sw_millis.start();

sw_micros.start();

sw_secs.start();

}

void loop() {

val1 = digitalRead(switchPin1); // read input value and store it in val

val2 = digitalRead(switchPin2); // read input value and store it in val

if (val1 == LOW && val2 == LOW)

{

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // turn LED on

currenttime = (sw_millis.elapsed() - lasttime) ;

Serial.print("sw_millis=");

Serial.println(sw_millis.elapsed());

Serial.print("sw_micros=");

Serial.println(sw_micros.elapsed());

Serial.print("sw_secs=");

Serial.println(sw_secs.elapsed());

lcd.clear();

lcd.print("SECS:");

float sec = sw_millis.elapsed()/10;

lcd.print(sec);

int elapsedMinutes = (currenttime / 60000L);

int elapsedSeconds = (currenttime / 1000L);

int elapsedFrames = (currenttime / interval);

int fractionalSecs = (int)(elapsedSeconds % 60L);

int fractional = (int)(elapsedFrames % frameRate); // use modulo operator to get fractional part of 100 Seconds

fractionalSecs = (int)(elapsedSeconds % 60L); // use modulo operator to get fractional part of 60 Seconds

int fractionalMins = (int)(elapsedMinutes % 60L); // use modulo operator to get fractional part of 60 Minutes

lcd.clear(); // clear the LCD

lcd.print("TIME:");

if (fractionalMins < 10){ // pad in leading zeros

}

lcd.print(itoa(fractionalMins, buf, 10)); // convert the int to a string and print a fractional part of 60 Minutes to the LCD

lcd.print(":"); //print a colan.

if (fractionalSecs < 10){ // pad in leading zeros

lcd.print("0"); // add a zero

}

lcd.print(itoa(fractionalSecs, buf, 10)); // convert the int to a string and print a fractional part of 60 Seconds to the LCD

lcd.print(":"); //print a colan.

if (fractional < 10){ // pad in leading zeros

lcd.print("0"); // add a zero

}

lcd.print(itoa(fractional, buf, 10)); // convert the int to a string and print a fractional part of 25 Frames to the LCD

lcd.setCursor(0, 1);

endtime = currenttime;

lcd.print(sw_millis.elapsed());

lcd.setCursor(0, 1);

lcd.print("us=");

delay(10);

}

// if (val1 == LOW){

// digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);}

else{

lasttime = sw_millis.elapsed();

// endtime = (sw_millis.elapsed() - starttime);

// endtime = (currenttime - starttime);

digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);

int elapsedMinutes = (endtime / 60000L);

int elapsedSeconds = (endtime / 1000L);

int elapsedFrames = (endtime / interval);

int fractionalSecs = (int)(elapsedSeconds % 60L);

int fractional = (int)(elapsedFrames % frameRate); // use modulo operator to get fractional part of 100 Seconds

int fractionalMins = (int)(elapsedMinutes % 60L); // use modulo operator to get fractional part of 60 Minutes

lcd.clear(); // clear the LCD

lcd.print("TIME:");

if (fractionalMins < 10){ // pad in leading zeros

}

lcd.print(itoa(fractionalMins, buf, 10)); // convert the int to a string and print a fractional part of 60 Minutes to the LCD

lcd.print(":"); //print a colan.

if (fractionalSecs < 10){ // pad in leading zeros

lcd.print("0"); // add a zero

}

lcd.print(itoa(fractionalSecs, buf, 10)); // convert the int to a string and print a fractional part of 60 Seconds to the LCD

lcd.print(":"); //print a colan.

if (fractional < 10){ // pad in leading zeros

lcd.print("0"); // add a zero

}

lcd.print(itoa(fractional, buf, 10)); // convert the int to a string and print a fractional part of 25 Frames to the LCD

lcd.setCursor(0, 1);

lcd.print("ACTUATOR TIMER");

}

// End of the program

lcd.print("0"); // add a zero

fractionalSecs = (int)(elapsedSeconds % 60L); // use modulo operator to get fractional part of 60 Seconds

lcd.print(sw_micros.elapsed());

/* lcd.print(" ms=");

lcd.print("ACTUATOR TIMER");

lcd.print("0"); // add a zero

#include

Step 6Packaging

Packaging is always fun.. Just pick-up whatever you could come up with from the mighty treasure junks... you can make wonders...

Do visit my space for more updates on my Arduino erector kit.

See my Instructables below for full version of this article
http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Based-Auto-Timer-Stop-Watch-Timer-for-st/

LIFE... THE GREATEST PREDATOR OF MANKIND

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:33:00 +0000

Three more days is all I have.

Here I am languishing like a brat.. in full of deplorable and inexorable state..

Guess i've made a huge mess out of myself... For I had the choices with-in me aplenty paying a big tribute to my slothful life

All my dreams have gone so huge as they now look staggeringly unsurmountable... Like the way these twenty-twenty matches happens at times when the asking rate goes on rather disarrayed multitudes that are so improbable to score even given that all the legal deliveries are scored for a maximum...

Not that I haven't seen it coming. I've been trying to ward off the perilous happening all the while. The only way I could've done that is by showing some real acrion which I gravely lacked.

Having all but no chance to stop the inevitable from happening. I've got to give-in to the life's demand driven by social ire...

Yep... Three days is all I have before my life draws close to the world of my dreams, delusions rather tumultuous and designed to fail.

Hope I could do with the changes all of which set to follow for I had to change course and steer through from the insipid, placid lake to a place of high current. It could be the wild roaring river from a waterfall or rather be the infinite ocean's pulsating waves.

Life can take you to places it wishes to if you let it drive on its own after getting carried away with all those delusions. For I have absolutely no HOPE whatsoever now of getting anywhere than an ordinary man can get to.

To all those fortunate souls out there, I the hapless soul, slothy SOAB hereby concede my DEFEAT to LIFE... THE GREATEST PREDATOR OF MANKIND....

The real face of Indian Sports Authority - An institutional Failiure

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:15:00 +0000

Pathetic.. I know no other words to say.. The sports authority of India is in absolute shambles... They seem to see nothing beyond cricket as sports. Its unfortunate that such a non-mainstream sports is favoured or rather worshiped than anything else..

Should sachin be awarded Bharat ratna...?? Damn it I say.. even he wouldn't agree to be awarded the highest honor at the cost of other sport for the modest person he is...

Inset Message: Shashikant Hotkar , winner of Mumbai Shree for the year 2011, making papad with his family in Dharavi Slum , Mumbai.

We give so much importance to cricket and cricket players as compared to other games.. though these players perform well they still need to struggle in the daily life for living!!!!! Though they r doing hard work for making records for Indian games they doesn't get any help frm government... emphasizing the real need to change this situation

Its not about Shashikant or whether he deserves whatever he does, the perennial question is what the Sports Authority of India is doing with the worlds second largest population. Had they provided the sufficient infra structure with proper maintenance the situation would be rather different.

Its the very reason that we still are languishing at the bottom of the table every olympics struggling so hard to clinch atleast a Bronze cheering the mediocre success and crediting that to the non-sense sports Authority and the IOC who did not even to care to move their ass out for anything other than abusing the institution while even every small african countries and with people not even equalling the population of the capitol.

When are we going to realize this very fact and act. I guess whatever the changes should be proposed should start fundamentally. Thatz where we lack. We lack the very foundation. We lack the very infrastructure. We lack the very culture where sports is treated in par with the success of other professions. Can you imagine somebody saying I play kabbadi or I play Football in india when they were asked what you do for a living ?? We'd joke at them as losers.

This is what we should change and the rest takes care by itself when we introduce the sports as a compulsory eductaion or rather give more emphasis by giving some more credits like we do for Arts, languages, Mathematics and science.

I dont really know if these things gonna happen during my lifetime or the respected politicians would spare some time from facing their never-ending list of cases of corruption, crime, treason and the likes. Not that i should be worried about it now for I have long lost the grip of playing tennis or cricket and just play Ping pong to cut loose stress out of the maniacal work only tuning me to be a moron every progressing day.

Life is a Battle field....

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:17:00 +0000

Not that I belong there anymore... It seems mid-life crisis is fast catching up.. So much.. So early... Life is not a pleasant ride anymore.. not that I wanted it to be for I always preferred to ride the tide than to watch the calm picturesque sea in solitude...

But, life seems fast fading away.. with everyday wrapping up to another brutal, grueling day of exhaustion, experience reminding me of my way cast away from all that i've dreamt in more than one dimensions... May be I dont have it in me anymore (not that I had it ever, may be its just me..)

Trying hard tumultuously to find ways of sobering up and having ended up again and again where it all started... hoping dismally the days of misery will shomehow wash away in a licketysplit like a dream fast fading.... only these words echo in my mind everytime i take an insipid breath dozzed off asthalin deep down my throat amid wild gasps and drawing hums suffocated out of eosinophilia..

Fear not restless mind,

For the days are longer

and the winds are stronger

Worry not for what did you not find

for the worst is far from over

and the dust will make you sober

Bother not for all that you've become

For The tide would only last till the seasons gone

the fads who flow would fall along

tis time for the tide to turn and swords be drawn

for the battle of the life is finally on

just take a deep breath of silence

for its time you wield your willow for a HOME RUN !!!

Alexander Pushkin - Winter morning - Russian literature

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:19:00 +0000

One of those poems of Alexander Pushkin - part of things that keeps me going...

Therez nothing better than russian classics to brake cluttered soul to a soft slumber

Reading Alexander Pushkin's Eugene Onegin is just an experience as self-contemplation as both can brings you down to tears. One my the sheer multitude of his thoughts prompting the worthiness of our living having only the mind to read and relish and the later by revealing your true self to yourselves and how wasteful a life i lead without even a pinch of purpose to it.

Pushkin is the mozart of literature even personally akin to his life to some degree. Though his life was always described as poignant, paradoxical, fickly and the likes he rose as an invincible master of literature amdist the western and european contemporaries.

I had read from a prose in one of book i read during those may days which i still remember calls him a man of parody. He lived in a world of delusions thinking himself awful and yet living with beautiful women of his days.

Eugene Onegin is still considered to be one such paradoxical work http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/EugeneOnegin.html

Winter morning - Alexander Pushkin

Cold frost and sunshine: day of wonder!
But you, my friend, are still in slumber -
Wake up, my beauty, time belies:
You dormant eyes, I beg you, broaden
Toward the northerly Aurora,
As though a northern star arise!

Recall last night, the snow was whirling,
Across the sky, the haze was twirling,
The moon, as though a pale dye,
Emerged with yellow through faint clouds.
And there you sat, immersed in doubts,
And now, - just take a look outside:

The snow below the bluish skies,
Like a majestic carpet lies,
And in the light of day it shimmers.
The woods are dusky. Through the frost
The greenish fir-trees are exposed;
And under ice, a river glitters.

The room is lit with amber light.
And bursting, popping in delight
Hot stove still rattles in a fray.
While it is nice to hear its clatter,
Perhaps, we should command to saddle
A fervent mare into the sleight?

And sliding on the morning snow
Dear friend, we'll let our worries go,
And with the zealous mare we'll flee.
We'll visit empty ranges, thence,
The woods, which used to be so dense
And then the shore, so dear to me

The other side of me - To my dear old friend from a shameful hound

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:02:00 +0000

Wrote a letter to my friend from the darker side of me which made me realize the true value of friendship.

I don't know if he'd read this at all. If ever he happens to..

Not a day goes by without feeling remorse for what I have been those while and the darker days of me gives me shrills even now.

I have been very mean and worst during those days even though u were so generous to pass me by when you could've literally run through me.

I know the worst thing any man can do is to betray his friend. I hung my head in shame everytime i think of it which is quite often I know you wouldn't even had thought of me all the while but I have been following you ever since ofcourse wishing meekly for I did not have the fortitude to even talk to you.

Really am that you now are married and doing well professionaly. I dont know what to say for no words is enough to complete the comprehension. But I guess i've left the chance even to say sorry to you to make amends for what i've done to you.

You really are a good human being and in your deed had rose more bigger than anybody else though im not sure am worthy of it.

I know its too much to ask for another chance and forgiveness but nevertheless this is something thatz eating me always for im no more the kind of man I was (i dont know if I can explain that)

Anyways just wanted to say this to you at this hour of the night sorry yaar.. really am.. If you could really do that would make me at peace atleast as im increasingly feeling indebted to you given the juncture you exhibited that. im not that cold-blodded afterall if only you had not erased all those memoirs of the days we spent together.

They say time heals all wounds not sure of mine though for here I am begging for forgivance.

sorry, being selfish here again this means a lot to me atleast would ease my burdens a bit.

Favourite movie scenes to break the shackles off the boredom life

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Well im not a movie buff to watch every potboiler kinda movies as you'd know by now. But I have some clear favourites that i've managed to stumble upon by chance.

Having said that there are some few moments that I like in most of the films that i watch quite ofttimes. May be thatz how i'd like to summarize the movie for it all depicts or rather limns some kind of a picture or fragments of life in its own way.

Some to motivate my spirits when im down (like Shawshank Redemption, Kungfu panda, The pursuit of happiness), SOme humble moments that makes us forget all the worldly traits (Cast away, motorcycle diaries, Blind side, Forrest GUmp, Notebook, Saving private ryan), SOme moments moments from some intriguing movies for inquisitive moments (A beautiful mind, WallE) , some irking moments got to be pacified with some nonchalant moments from some movies or rather to brake the shackles out of vetti life (Dil chachta hai, Chennai 28, Office Space) . SOme to relish and revel the sheer beauty or performance and Some to sober up my pensive mood (like when you are almost tipped off whining) like Enchanted. And ofcourse some loveable movies with some serious moments like titanic, a walk to remember, the notebook etc.,

I guess i could compile all those moments of gold into one big pile or rather make a movie out of it :)

Below are such moments from some of the films notwithstanding the following.

The Notebook

This is where Noah would take allie (Rachel Mcadams) for a ride and would give her a packet to feed the swans and she'd just ask him with that smile "What are they all doing here ?". The whole seen just as she says is like a dream (just around a minute). How can you not love her. I really love this scene to have watched over number of times (i've become her fan since then and following her movies till sherlock holmes :))

Shawshank Redemption

The whole move is somewhat close to me for i've leant every word uttered by red (Morgan Freeman). This is how i feel any ideal cast should be. neatly measured without overdoing anything

Some moments really stand-out like playing the Mozart opera song (The Marriage of Figaro) sung by two italian ladies and the moment is best explained through freeman's character red's words HD Video of the scene

"I have no idea to this day what those|two Italian ladies were singing about.

Truth is, I don't want to know. Some things are best left unsaid.

I like to think it was something|so beautiful...it can't be expressed in words...

...and makes your heart ache|because of it.

I tell you, those voices soared... higher and farther than anybody|in a gray place dares to dream.

It was like a beautiful bird|flapped into our drab cage...and made those walls dissolve away.

And for the briefest of moments... every last man at Shawshank|felt free. "

Rocky Balboa IV

When he think of advising his son

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!Video of the scene from the movie

Pursuit of Happiness

Protect your dreams. Its such a scene that touches you way down to you your heart straight away. and it needs no prelude. Just wonderul words of motivation

I guess that most of us kind of feel down sometimes or rather low in spirits for whatever be the reason and it is natural... but it is good to know what makes us feel better and to believe in ourselves - a special movie, a song, writing or reading a book or a blog.

Now that i've told you a bit about my fav scenes in the movies, hang-on we'll see about the rest in due course.

21 Effective Quotation of Swami Vivekananda - Inspiring and Motivating

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:25:00 +0000

Got this compilation from somewhere forwarded by a friend. A wonderful compilation indeed. Thanks to AP

21 Effective Quotation of Swami Vivekananda

1. If the mind is intensely eager, everything can be accomplished—mountains can be crumbled into atoms.

2. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

3. Come out into the universe of Light. Everything in the universe is yours, stretch out your arms and embrace it with love. If you every felt you wanted to do that, you have felt God.

4. All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind.

5. Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your own destiny. All the strength and succor you want is within yourself. Therefore make your own future. 6. There is no help for you outside of yourself; you are the creator of the universe. Like the silkworm you have built a cocoon around yourself…. Burst your own cocoon and come out aw the beautiful butterfly, as the free soul. Then alone you will see Truth.

7. It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light. First, believe in this world, that there is meaning behind everything. Everything in the world is good, is holy and beautiful. If you see something evil, think that you do not understand it in the right light. Throw the burden on yourselves!

8. Hold to the idea, “I am not the mind, I see that I am thinking, I am watching my mind act,” and each day the identification of yourself with thoughts and feelings will grow less, until at last you can entirely separate yourself from the mind and actually know it to be apart from yourself.

9. All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love’s sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.

10. Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

11. Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it were after his or her heart. But the intelligent ones are those who can convert every work into one that suits their taste.

12. Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers and let them go their own way.

13. Each work has to pass through these stages—ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.

14. If you think that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own bondage. If you know that you are free, you are free this moment. This is knowledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is the goal of all nature.

15. As long as we believe ourselves to be even the least different from God, fear remains with us; but when we know ourselves to be the One, fear goes; of what can we be afraid?

16. Your Atman is the support of the universe—whose support do you stand in need of? Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now, they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.

17. Learning and wisdom are superfluities, the surface glitter merely, but it is the heart that is the seat of all power. It is not in the brain but in the heart that the Atman, possessed of knowledge, power, and activity, has its seat.

18. Understanding human nature is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing it can we know God? It is also a fact that the knowledge of God is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing God can we understand human nature

19. Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.

20. If you want to have life, you have to die every moment for it. Life and death are only different expressions of the same thing looked at from different standpoints; they are the falling and the rising of the same wave, and the two form one whole.

21. Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship or psychic control or philosophy – by one or more or all of these and be free.

Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:59:00 +0000

Read it somewhere... Sounded hopeful at 2 past midnight...

"While some see hopeless Ends, Some see Endless Hopes.."

Hope another day another time things will change for good.

Haken Continuum.. Sheer Bliss...

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:32:00 +0000

When Rano was on town last night he called me for old times sake (luckily I picked) I just asked him as to whatz his work at this time of the year afterall he has been running around places for years and he hardly had time to think abt us I guess. All he said to me was, Just Hop-on man.. we are heading to something very interesting. Having nothing otherthan boredom all-over these years i could not help but being amused as a kid got a ticket for a circus. It was more than 6 years since I saw him for real..

He just took me to this record room near vadapalani in chennai and just gave to play a Haken Continuum today. I couldn't believe my eyes that im infact holding one for real....Oh boy..What an instrument it is.... Its all childs play though if u know to work around any XG a bit.... Sheer bliss I must say.

Felt like my whole body was resonating in its natural freq.... Crying is inevitable as tears came rolling by i could hardly control myself. thatz what music can do to you... When u are surrounded by the BG's strumming around frenetically and with such a device as this that lets out a hysterically high pitched cry full of madness and music....

Ooh.. what a day this is... still the sound is reverberating in my ears even as my hands are itching for more... Thanks Rano for doing this for old times sake... really miss those gud old days of jamming undergrounds n ramming eachothers heads...

You could literally work around like a 3D Tab in front of you for all you need know is its a continuum fingerboard aka Haken Continuum.... Its pretty much like a 3axis Fingerboard where in you could control your music with Sensors under the playing surface that responds to our finger position and pressure in 3 dimensions and provide pitch resolution of one cent along the length of the scale (the X dimension), allowing essentially continuous pitch control for portamento effects and notes that are not in the chromatic scale, and allowing for the application of vibrato or pitch bend to a note. A software "rounding" feature enables pitch to be quantized to the notes of a traditional equal-tempered scale, just scale or other scale to facilitate in-tune performance, with the amount and duration of the "rounding" controllable in real time.

An illustration of the Continuum Fingerboard's axes.

The Continuum also provides two additional parameters for the sound: it is able to transmit the finger pressure on the board as a MIDI value, as well as the finger's vertical position on the key. These parameters are independently programmable; a standard configuration is where position on the X-Axis (lengthwise) on the instrument corresponds to pitch, position on the Y-Axis (widthwise) corresponds to a timbre shift, and position on the Z-Axis (vertically) corresponds to a change in amplitude. The Continuum is capable of polyphonic performance, with up to 16 simultaneous voices.

Luks like there are similar apps now available in variety of Ipads, tabs etc., like morphwiz, Bebot etc., (watch the video in this link which also shows ARR in a interview showcasing his handiwork in his IPad using Bebot)

Luks like very few have effectively used it with our very own ARR the legend leading the show. Watch the video as to how passionately he strokes a haken continuum Fingerboard. That truly evokes the spirit in you.

Wonder if somebody would use this for carnatic music as well. It'd be interesting to see someone adapt this even as its quite obvious that over time some one will evidently do it. I can of-course fancy my chances if only I could afford one to my already increasing collection of music instruments :)

Experience the thrill.. you know what im sayin...

Shooting Star - Phobus Grunt falling back to earth after a failed mission

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Love the smell of Hydrazine and Dinitrogen Tetroxide in the morning... Phobus Grunt decent has started... wonder if any Radio jove stations could catch it through their telescope. will the fuel chamber explode, would the al shell bear the brunt of the re-entry, will know in a day for sure.... keep ur webbs crossed...

Catch its path here....

The Greatest Speech Ever Made

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:24:00 +0000

An exceptional piece of speech from the silent man who moved the world.

Charlie Chaplain in one of his movies of peace, humanity and equality...

Hearing this again and again as the time nears 2am... thought of sharing this..

World's Smallest V12 Engine

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:18:00 +0000

Look at the man's conviction... really a masterpiece..

Maestro of Sitar... Pt. Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar's album Breathing under waret (2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

I dont know since when i started falling for sitar... the haunting Hameer.. dheen thal's... the chirping sounds in successions mastered by the great Pt. Ravishankar. I had this privilege once in my life to hear him perform in Chennai for some concert organized by SPIC alongside his daughter Anoushka.

I just happened to hear from a tube with she playing in the prestigious Carnegie Hall... I must say truly she has proven the old saying to emulate her father coming of age showing great maturity. Even I had bee blamed her for being quite un-classical and showing-off more with too less of technique.

Anoushka Shankar with her father and guru Pt. Ravi shankar after a concert in 2006

At the beginning of her career, Anoushka played strictly classical sitar music and came under some criticism because she supposedly wasn't as good as her father. I must say its an unfair comparison though and also i had heard Recently the album Breathing Under Water though it was released around 2007, Anoushka has been experimenting with Indian fusion, mixing her sitar playing with more Western music.This album is a collaboration with Karsh Kale, who is an Indian producer, composer, and musician who is known for mixing Indian music with other styles.

My favourite being the oceanic part 2 (feat. ravi shankar) comes as the 12th track. I have been hearing the same song for the last 3 days putting it in a loop. Surely I guess I have a lot to catch-up.

Hopefully she'd be as famous and most importantly an ambassador of Brand India too...

Anoushka Shankar during a concert in Los Angeles

arduino LCD Display. Tamil characters

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Tamil in seven segment display on my 16x2 LCD panel... with the counter..

Thatz my name in tamil. followed by tamil arduino... cool isn't it...

Sorry for the blurred images.. this is the best i could manage with my mobile.

I have been experimenting with my Arduino for a while now... did this for fun before having to read a thermo couple output and those messy signal condition circuits driving me crazy.... couldn't afford those costly ones though... will see about that....

And this is a nice pic of my arduino with ATMega 32 Sitting atop...

Silence - A poem I read somewhere

noreply@blogger.com (Chuppandi) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:32:00 +0000

A poem on silence…. I read somewhere… written by kids…

Can’t imagine how deep a kid of 12’s thoughts could be… This one sure can express multitudes of her feelings….

Really am envy of her as to how pristine and beautiful her thoughts are…

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

Silence shines when you’re alone

It dances through the glass

When I feel quiet, silence

Tiptoes into my dreams

It somersaults through the ocean

Until it falls into my hands

- By Victoria, age 12