BruLog

After a long time...

2007-11-04T20:01:00.000+05:30

Hello Blog... It's been more than a year since I last blogged. How have you been doing?

A lot of water has passed under the bridge since my last type. I am now, very soon, going to be a father. I am no longer in the land of my birth. I have travelled nearly half-way across the world and now residing in the tranquil land of milwaukee, wisconsin, USA. Oh what roads life throws in your walk-way... It was just about a month ago we were at a pilgrimage in the holy city of meccah. That was a wonderful experience which I will treasure for the rest of my life. Perhaps I will dedicate a different blog to it.

I have so many things to write about. About the friendly people, about roads, about the driving culture. So many things, which when I experience, I visualize blogging and sharing. The fast speeds of the internet are also making the habit come back.

I hope that I will be able to continue this... more frequently.

Online Spreadsheets

2006-10-01T21:02:00.000+05:30

Reminds me of the lectures I did on DWA, where I gave a view of the web in the future. The need for us not to keep data in our local drives. The liberation from Utility Software. Why would you want to buy Office software when you can do similar things online for free, AND you dont have to worry (BIG assumption) of losing data. Gone will be the days where you will have to install applications in your machine. With the increase in bandwidth, the servers can handle all your processing. All you have to do is enter data.

Have we come full circle?

There was a time when people used the server to do all there work via a terminal. Then there was the revolution of the PC. Now we are going back to the days of terminals and servers.

So what will your "workstations" have? The only thing that you need is a web browser. No need of any software. No need of an OS. Just boot your machine into the browser.

So what is the use of all the workstations' processing? Well we can donate it for "distributed processing" tasks. We will need to develop algorithms where problems can be broken into packets of independent work, and then put together to complete the BIG problem.

Since "workstations" will only become a gateway for entering data, there will be more emphasis on developing it to become more efficient in this task. The input output devices will improve. Voice recognition will be something common. Other forms of input, emotion recognition, thought recognition? Voice output, graphical multimedia "forms" to deliver output in a more efficient manner. This will open up avenues for more people to use computers. Think of the illiterate, the differently abled people.

There will be great strides made in multi-media, for sophisticated interaction between the hardware and liveware. There will be a demand for UI Engineers, and Multimedia specialists. Funny isnt it, the more sophisticated the computer becomes, the more "human" related disciplines get involved in it's progress. This, for an area of science which was known to be dissociated with the human or the humane aspect.

When will we be able to just see the screen in our "minds", i.e. projected into our eyes, without it being projected into a source for our eyes to see. The visual output will connect directly with the nerves connecting the part of the brain which handles visual processing from signals received from the retina.

Enough for now... Later...

Cygwin

2006-03-07T18:48:00.000+06:00

I've worked on it before, but somehow never felt the need for it (cygwin) until now. Imagine a situation where you want to transfer files from your windows notebook to another comp on the LAN. But the problems is that the windows Network File System doesn't work! Probably something wrong with the network settings; too many subnets here.

Anywayz, I have to find another way of transferring the files. FTP I thought. Also, I remembered a fileupload program which I coded in PHP sometime ago which I could use. I could not locate that in my NB. I was quite proud of that code segment, since it was a remote file manager kinda thingy...

Anywayz... let me get back on track...

I went in search of FTP servers and ended up with Baracuda, which also gives a HTTP file uploading mechanism. Pretty nifty util. But the problem with HTTP uploading is multiple uploads! I cant transfer a directory unless I compress the darn thing! That takes too long...

I remembered the SSH program which I used to transfer files to websites sometime ago, and thought of finding a SSH server. This led me to openssh.

Now, openssh does not have a version for windows. But it DOES have a version for Cygwin. Which leads me to Cygwin.

Cygwin is an UNIX environment in Windows. It says in the website that it has a DLL which basically parses the commands in the cygwin window and I guess converts it into a Windows understandable form.

Anyway, so I downloaded Cygwin and installed SSH, and still couldn't connect, till I realised that the server has windows firewall enabled. It was recently reinstalled and was also fitted in with SP2. Which reminds me, I have to upgrade my NB to SP2. Nah... too risky...

Anyway, I disabled the firewall (too lazy to enable the sockets) and voila, its working. Now my question is, was the firewall the original reason that Windows NFS didn't work? NM! At least I experimented on cygwin.

Reminds me of all the OS tools that were discussed during FOSSED. Reminded me of WINE, and some other stuff. Think I might join one of those groups and do a bit of coding! I miss coding... Well thats another blog altogether!

Which Discworld character are you?

2005-10-14T12:33:00.000+06:00

You scored as Carrot Ironfounderson. You are Captain Carrot Ironfounderson of the City Watch in the greatest city on the Disc â?? Ankh-Morprok! A truly good natured, honest guy, who knows everyone, and is liked by all. Technically a dwarf, but only by adoption. Youâ??d rather not be reminded that you are the true heir to the throne, but that does explain why people naturally follow your ordersâ?¦

Carrot Ironfounderson

100%

Lord Havelock Vetinari

88%

Greebo

75%

The Librarian

69%

Gytha (Nanny) Ogg

63%

Cohen The Barbarian

63%

Rincewind

56%

Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax

50%

Commander Samuel Vimes

38%

Death

31%

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Alone in a crowd

2005-08-15T15:55:00.000+06:00

It is wonderful being isolated among many. I have had one of the most productive days in terms of reading. Managed to read a considerable amount of pages of a book on Creative Thinking, online, which I would not have been able to do if I was in APIIT. Sometimes, friends can be a distraction. I am enjoying this virtual isolation which I am in!

Thoughts LZW

2005-08-05T18:32:00.000+06:00

Friday. So how was the holiday? Lot of driving. Lot of sleeping. Loads of cricket. Nothing productive. Define productive. Dreams of the future. Dreams of the new job.

Expectations. Anticipation. Apprehension. Friendly? Helpful? Back stabbers? No prejudice. No first impressions. Take it as it comes. Leave office early? Easy hours? Continue hosting? Lecturing? Travel abroad? Career? Certifications.

Become indispensable. Dependent on me. Good for me. Not good for company. Happened before. Guess where? Bottom line, do good. Be good.

Risk management. Things go wrong. What then? Plan B? Plan C? No Plan. Take it as it comes. Goes wrong? start over. Not coyote in road runner. Doesnt try again. Remember the donkey and the well.

Wedding. Life of its own. Not ours. Families'. Note the apostrophe on the plural. On track. Gantt will be proud. Clothes. Cards. Venue. Food! Oh yeah, food!

Sweet satellite? To or not to. Dreams of travel. Only dreams. Perhaps later. Plenty of time. Nothings set in stone. Can change.

Net worth. Minus territory. Fiscal management. Mistakes. Experiments, I like to call! Car. No, Vehicle. Cant afford.

Love? Comfort. Freedom. Brilliant company. Never the same. Each day something new. Something wonderful. The inner beauty. Oft interred inside. Unseen. Unheard. Unsensed by the senses. Springs forth feelings unmentionable. Incomprehensible. Can only be felt. Feelings! Serotonin? Controllable? Chemistry? Neurons triggered? Electricity? Energy? Can it be programmed? AI! The movie. The plot. Ah! Light bulb!

Friends? Colleagues? Friends WERE colleagues. Now what? What does monday hold?

Freedom

2005-07-06T11:32:00.000+06:00

They say a man has only to walk towards a dream…. As for me I have to drive a little away from the city to reach my dream software house…

Yes, I’m freeing myself finally… after 5 years of a career that was almost like a holiday to me I am finally bidding good bye. All those people with whom I became what I am, will always be a joyful memory in my heart forever. I hope I was able to add value to each and every student that passed through my hands. I hope that their dreams too will not be too faraway!

With best wishes and a heavy heart I leave this home-like heaven into a new world and a new life. Who knows what the future will bring...

MatchCount

2005-06-14T17:54:00.000+06:00

Trust the americans to make a viable market out of maths. I was watching ESPN, yes the SPORTS channel in disbelief as students from around America were competing for a MatchCount prize.

I dont know what to make of it. Initially I thought it was a product of commercialization, but then bringing maths into the mainstream isnt a bad idea. Perhaps thats what we need here, in Sri Lanka, looking the amount of Math failures at the O/L stage.

Some of the questions had me stumped, although I only used my head, in contrast to the contestants who could work out the problems. But some of those kids were really phenomenonal. The questions were tough but the answers were faster than the time taken for me to read the darn question! Another similar program is the Spelling Bee contests, again broadcast through CNN.

[Blogger's Note]

What was I thinking? The title should be MatchCount, sorry, MathCount (it seems an involuntary process. The letter "c" just gets typed). And the channel should be ESPN and not CNN. Yeesh!

[/Blogger's Note]

I think its time we had something like this in Sri Lanka.

The great get-together

2005-06-10T16:03:00.000+06:00

There we were, receding hairlines, fledgeling(?) pot bellies and a mind full of anecdotes to share. Molly's was hardly the place to meet for this band of friends, who for the most part abstain from cohol. But Molly's it was, and jolly molly of a time we had too. Isn't it ironic that a guy thousands of miles away has to come down to Lanka for people who live thousands of yards apart to meet up?The usual update of "what are you upto now?" is followed by pictures/descriptions of children and the usual "nightmare taking care of the kids but I still wouldnt change my life" stories.

The reason for the get-together was the arrival of Dave Van Sanden, a friend from St. Joseph's who I havent sighted for close to a decade! Coincidently another close friend, Sanjeewa Goonasekera, was also in town. It was Rohan Jayatillake who called me about the get-together. I managed to contact Nilantha Perera and, later, Sanjeev Samaranayake, to join in as well.

Not even a bad cough and a temperature could stop me from going to Molly's that night. In fact, I was the first one to arrive! Rohan was there next, and then a surprise, Alex Duckworth, the Peterite Head Cop! It had been a long time. Along comes Nilantha a few minutes after.

Next was Dave along with the "perahera" of wife - Auri, kid - Ethan, mum and dad. After the introductions, the family left Dave with the "guys" and went out for dinner. I must state that Dave's first exclamation was that I had not changed. Believe me, I was very happy with that. So, I thought, I still DO look eighteen! My happiness was shortlived, when someone from the clique asked, almost in an incredulous voice, "Are you sure??" and I had to stupidly walk towards a lighted area!!!

For me however, no one had "changed". The physical changes were obvious. But still it was the same person. The way they talk, behave has changed very little.

Next came Chryshantha Perera, the "tikiri" man. yes, the Seylan "tikiri" concept was his. He also manages the Karaoke bar at Galadari, part time. If only I had known this before!!!???

Sanjeewa came in a bit later and the discussions had begun!

Man, was it a long and wonderful night. Almost like breathing in a rare scent which fills your mind with wonderful memories. We discussed teachers, friends, events, etc... and of course married life, interrupted by the arrival of Tamara (aka Buddhika) Perera and Sanjeev Samranayake. Sorry, thats Dr. Sanjeev Samaranayake.

At least we decided to meet up regularly and update each other on whats going on in our lives. We are a quite capable bunch of people, who may be able to raise this association to greater heights, who knows? So my task is to set up a website for the class of 94 at SJC. Perhaps this might be the beginning of something great!

Of Raffles Place and Diapers

2005-03-21T10:21:00.000+06:00

Wow! Here I am at the heart of the Financial District of Singapore, sitting in a cafe, eating an egg sandwich and slurping up a pepsi, and of course publishing this blog. Its amazing what technology can do. Just a few metres away is the SGX or the Singapore Stock Exchange.

Feels great! Wish I can travel like this. Next stop, Wall Street. Oh, which reminds me of a cool story that a friend of mine, Nalin, told me. The Stock Brokers in Wall Street wear diapers! Reason, two things. They cant afford to miss any action, and, also the place where they stand is important. A panoramic view of all the boards is the envy of any stock broker, apparently. So they stand there for around three to four hours in their diapers. So, the next time you see a wall street stock broker who looks pissing mad, he probably is!!

Being in a lecture

2005-02-18T16:20:00.000+06:00

The best thing about being in a lecture, when you are a lecturer, is the ability to be in the shoes of the student. Eventhough I was a on the student side when I was in Campus, I never thought of the lecturing aspect of it. Now I carefully assimilate the method and approach taken by lecturers, and how they affect me and my colleagues.

For instance I found that telling anecdotes help a great deal. People who are literally falling asleep will wake up, just to hear an amusing or sometimes a story directly relevant to the topic under discussion.

Its amazing what these "stories" can do. Students whose minds have been wandering into the realm of "what am I gonna have for lunch?", "when is this dope going to finish?" "enough already, yaawwwwnn....", suddenly are all ears waiting eagerly for your story. And, I found out, the more it is closer to your real life, the better it is. It also helps build a bond bringing lecturer and student closer. There are some who may not agree about having such a bond, but I believe it is has BIG positive impact.

Another thing which I experienced is the effectiveness of group work during class. I never had the experience of participating in such activity in the traditional learning environment of campus, but my MBA has definitely opened a new door. My initial perception to such group work was, "waste of time", "lecturer hasn't prepared, so he is trying to use up some time"... but how soon I was to change this totally wrong picture on group activity.

Being involved in such grouped activity helped liven up the learning, rather than have a boring lecture to listen to. Now YOU have something to do. Even a case study, given to a group is great. Different ideas come through; some good some, well let's say interesting, shall we?

So this inturn changed the way I started delivering lectures. Started doing more group work in the class. I got the feeling some students were not very favourable towards it, but however, later, like me, I think they changed.

Waking up with a song in your mind

2005-02-16T16:08:00.000+06:00

Don't you sometimes wake up with a song running in your head? It happened today, and the song was "My Girl", you know, the classic... If you don't, then you really need a reality check. So I called MY girl and wanted to sing it to her... Only one problem though, when I called, I was kinda embarassed, and ...errr... dunno whether I should say this in public,... but I was a bit shy too.... I'm not a very shy person by nature. Anyway managed to sing the chorus at least, since I forgot the main verses.. darn....

< singing > My girl... talking about my girl
.
.
.
<fading into the background>

Commenting

2005-02-05T16:23:00.000+06:00

Some have asked me why I have not enabled comments on my previous post. Is it because I am scared of criticism? Well actually the reason I didn't want any comments is because its a declaration. It's not something that I want someone to give comments, good or bad. Some have even asked whether it is my own. I dont know whether anyone has written something exactly the same. It is quite possible if you twist the Infinite Monkey theorem that someone could write something like it. (Well, kinda, I think....)

Anyways, can anyone let me know, if there is something similar? That is of course if anyone reads this, which could be a statistical impossibility given my hiatus.

And also, on a note of humour, I applied for Google adsense on my blog. Went through the whole shenannigan of filling up electronic forms, etcetera etcetera. I was told to expect a reply after their "experts" go through the site and give their recommendations. I got the reply. It was rejected. It said, "After reviewing your application, our program specialists have found that it does not complywith our policies. Therefore, we're unable to accept you into GoogleAdSense at this time."

And, get this, the issue was "Difficult site navigation"! For god's sake, its your own site! Apparently the site was not up when the experts took a look at it. Well I'm not the one who is hosting it, now am I?

Of cuorse I did consider that I may have typed the darn URL wrong. But could this be the problem? Surely the expert could have figured out a typo?

Well there goes my dreams of owning a porsche!

A valentine ode 2

2005-02-03T20:02:00.000+06:00

Your eyes are like the shining sun so brilliant and bright,
Your walk, like the floating cloud upon the soft blue sky,
Your smile would make a million buds bloom without a fight,
Your sweet voice would put to shame an angelic choir on high...

For long have I wondered, what good have I done?
Bestowed the chance to know you, oh pure and graceful one!
Do I deserve this happiness that you have made me feel?
You and you alone satisfies my soul, my being!

Is my existence in this world to serve your wants and needs?
If so, then god give me the strength to those commands do heed,
My dearest darling , please know this, from my honest heart I pray
That god keep us together, forever, each and every day!

Big Brother is watching? And you can watch too!

2004-11-19T18:25:00.000+06:00

Happened to stumble on http://www.keyhole.com/. Scary. Its still downloading (19%). Wonder if I could see APIIT?

Eid Visits

2004-11-15T09:57:00.000+06:00

I had the fortune of visiting a close friends house for Eid. While I was indulging myself on the sweets which were so lavishly spread, many "visitors" came and went. They came in, exchanged salaams, then went straight to the spread, had a few morsels, and then went out. This whole process took the better half of ten minutes.

This was the first time that I encountered such "visits", for eid. Generally, when we visit relatives, its a tedious affair of socializing and various threats and exhtortions coming from the hosts to have more of their sumptuous food. The minimum time spent would be half an hour. What I experienced yesterday was such a "paradigm shift". Is this another one of those "instant mode" by products, I wonder?

I, however, managed to indulge myself for the good part of an hour, before finally taking my leave.

The Festival Farce

2004-11-15T09:38:00.000+06:00

Yesterday was Eid, and uncharacteristically, we ordered food from out, instead of preparing it at home. Man, the crowd at the caterer joint! What ever happened to the age old tradition of home made food and sweets and stuff. Have they been overwhelmed by the modern wave of instant mode?

And the worst part is that the food was bad. It was bland and totally unworthy of a festival spread. Guess it will have to be home cooked stuff for the next festival! Maybe I should cook... I'm sure it'll be better than what we bought yesterday.

An Event

2004-11-11T13:06:00.000+06:00

Was shopping last saturday with my sister, and as usual was searching for parking space. Happened to find a small avenue, and I double parked behind a van. The guy working in the liquor store adjacent to the avenue, told us that it was ok to park. When we returned, we saw antoher car parked behind us. My initial reaction was anger and I wanted to show it in no uncertain terms. You know how stressful shopping and driving can be, dont you? But somehow I managed to curb my anger, as the lady inside showed her five digits indicating "give us five minutes". Did I mention that there was a baby inside as well? No? Well, there was a baby inside as well!

After waiting for more than fifteen minutes, patiently, till the husband arrives, I decided to go into wherever the gentleman driver had decided to perch his good self and inform him of my predicament, and kindly persuade him to let us go. I politely asked the lady for details on how to identify her husband, and went into the photo processing joint which was adjacent to the main road. There, I tried to find the gentleman driver, and guess what? He was an old friend of mine from school!! And boy, was I glad that I behaved in a civilized manner!! He was a junior prefect in school and he would have expected that of me. It turns out that his wife also knows me by name and reputation. Henceforth, I shall be the most civilized driver on the streets of Colombo!

Ahemm!! Any volunteers??

2004-11-11T11:43:00.000+06:00

http://www.boobiethon.com/

Premature Babies

2004-11-08T11:59:00.000+06:00

Yesterday was the naming ceremony of Prithvi, the son of one of my close colleagues. He was born premature. However, his age is legally six months, eventhough he was premature by about two months. Aren't these kind of babies at a disadvantage?

Shouldn't the two months "prematureness" be deducted from their age? Then again what can two months of deduction give you. The only affect is if you are born in the border months of december or january. Then it affects school admissions. So, should it be deducted or not?

I dont use the PROXY!!!

2004-11-03T19:16:00.000+06:00

For those of you who doubt the accuracy of the previous blog, and claim that I "hit my own blogs", I tell you, I dont use the PROXY for my surfing!

The hits were based on a new surfing monitor tool which we installed on the web PROXY.

So there!!! Humph!!!

Blogspot hits at APIIT

2004-11-02T13:20:00.000+06:00

The results of the top ten hits for blog posts accessed through APIIT's proxy.

charndika.blogspot.com 60 Hits
brumoon.blogspot.com 42 Hits
feshala.blogspot.com 39
upake.blogspopt.com 21
goingetstough.blogspot.com 20
gamindu.blogspot.com 19
aravinda.blogspot.com 16
slothwastaken.blogspot.com 14
harendra.blogspot.com 14
aashika.blogspot.com 11

From 26th September to 2nd November 2004, 13:39 (+0600GMT)

Attorney At Law

2004-10-28T13:00:00.000+06:00

Why is it that it is called Attorney At Law. Are there other type of attorneys? I mean are their Attorneys At School, for example? I dont understand. Its an easy opening for jokes. Such as Whats a lawyer on a bathroom break? Attorney At Loo!! I thought of this one on my own and am very proud of it.

Evolution

2004-10-28T02:58:00.000+06:00

I hope evolution doesn’t succeed. The objective of evolution is to produce the perfect animal. Once that is achieved there would be no purpose of procreating. How boring! Now I understand the pain that Highlander goes through. Eternal Life is equal to no procreation. No wonder the one left standing gets a mortal life at the end.

Suicidal Information or Knowledge

2004-10-28T02:54:00.000+06:00

I was thinking while I was driving. This happens quite a lot. Its surprising that I get to work without scathing myself or some other helpless sole. But this blog is not about my driving, but rather it is about a special kind of information that may exist, but of which I have not heard of.

This kind of information is suicidal. No, it is not new ways on how to kill yourself. Its about information, which when released destroys itself. The best way to explain as usual is through an example. Consider a research conducted to find the quickest route to the centre of town during peak traffic. Once you release this information, everyone would be using this route and it would no longer be the quickest route. The information would have killed itself. Some of you may think that this is common with all kinds of information. Its dynamic. It changes. But my point is that this kind of information actually triggers its own demise. I cant think of any other examples to promote help my argument further.

Ideas Happen

2004-10-28T02:38:00.000+06:00

Gone to http://ideashappen.msn.com? It’s a website that allows you to pitch your ideas for money. If your successful you apparently get 50 grand to venture on your idea. The only problem is, that it is only open for US citizens. Bummer! Anyway I went to the website to enter a long time idea that has been growing in my head for some time. It’s the concept of gymnasium cum electric generator.

I have a loathing for gymnasiums where people come in to burn out excess fat. All that energy going to waste! And what’s even more astounding is that you have to pay for it!!! I wondered what people in the good Old Stone Age would do to shed excess fat. My conclusion, they didn’t have excess fat. They always had something or the other to work on, that burnt off all the excess energy that they happen to carry. Hence, the free gymnasium which would also act as a generator of electricity.

Application is very simple. Just connect all gymnasium equipment to a turbine. This turbine would generate the electricity. The gymnasium is free of course, since the sale of the generated electricity should cover the cost of the gymnasium and perhaps even leave a morsel of profit for the inventor? Wastage of energy is minimal. Any takers?

Oh my, oh my...

2004-09-29T13:29:00.000+06:00

The last few weeks (months??) has been rather hectic. Exams and exams. Sitting and making. Not a very sound predicament to be in, let me tell you. And today I find a blog from upake about my car! I must say I was pretty happy with that blog, since he makes my car to be a Ford Mustang. Whooweeee!

My online auction site is still incomplete. I wanted it to be complete by the end of August, and its October already! Something must be done.

In the midst of all this rush I did however manage do some productive work. Managed to deliver a proposal to CEO, on time. And managed to scribe an article from some wandering ideas that I had in my head, the reviews of which have been good.

I'm bored. Need some challenging projects to crunch my neurons on. Apparently working for myself doesn't work as vendesi has so aptly shown. So what else then? Maybe I have to go back to the industry? Which industry will take me? The industry does not think positively to the academic breed. They think that the academics are filled up with theories that they have lost the practical side of IT. Dont know whether this is true. Only one way to find out. Do something and show 'em! But then again I cant work for myself!!! AAAaaaagghh! A vicious cycle from which I see no escape!

We Won! We Won!!!!

2004-07-19T09:37:00.000+06:00

Ahhh! Utopia! We won against the mighty Indians! I bow down to the brilliance of the Zoysa's, Sangakkara's, Jayawardene's and Atapattu's.
Has Jayawardeneat last come up to his potential or is it just a flash in the pan? I hope that it is not a flash in the pan.

Keep it up guys! Keep it up!!

My Dream : A Lankan Simputer

2004-06-28T15:02:00.000+06:00

I have a dream, that one day Sri Lanka will be able to manufacture its own Simputer. I even did research on it yesterday during a boring workshop lecture on robotics. Can buy LCD Modules from here. I wonder whether I could use a Microprocessor for this. Anyway, a tocuh sensitive LCD will do. It is definitely a possibility. Anybody want to join me? Or would some hapless student take this upon their (able) undergraduate shoulders as a challening FYP?

Blogger and GMail

2004-06-24T17:49:00.000+06:00

Did google buy blogger because of gmail or were they mutually exclusive moves?

Megatronics

2004-06-21T13:12:00.000+06:00

www.megatronics.lk

Bob Woolmer appointed the coach of Pakistan

2004-06-19T18:28:00.000+06:00

I am a firm believer that Sub Continent teams need a foreign coach. Well, foreign meaning not of the sub continent. There are too many traditions and “seniority syndromes” that affect these teams. You need someone who instills a sense of professionalism. An attitude of respecting performance and not putting importance on how long you have been in the team. Harsh as this may be, it is the only way for improved performance. Look at Sri Lanka and Davenall Whatmore. Look at India and John Wright. And I hope it will be so with Pakistan as well. They are like an uncut diamond. Sometimes looking like something which came off someone’s back side, and sometimes playing like superstars.

The Pistons Won!

2004-06-19T18:26:00.000+06:00

Detroit Pistons beat Los Angeles Lakers. A classic series where the underdog won. And win they did with great authority! According to the commentators, nobody gave the Detroit Pistons a second look. They won the seven game series 4-1. Rarely would the word “upset” and “whitewash” be used for a game of sports. But this was close to an upset whitewash.

The Pistons epitomize the team game. They do not have a BIG star in their line up. Not the likes of Shaquille O’Neal. No Kobe Bryant. And not even a whiff of a Karl Malone. All they have are small fry who have not been spotted by star gazers. Perhaps this will change now. Chauncy Billups, Tad Hamilton, Ben and Rasheed Wallace are well on their way to greater things. Watch out for these names in the future. Congratulations Pistons!

Of Laptops PDAs and other gizmos...

2004-06-11T15:28:00.000+06:00

This isn't the first time that I owned a laptop. But somehow this time feels different. Maybe its because I have one of the latest cutting edge laptops around. (No, I'm not just saying that, its true... ) And the fact that I received a very good price for it. Having two machines on my office desk is liberating in a way. My slow office machine is now reserved solely for the purpose of checking mail coming to my office account. And I use my laptop ( remember? The one with the latest cutting edge technology?) for most of the other, more interesting endeavours, such as writing this and other blogs.

Office is not the only place to be liberated by the laptop. I can work on top of my bed. Yippeee... There were tera amount of times when I was too lazy to go switch my computer on, and so kept snor.. err... slumbering on! But now... Whoa! It shouldn't be called a laptop but rather a tummy top!

I love my laptop! But somehow my instinctive nature in smelling a good business deal is telling me to use it for a few months and sell it off for a good profit. I wonder whether I should be saying this out loud so that the whole world could see it! I mean, what if my future buyer reads this?

In retrospect there are some annoying features. Such as its weight. Boy is it heavy! But being the optimist that I am, I am going to use it to improve on my (already improved), ahem!... physique!

And it IS quite bulky. But nevermind. I didn't buy this laptop to be moving around all of the time. Only in the mornings and evenings, to and from work.

And my PDA... Poor PDA! Its feeling a bit jealous. I forgot to bring my PDA yesterday too! I have hardly even had time to look at it! (There goes all my schedules that I have painstakingly scratched!) I wouldn't be surprised if I found my PDA pouch empty one morning with a note in it from my runaway gadget!

Brawain - Brawn and Brain

2004-06-11T09:24:00.000+06:00

Brain or Brawn, the age old question. Which is better? Well, I think that Brawn AND brain is the best. Hence the term, brawain. I mean, look at the West, they have used their best brains to improve their brawn, i.e. WMD! This is a classic case of brawainism. If you look at most of the great civilizations, they were founded purely on the strength of the army. Even now we have the so called Super Powers, well, ok, they ARE the "Super Powers", they have their beginnings on the might of their weapons and armies. O Tempora O Mores!

Of computer viruses

2004-06-03T17:37:00.000+06:00

Being the Systems Administrator, I get called up for various problems that my colleagues face with their (devilish) computer. But the call I got that monday morning was exceptionally creepy. "Bru, someones controlling my computer". Working for a university we get the rare student who thinks he is a Tech-Wiz who tries to mess around and look for weak spots. My confidence in my own network was now slowly drifting away like the hair on my head. Was there a hole in the network, a weak spot which I did not see? Was there a breach!? How could I teach Network Security anymore? There goes my reputation! With these dreaded thoughts running through my mind like wild hyenas, I stepped into my colleagues office. She was staring at her monitor as if a tsunami was coming at her. I greeted her and then I too was staring at the monitor. Although, I must admit, unlike her, I managed to keep my mouth closed! And true enough suddenly there were ghostly words being typed by an unseen finger. Some words did not make sense (Is it a foreign hacker, who could not speak english?); some words we spoke were repeated! Quickly, I ran some utilities to check up on the system. All my checks returned negative. But still the ungodly words kept appearing out of nowhere. I banged on the table in desperation. They appeared. Banged again. Appeared. Then I realised that the newest machines we installed had a microphone at the top of the monitor. The latest word processing software being used by my colleague supported voice recognition! The mystery was solved. The ghost was revealed. It was none other than the voice recignition software trying to convert the sounds into meaningful words! Where art thou Sherlock?

The Surprise Party!

2004-05-28T18:03:00.000+06:00

Managed to surprise my friend Rehan; Again! We obviously cant surprise him on the day of the birthday. He smells a rat in india! So we decided to give a pre-birthday party! Wait till midnight and cut the cake and all! I am glad that my face is in still good shape, cos when I surprised him he was just about to turn and give me a shot. And with those metal enhanced forearms who knows? Arrrgghhh!!
He didnt suspect a thing. Eventhough Gamindu took him around Polhengoda, TWICE or THRICE ROUND! It was fun.

Wonder what we'll do next year!?

Errr... Ummm... Cant think of one!

2004-05-20T11:21:00.000+06:00

Hmmm... so this is blogging. I'm still to see the interest in it. The reason I'm finally getting to this, is because of a faint chance of getting a gmail account ( and the possiblity of my friend stopping his bragging about his gMail (( it should be called GBMail, really, shouldnt it?!!)) ((I wonder whether paranthese within parantheses are allowed?)) ) (Must check whether I have closed all parantheses, whats the data structure for that?..) ...ok there I go, Mumbling! I always do that when I talk so I guess its a natural progression towards blogging as well. So Im not going to edit it out. These are fresh off my fingertips. OK. Now to my thoughts. I always wanted to write about Science and Religion. I always believe the two should never be mixed. Why, says a divine voice from above? Its very simple really. Science is based on observation. Human observation. Religion is based not on observation, but on things which are beyond observation. Science is about trying to explain why the sun circles around the sky. The natural tendency would be to "theorise" that the sun travels around us. Of course it takes a few centuries for someone to ask the question, what if WE are turning and not the sun. Ayyy!! Theres the rub! But in those days of "sun circulation" people would have sworn on their dear life that the sun DID circle the earth. A kind of myopic "We know all" syndrome. But science contradicts religion, doesnt it? Yes it does. So what? Science has been changing so much in the last few centuries, that who knows what we will find out about our universe tomorrow? And will we believe it? If the nasa calls a press conference and states that the universe that we know of is just a computer program and we are just "sims" in it, will you believe it? (SimCity good games, along with Sims SimLife, SimTheme park) Remember the "sun goes around us" thinkers that I mentioned about earlier? They FELT the same way! Do I believe in Darwins Theory of Evolution. I dont "believe" in it, but I do accept it as a scientific theory. He saw something and put two and two together which others could not. It will, I guess, take a while for someone to think differently than him. But as things stand now, his theory seems justifiable. But there are great many, non-religious people, who question his theories. But I, as a humble layman, accept his theory as a justifiable rationalisation or explanation of what he "observed". Fair enough.

BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY DRIVES ME CRAZY! The zealots who carry the holy book and then compare the latest theories and say "We told you so". How myopic are they? It is almost blasphemous to compare a divine declaration with a humanistic, error prone theories (whats the word for "error prone"? Im sure theres one but for the life of me cant find it. Anyway, thats how I feel. Now, have I done enough to get a gmail I wonder?