tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-282731832024-03-23T12:52:50.855-07:00rajivnair.inBits and pieces..Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-86919729827256148402014-11-02T09:13:00.000-08:002014-11-02T09:13:07.353-08:00The 21st Century<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There are those odd moments when you stop and realize how magical technology has become. I was sipping tea next to the KLCC musical fountain and a very sort-of-metal meets violin fusion song came on the loud speakers. I reflexively reached out to my smartphone, fired up Soundhound, hit "Listen" saw the artist/song pop up on my screen, and saved it to Evernote with 2 taps and then in hit me. What I did in those 30 odd seconds would have been unimaginable a couple of decades ago(especially without asking anyone).</div>
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I mean yeah, we never got Hoverboards or power laces and we still don't have a moon colony or spinning space stations with simulated gravity, but hey, sometimes you gotta find your "I'm living the future" fix in the little things.</div>
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The song was Contradanza by Vanessa Mae</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-20874069215465778152013-08-04T10:18:00.001-07:002013-08-04T10:18:51.050-07:00Happiness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>The greatest happiness comes with the most complete possession of one's faculties. It is in the moments when the mind is most active and the fewest things are forgotten that the most intense joys are experienced. This indeed is one of the best touchstones of happiness. The happiness that requires intoxication of no matter what sort is a spurious and unsatisfying kind. The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties, and the fullest realization of the world in which we live.</i><br />
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~ Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-76343939820160823702013-07-07T08:56:00.003-07:002013-07-07T08:57:01.029-07:00Creativity and Discipline<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>Let me tell you a personal story. My oldest, closest friend is a guy who came to the United States from Latvia when he was fifteen, fleeing from Hitler. He escaped to New York with his parents and went to George Washington High School, which in those days at least was the school for bright Jewish kids in New York City. </i><br />
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<i>And once he told me that the first thing that stuck him about American schools was the fact that if he got a "C" in a course, nobody cared, but if he came to school three minutes late he was sent to the principal's office--and that generalized. He realized that what it meant is, what's valued here is the ability to work on an assembly line, even if it's an intellectual assembly line. </i><br />
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<i>The important thing is to be able to obey orders, and to do what you're told, and to be where you're supposed to be, The values are, you're going to be a factory worker somewhere--maybe they'll call it a university--but you're going to be following somebody else's orders, and just doing your work in some prescribed way. And what matters is discipline, not figuring things out for yourself or understanding things that interest you--those are kind of marginal: just make sure you meet the requirements of a factory</i><br />
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~ Noam Chomsky, Understanding Power (p236)</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-29723897878536501592013-02-24T04:07:00.002-08:002013-02-24T04:07:44.998-08:00Control<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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[Battlestar Galactica : Season 1, Episode 10 - The Hand of God]</div>
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Adama : <i>You should take a good look at yourself; I had to go through the same transition. <b>When you're in the cockpit you're in control. Its hard to give it up.</b></i></div>
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Thrace : <i>It <b>would just be a lot easier if I was flying</b> with them.</i></div>
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Adama : <i>All you can do now is wait and hope you didn't make any mistakes.</i></div>
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Thrace : <i>I never <b>wanted</b> this kind of responsibility.</i></div>
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Adama : <i>The cylons never asked us what we <b>wanted</b>. Welcome to the big leagues.</i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-26245119971608768652011-03-19T03:58:00.000-07:002011-03-19T12:23:58.240-07:00Announcing the Silpa Indic languages Dictionary client for Android<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAFSwSTJkW_0SK95I0aOiGr_7DTXXxvzWlYDiZgYdhGRZbA9y0xKsDB_qUQsZjH-3rDQyhvCdhcqLzchlBgNz6nsEv1kVxdx3oZPMiEGowmhDNWU4GcpCdZzBwt0QBPKVMBA4/s1600/snap20110320_024913.png"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu51jBtxw1ZOrf40N3gJk7X53P9fEoCY41IuDQhveJzZYBEnLRVWWMMjnwauB5NOi-9jbE4qQojVepr5a3iP2ZdoWolzi2FqT0L7mb9YI3PkH-fgIClfkMk8DirpxZPFhoAo6f/s1600/snap20110320_024857.png"></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdiKMMsThQAiNGxpjtFUh0O0TulAZpm-kLAbF9MF9vvXBmz-ZiGDf538tP63qxy-MfPAbV0pjWEwG6iP965SYEE3RbHZoqb4Xep8VJqUMTiFhEbQVxzcKkun-obNK_-gY8ZeH/s1600/snap20110320_024848.png"></a><br />Some time last week <a href="http://aashiks.in/">aashiks</a> came over with an idea that we should throw an android front end on top of the brilliant <a href="http://silpa.org.in/">Silpa language computing framework</a>.<br /><br />Even though Android inherently supports unicode, rendering of Indian languages like Malayalam etc are not supported. So when it was time to write a english->malayalam/other indian language dictionary client for android there was only one way to do it. Render whatever we wanted to display server side and pass it on as an image on the phone.<br /><br />The Silpa framework had disjoint support for what we wanted i.e<br />1. Look up meaning for a given word in a given language<br />2. Render text in a given language and throw back the text as an image<br /><br />Making two seperate calls to do something sounded a bit tedious. So ashik decided to wrap them both into one Silpa module that returns back the image in response to a simple HTTP GET, while I decided it was finally time to dip my feet in the Android SDK.<br /><br />Impressions: Android SDK is awesome, Eclipse is a bitch<br /><br />Our first running version of the client did its job but in the most fugly way possible. Being the Android n00b that I was , did'nt have enough sense to realise that HTTP calls shouldnt be made from the main activity. This resulted in the whole app freezing until the server responded with something.<br /><br />After some frantic googling I came over this brilliant article in android developer blog<br /><br /><a href="http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/multithreading-for-performance.html">http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/07/multithreading-for-performance.html</a><br /><br />The usecase specified there was exactly what we were looking for(with very very minor modifications). Couple of hours of copy-paste-type-type-type later, we had what we wanted.<br /><br />During the course of development we also ran into some minor issues with the Silpa dictionary like no response if the word was capitalized, resulting image being cut slightly at the top etc etc. All these were fixed promptly by the Silpa overlords <a href="http://vasudevkamath.blogspot.com/">Vasudev Kamath</a> and <a href="http://thottingal.in/">Santhosh Thottingal</a>.<br /><br />So finally a week after the idea was conceived by <a href="http://aashiks.in/">aashiks</a> we have a beta quality client out. It supports meaning lookups for English->Malayalam and English->Hindi<br /><br />The entire source for the app can be found at <a href="https://github.com/rajivnair/Silpa-Dictionary-Android-client">https://github.com/rajivnair/Silpa-Dictionary-Android-client</a><br /><br />You can download the unsigned apk from <a href="https://github.com/downloads/rajivnair/Silpa-Dictionary-Android-client/Silpa%20Dictionary.apk">https://github.com/downloads/rajivnair/Silpa-Dictionary-Android-client/Silpa%20Dictionary.apk</a><br /><br />Feel free to fork and may the foss be with you all.<div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "> </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSdiKMMsThQAiNGxpjtFUh0O0TulAZpm-kLAbF9MF9vvXBmz-ZiGDf538tP63qxy-MfPAbV0pjWEwG6iP965SYEE3RbHZoqb4Xep8VJqUMTiFhEbQVxzcKkun-obNK_-gY8ZeH/s320/snap20110320_024848.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585866086886001506" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 320px; " /></span><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu51jBtxw1ZOrf40N3gJk7X53P9fEoCY41IuDQhveJzZYBEnLRVWWMMjnwauB5NOi-9jbE4qQojVepr5a3iP2ZdoWolzi2FqT0L7mb9YI3PkH-fgIClfkMk8DirpxZPFhoAo6f/s320/snap20110320_024857.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585866413329941874" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 320px; " /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyAFSwSTJkW_0SK95I0aOiGr_7DTXXxvzWlYDiZgYdhGRZbA9y0xKsDB_qUQsZjH-3rDQyhvCdhcqLzchlBgNz6nsEv1kVxdx3oZPMiEGowmhDNWU4GcpCdZzBwt0QBPKVMBA4/s320/snap20110320_024913.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5585866718601783986" style="float: left; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 320px; " /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><br /></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-29309377534352874522011-01-08T09:41:00.000-08:002011-01-16T08:41:04.435-08:00The Programmer-Non Programmer immiscibility - Part 1I happened to watch "The Social Network" recently and liked it a lot. I think its the only movie in which hacking(the way stallman puts it) is shown somewhat realistically unlike Tony Stark with his transparent phones and personal AI assistants.<div>
<br /></div><div>Even though most people who see the movie see it as a story of "betrayal" or "fallout between friends" T see a more common pattern in both of Mark Zuckerberg's conflicts as depicted in the movie i.e Programmer-Non Programmer friction.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>Both of Mark's "adversaries" in the movie were not programmers. And I think in both cases the fact that they didnt actually write any code somehow lessened the "value" of their actual contribution(if any).</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I wont try to take sides in whether Mark Zuckerberg screwed over his friends or was he just smart. Being a programmer myself I'm afraid my stand would be inherently biased.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>The fact that programmers and non programmers don't mix that easily is something gets highlighted to me quite frequently at work these days. At work most of the "people in charge" are non-programmers or at least people who would answer "No" to "Are you a technical person?". Quite often we are faced with situations where decisions taken by the non-technical crowd fly in the face of basic software engineering. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>I've also realized that in most situations highlighting the problem and offering a sensible sounding solution fixes it , while in some cases and they are met with "I don't want it that way".</div><div>
<br /></div><div>But if you dig a little deeper you'll find that the difference is not between people "likes to program" and "doesn't like to program". What usually turns off the self-professed non-technical people is a "fear-of-the-unknown". Its a powerful driving force. Very seldom do people want to try something new. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>An easy analogy would be a kid refusing to learn to multiply and choosing to repeatedly add to get his answers. The sad part is that he does get his answer. But what he doesn't realize is that the time he spent repeatedly adding could have been put to better uses.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>The situation further complicates when the kid who doesn't know how to multiply is put in charge of a team in which people who know how to multiple are a minority. Its a very sensitive situation in which any attempt by the "multipliers" to explain multiplication is quickly seen as either an insult on the intellect of the non-multipliers or arrogance or both. What I've learned from experience is that aggressiveness from either side worsens the situation. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>The formation of a team with the above mentioned composition is unavoidable in todays IT scenario, since your average IT crowd is filled with programmers and non-programmers. Hence this situation cannot be prevented, however it is my firm belief that it can be dealt with easily.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>The key to dealing with the above situation is to encourage a culture of criticism and debate. When I say a culture of criticism I mean that the following sentences should come up in team meetings frequently.</div><div>
<br /></div><div> 1. You are wrong and heres why</div><div> 2. Actually what you are suggesting isn't right either and heres why</div><div> 3. I was wrong -> Personally I rate this sentence to be the most important but the most scarcely heard sentence in today's workplace. </div><div>
<br /></div><div>Ideally no decisions that impact the day to day working of a software team like new processes or new tools or new design should be implemented without them passing through a meeting room with every member present where the above mentioned three sentences are spoken.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>The fundamental difference in which programmers and non-programmers approach problems pr work in general lead into interesting questions like this one - <a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/811246/how-to-hide-thinking-at-work-so-that-the-non-programmers-dont-suspect-slacking/">http://stackoverflow.com/questions/811246/how-to-hide-thinking-at-work-so-that-the-non-programmers-dont-suspect-slacking/</a></div><div>
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<br /></div><meta equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>My office has a window with a pretty neat view of the KL skyline. Sometimes when im thinking about stuff I like staring out of it. Once my team lead asked whether i was free since i seem to have time to stare out of the window. Wonder whether i should start implementing some of the suggestions that people give in the above mentioned link.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>I'm naming this article as part one of a series because I've been writing this one for over a week and I have a slight feeling that I'll have more to add on to this in the future.</div><div>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-11172776771968920332010-12-24T18:17:00.000-08:002010-12-24T18:25:28.035-08:00Test moreMy realisation of general lack of discipline while coding has led me down the path of "Test Driven Development". I had heard the phrase before and even knew what it meant, but was too lazy to try it out. Recent events at work have forced me to take this(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test-driven_development</a>) up.<div><br /></div><div>I'm trying out Perl's Test::More package. (<a href="http://search.cpan.org/~mschwern/Test-Simple-0.96/lib/Test/More.pm">http://search.cpan.org/~mschwern/Test-Simple-0.96/lib/Test/More.pm</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div>One sleepless night and a red bull later I'm close to finishing up a simple read-from-database-generate-file batch job the test driven way.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/12/Practical%20Test-driven%20Development%20Presentation.pdf">http://assets.en.oreilly.com/1/event/12/Practical%20Test-driven%20Development%20Presentation.pdf</a></div><div><br /></div><div>^^ This is an excellent tutorial which introduces Test Driven development in Perl using Test::More</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-67527705083523169272010-12-05T06:43:00.000-08:002010-12-05T06:53:34.894-08:00Influential people- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan">Carl Sagan</a><br /><div>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins">Richard Dawkins</a> </div><div><div>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamoru_Oshii">Mamoru Oshii</a><div>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wall">Larry Wall</a></div><div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Wall"></a>- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amethystium">Oystein Ramfjord</a></div><div><br /></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03311133477858260391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-24004469277541694732010-07-25T10:30:00.000-07:002010-07-25T10:45:35.292-07:00The List<ul><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_complexity">Accidental Complexity</a></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinventing_the_square_wheel">Reinventing the square wheel</a> </li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_committee">Design by committee</a></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bystander_apathy">Bystander apathy</a> (strictly personal)</li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softcoding">Soft coding</a></li><li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimization_(computer_science)#When_to_optimize">Premature optimization</a></li></ul><div><u>Notes</u></div><div><u><br /></u></div><div>This blog post is not entirely "context free". The above list was filtered from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-pattern">list</a> of software "anti-patterns" that was posted in <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com">Hacker News</a>. </div>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-62963390922376647752010-07-17T11:43:00.000-07:002010-07-17T11:51:44.538-07:00ClarityEvery time I come out of one of the local air-conditioned trains my glasses get fogged. But I dont wipe them clear. I like the feeling when the fog gradually goes away and everything gets crystal clear again. In life, in code, in phones, in conversations, all I yearn for is a bit more CLARITY.Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-1280355258891122232010-05-09T10:30:00.000-07:002010-05-09T10:57:18.193-07:00The "Born" IdentityNo I didnt get the spelling of "Bourne" wrong. This post has nothing to do with the fantastic Matt Damon movie, but is rather my take on various identities we are assigned when we are born. Ever since I was posted overseas and after i started interacting from people from other racial and cultural backgrounds there is this comparative study that goes on inside my head where I stack up "what it means to be indian?" against "what it means to be malaysian/chinese/singaporean/australian/whatnot?".<br /><br />These internal "culture" ratings took place multiple times and most of the times I ended up concluding that "Its a good thing to feel proud about being an Indian" or "Its a good thing to be proud about being a Malayalee". I even remember Shashi Tharoor tweeting that "He was proud to be a Nair". Now, I dont know whether he was aiming the Nair votebank or whether he is genuinely proud of his heritage. But I've recently concluded that it is totally NOT OK to feel "proud" in these regards. I would phrase my stand as follows<br /><br />I am NOT proud of being an Indian/Malayalee/Brown/etc. I am just HAPPY that I am these things. Now there is a big difference between being "proud" about something and being "happy" about something.<br /><br />I insist that it is inappropriate on my part to be proud of the fact that I am Indian simply because i did not CHOOSE to be indian. I did not CHOOSE to be a malayalee. I did not CHOOSE to be born in a Hindu/Nair family. I have no recollection whatsoever of filling out an application form that said "Yes sir..ill take that family down in south india to be born into. Seems like a solid place". I just happened to be born into my family.<br /><br />I can be proud of the fact that I run linux for eg because that is something I choose to do unlike my nationality or caste or former religion. Heck you can even be proud about winning the lottery because you atleast made a choice to invest some money and play. Dont be proud about something you had no call in. Be happy about the fact that you belong to whatever country/race/${identity} you belong to. But thats it for me, no pride, none..zip.Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-31513444971501401942009-12-20T08:54:00.000-08:002009-12-20T09:06:09.692-08:00Running onIts been quite some time since I've updated this page. A lot has changed since the last post I made. The last entry was posted from the terrace of my lovely Chennai home. Quite a lot things have changed(quite fast) since then. I've moved a couple of timezones to the east and life is going pretty fine. I've always wanted to write detailed entries of what I'm up-to( you know....with life). But it turns out I'm a lousy(lazy too) writer. There is something that I realized during my feeble attempts to abstract my state of existence into a single blog post. There is always a song that does the job far better than I could have ever done. So here goes!!. The track is "Running on empty" by "Jackson Browne". Replace the 65 in the song with 2005 and 69 with 2009 and it fits ;) <div><br /></div><div> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><!--StartFragment--></p><blockquote><p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>In sixty-five I was seventeen and running up one-on-one</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running on empty</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running blind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running into the sun</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>But I'm running behind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>In sixty-nine I was twenty-one and I called the road my own</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>I don't know when that road turned into the road I'm on</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running on empty</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running blind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running into the sun</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>But I'm running behind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Everyone I know, everywhere I go</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>People need some reason to believe</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>I don't know about anyone but me</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>If it takes all night, that'll be all right</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>If I can get you to smile before I leave</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>I don't know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Looking into their eyes I see them running too</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running on empty</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running blind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running on-running into the sun</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>But I'm running behind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Honey you really tempt me</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>You know the way you look so kind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>I'd love to stick around but I'm running behind</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>You know I don't even know what I'm hoping to find</i></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><i>Running into the sun but I'm running behind</i></p></blockquote><p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;"><!--EndFragment--></p></div>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-19477619811912248432009-07-01T08:23:00.000-07:002009-07-01T08:26:26.256-07:00No ceiling<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lvWdsBA_dRME6reDW7bnUoYlx56ZOs48esntvsNl2VhhUtBcx9q-kRWYu1SBmNJPZpNi9E92-lKZXinmYqKUyFZBtjyUEj-kl1cf66VFDHpphd_zUeIRtpeX70vCSARJ0Rht/s1600-h/peppara.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6lvWdsBA_dRME6reDW7bnUoYlx56ZOs48esntvsNl2VhhUtBcx9q-kRWYu1SBmNJPZpNi9E92-lKZXinmYqKUyFZBtjyUEj-kl1cf66VFDHpphd_zUeIRtpeX70vCSARJ0Rht/s320/peppara.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353513148176730498" border="0" /></a><br />Comes the morning<br />When I can feel<br />That there's nothing left to be concealed<br />Moving on a scene surreal<br />No, my heart will never<br />Will never be far from here<br /><br />Sure as I am breathing<br />Sure as I'm sad<br />I'll keep this wisdom in my flesh<br />I leave here believing more than I had<br />And there's a reason I'll be<br />A reason I'll be back<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">~ No ceiling by Eddie Vedder from Into the Wild OST<br /></div></div>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-16561887088438868322009-06-21T06:18:00.000-07:002009-06-21T09:45:57.371-07:00Lost in the wild<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrE6PHO_eiumRo67XDhZOqb71-gDD_LIp2q8j1pmaGSnfxb8uQzemGASD_ru-XTlvFV_mIiJG9adJrDZk9jZKnnF8oQhhT16eQoJl4MtVvoklGX0PTxYKJ6J3aLbhrRAxRmFw/s1600-h/2009-06-21-183435.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXrE6PHO_eiumRo67XDhZOqb71-gDD_LIp2q8j1pmaGSnfxb8uQzemGASD_ru-XTlvFV_mIiJG9adJrDZk9jZKnnF8oQhhT16eQoJl4MtVvoklGX0PTxYKJ6J3aLbhrRAxRmFw/s400/2009-06-21-183435.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5349781412873304034" border="0" /></a><br />I've always had a thing for big open spaces. And since now my means to connect to the world wide web is wire free for the most part, I go online from my terrace. I'm writing this blogpost sitting in the dark, under the stars. The pic above was taken using my laptop's webcam right around sunset. I look a tad happy in that pic(that is something considering the fact that i make a consious effort of to not smile for the camera)... might be the open spaces thing. I'm home alone for half a week. When you are caught in a scenario like that you keep thinking more about yourself and there are fewer distractions to your thought process. I wonder thats why whether all these sanyasis take a hike into the wilderness alone to fulfill their spiritual journeys. Talking about spiritual matters, sitting on a terrace watching the stars is probably the only spiritual thing that I can connect to. There are no gods to pray to, no rituals to do, no stuff to eat, you are just there in that moment. I look around me and I notice one thing, Chennai is very different from trivandrum in the fact that it has a busier airspace. Theres atleast one airplane in the horizon in any minute. But I cant hear them, so they just seem to blend into the landscape. They can be a distraction though, especially when your looking out for stars its like, "Hey what is that kinda bright star near the eastern horizon...must be a planet...it must be saturn...holy shit its moving..what if its a UFO...nah its just a plane". Sometime in the future I intend to take a "Into the Wild" like trip(only I plan to return alive). There is something about going away to far off places alone. I dont know why I'm attracted to the idea, maybe its escapism. Only one way to find out though ;) I just hope I have the courage to decide to do what is necessary, since I've never been much of a "courageous person"Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-71003638339405464442009-05-24T11:26:00.000-07:002009-05-25T10:17:30.432-07:00Talking batteriesThis post comes out of my necessity to preserve the battery life of my shiny new lenovo. I've heard that the key to preserving battery backup is to make sure you use your battery as much as you can and depend on AC power just to charge your battery. Since i don't run a full-fledged DE like GNOME or KDE there are no notification systems I could leverage to monitor my battery status.<br /><br />Up until now I had to manually run "acpi" once in a while to check my battery status and take necessary action, and this process was a real pain in the ass especially when you are watching a movie and don't want to be disturbed. Thats why i decided to cough up a little script that would keep monitoring my battery status and "tell me"(literally) when either battery is low or battery has been fully charged.<br /><br />Prerequisites<br /><ul><li>Festival text to speech system: Festival can read out text from stdout and hence is really handy. In Ubuntu/Debian-like systems you can run the following command to install festival.</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;"><pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 250px; height: 34px; text-align: left;">sudo apt-get install festival</pre><br /></span><ul><li>A small problem with the default installation of festival is that festival by default uses the outdated /dev/dsp to access your sound hardware. Hence festival cant say anything if you are using another application that has sound like mplayer for instance. To fix this you need to get festival to use ALSA. To do that run the following command from terminal.</li></ul><br /><pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 400px; height: 34px; text-align: left;">printf ";use ALSA\n(Parameter.set 'Audio_Method 'Audio_Command)\n(Parameter.set 'Audio_Command \"aplay -q -c 1 -t raw -f s16 -r \$SR \$FILE\")\n" > ~/.festivalrc</pre><br />Now download the following file and extract its content(<span style="font-weight: bold;">battmon.sh</span>) into your home directory<a href="http://sites.google.com/site/r4jivn4ir/Home/battmon.tar.gz"><br /><br />http://sites.google.com/site/r4jivn4ir/Home/battmon.tar.gz</a><br /><br />Make the script executable by running<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 250px; height: 34px; text-align: left;">chmod +x battmon.sh<br /></pre></span><br />Now you need to setup this script to run during login. To accomplish that add the following line to the end of the file <span style="font-weight: bold;">.xprofile</span> which is present in your home directory. If such a file is not present create it.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><pre class="alt2" dir="ltr" style="border: 1px inset ; margin: 0px; padding: 6px; overflow: auto; width: 250px; height: 34px; text-align: left;">./battmoh.sh &<br /></pre></span><br />From the next time you login, this script will keep checking your battery status and "tell you" whether you need to charge your battery or unplug your charger. Do test and let me know if it works :-)Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-86909044876891100782008-07-30T12:33:00.001-07:002008-07-30T12:35:06.145-07:00I know it's not alright<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;">I don't want to be the one</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> The battles always choose</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> 'Cause inside I realize</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> That I'm the one confused</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> I don't know what's worth fighting for</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Or why I have to scream</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> I don't know why I instigate</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> And say what I don't mean</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> I don't know how I got this way</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> I know it's not alright</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> So I'm breaking the habit</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> I'm breaking the habit </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Tonight</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-family:Verdana;font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></span></div>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-48380034859752576432008-06-04T11:17:00.000-07:002008-06-04T11:41:07.938-07:00The will to willThis is one of them routine backup routines where i dump data from my head into google servers ;) A couple of days back during a "hectic" combined study session at a friend's place we ended up discussing heaven and hell. His point was that during the final "judgment" we are judged on the basis of our "thoughts" and not on our actions. To put that quite simply, it doesn't matter if you are buddha to the rest of the world, a couple of dirty thoughts and your gone. I'd like to play the "unfair" card here. On that spot I didn't argue with his point. But later that day I came across a quote that spawned the thought process which resulted in this blog entry.<br /><br /><b>Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills. -</b> <span style="font-size:100%;">Arthur Schopenhauer<br /><br />This quote was listed by Albert Einstein as one of the greatest inspirations in his life. I'd like to approach the whole heaven and hell thingy around this quote. I don't think we have any voluntary control over the exact nature of various thoughts that arise inside our head. What we CAN do is choose whether or not to act on a thought. For eg: If a person gets chucked out of the class for no apparent reason his immediate reaction(inside his head) would be to smack the teacher. But as long as he doesnt act on that thought I think hes the same good person he was before that particular thought spawned. Expand these examples to most of the so called "bad thoughts" and I believe a person can still be the same old good guy. Theres a concept in Zen buddhism which says that the mind is like a river. Rocks may appear in the path of the river and there is nothing the river can do to "avoid" the rock "being there". What the river can do is to acknowledge the rock and flow around it. The rock here is the "bad" thought. I think the actual reason behind the "concept" of heaven and hell now misses the point. It has made people more worried about the consequences of their actions than the act itself.<br /><br /></span><i>To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction</i> - Bhagavad Gita<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /><br /></span>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-44845389521024822302008-04-22T11:46:00.000-07:002008-04-22T18:28:11.975-07:00KDE 4.0<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhXpuFRKSq1PJP1KW3FaYlpHfCOED6d-32f1mjTAa0k-8Hy7DJJMkWMulSoxdAXgoicCfHCw4RDSJ9WSJEFfd6tAQoDzdmPfYNjVbAXo6d3_QsLgjBG4ccUJYY0vGv6ppuonsa/s1600-h/kde4.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhXpuFRKSq1PJP1KW3FaYlpHfCOED6d-32f1mjTAa0k-8Hy7DJJMkWMulSoxdAXgoicCfHCw4RDSJ9WSJEFfd6tAQoDzdmPfYNjVbAXo6d3_QsLgjBG4ccUJYY0vGv6ppuonsa/s320/kde4.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192144113568108834" border="0" /></a><br /> When it looked like today would be as boring as ever i decided to go ahead and give KDE 4.0 a try. Googled up and found that KDE 4.0 repos where there for Kubuntu Gutsy and that I could try it out without affecting my perfectly configured KDE 3.5 setup. It was just an 80MB download. I guess its 'coz the KDE 4 version of lots of apps is a work in progress. I logged in to be greeted by the nice and shiny KDE 4 splash screen. Ran into some minor problems when junk apps like kiba dock and avant window navigator started to run at KDE 4 startup. Uninstalling them removed the problem. I'll classify my observations into two categories :D<br /><br />What I liked in KDE 4.0<br /><ul><li>Plasma and Oxygen are truly awwsum. The visual appeal is real nice. Check the above screenshot.</li><li>As someone said somewhere, turning each desktop icon into a widget/plasmoid and enabling features like rotate and all gives the desktop an "organic"/"real life" feel.</li><li>If youve used Microsoft Windows Vista, no matter how cluttered and irritating the OS was, it did sport a very polished and shiny look. KDE 4 is has lived upto that level.</li><li>KDE 4 version of dolphin is faster than its KDE 3.5 backport.</li><li>I liked the new kicker menu. Sports a more organized appearance and finaly doesnt remind me of the windows start button :D</li><li>Truly awwsum set of wallpapers :D :D<br /></li></ul>What I'm skeptical about in KDE 4.0<br /><ul><li>Turning each icon into a widget took off the useful right click contextual menu of each icon. Mayb a solution will arise for this in a subsequent version.</li><li>Most KDE 4 apps are a work in progress. I tried out Amarok2. I couldn't get it to scan my music collection. A menu option is there, but nothing happens when i click it. Thankfully amarok and every other KDE3.5 app works just fine in KDE 4.0. So nothings lost :D</li><li>KDE 3.5 used to apply Qt styles to Gtk apps(firefox for eg). That doesnt happen in KDE 4.0. Gtk apps look horribly out of sorts when compared to the new polished KDE apps.</li><li>Even though Kwin(the KDE window manager) now provides compositing support with some GUI effects it is still light years behind the likes of compiz(In terms of features, performace and customizability)</li></ul>To sum it all up, KDE 4.0.3 has enough and more to keep me excited till 4.1 or 4.2 gets released. +1 for the KDE project :)Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-15446514082655413422008-03-27T01:48:00.000-07:002008-03-27T01:50:26.886-07:00ഞാനാരാ..<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMxyjpP9e8kMkPPPJO2bUXyXXePbZNU0nLCJPQJ8i6aMXQqxGY4L03Ss3vdLrcdisWWcdV2o8QyrtrAmmWQa7AEdGbjkhZbZt4G2XBkqZYhKx6WS_MMBSz72puRF2THlu93-ji/s1600-h/njaan-aara.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMxyjpP9e8kMkPPPJO2bUXyXXePbZNU0nLCJPQJ8i6aMXQqxGY4L03Ss3vdLrcdisWWcdV2o8QyrtrAmmWQa7AEdGbjkhZbZt4G2XBkqZYhKx6WS_MMBSz72puRF2THlu93-ji/s400/njaan-aara.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182341024547922018" border="0" /></a>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-64938393808247004892008-03-08T08:23:00.000-08:002008-03-10T12:34:13.397-07:00Controlling your Linux PC with your presence<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEDRLt_B2tX-JnS9nUklaTC5ojDFOlHifMQdb-6fpE78t7-vhX5OXi6_c4-uHZJhtdQTT61Q12lFFt7vnG-o5BwaaKnVfhJHT9y3avnHr7ifczHzNEWtG1-Z6jrAlDsAdDsEV/s1600-h/bluetooth-logo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicEDRLt_B2tX-JnS9nUklaTC5ojDFOlHifMQdb-6fpE78t7-vhX5OXi6_c4-uHZJhtdQTT61Q12lFFt7vnG-o5BwaaKnVfhJHT9y3avnHr7ifczHzNEWtG1-Z6jrAlDsAdDsEV/s320/bluetooth-logo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5175417277386542242" border="0" /></a> Well the title may be a "bit" misleading. Its literally true as long as you have a bluetooth enabled mobile phone with you. I got the idea of controlling the pc depending on the presence of a Bluetooth enabled phone from KBlueMon, a KDE app that locks the screen if a specified device disappears. It didnt work as well as I would have liked and i wanted the app to do a little bit more. So i decided to try my hand in writing a small no-GUI tool using the BlueZ GNU/Linux Bluetooth stack, that would pause amarok when I(my phone) left the area and would start playback again when I'm around.<br /><br />Prerequisites:<br /><ul><li> A Bluetooth enabled mobile phone. Bluetooth needs to be turned on but it need'nt be discoverable once you know your phones unique bluetooth id.</li><li>Standard issue bluetooth dongle hooked up to your pc</li><li>Any recent GNU/Linux distro(2.6* kernel). I use Kubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon</li><li>bluez-utils and libbluetooth-dev installed</li></ul> I tried many methods for checking whether a device with known bluetooth id is present. The standard hcitool query method was too slow for my purpose. Hence i decided to use a small function provided by the Bluez C development headers. The hci_read_remote_name function is a reverse DNS of sorts. It queries and returns the human readable name of a bluetooth device given its bluetooth address. The bluetooth address is set in the code(too lazy:D). To find out your phones bluetooth id, make it discoverable and run "hcitool scan" from terminal. Rest of the explanation is there in the code. Compile it using the option -lbluetooth<br /><br />Eg: $g++ -o sense.bin sense.cpp -lbluetooth<br /><br />To Do: Integrate into system tray and a GUI with many more functions maybe.<br /><br />Have been running the program for some hours in my pc now. Every time i leave the area with my phone playback stops and when I'm back, playback resumes(WWE style >:) ). Do try this one out if you can and lemme know how it goes :)<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Update</span>: Bluetooth id of device to be tracked is now specified as a command line argument.<br /><br />./bluesense.bin 00:17:E3:A3:59:CB <id><br /><br />Also now it performs an extra check if device not found just to ensure the absence of the device before taking any action. This was needed as sometimes the phone takes sometime to respond to successive queries and hence may end up not responding to some queries.<br /><br />Download code from <a href="http://rapidshare.com/files/98519247/bluesense0.2.cpp.html">http://rapidshare.com/files/98519247/bluesense0.2.cpp.html</a></id>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-6563928814490524512008-03-04T08:15:00.000-08:002008-03-04T08:25:37.399-08:00Live for nothing, or die for something.....Your call<span style="font-size:100%;"><a style="font-family: arial;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAjF5OsFhoEuZ5SZXrD_GZWXIFFOfp8EZMNVE9BIKyV2w12j76V6iDx3i9i-5FoXCnGFQnHbjEAG-m5O4uiEQeWiiGCOndEU9cX4023lHcd9Nf8MbF5j4LBOihdUoFffhDs_o/s1600-h/ht_rambo3038.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAjF5OsFhoEuZ5SZXrD_GZWXIFFOfp8EZMNVE9BIKyV2w12j76V6iDx3i9i-5FoXCnGFQnHbjEAG-m5O4uiEQeWiiGCOndEU9cX4023lHcd9Nf8MbF5j4LBOihdUoFffhDs_o/s320/ht_rambo3038.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5173922941886652114" border="0" /></a><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;font-family:Verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span class="body-content"><p>I've been a HUGE fan of Rambo ever since school. The fourth rambo film turned me from a rambo fan to a rambo fanatic. Heres something i found when I was googling about rambo and sly stallone in general. These are supposedly sly's 10 tips for life. Ponder on.<br /></p><p>10. Believe it! Truly, it can be done and it will. </p><p>9. Every day -- every few hours -- see your vision materializing. </p><p>8. Don't discuss your dreams. Pursue them! </p><p>7. If other people can steal your idea, most likely they will. </p><p>6. Don't be afraid of embarrassment while pursuing your goal. It's all part of being committed. </p><p>5. Being naïve in business and in understanding human nature is a recipe for disaster. </p><p>4. Study people's success stories hard. Study their failures even harder. </p><p>3. Enthusiasm is like a wonderful disease -- keep spreading it until everyone is infected. </p><p>2. Only choose a goal that -- if you had to -- you'd gladly pursue for free. In order to achieve success, you've got to follow your passion. </p><p>1. Most important: If it's not broken, break it. That's how new discoveries are made. That's why everything that changes life is called a breakthrough.</p></span></span>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-64968357453952218022008-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:002008-02-10T09:59:34.789-08:00Contemplate<div style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct07/saganDalaiLama.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Oct07/saganDalaiLama.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Carl Sagan: What would you, as a Buddhist, do if a discovery in science conflicted with a Buddhist doctrine?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Dalai Lama: Even Buddha was said to question his teachings. Buddhists rely on doctrine as "findings" rather than as "scripture." If through thorough investigation things become clear, only then is it time to accept and believe.</span> </div>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-67337579043776239652008-01-19T05:31:00.000-08:002008-01-19T06:48:19.421-08:00War.... War never changes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD-v_p5rsY6sLGE1fvdv4EdM7SjYBZdLnvdtu1zeOqqyxk3g5_kQZE2qaaI7YxRk9PEWylKlU_RAWbKihiUYwppvRqWpEwSWGHognBB8x1N8038Jgv1kEAQPibK0zYlswgDsqw/s1600-h/P1170326.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD-v_p5rsY6sLGE1fvdv4EdM7SjYBZdLnvdtu1zeOqqyxk3g5_kQZE2qaaI7YxRk9PEWylKlU_RAWbKihiUYwppvRqWpEwSWGHognBB8x1N8038Jgv1kEAQPibK0zYlswgDsqw/s320/P1170326.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5157181447046725554" border="0" /></a> That line in the title is the opening dialog of one of the greatest games I've ever played, Fallout(and its sequel Fallout 2). I played that game in my old pc, a Pentium 133MHz CPU with about 16 megabytes of main memory. So i need not elaborate about the graphical quality of the game as compared to current standards. But the game was simply an overwhelming experience. It was based on a post-apocalyptic world after a nuclear war had seemingly destroyed everything.I used to be the kind of person who believed in the early to bed principle while i was at school. And the first time i broke the 10'o clock barrier willingly was for this game. That wasnt the only new thing that game held for me. It made me fall in love with this incredible genre of post-apocalyptic fiction.<br /> Ever since the eerie experience that Fallout was, I've loved every piece of post-apo fiction ive come across. There are 2 things that attract me to the concept of an apocalypse. First and foremost its awesome. In the sense its like someone hit a reset button on the entire 'system'. Everything you know about takes a whole different course of existence. Second its the idea of being on your own, no one to dictate you, no one to give advices,.. NO ONE.<br /> The line in the title is very relevant to our present lives. It has come to some never ending relentless war. A never ending war against evaluation systems designed to test how good you are compared to your peers. Be it exams, jobs, training etc etc. This is why i crave for an apocalypse. Because then you are left with just one goal....to survive. Thats why I've pondered on the idea of a personal apocalypse. An apocalypse for the personality that is YOU or ME. An self triggered event which involves re-evaluating everything you have or you thought you had. If this post sounds nihilistic to you, I don't care :)Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-38669218551683620382008-01-05T11:10:00.001-08:002008-01-05T11:25:21.529-08:00The obsession<div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://imageshack.us/"><img src="http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/7034/0401081835nd0.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Is something that resembles the human consciousness in a very superficial and maybe primitive way, worth dedicating a lifetime? When i keep hitting the F5 button 10 times within 20 mins on one single page, is it plain addiction or is it the dire desperation to just listen to what someone has to say one some topic under the sun? The malayalam phrase "akkare pacha" has a whole new meaning to me. When I'm talking to someone, i just wanna storm out and be alone. When I'm alone its back to the key F5. To quote Mr. Bing "One of life's greeeaat unanswerable questions!!"<br /></div></div>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28273183.post-91946143344431796542008-01-04T10:23:00.000-08:002008-01-04T10:29:20.152-08:00Inspire<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCSORgwqZNkvjoy6KmRJ2NUkDdDL3dMbJJFpztlghB-vHwlXGzYO5JW32DeDuG_gI838WC-ntoy8SyWQxPMEnPFu5D4_SxbiFGEUF1lHEGB7DoNlAGIaKb5KfbxYFFnZddYqo/s1600-h/jordan.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCSORgwqZNkvjoy6KmRJ2NUkDdDL3dMbJJFpztlghB-vHwlXGzYO5JW32DeDuG_gI838WC-ntoy8SyWQxPMEnPFu5D4_SxbiFGEUF1lHEGB7DoNlAGIaKb5KfbxYFFnZddYqo/s400/jordan.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5151690198214803266" border="0" /></a>Rajiv Nairhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16699509148478019447noreply@blogger.com2