Imagination

Alpha and Beta releases - Did we know them as kids

2009-08-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

Did we hear about alpha releases and beta releases when we grew up? Now a days every kid knows what an alpha or a beta release is. Thanks to software industry. Every other manufacturing industry has been having pre-releases before the launch of the actual product. It’s only that the household consumer, like me and you, was not directly involved with testing those releases and hence didn’t realize their existence.

For example, engine companies do pre-releases. Their consumers, namely the OEM’s, do the testing. Hardware companies do pre-releases and their consumers, other industries, test it out. The book and newspaper industries also have pre-releases. The publisher and editors do the reading and make it fit for final release. Even industries like food and medicine companies, that directly affect the household consumer, have pre-releases. However, they are tested by select group or base of consumers – again do not involve everybody.

It is completely different with software releases. The important aspect here is the reach of these pre-releases to all the consumers. The consumers are not some select group. It is a growing community of the young and the old, the shy and the outgoing personalities, men and women etc. If I’m using an application, all I have to do is visit the website of the manufacturer and check for new releases. I check it out and spread the word. The internet and software industry have brought the manufacturing process close to the common man. My 6 year old sister knows when there is a beta release of the Firefox browser – thanks to the update messages she keeps seeing on the screen.

By the way, this is the only release of the article! Do not google for any beta or alpha releases.

Words heard over and over again in the radio land

2009-07-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned several times, my window to the outside is the NPR and I listen to it whenever possible. During the week, I listen to the following - Morning Edition while getting ready for the office, All Things Considered while driving back home, Fresh Air and The Story whenever I can. Over the past two weeks, I realised something really interesting and would like to share it with you.
There were some major events along with the usual suspects in the news. Even NPR seems to be obsessed these days with these events - after all its public radio that reflects the taste and mood of the public. I made a list of 10 words and phrases that I heard over and over again in the past two weeks. Twitter came in first ahead of Michael Jackson and California. I heard it in many different contexts - an entire snippet on the word itself, and over and over again in other serious and light hearted conversations. MJ came in second. He is as popular being dead, as being alive. People just can't get enough of the pop star. The Uighur uprising got a good share of coverage. Now they need a charismatic leader like the Dalai Lama to continue their cause. This was followed by California - 7th largest economy in the world issuing IOU's!! GM was mentioned as well; it came out of bankruptcy in just 38 days. Of course, the other usual suspects were the Middle Eastern countries, Afghanistan, North Korea, Obama, US congress and the economy. Roger Federer and Sampras concluded the list with the former making tennis history by winning his 15th grand slam event.
Here is the complete list of the words and phrases:

1) Twitter
2) Michael Jackson
3) Uighur minority
4) California
4) GM
5) Stimulus money
7) Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan
8) Obama
9) US congress
10) Federer and Sampras

2009-07-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

I have to share this with you people. Honda Insight is the hybrid counterpart to Toyota's Prius. The whole concept of moving onto Hybrid is to conserve fuel and reduce impact of burning fossil fuel on the environment. There are so many initiatives taken by government and the auto industry to promote the use of hybrid. For example: On top of the savings you get from consuming less fossil fuel, you also get additional tax benefits for owning a hybrid - courtesy the US government. The picture to the left makes a mock of all these efforts. Its an advertisement for the Insight which is carried by an airplane or a glider(not seen in the picture). Burn unnecessary fuel to promote something that uses less fuel! Sometimes I don't get the marketing folks - Hello/Heaveno...What the hell (or heavens) were you thinking?
The picture was taken over Chicago downtown skies on July 3rd, 2009.

What is the first word you said today morning?

2009-06-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

I live alone, at least for the time being. I listen to NPR almost all the time I'm at home. I wake up listening to the radio, get through my morning business listening to radio. I sometimes laugh or smile or frown depending how I perceive whats on the radio.
Then I realize I haven't uttered a single word yet. I have listened to the audio bits, analyzed and thought about some of them, planned what I'll first do when I get to the office - still I haven't uttered a single word. Its like a scene from one of the arty movies that shows a person going through mundane things without any dialogs. Then suddenly couple of words come out, working out the vocal chords that have been silent until now. The ears that had been perceptive to the outside noise hear your voice for the first time - husky to start with but gets clearer with time. There you go, your first words for the day. Sometimes I go all the way to the car without uttering a single word. Simply surprises me.
Today there was an article about mangoes being imported from India to the US. The contributor talked about Alphonso being the king of mangoes. It was then I remembered rasa poori mavinahannu, their smell, their colour, and the soft pulp waiting to be eaten. With these thoughts running in my mind, I said it out loud. They you go - Rasapoori mavinahannu were my first words for the day.

What were yours?

What more could a kid want?

2008-05-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Caution!! Going down the memory lane Chooo Chooo Chooo Chooo...
I'm thinking about those summer holidays when we explored the streets around our house with rented bikes (baadige cycallu). It was the summer of 88 when I first learned to balance a bike. Then on, spent the entire summer riding them with my cousin and friends. It used to cost us 50 paise for every half hour. Myself, my cousin, couple of friends - all of us had our preferred bikes at the shop. Some of ours had stands and some didn't (My cousin brother, who was the eldest of the lot, got the bike with the stand). We were kings of the roads. We used to gang up and discover new roads and shortcuts between home - Bal-Bhavan, home - VVS grounds and home - bakery...
We attended Bal-Bhavan in the mornings - it was fun to some extent, but it still resembled school. Since whole of our mornings were spent at Bal-Bhavan, I eagerly looked forward to the afternoons when we could hit the roads. We used to do all sorts of things - go fast down the grade, play catch up, overtake, take tight corners - all these on our tiny bikes. Really, those were the best fun filled half hours I looked forward to every morning.
Here is the reason for the post. The weather is getting more summerish - its almost June for crying out loud. Well, that was just my frustration. Here is the real reason. I recently purchased a motorcycle. Even for this day, like a little kid, I come home and put my bags down, get my helmet and gloves on and off I'm on my bike. I take her out for a ride on the open, calm, narrow, winding, country roads near my home. Like before, I explore new routes and new neighborhoods and get back home ready to track them down on google maps!! Never before did I feel close to the elements as I feel now on my bike.
You and I know know its been 20 years now and to top it, I have moved out of namma Bengaluru as well; hoever, I still feel nothing has really changed. Its only the datum that has changed. I'm still the little kid ready for a new adventure every evening.
Care to join?

How about just the tele and not the crappy in-bult speakers

2008-04-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

That really was a long sabbatical and I'm glad that I'm back here. It's a little difficult to sit and complete a blog with all the distractions accumulated over the past couple of months. Like any good citizen in this land of consumerism, I was lured to the offers that were given out during this year's super bowl. This is today's topic.
On the eve of super bowl, I decided on impulse to buy a tele. That was a no brainier: take advantage of the great discounts that last till the super bowl weekend, or else wait till thanks giving and Christmas. So I, with my cousin and another friend, got to one of the retail stores and took a look at the displayed models. Each one seemed to be better than the other. At first glance, we looked at the picture quality, then we fiddled around a little bit and turned all the teles in the row to the same channel. Finally, we thought we should set all the teles to the same settings. This was not to be done - we came to know that the original settings were the best for the individual models and should not have been tampered with.
Anyways, I searched out this good offer - 40" 1080p LCD Sony Bravia V series HDTV for just $1200.00! Great, I decide to buy one and my cousin got one too. It didn't end there. I got an offer - 100$ off of any Hi-Def DVD player. Took advantage of this and added a Toshiba HD DVD player for just 100$ (Its close to $300.00 these days) to my cart. With the DVD player, I got 5 HD DVD's free ( 3 of which I'm still expecting in mail). I have a brilliant tele, state of the art DVD player - what's missing? Yes, a good sound system. Thats where my itch with the tele manufacturers.
Any enthusiast who invests on a good Hi-Def tele and a Hi-Def DVD player, would definitely buy at least a decent receiver and speaker system. In such a case, why should the tele manufacturers come up with speakers? They just serve the meticulously sought symmetry and aesthetics! Instead, they can just give me a tele without the speakers. This would have brought down the price and I could get more goodies at the same time.
I'm not sure if you agree with me; however, I feel cheated to buy speakers that I won't use at all!!!

Political view - do you have a problem?

2006-10-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

The time now is for searching jobs, writing thesis and finish whatever work that is remaining. This is the first time I’m searching for a job earnestly. I worked on my resume to put in the correct words and make it readable. This was my contribution. You must be wondering what I mean by my contribution to my own resume? Well, let me tell you. My roommate helped me with the style and formatting of my resume. Its really nice to look at. Many employers at the career fair were impressed at the first look of my resume. Thanks to my roommate.

Well the contents are not very different from what one can find in a resume. It has an objective, educational degrees obtained, computer skills, brief employment record chronologically presented, research papers and finally the tidbits. What are tidbits again? These are thing that are given at the end under ‘other activities’. I included playing squash and running, playing mridangam. I also put in that I’m a big National Public Radio (NPR) junkie. Everybody knows that these are for breaking the ice between you and the person reading the resume. One has to be careful while putting things there. I was made aware of this only today by my career counselor. Did you guys know that NPR is a liberal network? I hadn’t realized this earlier. This, people, is a political orientation expressed in my resume which I wasn’t aware of. To tell you the truth, I wasn't making my political views public. Its sad one brands networks and papers having a political view. These are supposed to give you unbiased information and provide with unbiased discussion. I think NPR gives me that; plain and simple.

If this is going to cause any problems with me finding a job, then I tell you it will also help me find a job, right? Only time can tell this. I have an interview coming up next week and this company is supposed to be a ‘conservative company’. I’ll let you guys know if something political comes up during the interview!

Cycle of life

2006-09-29T11:22:00.000-07:00

I recently visited my nephew, Neel, on his birthday. For a one year old kid, he’s a handful for anyone. He walks runs and climbs stairs. He talks too, but we don’t have a clue as to what he’s saying. He smiles with all joy and naughtiness at the same time. He cries for he’s hungry or sleepy. Ah, now that's a valid reason. I guess with time he would cry for no reason at all…we call that as “makkala regale” in Kannada. My brother and sister in-law have definitely mentioned of his untimely cries and mischievous pranks, but never have they been irritated by that or complained about it.

From all these I observe one thing – the cycle of life. Don’t get me wrong and stereotype me as a mechanical engineer who is obsessed with cycles or can readily draw parallels to any thermodynamic cycle.

What am trying to say is this. Children are very similar to old people. Both have wide staring eyes. It’s known that the eyes remain the same size from the day you are born to the day you die. A child’s face is small and the eyes appear to be large and beautiful. The old people’s face is small too – due to senility, and their eyes appear large. Have you looked into the eyes of your grandparents? There’s happiness in them coz they can see you; at the same time there’s sadness as they know you are leaving them, and the only way of communication is through a phone.

The child’s legs are developing and are bow shaped. It’s funny to see them walk and run with their bodies swaying from left to right and right to left. Coming to the old people, their legs are bow shaped too, but for other reasons. Their walk is similar to a baby’s (toddler’s) walk.

Children, when they smile, appear so beautiful. Their toothless smile is priceless. The parents or their friends would spend ample time, making stupid faces and sounds, just to get that priceless smile. As one grows old and looses all the teeth, he or she is left with the same toothless smile (priceless or not…not sure). There are exceptions; what if one avoids this by having dentures!! In that case ask them to remove the dentures and smile for you…believe me it’s worth it.

Well, the point is that old people and children are very similar. Both are attention seekers, both want to be loved (everyone wants to be loved), want to be taken care of…No matter how much the older community refute, they are dependent on the younger generation. We love you all!!

This is what I meant when I said cycle of life. Start and end with a more or less same physical state, although with a lot of give and take in between!!

How do you watch your tele?

2006-08-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

Watching tele is no fun any more. Me or my roommates hardly watch the tele now a days. It's mainly because of two reasons; the first being its summer and most of the shows are re-runs, and the second one being the absence of furniture. We moved out of our old apartment after discarding all the furniture we had. The living room in our new place looks mostly bare, except for the two desktops, a cabin that holds the tele, vcr, dvd player, and three lamps. The acoustic doesn't seem right; it echoes and sometimes it's difficult to understand the audio feed from the tele. There were days when I used to sleep on the couch watching the tele until finally, the bug-monster took over the couch. The bedbugs are nasty creatures. I don't really know what purpose they serve here. They suck blood annoying us and reproduce in large numbers to keep the cycle running.They can survive for almost a whole year without feeding. Inspite of this they get killed, easily. They can't fly and can only run FAST. Well, before they are dead, they would have had their share of annoying us. Two months back, I had to change my sleep pattern to prevent myself from being bitten by them.
Sorry for side tracking. What do we need to enjoy the tele? Of course a decent place to sit on – so that our posture is comfortable and we can concentrate on what's shown to us, and good picture quality and sound. The content of the show comes later. This really is not a criterion, as we have so many channels and one of them is bound to suit our needs. This would have been a concern when we had just DD1 to look for.

Am just wondering how the fall season will turn out. We will have new seasons of Smallville, DHW, Gray's anatomy and of course NFL. If the present conditions prevail, all these will have to be watched sitting on the floor with the subtitles on. If we don't have any furniture by then, I plan to put two of my suitcases in the living room to ease out the echo.

Pardon me for using the word 'tele'. Lately I've been influenced by 'Coupling' and other English shows.

Tagged for the first time!!

2006-08-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I've been tagged. It reminds me of questioners given by product testing companies. Just kidding...Here it goes:

I'm thinking of:
My home in India.

I said:
Live for today and got ridiculed.

I want to:
Graduate soon.

I wish:
I had lots of hair on my head.

I hear:
"Dead people"...kidding. Most of the times I hear myself impersonating others. It is possible...you could do too.

I wonder:
Why the weekend should end

I regret:
Not taking the front seat while rafting in the New river

I am:
Not a hypocrite…only one person knows what am referring to.

I dance:
to no tune

I sing:
in the water-closet.

I cry:
Everytime I watch the movie “Anand”...and after listening to “punyakoti kathe” from my mum.

I'm not always:
Working...some people really think I am.

I make with my hands:
My food

I write:
Fortran codes, rental checks, comments, notes and of course, nonsense in my blog

I confuse:
My professor (hope he's not reading this)

I need:
Cheap, reliable calling card to call home.

And finally:
Nope...am not tagging anyone today. Don’t know many people around here.

Decorating with the dead!!

2006-08-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

The so called ‘baby boomers’ no longer follow the old parochial ways when it comes to the dead. Many of them now believe in the concept of celebrating the dead. Am sure you would have read the articles in NYtimes or other blogs in the internet about what am going to mention.
Now we have event planners for the funerals. It’s no longer held in the church, but held in the everyday places where the departed loved ones used to spend their time. Like on the other day, I read about a funeral held at the 18th hole of a golf course. The reason was that the person spent all his Sundays at the golf course rather than at the church. Makes sense, right?
Well, this post is not to paraphrase the articles from different sources. It’s about how we remember the dead long after we’ve lost them.
Many people collect objects their loved ones left behind. The objects need not be originally crafted by them; it can be things collected over their lifetime, like for instance paintings. Some collect books and build a small library in the name of their loved ones. There are some who hold on to the jewelry, like the ear rings and necklaces, and some others to dresses. Yet there are others who just have the memories of their departed loved ones.
Now there’s another way. Thanks to technology and the human curiosity that continuously churns out new ideas. Today I happened to listen on the radio – things called ‘Life gems’. What they do is, collect the ashes from the cremated bodies and extract the carbon out of them. Then use that carbon to make diamonds. This is a wonderful idea, isn’t it? One can say he/she was worth so many diamonds. Am just kidding…one has to remember the second law before coming down to such comparisons. Anyways…For some people, diamonds are priceless; things that are irreplaceable. They would have the same feeling towards their lost loved ones, right? In such cases, won’t it be appropriate to convert the loved ones to diamonds?
I had this crazy idea of preserving what my grandfather used when he was alive; his bed, pillows, comb, dentures, half used soap…his room; I mean everything. Then my uncle brought me to my senses by saying ‘No’. What I have now is his memory and his voice on the tape. I don’t need to decorate myself or my house with the articles he used. At the same time am not criticizing those who collect things, or those who have signed up to make diamonds out of their loved ones. It’s their way of doing things.
From all of this, one thing strikes to my mind. If one could make diamonds out of us, man and nature are one and the same. We are just different manifestation of things around us. Well I wish to go on…but wait, I’ll save it for another post.

Signal jammed - Laugh at your own risk

2006-07-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

How many time have we jumbled up different words? It seems funny for the onlooker, while its embarrassing for the speaker. Its a fraction of a second rotten jumble in the nervous system and you are the object of laughter. Any idea why that happens? Well, I don't exactly know. I guess the mind's too fast compared to the nerves, that transmit the signal from the former into speech, and not ready to recognize this disparity. There is a jamming of two different signals and sometimes many such signals and always they end up hilarious, especially in a tense moment with heavenly gravity. I have landed in such situations myself several times. Once I was referring to a paper by Peters to my friend in one of the meetings and ended up saying, "Paters by peepers". How funny is that?
Me and my Prof were in Pennsylvania for a conference and were talking about our school (North Carolina State University - NC State University) and Pennsylvania State University. He got really worked up and said "Pensy state university". Only thing that prevented me from rolling over with laughter was that I was in the car. There was this another incident where my uncle mixed up school and college and said coolege. I don't even know how to spell them; as most of the times these words don't exist. Then this other time, myself and several friends were in the car listening to the song, dhoom dhoom. There was confusion as to which movie this song had appeared in, boom or dhoom. My friend who was driving, wanted to get his opinion through and in the top of his voice said, "its from the dhovie..." and stopped. The silence was followed with huge laughters. I guess he mixed up movie and dhoom.
Have you or any of your friends ended in such embarrassing moments that can be shared? If so, type them up and lets have some fun.

What do you do?

2006-07-13T23:19:00.001-07:00

It was in May that I had been to Niagara falls with some of my buddies from B'lore. It was a fun filled trip. We had sufficient time to visit all the attraction at the falls. Both maid of the mist and cave of the winds tours were amazing. There is this casino, Casino Niagara. It was my first visit to a casino. Like everybody else, I was bought into by the act of the rhythmic water fountains, that dance to no music but to Silence (well conceived pattern). The bright colorful lights and the darkness one has to create to control the light were amazing. After your eyes, its the turn of your ears to enjoy the experience. The music, the electronic hymns from the slot machines. One can never miss them. And finally the old people at the slot machines. Some of them occupy two machines at a time and keep playing. They have these prepaid plastic cards chained wound their necks. They play with no emotions, but for the sake of playing. Its like a routine for them; they in fact use buttons and not the levers to play. Seeing them was looking at a clockwork orange (thanks to Stanly Kubrick). Seriously, is there nothing better for them to do rather than bust their money at the casino. I was completely puzzled. I asked my friend as to why they were wasting their hard earned money at this old age. He said that they keep some part of their money for gambling alone. Is this why they saved up? Its a pass-time!!!! Its recreation for them.
Then I realized that every person has a way to let out his or her frustration (pass time). Now a days I spend my pass-time in front of the comp, reading blogs, going through bbc, listening to NPR. Imagine what if I get bored by these...I might do something else. Some others go down to their back yard and shoot. While others take a long drive. There are those who read books and others who practice music. You can find a bunch of them at the gym every day. Its routine. Like my question to you...
What do you do?

Add salt to taste

2006-06-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

You are an invited guest at a studio for a cooking show. The show goes like this. The chef is shown on a wide screen going through the sabji-mandi (vegetable market), looking for vegetables on his cycle. The mandi floor is dark, tiled, and there is dampness in the air. Whereas, the vegetables are bright in color with glistening water drops on them. The chef then picks the best vegetables and puts them in the basket attached to his cycle. Next you’ll see him cycling along the banks of some small stream, picking some flowers and stems. Finally he’s shown cycling towards the studio and you see him enter the hall with the applause of the crowd in the background. The lights now grow brighter and reveal the vegetables with other ingredients for cooking, neatly arranged on a table.
The chef then goes on to announces to the screen audience what he’s going to prepare while, the studio audiences are already given pamphlets of the proceedings. The name of the dish sounds really interesting and has ‘shahi’ or royalty in it. You get really interested. The chef now goes on to list the ingredients that go into the dish, and gives a brief account of the history attached to it. Then he picks up the vegetables and chops them so precisely and with such dexterity that, you wish they showed instant replays of it on the big screen. Anyways, the point is that you are impressed. Now you are all engrossed in the act; the one man show. He has the oil heated up and adds the spices and herbs to it. The aroma spreads across the hall and it makes your mouth water. He then rolls in the cut veggies and lets it to cook on a simmered flame. Meanwhile, he’s arranging a table for two and placing the flowers and stems he had picked up in the video. Well after ten minutes, he uncovers the prepared dish to us, his audience. Man!!, the dish appears so welcoming with the good aroma and color that, you are in a hurry to go ahead and dig in. But wait!! He hasn’t uttered the magic words yet. “And add salt to taste…” How much? A pintch? A spoon full?...is not mentioned. Its relative. I bet you would be disappointed for the lack of salt in it. Now that the salt is added, you are welcome to dig in.
There is a reason for me to write this. The chef puts in so much effort into the dish, and finally without the salt, it would all have gone in vain. Every one knows one can’t have only salt. But anything that requires salt–without it–would not taste good. I always wonder how such subtle things make a huge difference. Small tips like these in any field, distinguish the interesting from the banal.

Impressive first occurrences

2006-05-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here’s a list of things that impressed me when I saw or heard about them for the first time.

My mom had some alcohol based solution in her make up kit. It was in a green bottle and 3/4^th full. Everyone knows that when this bottle is inverted (of course with the lid closed), air trapped inside moves up. Man!!...the first time, I was so thrilled to see that happen. Well, I could not have the same thing though. Instead, my dad made an ink solution and poured it into a glass bottle, used for homeopathy medicine. That made my day.
Filter paper; simple, isn’t it? Well not until I saw that and felt it with my own hands. When I was in the 4^th grade, the only paper I knew was that used for writing and wrapping. When my teacher used a special kind of paper to filter out the impurities from water, I was really impressed. How could she do that? How come the paper didn’t give away? She had me there. Then when I felt the paper at the end of the class; it was much thicker than the ordinary ones. I come to the US now, and it’s difficult to imagine life without the various kinds of paper!!
Magnesium ribbon: This involved some pyrotechnics. Simple…my teacher took a small piece of Magnesium ribbon and held it in a flame. It took some time, and then burned with a blinding white color. I had never seen anything burn so brilliantly before (apart from the Sun) right in front of my eyes. At the end of the day, I took a small bit of it home to show it to my mom.
Dispersion of seeds: I grew up in a colony near Hospet. Atleast when I lived there, every house was surrounded by a garden, and separated by hedges made of thorny twigs and bamboo. Some gardens were bare without any kind of vegetation and some were like miniature forests. Ours was the second kind. We had two mango trees, a lemon tree, a guava tree, several plantains, a jackfruit tree, couple of papaya trees(I can go on)…The garden floor appeared to be spotty during midday with patches of sunlight here and there. There were several weeds too. I and my friend had spotted this particular plant that produced tiny sword like seeds. When these were put in water, they would explode. What a sight that was. Later in 8^th grade I came to know the practical implication of such explosions. Well, back then it was like bursting crackers under water. The first time I literally jumped. That was pure thrill man, it was. Defying the normal….
Galaxies…hmmm. Everyone, at some point, would have wondered what lies beyond the blue or black sky. I grew up listening to Ramayana, Dhashavathara, Mahabharata…Big fan of Amarchirakatha…I wasn't a stranger to fantasies and imagination. But things like Galaxies were still beyond my comprehension. Until, an introduction of the same sometime in the middle school. That feeling was really huge; something vast really exists. It was thrilling too, that I’m part of such a humongous structure, an organization of a billion stars, a control beyond our imagination. Although, the question “how?” can be answered to some extent, the question “why?”, still remains unanswered.
Off late, the fact that a particular thought processing can occur amongst two different individuals, who are not in touch with any form of communication with each other, impressed me. There is a particular model, conditional moment closure, used in modeling combustion in practical devices. The theory behind this was developed independently by two researches in Australia. If two people could come up with such a specific theory, without any form of communication with each other, I guess there would be several people writing similar annals in their blogs, as I’m doing right now!!

Nightmare of loosing your source code

2006-02-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

This is my second post and from now on you will find my blogs with a title attached to it. It was a very busy week, with good amount of research and TAing done. Believe me, the Monday after spending the entire weekend with your classmate from school, will really be hectic. After the weekend, I came back to find a huge pile of homework sitting in my mail-box, to be corrected. Well, I managed to correct them during my office hours.
Today I got some positive results in my research and felt really satisfied. I work on linux platform and use ‘nedit’ as the editor to type in my FORTRAN codes. To my horror, I absent mindedly deleted the source code. "rm *.f90"!! Man...for a moment though, I thought I had lost it. Fortunately for me, I had all the editor windows still open. All I needed to do was go to each one of them and then save them again. All the files were retrieved and a very horrible weekend averted. The funny part is that all this happened, just a couple of minutes after my Professor asked me to make backups all the files. He asks me to make backups and I go and delete the source codes.

2006-02-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

Another addition to the already existing vast blogging community. Coming to the formal introduction...
Name: Bhargav
What I do: Doctoral student.
Where: NC State University, Raleigh, North Carolina-USA.
When I will complete: "Never ask this question!!"
There are three things you should never ask. First is the age of lady, next the salary of a man and finally the graduation date of a Grad student.
I have been procrastinating to post a blog since the day I created an url for myself. Well...what can you say? I am a typical Graduate student.
Now, coming to the title "Imagination". It’s so trivial I guess, but still leads to the very creative inventions and interesting discoveries that we find today. Trivial because, every time you close your eyes you think; you imagine, right? We all can imagine and any of it will be rendered useful only when they are transformed into action. Or else, it'll be like Ron staring into the "Mirror of Erised" imagining himself as a head boy and a quidditch champion. Let me stop at that.
The main reason to start this blog is to get a free flow of thoughts. This is very essential to everyone I guess. Let me see how successful I will be in bringing them out.
Bhargav