moved my blog

I now blog at,
themangoman.wordpress.com

Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Virtual Editor

Virtual Editor is a tool which edits for proper style, grammar and usage. To use it for checking any grammatical errors, just upload the doc file from here. What it does is that it compares the document against a database of authoritative style rules and then shows us the errors.

I was particularly looking for tool like this, as it would help me to write better. The tool can be enhanced a lot so that it correctly pinpoints the grammatical mistake. I think it could be embedded with browser so we can directly check errors as we write.

Got this link via: DailyWritingTips

BCB5

My plan for this weekend ..

The beauty is

The beauty is certainly in the Deatils.

I was following many articles regarding telecom industry, though I was reading them from a Managers perspective (which is basically to look things from strategic view). But now I have been assigned to study on particular technology and see if it can be ported on our platform. I am loving that, as now I am supposed to know in and out of the platform, the messages which are sent from one layer to another etc. Certainly I could say the beauty lies in the details, more deep you go you can appreciate the beauty within.

This is the news I was waiting for

I have been tracking the rumors regarding GPhone. I think everyone loves to talk about Google nowadays. There has been so much speculation regarding Google phone that it will change all the equations, it will revolutionize the entire industry. As I am working in Mobile platforms I had to keep a close eye on whats happening in the industry.

So the news came today, those rumors were false. Google is not making GPhone, but they have announced Open handset alliances which comprises of something around 30 companies including biggies such as Google, NVidia, TI, HTC etc. So something new is going to happen in few years. They want to standardize the entire Mobile platform like our PC's so that any one can install any applications they like.

Waiting for 11th Nov to look at SDK and other details.

Its time to do something

I have been reading a lot of stuff lately. Mostly related to mobile technology. Went to OCC meet at Bangalore too. Met there interesting people, people who had started their own company, people who are into IT business for a long time. So in all having a nice time.

But now is not the time to just read blogs or track how google is performing or read the specification of google phone. I am in now my twenties and if I am not doing something at this age then probably couldn't do in future. This is the very high point of my life. I am in Bangalore where so many bits move around, outsourced from US to here and then back. Its probably the best place to stay, and also my company with its cool (European) work culture is optimum for me to do something. Bring out something best from me.

So its not the time for just reading and thinking only, its the time to DO...

Pretence and nothing else

Its 29th of this month, which means that its about a month I have joined the new company. And still hasn't done anything. Just pretending to work. Pretending to solve something, compiling code from baseline and then run the code. Procrastinate the work to the fullest possible. Even my manager comes to me and asks me how am I doing because I am not showing my face to him for weeks, try to run away from him. I don't know why but I am in the same mode which I used to be during college days. Not doing anything in the lab hours,talk at length with pc.

I want to change my self, I don't want to be the same chintan which used to be at college not doing anything just sitting and thinking like all the mango mans in the world. In fact I don't want to be one of them, a aam adami. Lets hope things might be different from this moment on and I do some productive work rather than just following Dilbert principle for staying away from boss.

Mysore Trip

I made it.. I wanted to be at mysore and I went there alone. Checkout pics from here.

When no one responds to your call, walk alone. Walk alone.

Group Dynamics

I was planning to go to Mysore today as I wanted to be there during dussera. I was planning to go alone. I knew if I am going to ask my friends and tell them to make a plan then it would just remain as a plan. Because usually when you want to go in as group then mostly due to one person the entire plan would fail. If anyone says yaar chodo nahi jaana hai then entire groups morale would die and eventually everyone would sit at home.

The same expected thing happened. I am at home writing this blog and other friends are planning to go to MG Road. This way I am spending my weekends. I don't want to spend my time like this. I am cursing my self and telling that I should have went alone without asking my friends.

Big Idea : Abstraction

"Any problem in computer programming can be solved by adding a level of Abstraction"
"Performance can be improved by removing a level of Abstraction"


I am also adding another layer in order to solve problem.

Remembering Gandhi

Was following Gandhi for a quite while now, read his biography 'satyana prayogo' Gujarati version of 'My Experiments of Truth' also watched Gandhi My Father movie recently. I really appreciate the work and his philosophy. Many people accuse him or his philosophy, they think that if Gandhi was not there then we would be independent much earlier and so on.

But what I feel is Gandhi wanted to build the society. His movement was not against the Britishers but it was against the system which was installed or working. His way was much more difficult to follow and it was based on fundamental principle of Truth and Love. And to follow on such path requires strong conviction and character.

I was asking my self one question yesterday that if I was born in 1900s or during that era so I would be around 20s when Gandhi started his Satygraha movement. So which movement I would have chosen ?? Satyagraha or Krantikari movement which was the spirit of youth at that time ?? I was thinking between these two philosophies ..

No doubt both were very much patriotic and they were correct in their ways but I would prefer Gandhian way. Because it's important to Live for country rather than die for it.

Yesterday there were many news regarding the mistake Noble committee made not to honor him with peace prize despite nominated for 5-6 times. And one viewer on CNN iBN aptly replied that Gandhi do not require any awards or recognition and if the committee feels that they missed Gandhi then they should rename the prize as 'M.K.Gandhi Peace prize'.

Be the change you want to make in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi

dilbert and only dilbert

Incidentally I too got fired just after publishing this post :(

Tao of AOE

the basic philosophy of playing AOE ..

To rise from ashes
To expect the unexpected
To lose oneself in imagination
To fight till last breath
To face the darkest fears
To survive against all odds

its not about just playing the game

its the way of life too..........

bullshit.ppt

I think powerpoint presentation has enabled people or rather empowered them to convey loads of shit to people. I am experiencing it now being at the other side. I gave many presentations during my ug and won some prizes but that was all really crap. Today I fell like victim of powerpoint presentations. Today I feel what overdose of ppt can cause

Last few day I got heavy dose of ppts .. infact some 300 slides .. all telling something about RTOS .. faculty is not from academics they all are company people so basically even if they know practically, don't know how to teach .. so the simple solution for them is create ppts .. they come to class start with slides, show some slides and jump to next one ..

I don't know whom to blame for this wonderful tool. I think its blessing for manager whose basic task is to convey some or other bullshit. For teaching purpose only blackboard (sorry ! white board with marker) should be used.

Tommorow also I have to be prepared to listen to bullshit_new.ppt

I can't help..

She dragged me into quagmire .. more i try to come out of it , more i get into it ..

She is sitting in front of me .. i really cant think anything else .. the teacher is teaching the topic which i love .. he is teaching ARM processor but here i am deep in the thoughts .. nothing i can think beyond her .. after some time i tell to my self that okay leave this concentrate .. but again into it .. more i try more deep i go ..

So the same old story .. i am not talking to her .. just enjoying watching her .. Lost .. seriously lost .. i don't know how to approach her or talk to her ..somebody help !! but now i am enjoying every glimpse of her ..

Seriously i can't help .. falling in love with you

Freakonomics

In Levitt's view, economics is a science with excellent tools for gaining answers but a serious shortage of interesting questions. His particular gift is the ability to ask such questions. For instance: If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their mothers? Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What really caused crime rates to plunge during the past decade? Do real-estate agents have their clients' best interests at heart? Why do black parents give their children names that may hurt their career prospects? Do schoolteachers cheat to meet high-stakes testing standards? Is sumo wrestling corrupt? ..

follow this link

My job description

job description :
so my part of job is to create bugs and then fix them ... make sure that there are enough bugs in the code .. so i get my monthly pay cheque ..

so write a buggy code ..

Dreams

"A dream is not what you see while you sleep,

A dream is what does not let you sleep.. "

-APJ

Making the impossible possible

Read this wonderful article by Dayo Olomu .Its about the story of Legson, and how he achieved his dream ..

."I learned I was not, as most Africans believed, the victim of my circumstances but the master of them." - Legson Kayira

One of the things my Christian faith has taught me is that with God nothing is impossible. I live by 4 Ps - Prayers, Planning, Perseverance and Persistence. Hence one of the words that are not in my dictionary is 'impossible'. I seldom use it. Ditto words like providence, destiny and fate. Anything I want to do, I do it irrespective of any obstacles by using the 4 Ps.

To me, nothing is impossible if you have a clear goal and vision. The legendary boxer, Muhammad Ali, once said "Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision."

Anytime I remember the story of the award-winning Malawian Writer, Legson Kayira, I am inspired. The facts of Kayira's early life are legendary: a Tumbuka born and educated in Nyasaland (now Malawi), he walked 3,200 kilometres to North Africa seeking opportunities for further education.

Like Martin Luther King Jnr., Legson had a dream. He wanted to be like his hero, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th American President, who had risen from poverty to become President, then fought tirelessly to help end slavery. He wanted to be like Booker T. Washington, the foremost black educator of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who cast off the shackles of slavery to become a great American reformer and educator, giving hope and dignity to himself and to his race. Legson's dream spurred him on a journey fuelled by his determination to get an education.

Like these great role models, he wanted to serve mankind, to make a difference in the world. And to realise his goal, he needed a first-rate education. Legson knew the best place to get it was in America.

When he was 17 years old, he sought his parents' blessing to go and study in America. His illiterate parents didn't know where America was but reluctantly gave their blessings.

His possessions were meagre: five-day supply of food, a Bible and Pilgrim's Progress, small axe for protection, and a blanket. Legson eagerly set out on the journey of his life. He was going to walk from his tribal village in Nyasaland, north across the wilderness of East Africa to Cairo, where he would board a ship to America to get a college education.

After five days of trekking across the rugged African terrain, Legson had covered only 25 miles. He was already out of food, his water was running out, and he had no money. To travel 2,975 miles more seemed impossible; yet to turn back was to give up and to resign to a life of poverty and ignorance. Legson turned to his two books, reading the familiar words that renewed his faith in himself and in his goal. He ploughed on.

By January 1960, fifteen months after he began his perilous journey, he had travelled nearly a thousand miles to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. He was now growing stronger in body and wiser in the ways of survival. He remained in Kampala for six months, doing odd jobs and spending every spare moment in the library, reading voraciously.

In the library at Kampala, he came across an illustrated directory of American colleges. One illustration in particular caught his eye - the Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Washington. He wrote immediately to the school's Dean explaining his plight and requested for a scholarship. The Dean at Skagit was so impressed with Legson's determination that he not only granted him admission but also offered him a scholarship and a job that would pay his room and board.

Another piece of Legson's dream had fallen into place, yet more obstacles awaited him. Legson needed a passport and a visa, and to get a passport, he had to provide the government with a verified birth date. That's not all. To get a visa he needed the round-trip fare to the United States. Again, he picked up his pen and paper and wrote to the missionaries who had taught him since childhood. The missionaries then helped to push his passport through government channels. However, Legson still lacked the airfare required for a visa.

Undeterred, Legson continued his journey to Cairo believing he would somehow get the money he needed. Fortune smiled on him when, upon hearing his story, the students of Skagit Valley College, with the help of local citizens, sent $650 to Legson to cover his fare to America.

In December 1960, more than two years after his journey began; Legson Kayira arrived at Skagit Valley College. Carrying his two treasured books, he proudly passed through the towering entrance of the institution and began his studies.

But Legson Kayira didn't stop once he graduated. Continuing his academic journey, he became a professor of Political Science at Cambridge University in England and a widely respected author. His first book was the autobiographical 'I Will Try' (1965), and he has written four novels: 'The Looming Shadow' (1968), 'Jingala' (1969), 'The Civil Servant' (1971), and 'The Detainee' (1974).

Like his heroes, Abraham Lincoln and Booker T. Washington, Legson Kayira rose above his humble beginning and forged his own destiny. He made a difference in the world and became a magnificent beacon whose light remains as a guide for others to follow.

Legson's story shows that with faith, determination, a dream and a vision, we can achieve anything in life and rise to the top.