Saturday, December 31, 2005

HappY New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Let the blast begin....

Wish you all a very Happy New Year.

>>> 12:00 am January 1,2006 Indian Standard Time

New Year's Eve Post : Eminem and the music of conscience

Hello Everyone,

I decided to celebrate the transition of 2005 to 2006 blogging. I'll make a post on December 31 and a post on January 1. So here goes...

What has Eminem got to do with conscience, you ask... Well, I believe him to be one of the greatest singers of this age and someone who composes music with his conscience as an inspiration.

These days MTV plays an Eminem song all the time. It is called "When I'm gone" and it's from his new album "Curtain Call - The Hits" . If you get an oppurtunity to listen to it, do it. And listen closely to the lyrics.

This song is about his daughter Hailie Jade Scott. It tells of how his daughter doesn't want him to sing and instead spend time with her. He refuses her attempts to draw attention , but he realises his mistake. He decides to spend more time with his family .

It sounds pretty stupid and dull when I say it, but this is one of the most heart-warming songs there is. Listen to it and you will be moved.

This is not the first time that Eminem has sung a song that has meaning in it. In fact most of his songs are a commentary on social life today.

Keep up the good work Eminem... We all love you.

#Wikipedia article on Eminem :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminem

>>>I finished this post on December 31, 2005 11:45 pm

Friday, December 09, 2005

Sonia Gandhi and the Propoganda Machine

December 9 is the birthday of Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the United Progressive alliance(UPA) - the ruling coalition of India. The chairperson of the ruling coalition is usually the Prime Minister of the country, but in her case it is not so. There is a story behind this.

Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India . Chacha(Uncle) Nehru, as he was fondly called by children, was handpicked by the father of the Nation - Mahatma Gandhi, to be the Prime Minister . Some years after Jawaharlal Nehru's death, Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi was considered by many to be ruthless in her rule and in her handling of political opponents. She established the Nehru-Gandhi parivaar(family), a political dynasty, as the most powerful force in politics and overlords of the Indian National Congress Party. Her son Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated and her widow was , over time, made the President of the Congress Party. Now there is a slight problem here. You see, Sonia Gandhi was born (if memory serves me right)Shania Maino - an Italian. This led to protests after the Congress party won the elections in 2004. Because this would mean that Sonia Gandhi would now become the Prime Minister. A lot of people were not very happy to see a foreign-born person heading the country. In a very shrewd move , Mrs. Gandhi relinquished the office of the Prime Minister and instead, installed the economist Dr.Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister.

If you had any doubts on who the real Prime Minister is, a peek at Doordarshan News- news channel of the state broadcaster- would provide enough evidence. I switched on the Hindi news at 8pm and was shocked. There was a small photo/logo of Sonia Gandhi in the corner of the screen. The normally dry and uninteresting reports were replaced by a slick promo of Mrs. Gandhi. It made my eyes pop out. Was Doordarshan actually capable of producing this stuff? The report went on to sing great glories of Mrs.Gandhi. It sang praises about her "great sacrifice" and her huge heart . It also showed her children - Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi/Vadera - in a , to put it mildly, favourable light. The propoganda was sickening.

There is a possibility that she is not behind this propoganda . Doordarshan has a history of licking the feet of its political masters. The Government of the day is the overlord of the supposedly autonomous broadcaster. Everyone from the executives to the reporters know that portraying the Government in a favourable light is the only way to earn their bread and butter and ensure their promotion. This is reflected in the massive propoganda unleashed by the channel.

Mrs. Gandhi would be well advised to keep Doordarshan in restraint. Overdoing propoganda could backfire very badly, as the NDA government found to its dismay in the 2004 elections.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

"Open Source" and "Free Software" - 2

Hi,

I am back after a long leave. Exams are finally over(almost). What a relief!

Last time we looked at the difference between Proprietary software
and Free software + Open Source software. We will now try to see what the philosophical differences between the terms Free Software and Open Source software are.

Open source generally means just that. The source code is openly available. Anyone can see what it is and modify it if he/she wants. The reason people support Open Source software is that they believe it to be better than propreitary software. This is, they believe, because "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" or the famous Linus Law as given by Eric S Raymond. Consider this situation - there is a particular piece of software, say a browser. You have 25 people working on the browser. The source code is only available to these 25 people. This is something like the propreitary model. ( Actually, I suppose it is very unusual to have everyone on the project being able to see the whole code in the propreitary model) . Now consider the Open Source model. Here you have more than the 25 people, in fact thousands, being able to see the code. So if there is a bug, it is more likely to be found in this model of development. You might think otherwise, but that's what the supporters of OSS claim.

The key difference between the term "Free Software" and "Open Source Software" is the question of ethics. The supporters of the term "Free Software" link it to ethics. To them the decision to allow people to view the source code is not a question of making better software. It is a question of ethics. They link software and society. They belive that it is the right of society to use a piece of software for its good. For this to happen the users of software should have the following rights:

  • The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
  • The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
  • The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
  • The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
This is a qoute from http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html .Basically, it is all "help your neighbour" stuff. The stress is on the ethics.

A point to note is that more often than not, "Free Software" and "Open Source Software" are terms. What I mean is that different people call the same thing different names. Linux is both Free Software as well as Open Source. So is Mozilla Firefox.

For more information check these links



Disclaimer : Note that I am not an expert on these stuff. Also, these stuff are pretty controversial. It all depends on how you look at it. So please don't blame me for any inaccuracies or differences in opinion

Thursday, November 03, 2005

What is "Open Source" and "Free Software"?

What is "Free Software"? What is "Open Source"? I will try to explain this in as simple a manner as possible.

Software is what does things for you when you use the computer. Otherwise it's just any other machine. To create software, we need to write codes. These codes are somewhat like English. For example :

if(age=25)
     salary=10000
else
     salary=25000

This is meant to be an instruction to the computer to do this and do that. This is not real code, just a hypothetical example. Now this code cannot be understood by the computer. We need to convert this code to something that a computer can understand. This is what we call a program or software. If you have a piece of program, it is almost impossible to convert it back to its original code. However, code can be converted easily to software. Usually, when you buy/download a piece of software, you get only the part that the computer understands. You don't get the code that went into making of the software. Such kinds of software are called "propreitary" software.

Open source means that this code, or Source code, is available to anyone who wants it. Free Software means nearly the same thing, but is different. Note that "Free Software" and "Freeware" are completely different things.

The difference is in why they want the source code to be available. Those who believe in Open Source argue that making the source code available makes the software better. Their focus is on the developement of the software. Supporters of free software are more interested in the ethics of software. They believe that software should be free - free as in freedom, not free as in beer. Often , the terms are used interchangeably.

Watch this space for the rest of the explanation...

>>>GingerJoos

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

THE RED DEVILS AND GOING TO COLLEGE

THE RED DEVILS AND GOING TO COLLEGE

Going to college is a major headache. I mean the travelling part.
Going to college means travelling in a bus at the worst time you can –
rush hour. The newspapers have a name for the red coloured buses of
the city - "the red devils". The number of accidents involving them is
responsible for their nickname. However I have a different reason to
call them that.
I usually wake up everyday at about 5:30 everyday. I leave my house at
about 8:15. Going to the bus stop I wait for the bus to arrive. Some
buses do not stop in the bus stop and when they do stop, they are damn
overcrowded. Once I manage to somehow get inside the devil it's pure
hell. The conductor gives you a dirty look when you give them the 75
paise (1 Indian rupee= 100 paise; 1 us$ = 45 rupees approx). Though
most stop there, some start grumbling about students, the student's
concession (student's concession/ticket is about 25% of original fare.
A normal ticket would have cost me Rs. 3.50) and generally make you
feel like you are a worm or something. Then the guy starts scolding
you far carrying a bag and asks you to keep it down. All in a very
impolite tone of course. Then the guy asks you to move forward and
stand in a gap which isn't there. Meanwhile you get crushed, stamped
and flattened. Yeah, even a fat guy like me.
So you get crushed, stamped etc. and finally reach kacheripady. That's
the bus stop where I catch the next bus. I wait even longer for the
bus which goes to pookkattupady. I have to board this bus and get down
at "thrikkakara temple" bus stop. Long wait over I finally catch the
bus and basically go through the same process again. Sorry, I forgot.
I pay Re.1 this time (normal fare Rs. 4.50).
Getting back home is easier. Easier, not easy. My dearest friend
complicates things for me. You see, he doesn't have the identification
card (more popularly called "concession card") which you have to
produce so you can get your concession. He was too lazy to get it when
everybody in class was applying for the card. So every time we go
together, which is often, he gives me the reduced fare and asks me to
take the ticket for him. He reasons that the bus conductors usually do
not ask for the concession card if you go in their bus regularly
because they recognise you. He says that even if they were to ask for
the card I could show my card and claim the concession. Sounds clever
except that it doesn't work. That part about the conductors not asking
for the card usually is true, but some nasty fellows are bent upon
making life difficult for me. They ask for the card. I produce mine
and they ask for my friend's card. Net result, the fellow ends up
paying the full fare.
I had different problems in the past getting the concession. In the
beginning, in the days when I was yet to get my concession card the
fellows wouldn't give me the concession and would ask me to pay the
full fare. Getting the concession card isn't very easy either. Getting
the card means getting an application from the Private Bus Operators
Association (PBOA) for which you have to produce a letter from the
Principal requesting them to give the poor kids the application form.
Then you have to fill it up, get it signed by the Principal and give
it in. Then starts the long wait. It is even more difficult than it
sounds, actually. Remember, the PBOA is least interested in giving you
the card and losing the profit that they would have otherwise have
got. So they make the issuing of the cards as bureaucratic as possible
(which means as slow as possible too).This means that you can apply
only on specific days of the week and at specific times on those days.
And guess what? Those days happen to be Monday and Friday when we have
to be in college. Thankfully, we have a 2-hour lunch break on Fridays
so the Muslim students can attend the Friday prayers. That's when we
go to get the application form and stuff. My head starts to spin when
I think about renewing the concession card next year. My God!
You have to be careful in using the concession cards too. The
"pipeline" bus stop, which is the next bus stop, is at about the same
distance from our college as the thrikkakara temple bus stop. We board
the bus sometimes from this bus stop rather than the thrikkakara
temple bus stop. But the concession card shows our boarding bus stop
as thrikkakara temple. Usually the bus conductors do not object. But
once there was this particular fellow who refused to give us the
concession because the card showed thrikkakara temple and we had
boarded from pipeline. Not all of the species are really damn mean,
but guys like this gives the fellows, who already have a very bad
reputation (deservingly), an even worse reputation.
Commuting to college is sure difficult, but hey, that's life!

GINGERJOOS

Thursday, February 10, 2005

THE RED DEVILS AND GOING TO COLLEGE


THE RED DEVILS AND GOING TO COLLEGE
name="time"/>









THE RED DEVILS AND
GOING TO COLLEGE



 



Going to college
is a major headache. I mean the travelling part.



Going
to college means travelling in a bus at the worst time you can – rush
hour. The newspapers have a name for the
red coloured buses of the city - “the red devils”. The number of accidents
involving them is responsible for their nickname. However I have a different
reason to call them that.



I
usually wake up everyday at about
style='font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>5:30style='font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'> everyday. I leave my house at about Hour="8" Minute="15">8:15style='font-family:"Comic Sans MS"'>. Going to the bus stop I wait for the bus
to arrive. Some buses do not stop in the bus stop and when they do stop, they
are damn overcrowded. Once I manage to somehow get inside the devil it’s pure
hell. The conductor gives you a dirty look when you give them the 75 paise (1
Indian rupee= 100 paise; 1 us$ = 45 rupees approx). Though most stop there,
some start grumbling about students, the student’s concession (student’s
concession/ticket is about 25% of original fare. A normal ticket would have
cost me Rs. 3.50) and generally make you feel like you are a worm or something.
Then the guy starts scolding you far carrying a bag and asks you to keep it
down. All in a very impolite tone of course. Then the guy asks you to move
forward and stand in a gap which isn’t there. Meanwhile you get crushed,
stamped and flattened. Yeah, even a fat guy like me.



So
you get crushed, stamped etc. and finally reach kacheripady. That’s the bus
stop where I catch the next bus. I wait even longer for the bus which goes to
pookkattupady. I have to board this bus and get down at “thrikkakara temple”
bus stop. Long wait over I finally catch the bus and basically go through the
same process again. Sorry, I forgot. I pay Re.1 this time (normal fare Rs.
4.50).



Getting
back home is easier. Easier, not easy. My dearest friend complicates things for
me. You see, he doesn’t have the identification card (more popularly called
“concession card”) which you have to produce so you can get your concession. He
was too lazy to get it when everybody in class was applying for the card. So
every time we go together, which is often, he gives me the reduced fare and
asks me to take the ticket for him. He reasons that the bus conductors usually
do not ask for the concession card if you go in their bus regularly because
they recognise you. He says that even if they were to ask for the card I could
show my card and claim the concession. Sounds clever except that it doesn’t
work. That part about the conductors not asking for the card usually is true,
but some nasty fellows are bent upon making life difficult for me. They ask for
the card. I produce mine and they ask for my friend’s card. Net result, the
fellow ends up paying the full fare.



I
had different problems in the past getting the concession. In the beginning, in
the days when I was yet to get my concession card the fellows wouldn’t give me
the concession and would ask me to pay the full fare. Getting the concession
card isn’t very easy either. Getting the card means getting an application from
the Private Bus Operators Association (PBOA) for which you have to produce a
letter from the Principal requesting them to give the poor kids the application
form. Then you have to fill it up, get it signed by the Principal and give it
in. Then starts the long wait. It is even more difficult than it sounds,
actually. Remember, the PBOA is least interested in giving you the card and
losing the profit that they would have otherwise have got. So they make the
issuing of the cards as bureaucratic as possible (which means as slow as
possible too).This means that you can apply only on specific days of the week
and at specific times on those days. And guess what? Those days happen to be
Monday and Friday when we have to be in college. Thankfully, we have a 2-hour
lunch break on Fridays so the Muslim students can attend the Friday prayers.
That’s when we go to get the application form and stuff. My head starts to spin
when I think about renewing the concession card next year. My God!



You
have to be careful in using the concession cards too. The “pipeline” bus stop,
which is the next bus stop, is at about the same distance from our college as
the thrikkakara temple bus stop. We board the bus sometimes from this bus stop
rather than the thrikkakara temple bus stop. But the concession card shows our
boarding bus stop as thrikkakara temple. Usually the bus conductors do not
object. But once there was this particular fellow who refused to give us the
concession because the card showed thrikkakara temple and we had boarded from pipeline.
Not all of the species are really damn mean, but guys like this gives the
fellows, who already have a very bad reputation (deservingly), an even worse
reputation.



Commuting
to college is sure difficult, but hey, that’s life!



 



GINGERJOOS



 








Monday, January 24, 2005

hello World

hello world
i am Anirudh Surendranath.i am an 18 year old first year student of Model Engineering College,Thrikkakara,Kerala state,India.i luv computers and that's why i am doing a degree in Computer Science and Engineering.
website of Model Engineering College: http://www.mec.ac.in
that's all for now.