LOLCODE

Here's one programming language that you won't find in many resumes: LOLCODE. More on the LOLCODE home page.

Sample code:

HAI
CAN HAS STDIO?
PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"?
    AWSUM THX
        VISIBLE FILE
    O NOES
        INVISIBLE "ERROR!"
KTHXBYE

For the non-geeks, there's a project to translate the Bible to lolcat slang. Any guesses on who the Ceiling Cat is? That site has a guide to speaking lolcat. The next time I get one of those e-mails written in txtspeak (E.g. "cn we mt now? rgds, xxxx") I'll reply in lolcat. Srsly!

Zzzz....

Some interesting links I followed from the LifeHacker blog today:

• Lucid dreaming. I'll control the script now. The next time there's a crazy cow after me, I'm going to whip out a bazooka, or grow horns and counter-attack. And no more hiding behind the podium when making a presentation to a packed hall. I'll materialize size 34 pants from thin air :)


• Waking up without an alarm clock. This is something I have been doing for a while now. I've got into a rhythm for the working days. What amazes me however is that when I need to wake up much earlier on some days I wake up before alarm rings.

My Best Macro Shots of 2007

Here's a showcase of my best macro shots from last year. Used a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens on an EOS 350D for all of them. I couldn't have got any of these shots without the external flash that I used to light the subject. I had the Tamron lens with me for quite a while before I got satisfying pictures with it. Without the extra light from the flash, I couldn't stop down the lens to f/11 or f/16 to get the depth field required to keep the interesting elements in focus. If you are getting into macro photography (especially moving subjects like insects), you should learn about off camera flash photography. The Strobist Blog is one of the best resources on the net for that.




The biggest difficulty was finding someone to hold the light for me, or in some cases shooting single handed. That involved manual focussing by moving the camera since I would be holding the flash with the other hand. I have since got a flash bracket with a flexible arm to take care of the flash, but my priorities have changed. Now I don't get any time to chase bugs between the nappy changes :)

Online Photo Printing

I got a couple of albums printed online at G K Vale. At Rs. 3 for a 6" x 4" print it is a sweet deal. I haven't found any studio willing to print below 4.50. Strangely, G K Vale charges Rs. 5 per print if you visit any of their studios.

Also found a couple of nice places for books. There's Blossom Book House on Church Street near Amoeba. Three floors of new and used books at discounted prices. Premier book shop (near Night Watchman at the beginning of Church Street) sells new books at a discount. It's a tiny shop stacked haphazardly but the guys there can locate any book for you in no time. L-Space in DiscWorld must have been inspired by similar bookstores. Landmark, Crossword and Gangarams can kiss my wallet goodbye.

That Warm Feeling

Papa Kamath on fatherhood:

When I hold him, I get that warm feeling ...
and I know he has done it again.

UN Flag, Flat Earth, Discworld

What does the United Nations flag have to do with a flat Earth theory? Lots apparently. Take a look at the Flat Earth Society Forum's FAQ. Yes, there are people who hold on to that belief. The UN logo closely resembles the map of the Earth proposed by the society and it is also used as evidence of a conspiracy to cover up the truth.

I stumbled upon the site when I was looking up DiscWorld on the Net. I just finished my first Disworld novel (Thud!) and I'm hooked. Explore the portal on Wikipedia to get a taste of what the books are about.

Worst Headline Pun

The days of straightforward news headlines are over. The newsrooms seem to be where punsters congregate these days. Just when headlines that cleverly played on Sonia (so near) or Khan (can) seemed tolerable, Bangalore Mirror heralded Dhoni's team's victory over Pak screaming, "Doni-T-20". I want to nominate the reporter/editor behind this front-page atrocity for this year's Punitzer prize.

Bison Wells, Off Kodai

(This writeup that has been in my drafts folder for close to two years now.)

Located about 30 km from Kodaikanal is one of the best getaways I have been to. I went there on my honeymoon in May 2005. We reached Kodai after a lovely drive from Munnar. After lunch at Kodai, we met George who owns the place. The road to Bison Wells is not motorable unless you have a 4 wheel drive with massive ground clearance. We had to leave our car at a garage that George had arranged. The drive to the cottage in George's '64 vintage Nissan truck was an experience in itself. It took a little more than an hour to reach the place. We were accompanied by our cook for the next two days, Antony. George had planned the menu after taking our preferences in advance. Bison Wells is not the place where you can get any provisions if there are last minute changes.

After we reached the cottage and settled in, George and Antony left us to ourselves till dinner. The cottage is basic, built from mud and wood. It faces a valley in front and it's surrounded by a pine forest. It can accomodate two. There's an attached bath, without running water. Water is filled up in a drum from a well nearby. There'e no television, A/C, fan or lights in the room since there's no electricity either. It's as basic as it can get. And that is the charm of the place. You will be cut off from civilization for your stay at Bison Wells. Thankfully, your cook will be a call away in another hut nearby.

On the first day we took a walk to a lake downhill. Other than a truck that passed by, there was absolutely no one in sight. There was a settlement some distance away from the lake. After spending the evening at the lake-side, we were back for dinner by seven. In a place this basic we didn't carry much expectations about the food. But here came the surprise. It was a candlelight dinner in the cottage. The fried rice and curry was heavenly and so was the red wine.

At the camp, you can sit in the lounge and catch up with your reading. You'll hear no sounds other than bird calls or squeaks of the Malabar squirrel. You can also trek around the place. George can arrange a guide if required. If you are lucky you will spot bisons on the trek. We went for a moderate trek. The views were very good. We didn't spot any bisons though despite George's efforts. The place is safe for short unguided treks as well. After 7 or so in the evening, you have to tuck yourself into bed. It was very cold when we went there in May.

For all this, you will be surprised by the tarrifs. Rs. 1500 per night inclusive of all meals for a couple. The jeep ride to the place is expensive though. A two way trip to Bison Wells from Kodai will set you back by Rs. 1600 at least.

Here's the web-site if you are planning a trip:
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/index.htm
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/thouse.htm
http://www.wilderness-explorer.in/tcost.htm

Some photos I clicked during our stay there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/binux/sets/321758/

Project/Issue Tracking with Trac

I saw Trac being used by some projects recently. Decided to give it a try today for tracking a small prototyping project that I'm working on. It didn't take more than half an hour to get it running and it does its job without getting in the way. If you are looking for a bug tracker that's easy to set up and use, give it a try. It has an integrated wiki and source browsing tools (if you are using svn). I set it up to use SQLite and to run as a standalone server, which is the simplest way to get it running for a small project.

Picture Window Pro

The post processing I do on my photos is limited to sharpening, saturation and simple contrast adjustments in Picasa. I was looking for software that gave a little more control (curves adjustments and unsharp mask for example). Photoshop is the popular choice, but the pricing (600$) is beyond reach. I used GIMP (on Linux) for a while, but its speed is frustrating. It was then I came across Picture Window Pro. Costs 90$ and the download size is a mere 5MB (300MB for the Photoshop trial). It does almost everything that Photoshop does (at least whatever you'd want for post processing photos). Head to IMAGEs by DEN to see what it's capable of. Check the before and after comparisons by moving the mouse over the images on that page. It not only convinced me about Picture Window Pro but also about the importance of post-processing.

Picture Window Pro runs smoothly in Linux with Wine. I ran the installer with the default Wine settings. I only had to copy gdiplus.dll from my windows partition to my fake windows directory to run it. It's much faster than GIMP and more stable than the Linux version of Picasa. I'll be trying it for a month before deciding whether it's worth buying.

Oh, and do checkout some stunning night photography at Cambridge in Colour.

Happyness

I didn't realize until Preethi pointed it out that The Pursuit of Happyness was based on a true story. Beautiful film. Don't want to ruin it for you if you haven't watched the film already, but if you already have, here's the Wikipedia page on Chris Gardner.. The real Chris Gardner makes a cameo appearance at the end of the movie.

340N - BMTC Volvo Service to HSR and Koramangala - (Route Withdrawn)

Latest information on bus routes connecting HSR Layout is available here: http://binux.blogspot.com/2009/04/bmtc-bus-guide-for-hsr-layout.html

Jan 22, 2008: This route has been withdrawn by BMTC. There were not enough users. Sad.

Apr 16, 2007: Some updates: The BMTC website now lists the timings and route information for 340N: http://www.bmtcinfo.com/english/v340n.htm
The buses on this route still run nearly empty most of the time. Fares have been reduced yesterday. Do give it a try before BMTC re-deploys these buses on more lucrative routes (335E often has standing passengers) to cut losses.

BMTC has started a new Volvo bus route from Majestic to HSR Layout (Sector 1 and 2) via Koramangala. That means hassle-free, comfortable rides in air-conditioned comfort if your office falls on this route. BMTC has a web-page that lists all Volvo bus routes, timings and fares at http://bmtcinfo.com/english/volvo.htm. Route 340 N isn't listed yet. But for a brief report in the papers on the day of the launch, there's no information on the exact route or the timings. Consequently, there aren't many users of this service yet. I wish BMTC did better by putting up the details at the bus-stops on this route. Here are the details I've gathered so far from using this service over the last two weeks.

The Route
New: I got a Google Maps API key. Here's my first try at the API. View 340N route on Google Maps. I wonder why Google hasn't come up with simpler ways of marking points and paths on their maps without using an API/javascript.
From HSR Layout: Parangipalya (2nd sector), CDWD Quarters/FoodDays, Agara, Jakkasandra (Koramangala 1st block), Sony World Junction, National Games Village, Koramangala Police Station, Raheja Arcade/Forum, Adugodi, Elgin Prestige, Richmond Road, Corporation, Mysore Bank, Majestic.

From Majestic: It's nearly the same route in reverse except that it comes via Subbiah cirle (beginning of Lalbagh road), crosses Double Road under the flyover, DivyaSree Chambers, Nanjappa circle, Langford Road, Elgin Prestige, Adugodi.

Timings
There are two buses on this route. Officially the frequency is one every 45 minutes, but due to the traffic on the route, it's lower than that. This timings aren't stable yet. (Schedule is now available on the BMTC site.) The first bus from HSR starts between 7:45 and 8:00 am on most days. This is the one I use. It drops me at Richmond road by 8:40 am latest. If I'm lucky, I get the return bus in the evening at around 6 pm from the Double Road junction. Check the official schedule. There are changes in the evening schedules.

Fares
Minimum fare is Rs. 15 (Rs. 12 during non peak hours). If you have a Pushpak pass, you can get a concessional fare of Rs. 20 for the full trip. Wait for the fare chart and schedule on bmtcinfo.com. The fares have been reduced from April 15th and the pass holder concessions are gone. That doesn't affect me since the revised fare from HSR to Corporation is Rs. 20 (30 earlier), the same as the concessional fare for Pushpak pass holders. Costs Rs. 15 to Koramangala, 20 to Corporation and 25 to Majestic from HSR now.

Bus Location by SMS
There's an interesting SMS service being tried out with the Volvo buses. These buses have GPS on them and you can get the current location of buses on any route by sending an SMS. The details are available here: http://www.clinf.com/yi/Index.html. The project is in pilot stages now and available on two routes. (Available on almost all Volvo routes.) Simple services like these can go a long way in keeping cars off the roads. Apparently most of the regular BMTC buses too have GPS trackers on them.
Update (23 March 07):The SMS service works for 340 N too. Send "Yi V340N U" to 99456 34666 to know where the bus heading to HSR is. Change the U to D to get the location of the bus towards Majestic. It works fine most of the time. Yesterday, I used it to track the bus in the evening and left office at just the right time.

Palace Estate, Kakkabe, Coorg

I spent the Diwali weekend at a beatiful home-stay in Kakkabe. Palace Estate, owned by the Apparanda family is located on the route from Virajpet to Kakkabe. Most visitors go there for the trek to Thadiyendamol peak, the highest point in Coorg. We headed there with the same plan.

The trek had to be abandoned within an hour. It had rained and there were leeches on the trail. When Preethi noticed a couple of leeches on her shoes, her shrieks could have woken up the dead. If birdwatchers around Kakkabe had poor sightings that weekend, they now know why. The number of leeches wasn't anywhere close to what we got on our trip to Narasimha Parvatha. Carry a dettol swab, and you can do the two hour trek easily, unless you are mortally scared of leeches. Some other guests did go up to the peak during our stay. Preethi convinced me that the whole point of taking a break was to beat stress and the trek wasn't working for her ("Stress?!?", I can see some at Kodiak snickering when they read this). It was decided that I would try the trek sometime later with the baays (and that could be as soon as this month for our team outing :)

Luckily, the place is enjoyable even if trekking on leech infested trails isn't your idea of fun. The estate has a private waterfall which is a five minute walk through the plantation from the rooms. Don't pack your swimming trunks though as you are not allowed to bathe in it since it's the primary water source. The walks within the coffee estate are refreshing. I could hear many types of bird calls in the mornings (though I'm no good at identifying birds), so birders will have a fun time here. A short walk away from the estate is the Nalnad palace which is more than a century old. There are paddy fields further downhill. The rooms have a vernadah with a beatiful view of the valley. Pick up a book or just relax watching the mist filled valleys below. On clear nights, the lights at Madikeri town are visible.
The hospitality is excellent. Prakash Poovanna, our host made us feel at home on arrival. The food is vegetarian and it is served in the company of Prakash's family in their dining room. I loved the traditional Coorgi dishes that were served. We picked up a couple of recipies from there. The breakfast was the best part- Kapputtu on the first day and Akki Roti on the next. Almost everything is rice-based, so your mileage may vary.

The tariffs are pretty decent. The room came for Rs. 1200 a day (accommodates two). Prakash told me the rates had gone up to 1500 by October. We got the deal since we booked a month in advance in September. Meals cost Rs. 70 per head for breakfast and Rs. 110 per meal for lunch/dinner. The services of a guide for the trek to Thadiyendamol cost Rs. 200. Our total expenses for a two day stay there came to Rs. 3600.

Getting There:
To get there from Bangalore, head to Mysore and take the Srirangapatna bypass before Mysore twowards Hunsur. Stay on the highway near Hunsur. Just after the fork on the left to Hunsur town, the highway will fork again. Take the road on the left that goes to Virajpet and Kannur (Cannanore) (the highway continues to Madikeri). At Virajpet, take the a turn towards Madikeri. After 4 km, there's a cement bridge where you need to take a left towards Kakkabe (follow the Coffee Country signboards from there till Nalnad Palace). There are a couple of bad stretches since the road from Mysore to Hunsur is being widened. Cars can go all the way up to Palace Estate. There are KSRTC buses to Virajpet from Bangalore.

For bookings, contact:
Mr. Prasad Poovanna
Ph: 98804 47702

Here's the trip photo album on flickr.

Cryptic Crosswords, Loos, Archimedes

I had to find something to keep me occupied during the bus ride to work. On some days you can tune into interesting conversations, but you don't get to sit next to a smart aleck everyday. (Diverging: Sparun the pun-dit was pretty pleased with himself for writing "Smart Elecs" on the Electrical Engineering department's display board once.) Reading in a moving bus strains the eyes. Listening to the radio with earphones will gradually deafen you since you'll have to turn up the volume amidst all the din. Enter cryptic crosswords. Read the clue, think it over, and when the bus halts at a stop or junction, fill in the boxes. Almost every newspaper carries a decent cryptic crossword. I get Deccan Herald at home and it carries one in the Sunday edition. One crossword a week is good enough for a beginner like me. I also picked up a book with 80 crosswords from The Daily Telegraph. That should last me for months. Try this cryptic crossword solving tips page to get a hang of it.

I completed last week's Sunday DH crossword in a day. It was done in five or six sittings on the porcelain throne (I had a terrible stomach upset from a visit to Empire with the baays on Saturday.) Normally I don't even come close to solving one in a week. I think this is conclusive evidence to show that you think better in there. I know others who share this feeling. As further proof, I present the exhibit on the left - "The Thinker". What do you think this suggests? This leads to the question: Was Archimedes really in a bathtub when he had his great idea? I firmly believe King Heiro's PR department fudged the facts. If you are convinced and want to get yourself a really good "think station" now, consider one from Toto.

Growing Up

After his wedding, our man starts a comic book collection, gets an XBox, goes on volvo bus rides to Majestic, takes a liking for flashy t-shirts and buys rattle snake eggs to irritate everyone around. But when he shows his love for Kannada star Darshan with a car sticker (bought on one of his volvo bus trips to Majestic), his dad pulls him over for some serious talk. The kind of talk that wayward teens half his age get.

Here's to you Kamath:

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. When I became wise, I learned the value of childish things and turned to them once more."

"When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

Quotes picked up from a discussion thread on Slashdot.