அப்பாக்கள் பலவிதம்

 

Mixture அப்பா 

தன் வேலையில் மூழ்கி இருப்பார்.  பாசம் கிடையாது.  யாருக்கும் பிரேசனம் இல்லை .

வெளிநாட்டு அப்பா 

டெய்லி பேசுவார் (போனில்).  கேட்டதுக்கு எல்லாம் பணம் அனுப்புவார், தேவைக்கு அதிகமாகவே.  நிறைய பாசம் இருக்கிறது, கண்டம்விட்டு கண்டம் தாண்டியதால் எதையும் காட்டமுடியாது.  அருகில் இல்லாததால் பிள்ளைகளின் வளர்ச்சில் பங்கேற்பு zero

Jolly அப்பா 

இவருடன் இருந்தால் ரொம்ப நல்லாயிருக்கும்.  சிரிக்க சிரிக்க பேசுவார். நல்லா பாத்துப்பார். ஆனால் பசங்க வாழ்க்கை, முன்னேற்றம்? அது  இவருக்கு தெரியாது.

கறார் பேர்வழி 

உங்க பையன இவர் கிட்ட விடுங்க. அடிச்சு தொவைச்சாச்சும் Engineer ஆக்கிடுவார்.  பாசம் என்ன விலைன்னு கேட்பார்.

செல்வாக்கு 

பெரிய பணக்காரர். கவுரவம், அந்தஸ்து, bank balance - அடிக்கடி உபயோகிக்கும் வார்த்தைகள்.  தன்னுடைய plan முக்கியம்னு பொண்ண பாழும் கிணத்தில் தள்ளுவார் .

No choice அப்பா 

நல்லது நினைப்பார். தான் நினைப்பதுவே நல்லது என முடிவோடு இருப்பார்.

Middle class அப்பா 

நாம நிறைய பாத்து பழக்கப்பட்ட அப்பா.  பாசம் இருக்கு - காட்டலாமா கூடாதான்னு ஒரு குழப்பம்.  பசங்க பரிட்சையில் நல்ல mark வாங்கினால் நல்லா settle ஆகிடுவாங்கனு நம்புறவர்.  அவங்க முன்னேற்றத்திற்கு வேறு எதுவும் பண்ண தெரியாது.  

Super star அப்பா 

பாசக்காரர்.  சுதந்திரமா வளப்பாரு.  முன்னேற தூண்டுகோலா இருப்பார்.  அவளுக்கு ஒன்னு வேணும்னா ஊரையே புரட்டி போட்டு காரியத்தை சாதிப்பார்.

Virus

Year 2050 AD

Yesterday I started feeling strange things at house.  The microwave burnt the food, thou I set the right timing.  Couple of light bulbs are glowing dim.  Today the bathroom shower was focused towards bedroom, beds got drenched.  Even the medicine cabinet got shuffled.

I think all these things started after my son downloaded a game in the TV.  Some malware got into the home activity system. 
I don't want to call the VET(virus eradicating team).  They will seal off the house to prevent contaminating other houses.  Instead let me check if my son can fix the problem.

Hope nothing worse happens.  This is the problem connecting everything online.

Creativity

My 4 yr old daughter picked a bowling set for kids.  We started playing by rolling the ball to the pins.  After a while, she asked if we can play another game.  She defined the rules.  The ten pins of 4 different colors are placed in the floor.  First person should close the eyes.  Other person should pick any of the pins and hide it.  First person should open the eyes and identify the color of the missing pin.  We played 2 or 3 rounds of this game and it was very interesting.  It was an ah! moment to see her invent a new game.

Laptop battery maintenance

The well known tips for maintaining laptop battery is to allow full charge of the battery, and remove the power. Use the laptop till the battery is drained and recharge to full again. Watching the battery usage is difficult and hard to switch on and off. Instead the system should have taken care of this. The charging should be cut off once 100% charge is done. Same way, when the battery runs low below a threshold, power flow should be switched on.

Hope we will have this in future.

Our words over time

Happen to read a tamil saying, "KAlam pOkum; vArththai nRkkum". (reference "iniya thamizhil ilakkaNap pizhaiyinRi eluthum muRaikal" page 171). Roughly this proverb conveys "Time flies off, words stick around". What a deep sounding wisdom. When we recollect our past and experience, how true is this wordings!

Thirukural 129 gives a similar view. "Fire burn cures quickly. Hurting words leaves a scar and never forgotten."

Why are we here?

A popular and interesting philosophical question is about our purpose in the world. Why did we take this life and what are we supposed to do? Considering any living being, after birth it need to look out for food, develop skills that are passed thru gene, and find a mate. Reproduce, raise children.

Human beings are slightly complex. We not only have to find food, but find food in a sophisticated manner. Learn different fields of studies, make yourself eligible for jobs, be street smart, land up in decent paying job. Looking carefully at the job ordeal, we see that such a complex process is not only for food, but also a yardstick to reach a better mate.

Considering all angle and aspects, life seems to focus on mating and leave a good signature through your children.

Hint for sudoku

I keep playing sudoku at http://www.websudoku.com Most of the time I solve the puzzle easily. There are situation where it is difficult to make any logical move. We get stuck without able to post numbers in any of the cells.

In such cases, I usually fill all the empty cells with the probable numbers that can fit in that cell. For eg, I place the numbers 278 if these three numbers have a chance of being placed in a cell. With all empty cells having such probable numbers, it is easy to apply some deduction logic to narrow down the correct numbers.

Filling in the probable numbers is a tedious task. I came up with a simple java code that would help in filling the numbers (just the hint, not the actual answers).

Instruction to use the code:

• Install watij as mentioned at http://watij.com/webspec-api/
• Copy the java code I had placed in the comment section (placed in 3 comments due to comment size restriction)
  
• run the java code along with the classpath pointing to watij class and jars
• This will open a window and websudoku site is opened
• Settings page is accessed automatically and few settings are tweaked
• once you get the puzzle page, play it as you would do in normal manner
• When you get stuck, click on the 'Done' button in the top panel. The button name is marked as 'pauseUntil'
• we should have numbers filled now. Once that happens, continue with the game

Happy sudoku.

software for spammers

we all know about the princess with enormous wealth waiting for your help. Also the oil company needing your bank account to transfer billions of $. Wondering what kind of software tools and support these spammers use. Sure enough they have a powerful source of email ids. What is beyond them? Do they shoot out the mails and just wait for victims? How do they keep track of day to day activity with each victims?

I would suggest to go for a data managed system. Each victim is tracked stage by stage. The spammer could pull out particular record, quickly glance through the past conversation and development. Based on that, the current mediation could be exchanged. Template builders and generators could be another big plus for the spammer. Need a company establishment proof? The template engine would put appropriate date, time, place etc and churn out the required records. A visa with victim's detail is also a easy go.

Financial income from the victim could be tracked as well. This again helps in judging how much more to extract.

Data could be analyzed across the system, that is with all the victims' data. This data crunching will give interesting answers to questions like: how effective is spamming? which stage is tough to convince the victims? what strategy is working well and which is not? what is the average time to see the money? how to improve the income and increase the victims?

Wish some spammer sees this blog and contact me, not for spamming but for designing this system :-)

An idiot who sold a ship

Author: Vijay Walia
Interesting book on self help, inspirational, and a text for sales person. The most I liked in the book is the simplicity. Lots of anecdotes are given from different walks of life. Pictorial presentations are nice. Each chapter is short and crisp, with continuity between the chapters.

Not sure how much depth and stuff this book contains; but definitely worth a quick read or as a light reading.

The author address himself as 'I', 'He' or 'the idiot'. Quite confusing to know which person he is addressing. 'The idiot' mentioned in so many places seems artificial and irritating.

Mangalore design

This picture is the railing we used in our home staircase. If you go around Mangalore or Udupi homes, you will find the same design. It is as thou this area people love this and imbibed in their homes. Here is the story behind the uniform installment.

When I was looking around for such design material, the vendor gave out a brochure. I carefully went through different designs, compared them each other, choose few, rejected some. After 30 mins or so, I came up with a preference list and showed them to the vendor. He was quick enough to tell those designs were not available and pointed only two designs possible. Also, out of two, he cautioned not to go for one because it was cloth unfriendly (saree or dhothi gets stuck in such design).

I came to know about another shop with wide range of selection. I approached them and enquired about few designs. They called their suppliers in Mumbai and confirmed those designs were available. However the cost quoted was double the times compared to the previous shop.

That is how I (and most of Mangaloreans) ended up with the Mangalore design railing pattern. We are waiting for one soul to purchase a new design from shop B, so that the new design will subsequently be added to the local menu. Hope that new design is cloth friendly.

official mail

I had to send an email to 10+ folks at office and gather their response. I sent one email addressing them in general and cc-ing bunch of managers. I didnt get any response.

Then I sent 10+ emails. Directly addressing them, placing their name in the subject and cc-ing none. An email was sent to one member only. I got response from all.

Just wondering what is the key behind this situation. Did they respond because they are directly responsible and hold accountable? But managers were not informed, so they could have deferred.

Anyway I got what I wanted and a new technique to apply at such scenario.

night lights

Have you taken time to notice lights? What is about lights? While strolling in the night time, watching the lights surrounding you. The hazy yellow light from a distance street lamp, dull white light from a near by shop, the head light and tail light of a passing by cars. Some funky bikes have fancy colored led lights, bright blue, green, red blinking together. Then the faithful traffic lights, mercury lamps, stadium lights, lights, lights and more lights.

One interesting facts about these lights is the way they kindle one's past life. Some of the lights brings me strange feelings inside me. They transport to a distance past, to a distance place. A place where we had been on a night, where there was a similar light glowing as a witness. A dim light from a distance carries a dimness, sadness of its own - just as a dieing star emitting out its last portion of energy.

ok, let me save this blog before the lights goes off due to frequent power cuts.

Astronomy sun vs astrology sun

Here is a thought about astrology and the symbols used in this field.

History of fore-telling ought to have been practised from pre-historic times, may be before even civilisation formed. As hunters, they would have tried to figure the future with local gods, priest; and used tools like dices, flowers, bones, bird movement, black cream on leaves etc etc. N number of devices might have been used, but their queries would have fallen into a countable categories. will I come back safe from the hunt, can we expect a good game, will my wives and kids be safe till I return, what will the enemies' strategies ... not much of today's queries.

Anyway, the tools used got sophisticated as technology improved. Crystal ball, card reader, palm leaf prediction, Nostradamus poems, computer prediction etc. One such field would have been astrology, developed when astronomy and astronomical terminology became popular. Astrology might have borrowed the terminologies and designed a confusing tables to obscure from common man. The zodiac sign in astrology may be more of symbols and notation than the actual star and planets. Something like algebraic notation like x,y used to mean something in an equation but they don't refer the actual alphabets.

So, this again boils down to constructing a sophisticated system with hify buzz words to cheat people. Weak minded folks who cant accept uncertainty fall prey to these foretelling traps.

Power of negative thinking Part 3

Here is an authenticate proof for the "power of -ve thinking".
Happen to go thru this article on
Why Positive Thinking is Bad For You.
The summary of above article is When Positive Thinking Creates Unnecessary Stress

The summary of above summary is:
Dont worry about fixing every 'problem' you come across. Most of them may not be problems. Or the fix is costlier than going thru the pain.

a farmer's suicide

I am a farmer owning a fertile land portion near a river. I remember good times when the crop yield was high and generating surplus money. Gone are those days. We, farmers, started using fertilizers and ended up with corrupt land. We spoiled the fertility with chemicals and now suffering from surprising results.

The city used to be a distance place and we had our own undisturbed life. These days the city is sprawling out of proportion and had grown very near to us. Soon it will gulp our little village. The cost of village has already started growing up. Our life style seem to modernize and improve with city air, but that is leaving a gloomy heart at the end. Even the crops, land and water are turning impure, pollination has reduced.

I had to spray chemical bottles thrice a season. Each bottle costed me Rs 300. The seed cost, preparation, labour etc ran into few thousands. The money used to be on rotation. Borrow the money from the merchant and sell the cultivated crop back to him. Good yield goes through smooth. However, difficult times like now is what mounting stress at many points.

I contemplated on selling off the land and settling the few thousand outstanding. However with improper title records, complexities of selling agricultural land, bureaucracy etc stopped me from attempting that.

I cannot hold any more. This is too much for a tiny man - to face the gigantic problems, stir through the trouble, reach a safe harbour - no, I dont think I can do. I had decided to put a stop this flow; it is just like cultivation .. you grow the crop and cut it when rip. I see my life like that. Only that I feel like going towards rotten state. Let me reap myself.

Oh river! you had breathed life into the crops year after years, generation after generation. You had given life to all of us. In return I could give only by swollen body. Be kind to shovel it off to the shores.

The water flow is calm but strong at this time of the year. I am standing at the brink of a small bridge. Last thing I want to do is pray good for my family. Let them flourish with whatever support they could get.

A car from the city stopped by on the side of the road. Had someone seen me at stopping to help me out? No, nobody is shouting or rushing. A man in thick suite got out of the car and moved towards the edge of the bridge. He dragged his heavy frame of body over the bridge railings. That is the time he saw me. I could sense his feelings through his eyes. The same destructive forces. There was a stillness in the air. He slowly started the conversation and enquired about me. I told my situation in short and asked about him.

He: I am a businessman. Thought of givings up my life due to recent transactions.

Me: Lot of loss?

He: No, it should be a profit.

Me: How much?

He: Petty. Should be near 15 million.

Me: WTF?!!! Then why?

He: Well, it is not the kind of money I used to make. These days I am doing bad enough to get into deep depression.

I started walking back to my home.

Power of negative thinking Part 2

This is an extension theory of part 1. A broader application.

Many people complain about life in this manner, "I have been good to everyone, I dont know why things like this happen". They imply that by being good (as per their own measurements), they are bound to be showered with goodness. The expectation is that by default the system they are in ought to be nurturing their current needs and demands. Any deviation from their mind plan is considered as unfair.

Let us wear our negative hat. See the world as a horrible place with vicious people around. We will never have problem dealing with one or two bad events. It is not that we will have to be pessimistic that the system will be always bad. There would be patches of goodness, but dont expect to have it at all place, all times.

Here is the above point illustrated with an analogy. By nature a land would grow out useless weeds and harmful thorns. Manual efforts like ploughing, sowing, watering, etc would give useful yield. Same way the default behaviour of the surrounding system is not conducive for our life plans; hard work is required to turn negativity into positive results.

Thank god, got the long awaited government job

That is the title of the story.

Story:
14th Aug 1947 11am IST

Power of negative thinking

I was waiting for a craftsman to show up. This type of craftsmen are notorious to break their words and discard the appointments. They dont meet; puzzling thing is .. why dont they deny service instead of making false promises. Even if they start, they seem to drag the work and borrow more time. Had this experience four or five times with this particular workmen, also heard from others. They are branded for this attitude.

Anyway, here I am waiting for one of them. The time starts to slip. I could either tune up some positive thinking or negative thoughts. I choose to think negative. I thought the chap wont turn up. Odd things happened inside me. A lighter sense of being, with less tension and pressure developed. Turning off the expectations reduced the stress level. It was good at that time.

To keep up his clan's tradition, he didnt turn up. That didnt affect me as the negative aurora insulated me from the harsh externals.

Modern life

Delhi was chilling by the Sunday early morning fog. Grandma was shiveringly waiting at the bus stop. A skoda car skid through the wet road and stopped in front of her. Grandma was glad her grandson, Aditya, came on time to pick her. She had quite a good amount of luggage from the far off village, mainly eatables for Aditya's family. Also as this is her first trip to the metro, she had equipped herself with enough clothing to sustain winter climate.

Aditya and the car gave a warm welcome to the guest and they were on their way to home. Aditya's home is a mini villa tucked in a quite corner of the city. Few minutes of distance from the buzzing main road gives them enough silence amidst the crowd. An architect designed compact house with all essential features and tipping towards luxury.

Aditya's wife Sinu received them well. Thou married for 5 months, she had interacted with Aditya's relatives over phone and jelled nicely with them. Sinu took grandma to guest room and showed her the house. Breakfast was ready in short while and they were enjoying the day.

Grandma was quite comfortable in two day stay and got to know much about the new member of her family. One thing started bothering grandma in her visit. The bedroom. She happen to notice that Aditya and Sinu happen to come out of different rooms in the morning. Aren't they sleeping together?!! This was a shock and worried if there is a drift between the newly married couple.

Thou an experienced women, grandma was hesitant to raise the matter to the city girl. She was afraid of the repercussion of a straight talk. However she couldn't take the matter lightly. Things were bothering and clouding in her mind.

As she was helping Sinu in the kitchen (when Adi was not around), slowly grandma brought up her doubt. She politely asked without being nosey, to find why they sleep in separate bedroom. Sinu burst out a spontaneous laugh upon hearing grandma's disturbing question. She controlled her laughter and answered to puzzled grandma, "No ma, there is no friction between us; except that I need a bed lamp while sleeping and Adi want pitch dark room, he cant sleep with light. So, when we feel really sleepy, he goes to the other room!". Grandma responded with a relief, embarrassingly smile.

Stocks for the long run

When we think about stock market, immediate images that comes to our mind are ups and down of daily graph, quick money, double in short etc ... also the sad face after the bear attack. Herd mindset rules while chasing the brands and over priced items. The events are perceived more as a random act and hence reducing the trading to that of gambling.

Rare are those try to deduct some sense out of the rush. Observing the money flow and the trend. Those are the ones looking into the fundamentals and the technicals, choosing a method for their own style. They do invest wisely and be peaceful.

The book "Stocks for the long run" is for a person looking for ways to have a smooth sail through the market. The language is very simple for anyone to understand the concepts. Lots of sample data, historical facts, well researched ideas are presented throughout. Author Jeremy J Siegel puts forward many case studies of rise and fall of companies, market crashes, predictions etc.

Ever wondered how the stock exchanges list the companies and categorizes them? This is explained in a nice manner. Also there are methods for filtering out good companies. Those methods are explained along with comparison. The book touches upon other investing tools and checks the historical returns derived from them. Thou major discussion of the book happens at the American financial backdrop, there is a chapter devoted for Indian and Chinese markets and how we will be influencing the world economy.

Would recommend this book to anyone interested in making money through trading.
Btw, by 'long run', the author hints 15 to 20 years :-)