Tuesday, May 18, 2004

Auto Wala



From Sophie's Social :

Some Punter : America jaana hai kya?
Auto wala : America tak jaana hai America ke andar jaana hai? Andar ke 5 Rs. extra lagenge.



From Bansi, Murali and Goti,

Murali : Oye lets ask this autowala, whether he wants to go to IIT. If he says no, we will say, "Theek hai bhai, tu utar hum chala ke le jaayenge."
Goti/Bansi : Abe kisi se poochte hain..
bansi: IIT jaaoge
A: Haan
bansi: Theek hai, chale jaao.



From a spam post in 7uc. (Amit Sachan)

"Chalte chalte bahut door nikal aaye hum !
Chalte chalte bahut door nikal aaye hum !!
Lautate waqt auto main chalenge"

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Monday, May 17, 2004

A day in IIT


Finally managed to take some photographs of IIT, covered everything
from Chemical Dept., Civil Dept. to coffee shack. Now the process of
finishing the roll and getting it developed and scanning is left.

I met Prof. D. N. Singh who reminded me that I have his Soil Mechanics (R. F. Craig)
book, I had to tell him that I have accepted that as a gift sovenier from him.
Verma X-( !! where is that book..

I had 3-4 double cold coffee at the shack and roamed around the whole insti.. Lots of new
faces but there were many dual degree passing guys.. So managed to see
many familiar faces.

At the end of the day when myself, goti, bansi and murali were doing some
time-pass at coffee shack a female came us and asked us :

Q: Are you guys studying in IIT?
A:
goti, bansi : yes
me, murali : no..
(strange reaction ....)
murali : Its ok.. two are studying and two were studying..
Q: Are you from bombay?
A:
all : no..
Q: Did you vote this time?
A:
all : no..
Q: I am a reported from Times of India, I would like to interview you guys about
the election..
A:
me : sure, pull a chair.
Q: We also want to take a photograph.. can you please come over there?
A:
(some activity, murali cribbing and finally coming along)

Two-three more guys and 2 gals join us and Anjali doesn't want to
get photographed with maggi in her hands.. Murali helps her but she
is afraid Murali might have a part of her maggi :p.. Maggi finally settles
on the right side of Anjali. Murali doesn't want to get photographed
but we force him to sit anyway..

The photographer takes 15-20 photographs from a single angle.. and then
5-6 more from different angles. Now the all important part starts.. opinions of
IITans on elections and general politics.

Murali tries to explain the reporter that IIT student's opinion may not
be same as mass. IIT community is basically insulated and the only
inputs we get about politics are from TV and newspapers. The reporter was definitely pro BJP,
though the photograph might show us cheering for congress.. but it
was thumbs down for congress and Sonia in Q&A session.

I am listing a summary of various answers... I am not sure TOI will
print the same summary. (if they publish it at all)

1. India was actually shining in BJP's government. And it was shining
for almost everybody not just the industrialist and businessmen.

2. Manmohan Singh and Rajeev Gandhi get their due credit for taking intiatives in the direction of
economic reforms and information technology.

3. Naidu really did wonders to hyderabad, but he may have ignored
farmers.

4. There exists a possibility that congress managed to rig the poll.

5. Mixed opinion about Sonia becoming PM. Some said she is the only leader congress has.
Others mentioned that she may not be a good administrator and she is still inexperienced.
Manmohan Singh was the only other choice but lacked the leadership quality.
Overall thumbs down for Sonia.

6. Immediate expections from government :
i. Might think about moving indian economy to be more industry and IT driven rather
than agriculture based (which is affected by monsoon)
ii. Utopian dream of eliminating corruption. Someone came up with
a funny suggestion of making corruption legal and government can charge tax on that..
well this is sure a new idea..
iii. Many insisted on agriculture being the top priority..
iv. Government should continue the good work BJP was doing :>

7. Election results were surprising to all.. (center as well as AP)



Enough of interview and politics... I would have preffered to see BJP government..



IIT now has two basky courts, the other unused court with tar surface is now shining with green colour..
They did this 2 yrs back when IIT hosted inter-university tournament.

There is new building in front of CC which is a part of elec dept. now.

H3 mess is getting renovated.. and h3 will also get a TT room.

New footpath have been constructed all over IIT. Someone told that the overall budget for
the footpath construction was 4 crore INR.. these must be the costliest footpath.

Campus placement this year were extremely good.

Kaafi arbit post ho gayi.. enough for now :)

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Sunday, May 16, 2004

Reporting from Mumbai



Pune
After another Delhi-Pune trip I came to Mumbai via the express-way. Last time I spent the journey sleeping, but this time inspite of having not slept for more than 32 hours I stayed awake to see the express-way. I have been on this express-way four times, First time was as an industrial tour from department we visited the under construction highway. The tunnels were being dug and cement shooting guns were being used to water proof the leaking rock structure of tunnels. We also saw some good construction machines from wirtzen, germany that could automatically pave the road if raw material is filled in its chambers. I was impressed..

Second trip was the most enjoyable of all. Bike trip from Mumbai to Pune, we could take the express-way only after khandala but driving on this road was fun. Third and fourth were one way trips from Pune to Mumbai in bus and car.

Karwar (near Goa, in Karnataka) road is by far the best road (most enjoyable) I have driven on.

In Mumbai
Finally, I am in Mumbai and have been to IIT once. Played TT after a long time and best part was Murali was my partner again.. I miss the days when myself and Murali will stay on the carrom board for long hours inspite of warning system, because nobody could beat our partnership easily. Murali chalo kabhi carrom bhi khel ke dekhte hain.. 2 saal se jyada ho gaye carrom touch kiye.

I have to meet several people in mumbai, Dixit, Sir, wingies and xslmemps. Vivek I will get the coffee shack photograph !! no problems..

Went to Juhu Beach yesterday night, I couldn't take my camera :( since we went directly from office. Strolled on the sand for couple of hours with a laptop on my shoulder (they still make them so heavy) untill Aveek relieved me of the burden. I like to be at juhu ( for that matter any beach ). The sound of sea has a strange calming effect on me.

More on this theme later..

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Sunday, May 09, 2004




For all the mosquitos of the world !!


Scientists at Anti-Mosquito Research Laboratory, New York have successfully
demonstrated their new anti mosquito product. The product brand named Sonic
Irritation For Mosquitos (SIFM) uses sound waves generated at frequencies that
are found to be irritable for almost all the known species of mosquitos.
The frequency do not fall in human audible ranges.

An AMRL official told us in an exclusive interview that SIFM has already been
patented by AMRL and interestingly, the basic idea came to their researchers
mind when an Indian scientist who was fond of Bhappi Lahiri music and
wouldn't stop playing the same song over and over joined the team. Apparently
the music was so irritating for some poor souls that started to keep away from
lab and thus the idea to use irritating sounds at non-audible frequencies to
develop a new mosquito repellent was born. For the curious reader's
information; SIFM does not use Bhappi Lahiri music.

Unlike traditional methods of using allethrin vapour in various forms,
SIFM does not use any chemicals. Chances of mosquitos developing an immunity
towards SIFM are told to be negligible.

Besides being more cost-effective SIFM provides many other advantages over
traditional techniques. Following table provides a detailed comparison of SIFM
vs. current products and techniques.






























































Feature/FactorSIFM Allethrin based Solutions Vivek's Handgrenade Approach Almighty Hand/S
Regular refill required No Yes No No
Chemical solution No Yes Yes No
Automated (electronic) Yes Yes No No
Children can play Yes No No --
Hazardous for human health No Yes Yes Yes
Causes mosquito death No May cause Yes Yes
Works without electricity Yes No Yes Yes


SIFM clearly proves to be a much superior system than any existing products.
A low cost mechanical model of SIFM is also available that can be charged
mechanically just the good old grandfather's wrist watch. This is a portable version and can even be carried in pocket.
Taking care or a major concern of dog owners, SIFM frequencies are not audible to dogs and they remain unperturbed.

You can buy SIFM here. SIFM will be available in all countries before the end of this month. AMRL is also customizing SIFM for lizards, cockroaches and spiders.

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Saturday, May 08, 2004

Request for Spam


Godha had sent this mail in March 2003, during Fourth Year lukkha time.. A good series of replies followed. Here is the mail for you, Enjoy !!

Dear Wing Mates!
I am a final year student of the four-year Bachelor of
Technology (B.Tech) Program at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Bombay, widely believed to be one of the best research and Farting
institutes in Asia. I expect to leave this wing in 1st week of May 2003.

I desire to SPAM a lot in any damn field on this group
i.e the_lucifers. I have been through the past mails in this group and
feel that I have a very good chance of conducting spam and Fartsing on
this group. I would like to have your valuable opinion about my
forthcoming mails to this group,

I have been consistently in the top bracket of my class
throughout my Maiing career. I am currently ranked 2nd in a highly
competitive class of 27 students in the mailing group at Department of
Civil Engineering.

Presently I am involved in Initiating Spams in our dept
groups. This spam aims to develop the farting skills of various member of
the group. My last initited spam was in Mar 2002. This spam prooved to be
a great sucess with more than 250 mails exchanged within an hour or so.

As I myself Alone can`t spam much therefor i`ll be
entirely dependent on 4th-5th year junta, espeially Nikhil Jain and
Ghushe, to support me. I would be extremely grateful to you if you spare
some time and be a part of this great spam.I shall be glad to furnish any
more information that you require and would welcome any suggestions you
may like to offer. I am excited at the prospect of spamming on the
lucifers and look forward to hearing from you in this regard.

Yours Sincerely
Saurabh Godha

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Another good story at slashdot. Read it here. I liked the story, though I haven't given names to my comp/bike or any software I have developed in past.

The author/authors have a valid point, we get emotionally attached to something that can be called our brain child. In-fact it is not limited to brain child factor, people do get senti about their pets.

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/06/1357215

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Friday, May 07, 2004

Pushkar !


Pushkar has recently posted his flute recordings here. He calls them amateur recordings. I loved to listen to him and Murali play and I miss them soooo much. Murali is just a phone call away, but not for long. He also plans to fly to US soon.

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Announcing a major technology breakthrough Share Pain Information Technologies (SPIT), today launched there latest product, Share Ur Pain (SUP). SUP is based on the basic philosophy that says :
The most basic law of emotions is that if you share joy it increases and if you share pain it decreases.

SPIT's founders and chief scientists Dr. P J Singh and Dr. Robert Shorthorn come from different backgrounds but purpose of there research was same. While working at Ferguson and Lamart Technical University (Faltu) PJ was trying to reduce pain felt. His team was trying to modify neuronic structure to include proxy elements that could limit maximum amount of pain felt by a person. The Herbes Pain Index(HPI) was being used to quantify pain in PJ's research.  PJ wanted to reduce pain but at the same time didn't want to make the part of body or the whole body numb in the process. Putting a threshold to pain was the ideal solution. The person would still feel the pain but the Herbes Pain Index will remain below a configurable value. Earlier techniques that temporarily helped a person to reduce pain either included pain-killer medicines (with their side-effects) or local anesthesia.

While Dr. PJ was busy contolling HPI Dr. Shorthorn was working on the a42 supercomputer. He had developed a Information Passing Interface(IPI) to allow exchange of information, data and idea between human brains without any physical contact. This technique is reffered to as Telepathy in many ancient texts. This also tells us that our ancestors were much advanced and they were using telepathy or IPI in day to day life. Coming back to Dr. Shorthorn's work, coming from grid computing and clustering background he wanted to harness IPI to build the greatest supercomputer. This supercomputer, smugly named a42 by Dr. Shorthorn, would use idle brain power of the whole human race to find the answer or rather the question to the answer 42.

Both the projects were put to rest for some time while the two great mind collaborated to create SUP. SUP uses modified proxy elements from Dr. PJ's work to use Dr. Shorthorn's IPI to transfer pain to a second person.

As always, there are privacy and security concerns have been raised. SUP allows pain-sharer to manage an access control list of people who can share there pain with them. SUP also boasts using a secure and encrypted channel for IPI. The ACLs is an essential feature and prevent unauthorized people from sharing pain with you.

Various Human Rights bodies have also demanded that SUP be modified to allow pain sharing between blood relatives only. They fear that pain-sharing would be commercialized and poor would be exploited (pained to be precise) by the rich in a more literal sense. These human rights bodies are trying to draw parallel between commercial pain-sharing and blood donating (or should we call it selling). With the advanced DNA technology allowing pain sharing between blood relatives only is technically feasible but it may prevent a true friend / spouse from helping another.

In the meanwhile, the whole product is under scrutiny by government officials before it can be released for public use.

As always, I am leaving this article in first draft stage :(

PS:
--
Do u know what TINA and TITA mean?

BJP President coined these terms in a speech. TINA means There is No Alternative and TITA is nothing but There is Terrible Alternative.

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Tuesday, May 04, 2004

Found this article at slashdot.
What Happens To Your Data When You Die?

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/03/2037245

Interesting thought.. Have you planned anything? I haven't.

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Sunday, May 02, 2004

I left bombay (mumbai) on 4th may last year. In this one year period I have been to many cities. hyderabad, goa, kolkata, jaipur, agra, kanpur, haridwar, rishikesh, jodhpur are the main cities that I remember going to. I also went to my village after a long time (maybe 10 yrs. I don't remember my last visit). I consider mumbai as the best city ( I have not lived or been to chandigarh and banglore yet).

There were numerous occasions when I had an opportunity to go to bombay but something or other always postponed or cancelled my trip. In fact once I had 2 tickets from air india super saver offer that were about to expire if I didn't use them. The had already been paid for and nobody else could use it. Friends suggested that I should just pick a city go there enjoy the day and come back, at least utilize the tickets. But I wanted to go to Jaipur and fly kites on 14th Jan, I was going to do that after 5-6 years and Delhi-Jaipur trip by flight sounds like the most foolish thing to me.

Anyways, the point I am coming to is that I might go to mumbai on monday/tuesday. I say might because the tickets are not confirmed yet. Lets see how much the city has changed and I hope to get a chance to visit IIT and wingies.

Which's ur favorite city?



PS: Did I mention that once again spelling of my name is incorrect in the ticket, this time it says Aggarwal J. for my name.

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