Picture gallery links

An entry, just for bookmarking, of recently updated online albums of people I've seen (or am):

http://picasaweb.google.com/srikanthnv/

http://picasaweb.google.com/mayurmotgi/

http://picasaweb.google.com/devadutta.ghat/

http://picasaweb.google.com/purnateja/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sree314/

http://www.imagestation.com/members/sandy.mallya

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34749291@N00/

http://picasaweb.google.com/amber.agarwal/TrekAndKukkeSubramanyaTemple?authkey=DbSnqwhE_wA

http://picasaweb.google.com/abhijitpai.photos/

Flash memory stress test

My 128 MB Rundisk 2.0 flash drive somehow chose to remain in the pocket of my shirt when it was put for wash. Needless to say, it spun for over 1 hour 15 minutes in soapy dirty water, and I noticed it along with some unidentifiable shredded pieces of paper when I was hanging it out to dry.
Surprisingly though, it still manages to work just like before. I've dropped the drive multiple times from over 4.5 feet before, and put it inside my bag where it lay between all sorts of other hard non-electronic devices and managed rough handling that even my bag couldn't. But this, really, is some sort of a benchmark that it has managed to come clear of.

BSNL's removed the upload cap too

[For ISP enthusiasts]

Background: I've a BSNL Dataone Home 500 connection.

(Feb 11th 12:50 p.m. - Upload to YouTube)

The indicator on the website was showing 52-53 KiloBytes/sec.(steady over minutes). I timed and found that 1 Megabyte gets uploaded in ~19 seconds (- If the 64 kbps upload cap was still on, it would have taken at least 120 seconds). This means BSNL has removed the upload cap too.

Note: Download tests from http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest since Jan 1st, 2007, when BSNL removed the cap, have shown me results of 1 Mbps lots of times (~128 KBps for download), and at most other times, show respectable values between 270 Kbps and 1 Mbps. Earlier, whenever the connection was available, I almost always used to get the promised 256 kbps / 64 kbps speeds (~31 KBps download speeds).

Scripting e-mail sending

[Technical]

For a long time, I was trying to find a way of sending e-mail from the command line, so that I could script/cron it. The alternative available was to write a Perl script to do the same, but I was too lazy to do so.
After trying hard and failing to understand sendmail, and not even finding a proper copy installed anywhere on the IISc LAN, I tried acheiving the result with Pine and failed too.

Mutt proved to be the saviour.

Steps (- substitute all italicized content appropriately):
1) Create a file henceforth called in with the following content:
To: bob@domain.com
Subject: Test message
Dear Alice,
...
Bob

You can add other fields such as BCC: etc. as well. Only the To: field is compulsory, the subject and body are not.

2) Run:
mutt -a attachmentfilename1 -a attachmentfilename2 -H in </dev/null

That's it.

February the Fifth, 2007

Most shops were closed, even those which were open were half-closed. Pizza Hut Basaveshwaranagar was a funny sight, its glass outer walls completely covered from the outside with thick opaque paper, an A2 size framed garlanded color photograph adorning the closed entrance; it had tried to do its best. The police security was tight in the areas that mattered. Many rowdy sheeters had been arrested or detained the day before, this time before they could cause any damage. Every vehicle on the road bore a KA registration. Recently tarred roads were a boon for the desparate few trying to get home, as also a playground for the bold few who wanted to test drive their vehicles. Schools had closed early; offices had driven their employees home. The political parties this time had all agreed violence wasn't the right option.
The Cauvery tribunal had passed its final order.



By the time I took this photo the next day morning, the thick cardboard paper had turned into black tarapaulin. I did see a few employees sneaking inside in the afternoon; how can they do without their daily bread ?

The making of the Passport

28th Dec 2006 (evening) - Book date online for passport office visit.

2nd Jan 2007 - Appointment for 2:51 p.m.
2:30 p.m. - Reach Passport Office, Brunton Road.
2:30 - 2:45 p.m. - Sit outside the building (in the compound).
2:45 p.m. - People allowed to enqueue (appointment is a farsical term, but at least the queue will be short).
3:25 p.m. - Verification and payment done for me. (They do accept even D.D. though they say they take only cash!)

8th Jan 2007 (afternoon) - Call from Basaveshwaranagar Police Station to come with documents and 2 photos.
5 p.m. - Reach police station.
5:30 p.m. - All form filling/verification done by them, and I've signed on it.
5:30-7:30 p.m. - Wait for Inspector to arrive.
7:45 p.m. - Done with his signature.
Note: No bribes asked, nor paid.

13th Jan 2007 - The light on the status page changes from red to green, indicating "Your Police Verification report has been received by us, and your file is in line for further processing.".

30th Jan 2007 - "You have been allotted a passport number and the file has been line for printing of your passport.The anticipated date of dispatch of your passport by post is 8/2/2007". It shows some of my personal details and says "Applicants are requested to check their personal details indicated above for any errors... "

2nd Feb 2007 - "Your Passport has been issued and sent to you by speed post on 01/02/07 vide Registration number EE317657664IN"
Afternoon - Postman comes with my passport; I'm not at home, so I've been asked to collect it at 9 a.m. on the next day from the post office.

3rd Feb 2007
Morning - I forget to go to the post office.
12:15 p.m. - I remember and go, but I'm told the postman has left for his round.
3 p.m. - Ding dong. Yay!

Journo Snippets

A Rs. 25 (export-quality stickered) medium-sized apple only looks expensive until you spend Rs. 40+tax on a mediumly large piece of not-really fresh Black Forest cake at Cafe Coffee Day.
A Rs. 70 zip fastener change on a jacket still has no competitors though, especially if it turns out to be just as it was before the change after moving a couple of days ahead in the temporal dimension, my handling notwithstanding.