Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Are you Rich ?

















Pic ctsy -OrderFinancialGenius

The Median Income per household in the city of Houston is $37,483.

Thats 16.5 Lakhs INR per annum. :) Remember the post we had on India beating US. With that memory , think about this. To my knowledge, the average income in India would be around Rs.3000, and an annualized income of Rs. 36,000.

That sounds bad, doesn't it.

Look at the definitions of poverty in US. "The poverty threshold varies by household size. A family of three with a child younger than 18 was considered to be living in poverty last year if its annual income was $14,974(Thats 6 Lakhs Our money) or less. For a family of two, the poverty level was $12,334.(5 lakh in our money)"

That means either of the 2 things. Iam crazy enough to confuse economics, or I live well below the poverty line.

Hmmm... But God has promised to make me richer. "A Day Would Come"

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Today Is Blog Day






I dont know what it really signifies. Or what I am supposed to do for this. Yet another day in the calendar. But, if some blogger comes to rule the world or any piece of country, in the future... He would declare this day a Public Holiday.

Dont know how this sounds - "Happy Blog Day to You !"

Here's the Blog of the guy who started this all - Nir Ofir.

Let us say, You are given a chance to create such a Day, with significance. What day would you create ?

Surprise Package - CDAC

Looks like every BSNL Broadband Subscriber has received a free copy of "Tamil Software Tools".

Released by the Ministry of Communications.

The CD Contains 100 Tamil Fonts, Bharateeya (Open Source Office Suite in Indian Languages), Firefox Browser in Tamil :) , Tamil Dictionary and many more.

This came to me as a surprise. BSNL also had given a small page-let that talks about various Jargons, Factors for Speed and few other things that will be of full use to the Novice Broadband users. :)

Way to Go !! Best way to stop piracy, is to sell the softwares free.

Whoops ! Will that mean - I should work for free ?

Monday, August 29, 2005

Creativity Max !

Thanks to Kaps, for mentioning Creative Criminal. Thats a whole new different world - The world of Advertising. My all time favourite time-pass. I used to go brand hunting on the internet.

You and I receive a great deal of email forwards, which contain award winning advertisement videos. I hold a big collection of Cannes Ads in my Hard Disk. I know most of us have this affinity towards intellectual Ads.

Take a look at this posted on Creative Criminal.



I bet, most of us would take a few seconds to understand. Now, thats being creative !!

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Are you having a Routine Life ?

Are you someone, who can throw away your bags - spread your arms - get wet in the rain - and do all the *all-time-tamil movies-heroine-introduction-song* stuffs ? How long can you do that ? Weekend is over. And Monday is back with an Axe.

I am surprised. Many people are having complaints about having a machine-like life, following stereotypic time-tables and routines all day long. You would have seen some middle aged guys talking to each other.. "Enna Sir Pozhappu idhu !!! arachcha maavaye arachchukittu"

I dont know, if Iam still immature to get those feelings. But, Iam happy to follow a routine. Everyday, from the morning till night (on weekdays) I behave in a very "this-next this-next" way. I get a comfort feeling practicing these routines in the weekdays, and weekends have no specifics (except the Anjaneyar temple).

Let us imagine this way. If you do not have a routine, and you are a surprised-package to every activity, life may not be interesting. What I mean is, you cannot be having a all-day-long-interesting life. Thats boring. Do you get the point ?

I feel Iam blessed to have a Routine-life. I dont want to do Bungee Jumping on a wednesday evening. I feel happy to fill my SAP timesheet and take the usual Snack and head back home. I think that is heaven :)

May God Bless you with a Routine-Life. (No Curses please !!)

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Single Window - Curtains Still open !! No more crows

11000 Seats free. Counselling is over.

In my times, BE was so very difficult to get.

Duh !! This is how we can spoil the value of a degree..
This is how we spoilt B.Com and B.A. Thankfully B.Com is at peak these days.

The way I see it, MBA will rock for few more years..

After that ?

Friday, August 26, 2005

What you see is What is not there !! :)

Thanks to BoingBoing, that i spent the entire morning on one sing site.

Click here for 57 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena

A must see site. Though you might have seen quite a lots of illusions in the name of eMail forwards, this site is worth a try, for 2 simple reasons. Its got a few more. And its got good explanations too.

Even if you didnt have time to Zap to this site, check the following.. my favourites.

This , This and This.

Talking of which, Iam reminded of Dan Brown's friend John Langdon (Not Robert Langdon.. this guy is real). He has a lots of pictures painted on his site, and one of them keep amazing me, every single time I see it.

Here it is for you
Let me know, What you saw first.. "Optical" or "Illusion".
I saw Illusion first. :)

Thursday, August 25, 2005

New wallpaper on Photoshop Blog (Avyukta Special)

Your Opinion : Just in case you are free !

Please read this, only if you have extra-ordinary time to spend. You could as well be fed up with the topic under discussion, as it is repeatedly under diagnosis.

The Question is “Is India growing at an extreme rate, that it will over-take US of A in few years ?”

Yeah, I know. This is a crazy question which might have varied responses. Most of them might express their patriotism, and many of them see the greener side of growth in India.

But ground reality is only the statistics. A statistical study of GDP, Un-employment, Under-employment, Population, Poverty and Mercedes-Benz (?) can tell us the growth in India. Unfortunately the Internet doesn’t have the detailed (or updated) information about the math.

I will tell you what I see everyday.

I see many cars in Chennai Streets (more SUVs). I see huge counts of constructions. A majority-population of final year BE students, this year, have found a job already. Many World-Furniture shops in elite roads. More Hotels. More bike-riders with a tagged ID Card hanging on their necks. Same crowd in Renganathan Street . More Business.

Virtually all houses have Color TVs. More pockets, now, have a Cellular Phone.

But this is Chennai, that I see by 7.30 mornings.

There is a Chennai, that I believe I have not seen, and Chennai alone is not India.

More people are now affording to buy a C- Class Benz. People are getting richer. Yet, there are people who still sleep on roads. There are still beggars. They have not reduced in number. I only feel, the rich are getting extremely richer and the poor remain poor.

I understand that these situations can’t be wiped out.

We still need one person to tighten up the Nuts and Bolts on our future cars in Sriperumbudhur. We still need a hand that will pack the matches, as long as we are going to smoke. I feel, at whatever situation, the economic imbalance can’t be straightened up.

Or am I just blind to some great economic facts about India.

Avyukta's B Day !


Click pic for a bigger one.

No. Not the birthday of this Blog !

Avyukta - name of Lord Krishna - means The Crystal Clear.
Aug 26, 05 is Krishna Jayanthi - Floating Holiday.

So My week is already over. Come home for Murukku, Seedai and more.

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Google Late Talk

I should have been the last of the gang to pick up the Google Talk Invites and install it. I was seeing my GMail filled up with invitations, but couldnt install it.

First time, Im not able to do something in the office. Damn.

So, zapped home and installed the *God* talk. And How is it ? Wow !

I tried the Call feature with my uncle in Connecticut. And it was like talking real-time. No time-delays. No hick-ups.

I already have many people including one celebrity (Lazy Geek) :)

My GMail ID is keerthivasan@gmail.com. In an uncertain event of you not having a GMail ID, please email me. Join the GWorld. We could also GTalk.

"Can you hear me ?"

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Yahoo Local !



Click for a bigger picture

Wouldn't you love it, if you had a search like this ? (did you or did you not see the bigger version of the picture yet ?).

How long is it going to take to index the Chennai data and lay it down on a search. Google Local search is now slowly expanding to UK too. Chennai ka number kab aayega ?

One day, you might type in "Google Home" search engine - "My Black Socks - unwashed - Lost". And Google will return "One Pair of dirty socks found - under the pile of shirts on your second shelf". Wouldn't it be a sight ?

Monday, August 22, 2005

Madras Day - Aug 22



Paste it on your site ! Put it on your T-shirt.
Feel free to copy !
Pass on the Spirit of chennai !

UPDATE !!
New Wallpaper on Photoshop Blog, Comm Madras Day !

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Times 0f Avyukta



Put your photo on the back of a Magazine cover. More to it, you could even place text on the Mag cover, and create something like this.

I wish, someday, my pic comes on some international magazine (for a good reason, God !). Guess I should start my own magazine to get that done :(

You could do yours - here.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Kanda Naal Mudhalaai Kaadhal Perugudhadi !!

Yuvan Shankar Raja rocks. You should definitely give your ears to him.

The Land of Angry II

I made a very old post, way back in November about getting Angry. Read it here.

But then, after that or eventually, I've had very less reasons to get angry about. Not that I’ve had a peaceful life, but it was close to smooth. I wish it continues.

However there were occasions when I was driven crazy and wild. Now when I think about it, I feel ashamed of the way I reacted. I think everyone of us, would like to have reacted in a different way, when we expressed our anger. Think about it.

But I am against the verdict that we should control anger. We can’t be dumb and blocking all the anger-lava within the crater. We have to express, and that’s the beauty of it. But How ?

I had habits of throwing things that were on my hands. “Whack” they go. (I don’t do that anymore, after I broke that beautiful glass). I still think I should be doing something wild to drive the ignited anger.

Many Yoga and other techniques to control mind insist on ways to control anger. Do you think that’s right ? Well, it may be. But the way I see it, I feel anger should never be controlled. Let Go ! Let the emotions flow. I think it is emotions that drive a man’s life. It is important to be emotional. You cant be practical all the time.

People these days are trying to be emotionally mature in the name of EQ. But then, at the end of day, we are what we are.

Next time you are angry, let me know how you handled it. ( I know anand will get angry by even reading this post :P )

Friday, August 19, 2005

Sorry Guys - Vista may not work

Looks like Vista's minimum System requirements may not suit many of us. Take a look at those mind-boggling pre-requisites.

CPU
Minimum: mid-range 32bit CPU.
Recommended: 64bit CPU.

Memory
Minimum: 512MB RAM.
Recommended: 1GB RAM.

Graphics
Minimum: GPU that supports DirectX 9 and has at least 64 MB of graphics memory.
If you are building a new PC, make sure you get a motherboard that has a separate AGP or PCI-E slot.

Hard-Drives
Minimum: IDE hard disk with a speed of 7200 RPM and a 2 MB cache.
Recommended: SATA drive with an 8 MB cache and Native Command Queuing (NCQ).

I am Sure the existing computers in India, most of them are equipped with a maximum of 256 Meg RAM. And of course, AGP is never there.

Avyukta meets the minimum requirements, but still I need to upgrade to see the glass :).

Thursday, August 18, 2005

Vista Update



Click Picture for 1280 X 1024 resolution
a top class wallpaper for your desktop. ( my weekend gift to you ;)

Glass and new Window animation.
The Windows Vista desktop experience will deliver a new visual identity — translucent glass with more animation. Because it is visually intuitive, the glass helps users focus on the task at hand, whether reading a document, viewing a Web page or editing a photo.

This is one of the points mentioned in the features of Microsoft Vista. Sounds Good, doesn't it ?

Im a Software Engineer














You would have certainly got this email forward.

Someone said, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Bits and Pieces

I have a 80 GB Hard disk, and now only 2 GB is free. Thanks to my friend (Karthik Balaji), I have a whole new set of movies to be watched. hmm. I need to fund this one soon.

BSNL Broadband users may need to note this up. We may have a free unlimited download, from 0200 - 0800 hrs, every day. Thats a great news (or speculation). Wait for confirmation.

Kamal's Vettayadu Vilayadu shooting has begun (thanks to Bala-Karthik on Sambharmafia). I hope the movie is directed Gautham's way, rather than Kamal's way of making films. Kamalhaasan badly needs a super-hit movie.

Tomorrow is Avani Avittam (and Varalakshmi Nombu). If you are not in Chennai, you may need this for Avani Avittam. Think the festive season has begun. Next week has Gokulashtami (thats a Holiday for me, woohaa !). Last few months hardly had holidays, and all of a sudden, we have an outburst. Thats a good sign.

Also take a look at this - 24 hours of air travel in the continental United States.

Have a great day.

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Straight from Desktop

I’ve heard many bloggers type it up on word or notepad, and then publish it on Blogger. I mean the posts on their blogs. Now there’s someone coming to our homes to take delivery of our posts. Please welcome, Blogger for Word Toolbar.

This Toolbar helps you, type up your text and pictures on Microsoft Word, and publish it straight away. This helps in a single point spell-check. It also Saves Drafts, and enables you to open Previous posts. It certainly is worth a try. DNLD it (

Another Software that caught my attention yesterday was “Kural”. It is a all-Tamil Processing software. Also includes a “Kavithai” Word processor, which is neater than any other softwares. Tamil Bloggers can give it a try. Available here.

*Update* - I published from Word with this picture, but the picture never got posted. So, it is again your Job to edit and upload a picture. Dear Google, can you do something for this too. :)

Monday, August 15, 2005

DMaran - a Minister with some energy

Of late, Dayanidhimaran is available on all news editions and Newspapers too. It happens to many politicians this way, only if they are in some controversy. But this Gentleman is on the news, because he is doing something, something better than what other ministers are doing. Of course, Manishankar Iyer would be doing the same efforts, yet, Dayanidhimaran has clearly out-beaten all other ministers in terms of performance and reach. It may be true that Natwar Singh is sitting on delicate foreign issues, but still in terms of results (though easily reachable) Dayanidhi Maran has proven better.

Please understand, that im not inclined to any political party. But I admire that this man is doing some work, that is of critical importance. I remember the communication minister in Mr. Narasimha Rao's cabinet did something valuable (besides corruption).

Dayanidhi Maran has been instrumental in introducing a lot of schemes to BSNL and other communication sectors. His ".IN" seems to be a success. His broadband schemes, and continuing efforts to improve the services of broadband, has certainly impressed the younger generation.

It is nice to see an educated person (Anbumani Ramadoss is MBBS, you know ?) in the cabinet. Look out his website maintained by nic - click here.

I can still remember, Dayanidhimaran was nobody, weeks before the general elections. Where is he now ? whoopa !!! We certainly need people like these, working. I would like to see all the MPs, swiping in their attendance cards, and going into the Parliament - discuss strategies like what Project Managers do, and come out with results. Am I only dreaming ?

Sunday, August 14, 2005

Friday, August 12, 2005

New Picture / wallpaper on photo[shop]blog
Update : BSNL guys today informed that the 250 plan is offering only 400 MB.
Apologies for the erronous information.
I was carried away by the customer-care guys words.They seem to be unsure.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Whats your Time ?

[pic - germane softwares ]

Few days back, I was showing off to a friend, that I never wore a watch for the past 6 years. The reply was, "Know what !! I never wore a watch in my lifetime". Well, ????

There are few people in my life, I have met or I have lived with, who had some crazy idea of manipulating the time. If it were 7.00 AM, their watches show 7.15 AM. With a intelligent smile they would say "I always keep it 15 minutes faster, so that I can keep up with time.."

Thats really crazy. They realize, everytime they see a watch, that their watch is showing a time thats going to come 15 minutes later. Whats the whole point in doing so. I dont get the idea.

Can someone explain, if there is something really a time-management Sutra in having your watch with manipulated time. ?

BTW, Double checked twith BSNL. The previous news on BSNL broadband holds good. :)
I can save Rs. 250 per month now. Wow ! Atlast some income.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

JIGINA (Dan Brown effect for Gajini)

Gajini
Surya - AC Murugadoss - Harris Jeyaraj

The Music is out, and Im still on for MP3. :)

You will be surprised to see just 5 songs. And the album doesnt have a theme song. Thats a relief. Even Mumbai Express and Sachin had theme music, when the movie by itself followed no theme.

5 songs. Im already hooked to "Oru maalai Ila veyyil Naeram !!" sung by Karthik. Cute song.

Shankar Mahadevan and Sujatha voice to a song - "Rangola" with beats reminding "Thillana Thillana" from Muthu. Cant help it, huh! Worth a listen

Oru maalai Ila veyyil Naeram - Karthik. I wish this song gets noticed, better than others. Karthik's voice is very ordinary, and that makes it so very special. Im getting to like Karthik's voice for this reason - a very usual voice :)

"X machchi !" - Anupama sings this song, reminds Harris's own "Arakkonathil Aarambam" from Arasaatchi. Nah ! not again ! When it comes to Hunky music, i feel Music directors including AR Rahman dont strain themselves that much, and just place any instrument and completes the song. How long !! Give it a break, guys. BTW - Anupama has sung it good (few places are really notable).

"Rahatulla" - Nakul and Mathangi. Im not sure if this song has Lyrics in Tamil. Have to decode yet. Another fast song...

"Sutrum Vizhi" - a trend setting song. You may not like it the first time. But this one is cute, with Sriram Parthasarathy singing it along with Bombay Jayashree. Mild and wild song. Like it !!

Songs Good ! What about movie ? I have a greater expectation for the movie. Lets see.

B r o a d b a n d now cheaper

BSNL Broadband Prices Slash.

Woo Haa !! Thats a relief.

BSNL Dataone monthly rent is Rs. 250 per month for 1 GB. Thats a biggy ! This beats all other service providers in Chennai.

Talking in Ramya's words, "Chennai Dataone folks ! Let the power of Bandwidth be with you !"

Pic CTSY - Google Images

Update : The news may be wrong, as Kiruba, and even the BSNL Site says, It is just 400 MB per month for Rs. 250. Thats ridiculous. But 1600-424-1600 promise that it is 1GB per month for Rs. 250. Im not sure though. Will visit the customer center and let you know.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Cool Eyes

How do you like it. !!

Im eyeing on this Titan Fastrack eye-gear for the past few weeks. We got one as a gift to our friend. All the collections inside look cool and amazingly stylish.

Few pieces are even affordable.

I usually drive without helmets, and you guys know what is bound to happen. Cant help all the dust that disturbs the driving by getting into the eyes. So, badly need this one.

Click here to view all the product ranges of Titan Fastrack (eyegear section).

Last week, I was again in Titan world buyin a Fastrack watch for my friend. Some nice collections, there too.

One Quick question, do we have a plan to celebrate and project our Independance day, in some way on our blogs ? Someone come out with a plan. We shall execute it.

Monday, August 08, 2005

New Picture / wallpaper on photo[shop]blog

Vettayadulu Vilayadulu !! (there's no Lu in Kannada ??)


[ctsy - Avyukta's Photoshop works :) thanks to Indiavarta ]

Tamil's Sathileelavathi is now Kannada "Rama Shyama Bhama". Kamalhaasan Rocks on Kannada language with Hubli accent. I havent heard Kannada, itself. So not sure, if im prepared to watch this movie.

Imagine "Kappakhazhangaaaa !" from Kovai Sarala... this guy is a master of comedy.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

Newspaper Online - Literally

What is heaven ? Having a cup (Davara Tumbler in my case) of Hot strong filter coffee early in the morning, accompanied by the bits and pieces of information flowing in from the Newspaper.

Hope you guys saw the Ad promo for "Sunday nna Rendu !!". It kept me and most of us in chennai guessing.. what could the product be. I was having an impression of a coffee ad. Could have been Bru. But then, Dinamalar broke the suspense, right on time, without irritating us just like few other ads did, earlier.

I dont remember with which product this kind of intutive advertisements evolved, in India. Intutive in the sense, making the public guess about the product, on seeing an ad promo that doesnt display the name of the product.

I had a good email forward yesterday, and that gave me a link to a website, that displays newspapers as it is printed. This is amazingly clear in picture clarity and the fonts are good. This site displays all leading newspapers from mostly all the countries.

Economic Times, Hindustan Times, Malayala Manorama, Times of India, Times of India Mumbai edition and in Tamil - Dinamalar. :)

Click here to go to the site.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Friday, August 05, 2005

Vista Wall

Here's one of the very few wallpapers coming out for the Windows Vista.



[thanks to Jammie from MSDN ]

I had a lot of them for Longhorn. Will post up my version of Vista tomorrow.
I decided to make a Photoshop Blog, instead of a Photoblog.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

2 Photo Blogs - 2 Good

Friday Already. I’m trying to Quickly end this day, and go hug the seducing weekend. I have a backlog of movies still pending to be watched. Did anybody understand “Pulp Fiction” ? I watched a few scenes from it, but think I need a subtitle for the movie. Will post on it later.


Two photo blogs that recently caught my attention (this line got deleted when I first posted )

The photo blog of Magic Lens. The profile doesn’t say much about her (it says that it’s a “She” from USofA alone). But her photos say much about her (Dhoda !). It’s a vibrant collection of amazingly simple natural elements, enriched with God given colors. I’m awaiting to see more photos from Magic Lens. Been there ? Go Now.

Our Karthik has began his own photo blog “Memoirs”. His photo’s apart, he has implemented Google Maps in his site. The map shows the location of every photo taken. I don’t know what good it does, but then.. nice technology. Magic Lens could post the location of the photo as a first comment in her blog. (just a suggestion ).

I would like to start a photo blog too. Is it necessary that I have a camera ?

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

DIVINE CODE HAS DEALT CHAOS

Are you Dan Brown fan, then you'd certainly like this site.

Click here

The Word Jumble when the flash is loading, itself will keep you guessing and Wow ! what a beautiful flash. You gotta see it to experience the beauty of computer technology.

Initially I was thinking that the Movie may not be as good as the book was. But then, the teaser trailer and the Flash has given some confidence to wait for the movie and watch it.

For those of whom, this topic is new, "The Da Vinci Code" is a book by Dan Brown which is a story of continuous mystery solving adventure, that reveals many devastating secrets.

That is being attempted into a movie, "The Da Vinci Code". It comes from the director of my favourite movie "The Beautiful Mind". Da Vinci has Tom Hanks starring in it.

2006 is a good year with many such most-awaited movies coming up. Ice Age II, Woman with Water (MNShyamalan), Da Vinci Code, Mission Impossible 3, Indiana Jones 4(Spielberg again) and the Italian Job 2.

See if you can crack the Title of this Post !

BTW, I've added Amazon Ads to my side bar. Any suggestions ?

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Usshhh ! Private

Click on this picture, to see the bigger version.

[Pic ctsy- Boing Boing ]

You will see a Cubicle with PVCs and Cheap curtain cloths, providing the ultimate privacy to some worker in some company.

Why did we, all of a sudden, require this much of privacy ? I, personally, would require a lot of privacy when I know Im doing something really stupid. (which will be "most of the times" ). When I'am about to go crazy, I simply take a 360 scan, to find out no one is watching me. Also explore the possibility, if someone would after doing this. Unfortunately, most of the times, everyone will be watching me.. when I think Im done.

Probably, I should try and put up some curtains like this ;) This way no one will care even if I sleep inside.

But then, we seriously need privacy when thinking. Have you seen a programmer's face when he is thinking about some Logic ? Gawd ! I have. It is the most reactionless, close-to-dead face you will ever see. You will wonder if this person is alive at all.

Im wondering how I'd look.. but hey.. i never think logically ;)

Monday, August 01, 2005

Firefox - Thirumazhusai

Have you ever seen the Easter Eggs of various softwares, that you use everyday. For those who have not, here's some ways to identify the Easter Eggs in programs - Click here.

For those who are not aware of the Term Easter Egg - It means the Credits of people who worked on making the product / Software. Few softwares have them Hidden. (IE4.0 for instance, had a very interesting Easter Egg, where you would use Key combinations and some Unlocks to finally discover the Egg) . But many other softwares like Adobe products and Firefox have them explicit.

I was watching the Firefox 1.0.6 credits roll on. And This is possibly the first Tamil name that struck - Namachivayam Thirumazhusai. Wow !! He cant be from any other place.. can he be. It is kind of proud (i know it is unnecessary) to see names of Indians / Tamils / God Names in Software Credits.

One other popular name is Seetharaman Narayanan. I know many would have guessed the Software, with this name. Yep, Seetharaman Narayanan is the Third name in almost all versions of Adobe Photoshop.

I make very interesting Easter Eggs in my applications, thats difficult to crack, and that would display my photo and name. But Damn, no one uses the applications. Let me try and put up some Eggs on this blog..
Im not sure if you did - Firefox 1.0.6 updates available now.