Saturday, November 27, 2004

Day of Doom coming near

heh heh.
Its going to be one twisted tale. I will be getting my hands on HL2 (G-man Edition) on Monday. And my papers begin a week after that. And my preparation is none whatsoever. And my heart wants to leap into the world of Gordon Freeman until the experience is over.

Will I be able to immerse myself in the most realistic 3-d FPS there exists, or will the hounds of chemistry hunt me down and force me to remember those ugly formulas and conversions?

Stay tuned for more. Only on this blog.

nice walkthrough

came accross this: http://www.recordholders.org
Quite nice way to spend your time. These people are brillaint(mentally or physically).

Now, let me attempt to calculate 13th root of 100digit number in 22 seconds...... gonna take time. please be back in few months.

Monday, November 22, 2004

hooray!

This person, sent me my first blog-mail. Lots of thanks. Anyways, I should still consider that my blog is in a state of obscurity as he might have stepped on it by mistake.

This really shows the pathetic stage my blog is going through. Like the great wonders that lay buried/hidden deep in the oceans of the world.

Okay, now I'm saying too much. I'll just continue to write from my heart, and lets see how everybody responds to that.

Search Engine are the most thrilling (apparently)

Yesterday, our computer teacher, had to lose her nerve over the constant chattering going on among the backbenchers of our class. Add to that the level of technical illeteracy my fellow classmates have. And all that led to one of the most exciting and bizzare description of "Search Engine" technology. Here it is, the whole transcript. no editing.

"Yes, students, be quiet. Now we move on to Search Engines. These are special websites or softwares created to help you search the internet.
As you know, the internet is also called world wide web. And on that web, there are special spiders. There are many types of spiders out there. For example robots, etc.
A spider's job is to report back the links.
Now when you search, for example, go to google, and type Visual Basic [she pronounces it Vijual. sic!], it would return you some links. What happens is that at the instant you press the 'search' button, all these spiders are let out on the internet. They travel really fast. They perform a scan of the www and return the links. The page which has most of the matching words will be displayed at the top of the list and so on."

She has to be on drugs to throw up that definition. Does she even know how the technology works? Searching the net would take thousands of years on a single PC. Hell, even all the efforts of Search Engines, combined has been able to index 30 or 40% of the Internet. God save those aspiring Computer Engineers!

I'm no UltraGeek so far, but even my short virtual span has not gone without understanding basic underlying technologies.

If anybody wants to know more about Search Engines, go to the conventional place for wisdom here

Had to post these separately

Brief History of Contra - Contra! a happy part of my childhood memories. On retrospection, I can recall it as being the first game I played on my personal TV Game System, the Sega Little Master. I was thrilled when I took on the role of Bill and got the "S" power, and proceeded to shoot down everything evil around me in first round.

Complete story behind HL2 development at Valve - not even hardcore followers of the game must be knowing some of the wisdom in this piece. Valve definitely dug up their grave around 2003-end. But now they're flying in the success of HL2, the same game that brought them death threats an year ago.

Weekly roundup of some links

Not necessarily fresh but surely interesing...

Wallmart storing terabytes of personal data - Alarming/Scary article. What in case there's a grand and successful attempt to obtain that data? What in case it gets mixed up?

Riding Through Chernobyl - Instant praise for Elena after reading this. And sad feelings abt the Chernobyl incident float up again in the mind. This was done long time ago. Elena's in for another adventure these days in telling us about the history of Kiev's fortifications

How Half-Life is a religion - To me, yes it is! No other game has been able to incorporate so many concepts and characters ever. But considering something which is under control of mere mortals a religion would be too naive.

History of Raven software - Must've been written quite a long time ago, for the games avaiable today are still under development as according to the article. Nonetheless, it provides a fascinating reading about the evolution and initial work of Raven Software and their strong bond with id software. Raven is busy developing Quake 4 at this time of the year.

Just says it right

This is one of the most hilarious cartoons I have come accross lately:
Year of the Monkey

Something to regularly look into

Anagrams are the greatest things! The genius makes up the most interesting of words from a bland passage. Being in touch with those would only help.

Usenet Anagrams Group: alt.anagrams
The best of Anagrams: Anagrammy Awards

As Sigmund Freud describes me

Acc. to Sigmund Freud, I have an Oral Fixation and Anal-Retentive Personality.
Some study on Stages of Psychosexual development revelas that fact about me. Should I be alarmed?

The link: Freud's Psychosexual Stages of development

I tend to forget

Sorry, once again, my dear blog (and those who follow my blog regualrly...nah, nobody does). I again turned my back on my virtual manifestation for the past few days.
Just consider that so many of my revolutionary thoughts have gone into oblivion...only if i would've padded them or put them up here.
Anyways, just like before, I again vow to keep the postings up-to-date. And this post will be followed by many in a matter of minutes.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Realising the Importance

The shocking incident of the most astute and optimistic friend of mine commiting suicide still creates ripples in my heart. The question of "WHY" beats louder than ever, and will so for the rest of my life. I've never seen a diamond lose its brilliance this quick. A snap and its all gone. Ah the Devil!

But its a moment of realisation that somethings can't be taken for granted, especially friends. Being the closed character my friend had developed himself into, slowly, over a couple of months, was his cause of giving up. After our school days together, distance grew to some extent. The regular monthly or bi-monthly hang-outs or online parties were there, but that wasn't something to replace physical interaction. His life grew darker. He cocooned himself more and more. And one day he found there was nobody to insipire him, rejuvenate his lost spirit, and make him realise the amazing precision with which life injects its doses of love, laughter, tension, anger, guilt, etc. A lonely soul scared from the planet, and whose heart cannot bear the self-assumed defeat went on the wrong track for all the wrong reasons.

The tears in his eyes, the last words he said, the last regrets he expressed, the last love he spoke of, the memories he recollected, the chaos in which he committed the ultimate sin.............................

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Remorse forever

Death, it seems always shows its ugly face to me. Instead of seeing it as a continuation beyond the celeberation called "life", I have formed opinions of it being the most distressing and depressing thing that could break you apart forever.

First to go was my Uncle's Father. Brain dead in a horrible accident.
Next was my pet Cocker Spaniel Ben (I), short for Ben Hur. The most tragic of deaths. Choked to death in my vehicle which was like an oven during the summers. I'll love him till the end of my life.
And yesterday came the shock. One of my best friends had committed suicide.

Out of nowhere did the news strike me. Like a spear through my heart. Defying any logic. The most prudent, astutde, shrewd, professional person I had known had succumbed to a moment of the devil. One whose thoughts resonated with mine, and the one our group always looked up to is no more. Shower all praises on him, and you still would be looking for more. He was consummate in every action and dedication of his.
I cannot convince myself to feel sad about him as there was nothing wrong or tragic going on in his life. Tears are hard to flow down as there is a feeling of absolute anger for the life he wasted. Lately I am not aware if anything that might have happened to the extreme, but it couldn't be that big in any possibility, that it would drive him to suicide.

May he R.I.P. My heart will always cry for him. Its sad that the planet lost one of the very few revolutionaries.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

One hella Democrat

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/election2004.jsp?feature=ne_election5

the pic of jubilant bush along with his wife, when put to closer scrutiny revelaed it had been uploaded originally as "asshole.jpg" (now, after few hrs they have changed the pic name). that's one freaked out, angry democrat who was responsible for uploading the file.

Finding My Niche

Even after being a computer freek/geek for years, I have never turned towards IRC or usenet. Never taken them seriously. So far, I was content with the topmost layer of the www. Didn't care to delve deeper into the cave to hunt for gold.

But I have had enough. I am being maimed from the inside, mentally. All courtesy the most uninspiring, talentless, non-creative, disdainful crowd I've come to know in my new college. They somehow find nectar in trifling, abuse-laden conversations. And obviously, none of them like computers. Internet is all bout "googling" and "ogling" to them.

IRC my first target. Not that I'm completely new to it. It was, after all, the progenitor to my large book collection. Originaly introduced by my cousin as chatting tool. Lets see... I'm only beginning to complete myself.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Indian Parliaments: benifit for the country, harmful to the ministers

Today, the news channels were talking about the Orissan Parliament, where the ministers lost their heads, to such an extent, that they took out Sandals, Shoes, Microphones, Chairs, anything they could find; and started hurtling them at the opposition. In the end, the Chief Minister of Orissa ended up injured and few ministers arrested. Grasping the occastion, and seeing so many unforseen (and humorous) happenings in the Indian Parliaments, I made a little joke of it:


Regular Indian Adventure Story: Ram and his friends were walking on the deserted road. With no village lights nearby, to expect refuge for the night would be too optimistic of a thought. Suddenly Raja, walking besides Ram froze. He had heard a rustling in the bushes. And how correct was he, for out jumped a band of robbers. Ram took out his bow&arrow, Raja yielded his axe, everybody else took a defensive position..............

The Parliament Adventure Story: Ram and his friends were walking on the deserted road. With no village lights nearby, to expect refuge for the night would be too optimistic of a thought. Suddenly Raja, walking besides Ram froze. He had heard a rustling in the bushes. And how correct was he, for out jumped a band of robbers. Ram took out his chair, Raja yielded his microphone, the others almost instantaneously had their shoes and sandals in their hands. You see, they were Ministers.

Together we shall...and we will

Ah, getting to see sunshine 10.5 hrs before Americans do is always a good thing. At least I feel secure and assured much sooner than they do. Well, nobody can be more insecure than the Americans at this time. Presidential Poll coming up, Osama threatening another act of terrorism, Bush in his crazy self, Kerry in his mimsy self, Europe carefully observing every breath one takes. If not one, then the other problem would get the citizens. Get ready to me maimed US comrades! The giant which goes by the name of US is surrounded from all sides by Gods of Wrath.

Being from a developing country has its advantages. People express disgust at us rather than scorn. Very unlike US, for which people either have respect or straightaway contempt, we are still given a chance to modify our image in planet's eyes.

Being overlooked is advantageous. There are so many plans, that people don't know, quietly reforming the society. Agreed, India is haven for corruption. Security is bought, not provided.
But its also the place you'll find the purest and unspoilt souls. The educated man keeps away from drinking and smoking. Women are getting empowerment. Programmers working abroad are feeding enough moolah to the country's hungry vaults. Children growing up learning from the negative aspects of excess freedom from the US and alike. The rural man still tries to earn a respectable job and not resort to joining dacoit gangs. Exactly not secular, but people still deal with other religions with respect, unless sparked by some flying rumours.

Without any ostentatious display, Laxmi Mittal has now grown to a business magnate, his father being at the lower rungs of society in the past. Reliance is zooming towards global domination. Narayan Krishnamurthy drove Infosys from a one-flat startup to global threat. So many Indian hands are constantly at work to carve out almost all of the softwares. India currently is hub for so many unrecognized stuff the world is usually obscure from.

Hear ye! Hear ye! Indians gonna be back with a vengeance.