Interesting reads for the weekend

1. 30th Anniversary of the Spreadsheet (Very interesting and sarcastic perspective on how the spreadsheet has shaped our society)

2009 marks the 30-year anniversary of the now-ubiquitous spreadsheet program. And society as a whole has deteriorated ever since its invention. It was the spreadsheet that triggered the PC revolution, with VisiCalc the original culprit. Can anyone say that we've actually benefited from its invention? Look around: I think we've suffered.

2. How undersea cables get repaired

Videos of how the repair process works.

[Update] This Alcatel page explains the process with text and a cool flash animation. It also has a section on how cables are laid in the first place.

3. Interview with an adware author

Very interesting business and technical insights into the dark part of the cyber-world.

4. 10-power saving myths debunked


5. Saving power in datacenters with DC power

Interesting article on how converting from AC to DC in datacenters may help save power.

In a typical datacenter environment, power conversions abound along the path from the outside utility pad to the servers. With each conversion, some power is lost. The power starts at the utility pad at 16,000 VAC (volts alternating current), then converted to 440 VAC, to 220 VAC, then to 110 VAC before it reaches the UPSes feeding each server rack. Each UPS converts the incoming AC power to DC power, then back to AC. The UPSes then distribute that AC power to their respective servers -- where it's converted back to DC. As much as 50 to 70 percent of the electricity that comes into the datacenter is wasted throughout this long and winding conversion process.

There's a more efficient approach, one promoted by Validus DC Systems: taking the utility-supplied 13,000 VAC and converting it directly to 575 VDC (volts direct current) using an outdoor-rated conversion unit, then running power into the datacenter over 1.5-inch cabling. Each rack in the datacenter then has a 575-to-48-VDC converter that is 95 percent efficient. The direct DC approach can save users 50 percent or more between cooling savings and elimination of conversion losses, according to Ron Croce, COO of Validus

A dose of my photography

Please visit my website to get an (over)dose of my photography. Pretty amateurish stuff but i am learning.

Also, i hacked up a simple perl script for generating web albums called geekalbumz. The idea behind this was to display the photograph metadata (or EXIF information) along with the photographs. This helps newbies like me to compare various photographs and learn the nuances.

Announcing another blog !

Hello dear readers (if any).  I have started another blog (with a better purpose this time). The blog is about Indians and our innovations i.e. Jugaadu Indians and our Jugaads. The inspiration for the blog came to me while reading an article in August 24 issue of The Week. The article is about Indian Ingenuity and our innovations (or colloquially called Jugaads).  The following quote by  Dr. R. Mashelkar puts everything in perspective 

"we should think of innovation as a movement. The I in India has stood for imitation and inhibition for far too long. It is high time it stood for innovation. And the best thing about this movement is that we have the jugaad energy of a billion of us to power it forward. "

Height of obsessiveness !

Check this link on autoblog

"The matchstick master built a full scale Mercedes-McLaren F1 car in his kitchen using 956,000 matchsticks and 1686 tubes of glue."

Don't forget to check out the photos gallery.

Real Programmers (courtesy: Xkcd)

For those poor souls who dont follow xkcd, check this out....

Mona Lisa's identity solved

This is something for DaVinci fans. From this NYT article

"Experts at the Heidelberg University library say dated notes scribbled in the margins of a book by its owner in October 1503 confirm once and for all that Lisa del Giocondo was indeed the model for one of the most famous portraits in the world".

You can see the painting at the Louvre Museum in Paris or here.

A neat HOWTO for cheating !

Checkout this neat trick for cheating in a exam using just Coke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpQZDJ2fGnI

Disclaimer: Use it at your own peril :)).

Powered by ScribeFire.

Update on my previous post - A brief history of computing, networking and the internet

I missed seeing that the Nerds 2.0.1 series is in 3 parts and the link in the previous post was section 2 of the series.

This is the complete trilogy

Nerds 2.0.1 - Networking the Nerds (Section 1)
Nerds 2.0.1 - Serving the Suits (Section 2)
Nerds 2.0.1 - Wiring the world (Section 3)

Enjoy !

A brief history of computing, networking and the internet

I stumbled upon this awesome documentary called Nerds 2.0.1 produced almost 10 years back. Its about how geeks working off their garages, living rooms and school dorms built some of the most brilliant technology serving mankind today. The video traces history of 4 of the most successful companies: 3COM, Novell, Cisco and Sun. A constant emphasis in the whole documentary, is on the role of the Venture Capitalists in silicon valley. The bright and dark sides of venture capitalism and venture capitalists is highlighted aptly. Its a must watch for all technology geeks, nerds and budding enterpreneurs.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2534997893350167670

Interesting Army Slangs !

I recently came across these US army slang and could not resist posting them. I liked these ones the most. (Credits: Wikipedia)

• FUBAR - Fucked Up beyond all repair
• BOHICA - Bend Over, Here It Comes Again
• JANFU - Joint Army/Navy Fuck-Up
• SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fucked Up
• TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up
• AWR - (Alpha Whiskey Romeo) Allah's Waiting Room. When engaged, insurgents have a tendency to flee to the same building (the AWR), at which point the troops radio in an air strike.
• BTDT — Been There, Done That
• DAN — Dick, ass, and nuts. Used when referring to a smell,
  particularly that of a soldier who hasn't showered in a while. When
  used in a sentence, "Joe smells like DAN."
• DICK — Dedicated Infantry Combat Killer (used in Infantry Training)
• FIDO — "Fuck It. Drive On" Equivalent of "Shit Happens" Pronounced like a dog's name: Fy-dough
• FM — Fucking Magic. Used to explain something complicated,
  generally to someone new who has asked a question that would take too
  long to explain. "How does that work?" "Oh, it uses FM."
• FOAD — Fuck Off And Die
• FODA — Fuck Off and Die Asshole. Note: Foda is also
  Portuguese for fuck. When said by itself, it can have the same
  connotation as "Fuck off and die, asshole." This would make it a
  recursive slang in two languages.
• FUBB — Fucked Up Beyond Belief
  
• NDG — No Damn Good
• NFG — No Fucking Good, a.k.a. busted, non functional, broken. also "New Fucking Guy"
• NPGs — No Pussy Getters; see BCD
• SOS — Same Old Shit; Shit On a Shingle. Creamed chipped beef on toast/biscuit, a breakfast staple.
• SRDH — Shit Rolls Down Hill. Used to denote unwanted or unpleasing duties assigned to lower ranks.
• US ARMY — Uncle Sam Ain't Released Me Yet
• YMRASU — Yes, My Retarded Ass Signed Up (US Army backwards)

Powered by ScribeFire.

Southern California Fires : The Aftermath...

The Southern California fires that started on Oct 21 2007 in Southern California affected the 7 counties of LA, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Santa Barbara. San Diego was probably the worst affected, with reports suggesting a lot of damage to property.

I had first hand experience of the aftermath in Orange County. Smoke and ash filled the air and the whole county was smelling of smoke. So much was the air polluted that my car was covered with ash within minutes of leaving it out in an open parking lot. The smoke smell made it very uncomfortable to breathe even inside the car. Just to give an idea of how bad the air was, i took some photographs of Orange County area while driving from LA. The pics give an idea of the amount of pollution that was in the air.

One can see rising smoke from a nearby hill that was on fire.




The black sky is not due to rain bearing clouds but instead due to carbon, ash, smoke in the atmosphere.



The sun peeks bleakly from within the smoke (@ 5:00PM)

"Hello World"

My "hello world" in blogosphere...

This blog should provide its followers the following:

• General news and events of interest to me (ofcourse this is NOT CNN or BBC, but, my 2 cents)
• Latest in the world of technology and gadgetry.
• Cool news from computer security (my passion and my research).
• Cool news about computing in general.
• Tips and tricks that i learn or discover about *nix (if you dont get it then you wont need it :)).
• Maybe a few experiences from some chapters in my life.