Wish

I want to be the Big Bang. I don't care much about Space, but I sure do want to create some Time.

Wish you a great new year!

Memories of a bygone era

Long long ago, but in a galaxy not so far away (in fact, in this very galaxy), there lived floppy. Smaller and sturdier than its predecessor, it was also abler. It reigned on the desktops for years, but like all mighty kings it came to an abrupt end when the extraordinarily mighty CD came to the fore. But we, the faithful followers of (once) mighty floppy did not budge. Large pieces of code (so called software) were thrown at us, which the floppy was too weak to handle, but it did not fear. A new ally of floppy emerged, called 'file splitting software'. Those among you as ancient as me might rememeber it. Floppy managed to survive, for a while at least.

Times changed, floppy drives disappeared, and splitting softwares vanished. Even the mighty CD was surpassed by Flash drives and DVDs. And it seemed no harm would come our way even if we forgot our past. But it was not to be so. Yesterday I wanted to transfer a movie to my laptop. File size: 7.94GB. Pen drive capacity: 7.46GB. I can create a network / do a HDD to HDD transfer. But I am biased. I'll just go ahead and split it. If only for old times sake! :)

Enjoy!

A bunch of stuff

I have not been writing lately. December might see the lowest post count of the year. And as it happens, last December saw the highest post count of that year. Add to this the fact that in my case, post count can be taken to be roughly proportional to my energy level. So the reason is simple, I have not been writing because I have lost my energy. And the reason for that? Well, I beleive there are many (but I would rather spare you those). The raison d'etre of this post is not to reiterate all that. The good thing is that clarity has surely, albeit a bit slowly begun to emerge. And that is one thing that I cannot live without. To break the Blogger's block that I've worked myself into, here's a brief listing of things I wanted to write about

My most expensive toy ever: Well, I am talking about my new laptop. Everything took the maximum time it could, part shortages, warehouse clearance delays and so on [a friend coined the term 'Murphy Fida' to describe the situation, must admit I rather like the phrase], but it finally did arrive a week ago. Here's an excerpt from the config sheet

Core i7 720QM processor
4GB DDR3 1333 MHz RAM
ATi Radeon 4670 1 GB GPU
15.6" Full HD (1080p) monitor

[I guess now you would agree that it just doesn't seem right to call it a lappy :p].
The best thing is, it permits me a reentry into the Gaming world. A world which I had to leave (reluctantly and screaming) because my desktop(P4, 256MB RAM - it's a real vintage piece) won't allow me to play anything above UT'03. Those days are gone now. I installed 'Left 4 Dead', and it runs as smooth as silk on the highest possible configuration. Also installed 'Painkiller', a game I always wanted to play, but it grew monotonous a bit too soon. Next on list is 'Crysis', just to see how far I can go!

Movies: Watched Paa, Rocket Singh, Avatar but much to my regret, missed Radio.
Paa: Good one time watch.
Rocket Singh: Liked this one.
Avatar: Just another 2012. Awesome awesome effects, but bad story.

Memories: A tip o' the hat goes to DJ, who recently mailed our 2006 BE IT Konkan trip photos (of course we have looked at them countless times before, but for college memories, there is no such thing as 'enough'). Say hello to the batch of '06.

[Thankfully, nobody was run over by the approaching bus :p].
Understandably the photos are not of the highest quality. A 1.1 MP Nokia 6600 was still a luxury back then. Now the photos have got resolution which life seems to have lost. Anyway, the memories of carefree stupidity of the days fills my mind with joy!

Enjoy!

Now playing

Hai ye to ek jashan..
Tu thirakane de qadam..
Abhi saanso me hai dum..
Abhi chalne de sitam..

[Khalbali, RDB]

Arre O Samba..

We all love the line and The movie, but this time I am not talking about that Samba. Not the dance either. What I am talking about it is the open source implementation of SMB/CIFS that allows seamless networking between Windows and Unix, commonly known as Samba. Having never looked into it seriously and taking its existence for granted, today I stumbled upon How Samba was written by the author of Samba Andrew Tridgell. Don't miss it; it's fun and introduces the 'French Cafe' technique of developnent. (We tend to use something of that sort from time to time, but I did not know it even has a name). And to complete the line I began with,

Arre O Samba, bada hi mehanati hai re tu.. Dhanabaad..

[you'll probably get the last line only after reading the full article].

Enjoy!!

My friend Sancho

'India Uncut' and 'Amit Varma'. These names need no introduction to you bloggers. I cannot say I am a regular reader of IU, but I recently read Amit's latest book My friend Sancho. It's a small fiction novel, and here's the deal, I actually laughed out loud more than once reading it (only later did I realize that it had been ages since that happened). I totally enjoyed it, but could not avoid the feeling that author dodged the hard question of how to end the story. It could be just me though. So go ahead, give it a try! Comparison (fair or unfair) to the other Indian English Novel Writer (of course I am talking about Chetan Bhagat) is inevitable (at least to me). Grand conclusion: I liked AV much better (but that could change too). And despite being sure that most of you are not gonna get this, here's my end line,

"Now eagerly waiting for our own AV's 'My friend Danco'" :p

Enjoy!

Walt Disney: The ultimate fantasy

Do you know which is the only Disney character to have a middle name?
Answer: Donald Fauntleroy Duck.

At least I did not know before reading 'Walt Disney: The ultimate fantasy' (the fact that I grew up watching Disney Hour notwithstanding). And despite what the name may suggest, the book is in Marathi, not a translation but a pure, original Marathi book! A very readable biography of Walt Disney, since his earliest days laboring under his father, through when Oswald was taken from him, to the triumph of Mickey, and the subsequent growth of animated features, whose pinnacle is today's Pixar. The optimism and maddening confidence of Walt make a lasting impression. His idea of Disneyland was opposed by almost everybody. Oswald was snatched stolen from him. He reached the verge of bankruptcy more than once. But even in the face of massive setbacks his smile never parted him. And that's a most important lesson!

Enjoy!

Today

Tension got a Dimension.

Lichtenberg Figures

What they are.

Now, the motivation to read that article, here.

Enjoy!