Praveen's Journal

My new blog

2005-03-22T16:29:00.000+05:30

This blog is discontinued. I don't post here anymore. The new blog is hosted on my site. It is at http://www.praveen.ws/journal

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 Released!

2004-11-09T14:52:00.000+05:30

Read about this here.

Planning to move out of blogger soon.

2004-11-05T11:38:00.000+05:30

I am planning to drop my blogger account soon. I would use Wordpress. I am looking out for a good host. I am also planning to use Gallery 2 on the new site. For both of these, I will be needing MySQL support. I have decided about gallery. But regarding Wordpress, I am in a dilema. The main reason for this is it doesn't support threaded comments (AFAIK). I am also looking out for other options. But I like Wordpress otherwise.

All about nocotine.

2004-11-05T11:27:00.000+05:30

These two articles at MSNBC about nicotine were found interesting.

One puff of smoke can damage DNA

Molecule may be key to nicotine addiction

Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9 released.

2004-11-05T01:15:00.000+05:30

Mozilla Thunderbird 0.9 released. Read more about it here. Seems that Thunderbird team are keen to be in pace with Firefox. We can expect a preview edition for Thunderbird 1.0 soon.

Longhorn screenshots.

2004-11-04T16:17:00.000+05:30

A round-up of Longhorn screenshots are posted here.

Rectoscalar waves - Yet another Hoax?!

2004-11-03T11:14:00.000+05:30

This morning me and some of my friends received emails forwarded from known people. Here is the one.

Tonight a rectoscalar wave is passing at 10.25 pm, Indian Standard Time.... This causes damage in mobiles and computers..... So switch off your mobiles and computers at the specified time... This has been published in todays The Hindu paper also.... Keep fwd this message to your friends and loved ones.....

Is this true or yet another hoax? Have to wait and see at 10:25 pm IST ;-)

Back to work.

2004-10-26T13:33:00.000+05:30

I am back to work after a long weekend. Courtesy Dasara holidays.

How Veerappan walked into the STF's trap!

2004-10-19T19:17:00.000+05:30

DHARMAPURI: Veerappan, India's most wanted and most elusive brigand who murdered with impunity, was finally shot dead in his jungle hideout by elite commandos using some of the very tactics he employed for well over two decades to build a vast criminal empire.

Using deception, undercover agents and a meticulously laid out network of informants, Tamil Nadu's Special Task Force (STF) commandos - set up only to nab him - trapped the 50-something Munuswamy Veerappan Gounder, made famous by his trademark handlebar moustache, into taking a van ride in a forested region where policemen ambushed and gunned him down Monday night.

Operation Cocoon to track and eliminate the forest bandit succeeded because of extra-ordinary intelligence said K Vijaykumar, chief of the combined Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday.

In a remarkable success story of perseverance, the STF - made up of commandos toughened by living in the inhospitable jungles of southern India straddling the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border - planted a mole in Veerappan's gang who drove the van that led him to his death.

A visibly triumphant STF chief K. Vijay Kumar, a former police chief of Chennai, told a crowded news conference here that Veerappan, blamed for some 120 murders, was killed after a fierce 20-minute gun battle near Papparapatti village of Dharmapuri district, some 300 km from state capital Chennai.

STF personnel in civilian clothes, hiding along both sides of a jungle track halted the van, supposedly an ambulance, at 10.50 p.m. after being tipped off about his movements and asked him to surrender, Kumar said. But Veerappan opened fire, sparking a firefight.

In no time, Veerappan, who was not wearing his usual battle fatigues and had trimmed his moustache apparently to hide his identity, lay dead along with three of his hardcore associates, Sethukuli Govindan, Chandra Gowda and Govindan. Veerappan took bullets in the head and an eye.

Asked where Veerappan was heading to, Vijaykumar said probably the sandalwood smuggler, who had an eye problem, was going for some treatment.

The STF seized two AK-47 rifles, a 12 bore shotgun and a 7.62 self-loading rifle besides cash and three grenades from the dead men.

The killing sparked off celebrations in STF camps in the area, with its personnel bursting firecrackers and lighting colourful flares, brightening the forest sky well before dawn.

The STF chief, who had tonsured his head as a vow for the killing of Veerappan, said pressure was put on the brigand to come out of the jungle to an area where the STF had an advantage.

"This is a Diwali gift for the people of Tamil Nadu and the families of Veerappan's victims," said an STF officer. Both Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi hailed his death as did former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani.

The deaths mark the end of a man who at one time virtually ruled a sprawling 6,000-sq km thickly forested region where he killed men in cold blood, murdered elephants for their ivory and cut sandalwood trees for smuggling, building a vast criminal empire that had no parallel.

Kumar, dressed in STF battle fatigues and flanked by dozens of his colleagues, including men who spied on Veerappan, admitted that the man they had killed was no ordinary criminal.

Bodies of Veerappan and his men at Dharampuri hospital on Tuesday. (AFP photo)
"He was a worthy foe, he was not easy to get," Kumar said, speaking alternatively in English and Tamil in this small town.

The STF chief revealed that the security forces of both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka had together stepped up pressure on Veerappan in recent months, and the Tamil Nadu STF had been waiting for him to emerge from his hideout.

"We watched him for several days," he said. He said some of his men infiltrated villages in the region by taking up jobs as hawkers, waiters at small restaurants and bus conductors.

"We penetrated even (Tamil Nadu's) jails," he said. "All this gave us good results."

Kumar gave equal credit to Karnataka's security forces for the killing of Veerappan, who began life as a small time criminal but ended up building a gang of his own and earning the reputation of one who would spare none who came in his way.

Although his first murder was reportedly committed in 1969, his killing spree began in right earnest in July 1987 when he abducted and killed a forest officer of Tamil Nadu. Two years later he murdered five men of a rival gang.

Veerappan's terror reign took firm roots when he killed and mutilated three Tamil Nadu forest personnel in August 1989 and shot dead a Tamil Nadu sub-inspector and a head constable the next January.

In May 1990, the STF was set up to catch him, but the man always remained one step ahead of his pursuers. In the process, Veerappan, who came from a poor family, cocked a snook at the governments of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, making a mockery of the thousands of men deployed to track him down.
This soon turned into the country's largest manhunt for any criminal. Veerappan commanded a price Rs.3 crore (Rs.30 million) on his head.

Veerappan's heartless methods were in full display when he lured R. Srinivas, a senior forest official who he blamed for his sister's death, into his lair and personally beheaded him. This was in November 1990.

Then in August 1992, to avenge the death of four of his gang members, he trapped STF Superintendent of Police Hari Krishna, tied him with grenades and blew him up along with five other policemen.

In 1993, the central government stepped in, deploying the Border Security Force (BSF) to assist the STF. That did not bring the desired results although the BSF managed to kill some of his associates.

In recent years, Veerappan moved closer to Tamil extremists in Tamil Nadu known to be sympathetic to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas, becoming a larger than life figure.
Courtesy Times of India

Sandalwood smuggler Veerapan is shot dead atlast!

2004-10-19T09:31:00.000+05:30

A police force headed by Mr. K Vijay Kumar shot the most wanted Sandalwood smuggler Veerapan last night to dead. There is no wonder in shooting him instead of getting him alive for political as well as other reasons. Okey let us not make it a big issue. Let us congratulate Mr. Vijayakumar for his sucessful operation. Read more about this here.

Intel Cuts Prices on Laptop Computer Chips

2004-10-19T09:22:00.000+05:30

Intel cuts prices on laptop computer chips as much as 34%. Read more about this here. Now I can think about buying a Intel Pentium M laptop!

Happy birthday, Tom!

2004-10-18T17:44:00.000+05:30

Hey Tom, I wish you a very happy birthday and many more happy returns of the day.

George Bush, too intelligent to be the President!

2004-10-18T15:04:00.000+05:30

A recent humor that I came across. Disclaimer: I am not the author of this. The following is the view/imagination/whatever of the original author.

George Bush is visiting the Queen of England. He asks her, "Your Majesty, how do you run such an efficient government? Are there any tips you can give me?"

"Well," says the Queen, "the most important thing is to surround yourself with intelligent people."

Bush frowns. "But how do I know the people around me are really intelligent?"

The Queen takes a sip of tea. "Oh, that's easy. You just ask them to answer an intelligence riddle."

The Queen pushes a button on her intercom. "Please send The Prime Minister in here, would you?"

Tony Blair walks into the room. "Your Majesty..."

The Queen smiles. "Answer me this, please, Tony. Your mother and father have a child. It is not your brother and it is not your sister. Who is it?"

Without pausing for a moment, he answers, "That would be me!"

"Yes! Very good!" says the Queen.

Back at the White House, Bush calls in his vice president, Dick Cheney. "Dick, answer this for me. Your mother and your father have a child. It's not your brother and it's not your sister. Who is it?"

"I'm not sure," says the vice president. "Let me get back to you on that one."

Dick Cheney goes to his advisors and asks every one, but none can give him an answer.

Finally, he ends up in the men's room and recognizes Colin Powell's shoes in the next stall. Dick shouts, "Colin! Can you answer this for me? Your mother and father have a child and it's not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Colin Powell yells back, "That's easy. It's me!"

Dick Cheney smiles. "Thanks!"

Cheney goes back to the Oval Office and asks to speak with Bush. "Say, I did some research and I have the answer to that riddle. It's Colin Powell."

Bush gets up, stomps over to Dick Cheney, and angrily yells into his face, "No, you idiot! It's Tony Blair!"

Veeraanam Vs. Cauvery!

2004-10-18T09:58:00.000+05:30

Tamil Nadu government executes a plan by which water from Veeraanam lake is supplied as drinking water to Chennai through gaint pipeline. It is serving a a great relief for the water scarcity problem in Chennai. But, farmers from Veeraanam are going to protest today against supplying water to Chennai from Veeraanam. When people from a place in Tamil Nadu (Veeraanam) are bothered to share water with people from other place in Tamil Nadu (Chennai), there is no wonder in people of Karnataka protest to share Cauvery water with Tamil Nadu. When there is no co-operation inside the state, we cannot expect co-ordination outside the state. The worse part of it is DMK (Dravida Munnatra Kazhagam) is the master brain behind this agitation of Veeraanam farmers for political reasons. They just blinldy want to oppose Jayalalitha and AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnatra Kazhagam). Cheap minds!

Rain is our villian this time!

2004-10-18T08:24:00.000+05:30

Usually India had a bit of luck with the rain in the past history. But this time, it is an anti-climax for the 2nd test match of India Vs. Australia at Chennai, India. India yet to play the fifth day of the match chasing 210 runs with 10 wickets in hand. The oppurtunity of victory was very high for India till last midnight. But it is raining heavily since last midnight. Just remeber my previous post on this (KK, it is just for you). The final day may be washed out rendering a result less test match!

Kungumam draws traffic to my blog!

2004-10-17T21:44:00.000+05:30

There was a previous post in my blog regarding the new ad of the Kungumam tamil weekly. In examining the pattern of visits to my blog, I observed that quite a number of vistors are reffered to the site by Google and Yahoo in searching for "Kungumam weekly".

But, I don't really have the info that they were looking for ;-)

No (Smoker) Vaccancies : US!

2004-10-17T21:24:00.001+05:30

Some companies in US recenlty said that they are not going to employ smokers. The reasons that are stated as follows.

Smokers go out for smoking once in half an hour which reduces the productivity

Smokers' brains think less and tend to make more mistakes thereby reducing quality in products

Smokers irritate the customers which tends to affect the customer relationship

Smokers cause disturbances (environmental and physcological) and health risks for their non-smoking co-workers

Mind you there are quite a number of software companies too in this list. They made a nicotine test as madatory along with other joining formalities and it is to be taken every year.

Being an ex-smoker I don't accept with the first and second reasons. Lot of smokers started protesting this move. Anyway, I have quit smoking ;-) so nothing stops me in getting a job in those companies!

Netbeans IDE on Debian.

2004-10-17T01:36:00.000+05:30

I have installed Netbeans on my Debian. Too slow. Typically Java ;-) Here is a screenshot.

Sarge -> SID!

2004-10-17T01:21:00.000+05:30

I have migrated my Debian from Sarge to SID. Not much visible differences. Here is my sources.list


# SID

deb     ftp://ftp.ru.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

deb     ftp://ftp.ru.debian.org/debian-non-US/ unstable/non-US main contrib non-free

deb-src ftp://ftp.ru.debian.org/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

deb-src ftp://ftp.ru.debian.org/debian-non-US/ unstable/non-US main contrib non-free



# mplayer

deb     ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main

deb-src ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main

PS: I like Russia and Russians. Exception: Ruffian (Courtesy Vinayagam) ;-)

Debian GNU/Hurd K7 CDs available with me.

2004-10-16T09:00:00.000+05:30

Now I have Debian GNU/Hurd K7 CD1 and CD2. In it's present form Hurd sucks as it doesn't support IRQ sharing. For this reason I have to disable my serial port, inbuilt LAN adapter and inbuilt sound to get Hurd up and running. Real pain huh?!

Thunderbird is not working since last 'apt-get dist-upgrade'.

2004-10-16T08:49:00.000+05:30

Mozilla Thuderbird is not working on my Debian Sarge since the last 'apt-get dist-upgrade'. The program recieves SIGSEGV. This is really annoying. Here is the backtrace from GDB.


(gdb) backtrace

#0  0x41287040 in CalcLength ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

#1  0x41287279 in CalcLength ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

#2  0x4128df42 in nsRuleNode::ComputePaddingData ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

#3  0x41289788 in nsRuleNode::WalkRuleTree ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

#4  0x412889b8 in nsRuleNode::GetPaddingData ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

#5  0x41290b00 in nsRuleNode::GetStyleData ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

#6  0x088ef314 in ?? ()

#7  0xbfffd6cc in ?? ()

#8  0x414fa910 in ?? ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

#9  0x088ef314 in ?? ()

#10 0x0890023c in ?? ()

#11 0xbfffd6d8 in ?? ()

#12 0x4129fa72 in nsStyleContext::GetStyleData ()

   from /usr/lib/mozilla-thunderbird/components/libgklayout.so

Previous frame inner to this frame (corrupt stack?)

I am breaking my head to fix this. This is going to spoil my weekend move. I hate problems at weekend. Any help/suggestions welcome.

Anonymous poster revealed.

2004-10-15T19:14:00.000+05:30

The anonymous poster was KK from Infy. Good KK! I atleast have one regular visitor for my blog other than me ;-)

Livejournal to Blogger migration - Help needed!

2004-10-15T01:42:00.000+05:30

I am looking for migrating my old posts (less in number) from Livejournal to Blogger. Any ideas/suggestions?

35 PSUs to offload stake via public offer.

2004-10-15T01:24:00.000+05:30

15 public sector firms to go for IPOs, 20 for fresh floats.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's disinvestment policy proposes initial public offers (IPOs) in 15 public sector units (PSUs) as well as fresh issues for 20 listed ones.

“The 51 per cent shareholding in 20 listed and 15 unlisted profit-making PSUs will be retained by the government,” a government official said. Companies with annual turnover of over Rs 500 crore will be considered for IPOs.

IPOs in companies like Power Finance Corporation, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Neyveli Lignite could be expected in the coming days.

“The government will undertake ONGC and Gail-type transactions in Navratnas and profit-making PSUs, which will not result in loss of management control,” said an official.

The policy, to be put up to the Union Cabinet shortly, is in line with the UPA government's stand against privatisation of Navratnas and a review of all ongoing disinvestment cases. Proposing further autonomy for PSUs, it also recommends an annual classification of profitable and loss-making companies.

The policy proposes the government should not privatise companies like Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, Gail India Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, National Thermal Power Corporation, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Steel Authority of India Ltd.

On potentially sick and loss-making companies, the policy proposes the government should seek joint ventures with private players. Asset lease and strategic sales could also be considered.

Of the 75 chronically sick PSUs, 48 have been referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction and in the other 27, the government could consider sale of assets before winding them up.

Full managerial and commercial autonomy to PSUs have been proposed as well as greater transparency and efficiency by broadbasing shareholding. Unnecessary constraints imposed by government financial regulations are sought to be eased.

NTPC issue oversubscribed 11 times!

2004-10-15T01:23:00.000+05:30

[Business India]: New Delhi, Oct 14 : The initial public offer of state-run utility National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC) was oversubscribed 1,107 percent on the fifth and last day of bidding Thursday, book building data with stock exchanges showed.

As against 865.83 million shares on offer, the company has received bids for 9.59 billion shares in the indicative price band of Rs.55-62 a share bearing a face value of Rs.10 each, the data showed.

NTPC's chairman and managing director C.P. Jain told reporters here that the response to the issue was overwhelming.

"This is the vote of confidence in the country's power sector reforms," he said.

According to the NTPC official, the company will decide on the cut-off price for the issue by the weekend.

"We will list on major stock exchanges by Nov 5," Jain said.

--Indo-Asian News Service

All about an anonymous poster!

2004-10-14T09:43:00.000+05:30

Here is all about the anonymous poster in this blog claimining "Find me if you can"! ;-)

Satcounter for hit statistics.

2004-10-14T09:21:00.000+05:30

I also registered with Statcounter for tracking the hit statistics of this blog.

Spammer Praveen!

2004-10-14T09:18:00.000+05:30

Google search points to my blog for the search term "spammer praveen"! I am not a spammer though ;-)

A good site statistics tool.

2004-10-13T23:48:00.000+05:30

I have added Re_Invigorate site statistics module to the blog. It is a good one.

Rain may spoil the Chennai test match!

2004-10-13T08:56:00.000+05:30

I think that rain may spoil the second test match between India and Australia here at Chennai, MA Chidambaram stadium. The weather seems to be so dull yesterday and today.

Downloaded and installed Debian GNU/Hurd K7.

2004-10-13T08:34:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I downloaded the first disc of Debian GNU/Hurd from thier NA site and installed on my PC. I have already tried Hurd before 2 years. It was J2. Lot of changes since J2. J2 was not installable from the CD directly. This time, the installer seems to be functional. After the base system installation, I added an entry to the GRUB and booted into Hurd. On the first boot, the system was hung after detecting my serial port. I found that it was due to IRQ sharing. Hurd doesn't support IRQ sharing so far. I disabled the serial port from BIOS and tried booting and Hurd booted fine. The best thing that I like in Hurd is translator concept. I think that this is the high time to start some Hurd developement. Linux developement is a kind of boring ;-)

Jamming of mobile phones at theatres in France!

2004-10-12T18:13:00.000+05:30

This news item states that France is going to allow theatres to jamm the mobile phones in their premises. Too bad! I pray that Satyam cineplex owners don't read this news. Else, they will consider doing the same here too!

Linux panoramic photography packages.

2004-10-11T22:57:00.000+05:30

Here is a pointer to a good collection of panoramic photography tools for Linux.

Polarizing filter tips.

2004-10-11T15:15:00.001+05:30

This small article gives good tips on using the polarizing filter effectively.

And this one too. Courtesy Suraj.

UV, skylight and polarizer filter FAQ.

2004-10-11T15:06:00.000+05:30

Here is a good FAQ on UV, skylight and polarizer filters.

Panoramic photos.

2004-10-11T12:59:00.000+05:30

As I got a decent tripod now, I am planning to take some panoramic shots. I will post them once I get some nice shots. Panoguide seems to be a good guide for beginners as well as intermediate photographers.

Bought a new circular polarizer and a tripod.

2004-10-11T08:21:00.000+05:30

I bought a new circular polarizer (Kenko 55mm) and a tripod (Glottos HD324G) from "Ebbey photos" at Spenzer plaza. The circular polarizer was INR. 1000 and the the tripod was INR. 2200. I think this is the best time to try some good photo shots.

Lot of posts to the journal today!

2004-10-07T02:06:00.000+05:30

I have posted a lot of topics to the journal. Still I am not getting the sleep. I am so annoyed today because of a personal problem. I think I have compensated the days that I haven't posted anything here. But today the time that I spent was quite useful. I think now I can go to bed happily. But it is too late out here. I am afraid if I can go to office tomorrow at correct time! No problemo. I don't go to office on time most of the days.

Google likes Chennai.

2004-10-07T01:59:00.000+05:30

It seems that Google adsense likes the keyword "Chennai" just like I do. For the first time I noticed that all the three ad blocks (top, right and bottom) in my page are active in a post that contained the term Chennai. It showed a lot of hotel, matrimonial, flowers links ;-) Those pages were centric on "Tamil Nadu" and "India" keywords too.

"Email this post" feature for blogger.

2004-10-07T01:58:00.002+05:30

Blogger now supports new feature "Email this post to a friend". Read more about this here. This is really a good feature.

Configured POP on localhost for gmail.

2004-10-07T01:58:00.001+05:30

I just now configured the POP server for GMail on my localhost. Courtesy FreePOPS. It rocks. The configuration was just a matter of child's play. Once I installed the debian package, and configured my Thunderbird, it worked like a charm. You can take a look at the screenshot.

I am now a Google AdSense member!

2004-10-07T01:58:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I have registered for Google AdSense program. I got approved today.I have included the Google ads in my blog now. I really wonder if it would generate any revenue as I am not sure how many of my friends read my blog! I would put it my homepage as well soon. I am not sure if they would visit that as well. Anyway, better something than nothing!

Bought a new UV filter for my camera.

2004-10-07T01:32:00.000+05:30

Today I bought a new UV filter for my Fujifilm Finepix S5000 digital camera from Millenium photos. I went for buying circular polarizer and a good tripod. I have seen some tripods and I am not satisfied with them. 55 mm circular polarizer filter was not available. I had a real bad luck. Just for the sake of not returning with bare hands, I bought a UV filter which I thought I should have atleast for the protection of the lens in Chennai's hard and dusty conditions.

Nice small article on filters.

2004-10-07T01:29:00.000+05:30

I just came across a nice small article article on the filters used for nature photography. Great one!

Puduzu kanna puduzu

2004-10-07T01:26:00.000+05:30

A lot of Tamil people would have heard the slogan "Puduzu kanna puduzu" (It's new dude) atleast 10 times a day. It was the slogan for Kungumam, a weekly Tamil magazine. Kungumam was one of the lowest selling books compared to the other famous Tamil weeklies. All of a sudden, there was a great deal of advertisement for Kungumam with the above slogan. It worked out nicely. Because of this advertisement and the freebies given with the book, the sales rised to 727,200 copies it seems. I thought that there is some real business genius behind this. Yesterday I came to know he is nobody than the Sun TV Maran. No doubt that he is a great business man!

Short courses on photography.

2004-10-07T01:09:00.000+05:30

One of the useful sites for the amature photographers is Short courses. It has a lot of good topics like "Basics of digital photography", "Digital cameras and accessories", etc. I found the information about different tripods and monopods is quite useful.

Quite busy.

2004-10-05T00:20:00.000+05:30

I was quite packed these days. Too lazy too to post here. Got my Sify
broadband as well. Running smooth.

It's raining in Chennai.

2004-09-24T11:41:00.000+05:30

Atlast the most awaited/wanted person is now in Chennai, the Varuna Bhavaan! It is raining in Chennai from yesterday night. Not bad. CNN and Weather.com forecast a good amount of rain in Chennai for the next three days. It is good that it will solve atleast a minor portion of the water scarcity in Chennai. This year was the worst in my experience in Water scarcity at Chennai.

Freaking spammer in Chennai.

2004-09-21T17:45:00.000+05:30

Today I recieved a mail from Mailmeindia.com stating that he would sell me 1,000,000 NRI email ids for INR 1500. They have mentioned even the name and the mobile number of the person. Too shocked to see that e-mail ids are sold that openly. Also their site seems to be more horrifing talking about mass mailing softwares, etc. This company is a sister concern of Tamilnadu Infotech and they had given their clear mailing address. They are located at Ritchie street, the place for hardware in Chennai. Someone should do something against this somewhere. Otherwise, a lot of people will start following this ill example with better ways.

I am going for Sify Broadband.

2004-09-20T16:47:00.000+05:30

Atlast, I have decided to (forced to for some personal reasons) go for an Internet connection at my Home. I planned to go for Sify broadband. Recently, I heard a lot of ill about Sify. Things like they are forcing you to use McAfee virus scanner, bad in customer service, have trap in their unlimited plan, etc. But I had no other way because I needed a connection that wouldn't count the bytes transfered and also I needed it urgently. Sify was the only option in my area. Since I have an ethernet card in my PC, I paid INR. 3000 for the cable setup today. They said they will complete the installation in two days. I am confused if I wasted 3000 bucks going for Sify. Not sure! Have to personaly use Sify and see. Anyway, I am planning to use it in my Debian. I happy that Sify supports Linux. I have chosen 9pm to 9am 128kbps unlimited bandwidth plan for INR. 360 per month. Let me wait and see what I really get!

Bharthi network jammed; connectivity issues to be considered!

2004-09-16T16:49:00.000+05:30

"Bharthi" is one of the leading communication service providers in India. Two of their popular products in Tamil Nadu are Touchtel and Airtel. I have Airtel (GSM) mobile connection. On wednesday eveing, I lost connectivity all of a sudden. There was no signal reaching the mobile. It seems that there was a major fire accident in Bharthi's office at Santhome, Chennai. As the reason, all the lines and connections are out of service. It was a great inconvenience that I can't use my mobile. The connection was not up till next day noon. The other service providers connections were up.

A good thing flashed in my mind then. Normally a user of one service provider is not allowed to use other's tower while he is not roaming. But this should be relaxed atleast during such disasters. Would the concerned authorities have got some hint in thier mind on this after the accident?

Life is not just coding!

2004-09-16T16:04:00.000+05:30

Yet another forward. Really touching!

My feet were getting numb. My arms were getting tired. But I sat there, looking at the monitor, pretending to work. What if I slept off on the keyboard? What would people around me think? Am I not competitive enough. Would another night out hurt. "No it won't." I consoled myself. "Work a little more." I told myself. Images of links between tables and pages from what we call, ETRMs crossed my mind. "Why?" I asked myself. "Why doesn't my mind wander away to the more beautiful things in life?" "Why does it always have to be WORK!!!?"

That was it. I couldn't take it anymore. I pressed the shutdown button on the PC as if to say, "I hate you". As if in reply, it took me twice to shut it down. I kicked my locker and walked out of my cubicle. The security at the reception looked into my eyes sympathetically. I pretended like I am solving problems in my head. As if the world depended on my silly program. As if to justify the fact that the Security needs to respect me. I hated myself. I walked down the corridor towards the lift.

There I was, on the fifth floor. It was 3.30 in the morning. The terrace looked deserted. I loved the feeling. I was all alone. Just me, and the sky and the stars and the early morning breeze. I looked all around. The world looked much beautiful. Somewhere, far away, I could see lights. I presume that must have been another workplace where people like me are working away at their PCs.

I stood at the edge of the terrace. As I looked at the road that ran in front of our office, I slowly kept my palm on the wall. A chill ran down my spine. Tiny droplets of water had formed on the wall, which I touched. I wanted to feel it again. I touched it again. It was the most wonderful feeling. I wondered why I don't do these things often.

I decided to stay there till sunrise. I closed my eyes and waited. Finally, I could see a faint light in the east. Even though we hardly notice, these things do happen. Like sunrise and stuff. I saw the sun rise. As he rose I could see more and more buildings like ours. The breeze had got much stronger. It was like sitting near the window seat of a bus that was moving through some lonely road near a lush paddy field. I got that taste in the air. I got the feel. It was like heaven had met earth.

In the cubicle, I congratulate someone when his SELECT statement works. There I was, all alone, on the terrace, when more important things were happening and I had no one to congratulate. I wanted to cry "Thank you God". "Thank you for giving me this beautiful world to live in." But... the words wouldn't come out. I felt guilty. I knew very well that I would go back in the cubicle once my emotions wore off.

"No" I said. "I am NOT going back there again." I ran down the stairs. I wanted the glass that covers our reception to break and let some of this air in. I rushed into my cubicle and got my bag and stuff. Running out, I did not bother to sign the register. Strangely, my vehicle started with just one kick. I rode my bike quite fast, just to feel the air on my face.

When I reached the road, I realized that I was late. Considering the fact that I was in office since yesterday, I was really really late. The world had moved on. People had spent another night with their families. Kids had spent another day studying for exams. Old folks had spent another night wondering when to dye their hair. Teenagers had spent another night dreaming about their loved ones.

There I was, like a machine coming out of my office building. I saw people taking their morning walks. Some of them jogging. Some of them standing and talking. Some old aunties jogging and talking and laughing, all at the same time. There were newspaper-boys, milk- vendors and what not.

I started feeling out of place. "Was I from another planet or something?" I thought. I was dreaming I guess, a milk-vendor chap on his bicycle nearly hit my bike. "Idiot" I said. Didn't he know I am going home after a tough day? Didn't he know that I am tired, and do not have the energy for such crap? "Wait a minute," I told myself. "Are you doing somebody a favor by staying in the office so long?" "Will this world be a better place if you do that?" "Do you have it in you to buy one meal for that milk-vendor's family?"

YOU CAN'T!!! And that's the truth. You can't do anything except writing pieces of code, which you regard as full of life for reasons known best to you.

I broke into tears thinking about my own plight. I hated the fact that I existed. Why was I going through this entire trauma? What was holding me here? The money?. The passion to program?. The feeling that I would be isolated if I didn't work?. I don't know. I am still searching for the answers.

Then, suddenly out of nowhere, images of my family came into my mind. My dad, who had taken care of the family since I remember him. In fact, since I remember anything. My mom who would not have slept even a little bit, since I have not reached home. And my brother, who doesn't actually show it, but misses me when he doesn't see me. "I am
not alone" I shouted. "I have this beautiful world to live in, with beautiful people in it"

Friends, do go out sometimes. Share your life with the people you love the most. Share your life with the nature. Share it with the wind. Share it with the sun. Share it with the rain. Things much much more important than programming is happening out there. But it won't come for you, you have to go out and find it.

Weird 11!

2004-09-16T14:33:00.000+05:30

An interesting forward I received today! I wonder how people can think like this!

The number 11--------- weird

11 has become to be a very interesting number. It could be a forced coincidence, but in any case this is interesting. You decide for yourself

1) New York City has 11 letters.

2) Afghanistan has 11 letters.

3) Ramsin Yuseb (The terrorist who threatened the Twin Towers in 1993) has 11 letters.

4) George W. Bush has 11 letters. This could be a mere coincidence... (Could it be?)

Now here is what is interesting...

1) New York is the State # 11

2) The first plane crushing against the Twin Towers was flight #11.

3) Flight # 11 was carrying 92 passengers Adding this number gives us: 9+2=11.

4) Flight # 77 who also hit the towers, was carrying 65 passengers Adding this: 6+5=11.

5) The tragedy was on September 11, or 9/11. Adding this: 9+1+1=11

6) The date is equal to the emergency number 911. Adding this: 9+1+1=11

Now we have a very upsetting piece..

1) The total number of victims inside the planes are 254: 2+5+4=11

2) The day September 11 is day number 254 of the calendar year: 2+5+4=11

3) After September 11, there are 111 days more to the end of the year.

4) The tragedy of 3/11/2004 in Madrid also adds to: 3+1+1+2+4=11.

5) The tragedy in Madrid happened 911 days after the tragedy of the Twin

Mozilla Firefox is ramping up!

2004-09-15T18:03:00.000+05:30

A lot of statistics show Mozilla Firefox is ramping up while Microsoft IE is ramping down in the past one year. Here is a blog entry about this. Nice to hear...

HUM SAAB EK HI TO HAIN!!

2004-09-15T13:19:00.000+05:30

One of the forward I recieved today!

Tamils are always proud to be Tamizhs; Pretty courteous (that is what they think, at least!). They speak yenglish but sorry, no indi (Hindi) saar...what da??.The more common Madarasi (chennaisi..., now?) is an ardent fan of kireeket
matches.

Their counterparts in Bombay think they live in America but speak Hinglish like ...are you sure ki Sujata aa rahi hai ya Ill go akela!" And they take great pride in making stupid mistakes in Hindi Grammar.

Thamizhs, are verrry lecky to have "simble" neighbours in the "keralites" who are a komblex race of peoblle (they migrated around 2000 B.C. from the middle east, I guess; and now even the Sheikhs feel wary of them) but they
eat a lot of chooclyte and own 99.998765% of chai shops in the world and form 99.89% of nursing community.

Not far begind the kerals is the telugu desam, who are totally againesht flaunting their wealthu to the woruldu, though they occasionally come out withu brick red shirtsu and parrot green pantsu with pleetsu (pleat). Worustu,no?! But they (think) are greatu in CICSu, Microsu and COBOLu! Generally sane peoplesu (and so you can always findu them judgingu, probhingu, queschioningu othersu ....)

The Canadians, excuse me, the Kannadigas aor (are) the coolest dobun south but if there is political unrest in Hersogovnia oare (or) an ebola virus outbreak in Zaire, they bash up the Tamils in Karnataka. Cauvery very bad! When it comes to Rajkumar (actor), if a fly sits on his nose, they'll burn the entire city of Bengaloroo to kill the fly! To hell with
Silicon valley! I-ron, firshtu, girlu, Lasht Bussu, roadu, crickeatu, filamu are some of their favourites.

Maharashtrians are a conservative, confused, complex lot-kar. -Kar, that is because gavasakar, tendulkar, bahulkar,.. confused that is because sitting in southern part of India they would ask the other person "are you from Maharashtra or from south India..?" and genuinely wonder why the other person takes some time to answer the question. They like the principles of pheejix and their favourite character in the alphabet is Zay (god knows where that came from). Although soft, peace loving people but they elect the shivsena to rule them.

And right there next to the Maharashtrians are the Gujjubhais. They like to keep kes in the benk and their favourite past time is eating snakes (snacks) like paav bhaji, masala papad and pijja at the local snake bar. They gobble down palak sev like their life depends on it and believe in the brotherhood and sisterhood of man and woman (everybody is a bhai or a
ben).

If you go further eesht, the land uf Udissa - the land of irron ("r" unsilent) where sombalpuroa and Bhubaneshbara are big towns. The people are bery cordial and if you are Vikram they bill soorly ask your name starts from B or Bhe. They do not sout, sam or soot but occasnally bawsh their phace at the wasbashin. James Bond Mohanty in our colleze had a roll nomber jero, jero, sebhen.

Bengalees are bery bery similor, but or bery proud oph Subas Chondro Boash and Shoatyojit Roy (I used to know a director by name Satyajit Ray who was also pretty good) and eberybody is X da. I used to habe a friend by name. Dada. Bonder...neber mind. Bot I most conphess, Roshgollas are bery goooood, tho!

Bihari kids are supposed to be the smartest kids in India (if not in the universe!). How we wish they grow up the same way,...but... And Biharees are bery phond of Laloo and Ranchi, isse bhadiya tumre pass koochi hai kaa?! spit spit...

UPites and MPites are busy going to ischool and istudying metals to make lots of ishteel.

Punjabis are very sweet and aggressive and offer Rotti Shotti Khayega! to which I once replied No. He said Tage itu, yaar! By Godu! Surjeetu, what happenedu, oi?!. Then of course, everybodys a paappe or a kaakke. Thats Pnjab for you.

And Kashmir (called Cashmir by many, may be because of the amount of cash spent to keep it in India)?!? I know Roja (or Roza?)was shot (I mean filmed) somewhere nearby...

But at the end of the day, wherever you are in the world, whether it is in Sunnyvale, CA; Birmingham, UK; UmmAl Quwain, UAE or Serangoon Road, Singapore, ask them who they are and you'll get just one answer ---

"INDIANS"

AFTER ALL HUM SAAB EK HAIN!!!

Solaris 10 becoming open source!

2004-09-15T12:48:00.000+05:30

Sun Microsystems will create an open-source project around its Solaris 10 operating system by the end of the year, company executives said Monday. Also, Jonathan Schwartz showed 32-Way UltraSPARC chip that runs Solaris 10.

Courtesy: OSNews

GMail invitations.

2004-09-14T16:28:00.000+05:30

I have 6 e-mail invites. Needed persons can contact me through e-mail or post a comment here.

[Old news] MIT students suspended for ragging.

2004-09-14T16:25:00.000+05:30

Pretty shocked to see the news that 3 MIT sudents got suspended for ragging.

What's new in Fedora Core 3?

2004-09-14T10:38:00.000+05:30

Colin Charles released a PDF, showing us what's new in Fedora Core 3.

Rebirth of MITAA website.

2004-09-13T14:14:00.000+05:30

I got a mail from Mr. Krishnan (36317), Joint seceratary of MITAA, Chennai chapter yesterday on the MITAA website. MITAA is MIT Alumni Association. These guys are planning to redo the wesite from scratch and they are in the progress of collecting the Alumni data. I am going to help them as much as I can. It is so nice that the site has got attention after quiet a long time.

Leader Vs. Boss

2004-09-09T15:33:00.000+05:30

One of my signatures in MS Outlook today read ...

Boss or Leader? A Boss creates fear; A Leader creates confidence. Bossism creates resentment; Leadership breeds enthusiasm. A Boss says:I; A Leader says:We. A Boss fixes blame; A Leader fixes mistakes. A Boss knows how; A Leader shows how. Bossism makes work drudgery; Leadership makes work interesting. A Boss relies on authority; A Leader relies on co-operation. A Boss drives; A Leader leads. - Anonymous

PS: Random signatures; courtesy: Quotes 2002

No luck with NFSU!

2004-09-09T15:28:00.000+05:30

To fix the crashing problem at level 26, I tried out the following.

* Download and install the latest nVidia drivers.
* Download and install DirectX 9.0c.
* Download and apply NFSU lastest patch from EA games.

Nothing have solved the problem. Still the game crashes at level 26. I need a solution for this. Atleast, I should know the reason for this issue.

I have bad time with NFSU

2004-09-07T12:39:00.000+05:30

I was playing Need for Speed Underground this weekend. I was able to advance upto level 25. But in the 25th level, the application crashes. I suspected the graphics driver (nVidia GeForce2 IGP) and upgraded it. No luck. Now I downloaded DirectX 9c (I have 9b) and also the latest patch for NFSU. I have to install these two and figure out if it works.

Lot of people who play NFSU come across this problem (quite a few friends of mine). But there is no information about this problem on NFSU site. EA Games guys are crazy.

Junk entry.

2004-09-07T12:16:00.000+05:30

This is a junk entry to bring the page up in search engines.

Praveen Journal Praveen Kumar Journal Praveen Kumar Chennai Software Engineer India Tamil Nadu Chennai

Humans please ignore this post.

Back to work.

2004-09-07T12:08:00.000+05:30

I am back to work after a long weekend. Yesterday was "Krishna Jeyanthi" (B'day of Lord Krishna; belated b'day wishes to him!) and was a holiday to me.

Damn! I got an adware on my computer.

2004-09-01T17:30:00.000+05:30

Today I found out the reason for the wierdfd behaviour of IE6. There was an adware called 180Search was installed on my computer. I am not sure how this one got in. I have removed it completely (Courtesy: Norton Antivirus).

Gmail review by MKS.

2004-09-01T14:56:00.000+05:30

MKS wrote a detailed review on GMail at his blog.

Vasoolraja MBBS!

2004-09-01T12:07:00.000+05:30

I saw the Tamil movie "Vasoolraja MBBS", staring Padmashree Kamalahaasan on Friday at Satyam cineplex, Chennai. I had a great expectation for the movie when I entered the theatre. The movie is yet another branded "Crazy" movie (Courtesy: Crazy Mohan). The movie was entertaining; but was not upto the mark as expected. The same old Crazy Mohan dialogue throughout the movie. The film is completely dominated by Kamalhaasan. I don't know what Prabhu is doing in that movie. Prakashraj's capability is been wasted. Sneha had no (real) work in the movie; just for fantasy and for the sake of a heroine. Kamal should think of a new dimension for his comedy based movies in the future. Overall, yet another Kamal+Crazy Mohan show! Felt like watching a long "Crazy times" in Jaya TV with new starings.

Who the heck is this Internet Optimizer

2004-08-27T14:12:00.000+05:30

Today I noticed in my IE6 that non-existing sites and other errors are taking me to a site titled "Internet optimizer". I looked into my installed programs and I was quite surprized to see a program called "Internet optimizer" installed. I am puzzled because I never installed this and also I never allowed any auto-install (scripts) from any sites. I uninstalled this damn thing. From then on, the IE6 started throwing up pop-up pages and new pages relavent to the sites that I am visiting. So strange. This is painful. Anyone have an idea about this?

Varalakshmi viratham

2004-08-27T10:51:00.000+05:30

Today "Varalakshmi Viratham" is celeberated by some of the Hindhus. On this occassion, married women pray to the God for the long life of their husband. They undergo fasting in the morning (To compensate, there would be a couple of unlimited meals with a lot of varieties in the afternoon ;-) Indian women are (were?) too sentimental that they should die before their husband. Long live Indian husbands!

myriad-zero.net redirection

2004-08-26T15:53:00.000+05:30

Now the redirection of myriad-zero.net works fine.

http://myriad-zero.net is redirected to http://puggy.symonds.net/~praveen (URL Frame)
http://blog.myriad-zero.net is redirected to http://myriad-zero.blogspot.com

Also the mails to the new domain are redirected to my personal account.

Strange problem with IE6

2004-08-26T15:49:00.000+05:30

Today I am encountering a strange problem with IE6. When I search for something in Google's site, IE hangs abrubtly. I don't know the exact reason for this. I am working out to find the same.

Happy b'day Keerthana.

2004-08-26T12:06:00.000+05:30

Today is the b'day of my 4 yrs old niece Keerthana. May God bless her and long live Keerthana.

Linux history.

2004-08-25T19:23:00.000+05:30

After enough amount of googling, I admitted that today is the b'day of Linux. Shame on my side for not knowing this so far(I am using Linux since 1999). Anyway, better late than never.

Here is a brief history of Linux from Li.org.

http://www.li.org/linuxhistory.php

Linux b'day?

2004-08-25T18:03:00.000+05:30

I recieved a mail (forward) a few minutes back from Rekha, titled "Happy b'day Linux". It also claimed that on Aug 25th 1991, the first public announcement about Linux came from Linus. Find below the mail (supposed to be) from Linus Torvalds.

Hello everybody out there using minix-

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix; as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-sytem due to practical reasons)among other things.
I've currently ported bash (1.08) an gcc (1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that i'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)
Linus Torvalds torvalds@kruuna.helsinki.fi

A nice quote from LinuxQuestions.org

2004-08-24T17:24:00.000+05:30

I was browsing LinuxQuestions.org and came across this quote as signature of an user. Very impressive.

If we all thought of our father's father's father's father's and so on for about 6000 fathers before us... we would all be thinking of the same person!!!

Nice to know I got family everywhere I go!

Me and my APC UPS.

2004-08-24T12:33:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I bought my APC UPS from RM Computers at Ritchie street. The price was INR. 2700. The UPS has 3 battery powered outlets and one surge protected outlet. I installed the UPS and booted into Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional. The software given with the UPS, "PowerChute" worked fine on Windows. It gave the information about the available backup time, battery charge, power drawn from the UPS, etc. The data connection between the UPS and the computer is through USB port. Then I booted into my Debian Sarge and installed "apcupsd" and the configuration was pretty striaght forward. I edited the file "/etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf" and "/etc/init.d/apcupsd" and started the daemon. It runs flawlessly. You should have "usb-hid" compiled into your kernel or you should insert this module. APC UPS; worth the money.

Quitnet rocks.

2004-08-24T12:10:00.000+05:30

It is almost 24 days since I stopped smoking. There was a couple of miss in the mean time. Quitnet played a major role in this attempt. Anyone who tries to quit smoking must visit this site. These guys are doing an excellent job.

I got a domain now!

2004-08-24T11:32:00.000+05:30

Atlast after considering a lot of names, I settled for myriad-zero.net. I registered this domain for two years. The fee was INR. 700. Have to look out for a good deal of hosting. If anyone have a good Linux host in mind, please let me know. At present, this domain is being forwarded to my home page at Symonds' machine.

Test entry via e-mail.

2004-08-23T22:04:00.000+05:30

This is a test entry posted via e-mail.

Hello, blogspot!

2004-08-23T13:31:00.000+05:30

Just now created my blog account here. The term "myriad-zero" is a conjoining contradictory term. "Myriad" meaning infinite and "Zero" meaning nothing. I already had my journal at Live Journal. As I am a hard core Google fan, I decided to move to Blogger.