tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53012493256150489192024-03-13T12:44:48.017-07:00scadzascadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.comBlogger24125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-37458387006582358732010-07-04T03:20:00.000-07:002010-07-04T04:10:36.043-07:00Zoozoo and What it says about Indians<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div>Many of you have seen <a href="http://www.google.co.in/#hl=en&source=hp&q=zoo+zoo&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=d0335763aee16ac6">Zoozoo</a> advertisements of Vodafone. </div><div>I got curious at the shape of these characters. Why do we (Indians) like them.</div><div>They resemble the typical shape an Indian has with a large midsection. Hence an indian audience</div><div>implicitly (subconsciously) accept these characters.</div><div>I think that such an adversitement would not have a great following or accpetance in western countries. They have been fed with perfect figures of superman, spiderman, etc.</div><div><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tothetech.com/2009/05/zoo-zoo-ads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="http://images.tothetech.com/2009/05/zoo-zoo-ads.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGqndA5F3i8&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGqndA5F3i8&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-90997672891841808332010-07-04T03:11:00.000-07:002010-07-04T03:11:18.270-07:00Are our Holy Books complete?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div>There is a famous theorem by a Mathematician Godel. In short it says that</div><div>"<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del's_incompleteness_theorems">Consistent Systems( i.e set of axioms and rules for inference) cannot be Complete</a>". </div><div><br />
</div><div>Which means that there will statements in such systems which cannot be proved within the system. We as a human being understand that those statements are true in that system but by using rules of inference present within the system we cannot prove the truth/falsity of such statements.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Now my point is this. Kuran/Bible [or any other holy book] can be considered to be sets of axioms and rules of inference. It is a System. It is supposed to govern human behaviour. In short it is supposed to govern human brains. Since our human brains cannot be modeled by any System [defined as sets of axioms and rules of inference]. This means human understanding/ behaviour is beyond any System. Then how can a System (i.e. Kuran/Bible) be relied upon to govern a non-System (human being) in a reliable way. There will be situations in which the System (i.e Holy book or Kuran) will not be able to judge truth/falsity (or appropriate/inappropriateness) of a human behaviour. A human brain itself is so complex. Think about how complex the interactions between 6 billion human beings will be. Also thrown in the complexity of the environment itself with which we are interacting.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Considering the above points, I think it will be foolish for human beings to rely on a code of conduct or a holy book for ratifying/validating their behaviour. Because such a book won't be able to cover all the myriad different interactions in human society</div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-2412472803863105352010-07-04T03:05:00.000-07:002010-07-04T07:00:34.723-07:00Quality of Recommended Books<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div>Majority of us are not into reading books. i.e many of us are not well-read.</div><div>So only few have crossed 100 books or etc.</div><div>So if majority of us are recommending some particular books, say <i>Harry Potter</i> or <i>The Alchemist</i> or <i>The Monk who Sold his Ferrari</i> or <i>Five Point Some One</i>, then if follows that recommendations may not be appropriate or well founded.</div><div>Hence Rule of thumb could be that read only those books which Few people suggest and those </div><div>people suggest the book strongly and wholeheartedly.</div><div><br />
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</div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-7941727424933682242010-07-04T02:55:00.000-07:002010-07-04T03:28:02.435-07:00Morals and their context<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><br />
<div>We all have heard stories about Hare and Tortoise</div><div><br />
</div><div>The moral there was : "Slow and steady wins the race"</div><div>Sub-moral : "Never underestimate your opponents" </div><div><br />
</div><div>Now suppose in that story, Hare doesn't sleep so ultimately he would have won the race.</div><div>The moral now becomes : "Fast and steady wins the race"</div><div><br />
</div><div>Now suppose the race track was passing through a jungle which is full of carnivorous animals.</div><div>Since Hare is fast, it could easily pass the jungle. But Tortoise being slow would be attacked by other animals etc.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Moral now is "Core Competence wins the race" Race now favours Hare</div><div><br />
</div><div>Also assume further that after the jungle, there was a river which had to be crossed to win the race.</div><div>Now chances of Hare winning the race is very small since it doesnt know how to swim [ probablity~0]</div><div>But this is an advantage to Tortoise. There is some chance that he would pass the jungle unnoticed and reach the bank of the river and wave "TATA" to poor helpless Hare.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Again Moral now is "Core Competence wins the race" but here Race favours Tortoise.</div><div><br />
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<div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Morals are limited to their context. Similarly learnings/quotes/analogies are all related to their context.</span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">IF you take the moral out of its context and apply the moral anywhere, the moral can backfire.</span></b></div></div><div></div></div><div><br />
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</div><div>I heard this story from<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'courier new', monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><i>Swami Sukhabodhananda</i>.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Please do make a point to watch the following videos.</span></span></span></div><a href="http://sukhabodhananda.jnanajyoti.com/" style="color: #114170;" target="_blank">http://sukhabodhananda.<wbr></wbr>jnanajyoti.com/</a><br />
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</span></b></span></div><div></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-56520832747101938092010-04-30T10:58:00.000-07:002010-04-30T11:28:51.672-07:00Mini BettingThis little story is about the recently held IPL final.<br />
<b>Mumbai Indians(MI) v/s Chennai Super Kings(CSK)</b>. <br />
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Its characters are D, P1,P2,P3 .<br />
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So P1 was informed by his "friend" that CSK is gonna win the IPL.<br />
Reason: Lot of betting going on for MI. People are betting more on MI. If MI wins then it would be a great loss to the bookies.<br />
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P1 is happy to know that he knows the future. He goes around telling everyone about the "Plan". Now comes D. Not so sure about P1's claim, he wants to challenge P1 that if he is so sure why doesn't he put down his money in the betting market. <br />
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<b>D</b> : "I don't think, CSK is the winner. Just look at the stats and current form of the MI players. MI is rocking man. Totally impossible for CSK to snatch a win"<br />
<b>P1</b> : "You dont know the internals of betting. I am informed (by a trusted source) that CSK is this season's winner" <br />
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<b>D</b> : "Ohh...ya...why don't you bet then. if you are so sure. I am making a wager to you now. If MI wins, you give me 500 bucks and if CSK wins, I give u 100 bucks. The odds are different because you have an insider information. If you believe in your <i>Source</i>, then I think you should bet"<br />
<b>P1</b> : "Deal Bro. See you at the finals."<br />
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Now D is little skeptical about the deal. If D loses, he is gonna lose about 100 bucks. He doesn't want that. D who always takes calculated risks saw this to be too risky. So he chalks out a plan to cut out his losses.<br />
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He makes another wager with P2. Now little background about P2. He is a CSK supporter.<br />
<i>Reason</i> : His favourite player is the captain of CSK.<br />
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The following chat occurred between D and P2.<br />
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<b>D</b> : "I have a hunch. I think CSK is gonna win. Sachin is injured and he won't be a captain at the finals. I don't trust Zaheer with captainship. So what do you say if I bet on MI losing the final."<br />
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<b>P2</b> : "I am not sure. I dont know."<br />
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Now at this stage, D thinks P2 needs to be pushed a little harder. <br />
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<b>D</b> : " See, there is no harm in you making a deal. IF CSK wins, you will give me 100 bucks in happiness as your team won the final. If CSK loses, I will give you 100 bucks and it will be like consolation for you. In both the outcomes, its good for you"<br />
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Fortunately P2 agreed.<br />
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The deal is set for D. D is at zero risk in case of any outcome. If MI wins, he is gonna get 500 from P1 and he will hand out 100 bucks to P2. A profit of 400 bucks. If MI loses, D just transfers the money from P2 to P1.<br />
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Now comes P3 in the story. Seeing the deal between D and P1, P3 got little greedy. He wanted a piece of the action too. He told D that he is ready to divide risk and profit. If MI loses, he will pay 50 bucks to P1 and would take half the amount if MI wins.<br />
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Here's something that went wrong. Instead of accepting the offer, D said no to P3. If D had accepted the offer from P3, he would have earned a minimum of 50 bucks and a maximum of 150 bucks in either outcome of the finals. A much safer option.<br />
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The following diagrams explain the above situation.<br />
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<b>Without P3's deal</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXs-KX7DTmhVstTpdzEqj6e8SxfeBK3dj7vGe_BZkgc_HzT-UmNGz2fwQuH9Q2SibvFtPISFWJ9ApKUzhwvTjOjEA2yJIIhHnq6aDBHBQFnwSRPNms8yattPzKJ-qkBqz_EhXnIPg0Bn8/s1600/case1.1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXs-KX7DTmhVstTpdzEqj6e8SxfeBK3dj7vGe_BZkgc_HzT-UmNGz2fwQuH9Q2SibvFtPISFWJ9ApKUzhwvTjOjEA2yJIIhHnq6aDBHBQFnwSRPNms8yattPzKJ-qkBqz_EhXnIPg0Bn8/s640/case1.1.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDS15tmqS_P4X15hafUUaib4yG5kZ56PagaBPI2shm177CqdN3UcdqPKyywABaNXilBM64BPBm7jFNCdYXBArrQOEWALUwk1VhXdN3n4HrtJxvxs8h3dev3-ku5FsDu2lYcHEbTE9MZJs/s1600/case1.2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDS15tmqS_P4X15hafUUaib4yG5kZ56PagaBPI2shm177CqdN3UcdqPKyywABaNXilBM64BPBm7jFNCdYXBArrQOEWALUwk1VhXdN3n4HrtJxvxs8h3dev3-ku5FsDu2lYcHEbTE9MZJs/s640/case1.2.png" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<b>With P3's deal :</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQd7AiIISsYvcIS2T_bKiX0QNoqmm06NfkcBUJvxoNnipdKrkpfynH3VD3wwbJ7b5xQCuguV7pcF04Zq_ti_Bq2x89nYkjv4Szlt1U_BSMR1y76xmp9-uZlB2xcUhtzgZjoRijBGAKmH4/s1600/case2.1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQd7AiIISsYvcIS2T_bKiX0QNoqmm06NfkcBUJvxoNnipdKrkpfynH3VD3wwbJ7b5xQCuguV7pcF04Zq_ti_Bq2x89nYkjv4Szlt1U_BSMR1y76xmp9-uZlB2xcUhtzgZjoRijBGAKmH4/s640/case2.1.png" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWwD_BZD6rhHSfVpH7VHXwgDvDs75tkLFZiHMJQUyC-abItsNLbhvkVcLMM2SIvqYcXMpBZKCqCiM1xwuXiU_iSkbavg0nKWXr233f_8bpSYt9pNZylsaqgs-UCPz88w2ncA887Nxl0s/s1600/case2.2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpWwD_BZD6rhHSfVpH7VHXwgDvDs75tkLFZiHMJQUyC-abItsNLbhvkVcLMM2SIvqYcXMpBZKCqCiM1xwuXiU_iSkbavg0nKWXr233f_8bpSYt9pNZylsaqgs-UCPz88w2ncA887Nxl0s/s640/case2.2.png" width="640" /></a></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-53140863668759631922010-04-25T05:18:00.000-07:002010-04-25T06:39:44.216-07:00Proving primality : Testing whether a particular number is prime or notMany a times computer science students are faced with problems whose sub-problem involves testing whether a chosen number is a prime or not.<br />
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<a href="http://primes.utm.edu/prove/prove2_3.html">Finding primes & proving primality</a><br />
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In the above link, you will find very good resources about primality testing and proving.<br />
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I have implemented an algorithm which lets you test whether a number (17 < N < 341,550,071,728,321) is a prime or not.<br />
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The link to the python code is <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/dineshdharme/primes.py">here</a><br />
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The code is nicely written but not well documented. You can extend the valid limit for numbers by adding extra conditions in the code.<br />
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HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE.scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-91016532825454141992010-04-16T06:49:00.000-07:002010-04-16T06:49:51.804-07:00To specify default Browser for links in Thunderbird<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"></span><br />
<h2 style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 30px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A nice post by the name <a href="http://www.zulustips.com/2007/03/28/forcing-thunderbird-to-open-links-in-firefox.html">"Forcing Thunderbird to open links in Firefox"</a></span></span></h2><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This post talks about how to specify / force Thunderbird to open links in Firefox in Ubuntu. For sometimes now, I had this problem of not being able to directly open links from Thunderbird. The same effect can be achieved if we do the following.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The real problem was that I had not specified the default system browser in System Preferences. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Go the Preferred Applications and specify the browser (Chrome/Firefox/Opera/Konqueror/ etc)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;">System->Preferences->Preferred applications</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">Open Thunderbird and all your links will now be opened in your default browser.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;"> </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">HOPE THAT HELPS SOMEONE OUT THERE</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-55286029578701781222010-02-12T08:58:00.000-08:002010-02-12T09:10:43.875-08:00Waiting for the next ball<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Waiting for his next ball</span></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Ohh...NO..He is </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">OUT</span></span></b></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-81548958952507952972009-10-30T23:04:00.000-07:002009-10-30T23:23:13.094-07:00Bottom Up contruction of Octree and VisualizationI along with Ashwin had done a graphics project in which we were supposed to build octree efficiently and to answer near queries for nodes.<br />The project is <a href="http://sites.google.com/site/dineshdharme/BottomUpOctree.tar.gz">here</a>.<br /><br />Please go through the Readme.<br />One possible set of instructions to run the code is as follows<br />1) make<br />2) make random<br />3) ./random > input.txt<br />10<br />3<br />4<br />4) cat input.txt<br />5) ./octree input.txt<br />1 (for selecting a node)<br />1.80277 1.10057 1.23684 (giving the node which basically select any one point from the input.txt ...this is the first random point which was generated)<br /><br />thats it .... a window will open and use arrow keys to navigate<br />i = zoom in<br />o= zoom outscadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-44787731818666586342009-09-18T01:49:00.000-07:002009-09-18T10:35:25.309-07:00Using Gmail's Email Autocompletion to your advantageHello All,<br /><br />This post is specially directed towards the Hostel Sysads of IIT Bombay Hostels.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">What problem are we trying to solve ?</span><br />When mails and couriers arrive at the Hall Manager's Office in our hostels, we want to set up an easy system which will allow the Hallie's assistant to notify those who have got mails by sending emails to them.<br /><br /><b><i>How?</i></b><br />We will create a file which has mappings from Room No of student to his EmailId in a .csv format which will be accepted by Gmail. Then Gmail's autocompletion feature will display the email id when you write the room no. <div><br /></div><div><b>Requirements: </b></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">1) An input file which contains mapping of room no. and email id of person living in that room</span></b></div><div>2) A python script which converts this input file into .csv [CSV = comma separated values] which Gmail accepts.</div><div><br /></div><div>Download <span><span><a href="http://sites.google.com/site/dineshdharme/HostelAddressBook.rar">this</a></span></span> zip file. It has three files.<br />a) A sample input file named "HostelAddressBook.txt". In that file, you will see two columns. First column is a room no. and second column is an email id of person living in that room.<br />b) HAB4Gmail.py file.<br />c) An output file "mappings.csv" which was generated after running the python script on the input file.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Steps:</span><br />1) Download the above file and extract it.<br />2) Run the script by typing "python HABinGmail.py" on the terminal in linux.<br />3) Output file: "mappings.csv" is generated.<br />4) Import this file into Hostel Office Gmail account by following the instructions given <a href="http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=14024">here</a>.</div><div>5) <b>Testing</b>: Once the import is completed, start to compose email. In the "To" field, write the room no(e.g. A704 ) which is present in the input file.<br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The python script used in above code is hardly of ten lines. You can easily understand the code and modify it to suit your needs. Like if you need mappings from a person name to email id rather than room no.</div><div><br /></div><div>Please do post comments and modifications.<br /></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-66692247500046659962009-09-06T10:53:00.000-07:002009-09-06T10:54:05.829-07:00sources.list for IITB Junta for Ubuntu 9.04 i.e Jauntydeb ftp://ftp.iitb.ac.in/os/ubuntu/archives/ jaunty main restricted universe multiverse<br />deb ftp://ftp.iitb.ac.in/os/ubuntu/archives/ jaunty-updates main restricted universe multiverse<br />deb ftp://ftp.iitb.ac.in/os/ubuntu/archives/ jaunty-backports main restricted universe multiverse<br />deb ftp://ftp.iitb.ac.in/os/ubuntu/archives/ jaunty-security main restricted universe multiverse<br />deb ftp://ftp.iitb.ac.in/os/ubuntu/archives/ jaunty-proposed main restricted multiverse universescadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-61969505970795855492009-08-30T10:23:00.000-07:002009-08-30T10:25:47.382-07:00The The English Language Is GoofyThe following poem was a comment to the post by the above name. I liked it and hence reproducing it here.<br /><br />We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,<br />But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.<br />One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,<br />Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.<br />You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,<br />Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.<br /><br />If the plural of man is always called men,<br />Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?<br />If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,<br />And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?<br />If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,<br />Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?<br />Then one may be that, and three would be those,<br />Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,<br />And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.<br />We speak of a brother and also of brethren,<br />But though we say mother, we never say methren.<br />Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,<br />But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!<br /><br />Let's face it - English is a crazy language.<br />There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;<br />neither apple nor pine in pineapple.<br />English muffins weren't invented in England .<br />We take English for granted,<br />but if we explore its paradoxes,<br />we find that quicksand can work slowly,<br />boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig<br />is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.<br />And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,<br />grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham.<br />Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make<br />amends but not one amend.<br />If you have a bunch of odds and ends and<br />get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?<br /><br />If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?<br />If a vegetarian eats vegetables,<br />what does a humanitarian eat?<br />Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking<br />English should be committed to an<br />asylum for the verbally insane.<br />In what other language do people recite at a play<br />and play at a recital? We ship by truck but send<br />cargo by ship. We have noses that<br />run and feet that smell. And how can a slim<br />chance and a fat chance<br />be the same, while a wise man and a<br />wise guy are opposites?<br /><br />You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of<br />a language in which your house can burn up as<br />it burns down, in which you fill in a form by<br />filling it out, and in which an<br />alarm goes off by going on.<br /><br />So if Father is Pop, how come Mother isn't Mop?<br /><br />And that is just the beginning--<br />even though this is the end!scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-40648364059008260942009-08-26T02:10:00.000-07:002009-08-26T02:17:08.647-07:00Jaunty Ubuntu 9.04 Using more cpuRecently I installed ubuntu 9.04 on my computer.<br />All was fine except that it was using more cpu than usual.<br />I used top and system monitor to determine which process is using more than its normal share.<br />Unfortunately, I couldn't found any.<br /><br />Thankfully I found <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/309776">this</a> post.<br />According to it, the "vino" (VNC server) which comes installed with ubuntu is causing some problem.<br /><br />So solution my friends (which worked for me) is to simply uninstall it.<br />I am simply writing this post to duplicate the solution so that this solution comes early in search results.<br /><br />Thanks for reading and do comment if you find this useful.<br />Again your comments are important to determine the usefulness of this solution.scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-32805933531889785262009-08-21T10:08:00.001-07:002009-08-22T01:11:36.198-07:00Setting up Ldap based logins in Hostel Comp Rooms in IIT BombayFirst of all, a sincere thanks to Pankaj Pandey for helping me out in creating this script and the innumerable ways he has helped me.<br /><br />We have created a <a href="http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/%7Edineshkd/client_scripts.zip">script</a> which allows one to set up Ldap based login in computers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How it works</span>: We have a file called as ldap_logins in config folder. This file contains ldap logins of those students whom who you want to give login access.<br />When a student enters his login and password, it verifies the ID with ldap and then checks whether his name is present in the file.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Prerequisites:</span> We have tried this method on only Ubuntu computers. So we don't guarantee that this will work on any other system i.e. Fedora , Gentoo, etc . If it works then fine but if it doesn't we cant help you.<br /><br />You need to have working computer with Ubuntu running on it. Also iitb-repositories must be properly set, i.e. aptitude command should work.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Steps:</span><br /></div>1) Download <a href="http://www.cse.iitb.ac.in/%7Edineshkd/client_scripts.zip">this</a> script and untar.<br />2) Run the following commands:<br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">sudo ./client_setup.sh</span><br /> While configuring ldap, it will ask for two things,<br /> a)<span style="font-style: italic;"> ldap.iitb.ac.in</span><br /> b) <span style="font-style: italic;">ou=People,dc=iitb,dc=ac,dc=in</span><br /><br />3) Ldap version to be used is<span style="font-style: italic;"> 3</span><br />4) Select "<span style="font-style: italic;">No</span>" twice.<br />The script continues and installs other related things.<br />5) Restart the computer<br /><br />Go through the script to understand what is happening.<br /><br />We have also created a python script which will give u ldap logins if you give it a text file containing rollnos. You can get such a list of roll nos from Hall Manager. This script is present in ldap_search folder. The script is straightforward.<br />To run the script, you need to have ldap module installed.<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-67455860931723420852009-03-13T11:07:00.000-07:002009-03-13T11:08:22.956-07:00Some Linkshttp://www.nikal.com<br />http://www.dontclick.it/<br />http://www.thelovemovie.com/<br />http://patterngame.com/linesuperfollow.swf<br />http://www.msfirefox.com/microsoft-firefox/index.html<br />http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end<br />http://home.iitk.ac.in/~hussain/fav/Animation.swf<br />http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wolfek5.swf<br />http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/3cup<br />http://chitthi.webchutney.net/<br />http://www.mousebreaker.com/games/fiveaside/play.php<br />http://www.lostvectors.com/bowmaster/bow_rel9.swf<br /><br />Some links which I liked. Try them out. Not sure whether they will still work.scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-2364940930354604352009-03-13T10:50:00.000-07:002009-03-13T10:58:16.948-07:00The Paradox of Our AgeThe paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers,<br />wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more,<br />but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time.<br />We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment,<br />more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.<br /><br />We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast,<br />get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, & pray too seldom.<br /><br />We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.<br /><br />We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years.<br />We've been all the way to the moon & back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor.<br />We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.<br /><br />We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.<br />We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait.<br />We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less & less.<br /><br />These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men & small character, steep profits & shallow relationships.<br />These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips,<br />disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, & pills that do everything from cheer,<br />to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window & nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology<br />can bring this letter to you, & a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...<br /><br />Remember; spend some time with your loved ones,<br />because they are not going to be around forever.<br /><br />Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe,<br />because that little person soon will grow up & leave your side.<br /><br />Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only<br />treasure you can give with your heart & it doesn't cost a cent.<br /><br />Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it.<br />A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.<br /><br />Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for<br />someday that person will not be there again.<br /><br />Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to<br />share the precious thoughts in your mind.<br /><br />AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:<br /><br />Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,<br />but by the moments that take our breath away.<br /><br />If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?<br /><br />I dont know whom to attribute this.<br />Here are some links to help you out.<br />http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/c/carlin.htm<br />http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/paradox.asp<br />But origins apart, its a wonderful piece to read.scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-83452140066988217262009-03-13T10:42:00.000-07:002009-03-13T10:45:29.071-07:00Speak UpLet me read you something by Martin Niemoeller, a German pastor who opposed<br />the Nazis.<br />"In Germany, they came first for the communists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist.<br />"Then they came for the Jews,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew".<br />"Then they came for the trade unionists,and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.<br />" Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant".<br />"Then they came for me,and by that time, there was no one left to speak up".<br /><br />I heard the above quote first in Boston Legal from Shirley in a case. I dont remember exactly which one.scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-71213202200023364052009-01-20T05:16:00.000-08:002010-08-12T08:38:28.457-07:00Settings for thuderbird in IIT BombayIn this post, I am gonna give some basics on setting up gpo( for general iitb junta) and cse(for cs junta) account logins. Also useful would be setting Ldap and Cse Ldap directory in address book so that you dont have to actually go to<br />
http://camp.iitb.ac.in/ (intially it was http://ldapweb.iitb.ac.in) and search someone gpo address there.<br />
<br />
So here they are:<br />
<br />
Install thunderbird.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For GPO Account:</span></div>Now we need to create email accounts,<br />
Go to File>New>Account<br />
Then select Email Account and click on 'Next'<br />
Now in the Email Address dialog box put your GPO emailid,then click 'Next'<br />
Here select 'IMAP' option and put imap-server as '<span style="color: red;">imap.iitb.ac.in</span>' (without quotes)<br />
Also it will ask for smtp server, give it as '<span style="color: red;">smtp-auth.iitb.ac.in</span>'<br />
Rest is simple, click on 'Next' and fill in the details as required and then on 'Finish'<br />
As a final step, do this<br />
Edit->Account Settings->Outgoing SMTP server>Edit.<br />
In the new window that opens, select TSL, if available option<br />
and you are done<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For CSE Login Account:</span></div>Now we need to create email accounts,<br />
Go to File>New>Account<br />
Then select Email Account and click on 'Next'<br />
Now in the Email Address dialog box put your GPO emailid,then click 'Next'<br />
Here select 'IMAP' option and put imap-server as '<span style="color: #cc0000;">mail.cse.iitb.ac.in</span>' (without quotes)<br />
<span style="color: red;"> IF</span> it will ask for smtp server, give it as '<span style="color: #cc0000;">smtp-auth.iitb.ac.in</span>'<br />
Rest is simple, click on 'Next' and fill in the details as required and then on 'Finish'<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For setting up Ldap Address Directories:</span></div>Go to Tools>Address Book<br />
Click on File> New > Ldap Directory<br />
for gpo ldap directory do this:<br />
Name : <span style="color: red;">Ldap</span><br />
Hostname : <span style="color: red;">ldap.iitb.ac.in</span><br />
Base DN : <span style="color: red;">dc=iitb,dc=ac,dc=in</span><br />
Port : <span style="color: red;">389</span><br />
Bind DN : leave blank<br />
<br />
for Cse Ldap directory do this:<br />
Name : <span style="color: red;">Cse Ldap</span><br />
Hostname : <span style="color: red;">ldap.cse.iitb.ac.in</span><br />
Base DN :<span style="color: red;"> dc=cse,dc=iitb,dc=ac,dc=in</span><br />
Port : <span style="color: #990000;">389</span><br />
Bind DN : leave blank<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">For News Group Account:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">File -> New -> Account -> News Group Account<br />
Fill in your name and email address.<br />
News Server : news.iitb.ac.in<br />
<br />
After your account is created, you need to manage your subscriptions, by selecting the groups whose news you would like to receive.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<div id="refHTML"></div>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-54141932538470272122009-01-06T08:36:00.000-08:002009-01-06T08:44:15.350-08:00Installing Xspim on UbuntuInstalling Xspim<br /><br />download tar.gz file from this location<br />http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~larus/spim.html<br /><br /><br />(to get xmkmf)<br />>>>sudo aptitude install xutils-dev<br /><br />(required for compiling)<br />>>>sudo aptitude install flex bison<br /><br />(required for windowing system)<br />>>>sudo aptitude install libxaw7 libxaw7-dev<br /><br />go to xspim directory<br /><br />change Imakefile as follows<br /><br />set the following directories to whatever locations u want<br />I think u can skip this step<br /><br />first create directories E-Dir,B-Dir,M-Dir<br />>>> mkdir E-Dir B-Dir M-Dir<br />Then edit the Imakefile in xspim directory as follows:<br /><br /># Full path for the directory that will hold the executable files:<br />BIN_DIR = /opt/spim-7.4/xspim/B-Dir<br /><br /># Full path for the directory that will hold the exception handler:<br />EXCEPTION_DIR = /opt/spim-7.4/xspim/B-Dir<br /><br /># Full path for the directory that will hold the man files:<br />MAN_DIR = /opt/spim-7.4/xspim/B-Dir<br /><br />then<br /><br />type at command prompt<br />>>>xmkmf<br />>>>make<br />>>>make install<br /><br />To run<br />>>> cd B-Dir<br />>>> ./xspimscadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-73761069028883016912008-12-01T13:16:00.000-08:002008-12-01T13:20:13.297-08:00Some Tips And TricksRecently I came across a problem with my gmail in firefox. It didnt load all the features i.e my chat was disabled. To solve this, I went to Gmail Lab settings in gmail, randomly enabled and disabled some features.<br />Next time when I logged in, the problem was gone. I could chat again :)scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-31707869207763530682008-12-01T12:57:00.000-08:002008-12-01T13:01:04.759-08:00Phrase Translation<span style="line-height: 100%;font-size:12;" ><span style="font-family:Tahoma;">It has been long known...............I haven't bothered to check the references<br />It is known..........................I believe<br />It is believed.......................I think<br />It is generally believed.............My collegues and I think<br />There has been some discussion.......Nobody agrees with me<br />It can be shown......................Take my word for it<br />It is proven.........................It agrees with something mathematical<br />Of great theoretical importance......I find it interesting<br />Of great practical importance........This justifies my employment<br />Of great historical importance.......This ought to make me famous<br />Some samples were chosen for study...The others didn't make sense<br />Typical results are shown............The best results are shown<br />Correct within order of magnitude....Wrong<br />The values were obtained empirically.The values were obtained by accident<br />The results are inconclusive.........The results seem to disprove my hypothesis<br />Additional work is required..........Someone else can work out the details<br />It might be argued that..............I have a good answer to this objection<br />The investigations proved rewarding..My grant has been renewed</span></span>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-61565518209450132702008-06-26T03:33:00.000-07:002008-12-01T13:05:56.792-08:001984 - DoubleThinkThe following the paragraph I liked from the book "1984" by Goerge Orwell.<br /><br />Winston sank his arms to his sides and slowly refilled his lungs with air. His mind slid away into the labyrinthine world of doublethink. To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself. That was the<br />ultimate subtlety: consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word “doublethink” involved the use of <span style="font-weight: bold;">doublethink</span>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-21829410785452088502008-06-18T21:48:00.000-07:002008-06-18T21:55:26.754-07:00ReflectionsMany Spiritual Gurus and Swamis will tell us to observe our breath in order to stay in present moment. One method which i would like to suggest is to observe the different kinds of light, especially reflection ,coming to your retina. Its really a good method.Reflections from steel utensils, glass, water spilt on the floor,mobile phones, anything and everything that reflects light. Someones face maybe.Light reflected from someones specs.scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5301249325615048919.post-87514984819845788512007-10-04T02:53:00.000-07:002008-12-01T13:03:41.561-08:00The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters<span style="font-family: courier new;font-size:100%;" >Beautiful is better than ugly.<br />Explicit is better than implicit.<br />Simple is better than complex.<br />Complex is better than complicated.<br />Flat is better than nested.<br />Sparse is better than dense.<br />Readability counts.<br />Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.<br />Although practicality beats purity.<br />Errors should never pass silently.<br />Unless explicitly silenced.<br />In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.<br />There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.<br />Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.<br />Now is better than never.<br />Although never is often better than *right* now.<br />If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.<br />If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.<br />Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!<br /></span>scadzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04733361617492050871noreply@blogger.com0