Locked in a Dreamy Cruise

It was a very sunny morning. This was something very rare to see in Seattle during this part of the year. We left our hotel and went for an outing. Who knows when we will get sunshine like this again? We decided that we will go to the downtown Seattle. Well what to do after going there. This was a major question running around everyone’s mind. Everyone suggested different things. Starting from the space needle to the pike place market to a cruise. But then as usual we had to take a majority vote.

The main factor of weather came into picture. If we are sure that we are going to get another sunny day we could take the outdoor events later but then its Seattle no one know when the weather will change. So we decided and convinced each other that the cruise was the right options to go at this time. So we all went to the water front to check out the cruise and its timings. The cruise was operated by Argosy. They are the pioneers in conducting the luxury day trips. There were many options available from the 1 hours harbor cruise to the two and a half hour locks cruise. There were many other options also like the Bainbridge Island or Tillicum village. Later all decided that we will take the Locks cruise since it was really interesting when we heard about it. The Bainbridge & Tillicum village requires a lot of time and we did not have the time for that. So we thought we will take the locks cruise.

So we went ahead and checked out the Locks cruise details and paid for the trip. The time when we booked the tickets was 1 PM and it cost us $31. This was a tour for two and a half hours. But then the cruise was at 3 PM and we were not sure how to spend time till 3. Anyway it was lunch time and we went looking for a good place to have lunch. Since there was one person who was vegetarian in our group we had to find something for him too. For Non-Vegetarians there are plenty of options. Somehow we found a subway for him where he could get vegetarian food. Rest all of us headed toward a restaurant called Ivars.

Seattle is very famous for Seafood especially the Salmon fish. And Ivars was one of the most famous and oldest shops in Seattle. We went and took Salmon fish and chips. This was the specialty dish at Ivars. I really enjoyed every bit of the fish. Well needless to say the French fries were just awesome. As I write this my mouth waters thinking about it. So after enjoying a wonderful lunch we just walked around the waterfront trying to spend the next hour. There was a nice shop near Ivars. They had many mementos of Seattle which I wanted to buy, but then I dropped the plan because I did not want to carry all this and walk around. I thought I will come back and buy some before heading back to the hotel.

Then the time came for the cruise. It was 3:15PM and we were all assembling near the cruise. We were told to line up and wait in the queue. As we were going to board the ship the cruise operators took group photographs. All 5 of us took a snap in front of the cruise. Then we boarded the boat and waited till 3:30 PM. At 3:30 we left and as we were going there was a guide who was explaining all the buildings & houses on the shore. To be frank none of us knew how the cruise would be and it was a first time experience for all of us. As the boat started cursing we all were very busy taking pictures. At that moment we thought of the person who made the digital camera. If he would not have made this marvelous device we would have been spending more money on the camera rolls and taking limited pictures.

All of us had our camera and everyone would have taken unlimited pictures in different pose and different angles. For the first one hour we were just going around and the guide was explaining all the areas. After an hour we reached the main attraction of the cruise. It’s the Locks Bridge. The specialty of this place was that there was a bridge which divides the sea water and the fresh water. The barricade was preventing the fresh water and sea water to mix. So since we were coming in the sea water we were on the lower side and the fresh water was on the higher side. When I say higher side the level of water was almost to the height of the boat. There were many people outside the boat who were waiting to watch the boat float. We were first made to fit between two wooden wall structures and front was a gate again made of wood. So we were now covered by three sides. Once we entered this enclosure a gate from behind was closed and we were fully covered from all side.

Then the gate from front was slowing opened and the water gushed towards us. The water was only opened at the bottom so that the water would make the boat to float. As the water flowed in the boat began to float and we reach the height of the fresh water. After we reached the required height the gate at the front was opened and we sailed ahead. After we went a little distance the gate was again closed and the fresh water was pushed back in. This way all the boats were moved from the sea water to the fresh water. There was always priority for the boats that come. The fire service & emergency boats were giving the highest priority followed by the daily cruise like the one we were on followed by the private leisure boat followed by private owned boats.

As we moved forward we went through places were the boats and ships are repaired. It was good to see real costly yachts parked and waiting to be serviced. As we were approaching the end of the cruise we came across a place where we could see the seaplanes take off and land. The takeoff and landing at sea must be a real good experience. This is something that I am planning to do next.
So next time you are in Seattle don’t miss the locks cruise. It’s an engineering marvel to watch.

Contribute to UID project

Everyone has been hearing about the UID project. Now there is a opportunity for you to contribute to the most ambitious project of the Indian govt. The UID project is going to go into a collaborative mode. Those experienced in open source technologies can try their luck.

You can involve yourself on the client side software development of UID. Since the magnitude of the project is huge without the active support and involvement of people it will not be easy to accomplish. There is an invitation to community developers to contribute to this national mission and develop client software. Currently the authority is seeking client software developed in any operating system and any standard development language like C, C++, java etc. Developers can also develop some key modules like address normalization, transliteration modules etc. that can be integrated with the client software through well defined APIs. The APIs will be defined and a set of standards will be released soon.

Well not that you can just develop any software and give, there are set of rules that you will need to follow. The rules that are proposed at this stage and are not finalized yet. The finalization will happen based on the input from the development community.

Below are some of the rules proposed at this stage:

1. Any Company or an existing open source project and even individual developers (each of these categories will, henceforth, be described as Developer) may volunteer to undertake the development of the entire Client Software or a module of it.

2. When a Developer undertakes to develop the Client Software or a module of it, the Developer should inform the Authority. The Authority will give the Developer a registration number(Registered Developer). This will, however, be given only to those who, in the opinion of the Authority, demonstrate a potential for positive contribution to the achievement of the objective.

3. The Registered Developers may seek answers and participate in discussions among other registered developers and/or with UIDAI regarding the software specifications and requirements using the collaboration environment setup by the Authority during the course of software development cycle.

4. Authority is under no obligation to accept the ideas and codes developed. Acceptance and evaluation of the codes submitted is at the sole discretion of the Authority. Further, the Authority does not make any guarantees with respect to answering questions within a prescribed time.

5. When a Registered Developer feels that the software or a module is fit for trials by the Authority, the source-code may be submitted to the Authority along with the Manual and other documentation using the code submission tools and procedures setup by the Authority. If the Authority is of the view (in its sole discretion and assessment) that the code developed could be useful to the UID project, the Authority may ask for further help from the concerned Registered Developer in improving the functionality or any other aspect as deemed necessary. The Registered Developer may be invited by the Authority to give the final shape to the product.

6. If the Client Software or a module developed by any Developer is accepted by the Authority for implementation in the field for enrolment, the contribution of the Registered Developer will be recognized. However, the source code, documentation and IPR will belong to the Authority. Accordingly, the Registered Developer will be required to enter into appropriate agreements transferring all rights and intellectual property to the Authority for their product and contribution.

7. This effort for creation of the enrollment software is completely voluntary and the Authority is under no obligation to provide any financial incentive or consideration to the concerned Registered Developer for the product.

8. The use of design / drawings/ or any other material by the developer in writing the enrollment software shall be fully at the risk and liability of the developer. UIDAI shall not be liable for IPRviolation on this account and shall not be made a party to any court proceeding on this account.

9. The Authority reserves the right to open source any part or in full, any of these components and contributions in the future for the betterment of the community.

10. The Authority reserves the right to change/ cancel any specification, requirement, change tools, architecture, or any part of the system as required.

11. During the development of the software component, a Developer will have the discretion to share/ not share the source code with other developer. However, once the code is submitted and accepted by the Authority, the Authority can make the source code available to with a view to further enhancements/improvements or additions for any additional features.

All interested Developers may send their intentions to participate in this collaborative effort to enrolmentsw@uidai.gov.in. They should send the details of the developers who will work on this project and their brief resume and their proposal of work. They should also send their contact details (email and phone numbers etc. so that they may be contacted if required.

You can read more details from the official site here

You can climb walls like Spiderman

It may soon be possible to walk on walls like Spiderman with American researchers claiming to have invented a device that could lead to development of shoes or gloves which would stick and unstick to walls and also bear load.

Researchers at Cornell University have created a palm-sized device that uses water surface tension as an adhesive bond, journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported on Wednesday.

According to lead researcher Paul Steen, the device, using rapid adhesion mechanism, could lead to such development of the shoes or gloves that stick and unstick to walls, or postit-like notes that can bear loads.

The team took inspiration from a beetle native to Florida, which can adhere to a leaf with a force 100 times its own weight, yet also instantly unstick itself. The device consists of a flat plate patterned with holes, each on the order of a micron (one-millionth of a meter).

A bottom plate holds a liquid reservoir, and in the middle is another porous layer. An electric field applied by a common 9-volt battery pumps water through the device and causes droplets to squeeze through the top layer. The surface tension of the exposed droplets makes the device grip another surface — much the way two wet glass slides stick together [more...]

Will Matrix be a reality?

We can see next real MATRIX PART with real imagination, someone insert a wire into our brain and wooooosh we are off to another world where we can learn anything by just click of button, any art such as Kung-Fu or Fly a Helicopter. I am not joking but this is becoming reality.

An indian start up company has started working on that and soon we can see our brain information copied to computer.

An IT startup in Technopark, Kerala will be working on the Blue Brain Project, the world's first comprehensive attempt to reverse-engineer the mammalian brain. The cost of the project is $3 billion and is expected to complete by 2018. It is an international project, propelled by Swiss Federal Institute, and involves several countries and ethics monitoring by UN bodies.

The whole idea for this project is that mental illness, memory and perception triggered by neurons and electric signals could be soon treated with a supercomputer that models all the 1,000,000 million synapses of brain.

Innovation not taken seriously in India

Innovation are not taken seriously in India. We have lakhs and lakhs of students passing out every year and every student is supposed to make a project for completing the course. Are all the innovation recognized? This is something we should be thinking about and the colleges/Universities should start realizing the dreams.
Here is an example of not getting recognized in India:
Projects like the 'black box' system installed in cars in U.S. and UK to detect a genuine accident is also done by a group of students from Latur-based Women Polytechnic Institute in Maharashtra but was not recognized, reports Times of India.

Recently i heard that there is a contest for engineering students, All India Engineering Project Innovation Contest (AIEPIC, pronounced as eye-pic) contest like this will promote many innovations and idea from students. This contest should not be limited only to engineering students it should be open at national level. Well school students are not be left behind in innovation.

Recently Kerala government had started this contest at school level.Really amazing to see the kind of innovation these kids have.

Wish this contest is open at national level irrespective of the age limit.

Baby cry translator

Ever wondered what a child is trying to say when he/she is crying..

Well to find that out there is a new Application called the Cry Translator. This is a brain child of a spanish doctor.

Anyhow, this all works because researchers have pretty much figured out what a baby’s crying means. Turns out there’s five types of cries—and these cries are the same across all of humanity, from Texas to Japan, from Portugal to Indonesia—and they indicate whether or not the baby is hungry, tired, stressed, bored, or annoyed. I did not know that ;-)

The App just costs $17.99. The App claims to be 96 percent accurate.

next time your child cries, try your luck with this app.. :-)[more...]

Own The Coolest Jet On Your Block

This is not a joke. Yes you can buy a jet and that too not a simple on but a fighter jet SU-27. Sukhoi is selling their SU-27 with a price tag of 5 M.. Well if i had one i would have got and parked at my house :-)

Read more abt this .....[More...]

80legs Crawling

80legs is a web crawling service running on a distributed grid of 50,000 computers, spidering the web at a rate of 2 billion pages/day, and analyzing the content found.

The service can be accessed on demand by setting up a job and executing it. As any crawling process, the job needs a seed list which can be contained by a text file up to 1 GB in size. Other job parameters are:

o Outgoing links – used to specify which links to crawl of those resulting from a seed

o Depth level – the URL level measured to a seed

o Crawling type – multiple depths in the same time or only one depth at a time

o Number of URLs – specifies the maximum number of URLs to crawl

o MIME types – specifies the page types to crawl

o Analyze options – there are several analysis options like keyword matching, regular expressions, running custom code

When a job runs, the crawler starts reading web pages starting with the seed ones and considering the outgoing links options, and analyzes the content of the pages. Simple analysis is available by specifying keywords to match or by selecting information based on regular expressions, but complex analysis can be performed on the data by using a custom application or a pre-built 80legs application. The analysis application needs to be written in Java. 80legs plans to open an application store where developers can sell their applications at their desired price and will collect all the revenue. 80legs has launched a contest to attract developers.

Paid subscriptions offer access to a Python API to interact with the crawling engine. Plans are for a Perl API. Free subscribers can create and control their jobs through the 80legs Portal.

There is a free plan with some limitations: 1 job at a time, 100k pages of max 100KB each, a 10MB analysis application (Java JAR), no API, 1 hit per second for the domain searched. There are two paid subscriptions, the top one offering 5 concurrent repeatable jobs with 10M pages/job, 10 MB/page, a 10 MB JAR, and 10 hits/sec/domain for $2/million pages crawled and 3 cents for CPU-hour utilized

Has GDrive come back?

Have you ever had thoughts that it will be great to store huge files over the internet for free?

Well now Google has the answer to solve your problem. Google has come with google docs. It has recently opened up all file type for upload. You can upload any file with huge size. Currently google limit users to 500KB for Microsoft Word documents, and 10MB for PowerPoint presentations and PDFs, the new limit for all other files that cannot be converted into a Google Docs format is 250MB. This is 10 times the size of what's allowed as an attachment in the company's Web mail service Gmail.

That said, the amount of space for non-Google Docs files that are stored within Docs will only be 1GB. Users can upgrade though, and Google is planning on that

Enjoy the free space. :-)

Tax time - HRA Tax exemption

Tax time is here. !!!

Every company starts with collecting tax proof in January. And that’s when everyone start thinking about tax saving. Most of us don’t know how those taxes are applied. I was surfing the internet to find out on how the HRA are applied. Then I came across this information. This is from one of my friend Sarajit Datta who is also investment consultant. Below is some extract from his recent blog.

HRA Exemption in Non-Metro Cities:

For example let’s say
• Yearly HRA = Rs 1,20,000
• Yearly Basic = Rs 2,00,000
• Yearly Rent = Rs 1,20,000

As per the HRA formula -
1. Yearly HRA = Rs 1,20,000
2. Yearly Basic X 40% = 2,00,000 X 40% = Rs 80,000
3. Yearly Rent - (Yearly Basic) X 10% = 1,20,000 – 2,00,000 X 10% = Rs 1,00,000..[more]

Why do we wear marks (tilak, pottu and the like) on the forehead?

The tilak or pottu invokes a feeling of sanctity in the wearer and others. It is recognized as a religious mark. Its form and colour vary according to one’s caste, religious sect or the form of the Lord worshipped.
In earlier times, the four castes (based on varna or colour) - Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Sudra - applied marks differently. The brahmin applied a white chandan mark signifying purity, as his profession was of a priestly or academic nature. The kshatriya applied a red kumkum mark signifying valour as he belonged to warrior races. The vaishya wore a yellow kesar or turmeric mark signifying prosperity as he was a businessman or trader devoted to creation of wealth. The sudra applied a black bhasma, kasturi or charcoal mark signifying service as he supported the work of the other three divisions.
Also Vishnu worshippers apply a chandan tilak of the shape of "U,” Shiva worshippers a tripundra of bhasma, Devi worshippers a red dot of kumkum and so on).
The tilak cover the spot between the eyebrows, which is the seat of memory and thinking. It is known as the Aajna Chakra in the language of Yoga. The tilak is applied with the prayer - "May I remember the Lord. May this pious feeling pervade all my activities. May I be righteous in my deeds.” Even when we temporarily forget this prayerful attitude the mark on another reminds us of our resolve. The tilak is thus a blessing of the Lord and a protection against wrong tendencies and forces.
The entire body emanates energy in the form of electromagnetic waves - the forehead and the subtle spot between the eyebrows especially so. That is why worry generates heat and causes a headache. The tilak and pottu cools the forehead, protects us and prevents energy loss. Sometimes the entire forehead is covered with chandan or bhasma. Using plastic reusable "stick bindis" is not very beneficial, even though it serves the purpose of decoration.

Why do we chant Om?

Om is one of the most chanted sound symbols in India. It has a profound effect on the body and mind of the one who chants and also on the surroundings. Most mantras and vedic prayers start with Om.
All auspicious actions begin with Om. It is even used as a greeting - Om, Hari Om etc. It is repeated as a mantra or meditated upon. Its form is worshipped, contemplated upon or used as an auspicious sign.
Om is the universal name of the Lord. It is made up of the letters A (phonetically as in "around"), U (phonetically as in "put") and M (phonetically as in "mum"). The sound emerging from the vocal chords starts from the base of the throat as "A". With the coming together of the lips, "U" is formed and when the lips are closed, all sounds end in "M".
The three letters symbolize the three states (waking, dream and deep sleep), the three deities (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Sama) the three worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah) etc. The Lord is all these and beyond.
The formless, attributeless Lord (Brahman) is represented by the silence between two Om Chants. Om is also called pranava that means, "that (symbol or sound) by which the Lord is praised". The entire essence of the Vedas is enshrined in the word Om. It is said that the Lord started creating the world after chanting Om and atha. Hence its sound is considered to create an auspicious beginning for any task that we undertake. The Om chant should have the resounding sound of a bell (aaooommm).
Om is written in different ways in different places. The most common form symbolizes Lord Ganesha’s. The upper curve is the head; the lower large one, the stomach; the side one, the trunk; and the semi-circular mark with the dot, the sweetmeat ball (modaka) in Lord Ganesha's hand. Thus Om symbolizes everything - the means and the goal of life, the world and the Truth behind it, the material and the Sacred, all form and the Formless.Om is one of the most chanted sound symbols in India. It has a profound effect on the body and mind of the one who chants and also on the surroundings. Most mantras and vedic prayers start with Om.
All auspicious actions begin with Om. It is even used as a greeting - Om, Hari Om etc. It is repeated as a mantra or meditated upon. Its form is worshipped, contemplated upon or used as an auspicious sign.
Om is the universal name of the Lord. It is made up of the letters A (phonetically as in "around"), U (phonetically as in "put") and M (phonetically as in "mum"). The sound emerging from the vocal chords starts from the base of the throat as "A". With the coming together of the lips, "U" is formed and when the lips are closed, all sounds end in "M".
The three letters symbolize the three states (waking, dream and deep sleep), the three deities (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Sama) the three worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah) etc. The Lord is all these and beyond.
The formless, attributeless Lord (Brahman) is represented by the silence between two Om Chants. Om is also called pranava that means, "that (symbol or sound) by which the Lord is praised". The entire essence of the Vedas is enshrined in the word Om. It is said that the Lord started creating the world after chanting Om and atha. Hence its sound is considered to create an auspicious beginning for any task that we undertake. The Om chant should have the resounding sound of a bell (aaooommm).
Om is written in different ways in different places. The most common form symbolizes Lord Ganesha’s. The upper curve is the head; the lower large one, the stomach; the side one, the trunk; and the semi-circular mark with the dot, the sweetmeat ball (modaka) in Lord Ganesha's hand. Thus Om symbolizes everything - the means and the goal of life, the world and the Truth behind it, the material and the Sacred, all form and the Formless.

Why do we fast?

Most devout Indians fast regularly or on special occasions like festivals. On such days they do not eat at all, eat once or make do with fruits or a special diet of simple food.
Fasting in Sanskrit is called upavaasa. Upa means "near" + vaasa means "to stay". Upavaasa therefore means staying near (the Lord), meaning the attainment of close mental proximity with the Lord. Then what has upavaasa to do with food?
A lot of our time and energy is spent in procuring food items, preparing, cooking, eating and digesting food. Certain food types make our minds dull and agitated. Hence on certain days man decides to save time and conserve his energy by eating either simple, light food or totally abstaining from eating so that his mind becomes alert and pure. The mind, otherwise pre-occupied by the thought of food, now entertains noble thoughts and stays with the Lord. Since it is a self-imposed form of discipline it is usually adhered to with joy
Also every system needs a break and an overhaul to work at its best. Rest and a change of diet during fasting is very good for the digestive system and the entire body.
The more you indulge the senses, the more they make their demands. Fasting helps us to cultivate control over our senses, sublimate our desires and guide our minds to be poised and at peace.
Fasting should not make us weak, irritable or create an urge to indulge later. This happens when there is no noble goal behind fasting.
The Bhagavad-Gita urges us to eat appropriately - neither too less nor too much - yukta-aahaara and to eat simple, pure and healthy food (a saatvik diet) even when not fasting.

Why do we do Namaste?

Indians greet each other with namaste. The two palms are placed together in front of the chest and the head bows whilst saying the word namaste. This greeting is for all - people younger than us, of our own age, those older than friends, even strangers and us.
There are five forms of formal traditional greeting enjoined in the shaastras of which namaskaram is one. This is understood as prostration but it actually refers to paying homage as we do today when we greet each other with a namaste.
Namaste could be just a casual or formal greeting, a cultural convention or an act of worship. However there is much more to it than meets the eye. In Sanskrit namah + te = namaste. It means - I bow to you - my greetings, salutations or prostration to you. Namaha can also be literally interpreted as "na ma" (not mine). It has a spiritual significance of negating or reducing one’s ego in the presence of another.
The real meeting between people is the meeting of their minds. When we greet another, we do so with namaste, which means, "may our minds meet," indicated by the folded palms placed before the chest. The bowing down of the head is a gracious form of extending friendship in love and humility
The spiritual meaning is even deeper. The life force, the divinity, the Self or the Lord in me is the same in all. Recognizing this oneness with the meeting of the palms, we salute with head bowed the Divinity in the person we meet. That is why sometimes, we close our eyes as we do namaste to a revered person or the Lord – as if to look within. The gesture is often accompanied by words like "Ram Ram,” "Jai Shri Krishna", "Namo Narayana", "Jai Siya Ram", "Om Shanti" etc - indicating the recognition of this divinity.
When we know this significance, our greeting does not remain just a superficial gesture or word but paves the way for a deeper communion with another in an atmosphere of love and respect.

HttpConnection using java

Many of you might be wondering how to make a HttpConnection from java. Here is a small program that helps you to make the connection from pure java code. This has been tested and I have been using this from a long time. It’s very simple and easy to use. If required you can just copy and start using this code, I don’t think you will need to change any part of this code. It’s ready to use as is. Just place this code in your utli folder of the code and just call this method. That’s it.

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.BufferedWriter;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
import java.net.HttpURLConnection;
import java.net.URL;
import java.net.URLEncoder;
import java.util.HashMap;

/**
 * This class is used to make the HTTP Connection from a java code.
 * @author Prabesh Bhaskaran
 */
public class MakeHttpConnection {

    /**
     * The getConnection method takes 2 parameters, the URL string of the site that you would like to connect 
     * and the other parameter is the parameter that you would like to pass through the query.
     * @param urlString: The URL of the site that you would like to connect
     * @param query: The parameter that you would like to pass to the site.
     * @throws java.lang.Exception 
     * @return 
     */
 public String getConnection(String urlString, String query) throws Exception {
            String retStr = "";
            URL url = new URL(urlString);
            String responseString = "";

            HttpURLConnection urlConnection = (HttpURLConnection)url.openConnection();
            urlConnection.setDoOutput(true);
            urlConnection.setRequestMethod("POST");
            urlConnection.setAllowUserInteraction(false);
            urlConnection.setRequestProperty("Content-type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded"); // the content-length should not be necessary, but we're cautious

            BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new OutputStreamWriter(urlConnection.getOutputStream()));
            bw.write(query);
            bw.write("\r\n");
            bw.flush();
            bw.close();

            if (urlConnection.getResponseCode() == HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
                BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(urlConnection.getInputStream()));
                String inputLine;

                while ((inputLine = br.readLine()) != null) {
                    responseString = responseString+inputLine;
                } 
                System.out.println("responseString="+responseString);
 }
 return responseString;
    }
}

As the saying goes

Necessity is the mother of all invention

this program was also developed when there was a necessity. My office had blocked many sites from viewing due to some junk reasons, but I needed some sites that would help me. So from a java code I just make a httpconnection and call the required site, this code will return a string that will give the full website page. That’s it I was able to view the website even when my office had blocked that particular site.

Go ahead and try out. Let me know if you need any help or if you come across any issues when using this code.

Happy coding!!!.

IPL or NRIPL ?

INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

Nowadays you can hear about the IPL fever. Every news channel or sport channel or paper talks about IPL. This year's IPL is special. I am sure you would have guessed y this years IPL is special. To start off what does IPL stand for? IPL - Indian Premier League.

Well if its Indian Premier league then it should be happening in India. But this year IPL is special. The games are not played in India; instead it’s been played in South Africa. So I guess the organizers’ should change the name from IPL to NRIPL. When an India goes abroad he gets a status called NRI then y can’t our cricket board call this event NRIPL? Hopefully next season of the IPL will be played in India.

I am sure many would be wonder or thinking about the schedule of the match. Below is the schedule of the matches for this season. Go ahead and enjoy the match.

IPL Season II - Schedule, teams and players, in South Africa

Date Teams Venue Time (IST)
Saturday, MI Vs CSK Cape Town 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
18-Apr-09
Saturday, RR vs RCB Cape Town 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
18-Apr-09
Sunday, DD vs PKXI Cape Town 4 p.m. to 7p.m.
19-Apr-09
Sunday, DC vs KKR Cape Town 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
19-Apr-09
Monday, CSK vs RCB Port Elizabeth 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
20-Apr-09
Tuesday, PKXI vs KKR Durban 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
21-Apr-09
Tuesday, RR vs MI Durban 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
21-Apr-09
Wednesday, RCB vs DC Cape Town 8 p.m. to 11p.m.
22-Apr-09
Thursday, CSK vs DD Durban 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
23-Apr-09
Thursday, KKR vs RR Cape Town 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
23-Apr-09
Friday, RCB vs PKXI Durban 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
24-Apr-09
Saturday, MI vs DC Durban 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
25-Apr-09
Saturday, CSK vs KKR Cape Town 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
25-Apr-09
Sunday, RCB vs DD Port Elizabeth 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
26-Apr-09
Sunday, PKXI vs RR Cape Town 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
26-Apr-09
Monday, DC vs CSK Durban 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
27-Apr-09
Monday, KKR vs MI Port Elizabeth 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
27-Apr-09
Tuesday, DD vs RR Pretoria 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
28-Apr-09
Wednesday, KKR vs RCB Durban 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
29-Apr-09
Wednesday, PKXI vs MI Durban 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
29-Apr-09
Thursday, DC vs DD Pretoria 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
30-Apr-09
Thursday, RR vs CSK Pretoria 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
30-Apr-09
Friday, MI vs KKR East London 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
1-May-09
Friday, PKXI vs RCB Durban 8 p.m.to 11 p.m.
1-May-09
Saturday, DC vs RR Port Elizabeth 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
2-May-09
Saturday, DD vs CSK Johannesburg 8 p.m. to 11p.m.
2-May-09
Sunday, KKR vs PKXI Port Elizabeth 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
3-May-09
Sunday, RCB vs MI Johannesburg 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
3-May-09
Monday, CSK vs DC East London 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
4-May-09
Tuesday, RR vs PKXI Durban 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
5-May-09
Tuesday DD vs KKR Durban 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
5-May-09
Wednesday, DC vs MI Pretoria 8 p.m.to 11 p.m.
6-May-09
Thursday, RCB vs RR Pretoria 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
7-May-09
Thursday, PKXI vs CSK Pretoria 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
7-May-09
Friday, DD vs MI East London 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
8-May-09
Saturday, DC vs PKXI Kimberley 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
9-May-09
Saturday, CSK vs RR Kimberley 8 p.m. to 11p.m.
9-May-09
Sunday, MI vs RCB Port Elizabeth 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
10-May-09
Sunday, KKR vs DD Johannesburg 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
10-May-09
Monday, RR vs DC Kimberley 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
11-May-09
Tuesday RCB vs KKR Pretoria 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
12-May-09
Tuesday, MI vs PKXI Pretoria 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
12-May-09
Wednesday, DD vs DC Durban 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
13-May-09
Thursday, RCB vs CSK Durban 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
14-May-09
Thursday, MI vs RR Durban 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
14-May-09
Friday, PKXI vs DD Bloemfontein 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
15-May-09
Saturday, CSK vs MI Port Elizabeth 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
16-May-09
Saturday, KKR vs DC Johannesburg 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
16-May-09
Sunday, PKXI vs DC Johannesburg 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
17-May-09
Sunday, RR vs DD Bloemfontein 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
17-May-09
Monday, KKR vs CSK Pretoria 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
18-May-09
Tuesday, DD vs RCB Johannesburg 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
19-May-09
Wednesday, RR vs KKR Durban 4 p.m.to 7 p.m.
20-May-09
Wednesday, CSK vs PKXI Durban 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
20-May-09
Thursday, MI vs DD Pretoria 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
21-May-09
Thursday, DC vs RCB Pretoria 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
21-May-09
Friday, Semi Final 1 Pretoria 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
22-May-09
Saturday, Semi Final 2 Johannesburg 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
23-May-09
Sunday, FINAL Johannesburg 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.
24-May-09

Choice @ Work

Last week there was training on Choice @ work in my office conducted by an institute called Arbinger. After attending this training I am not sure what happened to me I seam to be a changed person. The way I look at things and the perspective I have has changed. This training came at the right time, when I need some change in my life. I really need to thank Mr Senthyil. This is one of the best trainings I have ever had in my life.

Before I tell about the training I would like to tell something about Senthyil (Not an intro about him) the way he presented to the class. Never have I seen such a presentation. No ppt’s for the presentation and still keeping the people in the classroom awake and enthusiastic. I am sure no person in the class would have slept or nor would he have ever left his mind wandering. Senthyil know how to get peoples attention and how to keep the class active. The voice modulation that he has is just amazing. The stories and examples that he gives are just awesome.

Now let me tell you something about the training. A week before the training started we were given a book from Arbinger, its titled “Leadership and Self-Deception”. To be very frank I have never read any book till now. Well I am not talking about technical books. This is the first non technical book that I have read in my life. And the book is so great that I was just hooked to the book. Each chapter is so interesting that when u read that you feel that you need to finish the next chapter and you will be curious to check what is there in the next chapter. I finished maximum chapters before the training.

The training was supposed to start at 9 AM and last till 5 PM but as expected the training started 30 min late. But the time was not wasted by Senthyil. As people were occupying the seats he went and introduced himself to each person. He asked our names and made a note in a piece of paper. At 9:30 AM he started the course. He introduced himself to the room. He was in the Singapore Army and retired as a Major. After that he joined the Arbinger and is currently heading the South East Asia operations. Then after introducing himself, he told each of our names. There were around 25 people for the training and without missing a person he told everyone’s name in the room. I was totally zapped by that. Don’t know how he remembered all these names in less than half hour.

After that he started the course. He was giving his own life experience and examples. I am sure most of the people in the room would be thinking or relating to their own life experience. As the book name suggests the course is not only for people for their leadership, it is for anyone and everyone. This course information can be used in everybody’s normal life. The training is all about how you see people and what you see about them.

If at any time in your life if you get a chance of attending this training DON’T MISS IT. If you miss this training, you are really missing something in your life.

Go ahead and enjoy your life. !!!

Netbeans IDE

It’s been a long time since I have written a blog. I happen to see this contest in Netbeans and was thinking about writing about one of my most userful and efficient IDE - NetBeans.
If there is an opportunity to win 10 point y miss the bus.

I have been using Netbeans for over a year now. I believe the best feature that netbeans has is the support for swings. I have created couple of project as a hobby and have posted it in sourceforge.
http://prabeshb.sourceforge.net/ . This is a very small utility for finding similar word in different files. I was able to make this utility in very short time and with great quality.

Creating application in netbeans is one of the easiest. To create a project click on File > New Project. You can use short cut keys also to create the project Ctrl + shift + N. Once you click on the New Project, a dialogue window opens which contains many options for creating project. There are not only java application that can be created but also web application, mobility, UML, SOA, Ruby, C/C++ etc. To create a java swings application click on the Java category and select the Java Desktop Application menu under the projects section as shown in the project below.




Click on the next button and you can mention the project name and project location. After you enter the project details on click of finish button the base class and the layout is created by netbeans. So you need not worry about creating the layout and initial setting. The design view is displayed as the finish button is clicked. On the right hand side there are many palettes available that can be dragged and dropped. The drag and drop feature is very useful when creating the application. Simply drag the controls and place it where ever you like in the base panel and that will be stuck to that location. You can alter the location of the control by simply dragging the control. The figure below shows the different section for the netbeans IDE.



To run the application I prefer shortcut keys. To run the application you can use the F6 key. As you click the key the classes will start to compile and the output will be popped up. To clean and make a fresh build you can use Shift + F11.

I hope these small tips and quick guide will help you create wonderful desktop application. Do let me know if anyone needs any information or help in creating desktop application. I will be overjoyed to help you. You can write to me at:prabeshb@gmail.com

First long haul

A new car brings all its joys and with it the service plans. I am not sure how many of us have managed to make the 1000 K.M mark in the first month. It is difficult challenge for me. But I have decided not to give up. There are various ways of reaching the 1000 mark. Drive all day, all week. Drive back and forth your home town that’s over 300 KM away. But either of these options may not be feasible until you finish the 1000 mark. Here is what I did--Drive to Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL).

We had our own interests apart from the target KM. We wanted to know the road to BIAL, the distance, the traffic situation and of course see our new international airport. So, we (my brother, my sis-in-law, and me) set out on this city adventure, Oh, yes it was after an awesome lunch that my SIL had prepared for us (I will write about her culinary skills another time, but sssh! don tell her.)

The new airport is a little over 40 KM (I think its 43) from my house so a return trip is 80 to 86 KM. When started from our house at 2:30 PM, took the old madras road and then the KR Puram flyover. At the Hebbal flyover, we took a right turn. DO NOT TAKE THE FLYOVER. That road is OK, it has tons of speed breakers which was nasty. The speed breakers were no match for my Indigo. Not once did the creatively constructed speed breakers touch the base of my car. Awesome clearance. That was good news already. I have heard many complain about road being not approachable, but I don't think I would agree. The road is pretty accessible and with the 3 lane on either side, it does make the driving easier compared to the city driving that we are always frustrated.

There was one common sight on the road to BIAL. The Mahindra LOGAN. There are 100's of them plying in Bangalore as airport cabs. I have heard a lot about Logan and during my research to buy a car I had looked at this one also. Logan has good mileage, and the assumption is that the car gives about 18 km in city conditions. Most of the taxis were from Meru (080-44224422, if you need them) or Easy Cabs (I don't remember this number). They were either green (MERU) or white (Easycab). Some of them, I guess had GPS systems. I did not get a closer look, so I won't confirm. All of them were cruising at a good speed on the way to the airport. But I was stuck at 60 kmph, because "my first service of the car is not over yet". Also cruising along the side of our car were the BMTC's new VOLVO buses. There are special services of the Volvo buses from different part of the city the airport and they were just zooming away.

I kept my speed less than 60 so that my vehicle is available for future also. After an hour of drive we reached the much awaited Bangaluru International Airport. The first impression of the airport was really good. It is a huge and I have read it’s about 2000 Acres. As compared to the old HAL airport this airport has enough space and lots of parking area. There is a separating parking space for buses, city taxis and private vehicles. We drove on the outside the airport. We did not take a closer look at the airport as we did not want to spend time there. We then returned back from the airport and headed towards home. We reached back home by 5:30 PM. The ride to the airport was really too good.

That's all from me now. More later, until then...Take Care!!!

Style Does Matter ...

As promised i was not able to update the Euro scores. Instead I thought to put the widgets so that any one can look at the score rather than me updating daily.

I recently brought a new Tata Indigo CS car. Then it struck me write something about that. I went in search of some good article on Indigo so that anyone who is going in next for that can have a look at this article. Before deciding on this car I have researched and zeroed down to: Maruti SX4, Sokda Fabia, Wagon R, Versa, Esteem, UVA, AVEO.

Then I had to decide what I want. I wanted a luxury vehicle in my budget price of 5 lakhs, a vehicle with boot space, and good leg space for driver seat as well as for the back seater. Then after shortlisting I had zeroed down to TATA INDIGO CS. Just the day before I finalise on the car the petrol prices went up then I made my final decision of going for Diesel car. As the advertisement says “At last style does matter”.

Below is the details/specs for Tata Indigo CS.

Tata Motors has cut down the overall length of existing Indigo to avail the tax benefits of small car for the Indigo CS. Tata Motors dubs the new Indigo CS as the "World's most compact sedan".

It has two engine variants - 1.2 litres petrol and 1.4 litres diesel. Both are available in 2 variants. The petrol variant of CS is equipped with a multi-point fuel injection engine powered by a 32bit microprocessor and churns out a maximum power of 65PS @ 5200 rpm. The diesel variant comes with the turbo-charged intercooled engine that generates 70PS @ 4500 rpm. The petrol variants will have beige interiors, while the diesel variants will have black interiors.

In terms of looks - the front is exactly the same like Indica V2, also the instrument cluster and interior design has been picked as it is from Indica. But at the rear Tata's job has worked wonders! It has new rear bumper and new tail light cluster which looks quite good and small boot is looking great in comparison to other indigo models. Now the boot looks a part of the car - not a add on!

It is true value for money sedan but the quality issues are still same like other Tata vehicles. Plastic quality is very cheap, fit and finish is poor, wide panel gaps and inferior quality fabric on seats and door panels. The base versions are somewhat avoidable - with black colored bumpers and no Power Steering. There are no power windows - even in top version also!! No steering adjustment! The only reason to buy Indigo CS is that the range starts from 4.50 lakhs on road price for petrol and for diesel its 5.11 lakhs on road.
ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS:

Displacement:1396cc, TDi Engine Type:Diesel Maximum Power:70bhp@4500rpm Maximum Torque:135Nm@2500rpm

DIMENSIONS:

Length:3988 mm Width:1620 mm Height:1540 mm

OTHER SPECIFICATIONS:

Seating Capacity:5 Tyre Size:175/65 R14 Suspension:Independent McPherson Strut Turning Circle:5.00 Boot Space:380.00 Steering:No Power Steering Brakes:Front Disk, Rear Drum Gears:5 Manual Ground Clearance:165.00 Kerb Weight:1065.00 Fuel Tank:42.00