Sinthanaigal ...

Deals2buy

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Sun, 03 May 2009 07:59:00 +0000

Online retailers in the US are famous for giving good "deals" regularly. And there are many websites which summarize these deals on one page. The one I use is deals2buy.com. They have a good list of deals on various products/services and continuously update them as and when required.

The link is: http://www.deals2buy.com/

An Apple a day ..

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:49:00 +0000

A very interesting read that I came across : How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong. It discusses in depth, with many examples, Apple's (and thus Steve Job's) selling strategy for their products. The question of openness and partnerships with distributors is discussed in depth. Even though Apple did everything wrong (from the viewpoint of selling strategy), they still have been able to attract helluva lot of attention for their products. Some of the anecdotes described are unbelievable to read.

Highly recommended read.

Media Library

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:50:00 +0000

I have added a new blog for any media content that I find interesting on the web (videos, photographs etc).

Link: My Media Library

What is this about ?

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:22:00 +0000

What should I write about after this long hiatus ? That I am lying half asleep at 2:30 am wondering why I haven't updated by blog for such a long time ? That I was just reading through all my previous posts and feeling those wonderful yet painful pangs of nostalgia ? Or that I just took a complete week off sacing out ? Will my sinthanaigals continue .... ? Such an ironic question isn't it ?

PS: Just avoided a 1 year anniversary of no blogs :D

We are Virginia Tech !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:49:00 +0000

I am putting down some of my thoughts here regarding the unfortunate incident at Virginia Tech. As a Hokie myself, I am very sad for what happened. These may appear like ramblings to you ... please bear with me.

Monday was a sad day in the history of any educational institution. Such maniacal massacre is not what a place of learning and education should witness. More than the number of people affected, I was struck senseless by the manner in which they were affected and the inexplicable rage of the killer.

We, as Indians, have lost two of our fellow countrymen in Monday's massacre. Prof. G.V. Loganathan was called the "Master of measurements" and the "Father of Fluids" by some of his students in one of the facebook sites. I have always felt that a professor is worth much more than his/her life - he/she is worth the lives of all the students who have learnt something or have got inspiration from him/her. Minal Panchal, even though I didnt know her personally very well, was a very sweet person with a smile on her face always. I had observed her to be a reticent but fun loving person. As a student, I cant imagine what she should have gone through in the final moments of her life. I pray to the Almighty to bless their souls and keep them close with Him. Oh God .. please give their families the necessary mental strength and support to tide through these difficult times.

I know that these incidents are not something which can be explained by any mortal. Its something which is so deeply psychological that it can never be prevented. The media has been talking about how this incident could have been avoided - my own personal opinion is that this incident could never have been avoided with any sort of security measures/checks in place. One of the sites I was browsing had explained that there are different ways by which our thoughts can be kept to ourselves and not expressed outside. I believe, in this case, that the killer had been very thorough in his preparations and was very much determined to make his mission succeed. If only his determination had been funnelled into more constructive means ....

I am at a loss with relating to the killer on his motives for the executions he has performed. I have never considered VT to be a place where there is a huge economic disparity between the students. Its not a place where one observes any glaring difference in lifestyles.

I have not taken any pictures of the tragedy or the aftermaths out of respect for all the individuals affected by the incident in any form. I agree that the world needs to know what has happened and how. But the media is already doing their job (to the point of being obtrusive even). I feel that people would like to keep such moments close at heart and its not something for publicity.

As they say : "Time is the best healer". As time passes on, we will come to terms with what has happened and continue our life's journey. As Nikki Giovanni said : "We are sad today, and we will be sad for quite a while. We are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning." But the human spirit is something which is unstoppable. Even in the face of any adversity, it will continue its journey and do everything it can to prevail itself upon the face of the planet !

"We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and
through all our sadness ... We will prevail. We will prevail. We will
prevail. WE ARE VIRGINIA TECH !!"

I would like to sincerely request all of you reading this post to put in their comments and views on what has happened. It will be of great help to know of others feelings and share our views.

Sequoia View

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:08:00 +0000

Came across this pseudo useful tool called SequoiaView as part of the Information Visualization class. Its a file explorer that allows you to "visualize" the hard disk in terms of the size and types of files.

Well .. the above image is how my hard disk "looks" like. I feel this tool useful in situations when you want to free up free space and want to find out the biggest chunks. The first time I used it, I freed up close to 2 GB in my hard disk of unused files ! Now, thats something !! But of course, it cant replace explorer. Its more like a supplementary "nice-to-have" thing. (One bad thing which I hate about this tool is its huge startup and refresh time where it scanning the whole hard drive.

PS : BTW, the orangish and grey files displayed above are AVI and video files while the green ones are MP3. Now you know what kind of files I have in my hard disk ;)

Up and running !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:42:00 +0000

Ok ppl .. The zillionth webpage is up ! I've been wanting to put up this website for myself for a looong time. Finally got the motivation to get this done a few weeks ago. With enough motivation and zeal backing me up (along with my poor HTML skills), I fished out a decent looking open source template. A few decent mods later, I had what I felt was a simple looking yet elegant template.

Next step - the harder one - was to collect the 'material' to put up. I was absolutely clueless ! I started looking around in friend's websites and came up with some standard stuff about myself. (There is nothing much to say about me !). With many HTML and CSS editings later on, I decided that enough was enough and decided to launch version one dot oh of my site. I feel all ye people reading until this point would not mind taking another 2 minutes to go through my website also ! Leave me your valuable comments/suggestions.

Check it out at http://www.cs.vt.edu/~cnganesh. Also aliased at http://people.cs.vt.edu/~cnganesh

Chilling out at ATL ...

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 16:57:00 +0000

Well .. Yours truly reporting from Atlanta from my sister's place. Having a nice time with my periammai, akka, athimber and my two nephews. :) My periappa, anna, manni and another nephew are coming tomorrow. Now thats a lot of family members !!

Having great home cooked delicious food after a rather loong time. Not that we are bad cooks. But the experience of relaxing at home and having home food is always different !

Watched Varalaaru yesterday. Nothing great in the movie except Asin. :) (I interestingly noted today that Asin hails from Kerala - her tamil is pretty much spotless !) Songs weren't too good I felt.

Quiz

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 17:49:00 +0000

Who would ever think that I could even get a prize in a quiz competition !! Well .. surprise ... I got the first prize for the GLC international quiz contest on Monday. It was of course barely attended properly. So it wasnt a prize in the real sense. But hey .. a prize is a prize is a prize ;)

Gandhigiri ....

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 17:32:00 +0000

I was watching Lage Raho today for the second time. Even though I tend to feel that it wasnt as successful in making people laugh as the first installment, it surely made some effort (whatever minor) towards reminding us of our nation's Father. I concur that the movie might not be realistic in today's world, but it was successful in what it wanted to achieve : to make us spare a thought or two for our nation.

Given the direction at which our country's youngsters are heading to, it wouldnt be a surprise if they didnt know who Mahatma was, say 50 years down the line. No offense meant to our educational system. They might be doing their job well. But a lot of us are giving out the wrong signals to them. Even though this generation has achieved a lot and has the capacity to perform even better, it might also cause some disorder in the thought process of future generations. Or maybe its just me and my silly thoughts. But I would definitely love to see our generation rise high and proud and make great strides forward !

As an afterthought, I appreciated one aspect where the movie succeeded very well : presenting Gandhi's ideals through a simple term of Gandhigiri.

Belaaaaaated Diwali wishes !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 09:49:00 +0000

Sorry for such a BIIIG delay ... but its better late than never. So here's wishing you all a belated Diwali. Hope you all had cracking fun !

We had a good time here too. The ISA had arranged for some cultural events. Skit, dances (lots of them) etc. The stage setup came out really good. We helped the stage team with some last minute (meagre) contributions.

The event was followed by a 15 minute fireworks display (vaaanavedikkai). It turned out pretty decent. Then we had a sumptuous dinner with Malai Kofta and Gulaab Jamum.

My next baby arrived too !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 09:34:00 +0000

And in what style ! This one has a much different charisma than my other baby. Its my SE w810i !!

I got a Cingular connection out here (after some serious thoughts). The phone rocks better than a sailor on shore leave !! Plethora of features - half of which maybe I have not even explored !

I have umpteen good things to say about this phone. But the Cingular branding seems to have removed some features.

Sony truly has world class products (at a HUUGE cost agreed) ! No doubt about it ... (though in this case, its not a 'pure' Sony product)

My baby arrived !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:24:00 +0000

Ok .. no need to be worried. I was referring to my laptop. A brand new 1405. In fact, it had arrived 3 days ago on Friday itself, but nobody was there to collect it. Thankfully, our TOA class got cancelled today, so I waited all day long just to collect it. Now in CRC to create my VT wireless accounts etc and try it out ...

I just love the feel on the keyboard. It would have been better if the sound was a little lesser. But I dont mind. :) The screen is just too good and so is the weight I guess. Of course, nothing can beat the Apple iBook, Sony Vaio and the Lenovo Thinkpad (in that order). But given the price, I think I got a decent deal.

Hokies Vs Duke (Pics update)

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 02:23:00 +0000

Ok ... here are the pics for the Duke game I went to ...

I took most of the game pics that you see there. Nice cam of Hari. Great game and good enthu !

Adios ..

Hokies Vs Dukes !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:42:00 +0000

Yeah .. I did see the match yesterday ! :). Hokies crushed the Dukes 36-0. There was this huge run by one of the VT players that was the highlight of the match. It seems he ran 58 yards for a touchdown !! Man .. it was exciting ! The excitement in the stadium was also very high with mexican waves, key jingling and what not ! Overall ... a great day out. The only negative part was the sun being a pain in the neck (literally !!).

Will post pics soon ...

Loaded !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 06:09:00 +0000

Loaded with assignments, projects and homeworks. I just submitted a 16 page homework. I have a kernel project, a paper presentation, another algo homework in the pipeline. Add to it, my TA work of taking a lab too !

"Fully loaded" .... I have nothing else to say ...

(For those from Pune, there used to be a "fully loaded" paratha in Roti which I used to like a lot)

Reporting from Blacksburg ...

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 01:35:00 +0000

Well .. the news is that I have joined VTech as a CS grad student (yeah .. unbelievable aint it ?) ! So I packed all my bags and flew to the US (duh !) and reached Blacksburg after an uneventful journey.

The first thing that I noticed about this place is its sheer beauty. This place is just too beautiful ! :) I have so many things to say since I came here that I am at a loss with words. We have something or the other happening here every day. I will try to organize my thoughts and write it up in another post.

Yesterday we had William Morva shutting down the whole VTech campus. What a start to our first semester here !! Thankfully, he was captured around evening and classes resumed from today onwards.

Its a new phase in my life and I got to make the full use of it. Here's wishing me best luck in whatever I do in this new phase ! Please put in your best wishes too ....

Go Hokies !

Barcamp Mumbai was great !

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Mon, 15 May 2006 06:46:00 +0000

What I decided to check out for myself turned out to be really good ! Barcamp Mumbai r0cked big time (like a sailor on leave, you might say). What I liked more than anything was the concept and the driving force behind a barcamp. Since this was my first time, I have never been introduced to such a concept previously.

Anyway, we were one of the earliest people who reached the venue by 9 am itself. After a hasty breakfast of sandwich at some IIT canteen, we headed back to KReSIT. By then, people had started tricking in and the WiFi network was on. We had big time trouble connecting Atul's laptop to mine so that he could use WiFi through my laptop. Even after trying many things, we were unsuccessful in doing that and we eventually dropped the idea with Atul going ahead and using his Reliance card.

All the sessions that I attended were useful in some sense or the other. My overall impression after seeing a barcamp is the following :

* It mostly consists of geeks or were-geeks.
* Its a good platform for showcasing your new entrepreneurial ventures/ideas. One gets a look of feedback/suggestions/ideas from the audience.
* Due to the above point, even MBA's can benefit out of the discussions. (my view)
* Due to the ad-hoc nature, people who never had thought out presenting a topic might end up talking about something.
* Good platform for meeting people and sharing ideas about various things.
* Good platform for showcasing product demos etc.

Guess I will stop here even though I feel a lot more could be added. If not helpful, it was informative, to say the least.

PS : The good was good too btw.

Pics :

Links to other pics.

Barcamp Mumbai update

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Fri, 12 May 2006 18:52:00 +0000

Ok. We are in Mumbai right now and this place rocks ! Thanks to Mohit for arranging this ! After a sumptuous dinner of parathas, we are now sitting with our laptops open and browsing the net.

Barcamp

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Fri, 12 May 2006 07:48:00 +0000

I wondered what that was when I first heard it from a friend of mine. (I was strongly suspicious whether it was some kind of a stylish booze party.) Then I checked out their site. I liked the idea the moment I saw it. Novel and impressive to say the least. But I wondered whether it would practically work. So I checked out some already held barcamps like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai etc and they more than proved that it rocks !! And given the huge sponsorship amounts that they have got, there is no more doubt left. :)

Unconference summarizes barcamp almost completely. An ad hoc discussion organized by attendees, for attendees.

So I decided to check out a barcamp for myself and see how it is. And so on this Friday, I am packing my bags and going to the Mumbai barcamp (as an attendee of course) and try participating there.

It would be unfair not to thank Atul for introducing me to Barcamp. Thanks mate ! And of course, thanks a million to Mohit too !

Chithra nakshatre thulaa rashou jaathasya ....

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Thu, 11 May 2006 05:20:00 +0000

The Tamil/Mallu calendar (or in general the Hindu calendar itself) follows a system of 12 raashis (which correspond to the zodiac signs in English) and 27 nakshatras . Each raashi has some nakshatras which fall under it. Some nakshatras spill over two raashis also.

So, a combination of raashi, nakshatra and the name of the person can be supposedly used to uniquely identify a person. Mine is as follows : Nakshatram : Chitra; Raashi - Thula; Name: Ganapathy.

For more details on nakshatra, raashi et al, refer Hindu Calendar.

Its pretty clear that with only 27 nakshatras, its bound to happen that in a particular month the same nakshatra repeats itself once more. (Once at the starting of the month and again at the ending). This time around, it was my nakshtra's turn to do a double act. So I got to celebrate 3 birthdays this year. April 11th, April 19th and May 11th. But since the number of naazhigais is more on May 11th, today would be considered the most suitable star birthday.

Ice cream facial

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:58:00 +0000

Thats what I got for my birthday. McSwirl swirled all over my face. Felt good though given the hot summer :).

Subbu had come over the previous nite with a cake. Didn't expect him at all - a nice suprise. Just the two of us.

Enna kodumai sir ithu !!

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 14:32:00 +0000

Wanted to write that in Telugu except that I don't know it. But the meaning of the title sums it up. The context being the following link. The only guy who can beat our dear old Captain. And for those who want more. Enjoy !

Its interesting when one sees such out of the world, superhuman actions/stunts. The question is about presentability and context I guess. I am sure many Hollywood movies also have such out of the world concepts and stunts, though in those cases we would be watching watching with our mouths wide open in amazement. (Yes, I agree that we watch the above links too with wide open mouths - but in laughter !). Whats the difference one might question ? For one, the way it "looks". I often wonder whether such directors are that stupid to take such scenes. Maybe its fan pressure. Another difference is the practical context. In a movie which is supposed to be treated realistically, such scenes throw you completely off mood. Maybe in a concept movie, this might have appeared better. But then, our people are so afraid of taking such concept movies. After all, in the end its the audience that matters and I consider myself a part of its minority.

Goes to show that we need much better expertise in taking movies before we can start comparing ourselves with Hollywood. But I completely agree that we have the required talent and skills in many of our actors, directors, singers, music directors etc.

The Lord of the Diary ??

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 14:01:00 +0000

An absolutely hilarious site about the secret diaries of LOTR. A must read ! :)

April fool joke turnes us into fools ...

noreply@blogger.com (Ganesh (கணேஷ்)) — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 06:26:00 +0000

Well yeah .. Our recent April fool joke at office backfired. :( Not just backfiring .. it was as if we were aiming our guns directly at us all the time !!

It was a good one though. (Am not going to tell you what it was) Had great mazzaa doing it with the 'fun' team in our group. But I guess we went a teeny weeny bit too far. But I dont feel sorry for it. It was great fun :). Made some great preps and next day morning, it was Phhhhssshhhhhhhhhh .... Add to that our "nenaps" that we were still doing fine. But things went pretty serious after lunch. "Apologies for the inconvenience" followed suit.

PS: Lost a bet and have to give a treat :(. We are now giving the April fool cards that we bought to each other :((