Something big is gonna happen…

Soon.

I’ve seen it coming! :O

Radiohead and 42 – Miscellany

I added music & tech feeds to my Netvibes page.

So the following is serendipity at work – not my fault.

1. W.A.S.T.E Central – Radiohead’s new social networking site – You didn’t sign up yet? What’s wrong with you?

2.  The answer was there all along - This is just to taunt me. Really. There was no need for such antics, whoever you are. You may be smarter than us, but “A” for answer “A = 43 – 1″ ?? Dude COME ON NOW!

An astrononomically inclined gift

THF has this absolute abomination of a banner image, so I volunteered to provide him with something. He wanted a view of something from Stellarium.

I suggested he should try to get Earth from Betelgeuse.

Now I might’ve done something silly, but we can’t select Earth from Betelgeuse – but I selected ‘Sol’ for him and here’s the image in 700×202 size as I see the banner (if size is different you just tell me, wokay?)

Notice, you doubters of the answer, that the apparent magnitude of THE EARTH’S SUN from BETELGEUSE is… ten point forty two. (Well ten point four two to be pedantically honest).

 

Here is the image for Harish (ask permission if anyone else wants to use – celestia for copyright, me for artistic license and THF for first-claim) 

PS: THF – Here’s a better selection of images (mostly Creative commons or free-for-fair-use)

WHAT. THE. HELL. And a photobook update.

I was made to work on Saturday 4-6 pm.

Then again Sunday 4-9 pm.

I’m miffed. This ain’t right.

Anywhu, that’s why I didn’t do up the picture book. I apologise. It is in progress. S.l.o.w.l.y.

This is how it’s supposedly looking for now.

Will go font and style hunting. Don’t worry, I don’t do garish flower-grass-goth designs. I keep it simple and stupid.

(So if you have suggestions please do gimme!)

PS: I’m taking more photos and gonna add them as a bonus and compensation for the incredible lateness.

I want to make it worth your while for having waited patiently for this.

So any comments on my new userpic? It has a story behind it too (maybe some other day that.)

In retaliation, and gratitude

(This title can be the title of my biography – one of the fifty I’m hoping to write).

In response/thanks to this, I’m bringing out some photos that I have taken @ Bangalore. All the photos are clickable and link to the slightly-higher res versions.

Two devices have been used – Sony Ericsson Cybershot k550i phone @ 2.0 megapixels or less, and a Canon Powershot A720IS.

I have a shaky hand, and a slightly less than efficient eye for an angle. Practice helps, or so I hear.

These are 640×480 samples. I can give you upto 2048px (width) if you like, for these and the photos that will inevitably follow. This is my personal property (unless invalidated by a prior copyright) and I can make some available for you to use as wallpaper only.

Not to be included – shots of identifiable people (unless they consent), bad shots, shots I don’t like.

Here’s a sample – more when I plug myself into a high bandwidth link.

Title:- City Dusk.

Pwnrz Pwnt’d!

Pwnerer Pwned!

Now saved for posterity.

Happy Birthday DNA!

Woo!

It’s 11 March kids!

Post dated to 0042 hours.

Have a HUGE lunch for me, okay? Two, three, five hours, the most expensive restaurant in town, or maybe the most relaxing one, or maybe even The Restaurant at the End of the Road.

Have fun!

Mar 8 was wonderful, The Hitchhiker’s Guide, Radiohead, and Spain

Since I just love to ramble on about H2G2 and Radiohead… here’s more.

(I know people would like to know why I keep bangin’ on about both of them. There are many theories – as deep as “it’s a religious experience for you dude” (not far off the mark btw), to some ridiculously slanderous accusations involving aliens and super models from Sports Illustrated, to even further off insane conspiracy theories. Both (Radiohead & H2G2) have similar reasons, but not the same. Let’s keep it for my autobiography. Or till the day when I have actually nothing to say.)

Spain because of Spain.

March 8 is verrah importante

Yes yes, Intl. Women’s Day and yes, yes my cousin’s B’day.

BUT.

*ahem*

March 8, 1978 - BBC Radio 4 launches The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

The rest, as I maintain, is his story.

I leave  you with this bi-text-ual quote on the way we should avoid arguments where only a Pyrrhic victory seems possible.

2 each his pwn.

Thank you and goodnight.

Post forward dated to 00:00:42 Mar 8, 2008

Stop whisperin’ – START SHOUTING!

Dear sir,
I have a complaint
Dear sir,
I have a complaint,
Can’t remember what it is,
Doesn’t matter anway,
Doesn’t matter anway.

Here’s the update you’ve all been waiting for!

Especially all five of my regular readers – both Americans (Shout-out to David and GoogleBot), and both Indians (DK, THF) and me.

“I’d like to thank everyone I know, and everyone I don’t know, in alphabetical order” – General Specific, Sheep In The Big City.

I’d also like to thank YOU. Yes YOU. As TIME Person Of The Year 2006, I’d like to thank YOU for coming! There’s tea near the lobby! And chips!
Well today’s updates first.

Premier League and 42?

IPL (Cricket)

8 teams. Home and away.

No. of matches = ((7*6)/2)*2 = 42. FORTY TWO.

[Just like no. of handshakes is SUM[(n-1) to 1] = (n-1)(n-2)/2, we double it for teams playing each other twice.]

EPL (Football)

20 teams. Home and away.

No. of matches = 19*18 = 342. THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO.

I just listened to Videotape for the first time.

I have now heard all the songs on “In Rainbows.”

Peace.

---

Note to THF: You should’ve taken the both Vonnegut books from me.

---

I feel calm. Less frantic. At peace.

Mainly it’s the Vonnegut pair and the song.

Mainly.

I’m in Delhi for this week till it ends. Last goodbyes for a few months at least.

---

Whenever I hear the song Scatterbrain (Hail To The Thief, Radiohead), I can’t help but visualise a sniper, taking aim, getting a successful shot in, rolling away, tears streaming, and finally he breaks down completely, only to face a gun when he looks up, and between sobs he clutches his upright rifle, when suddenly, his adversary falls (you can’t see his headshotted, blown apart head) and behind him is his smiling mate, who falls to a hail of machin gun fire.

War. Makes for some superb films. And great leaps in tech. Right? Right?

---

I’ll see y’all once I have my own ‘puter @ BLR. Which might take a while.

In other news, I still hate Indian news channels, I have bought some things that in retrospect I should’ve waited for, but in re-retrospect, I timed perfectly. So I should’ve bought more, but then I’d be in debt. Which is bad. Mm-kay?

I’ve been off the intarweb/blagosphere for 6 months. Feels unnatural. I’m coming back… in an interstellar burst… to save…

---

Happy Noir Year all.

[recommend me some bands !]

Conversations

Some conversations I had on chat and on SMS and on … well everywhere…

Here are two of the ones that I think have potential re-use value.

12:58 AM Dheeraj: want 2 see some pics of wavewform

me: k

Dheeraj: just made an LP filter

1:00 AM me: erm

good

Dheeraj: k

me: now

Dheeraj: cant do much about the noise

me: to solve world hunger

press any key

there is no any key

Odd. But that’s just the trailer.

me: my project is stuck… can’t do the login thing

1 hour, 1 mionute to go before I quit

Dheeraj: i think my proj moved a bit.. cant really tell

1:02 AM me: QUICK QUICK

KILL IT

before it runs away

reproduces

and attacks us all

KILL THE DAEMON

Dheeraj: H-)

||-)

me: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

I did it

1:03 AM it’s alive

Dheeraj: do u hear somethin

ppl

burnin torches

1:04 AM me: won’t the batteries explode?

Dheeraj: what batteries?

1:05 AM me: torch mein AA dalti hai

Dheeraj: …

This then goes on to reach new heights

1:06 AM Dheeraj: i still dont believe it..

sine wav from that crap

me: I can explani

look

what Fourier taught us

if anything at all

1:07 AM apart from the constant pain and humiliation

is

that every waveform

can be represented

as a sum of sine waves

with

a. varying amplitudes

b. varying frequencies

1:08 AM the frequencies, if you so choose, belong to a function

then you can plot a neat curve

so what filters do

is eliminate the amplitude

of these other waves

Dheeraj: yeah this .15V pwm had .03V sine~50Hz

me: attenuate them to zero

right

so you lose power

and gain a sinusoidal curve

trade-off

1:09 AM you could give up evry last milliwatt and get a perfect smooth curve

but you’re better off

using a slightly deformed curve

with a very small step-up transformer

1:2 should do nicely

Don’t mind the spelling. At one am, I don’t worry a lot about the spelling.

The other was five minutes ago.

Ford: Always the cool head, always very very mature and level headed, but frequently choosing his self preservation instinct over his hero instinct.

Back to the source again

Was Deep Thought a deliberate metaphor for the biblical God?

You know…

1. “it’ll take a little time” – 7 and a half million years.
2. that booming omnippotent voice that comes from nowhere in general and everywhere in particular
3. people ask of him/it the “answer to the ultimate question”
4. the answer is absolutely cryptic [42]
5. incredulously they want to know the question for which Deep Thought creates the Earth… which is outsourced to Magrathea
6. the output of the answer is actually a huge event with a sense of grandeur about it, but no one except the chosen ones being able to see it
7. the computer operators are hereditary [read the names in the book]
8. philosophers against the computer

Actually, DNA probably never intended it, plus I’m reading too much into it.

Anyhow, by this time, I must have scrambled your brain, Harish

FJORDS FTW !!!

And please don’t mind it when I go crazy with tags.

I just like tagging things very precisely, but the depth of tagging I like to vary randomly.

I know, I won’t ever be popular.