The cup half empty or cup half full

Well. Its a long time since i posted . And so  nears the end of my first semester and yet to figure out what i am to do for exams. With days flying by the first question in our minds is on  how to study. Well atleast ive found a answer for how not to study ? that would be an easy question to answer if you were to follows some chinese here. They practically sleep less than 5 hrs per week when they are busy working. Damn im not able to spend a continuos 5 hr period working. Found  the best solution for competing with them. Black coffee keeps you up and running for hours .  As the days passes by you get mountain loads of assignments to work on. So was ours. Literally had 5 or 6 assignments anytime to be finished.

Although most of the assignments were just individual head breakers. There where few which are team projects which provided with much fun and interaction. One of such is the Games design. Teams were created each with upto 8 members, My team was also created with 6 members, and came to know 4 of the six members have already joined some other group leaving 2 of us in that team . After some shuffling around was into the team PlusOrange. Which is the direct english translation of out Team Lead(Jia), Who gets a special mention here as i has seen him only on  the first day of the meet and after which he literally disappeared . No word of him yt, Hope he is fine. So after providign us with a good team name , the team with no lead starts to enjoy. Game stories got tossed around , Game design was having the same fate as game story. After finding out that out ambitous game story would not work out on time, We executed the plan B. Design the game and then make a story  on it .After many sleepless night and brainstorming days, which ended with most of us loaded with more caffeine than food,  it did work out pretty well and came out with some working game before the deadline. Made our game so simple that our professor had noting to comment on our game except for the game sounds , and still managed to get a A on it. A good consolation for the caffeine addicted system.Sadly im yet to play our game .  And yes the game sounds do feel familiar .

Even before one could celebrate on this success comes the next assignments deadline. After hearing motivational words like  ”Do whatever u like and submit”  from the professor, was in no mood to rush on that project. Once we came to know the professor expectation which was sky high to what we were planning to do, came the next schedule to load ourself with caffeine and accompany the owls . This being a topic less assignment , every member of the team comes up with a new and better idea each day of the week. Thus making it interesting to choose a good topic every day. and not doing any real assignment work any day . So once it was realised that this topic choosing is not gonna help any more. A topic has been finalized atlast. Hope we get make a better presentation than the games design stuff.

Snow Leopard arrives

Just received my copy of the apples latest OS Snow Leopard

There was a lot of expectation for this OS , as its making in competetion with the MS windows 7. So was eager to see what it hold and started with started up the DVD. Well i was disappointed with this build.

• Installation was pretty simple , Just a confirmation is asked and the process starts. First the open applications are closed and the installtion takes 50 mins to complete. Then started the computer and there were few thinks that i liked       >The new OS ran on my setting and nothing was changed except for the logon screen wallpaper all other setting were same.

>The Stacks are made scrollable , which is a pretty cool featur.

>Quicktime is now more powerful than ever. Starting with the cool borderless player , its also able to record videos , record screen , edit movies on the fly

>Realtime Icon preview, Icons can be resized in realtime and the content of the file can be viewed , even the movies can be played as they are icons. This is a neat feature for people with loads of files .

> Considerable faster application loading.

Even though theres loads of improvement , the main feature i was looking out for in this build was the exchange support. I not been able to configure the Exchange . Even the import mailbox option does not do good work in importing the mailbox from my other mail clients. Never expected such a failure from something which was advertised as the main achievement of this build .

What problems i faced after installing snow leopard

> amsn not supported in this build and it crashes.

>Yet to figure out a way to connect to exchange.

>Webcam was not detected after the install.

Some how there is no backward compatibility for amsn . it works fine with leopard but crashes on start with snow leopard. Next is the webcam . Was in for a complete surprise when the ichat couldn’t detect the webcam. At last had to reset the mac to enable cam again

To Reset the mac

>Switch off the mac

> press Shift+Alt+Control+power button  just once

> wait for 5 seconds and then power up the mac

Overall its a good build  if you are not expecting for the exchange support.

Whoa time does fly.

When people say this word , it dosent make a big statment on me. Usually i guess they are trying to exaggerate. Well seem like its time for me to take part in it too. Time does fly. It been a months still ive been dropped on singapore , still feels like noting more than few days. I would love to say its the classes that keep me busy and make me forget time , sadly its jus 3 hrs per day and that too in the late evening. So cant blame the classes for the time too.

After the two weeks of roaming singapore and proving to parents i am really in singapore not anywhere else , it was time to take on the real deal for which i had come to singapore. Classes starts .   One can call the classes the most laziest class one can attend. The notes would be available online , so there would be no need to take notes . Any extra explanation provided by professor on class are also made available online. As if this is not enough , you are allowed to enter and exit the lecture anytime.  All these makes one feel pity on the person standing in front and trying hard to teach his knowledge and people leaving hall just to attend calls from there girl friends.

Our course registration was scheduled for the day after the class starts. So it was like anyone can attend the classes. Off we went to the first class of the year. With the classes starting its a interesting 3 hrs to spend . The classes are so condensed tat the entire course is completed in jus 20 classes.,  tat includes a couple of assignments for each subject tat we cant make the head or tail of , project and also directed reading. So first class was nothing more than listening to the lecture and coming back to room. So as the day arrived for us to register for the courses, had a tuff time waking up in the morning to register, found our that there were lots more of ppl who were just like me trying to register first. After fighting the 404 pages for more than 4 hours the courses were finally registered, leaving behind the project and reading.

After a hard days work on registering for the courses decided to have a break before looking  into projects some time later. And then started the first official classes of the year. The topic being more course focussed makes it more intresting , also not understanding a topic makes a dominis effect, which rules out sleeping in class . People happily leave the lecture and sleep in the comfort of bed in room rather than sleep in lecture hall. The lectures were too interesting to even miss them. The week so passed with classes in the evening and sleep all morning. As weekend arrived it was time to search project , contact professor , make discussion , finalise .  Got finalised for a project and a directed reading module atlast.

Second week made me realize what i have stepped into. Started getting assignments and completion dates , also got the documents for the preparation of reading and project. Something learnt from my two year in company worked out for me. What to do when u are under too much pressure. Just stop caring about the problem and start thinking about it one by one. Seem to work out well. Also got our student pass processed this time, allowing us to stay in singapore for the next 2 years. Why is that they give us a 2 year pass for a 1 year course? just hope the couse does not drag  on for two years.

Its time to start studying ………

Another week of sight seeing

After the first week getting used to the singaporean food , it was time to explore singapore when there was time. There was a long schedule ahead. Starting from attending college stuff like registration and form submission etc to chking our local sight seeing places. After the college procedures were completed came the college orientation , the usual lecture stuff and also gave a news that there were no rewriting of exams once failed . if failed then its bye bye to MS.

This was a bad news to our plan of sight seeing during semester. So decided to do it even before the classes start. First in the list was two choices , Jurong bird park and the Singapore Zoo.  Place was to be finalized based on when we get ready the next day. As usual got up late lead to reaching the busstop very late, so it was bird park which was luck to get out donation . Surprisingly there’s a separate bus form boonlay just to this bird park alone, no other stop in between. Singapore is serious about growing its tourism.

So off we went to the bird park expecting to see empty trees with just boards hanging with the name and a photo of the bird supposed to there. After donating an entry fee of 25$ we were let in with a map and some complementary coupons.  First stop was the panorail, In and off we went. Got a good view of the various birds that were housed and the route to be taken to watch the birds. 2 things in the park impressed me. One was the fact park has taken many steps to recreate the birds natural home as much as possible rather than put it in cage for display, yea they were in a cage still they had plenty of room to move about. Second is the the interaction that was possible with the birds. Its not like birds are inside the cage and u watch if from outside. Visitors are allowed to go inside the cages and watch the birds . Even feeding stations were there for visitors could enjoy feeding the birds. The penguins were housed in super chilled and iced room to suit them. Even the owls were kepts in darkroom with just enought lighting to find them in the trees.

This was next followed by the bird show. Lots of well trained birds starting from cranes to parrots all made their appearance and showcased their talents. Hats off to the trainer who had the patience to work this out with birds. One good method to keep the visitors coming and also add to the fund of park .

As they day passed as a second we came to realise it was the closing time . Missed lots of shows that day balme it on our sleep. So the day came to the end with a faces of birds happily living in closed quaters.

In a couple of days the Singapore National day arrived. As usual we woke up sooo late tat decided to stay back and waste time on the computer as usual. At the last moment came to know Singapore national day parade happens in the evening and not in the morning as in India .The Parade happened at Marina bay. So Off we started. None of us had a ticket to watch the parade . Plan was to watch the airshow and also the fireworks and return back home. As we reached there i saw was i have only read in novels as “Ocean of people”  its heads everywhere i can see, waiting to take a glimpse of the action. With no idea as to where the parade is to happen with moved along with the crowd to a river half hidden by a bridge. Sadly it was on the opposite side the action was happening and we had no access to the other side. So we have made the maximum of what we could see out of any available space. The action started with a chase of partol boats on jetski followed by a chinook helocipter dropping a navy attack team with boat in the river . Next all we could hear were series of booms. with no smoke or fireworks. Then came the chopper carrying the national flag escorted by 3 attack choppers, reminded me of the indian day parade i used to watch on TV, only this was much closer . Last was a display of 3 fighter jets with sound booming to the hearts. The military display concluded with that and the dances and musik began. It was in some stadium nearby . We settled for the live telecast on the big screen nearby. As time went by the parade started marching from the stadium to the parliment . With army , Navy , Airforce and another team which by the uniform i could only guess as the fireresponse. First thing that i noticed was that most of them were kids. Singapore seem to start the army training from a very small age.

And so ends the second week in singapore and the real reason i came to Singapore for starts . Classes starts tomorrow and i am still searching for the lecture hall. Time to become book worm..

Out of India and into Singapore

Events started falling into place so quick. Too many things and too little time, but as things went its all over at last. Got to know i have been shortlisted for admission on may , Confirmed of admission on june. This set the things in motion. Now came the time of picking up the right college, as i had 3 offers in my hand . 2 offers for MBA in india , one from a brand new institution Indian Business School other form SRM . Though the first was easy to neglect. Choosing between second and third was noose around the neck. Parents pulling me back to india and me trying for sgpore. So atlast it was Singapore the winner

Clock started ticking. Ppl around me more nervous then i am. Trying to figure out where to go for med check , find out the money ,how much to carry , fee , apply loan etc. And so arrived the D day, time to leave for singapore. Flight agent booked ticket on air india express. Expected express to be better than air india, i was in for a surprise. It was actually worser than the air buses that run our city . After 4 hrs stuffed into the cramped into the metal sausage breathed the foreign air .

First thing noticed as orderliness . Whole of singapore has been built to help anyone to travel easily, linked with a wide network of buses and trains , with detailed travels routes in every station.Everything here followed a rule. Its like follow the rule or pay the price. A good way to keep ppl from many countries organized and happy. Took a taxi and found out benz and used as taxi here  . Drivers having more LCD screen to watch than the ppl from matrix movz. Theres a smile on every employee you can come across, Make me think they are paid for the fake smile too. Everything here is interlinked. One need not carry money at all. He can manage with the cards alone. starting with the ezlink for transport to cash card and nets for purchase.

At last , The NTU which has been a electronic university till now come to view. Collecting the keys to our room and in we go . Notin much of a difference when it comes to room . As the day started came to realise that we landed on a sunday. No shops meaning no food to eat. After lots of searching and help from a schoolmate who is here for quite some time found a lone 24hr shoppe. Taking out some bread and juices off the shelves made sure had enough to take through the day.

While exploring the college site found out it has more than 14 canteens . Was eager to check out each and every one it . So as the next day started the search began and sadly found most of them to be chinese with dishes having names that i have yet to pronounce correctly. After a search found a couple of indian restaurants , happily helped my mouth forget the taste of dry bread.  Comparing to india everything here seems cheap . Until we do the math of conversion from dollars to indian rupee. Thats the point heart weeps. Trying to spend 100rs on a plate of paratha , 40 rs on a can of coke . Feel like settling for bread and butter itself.

After few days of heart weeping found out the rythm . Wake up late morning and have a brunch with bread butter and milk. Then leave for roaming singapore . Come back check into the indian restaurant and finish the dinner. As days pass its time to check out others stalls in the campus. McD and Subway were next. not bad for a 5$ meal .Decided not to convert dollars to rupees anymore. Spend dollars as dollars and ruppes as rupees .  best policy to follow

A night at my estate

Its been more than a decade since i had chance to stay at my estate for a night.  Got the chance for tat this month, when a me and my friend planned for a trip to estate. Decided to make the most of it .  Started with a trekking , a swin in a river , a night walk in search of some bears and yes a very hearty meal after everything outing  .  So was the climate, Just perfect .

Time-Lapse Videos of Massive Change on Earth

Found this article on wired

Literally show how we are playing with our planet without thinking about its consequenses

Urbanization of Dubai
Nothing says environmental exploitation like building your own palm tree-shaped archipelago. Dubai, of the United Arab Emirates, has dredged sand from the sea floor to build hundreds of artificial islands along its coast, hoping to attract wealthy tourists. Many projects have been put on hold since the global credit crunch hit the region.

Sucking Out the Aral Sea
In the 1960s, central Asia’s Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. As a result of irrigation and damming, it had shriveled to 10 percent of its original size (marked by the thin black line) by 2007. It is now three separate, highly salinic, lakes.

Clearing the Amazon
Over the past three decades, the state of Rondônia in western Brazil cleared almost 35 percent of its rainforest. According to NASA’s website, the pattern of deforestation is common in the Amazon. People build roads, then clear some of the land for small farms. After a few years, the land erodes and becomes depleted. The farmers, suffering from low crop yields, convert the land for cattle, then clear more forest for crops, and so on until large cattle holders buy the land.

Post-War Clean-Up of Mesopotamia’s Wetlands
Sometimes, change is a good thing. The marshes of Mesopotamia had been drained and decimated by Saddam Hussein in the 1990s. When his regime ended in 2003, Iraqis began reclaiming the marshes. This shows the reflooding of the marshlands and regrowth of vegetation. But serious concerns remain: the water used for reflooding may not be sustainable as the population recovers and expands its agricultural efforts, and the region may have already suffered an irreversible loss of species diversity.

Drought in Utah
Southern Utah’s Lake Powell was once teeming with boaters, fishers and vacationers. But from 2000 to 2005 its water level dropped from 20 million to 8 million acre-feet, due to severe drought. Water levels have rebounded a bit, but are expected to plummet to levels even lower than those of 2005 during the next serious drought.

Best Online Photo personalised gift site

Past few days , was searching for some good online site to print all my photos at less least cost.  Only few sites are available in india for this.

Zoomin

This site follows web2.0 standards . Has a neat and clean layout.

• Has Support for Picasa and Flickr
• Lowest print at 2.95 for a 6 x 4
• Photo can also be uploaded directly via web
• Payment Via Debit card
• Print available on Glossy Matte and metallic papers
• Gift option available

• No Credit for first time sign on
• Requires to enter Debit card details including CCV and address before contuning

Some Stuff provided by them are

photomug

calendar

greeting card

tshirt

collage

zoomini book(5 sizes)

photo print(8 sizes)

canavas prints (7 sizes)

PicSquare

I prefer picsquare coz of many options for gifts to choose from

• Support for Picasa and Flickr
• Free credit on first registration
• Gift option available
• Photos can also be uploaded even via web
• Payment can be done via net banking or via ur tataindicom account(if u are a tata customer)
• Couriers are delivered via DTDC or Overnite express
• Very fast processing of 2 r 3 days usually

• Photo paper quality too bad

Snapfish

This site is too costly , too cumbersome to use

• Has no support for flickr or picasa
• Provides Credit points for first time registration
• Uploading photos from computer requires a standalone app to be downloaded

Google April 1st Prank

Was eager to check out what prank google is going to pull out for this april. They have went with Youtube. All video layouts has been flipped upside down..  Not stopping with tat google has even added tips on how to view this inverted videos . 

uTorrent Speed charts

After the famous rule by indian ISP of FUP , i restricted downloads and other bandwidth heavy applications. while my utorrent still used to run idle all day . Even under the idle condition they keep sending out datapackets at periodic intervals  producing nice charts.