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| Thursday, March 30, 2006 |
| dai peterru v want a book abt potterru |
| Since time immemorial, our friend prad has been showering facts on us. Be it beethovan's symphony making it to titan's signature or CISCO getting its name from SanFranscisco. Little did he think that he can write a book based on trivias. Even if it doesnot give him fame and money, atleast an article in rediff wud have been assured. But these two indian kids did what he failed to do. |
posted by Ramkumar @ 7:19 PM   |
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| Friday, March 24, 2006 |
| Common wealth - India |
Unlike my past, i have been closely following the commonwealth games. Courtesy DDSports.It is showering gold as far as shooting is concerned. ppl who caught my attention were rathore, samaresh, anjali bhagawath(she lost). this samaresh guy has won six gold already (if i remember correctly) and still in the hunt for more. and there is another lady who won the gold and confess that her husband is burning with ego he being a major and both r from army. Pugilists are also doing good too. whos that guy who won gold in asian games last time? media coverage was too much on him & then suddently he disappears. no he was not booked for rocky 6. instead there was a case against him and the rest happened as usual. now there are 3 guys bantam weight, then medium, then 91kg. all into semis. best of luck for them.
Hockey news -> news reader read: Defending champions are in final. earlier in the day india defeated nz to book a place in the final. i started clapping, feeling happy for india who despite being an underdog went in the final.
now... wait a minute news reader continuing: defending champions india prevailed in what was supposed to be a repeat of last year's semis. shit with my ignorance. what a gross underestimation when it comes to women sport. Truth is actually otherwise. Always indian eves have been doing well than adams. I have to mention about an interview of the ex-captain who lead the side to the victory last time. She was not articulate in her speech. not that i am an expert in hindi. but still i cud make out that she is not comfortable facing the camera. Hapiness was overflowing from her face. Message was clear - though i am not playing i am very very
happy for them. rare species indeed.
One thing i really got angry was our failure in basket ball. We lost even to SA who lost all other matches. Imagine a Southafrican blogging: we managed to beat only India and only with a small margin, In international level even in volleyball, we are doing good. we are like saudi arabia in football. occasionally getting an upset win. why not in basket ball. now, somebody like pradeep wud start we r weak by gene and so let us concentrate in long distance running. Born in a state which had won national championships for most no. of times, i wud say no. i have seen marc robinson play. I don't know if he is in the team or he has retired. he is very good. v definetly have the talent. i don't know what is missing.
More on this link...http://specials.rediff.com/sports/2006/mar/23sld1.htm
I guess v r safe in third place might even catchup england. :) |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 12:26 AM |
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| Thursday, March 23, 2006 |
| SRP's site |
now don't understand that it is SRP's figure a.k.a site but it is just his web hosting. For those anonymous members viewing this blog he is our GCT ECE 03 batch class topper (unfortunately it means he is a gold medalist). rest u can see from this link.
http://128.138.248.88.
I guess most of our posting is nothing but a link. hoping to rectify in future. |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 10:44 PM |
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| Friday, March 17, 2006 |
| Evolution I |
 Damn! I was late for that meeting as usual but this time a record 20 minutes. When I entered, I expected puzzling faces. Instead I was greeted with sheepish smiles by some and "Oh yeah" looks by others. It was some Project Process Planning and Babbling meeting. I didn't realise it was a 'process' thing till I got in. They had this tricky acronym which sounded like the next generation hardware technology. "Oh Shit!" I might have done better by staying back at my desk and reading random blogs. Somehow I have developed this phobia to 'process'. My close to three years experience, flirting in around 3+ companies had never given a positive feel about process. And this meeting was no different. All those under "homo sapiens" classification, dazed around and met each other with empty glances. Those who started mutating where the ones who asked questions and were being "interactive". (Raising interesting concerns like "The comments about the function parameters shouldn't be left as such. I believe enclosing it inside a box of /*************** will help us.").
It really doesn't take a bright mind to guess I'm trying to mimic Scott Adams. Well, actually I'm not mimicking. I rather borrowed couple of sardonic phrases from him. The intention is not to project how funny things are. Rather I wanted to explore what this fuss is all about. I believe this process and concepts should have originated for a good reason but grossly misunderstood and misused. At least the people at Carnegie Mellon should have been sane enough. (I spelled it right at the first attempt !!! :D )
Now, after losing much hair and doing great w.r.to tummies, I guess some of us would have already started mutating. Ramkumar pointed out couple of days back. Sometimes we show signs of this "behave like big boys" syndrome. We do lot of discussions about technical ladder, management ladder. I think that day is not far when one or many of us will mutate.
There are two types of people I have come across in companies. Group One are the smart ones who pick up things like process, graphs, line of code, productivity pretty early in their career. They seem to know how not to strain much of themselves, working things out. Rather they are good in knowing what to project to their managers and how to grow up the management ladder. They are even called "Assets" of a company!!! Group Two are slow and dumb ones. They are usually workaholics. They try to stay aloof of all the graph sheets and empty talks but believe coding harder is the way to go. Quite a lot of people console themselves "I take the fun of working. It's better stay out of pay hikes and promotions instead of jumping into the 'politics' ditch." These people start whining after 5 years or so. Stop shaving and minding to dress. "This is more than enough for this company." And they explode one day, threaten the manager with resignation letter and happily start filling excel sheets either in the same company or somewhere outside. I'm not taking sides with any of these. In fact I personally can empathize with Group Two and sometimes think I shouldn't end up there.
"I always feel there is something wrong with this system." (Sounds like Neo? ;D) Something that causes people to evolve in the wrong directions. Some undictated rule prevails which splits technical skills from management skills. Will the techies make bad managers? Is it a prerequisite for someone to grow up in 'mangement ladder', that they should shred all the tech skills? Why the management always try to measure people I'm trying to understand why all these imbalances came in. And of course, how to do more than just surviving in a company? How to grow but stay human? :) I'm planning to bring up various dimensions of this and we'll do brain storming on this.
Is this blog a sign of me getting mutated!!! Let me grab a tea and think over it. |
| posted by Sunil @ 4:13 AM |
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| Oracle of Ohmnamaha - Part I |
| This is about my batchmate in training conducted by CTS.First day, dressed in complete formals, don't know what to expect from a company or what they would expect from you, I stepped into the Corporate bank building in royappetah.It was Aug 15. There was nobody in the street not to mention in the entrance of the building. I checked my watch twice to verify whether i am late.I can't be. My father was prepared for this day well in advance (4 years ago) and he wudn't let go this oppurtunity of leaving me for the work for the first time just like what he did when i joined the school and college.Now, I see a big guy with hair loss that he can't hide. His french beard told me that he is a HR. I tried to be as far as possible from my dad showing i am a grown up.(only if my dad allowed it).So, they asked the candidates or rather employees to assemble. The big guy also came into the room. What is this? He is sitting with us. May be that is Caagnizant culture. no it isn't. this guy is one among us. bowled, lbw, caught behind, run out first ball. Standing 6" 1' i felt so small in front of him. he looked like a pro and i looked like an interview candidate.Ha ha there i see some hope - maxi and prad coming and sitting beside me. The formalities were over. We left the room with lunch waiting for us. now, a guy who is stout enough to be karti and short enough to be deeku comes near me and says are u ramkumar. (Yes, i am the great mathematician-turned-engineer six-degrees black belt in karate romeo-in-college.) Yes. i am. then the next statement stunned me. are u iyengar? what??come again. rrrrr uuuu iyengar? I don't know what to react. Only thing noticed was he was very serious in his question. I said no and shrugged him off not asking how he know me etc. prad, maxi & myself left for the lunch. |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 12:33 AM |
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| Wednesday, March 15, 2006 |
| Krishh had a thrashh |
Myself and kicha played singles matches in table tennis.
He boasted that he defeated karthi for quite a number of times though karthi invites him to play frequently after secretly practicing for hour together.
Scores are
Myself Kicha
Right-handed Right-handed
21 4
21 3
Left-handed Right-handed
21 2
21 8 |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 5:49 AM |
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| Thursday, March 09, 2006 |
| Size does matter - Part III |
Have u ever wondered why the shoe shop's sales man always asks ur left leg for checking the size of the shoe?
Me thinks it is compatibility issue. I believe left leg is usually bigger than right leg.
It is true in my case. I have also seen krishnan's leg that way.
I don't have any scientific backing any way. May be right-handers might have left leg bigger and vice-versa. Majority is right so by default sales man checks the left leg.
One more thing.........In my case one of the testicles is bigger than other. I never talked abt it cos.. not sure for everyone it is the same case and ppl might end up saying i have a deformity. now that i am growing more and more manam-less i can talk abt it freely.
Now, don't ask just like u saw krishnan's legs......... |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 10:29 PM |
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| Size does matter - Part II |
You may have heard it all before: men are turned on visually and women are more interested in character. Perhaps this is the basis of attraction, but it's never that simple: both sexes want sex and love and often go to great lengths to get it. The primitive urge to have sex often gets more complicated as people wonder if casual sex is turning into a relationship, or whether they should break up with a long-term partner. Why do we want sex and love that badly and what determines attraction? Recent research shows that there are three different drives involved: lust, love and attachment.
First, there is lust…
To shed some light on the "visual stimuli" that fire-up a man's brain-cells, researchers from the University of Texas at Austin conducted a classic psychology experiment. They showed a group of men line drawings of female bodies. The size of the waist and the size of the hips were marginally different in every picture, sex researchers refer to this relationship as the 'waist-to-hip' ratio. A clear majority of the men preferred female C: a woman whose waist is precisely seven-tenths the size of her hips. It turns out that women with this waist-to-hip ratio get pregnant more easily, have fewer miscarriages and are more likely to give birth successfully. Hip and waist size, full lips, defined cheeks, and sizable breasts are all controlled by sex hormones.
The hip-to-waist ratio of female C is the most desirable to men. The human body is a walking billboard for our hormones: in women oestrogen and in men testosterone. Secreted primarily by the ovaries, oestrogen influences not only the menstrual cycle but also the development of a woman's face and body shape when she goes through puberty. Scientists theorise that men are attracted to women whose features indicate high hormonal levels because it offers the promise of bearing healthy children. When a boy reaches puberty, testosterone promotes the growth of particular masculine features such as prominent cheekbones, a strong jaw and broad shoulders. These masculine features are markers for virility and health. For humans to survive and prosper, we need healthy offspring with favourable genes and a strong immune system.
Scientists are now conducting new experiments to decipher more and more of the coded signals our bodies send out to attract a partner. At the University of New Mexico, researchers believe that our nose interprets signals in mere milliseconds without us being aware that we're doing it. They got athletes to exercise and then gave their sweaty shirts to female biology students to sniff. What they smelt were the men's pheromones: airborne molecules exuded from their sweat glands. The women had no idea which shirt belonged to which athlete. They discovered that the female students preferred the smell of men that had a major histocompatibility complex, or MHC, that was different from their own. This group of genes plays an important role in the body's defence system, and favouring guys whose immune system is unlike their own makes good evolutionary sense.
But our noses can detect more than just different genes: they can also detect symmetry. It may seem bizarre, but women prefer the smell of men who are more symmetrical. The fact that symmetry attracts the opposite sex is nothing new, it was first noted by researchers in the 1990s. In the study, women selected pictures of men they found most attractive. When they analysed blood from the men they chose as the most attractive they found a greater variety of genes, and hence a stronger immune system. But no one quite knows how our faces convey this information.
Lust can often lead to romance and then love….
Love causes a lot of activity in the caudate area of the brain where there is a dense area of dopamine receptors. We don't just mate with anyone. Usually our brain makes us focus our attention on just one individual. What fuels this passion for one person is romantic love - that feeling of ecstasy so potent it should carry a health warning. Romantic love is not a fanciful notion - it's scientifically measurable. If you've ever been in love, you know what an overpowering emotion it can be.
Scientists have analysed the blood flow through the brains of students who are self-confessedly deeply in love and what they discovered was that being in love affects the brain in much the same way as using certain illegal stimulant drugs! The brain areas concerned have a high concentration of receptors for the hormone dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is involved in the control of fine motor co-ordination, short-term memory and emotions such as sexual desire. It is one of the body's 'feel good' chemicals. Elevated levels of dopamine produce extremely focused attention and unwavering motivation, the very characteristics of romantic love. Heightened dopamine levels explain why love stricken men and women become so dependent on their relationship and why they crave to be with their partner - at least long enough to get the female pregnant. Sexual bonding leads to repeated copulation and that leads to offspring. The desire to fall in love seems to be a basic human need across all cultures. In fact, love is even more powerful than sex: some people commit suicide or commit murders when they are rejected in love. Romantic love remains a universal experience deeply woven into the fabric of the human brain.
Time for a relationship?
Once you've chosen your mate - and fallen in love - will you stay together? It makes evolutionary sense for couples to stay together after they've had children to help raise them. It's the body's natural love potion that sticks a couple together like glue. It comes into play when a couple has sex and a chemical called oxytocin is released. This hormone and neurotransmitter produced in the brain acts as a sexual arousal hormone that signals orgasm and prompts cuddling between lovers before, during, and after intercourse. One theory is that the more sex a couple has with each other, the more oxytocin is released and the deeper their bond becomes. As soon as you have sex with someone you are playing with fire: even if you didn't really fancy them at first you may find that you are creating an unbreakable bond.
There is one last important drug in the pharmacy of love: vasopressin. Also released during sex, it plays a critical role in the long-term commitment stage. Research into the mating habits of prairie voles, who are among the three percent of mammals that mate for life, revealed that vasopressin is released when they mate. The same thing happens in humans, and it stimulates the 'reward' part of our brain, creating a type of addiction. Just like lust and romantic love, forming a lasting loving relationship is a matter of chemistry.
The chemicals that flood our brain and our very physiology all serve one purpose: the continuation of our species. Once we have children, these chemicals alter to encourage us to stay together and raise them. Sex, lust and love, are the result of an intoxicating hormonal mix designed to encourage human reproduction. And this chemical cocktail really does make the world go round.
Whew!!!! - i should start going to gym now. |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 10:23 PM |
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| Credit Card .. newbie |
I was always reluctant to have a credit card until now. I guess, it's nice to have one even if you don't use it. Anyway, I am not going to use it regularly but just a backup in case of emergency.
Any suggestions on the card? - My choice is "HSBC- Gold card". How good is the customer service? Are there any hidden costs? (thou... the sales girl told me that there are no hidden costs.) Does any one of you own one?
What are the parameters that I should consider?
Credit limit - Pros and cons of having a high credit limit .. as high as 2 Lacs? Should I play safe with the credit limit?
Will it be advantageous to own a credit card on the back where you have a savings account? Any thoughts on that?
Wish I get some suggestions from you guys. |
| posted by kart @ 12:03 AM |
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| Monday, March 06, 2006 |
| Size does matter - Part I |
Humans are always proud of their organ's size. like the biceps, thighs, p*s etc.
These are the visible ones. What about the superficially invisible ones like our stomach. At times, we do show off our eating abilities in a treat or stand in the common toilet for many minutes together to tell that i have a great bladder. But how do we know the size.
I was wondering if we could know the size of the organs inside our body. I could think of two things.
1. Teeth - though the mirror could show you how it looks, we don't really know how sharp it is. I suggest we bite a banana or just give a gentle press to see how deep the bite has gone into the banana thus evaluating the shape and size of the teeth.
2. Large intenstinve - this occurred me today morning i was in ... u know where.
I have an excellent bowel system. the faecal matter coming out in a beautiful and elegant manner. It was solid enough. Isn't the diameter equal to my large intenstine's diameter. If it is true, then I have found out how to measure 2 of our organs.
Any more to add?? |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 7:36 PM |
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| Sunday, March 05, 2006 |
| Cricket terms |
I got a mail with the list of common terms which we use when we play cricket.
Mattai - Etymology Tamil - The piece of wood to be used as the cricket bat. Need not confirm to geometrical trivialities.
Gaaji - Etymology Unkown - The indian reference for an 'inning'. It is a well known fact that captains of street cricket teams always prefer to bat first irrespective of conditions.
Double Gaaji - Etymology Unkown - An excpetional scenario wherein a batsman can bat twice if there are a shortage of players in the side.
Osi Gaaji - Etymology Unkown - A scenario where some stranger wants to bat for a couple of balls just for fun and then carry on with his work
Over Gaaji - Etymology Unkown - The act of a selfish batsman who purposely retains strike by taking a single of the last ball of the over to enjoy more "Gaaji"ing
Last Man Gaaji - Etymology partly english- A scenario where the last man who is not out with all wickets down gets to play "Gaaji" with no runner. It must be noted that, the fielding team can effect run outs on both the stumps when there is Last Man Gaaji
Current - Etymology English - The unique and distinctive way of getting a batsman run out. When a batsman attempts a dangerous run, He could be run out by any of the fielders who just need to land their feet on the stone at the bowlers end.
Adetail - Etymology English - The most funny reference to a batsman being 'Retired Hurt'. [Derived from: At the Tail]
Return Declare - Etymology Unkown - Same as 'Adetail'. But sometimes used, when a batsman crosses a stipulated number of runs say 20 or bats for stipulated number of balls so that others can get a share of "gaaji"ing
Bongu - Etymology Tamil - The slang word used if a team unfairly cheats the other team while playing.
Full Cover - Etymology English - A situation where in a batsmen is taking a half stump guard thereby covering the complete stumps from the view of the bowler. Since street cricket typically do not have a LBW it is very difficult to get a batsman out, if he covers the stump fully
One pitch catch - Etymology English - A rule where a batsman gets out when a fielder catches it even after the ball pitches once. Typically street cricket batsmen do not go for lofted shots fearing to get out (refer the first paragraphy to know why lofted shots are not allowed in street cricket)
One pitch one hand - Etymology English - A slight modification of the above rule where a fielder can use both hands if catching the ball full toss, but has to use only one hand, if the catch is "one-pitch". Typically used to increase the chances of batsmans survival
Sundu - Etymology Tamil- A great forefather of the now popular "super-sub" rule, this rule can be used if a Sothai (poor or bad) batsman's innings has to be played by a good batsman
La Ball - Etymology English - Last ball of an over
Full fast - Etymology English - Since street cricket pitches are a few yards long, a ball which is thrown with full pace and energy is considered a no ball as it will be impossible to handle such pace with short distance
Thuchees - Etymology Unknown- When batsman/any fielder gets distracted from the game due to highly technical reasons like a vehicle crossing the road when a ball is bowled (with the pitch perpendicular to the road)
Waiteees - Etymology Unknown- Same as 'Thuchees'
Common Fielding - Etymology English- Due to lack of number of fielders, it is possible that people from batting team who are not actually doing batting have to field or do wicket keeping or for that matter even umpiring
Ball Right - Etymology English- When a umpire/batsman declares a wide ball, bowler uses this term to say that the ball was not a wide. Typically happens because umpires are from the batting teams.
Dokku - Etymology Unknown- A derogatory term for a defensive shot. Typically a batsman is discouraged from playing such shots because of the constraints of less number of overs and because everyone in the team needs to have a fair amount of gaaji
Baby Over - Etymology English- When a bowler has no hopes of completing his over with lots of wides and no balls he is substituted by a better bowler and the over is called a Baby over, Baby because the first bowler was very amateur
Chain Over - Etymology English- When a bowler bowls two continuous overs. Typically happens when captains fail to calculate correctly the number of overs in the absence of electronic score cards
Uruturadhu - Etymology Tamil- When the bowler is unable to extract any meaningful bounce from the pitch. Sometimes used as a defensive tactic towards the deck.
Thadavuradhu - Etymology Tamil- (In the context of cricket) When a batsman is not able to make any contact with the ball using his bat.
Suthuradhu - Etymology Tamil- Same as slogging in cricket towards the deck. Avishot - Etymology English- Appeal to Umpire for out(run out, catch, etc)
One Side Runs - Etymology English- When teams decide before hand that there are runs only on one side of the wicket due to lack of sufficient number of fielders
Granted - Etymology English- When a batsman hits a reasonable distance from which fetching the ball back is slightly difficult due to technical difficulties already mentioned (like vehicle crossing a road, presence of a thorny bush etc), teams agree that a fixed number of runs are GRANTED
Trials - Etymology English- This is the first ball bowled in the match and it is called trials. It is used to gauge the pace and bounce of the pitch and the ball by both batsman and the bowler. Note: The batsman is not supposed to hit this ball, else the fielding will demand him to go and fetch the ball. It's a kind of tactic by the fileding team to not allow the batsman to free his arms.
All-reals..first ball - Etymology English- This indicates the start of the match. Usually the batsman prefer to play "dokku". hit the bats after each ball (no term used) - This is the usual practice followed by the batsmen in the middle. This gives little time to take breath and also signal for a quick signal in the next ball. The best part is even if they dont want to discuss anything, they still need to hit the bats. If they miss or doesn't do it properly, they have to come back and make sure that they hit properly. Nice practice |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 11:07 PM |
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| Thursday, March 02, 2006 |
| World war 0 |
machis,
I think we are mature enough to discuss, analyze and criticize the religions which we follow. If we can't do it with open-minded with ourselves, then it would be far more difficult to make sure good sense prevails in the world because of us. Read this article and let us comment.<<http://www.veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/warhistory.htm>> |
| posted by Ramkumar @ 9:24 PM |
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