Russell's Cyber Journal

Bangladeshi Bride

Russell — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:55:12 +0000

Windows 7 Rocks!

Russell — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:39:53 +0000

Thanks to Chris Schlaeger for this awesome picture, taken during Japan Linux Symposium 2009. I’m nominating this as the picture of the year!

Larger version of this picture is available here under a CC license.

Bangladeshi Currency

Russell — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:03:37 +0000

The currency of Bangladesh is Bangladeshi Dollar. Eikkk, just kidding, they called Taka. Like many other countries, they are issued as notes and coins. Notes are of one taka, two taka, five taka, ten taka, twenty taka, fifty taka, one hundred taka, five hundred taka, and one thousand taka. Coins are of one paisa, five paisa, ten paisa, twenty five paisa, fifty paisa, one taka and five taka. Notes from five taka to one thousand taka are issued by Bangladesh Bank, while one taka and two taka notes and all the coins are issued by Bangladesh Government. Here’s what they look like:

One (1) Taka:

Two (2) Taka:

Five (5) Taka:

Ten (10) Taka:

Twenty (20) Taka:

Fifty (50) Taka:

One Hundred (100) Taka:

Five Hundred (500) Taka:

One Thousand (1000) Taka:

Coins from left to right: one (1) paisa, five (5) paisa, ten (10) paisa, twenty-five (25) paisa, fifty paisa, one (1) taka and five (5) taka:

Don’t try to make counterfeit notes out of these scans, if you do so do it in your own risk!

Pythagorean Numbers

Russell — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:05:04 +0000

The 6th century B.C.E. philosopher Pythagoras taught that each number had it’s own peculiar character, virtue and properties.

1
One is the number of essence. It is the symbol of identity, of equality, of existance, of conservation and of general harmony. Having no parts, a single unit, announces order, peace and tranquility, which are founded on
unity of sentiments; consequently, one is a good principle.

2
The number two, the origin of contrasts, is the symbol of diversity, or inequality, of division and of separation. Two is accordingly an evil principle, a number of bad augury, characterizing disorder, confusion, and change.

3
Three is the first of unequals; it is the number containing the most sublime mysteries, for eveything is composed of three substances. It represents divinity, the soul of the world, the spirit of man. It is meditation, atonement, completeness — beginning, middle, end.

4
Four, the first mathematical power, is also one of the chief elements. It represents the generating virtue, whence come all combinations; it is the most perfect of numbers; it is the root of all things. Pythogoreans swear by the quaternary number, which gives the human soul it’s eternal nature.

5
The number five has a peculiar force in saced expiations; it is every thing; it stops the power of poisons, and is redoubted by evil spirits.

6
Six is a fortunate number, the number of luck and chance. It derives its merit from the first sculptors having divided the face into six portions. According to the Chaldeans, the reason is, because the world was created in six days.

7
Seven is a number very powerful for good or evil. It is the number of the entire cosmos. It belongs especially to sacred things.

8
The number eight is the first cube, that is to say, squared in all senses, as a die, proceeding from it’s base two, and even number; so is man four-square, or perfect.

9
The cube of three being nine, nine is regarded as the extent to which numbers could go, all others being embraced and revolving within it. Ten but recommences a fresh series capable of infinite expansion. Nine should be regarded as sacred.

Durga Puja 2009

Russell — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:05:43 +0000

Durga Puja celebration in Dhaka, Bangladesh. All of them were captured from Dhakeshwari National Temple on Shoptomi and Oshtami except for the last 3 pictures which were shot from Ashulia on Bijoya Doshomi.

Hartal, Hartal!

Russell — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:32:19 +0000

The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports called a half-day strike on 14th September 2009 in capital Dhaka to protest the government’s recently announced gas exploration deals with international companies. It was first hartal since 2006, and also the first one after the current government came to power early this year.

I was at Paltan the entire morning, and here’s the coverage of the hartal processions, protests, more.

Crowd Fashion Contest

Russell — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:56:28 +0000

Check out rest of the pics here (87 pics in total).

Bangladeshi Photographers

Russell — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:35:04 +0000

Group photo of 15 photographers participating in Aminbazar photowalk. Click on the image for the larger version of the photo.

Ubuntu 9.04 Guide in Bengali

Russell — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:36:08 +0000

BLUA Documentation Team has published a beginners guide on Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) in Bengali, which is available for download from http://linux.org.bd/go.php?link=ubuntuguide (PDF file, 2.7 MB).

If you’re new to Ubuntu Linux and want to learn more about it, then this guide should be helpful to you. The topics covered are installation, package management, network and Internet connection setup, customization, proprietary hardware driver and multimedia support, troubleshooting, and much more.

Please pass on this message to your friends and colleagues who might be interested in using Ubuntu.

Microsoft Joins Twitter!

Russell — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:09:50 +0000

Microsoft finally made it to Twitter. Big shots like Google and Yahoo are already on Twitter, but it took Microsoft quite some time to decide whether they really want to join or not! (Come on, we all know that they are slow!)

Anyway I found it really interesting, and thought like to welcome them via my account @Linux. I did, and it was awesome to see that people found it hilarious! They started retweeting right away, and as I’m writing right now after an hour, people are still making fun of it.

Here they are, @Microsoft on Twitter. Give them a follow if you like to!

Update:

In a surprising event, they replied and said thanks!
This story has been TechCrunched!