New Year Resolution???

I'm not the kind who makes New Year resolutions, but this time I thought why not? The basic need for a resolution is to bring about a change. This change for me in 2007 will be in the OS that I use. Yes, I'm planning to give the Linux world a try from the next year.

I got to know about a latest flavor of Linux for the desktop called Ubuntu. I went through the site and found out some info about it and was pretty much impressed. I even burnt a Live-CD which can be used to try out all the features without actually installing anything on your harddisk. I'm planning to install a dual-boot scheme with WinXP and Ubuntu on my laptop.

I'm pretty new to the Linux world but I must say that Ubuntu is pretty impressive. I think this flavor will remove the fear of Linux from people like me. What I always wanted was the interactive GUI based interface of Windows along with the stability of Linux. I'm not very comfortable with CLIs and find them to be a little boring (read difficult to handle).

Anyway, I hope you would also try out Ubuntu to get a feel of the Linux world. There are a lot of things to discover in that new universe. However, there is a big risk in it. Guess what??? ....... You may never wanna get back to Windows ever!!!

Wish you a Spectacular New Year 2007!!!

Merry Christmas & Wonderful New Year 2007!!!

Back now after a long time. And what better occasion than Christmas to get back online. Here is wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Splendid New Year 2007.

I visited the local Christmas market ('Weihnachts markt') last week at Neumarkt in Cologne. That's where I took the pic.

I'll get back with more articles in the New Year. I've also seen that the blogger site itself has been updated. So many good things happening in this festive season. Anyway, party away and .... Enjoy folks!!!

Back after the IZB Show

I have been away for quite some time now and I do apologize for that. Was caught up with the IZB supplier show in Wolfsburg. It's an international automotive supplier show arranged by VW. My company participated in it as an exhibitor so we had lots of stuff to do. Anyway, it all went well so we were all happy about it.

Fujikura acquired a spanish company called ACE in September so the Spanish people also visited our stall during the show. It was truly an international atmosphere. Working together with the Germans, Japanese and Spanish is definitely a lot of fun.

Did enjoy my weekend as well. Met friends on Saturday, cooked and enjoyed a nice dinner together. Sunday was pretty quiet. Had to go to another friend's place to clear some doubts about money transfer to India. I guess it was a well deserved break after the hectic work at the show.

Home is where my......Files....are!!!

I haven't come across something simpler than this to access the files on my computer at home or office from any place on the earth. Absolutely simple to setup, access and sync between home & office computers. Especially useful for a person like me who keeps travelling across countries all the time. Wonder why I didn't check it out before.

Although it appears to be absolutely simple to setup and start accessing files, I'm not sure how far it's reliable in terms of security. It seems to be pretty fast for the kind of security that they promise. If it really is supposed to be good then it is nothing short of a miracle. I guess if this tool seems to be as reliable as they claim it to be then data-loss could be a thing of the past. I know there are many back-up solutions out there, but this one surely does the job for a person like me.

Truly....HOME would definitely be where my files are. FolderShare is like a \\HOME away from C:\HOME!!!

P.S.: I'm off to Darmstadt this weekend. Gonna attend my convocation at my university. After that I'm gonna visit a friend at Karlsruhe. Will post more about my weekend trip soon.

Wiki for Dappaankuthu???

I got a mail from my friend this morning (just another good morning mail) and was shocked to see a wiki entry for 'Dappankuthu'. For all those who have no idea what this is, you've got to check it out here. The best part about it is, the friend who sent me this link is working as a System Engineer for AUTOSAR, the other part about him is that he is probably the best Dappankuthukaaran in Germany ;-)!!!

The Key Problem

Just 100m to get home and I start fumbling for my keys. I reach inside my pockets and pull out some keys to notice that they are my office keys. I keep fumbling again and finally manage to pull out my room keys. Once I've got the right set of keys, I almost always insert the wrong key to open the door. After getting things right again, I get inside and climb up 4 floors and again insert the wrong key to get into my apartment. By this time I'm a done deal.

Think it's over? I bet its not. Next morning I need to get to the office and the same thing repeats again. Except this time its the entry to the office. I don't know why but I don't seem to have any luck with keys. It's almost like the keys are allergic to me or probably they want to take some revenge for treating them badly.

Why can't we have a world without keys? How I would love to just push a door to open it. A door that can recognize me and grant me access without the need for keys. No keys to remember and no keys to forget. No more jingling noises from my trousers when walking around that gives the people an idea that I'm wearing steel briefs. No more access cards that need to be swiped everytime. No more passwords to remember. Why can't things be simple? I think no two people in this world have the same characteristics, not even twins, not even clones. So why don't we come up with some system that recognizes us as humans. Just like mom sees me coming home and opens the door. When I was a kid I could recognize that my dad was back just from the sound of his scooter and his shoes.

I think security needs to be made as simple as possible. Instead of increasing the complexity of keys, I think we need to eliminate them totally. We need to sit back and go back to nature and learn to implement what we learn using technology in our daily lives. The future is towards making things simpler.

I wish there comes a day soon when I never need to carry any keys with me. That way I can get rid of the "Oh no..I've forgotten the keys to my room in my friend's place" syndrome. The key to solving the key-problem is - NO KEY!!!

Is it Friday today???

Just one of those usual mornings today. Got up at 7 and went around with the morning chores. All the while I was thinking, "Gosh its Thursday, I can't wait for Friday". Had this gloomy look on my face.

Before I could leave I happened to check out the weather on my desktop (I do that all the time before I step out) and to my disbelief realized that "Today is Friday!!!" I was like Yippeeeeeeee. I wanted to confirm again so I checked the date on my watch, on my computer, my cellphone and the international time and date website. I was assured that today is indeed Friday. Phew what a great relief. I really got to experience the bliss of the term, "Thank God its Friday". Weekend is just round the corner.

Weekend Update (02.-03.Sep)

Heard the story 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin'? I literally lived that story during the weekend. It was a wonderful trip to meet my friend there. I went there with another friend who lives here in Cologne. Had to get up early to take the train at 6:21 in the morning. Reached Hamelin on time at 10:10. My friend was waiting at the station. Took the bus from the station to his place. It's a small place so it just took about 5 minutes.

After taking a small break in his room, we immediately left to go to the city-centre. It was filled with people, eating and drinking and shopping around. We noticed a line of imprints of rats (in white) on the road. I heard that it represents the path taken by the Pied Piper to drive the rats out of the city. Also saw a statue of the piper. Everywhere you look, you will find something with a connection to the story of the piper.

My friend treated us at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch. I tried something called 'Chicken Enchiladas'. Mmmmmh it tasted yummy, but a lot of cheese. We didn't wanna get drunk so just settled down with just a glass of beer (type was called 'Ratskeller', typical of Hamelin). After lunch we were just walking around the shopping center and then got home to take a break.

In the evening we climbed a small hill that was about 800m tall. Got a good view of the place from there, also tried a panaromic shot of the town (the stitch wasn't so good though, you can see it under the title of this blog). After that we went back to the city-center and had some ice-cream. Later on saw some live band playing at a Summer-Fest and finished the day with dinner at a Greek Restaurant. I tried some Giros. It got me filled to the nose with meat. It was a tiring day. Got back to my friend's room around midnight. It was surprizing to see that the town went dead around midnight, unlike Cologne where the party just starts at that time.

Got up pretty late the next day. We just had time to cook lunch. I wanted to make some cauliflower manchurian, but finally got to know that none of the required ingredients were available. Had to settle down with something close to it. Took about an hour to finish frying the two cauliflowers that my friend bought. My friend made some nice carrot and peas kurma. Once that was done, we had lunch and left for Cologne.

Hamelin was a different place compared to Cologne. You get to experience serenity in its truest form there. Pretty refreshing for someone living amidst the hustle and bustle of a big city like Cologne. Moreover, visiting this place reminded me of the school days when I read about the piper's story or saw it on TV. A truly refreshing weekend indeed!

'Dream Gadget' - Tag Pickup

- Tagged by Anu.

I've probably dreamed of many, but would like to list a few here:

1. Auto-Drive Car: Hop in. Enter your destination. Reach in comfort.

2. Automatic-Cooking System: Fill up the different containers with sambar podi, masala podi, chilli powder, turmeric powder and all spices. Separate sections for vegetables, chicken etc. Select your menu. Relax. The system checks if everything needed for the menu is available and does all the cooking. (Pretty realistic na?). An add-on could be an inventory system that automatically orders stuff from the store.

3. 3D Projection Goggles: Can be used as a monitor to display anything in the 3D space available within our angle of vision. Can be integrated along with the car navi-system to show maps/directions/instructions as we drive. (Reduces risk of accidents as we don't need to take our eyes off the road). Virtually replaces any display device.

4. Automatic Bathing Suite: Step-in. Refresh. Step-out.

.....and....probably the most significant to me......

5. RFID2 System (Rapidly Found If Displaced RFID System): This system consists of absolutely small tags that can literally be stuck to anything and a satellite based scanner that is connected to the net with an online-interface. Purpose - To find anything that 'I' don't, from.....anywhere!

ADAC Training Update (30.Aug)

It was a glorious finish today at the training and what better than to see the thumbs up sign from the trainer. I must say I've had a really great day today, complete with fine weather and all.

The start wasn't that good though. Was caught up in traffic on the autobahn between Troisdorf and Bonn. Ended up being late by about 30 minutes for the training. However, I was lucky enough because the candidates were just leaving the training room and heading towards the test tracks. We were a group of 10.

At first we had to wiggle our way through markers spaced at about 10m. It was a good exercise for sharp steering. The lesson learnt at the end of the exercise was 'Steer earlier, steer less'.

The next few exercises were on handling the car on different surfaces. Rough, smooth, dry and wet. The worst condition was ofcourse the smooth and wet. I've only read about ABS and ESP in technical docs and the internet, but today I experienced both live. The worst part of the surface runs was a circular track that was used to experience the forces when driving along bends. The radius of curvature of that track was about 10m and I guess the fastest I drove around was about 35kmph. I could literally feel the ESP system blocking my wheels individually as I was handling the curve. I must say that the VW Golf is a truly wonderful machine when it comes to stability.

It was a long day, but truly exciting and fun-filled. I learnt a lot of things that I could probably not learn anywhere else (except if I actually face an accident situation)!

Training Tomorrow

I'm gonna make use of my birthday gift tomorrow. Going for the car safety and security training tomorrow. It's conducted by ADAC, a popular automobile institute here. Will have to handle rough situations, sudden brakes, sharp curves, fast deceleration, obstacle course, etc. Guess its gonna be a roller coaster ride on a car tomorrow. Anyways, will update everything after I'm back (hopefully....in one piece)!

Cool 3D Tool

I was assigned the task of visualizing a 3D model of our stall at the VW supplier show in Wolfsburg in October. I was hunting around for some free tool and didn't have to look further than Google. They have this cool tool called SketchUp.

I was able to bring up a model within minutes. You see a rough 'SketchUp' in the picture. Of course the free version doesn't let you do everything, but it was enough for what I needed to do. I think you can use a bit of your artistic skills and your engineering drawing skills to realize your dreams in 3D space. Check it out and have fun.

Weekend Update (18. - 20.Aug)

Wo Wo Wo Wo, now that was one great weekend I really enjoyed. My friend came down from Hameln on Friday around 8:30 in the evening. We all went to another friend's place at Junkersdorf (I had packed some stuff to stay at his place the whole weekend). From then on it was a roller coaster ride into the weekend.

Friday night was spent at Rudolfplatz. We were walking along the brightly lit streets filled with pubs and discotheques. Finally we settled down at a roadside bar. I must've had a couple of beers. Also tried a 2 c.l. shot of Tequila (white variety). First time I'm trying it. Felt like a ball of fire travelling down my throat into my tummy. Didn't really get quite drunk, but wasn't very stable. I felt like I was walking on a raised platform. We were hanging around until 3am.

Saturday morning got up around 10 and headed straight to the swimming pool. Met an 80 year old man in the pool who gave us some tips on swimming. We struck a good deal with him, so we would be getting some instructions on swimming every saturday between 12:30 to 1 in the afternoon. It was really amazing to see an 80 year old swimming around like a pro. I guess I'll be swimming in my grave at that age.

Sunday was the best. We went to Phantasialand and had a blast of a time. Got a discount ticket with the help of a friend working for Ford. Went on almost all the rides. The deadliest was the 'Mystery Castle'. Experiencing a 65m freefall scared the daylights out of me. I don't think I can last a second ride. I also avoided all the rides that splashed down into the water. Am not comfortable getting wet (moreover it was also raining off and on the whole day). We were a gang of four so it was always easy to go for rides together. Apart from the rides, the shows were also nice. The best was the ice dancing show called Unforgettable. This was my first trip to an amusement park in Germany and I'm happy to say that it was a good one.


Overall had a really great weekend. I don't have any specific plans for my next weekend, but if there is something exciting, I'll keep that posted.

Weekend Update (13.Aug)

The weekend didn't go as planned (was supposed to go for a cruise). Bad weather played spoil-sport. It was raining a little in the morning and the temperature was around 16 deg C. Not a good day for a cruise. But I must say that I did enjoy the weekend. I went to a friend's place for lunch. He is married and has two sweet little kids. They really like me a lot and are always pretty excited when they get to know that I'm coming over.

The sun was playing hide and seek the whole Sunday. Anyway, it didn't really rain much. We managed to go cycling around huge fields (you can see that in the picture). Got to see a huge pit that was dug up for coal and later abandoned. The kids really enjoyed the fun time at home. Got to play all sorts of games. Also did bits of singing and dancing. It was total fun.


And yes, we are planning to go for that cruise sometime next month. Hope we do it before winter. Keeping all fingers crossed.

Kinder?

I had to go to a computer store last evening to collect the 1GB RAM module that I had ordered the previous week for my laptop. The store was pretty empty but there were two guys at the counter talking to the assistant. I had to wait for my turn so I just stood behind them. I shifted my ears to 'overhear' mode (as I do most of the time) and realized that the guys were providing information to the assistant to fill out a purchase order. Apart from the normal items like name, address, etc.. I happened to hear an amusing question.

(In German)..........

Assistant : "Familienstand?"
Guy1 : "Ledig."
Assistant : "Kinder?"
Guy1 : "Nein."
Guy2 : "???!!!!???!!! Haahaahahaaaha"
Guy1 : "Hahahahahaha"

(In English)...........

Assistant : "Marital Status?"
Guy1 : "Single."
Assistant : "Children?"
Guy1 : "None."
Guy2 : "???!!!!???!!! Haahaahahaaaha"
Guy1 : "Hahahahahaha"

That was very entertaining. I laughed all the way home thinking about it. Anyway, I've got to return to that shop today because the RAM that I got doesn't fit in my memory slot. This is inspite the fact that the assistant suggested it to me after taking a look at my laptop!!! Guess Moore's law applies in Germany as well.

Fun Weekends Ahead!!!

Yippeeee I'm so excited. The following 3 weekends are going to be fun weekends for me. Coming weekend I will be going on a cruise down the river Rhine from Cologne to Dusseldorf. Will also be going to Bonn, just to hang around for sometime. I may also be taking a ride on the Cable Car at Cologne. I know a SriLankan family here and they are planning to come to Cologne next weekend, moreover another friend may also be joining us, so will be having lots of fun.

The weekend after that I will be going to Fantasia Land. Looking forward to that eagerly coz I heard that they have plenty of rides and lots of shows and stuff. Hmmm sounds like fun.

The following weekend I'm planning to take my car safety training. This would cover the ways to handle a car during emergency situations. It would last a whole day. I received a coupon for this training as a gift for my birthday from my company. Guess it would be all action and fun.

I hope I have a blast during the following 3 weekends. If I'm successful I'll fill up more space on my blog. I do hope the Rain-Gods are on their vacation for this month!!!

Clean your pipe

I was on my way to work this morning when I noticed something amusing. There was this person who hurriedly got into the train at a station and sat on the opposite seat. Hardly a few seconds passed by when he took out a leather pouch and placed it on his lap. It looked something like these trendy pouches that school kids have, to store their pencils, pens, etc. However, this pouch had a different purpose. I tried to imagine as to what could be inside it. "Anyway, I will get to know once he opens it", I thought to myself.

He finally unzipped the pouch and opened it like a clam opening its shells. And what lay inside? His 'Tobacco pipe' along with all accessories. The pipe was actually in two pieces, one end which held the tobacco, like a pot and the other was the tube which attached to this pot like an extension. The first thing that he did was to clean the whole pipe. I saw him take a straw made of cloth. I guess there must have been some metal wire within coz it was so firm. Then he drew this straw through the pipe and started brushing it from within. Within a very short period, I saw that the cloth was covered with a mixture of dark-brown unburnt tobacco dust and black soot. He cleaned it so thoroughly that I guess the inside must have become shiny. He did the same for the extension which held the tobacco.

After all the cleaning was over he opened a small compartment inside his pouch which contained the bits of tobacco. He took small pinches of it and started filling his pipe with it. Unfortunately, I couldn't witness the whole event coz my station had arrived.

This was the first time that I ever witnessed someone handling a tobacco pipe (I've only seen people smoking it before). As I was on my way to the office, I thought to myself, "If just a single use of the pipe made the inside so dirty, I shudder to think how the inside of his lungs would be?" I guess he probably would require an acid wash to clear the stuff out. Anyway, it was an interesting event that I saw this morning. And by the way, I don't smoke, and I don't intend to in the future. The world is already getting all choked up and I don't want to be another contributor towards it!

Mercury Rising

The merciless scorching from the sun seems no different from Chennai. I thought my days of heat and sweat are over, but I was proved wrong the moment I landed in Frankfurt before getting to Cologne. The pilot announced that ground temperature was 30 deg C. It was 28 in Chennai. I thought I'm doomed. Atleast when it comes to heat, I think Germany is no different from Chennai.

Today was an especially hot day, probably the hottest this summer. The mercury rose to 34 deg C, but I guess tomorrow may be the hottest, coz the forecast says 35. We don't have AC in our current office, so we just need to sweat it out with floor ventilators. Germany hasn't really witnessed such hot summers, so the buildings are normally designed to keep the heat inside. A bad idea when it gets really hot. I guess global warming is taking its toll after all. The maximum temperature keeps rising every year. I wouldn't be surprized if it touches 40 next year.

It surprizes me to a certain extent that a country which is so strict in its emission policies has to suffer the consequences due to the actions of other countries who do not implement it. What we need is a global policy. It's not enough if just a few maintain standards. I hope that all nations realize the dangers involved due to global warming and chart out a plan to reduce if not eliminate it. I guess if nothing is done soon, it would be equal to just digging our own graves!

Back to Work

It has been a busy month for me. Spent the first two weeks in Japan. I had a nice time in Chennai for a week. Was very happy to meet dad, mom and brother. Also met a lot of relatives and friends. However, there was not enough time to do everything, so had to be happy with just a week of meeting and shopping.

It has been 3 years since I've been away from Chennai so I really found it to be very different this time. However, I must say that not much has changed in the city. Found the roads to be good without many potholes and open pits. Traffic has increased and so has the dust level. For the one week that I stayed I got all the possible attacks like cold, cough, fever, throat infection, and breathing difficulty. It has been 3 years since I ever visited a doc, but I had to do that in just under a week's stay at Chennai. Goes to show how unhealthy the climate is in the city.

Anyway, I got back yesterday and got to work today. Life has got back to the usual grind. Time flew so fast that I didn't realize that my trip was over. Anyway, I really enjoyed every bit of it. I will be getting back to Chennai sometime in December. Really looking forward to it. Moreover, since it will be a long vacation, I hope to do the things that I didn't find time to do this time. Guess its going to be a lovely Christmas this year!

Konnichiwa

It's been a great trip for me so far. Started off with my trip from Frankfurt airport. Flying from Frankfurt to HongKong was such a pain in the ass - 'literally'. What can you expect when sitting continously for 11 hours. Found HK to be a great place. Airport surrounded by the sea on one side and mountains on the other. The flight to Japan from HK was pretty comfortable, but the customs check took very long. They are especially worried about drugs being smuggled into the country.

Spent the first two days at Tokyo. Found the city to be pretty interesting. The first thing that you notice are electric cables hanging over you (It's actually worse than India). I guess underground power distribution is unheard of in this part of the world. The roads are mostly narrow and cars drive on the left side of the road (unlike Germany or US). The hotel room was very comfortable. Climate in Japan during summers is pretty hot so you have to keep the AC running all the time (including nights). One remarkable aspect about the room is the commode. You also have a system to do the cleaning up after the 'job'. You press a few buttons and you have a robotic arm spraying warm water. I got startled the first time when I was pushing those buttons, but later got to learn how to use it.

Got to eat lots of Japanese food. Tried octopus, squid and all that with chopsticks (called 'Hashi' in Japanese). Did a trip of Tokyo last Sunday. Got to see many places like the Tokyo tower, Diet building, Asakusa Temple, Ginza shopping district, Emperor's palace and also took a cruise on the Hamida river. Got acquainted to some people from Mexico and Venezuela. Had lots of fun.

It's been almost two weeks of work and going to manufacturing plants. Now, I'm eagerly waiting for my trip back home to Chennai on 14th. Though its gonna be a short trip for about a week I hope to enjoy my time at home, after all, it's been almost 3 years since I've been away.

Hole in the ground

Apart from the many attractions that you find in Germany, the ones that can never be missed are the manholes that are laid along all the roads. Although they are aplenty, its hard to spot as they blend very well with the road. One noted difference between the manholes here and in India is their height (or depth) from the road level. This is almost zero here whereas you can have differences upto +/- 15 cm (or more) in India. This not only interrupts the beauty of the roads but also causes a lot of mishaps. I have seen many vehicles (especially 2-wheelers) skidding off these manholes and have also read about dangerous accidents in newspapers.

I sometimes wonder what is preventing us in India from designing a manhole in such a manner. I have observed them here in Germany pretty carefully and I found that they are made of a steel framework with a filling of concrete. Both these materials are available in India as well. Moreover we also have the technology to construct quality manholes. I guess the difference comes in planning the laying of the road. Usually the height of the manhole remains fixed whereas the height of the road-level keeps changing because they get re-laid constantly. Probably a simple solution to this problem would be a telescopic man-hole which can be extracted or retracted according to the changes in the road level. In this manner, the height of the man-hole can be kept in-line with the road and thus all those dangerous accidents can easily be prevented. I hope that the Government of India takes some serious action towards this problem because I feel it is very important. It is not just about making that ride to home or office more pleasurable but also safe.

The Weird Game ... (continued)

I've been tagged by Anu so I'm continuing this 'Weird Game' thing. Managed to list 10, but I'm sure there are more, so here goes....

1. First and most surprizing, "I HATE RAIN!"

2. In contradiction to point 1, I like the sound of falling water (don't prefer it to fall on me though).

3. I consider myself to be born again if I survive in the presence of a Wasp (or anything that has a nuclear war-tail).

4. My most favourite part in a chicken is ......the 'Gizzard'.

5. I can never remember the words in a song, how many ever times I listen to it, but the tune sticks the very first time.

6. I'm allergic to the smell of Jasmines.

7. I'm so forgetful to an extent that I consider my cellphone organizer as an extension of my memory cells (Even have my own name, number and address stored in the address-book).

8. I am a strong believer than printers will and must become extinct in a few years (e-paper wud be the best substitute).

9. Art (referring to paintings, especially the modern ones) is something that I have not yet succeeded in decoding. Have given up all hope completely.

10. (My friends consider this weird but I consider it environment-friendly) I use the blank space behind bus-tickets to write my grocery list.

Now that I've finished, there is another weird point. I don't know whom to tag next!

Flowery Grave

I need to walk from the train station to my office every morning and on the way I have to pass along a cemetery and a farm. I don't feel spooky during my walk along the cemetery because there are residents just adjacent the road, moroever, the look of the cemetery is so pleasing that it hardly gives you a sense of fear. If you click on the pic you can see an enlarged version.

One aspect to note about the graves in Germany is that an entire family has a single grave. Apart from the fact that they save space, it also creates a feeling of togetherness. Together in life and in death. Most of the graves are pretty old. There is one that has a birthyear of 1898 inscribed on it. Although the cemetery seems to house graves that are very old, it is well maintained. I have seen even elderly people visiting the graves and decorating them with beautiful flowers. It is truly a wonderful sight to see as I pass by the place every morning and evening.

Packing Pangs

Just under four days for my trip to Japan and I still haven't packed a pen. My room is in a big mess and I still haven't managed to cajole myself into this uphill, millstone-tied-to-leg-walk kind of stuff called packing. It just doesn't happen with me. I don't know if I'm a lone species on this planet. Maybe there are others, but I need to seriously admit that I'm no good at packing stuff for a trip. Even if I do manage to pack there is always something that I forget.

I remember a typical trip to Mangalore when I was in India. I made sure to pack all the important stuff. I reached the station at the last minute (as usual). Had to hurry to the platform and scuffle for my compartment. Finally the whistle was blown and the train started moving. After passing Arakkonam (thats a station on the way to M'lore from Chennai) I remembered that I had left my camera, perfect with batteries and case, neatly on my table. Luckily I managed with my cousin's camera, but just goes to show that I can never manage to go on a trip without forgetting something.

Anyway, I hope I pack all the important stuff this time. This is evident from the fact that I have started thinking about packing 4 days in advance. I do have a lot of places to visit this time so the first thing that's going in would be my camera. Just to give you a hint I would be travelling through Frankfurt, HongKong, Tokyo, Zhuhai (southeast China), Bangkok, Chennai and finally back to Cologne. All this over 3 weeks, phew....now that's gonna be a crunch, I guess. When in Tokyo I hope to visit a place called Akihabara which is a famous place for all kinds of electronics. Will update you on that soon. Right now, gotta get packing :-( !!!

Fly High

No, its not about airplanes or rockets but the very common and most irritating specimen of all...the fly! Two of them happened to wreck all havoc in office today. Normally you don't see them around in Germany. Infact you hardly see any insects around for most time of the year except summer. That's when those creepy crawly creatures come out of their homes for a bask in the sun and a whiff of fresh air. I guess these two flies happened to visit our office this morning.

It started off as a strange buzz around a corner and suddenly we saw these two dark balls flying around. I could faintly hear them say "attackkkkk". I need to sincerely apologize that even two engineers in a room ain't no match for those two flies. They just kept buzzing around and pissing us off. We tried to retaliate but failed. I'm no match when it comes to swatting flies, I even got a poor rating of less than 30% in an online fly swatting game (guess I don't even have a brain that compares with a fly). In case you wanna try it out as well, click here. Ultimately my colleague managed to destroy one of them, but the other escaped. Maybe he is hiding somewhere to trouble us again on Monday.

My ordeal with the flies made me realize what a wonderful creation it is. So much of computing power locked into such a tiny space. Flight-dynamics, collision avoidance, landing and take-off system, environment scanning, predator response and many more systems hard-wired into their structure. I wish we could learn something from it. Most amusing fact is that such a tiny creature can manage to be a real pain in the neck at times. Goes to say that when it comes to getting noticed, size doesn't matter!

Laws of Robotics

It was both frightening and amusing to read this article on robotics sent to me by a friend. It specified the dangers involved with the use of robots in our daily life and also upon the implementation and meaning of the three laws of robotics as prescribed by Asimov. The three laws seem to be so tightly bound to one another. From first sight, it felt like if they were implemented in a robot, it could never do any harm, however the article stresses the point that it is impractical. Moreover it also opens up the issue about a rather perverted use of robots (which I had never heard of previously), strange but true, for sex. Yes, I think they are also going to replace human being to do that as well. It really comes to a point of closing the gap between what is real and what is virtual. I guess the issues that need to be addressed regarding robotics is not just concerning safety, but also regarding the social impact. Having studied robotics during my master's and worked in the automation field, I always imagined that robots are going to help us live an easier and better life. However, the mind of man has zillions of ideas hiding inside its crevices. Some good, many bad!

Just as Asimov proposed laws for robots, I would like to do the same for humans.

1. Humans may not injure other humans, or, through inaction, allow humans to come to harm.
2. Humans must obey orders given to them by their conscience, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. Humans must protect their own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Taking everything a step further, a time would come when we would need a modification of these laws as well:

1. A human may not injure a robot, or, through inaction, allow a robot to........

I guess evolution would take its course!

Follow Back

I was on the phone with my friend from Hameln (The city of the story 'Pied Piper of Hamlin') last evening. Just a friendly chat during the weekend. We happened to discuss events of the week and also happened to touch upon a philosphical note regarding our current status in life. We completed our course from the same university in Germany and both of us are working now in our respective fields. He said, "I think I'm currently enjoying the best period of my life in so many years." To that I said, "Wow great! So what about marriage?" To that, he said that he was not interested in interrupting this life that he was experiencing atleast for another two years. "We have this stereotypical mentality that a guy/girl must finish studies, get job and immediately get married, get kids and start family. However, if you notice the western world, people take their own time and in turn tend to be more mature parents. Of course not many relationships work out, but the ones that do, appear to be good," he said.

We tend to follow people around us. Very few think about living a life of their own. Its more like living for others. See what that guy has done, see what this girl has done seems to be the talk everywhere. We hardly sit down and think what We desire to be as. Rightly described in an online TV that I was seeing on winamp shoutcast, we tend to be like sheeple i.e. sheep people. Just like sheep that follow each other, we have the tendency to follow others. My friend said that my article on the tram incident reminded him of his childhood dream of becoming an artist. It seems he used to be very much interested in drawing and painting and always pestered his mom to get him color pencils and paints. However he was forced into engineering. Life has been good for him so far, but he said, "Maybe I would've been happier if I became an artist."

Go for Nuclear

I was really happy to read the news that nuclear power is receiving so much of attention nowadays. Found this in The Hindu today. When you consider the fact that coal and oil reserves are soon getting depleted and renewable energy sources are currently not being utilized to their full capacity, nuclear energy is the only option to keep the world going. In fact it is the only way to get energy really quick and also not pollute the earth, something that cannot be achieved with the coal and oil.

The article also mentioned the fact that Nuclear Engineering courses in the US are getting filled up rapidly. I guess the students are smart enough to realize that they have a good opportunity in the future. Moreover, they would be contributing towards a cleaner environment by eliminating or atleast reducing our dependance on other forms of energy.

There could be many of you who may not agree with me saying that nuclear energy is dangerous. Well, all I can say to this argument is that 'Fire' was considered dangerous thousands of years ago, but today, we have learnt to keep it within our control to a large extent. Today it will be nuclear energy. What we need are good methods for safely using this new form of energy and keeping it under control. I would like to see the fields of nuclear science and engineering developing to much higher levels. We need more nuclear plants for producing power than to blow up places. More energy would lead to more progress. More progress would in turn benefit the economy, which ultimately would benefit all sections of society, especially the poor. Wouldn't that be worth the risk?

To all you nuclear scientists out there. The challenge is here and NOW!

Unable to access blogger

I was not able to access the blogger site for the past 4 days, so couldn't post anything. I don't know if this was a global or local problem, anyway, its fine now.

Weird Behavior

I was waiting at a tram-station yesterday to take a tram to my friend's house. As usual, I was sitting down on a bench and enjoying the scenary around. There were lots of people walking around. The stopping is called 'Neumarkt', a popular city-center in Cologne (similar to the downtowns in US). As I was waiting I watched a man (probably in his 50s) walking towards the stop along with a kid (probably age 6 or 7). The kid was eating some bread and suddenly a small slice of it fell to the ground. Immediately, this man stamped that slice so hard that it got crushed badly. After the man was done with his deed, they moved on.

In a few seconds a pigeon came swooping down near this slice and started pecking on it (Pigeons are common here just as crows are in Chennai). In just about a minute other pigeons noticed this and came down to investigate and grab their share. However, I noticed that this pigeon who was handling the bread was not letting others to come anywhere near it. I could say she was a selfish pigeon. Soon there were two more, and another three and some more and finally there were like more than 15 pigeons around. This time the first pigeon was not able to control the place so she just gave up and everybody started having their share. However a startling fact was that nobody was fighting for that slice now. Everybody had their piece and in peace.

A few seconds later, the man and his kid came back to that same place, and I noticed something really weird. This man chases away all the birds and stamps the bread really hard this time, kicks it and then leaves.

I just sat there dumb-struck at the behavior of that man. What could have been running in his mind? What is the meaning of his actions? Was he the follower of "Live and let die"? I didn't get any answers to these questions. I didn't have time to think about this further coz my tram had arrived.