To See The World In A Stream Of Bits

2010-02-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

I thank the following people for making the world a much more beautiful place than it would have been without them

1. The Rolling Stones - For Ruby Tuesday, As tears go by

2. The Beatles - For Norwegian Wood

3. Schubert - For Ave Maria

4. Moody Blues - Night in White Satin

to be continued...

2009-07-11T14:31:00.000-07:00

Hello All!

The hiatus was partly because I forgot the purpose of this blog and mostly because I forgot about the blog itself

Now I don't really know what to write here. But I thought I will put this piece from bash.org which pretty much everyone of us can identify with

"A woman has a close male friend. This means that he is probably interested in her, which is why he hangs around so much. She sees him strictly as a friend. This always starts out with, you're a great guy, but I don't like you in that way. This is roughly the equivalent for the guy of going to a job interview and the company saying, You have a great resume, you have all the qualifications we are looking for, but we're not going to hire you. We will, however, use your resume as the basis for comparison for all other applicants. But, we're going to hire somebody who is far less qualified and is probably an alcoholic. And if he doesn't work out, we'll hire somebody else, but still not you. In fact, we will never hire you. But we will call you from time to time to complain about the person that we hired."

2008-03-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

All of us have had a lot of theories about life. A lot of similes and metaphors and what not...
But I think life is not that complex after all...

We are all walking on a shore. And we are all looking for sea shells. We see a lot of them, lying around... buried in the mud, losing the sheen, decayed and broken...

We look at some of them

We pick up some of them and throw them away

And we keep some of them

Some part of us becomes a sea shell

I know this doesn't really make sense. But since I'm talking to myself through this, I don't feel the need to

Signing off

2008-03-22T12:05:00.000-07:00

I don't want to sleep

But it's going to pull me down to its endless dark trench

I know if I fall in it, I'll lose that hand, holding my hand over the cliff's edge...

The hand between life and death, the hand of today

I don't want today to go

One more day of my life

One more day , which I held so dearly

One more day I'm so madly in love with.

I know it still has something in it for me

And I know that I'll love it ever more for what it's giving me

Perhaps I know what it is, and I want to wait...

But I'm losing my hold...

And slipping into that trench

And I know there will no more be a today

As I start loving a new tomorrow, as much as I don't want to...

To live, to make it another today

Hoping, I'll love it as much as I loved my today

2008-03-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

Of love

"We are a generation of men raised by women. I wonder if another woman is the answer"
- Fight Club

Period!

QED

PS: I guess the getting laid part is good. BUt still not worth life

2006-05-29T04:23:00.000-07:00

How I Plagiarised, Got caught and Still Got away!

Cast:

The Accused!

Me!,Rohit and Yo! Ravi (Note those innocent faces!)

The real culprit! Prim and Suave!

Varghese Mathew! The guy who did all programs to the consummate levels of flawlessness! The master programmer who convinced us that we can't better his programs and the best idea is to take his code!

And finally!

Dr.Vineeth Paleri (with all due respect )

=======================
Place: Compiler Lab

Time: Who cares?
=======================

As NITians we are very ambitious

I assume you must be an NitCian. Otherwise, here goes. We usually have to submit an assignment every week. "Vazhipaadu" for mallus....

This is what we think about it...

Not that we are lazy...

We try our best to do the assignments!

But then... frustration kicks in!

And we have other important things to do...

And finally the submission day comes. We decide not to submit someone else's assignment's... For example, the culprit above... Like we've been doing sice the time of Richard I... we speak about ethics....

But then....

Evil Rulz...

Idea! Off to the lab....

Face the exam....

Finally, the viva!

" If u r very sure that the program is urs, let us proceed. I remind u of the grave risks of plagiarism. If in any case... ___________ " Fill this with the kind of tings which u hear in stunt show dares. Stuff like u r doing it at ur own risk etc.

Understandably, questioning begins!

"Okay Abid, its been proved that u have copied. No doubts. Give me the pen, give me your answer sheet, I'll write copy. You have plagiarised. Why, after repeated warnings, u dared to......."

Big Trouble!

"What now, Sir?"
"According to the handout given to you in the first class and adhering to academic integrity, honesty, plagiarism and related protocols, you will be given an F Grade.
You will be referred to the disciplinary commitee of Deans and HODs."

"Thats what u deserve. Didn't I warn u?"

Sir Please?

"Ok. May be I will cancel the F. But disciplinary committee is inevitable"

"Okay. Then I'll cancel the committee. But I will give you zero for this lab and send u to HOD. U will have to give him an explanation "

"No! No! No! Not the HOD! Please Sir, save us!"

"Okay, then I will personally ask him to pardon you... Is that Okay"

************************************************************************************

12 hours later, the three plagiarisers were given amnesty. All we had to do was to write a letter of apology! I stuck to my word. I never Plagiarized again. Rohit plagiarised on the very same day in HOD's subject. Ravi resisted the temptation bu I'm sure he will do it again!

THE END!

PS:

This incident really happened. In no way this blog intends to make fun of anyone other than me! This is not against the teacher in the incident. He is one of the most sensible, dedicated and respected teachers in this place. In fact, it is because of him that the three of us passed in all the subjects! We are immensely grateful to our teacher for all the support he gave us.

2006-04-25T01:39:00.000-07:00

Arundhathi Roy!

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
-Benjamin Disraeli , British PM and politician.

I recently (as recent as five minutes ago) read an article by Arundhathi Roy in the NBA website. http://www.narmada.org/gcg/gcg.html

Here's an interesting excerpt

According to a detailed study of 54 Large Dams done by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, the average number of people displaced by a Large Dam is 44,182. Admittedly, 54 dams out of 3,300 is not a big enough sample. But since it's all we have, let's try and do some rough arithmetic. A first draft. To err on the side of caution, let's halve the number of people. Or, let's err on the side of abundant caution and take an average of just 10,000 people per Large Dam. It's an improbably low figure, I know, but ...never mind. Whip out your calculators. 3,300 x 10,000 =

33 million. That's what it works out to. Thirty-three million people. Displaced by big dams alone in the last fifty years What about those that have been displaced by the thousands of other Development Projects? At a private lecture, N.C. Saxena, Secretary to the Planning Commission, said he thought the number was in the region of 50 million (of which 40 million were displaced by dams). We daren't say so, because it isn't official. It isn't official because we daren't say so. You have to murmur it for fear of being accused of hyperbole. You have to whisper it to yourself, because it really does sound unbelievable. It can't be, I've been telling myself. I must have got the zeroes muddled. It can't be true. I barely have the courage to say it aloud. To run the risk of sounding like a 'sixties hippie dropping acid ("It's the System, man!"), or a paranoid schizophrenic with a persecution complex. But it is the System, man. What else can it be?

Fifty million people.

(In case u r still wondering whether the 3300 is some arjun's ratio or something, it's the number of large dams in this country)

What's my point???

1. Very evidently, such a study would have been conducted on dams that are really large and which did displace people. That need not be the case with all the dams in India. And there is no reason why the lesser dams belonging to the 3300 clique should feature in this study. Such dams cause lesser displacement. And what about the dams that come up in sparesely populated areas?

2. Even if that statistic of 40,000+ is indeed true, it is perplexing even to imagine that 54 dams could displace 12 crore people, that is approximately 12 percent of the population of the second most populous country on earth!!!

Frankly, I can't make sense out of it. It would be great if I could know where Miss Roy had her schooling in math.

2006-04-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

THE BIG QUESTION

--->
Connect
<---

( No points for identification. Put "FULL" fundas!)

mailtome at:
ishouldbearealdumbotodothis@gmail.com

2006-04-16T01:01:00.002-07:00

It was five past midnight in Calicut.

The Confessions of a Hacker! "Ma Lee Ha" Edition

Soon to be the part of my going to be released autobiography

"Weasel in a cardboard box"

Warning!
The following programme contains graphic images of hacking, mailbox encroachments and impersonation. Not meant for internet security activists, EFF people or feminists(???).

All characters and events in this story are not works of fiction. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely intentional.

"Ithu avale uddeshichchullathanu, avale thanne uddeshicchullathanu, avale maathram uddeshichchullatanu."

"Kanakam moolam kamini moolam
Kalaham palavidhamulakil Sulabham!"

This begins in yet another sleepy saturday night in India. Cast: in no particular order

1) Ma Lee/Na! Bee la!
2) Na! Bee la!/Ma Lee
3) The ever smiling yahoo! messenger

and
ME! the ahem me!

So chatting away totally unaware of everything else on earth were two souls. 1/2??? and me. In case you are still confused, read ahead.

.
.
.
.
.

Me: Hei can i confess something?
Ma Lee: Yes!
Me: I had a crush on you (Yes I did)
Ma Lee: had???
Me: Thats the way it is
Ma Lee: Are you sure of the had part? (or something semantically analogous)
Me: Yes
Ma Lee: Sure? ( Hei is she some relative of Big B)
Me: Yes
Ma Lee:OK

***********************
mostly harmless and useless dialogue ensues
***********************
Now, get ready for the shock! the break from the monotonicity of most ex-lover /crusher/crushed chats!
Ma Lee: Can I confess something?
Me: (Oh yes! as i thought! she had! she had! she had!) Yes....
Ma Lee: I am not Ma Lee. I am her elder sister Na! Bee la!.

HOLY SHIT!

After taking some time to suppress my state of tantrum, you know, presenting yourself like a duck appearing like Marlon Brando in Godfather on the surface and frantically padding like Jim Carrey under the surface of water, I mustered my words. All that came off my fingertips was an OK.

Me: Is she there?
Ma Lee->Na! Bee la!:nopes! she slept.

I took my time to thank Morpheus, the forgotten Greek God of blissful slumber . For the time being, I am saved from the assault of two females. I vaguely remember that we had a consensus taht she will not let Ma Lee know about it. How stupid! I forgot the whole Mahabharatha story of Karnan and Kunthi.

Then the conversation switched to normal phoney hi, howdee etc.

I did the really ridiculous act of saying a few more things which would spark of aspersions EVEN in the MOST underdeveloped x86 of any idiot that the cupid's arrow was still there. Was is there? I still don't know. (conveniently).

As I slowly convalesced from the initilal haymaker came the second upper cut!

Na! Bee la!: Can I confess something else?
Me: Now what?

Na! Bee la!: Actually Ma Lee is here.

(THIS TIME THE ORIGINAL) Ma Lee: nottamundo? (for the people from a different part of the planet, it just means "interested?"

It ended with me switching off the comp and burying my head below the pillow. At least, that worked well! Land fof Nod was not far away!

RACHE!

(To the uninitiated, Rache means "revenge" in German. For more, read "A study in Scarlet". Awesome book.)

Everything which was written above could have been conveniently skipped. He he he!

Location: Near New Bus Stand, Calicut.

Cast:
1) Microsoft Encarta
2) The same old yahoo! messenger with a brighter smile
3) Kishan P B - the innocent bystander.

oh! and Me!

Thanks to kishan's mom for tea, sympathy and a sofa!

So what do you do if you want to hack an acount!
Obviously get the password using Yahoo! Ultracracker. Now here's the catch. On an intel pentium 4 2 GHz, it takes just four days. And did I say bandwidth?

So I started off with the secret question approach. id was known, so was the birthday. ( How come? don't u remember, I am supposed to know that ). Zip code? Ok 673005 to the best of my "know less". and finally, city of birth.

Yes! Calicut! Oh no! wrong! Kozhikode??? Calicut again??? Karapparamba??? Eranhippalam????

Kishan says: eda she was born in saudi arabia i think.

Next in the tumultuous process in which two young souls start entering the name of every single city in Saudi Arabia, and with many of the city names taking the Entire ASCII set we were trying weirdass names like Dammam, Damam, Dammam with a dot over the first M, second M etc. Two hours passed. And Yahoo did temporariliy block our forays into their digital fortress as we flooded its buffers with cartloads of bullshit.

As I sank into deeper thoughts mined deep from my transcendental states, something flashed. Just like those old Hindi movies in which the investigating Police officer who is ususally the hero gets a flashback.

Subact 1.1 (flashback)
Location? NITC.

Cast? Oh come on? Aren't you sick of this?

Faiz: Hi!
Me: Hi!
Kishan: He knows our classmate Ma Lee
Me: How come?
Faiz: She was born just outside the place where I was born. (something like that)

act ends!

back to new bus stand.

yahoo messenger comes into the act

Me: Faiz, where were you born?

(What the $%^&)

Faiz: Al- Khobar

Me: Thanks dude!

Faiz: ????????????????

Back to yahoo.

The widget appears again. City of birth?

Pop goes the weasel! I'm in!

************************************************************************************

It was five past midnight in Calicut!

Abid E H had logged into yahoo messenger in his new avtar!

Na! Bee la!: Hi mili!
Ma Lee ( the fake one ) Hi!

************************************************
skipped dialogues of personal nature, considered unimportant.
************************************************

Na! Bee la!:No AEH today?
Ma Lee( The fake one): Whats that?
Na! Bee la!: Abid E H. (oops!)
Ma Lee( The fake one): He can't be there.
Na! Bee la!: Why?
Ma Lee( The fake one): Coz he is currently logged in as maleehaabdulazeez@yahoo.co.in

A newyork minute passed.

I heard the whoosh of Na! Bee la! logging out!

******************************************************************************

EPISODE ENDS. THE TRIUMPHANT MALE CHAUVINIST KICKED THE FEMININE EGO IN THE !@# AND SHOWED IT ITS RIGHTFUL RESTING PLACE, SINKING INTO THE ABYSS AND JOINING THE GRAVEYARD OF WORLD'S GREATEST FOLLIES, VICTIM TO THE SHAME OF DEFEAT AND THEREBY CREATING ONE OF THE WORLD'S MOST HILLARIOUS ANECDOTES.

THE AFTERMATH: AN IRON CURTAIN HAS DESCENDED. THE COLD WAR STILL CONTINUES. THE CHARACTERS IN THE STORY HAVE NEVER BLESSED ME WITH THEIR VOICES AGAIN!

AND DO I NEED TO SAY?

AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!!

2006-04-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Etymology! BLOG

Yes, I know dear quizzer. This is an FAQ, an VFAQ or a VVFAQ. But i think that there are people who are not as enlightened as you are. Please abandon my blog if it falls below the levels of your quizzical endeavours. Anyway, here goes:

I prefer the description withuot the bells and whistles of my obnoxious lingo. You know, some like it in Vanilla!

Courtesy: The omniscient "Wikipedia enlightening the world"!

The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. The short form, "blog," was coined by Peter Merholz. He broke the word weblog into the phrase "we blog" in the sidebar of his weblog in April or May of 1999. "Blog" was accepted as a noun (weblog shortened) and as a verb ("to blog," meaning "to edit one's weblog or to post to one's weblog").

Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal "blogging" in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers.

2006-04-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

CON*Q*U*I*Z*TA -4

Dedicated to Rejab Yousaf! The greatest of them all!

Sine I am [un]known to my friends as a quizzer, it will be a pity if my blog does not have a quiz. Here goes!

Rules.

All equations and variables are heterogenous and totally unconnected of degree one.

The use of logarithm tables, slide rules, electronic calculators or any other electro-mechanical computational device will make you eligible of guillotine!

1. X was founded by a then Lieutenant in World War II. It was originally created to conduct raids and sabotage far behind enemy lines in the desert. It looked for recruits with rugged individualism and initiative and recruited specialists from Layforce and other units. The name " X " was already in use as a deception. What is X?

Personal Comment: The deception worked well. Almost all of my quizzing circle acquaintances still believe that this group's works are in agreement with the name!

2. Y was formed at a time when there were 8 similiar/dissimiliar groups in the country. The name Y means border security force. Luttif Afif ("Issa"), his deputy Yusuf Nazzal ("Tony"), and junior members Afif Ahmed Hamid ("Paolo"), Khalid Jawad ("Salah"), Ahmed Chic Thaa ("Abu Halla"), Mohammed Safady ("Badran"), Adnan Al-Gashey ("Denawi"), and his cousin Jamal Al-Gashey ("Samir") were the immediate reason behind the formation of this group. Solve Y.

3. Z is a counterpart to the Army's Combat Applications Group (CAG), commonly known as Delta Force. It is considered to be one of the world's premier maritime counterterror units. Its operatives are drawn from the current SEAL ranks. Z was formed by dibanding Z1. There are people who say that Z1 is Z and Z is not a new thing. My question is. Find Z and Z1

4. What is the French equivalent of answers 1,2 and 3?

5. Connect all four