amazing game

[cricinfo]: http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/wivind/content/current/story/249162.html

what a test match ! everyday of the match was interesting enough to make me stay up till 0300 (which is not that big a deal, some might say). i couldn't bear to see sreesanth's face after the last ball was bowled. and i can't forget the moments when lara got out and when kumble clean bowled mohammed. priceless.

chicken and egg problem solved

the world famous 'chicken and egg' problem has finally been solved. the egg. reason ? genetic material does not change during an animal's life.

see more here:

coming up next: complete scientific response to why the chicken crossed the road.

Official Google Blog: Attention all Pearl Jam fans

Official Google Blog: Attention all Pearl Jam fans
you might already know this. pearl jam has released a new music video "life wasted" which is now available on google video for ffrrrreeeeeeeeee !!! free as in Creative Commons licensing and all that. damn cool, eh ?

i did something evil. well, it has not yet been harmful to anyone. i have unearthed certain knowledge which i shouldn't be having, and which if i use, i would benefit from, at the same time not directly causing any harm.

what should i do ? should i be a good chap and tell ? i could get into trouble. should i take advantage of the situation ? or should i just keep it to myself and smile at my own smartness ? i think the answer is obvious.

mis-feature, not a bug

cross-platform 'proof-of-concept' virus. can replicate itself on both windows and linux computers.
(read about *that* here: http://os.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/04/17/1752213&tid=2)

virus 'does not work' with linux version 2.6.16.
linus torvalds says this is due to a 'mis-feature' in the kernel.
then releases a kernel patch that fixes this mis-feature to make the virus 'work'.

quote from the article:
"The reason that the virus is not propagating itself in the latest kernel versions is due to a bug in how GCC handles specific registers in a particular system call. He has coded a patch for the kernel to allow the virus to work on even the latest Linux kernel."

Leave it to open source hackers to debug and fix aging viral code so that it works correctly. !!

this particular virus is only capable of replication (atleast for the moment), but does not result in privilege escalation i.e., become root and cause havoc. another good reason not to run programs unnecessarily as root.

read more about it here:
http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/04/18/1941251

Q: What is the difference between a duck?
A: One leg is both the same.

-today's fortune cookie.

one thousand and one islamic inventions

no, this has nothing to do with arabian nights. well there are only 20 listed here: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article350594.ece but you can get more at www.1001inventions.com if your afternoon is not particularly happening.
pretty interesting trivia, if you're into that kind of thing.
the article finally confirms a suspicion held deep inside me that the word 'camera' and the hindi word qamra are somehow related. and now i also know why ethiopian qahwah is actually called that. 'algorithm' comes from al-Khwarizmi and algebra from al-Jabr. banking is really 14 centuries old ? when was the last time you read the word saltpetre ;-) my chemistry teacher would be ashamed of me.

time flies

time flies like an arrow
fruit flies like a banana.

today i realised how truly brilliantly funny that one is and i laughed and laughed.

alien rain in india

the aliens have landed. read this:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1723913,00.html

enjoy this quote from 'a fish called wanda' :-)

Wanda : To call you stupid would be an insult to stupid people. I've known sheep who could outwit you. I've worn dresses with higher IQs, but you think you're an intellectual, don't you, ape?
Otto : Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda : Yes they do, Otto, they just don't understand it.

aqualung himself

feast your eyes on these pictures of the great maestro.


apparently, he's been india many times as a 'civilian' as he puts it, though it's only the third time he's playing here.

this chap can tell the difference between bangaldeshi and indian food :-)

he had an indian drummer in his band at one point

hello, breakfast, may i buy you again ?

lend me your ears while i call you a fool

i'm going back in the morning time to see if my love has changed her mind.

show off

really.

cheap day return

got my tickets for the 'jethro tull' concert, and the free 'special collectors edition' cd as well :-) it's been a long time since i've been so excited about something.

the DVD is dead. Vajramuni is dead. my phone is dead.

saving the internet

there is a very interesting debate that is going on these days. it is about the future of the internet. from what little i have read recently, it looks like we (as in we poor unsuspecting users) need to be *afraid*.
came across this amazing article on linuxjournal, by Doc Searls. if you take the time to read just one essay on the internet and the politics surrounding it this year, read this one.

nothing to write home about

finally i finished it, the 5th harry potter book. i positively loathed it. don't know why, but i had made up my mind that i simply just had to finish the book, no matter how bad it was. it was like inflicting some sort of mental torture upon myself ! she could easily have made the book 300 pages smaller without all the riff-raff. till now i don't think i'd ever come across a book that made me skip whole paragraphs because they were so silly and made no sense. ಮೈ ಪರ್ಚ್ಕೊಳುವಹಾಗೆ ಆಗ್ತಿತ್ತು.

there, now that i've got that out of the way, let's get on to other things that matter even less.

i successfully managed to keep myself locked up at home almost all 9 days of the holidays. except for a couple of sober 'parties', i didn't venture out much. it was like the mid-term holidays during school, minus the homework. the office has seen so very little of me the past few weeks, they're almost forgetting i exist.

oh yeah, i started cleaning my room. by now i've managed to move an entire pile of stuff out of the way. now they're collecting dust in a different part of the room while the earlier spot gets a breath of fresh air.

the desktop's back in action now. it's now an opteron. i freaked out dad by shutting it down remotely from the laptop thru vnc. now if only i could figure out how to start it remotely...

if you're thinking of buying a cheap laptop, don't go anywhere near the acer travelmate 4152. it's got an ugly version of linux, 'linpus' (doesn't the name make u think of some greenish yellow slimy-gooey stuff oozing out..) and it doesn't seem to be capable of taking any other version on it. gives up the ghost while trying to recognise the cdrom drive from which it just booted. but if there's anything to it's credit, it must be that pci express and sata... <drool, drool/> it might just become usable by next summer.

some friends are in town, but most others seem to be fleeing to some place in or around u.k.

in a distant corner of the city, rangashankara is happening but i'm not seeing any of the plays :(

and in case anyone's wondering, i still haven't met anyone interesting. yay.

~ನಾಗು.

deskbar applet in gnome 2.14

one of the really cool new apps due to be included in gnome 2.14. don't know how many of the promised features will actually make it into the final release, but very exciting all the same ! it's something that winblows users would sorely miss ;)

the '$NAME needs' meme

search for 'jack needs' on google and the first link that pops up says:"jack needs a girlfriend !" (incidentally, that link is esr's blog)

*what* was I doing searching for jack's needs ? coz google wouldn't give me anything for 'nagu needs'. cool.

and Deppe needs to finish up his survey of Worley’s Cave in Smyth County, VA. :D

head banger at 2 ?

you won't believe what just happened.. i was quietly browsing at home and this 2year old bundle of joy comes to me and says 'ನಾಗು ಮಾಮ ಹಾಡು ಹಾಕಿ' (nagu play some music). ok, i fire up rhythmbox and start playing virgin radio classic rock. 10 seconds into the song, i see this guy actually head banging ! i've *no idea* where he learnt it from, he certainly hasn't seen me doing it, and he doesn't get to listen to much rock outside my house. simply stunning.<

i'll be bloggin it

here's a parody of sting's 'every breath you take' :D