I went to hostel last night and had a good chat about everything on the planet with Isham Roy, one of my good friends. This blog tries to sums up the conversation. The conversation just portrays the views of both/either of us. It might not be accurate where the facts are concerned, but we nevertheless had fun talking about it.
It all started about what a man can do and achieve. From the stage of caves to AC lounges, man created it all. The system, the technology, the religion, the loop holes and everything else. Constantly in search of answers to new questions, man is uncovering new grounds and paving way for further questions exponentially. A few of those elites, who have dedicated their lives to finding out the answers to the questions, help the society in seeing truth, or something near to it.
Money :
Man created money as an universal exchange unit. It was barter system before. People used to exchange goods for goods. But the value of goods vary according to geography, availability and culture. Gold in Eldorado is like steel/brass for us ( El dorado is a hidden city of gold, ruled by a harmless adorable fat chief, its a movie.) So money was invented as a means of universal exchange. Now it came to a stage where money also has different value based on geography, availability and culture, but that is a different line of talk, and we did not go there. Well, there is this obvious question that which, Im sure everyone would have thought of. "If every country has their own mint, why don't you print as much as you want, feed the hungry, develop the country and be the most awesome country on the planet?" If you asked this question any stuck-up bloke out there, instead of explaining it, he gives you a that's-a-really-silly-question kind of look, and says because it will lead to inflation, and the value or rupee will go down and stuff like that, which definitely you would have thought "what the heck, how?" But surely would have said "Oh, okay, like that !"
Well, here is an example. Money is only as valuable as the goods it can trade. Say there are three apples on this planet and there are two guys. One guy has all the three apples and the other has all the money in the world. So now the money is useless for survival if that guy who has apples refuses to trade his apples ! To woo the apples guy, the guy with the money can go the length of buying an apple for a billion or more. As the supply decreases, demand for it increases. So if the commodity decreases, the resultant value of the remainder increases. Now extend this example to a country, the resources it has and the trade of money and the value involved. But who decides and weighs the value of the commodity that is circulating in the country? May be the finance guys at reserve bank, or economics nerds from IIMs?
0
Satish Kumar Eerpini - A review :)
Well, I took a lot of time to figure out what to title this blog, and more to decide on what to write in it. This post is about a guy who is and will remain to be one of my closest friends, a guy who does not give a damn about the world, a guy who is crazy, passionate towards his dreams and a source of inspiration to all the fellow juniors and a lot of his friends too ! Yes, he is the man who can "take any number of lines from the linux kernel code and put it back", he is Satish Kumar Eerpini.
Seldom will you come across a person like Satish. Satish sports an air of carelessness and devil may care attitude and a thorough foul mouth to top it, will definitely not make what most people call as a positive first impression, but he sure proves to be more than what you judge him to be, if you ever do. Immensely passionate about Linux, Computers and a thorough lover of life, you see him living his life unbound by rules and regulations and undeterred by the pressures involved. You either see him in the canteen enjoying food or in the room fiddling around with his Linux Fedora distros or in the library checking out junior girls or in dhabas outside for a little snack. I find it immensely enjoyable, and informative to have a chat with satish, and always feel at home whenever I do.
Most people know Satish as a techy guy rambling about something probably that you would not understand. But he is a friend and as a guy who values your feelings and goals,and will empathize with you . A guy who can give you sound advice when you need and a direction to be pointed to. But Id say you need some getting used to this guy. Another one of striking features of Satish is that, once he starts talking about something he likes ( like Linux) he doesn't stop soon, and he will definitely be oblivious of the fact that it goes above your head. Heh..
Well, always remember the innumberable chats, LUG meets, the tech talks and the plots to refine the world, change the future talks and the food at dhabas. A very all the best to your glorious future, and may you rock purdue. Be awesome and stay in touch !
Seldom will you come across a person like Satish. Satish sports an air of carelessness and devil may care attitude and a thorough foul mouth to top it, will definitely not make what most people call as a positive first impression, but he sure proves to be more than what you judge him to be, if you ever do. Immensely passionate about Linux, Computers and a thorough lover of life, you see him living his life unbound by rules and regulations and undeterred by the pressures involved. You either see him in the canteen enjoying food or in the room fiddling around with his Linux Fedora distros or in the library checking out junior girls or in dhabas outside for a little snack. I find it immensely enjoyable, and informative to have a chat with satish, and always feel at home whenever I do.
Most people know Satish as a techy guy rambling about something probably that you would not understand. But he is a friend and as a guy who values your feelings and goals,and will empathize with you . A guy who can give you sound advice when you need and a direction to be pointed to. But Id say you need some getting used to this guy. Another one of striking features of Satish is that, once he starts talking about something he likes ( like Linux) he doesn't stop soon, and he will definitely be oblivious of the fact that it goes above your head. Heh..
Well, always remember the innumberable chats, LUG meets, the tech talks and the plots to refine the world, change the future talks and the food at dhabas. A very all the best to your glorious future, and may you rock purdue. Be awesome and stay in touch !
Posted by
geekb0ne
Thoughts on a rainy morning.
Its been a long time that I have blogged. Well, here I am back again, trying to put those thoughts in as bytes before they get buried in my skull and get pushed back into that attic which holds all those backlogged memories. Everyone has that attic in their head, don't they? The place where people push in their thoughts and memories that they don't want to deal with, and would rather want to forget. If not forget, postpone them later when the time comes.
I started walking towards my bus stop, and it was a rainy day. I, who haven't seen the light of day at 6 AM in the morning, am walking down a road with puddles, with a raincoat to work. I pulled the raincoat sleeves tighter and started to jog. Slowly it rained heavily with increasing pace, as if the rain is mocking me and threatened to engulf me in. Silly thing, people crib about heat all the time, and when it rains no one stays out.I don't like rains. Rains make me moody. I don't want to be out when it rains. Still, here I am, walking down to my bus stop to board a bus to my work, on a rainy day at 8 in the morning during my summer break.
I work as a intern programmer in a company doing game development for Nintendo DSi. The hand held Nintendo game station. I have learnt a lot over the two months I have been there, more than I have ever read in books all my graduate life.
I have a tendency to work hard. Overwork more like. I think that if I don't work hard, then I don't deserve the good days that I enjoy. My dad taught me that. May be it is true. May be it is not. But I don't know how I can weigh my hard work against the "good times" I enjoy. I don't know if it has all been worth it. Nevertheless we all do what we have to do, don't we?
I resigned myself to the rain, I didn't stop for shelter, I have a bus to catch and work to do. The rain didn't stop either. I saw people trotting towards shelter with bags, papers and umbrellas and whatnot to cover their head. Funny, I thought again, we have a bath everyday, and still would not want to get wet in the rain. A few dogs ran by. They didn't care. They didn't have to write entrance examinations, no work, no responsibilities, and they can sleep where ever they can. Well, being a dog has its advantages I guess.
I reached my bus stop. The crossroads was bustling with traffic. There was a gathering at the center and some MLA was talking about YSR- it's his birthday today. There a few auto drivers and a few guys who have no idea whatsoever about what that guy is talking about. They just say "amar rahe" once in a while when everyone else does. Mob.
Everyone in that crossroads is doing something. I see the flower vendor earnestly checking her flowers and covering the small cart of hers with cloth draping to protect against the rain. Who anyone buy flowers in the pouring rain? May be they do, may be they don't. But the vendor earnestly shouts out to passersby to buy flowers. Is his hard work justified. Does he make enough profit equivalent to the sore throat that he gets for shouting all day? May be yes, May be no, we can't say. I guess that's the way it is. You do what you have to and sit for wait, for the things to move by themselves. They move only after you give a momentum.
My thoughts are interrupted by the honk of the bus. The driver was ushering me in. I smiled at him and started walking back. I took off my rain coat and looked up. In moments my spectacles are blotched by the huge drops. I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out like a kid, it tasted clear and pure. I dropped my bag and started running. It felt good as the wind whipped my face and I felt goosebumps all over my body as I felt the cold water slowly piercing through my clothes and wet my whole body. It felt damn good to run, run in the rain without a care in the world. Wish I could run until I run out of breath.. wish I...
My thoughts are interrupted by the honk of the bus. The driver was ushering me in. I got in, thinking about the month's pay and a color palette file which needed modification.
I started walking towards my bus stop, and it was a rainy day. I, who haven't seen the light of day at 6 AM in the morning, am walking down a road with puddles, with a raincoat to work. I pulled the raincoat sleeves tighter and started to jog. Slowly it rained heavily with increasing pace, as if the rain is mocking me and threatened to engulf me in. Silly thing, people crib about heat all the time, and when it rains no one stays out.I don't like rains. Rains make me moody. I don't want to be out when it rains. Still, here I am, walking down to my bus stop to board a bus to my work, on a rainy day at 8 in the morning during my summer break.
I work as a intern programmer in a company doing game development for Nintendo DSi. The hand held Nintendo game station. I have learnt a lot over the two months I have been there, more than I have ever read in books all my graduate life.
I have a tendency to work hard. Overwork more like. I think that if I don't work hard, then I don't deserve the good days that I enjoy. My dad taught me that. May be it is true. May be it is not. But I don't know how I can weigh my hard work against the "good times" I enjoy. I don't know if it has all been worth it. Nevertheless we all do what we have to do, don't we?
I resigned myself to the rain, I didn't stop for shelter, I have a bus to catch and work to do. The rain didn't stop either. I saw people trotting towards shelter with bags, papers and umbrellas and whatnot to cover their head. Funny, I thought again, we have a bath everyday, and still would not want to get wet in the rain. A few dogs ran by. They didn't care. They didn't have to write entrance examinations, no work, no responsibilities, and they can sleep where ever they can. Well, being a dog has its advantages I guess.
I reached my bus stop. The crossroads was bustling with traffic. There was a gathering at the center and some MLA was talking about YSR- it's his birthday today. There a few auto drivers and a few guys who have no idea whatsoever about what that guy is talking about. They just say "amar rahe" once in a while when everyone else does. Mob.
Everyone in that crossroads is doing something. I see the flower vendor earnestly checking her flowers and covering the small cart of hers with cloth draping to protect against the rain. Who anyone buy flowers in the pouring rain? May be they do, may be they don't. But the vendor earnestly shouts out to passersby to buy flowers. Is his hard work justified. Does he make enough profit equivalent to the sore throat that he gets for shouting all day? May be yes, May be no, we can't say. I guess that's the way it is. You do what you have to and sit for wait, for the things to move by themselves. They move only after you give a momentum.
My thoughts are interrupted by the honk of the bus. The driver was ushering me in. I smiled at him and started walking back. I took off my rain coat and looked up. In moments my spectacles are blotched by the huge drops. I opened my mouth and stuck my tongue out like a kid, it tasted clear and pure. I dropped my bag and started running. It felt good as the wind whipped my face and I felt goosebumps all over my body as I felt the cold water slowly piercing through my clothes and wet my whole body. It felt damn good to run, run in the rain without a care in the world. Wish I could run until I run out of breath.. wish I...
My thoughts are interrupted by the honk of the bus. The driver was ushering me in. I got in, thinking about the month's pay and a color palette file which needed modification.
Posted by
geekb0ne
Bringing back the dead- why you should not have windows.
Do not mistake me from the title. I am not waiting something scary or morbid. I shall give a walk through through my tale of woe tonight when I tried to bring back my dead hard disk to life.
It is around 3:15 AM today and I got a quiz to write tomorrow, and a train to Benguluru tomorrow to watch the match between RCB and KKR, ( we do not have the tickets for the match, one of my friends booked it a month back, got a confirmation mail and now the ticket folks tell us that the tickets are over and they will refund the money back. Yep, We are going to Benguluru determined to get the tickets somehow and drag them to consumer court if need be! That is another tale of its own. ) and Im writing a blog about a failing hard disk and my trials to bring it back to life. I do not know if I will succeed or not, but this post will sure be a dejavu to folks who have windows on their computers.
Let me first tell you the resources we have in our room. We have one desktop, old but powerful and pretty battered by the abrupt power failures we have here. Along with the desktop , we have two laptops with one running ubuntu and another on win7. The one with the win7 doesnot have a working DVD drive.
Okay, coming to the problem-simple. Pretty much what happens to every windows owner. The system crashed with the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) and refused to boot. I, having very high experience in seeing a system crash LIVE, expected that a system restore or a system repair would do the trick thinking that some boot files or the master boot file would have gone kaput.
The following will describe in detail my daunting trials from dusk to dawn to bring my beloved PC back to life,. WARNING : UNLESS YOU ARE EXTREMELY INTERESTED IN FOLLOWING MY TALE OF WOE, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONTINUE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Trial#1:
My PC has a ubuntu 9.04 whose grub is overwritten by the master boot file of windows after a post windows install. Ever since I used only windows, since my windows enables bridge of the broadband. connection that is connected to my computer through ethernet. I have a wireless adapter which I made into an access point. Since I have not yet figured out how to setup a bridge on linux, I have been using windows ever since. Anyway, I tried to see what happened after restart, it goes into the "use startup recovery/start windows normally" screen and it wont budge from there.
Trial#2:
After a few restarts, a little progress, now I am able to choose between the two, but if I use start windows normally, it restarts and comes back to the same page and if I use start-up repair, it does not start the start up repair.
Inference:
I guess I needed a start-up repair for start-up repair.
Trial#3:
I searched the attic for a win7 DVD and found one bakshi left after his reinstallation not a few days ago, and fired it up. My DVD drive, already being slow, needs some pushing to pick-up. So after a few ejects and pushes, its picks up the DVD and I see the yellow LED blinking in rhythm and heard the slow whirring of the DVD drive churning the disk. The windows files load and then I see the windows loading screen and then it goes to a blank screen with the no graphics extra large mouse in the middle of the screen. Thats it. Zip. It just dies there. Hard disk, and the DVD Drive.
Inference:
There could be many reasons, a faulty DVD drive or a faulty win7 DVD or a faulty hard disk or any bus/IDE errors or RAM frequency mismatch errors or something.
Trial#4:
I erased the possibility of the faulty DVD drive, since the win7 DVD booted alright.
Just to check, I fired up my ubuntu 9.10 live disk and checked. It booted easily and went into live mode like a charm.
Inference:
This narrows down my list of problems to Faulty DVD, since Ubuntu worked well. But I did not want to take chances.
Trial#5:
I borrowed a 4 GB USB drive from my neighbor and tried putting win7 into it, the procedure involved is not as straight as I thought it would be. I tried following a tutorial on net, but that did not seem feasible since it used windows based system with a functional DVD drive to take the source from. My current resources did not match with the needs so I tried searching for something else. Another tool takes the source files (either in DVD or hdd), and convert and dump them straight into a usb stick. I used that and finally ended up with a USB bootable win7. This involved considerable juggling or win7 DVD, a hard drive and a USB stick between the ubuntu and the win7 laptops. Finally when I tried booting it up, the screen goes dead at the same point as before. That black screen with the scary big mouse pointer, mocking my troubleshooting skills.
Inference:
(stumped). Need to try any external disk repair tools or another win7 disk.
Trial#6:
Downloaded an external win7 rescue disk that does the same job as the start up repair,
but did not have a disk at hand to expend, so that plan is a fail. Then started searching for another windows disk. Luckily found an old disk of mine which I burnt long ago, when win7 was released (not the RC version). I put it up, and after a few ejects and pushes finally got to see the blue screen(with flowers and leaves) of the installer. :)
Inference:
Windows sucks. ( I dint know that more was in wait for me)
Trial#7:
I slowly got the DVD drive to pick up and click the required buttons only to see that my hard disk is not detected at all in the installation window.
Inference:
Doomed. Hard-disk conked. Do not even remember what I have in there.
Trial#8:
Fired back ubuntu to let it decide if I am really doomed or not. Sadly, I did not see any hard disk drives recognised in /media folder and nothing happened when I tried searching for them. Confirming that my hard disk is doomed for sure, I fired up win7 again.
Inference:
Never misuse your hard disk. Never trust windows to give you a good time. Because it follows Murphy's law. Everything bad with a windows based machine will happen on your worst day.
Trial#9:
Installation taking place, slowly.. Installation finished, Registry updated, Performance measured and finally after taking the username and the password, I get to see the desktop.phew :)
Inference:
Back aching, Eyes burning, body sweating and hungry. Time for some maggi now.
This has been one of my worst personal experiences with a windows system. and the newer versions of windows keep piling up on my catastrophe genre tales.
It is around 3:15 AM today and I got a quiz to write tomorrow, and a train to Benguluru tomorrow to watch the match between RCB and KKR, ( we do not have the tickets for the match, one of my friends booked it a month back, got a confirmation mail and now the ticket folks tell us that the tickets are over and they will refund the money back. Yep, We are going to Benguluru determined to get the tickets somehow and drag them to consumer court if need be! That is another tale of its own. ) and Im writing a blog about a failing hard disk and my trials to bring it back to life. I do not know if I will succeed or not, but this post will sure be a dejavu to folks who have windows on their computers.
Let me first tell you the resources we have in our room. We have one desktop, old but powerful and pretty battered by the abrupt power failures we have here. Along with the desktop , we have two laptops with one running ubuntu and another on win7. The one with the win7 doesnot have a working DVD drive.
Okay, coming to the problem-simple. Pretty much what happens to every windows owner. The system crashed with the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) and refused to boot. I, having very high experience in seeing a system crash LIVE, expected that a system restore or a system repair would do the trick thinking that some boot files or the master boot file would have gone kaput.
The following will describe in detail my daunting trials from dusk to dawn to bring my beloved PC back to life,. WARNING : UNLESS YOU ARE EXTREMELY INTERESTED IN FOLLOWING MY TALE OF WOE, I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONTINUE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Trial#1:
My PC has a ubuntu 9.04 whose grub is overwritten by the master boot file of windows after a post windows install. Ever since I used only windows, since my windows enables bridge of the broadband. connection that is connected to my computer through ethernet. I have a wireless adapter which I made into an access point. Since I have not yet figured out how to setup a bridge on linux, I have been using windows ever since. Anyway, I tried to see what happened after restart, it goes into the "use startup recovery/start windows normally" screen and it wont budge from there.
Trial#2:
After a few restarts, a little progress, now I am able to choose between the two, but if I use start windows normally, it restarts and comes back to the same page and if I use start-up repair, it does not start the start up repair.
Inference:
I guess I needed a start-up repair for start-up repair.
Trial#3:
I searched the attic for a win7 DVD and found one bakshi left after his reinstallation not a few days ago, and fired it up. My DVD drive, already being slow, needs some pushing to pick-up. So after a few ejects and pushes, its picks up the DVD and I see the yellow LED blinking in rhythm and heard the slow whirring of the DVD drive churning the disk. The windows files load and then I see the windows loading screen and then it goes to a blank screen with the no graphics extra large mouse in the middle of the screen. Thats it. Zip. It just dies there. Hard disk, and the DVD Drive.
Inference:
There could be many reasons, a faulty DVD drive or a faulty win7 DVD or a faulty hard disk or any bus/IDE errors or RAM frequency mismatch errors or something.
Trial#4:
I erased the possibility of the faulty DVD drive, since the win7 DVD booted alright.
Just to check, I fired up my ubuntu 9.10 live disk and checked. It booted easily and went into live mode like a charm.
Inference:
This narrows down my list of problems to Faulty DVD, since Ubuntu worked well. But I did not want to take chances.
Trial#5:
I borrowed a 4 GB USB drive from my neighbor and tried putting win7 into it, the procedure involved is not as straight as I thought it would be. I tried following a tutorial on net, but that did not seem feasible since it used windows based system with a functional DVD drive to take the source from. My current resources did not match with the needs so I tried searching for something else. Another tool takes the source files (either in DVD or hdd), and convert and dump them straight into a usb stick. I used that and finally ended up with a USB bootable win7. This involved considerable juggling or win7 DVD, a hard drive and a USB stick between the ubuntu and the win7 laptops. Finally when I tried booting it up, the screen goes dead at the same point as before. That black screen with the scary big mouse pointer, mocking my troubleshooting skills.
Inference:
(stumped). Need to try any external disk repair tools or another win7 disk.
Trial#6:
Downloaded an external win7 rescue disk that does the same job as the start up repair,
but did not have a disk at hand to expend, so that plan is a fail. Then started searching for another windows disk. Luckily found an old disk of mine which I burnt long ago, when win7 was released (not the RC version). I put it up, and after a few ejects and pushes finally got to see the blue screen(with flowers and leaves) of the installer. :)
Inference:
Windows sucks. ( I dint know that more was in wait for me)
Trial#7:
I slowly got the DVD drive to pick up and click the required buttons only to see that my hard disk is not detected at all in the installation window.
Inference:
Doomed. Hard-disk conked. Do not even remember what I have in there.
Trial#8:
Fired back ubuntu to let it decide if I am really doomed or not. Sadly, I did not see any hard disk drives recognised in /media folder and nothing happened when I tried searching for them. Confirming that my hard disk is doomed for sure, I fired up win7 again.
Inference:
Never misuse your hard disk. Never trust windows to give you a good time. Because it follows Murphy's law. Everything bad with a windows based machine will happen on your worst day.
Trial#9:
Installation taking place, slowly.. Installation finished, Registry updated, Performance measured and finally after taking the username and the password, I get to see the desktop.phew :)
Inference:
Back aching, Eyes burning, body sweating and hungry. Time for some maggi now.
This has been one of my worst personal experiences with a windows system. and the newer versions of windows keep piling up on my catastrophe genre tales.
Posted by
geekb0ne
Google it first, ask next !
Hi all,
I want to tell this line to people who come around asking questions without actually making any effort to find out first. also, If you fall under those who have "amazing" bandwidth, then why not first google the question? At least like that, you would not look like a jackass with your mouth hanging half open, while you are listening to the guy. Google it. Use sentences in English, if you do not know anything else about how to search efficiently in google. Say, you have a problem of installing vlc media player on your ubuntu box, then a question like "how to install vlc player on ubuntu" will get you enough results to get you going. This is actually the correct method of learning, search around the net, sit with your problem for hours and enjoy it when you actually get the solution and get it right. :) anyway, for some of you who do not know how to use google properly, here are some tips for searching efficiently in google.
Wait a minute, Ill leave that to you. Just google "how to search efficiently in google" ! :) happy googling, and always remember. Google first, ask next.
I want to tell this line to people who come around asking questions without actually making any effort to find out first. also, If you fall under those who have "amazing" bandwidth, then why not first google the question? At least like that, you would not look like a jackass with your mouth hanging half open, while you are listening to the guy. Google it. Use sentences in English, if you do not know anything else about how to search efficiently in google. Say, you have a problem of installing vlc media player on your ubuntu box, then a question like "how to install vlc player on ubuntu" will get you enough results to get you going. This is actually the correct method of learning, search around the net, sit with your problem for hours and enjoy it when you actually get the solution and get it right. :) anyway, for some of you who do not know how to use google properly, here are some tips for searching efficiently in google.
Wait a minute, Ill leave that to you. Just google "how to search efficiently in google" ! :) happy googling, and always remember. Google first, ask next.
Posted by
geekb0ne
Hello all !
Hey there fellow geeks, this is my zillionth attempt to move my lazy bum to write a blog, and all those blogging service providers are probably very pissed at me for wasting their space with my unhappening accounts ! sigh. anyway, this one I think I will keep running for some time, at least, mainly for the reason that this is focused on the geek part of me..well the main part of me (the only part of me I guess.. :) ) anyway, in this blog you will find random geeky thoughts, and ramblings, and some technologies that I come across, sprinkled with some tutorials here and there ! Keep looking once in a while, Ill try not to disappoint you :). Its not a promise though !
Posted by
geekb0ne
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