Eng's Principles
The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.

Funny Articles

Some really funny articles which I came across while perusing the web!!!.

Snails are faster than ADSL

"Dear Sirs, Following our experiment last year, and after long preparations, we have successfully proved that certain gastropods called African giant snails can be faster then ADSL and pigeons. The system we have used, called SNAP (SNAil-based data transfer Protocol), uses biological carriers (snails), and, for the first time, taking advantages of the unique merits of the wheel for data transfer. More details can be found here."

From /.
Really sounds like an Ignoble paper that I was writing (long before)!!!

You can get the actual paper here

---

Computers in Space
I came across a really interesting article which describes the computing power in space.

It gives a clear insight into the amount of computing power in space, and why you probably will not require that latest P4 with 1 gig of RAM and 200 GB hard-disk in space, unless you are going to play the latest game while trying to fit a critical component of the International Space Station. Some excerpts:

...The first thing to realise is that spacecraft don’t really need to be very clever at all. A rocket on the pad has one goal – up. And to keep a rocket going up doesn’t require billions of calculations per second. It does require a colossal amount of grunt from the engines, but the guidance system just needs to be able to keep your giant firework on a relatively accurate course – once in orbit, your course can be corrected and finessed with ease. And all of this can be done with a tiny amount of computational power...

... Just making left turns around the planet isn’t the most difficult thing to calculate.Besides, it’s much more important to be hyper-reliable in the calculations, not hyper-quick....

... Even the International Space Station has less brains than you would think. Obviously the hardware is more modern than that of the Shuttle – after all, it’s a lot newer for a start. It stays up there thanks to the phenomenal computing power of - wait for it...
An 80-386 CPU
Can you feel the speed?
That doesn’t mean to say the Shuttle or the ISS flies without more up to date (read: fast) computers – they do. It's just in the form of the modern Laptops taken up by the astronauts, rather than integrated spacecraft systems....

Really makes the computers at home feel a lot more powerful, doesnt it!!!.

Further Reading:
Nasa History of Computers in Manned Spaceflight
Nasa History of Computers in Unmanned Spaceflight

Source: bit-tech

Eliot's Observation
Nothing is so good as it seems beforehand

Hike and Party
I know. I know. I promised a very nostalgic post.
But then again, real life always treats you differently.
I was invited to a party by a professor whose house was in the beautiful Barton Creek nestled in the scenic Austin countryside, but still within arm's reach of the city.

While the original idea of going to a profs party really took me by surprise, I am actually glad that I went. Just to see the things I have seen. Makes me want to LIVE life.

I got quite an expansive view from the balcony.

Imagine getting up to see this every morning!!!
You can see the creek in a distance.

After an hour of consuming food and talking to friends, we set on hiking. I was glad at that time that I did not come in formals - because the path to the creek there required some skillful treading. Paths were steep and slippery. But once I reached the bottom, I was glad that I brought my camera along with me.

Right down at the creek, on a rocky formation where we could go over.

It was quite a long hike. 5 miles atleast. But we trudged along. Seeing many bikers and hikers along the way. The entire path was along the creek itself, and we get blessed with some beautiful views from time to time.

Soon it was getting dark. It gets dark quite fast here, just because of the rolling hills here!.

On the way back, the entire group decided to stand together for a snap.

The people who braved to come down the treacherous path and enjoy a beautiful hike!

And finally, just before sunset, we were back at his place for some light snacks. Just in time for his huge Green Iguana to show up.

The menacing, but slightly camera shy Green Iguana

And to end a day like this.
A view to kill for!!!

A beautiful sunset in an amazing countryside!!!

Elena's Laws of Animal Behavior
The probability of a cat eating it's dinner has absolutely nothing to do with the price of the food placed before it.

Here is my next post.
Though it may seem like the lyrics of a song (which it is), it is loaded with a lot more meaning than that. And while you are contemplating on it, I can take some time in preparing the next one, which is probably going to be quite nostalgic, for me, atleast.

With Or Without You

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you

Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied
My body bruised, she's got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

With or without you
With or without you
I can't live
With or without you

Source: A-Z Lyrics.

This is quite a wonderful song. Amazing thought provoking and extremely powerful lyrics with a very aurally appealing music make it quite an awe-inspiring song.

And guess how I came to hear of it?
Hint: There is a link to it rite in this page!!!.

Electronic theorem of television sets
A $300 picture tube will protect a $10 fuse by blowing first.

Finally.
I had got my intern at nVidia.
I had had three interviews over more than a month, on quite simple stuff.

Some formalities to be completed still, but atleast now I have something to do for the summer.

I would have to go to Santa Clara (California) for it. I think it starts around the fourth week of May, and will last for three weeks.

Crunch time of the semester coming up - the period when all exams and assignments and projects come together. Incoming are 2 projects due in about a month, a couple of exams and a presentation next week.

I hope to have fun.

Ehrlich's Rule
The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.

You always know when spring is here.
When all the flowers out there get ready for the bloom.
In pink, yellow, white, blue, red, violet and all other colors of the rainbow.

So here is my tribute to them.


If you notice carefully, you can see my left thumb there. And the thumb nail DOES have an arch!!!

There are a lot more flowers that I preserved in time, and many more that I didn't.
All reserved for later.

Ehre's Double-Door Law
In approaching a double door, you will always go to the one door that is locked, pull when you should have pushed, and push when the sign says pull.

---

What you are about to see...
Is not for the faint hearted.
Is not a good-nite-sleep clip.
Is not for someone who do not like having nitemares.

Even the most objective of persons will and should twinge.

FUR FARM HORROR

Only goes to show how despicable and arrogant and ignorant and pathetic the human species really is.
Only goes to show how stupid people can get.
OH GOD.
Just to see the animal squirming in pain while humans, YES, INHUMAN HEARTLESS HUMANS, skin it alive.

No words to describe the bestial cruelty that occurs in there.

Makes me want to go and just shoot them. Even better, skin them alive too. (Atleast I will have the satisfaction of reducing the human population!!!)
I would rather wish, that human species stops evolving, becomes a quagmire and finally is extinct.

That image of that furless animal, bare to the muscle under the skin, mutilated, covered with blood, writhing and wildly shaking and unable to cry. In pain.
Is etched forever in my mind.
Every minute of every hour now, it just keeps popping in my head.
I still feel so strongly affected by it.

If you still feel that humans arent yet cruel enough, you should be having an iron-cold hard heart. You should then watch this - the Canada's Killing Fields, where innocent baby seals are mercilessly beaten to death.
I couldn't.

Hard to believe that even Governments would endorse these.
Of course, it is entirely possible, since it is ruled by a bunch of bureaucrats like the ones above.

All for the want of a few arrogant people to flaunt.

--- "When the buying stops, the killing will too!!!"

---

You still have not seen how leather products are made!!!
You still have not seen how Kosher meat is cut!!!
You still have not seen how ivory is got!!!

I feel very strongly about all this, and if I could have changed my life path, I would have rather been an animal rights activist, and join the fight, rather than just watch and sideline it.
Atleast I am a vegetarian... (I do not take pride in it, because it doesn't prevent anything...)

Edington's Theory
The number of different hypotheses erected to explain a given biological phenomenon is inversely proportional to the available knowledge.

From the Eye in the Sky
Always wanted to know how your place exactly looked from the sky.
Here is your chance, atleast if you live in USA.

Google Maps.

Quite a while ago, Google acquired Keyhole, a company specialized in Satellite Imagery. They kept it under the wraps for a long time.
And today, in the morning, they quitely integreted Google Maps with Satellite Imagery.
True, it is not the latest mapping, it is quite old. (Taken in late 2001, according to some estimates!!!). But still, it is quite awesome.
To be able to scroll through the entire USA viewing getting a birds eye view of the entire place.
Move over to Washington DC, or to Manhattan. (The odd angle of the view over Manhattan really seems to strain my nect. Also, the angle of buildings in different sections of city seem to not quite match up.
I got a couple of screenshots of my department and my apartment. Here they are

This is my department to the bottom left of the label. Quite small.


This is my apartment, just above the center of the label. Not quite clearly seen due to the trees over there.

Have fun scrolling!!!.

P.S.: Google did NOT pay me!!!

Edds Law of Radiology
The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body you are required to place on it.

While that was an April Fool's Day joke, my timing was a little off. Probably because I lived halfway across the world. And in a different time zone.

But still I cannot beat Google at it: GoogleGulp, that is. (After Though they seem to be getting a bit caustic year after year, first Google Lunar Jobs and PigeonRank Technology.

But Gmail Birthday presents is entirely true.
They are doubling the storage and introducing some snazzy new features on to the Message Compose!!!.
When you load uo Gmail, ASAP, you are likely to see a counter counting to 2 GB. And the graph below.

The aim to reach infinite storage.
(All copyright of images to Google and Gmail)

And a couple of screenshots showing their new features.

The Rich Text formatting present in Yahoo Mail, now in Google too!

Increasing storage, and basic html page, for old browsers, and for old people who cant find any links to click.