Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Day night cricket matches in India...
India has a billion plus people. We all know about the disparity in the income distribution, in other words, while some have ample surplus, lots others cant afford a decent meal/roof/education for themselves/their families.
I am sure, not many of us would have forgotten the movie "Swades", where an NRI character faces the lack electricity in the villages and does something about it. Well, I am not trying to induce interest in electricity generation using the means shown in the movie, rather trying to showcase the situation in our villages, especially with respect to electricity availability.
There is a huge chunk of indian population that goes without access to electricity every day/night. Though government is doing its bit, there clearly is a gap between the effort and the reality. The reasons to that are manifold, ranging from power distribution network to power generation capacity.
Here I want to point out the fact that if we save enough, be careful in how we spend energy/electricity, we'd be helping the govt efforts to provide electricity to everyone. Remember, every bit saved is bit generated.
On one hand we face situation like this, and on the other hand, we have extravagance like day/night cricket matches where towers of flood lights consume energy enough to light up villages for days and days in a single day. This in my very personal view is a huge waste of energy, given that we have a scarcity of electricity. Thats my view, even though I claim myself to be an ardent fan of cricket myself.
Had we had some surplus energy, or may be if we were at least break even on our energy needs and generation, I would probably be advocating other way round. Look at the more developed countries like UK or for that matter any other country which do not have the energy problem, I dont mind such countries expanding energy on things like this. But something like this, happening in India, I dont feel quite nice about that.
There could probably be a simpler solution, just hold the day matches. I dont really want to be in a advisor role to BCCI or any other body, but there might be other solutions to the problem. A simpler one, thats prevalent in UK County league, hold matches on weekends. Perhaps hold smaller matches and more than one in a single day.
Further, and probably I would find more supporters on this argument, just hold lesser matches. Now a days, there is something or other cricket tournament going on every other week. This, that or the other. Cricket is going on too much these days. Sometimes its hard to follow as well.
If you'd play lower number of matches, you save all the resources, not the least my argument of the day, electricity.
I know that there are going to be voices about my argument....you are welcome. Just leave a comment on the post.
Please take the poll on the top of the page and share your views...
I am sure, not many of us would have forgotten the movie "Swades", where an NRI character faces the lack electricity in the villages and does something about it. Well, I am not trying to induce interest in electricity generation using the means shown in the movie, rather trying to showcase the situation in our villages, especially with respect to electricity availability.
There is a huge chunk of indian population that goes without access to electricity every day/night. Though government is doing its bit, there clearly is a gap between the effort and the reality. The reasons to that are manifold, ranging from power distribution network to power generation capacity.
Here I want to point out the fact that if we save enough, be careful in how we spend energy/electricity, we'd be helping the govt efforts to provide electricity to everyone. Remember, every bit saved is bit generated.
On one hand we face situation like this, and on the other hand, we have extravagance like day/night cricket matches where towers of flood lights consume energy enough to light up villages for days and days in a single day. This in my very personal view is a huge waste of energy, given that we have a scarcity of electricity. Thats my view, even though I claim myself to be an ardent fan of cricket myself.
Had we had some surplus energy, or may be if we were at least break even on our energy needs and generation, I would probably be advocating other way round. Look at the more developed countries like UK or for that matter any other country which do not have the energy problem, I dont mind such countries expanding energy on things like this. But something like this, happening in India, I dont feel quite nice about that.
There could probably be a simpler solution, just hold the day matches. I dont really want to be in a advisor role to BCCI or any other body, but there might be other solutions to the problem. A simpler one, thats prevalent in UK County league, hold matches on weekends. Perhaps hold smaller matches and more than one in a single day.
Further, and probably I would find more supporters on this argument, just hold lesser matches. Now a days, there is something or other cricket tournament going on every other week. This, that or the other. Cricket is going on too much these days. Sometimes its hard to follow as well.
If you'd play lower number of matches, you save all the resources, not the least my argument of the day, electricity.
I know that there are going to be voices about my argument....you are welcome. Just leave a comment on the post.
Please take the poll on the top of the page and share your views...
Monday, February 22, 2010
Interest Calculation method changed by RBI
Very interesting article, outlining the benefits of the new interest calculation engine proposed by RBI.
As per the writer, the interest on your savings account would be calculated on a per day basis now, instead of the current method. In the current method, the interest is calculated on the minimum of balance between 10th and the end of month.
A salaried person always loses out in this method, since by the end of the month, the balance is very low and therefore the interest is calculated on that.
I wonder, if and when the banks would start following this methodology ? Also, is it a direction from RBI or an instruction (the other words, is it a suggestion or an order)
Lets see what comes out... April is not far anyway...
Good luck to those who leave idle money in savings bank account...
Friday, February 19, 2010
Discovered BOINC 5 years ago, joined today :)
It was George, a colleague at Axa Tech in Switzerland who first introduced me to this idea. I was thrilled alright, but didnt join right away.
Today I did.
Its a nice feeling, and a feeling of giving back something to science.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/
I would not go into details how it works and all that. However, I would have to say, for whatever time your laptop/workstation remains idle, you can donate the processing power to a better cause. Absolutely fantastic idea, genuinely noble.
And then, look a the stats, people like me are contributing to the processing power generated to the extent of 4 pFLOPS, as against the fastest supercomputer system at mere 1.79 pFLOPS.
As I said, feels great. :)
I hope to inspire others to join in...
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Wonderful..great..marvelous...
Copyright : Maciek Duczynski
Photo Found at : http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=4920356
Such a wonderful image, I can easily say, I havent seen anything like this before. Absolutely great effort. I envy you, the photographer, both in skill (that you did so good) and in luck (that you had the chance to travel to such beautiful place - in Norway somewhere)...
great effort indeed.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Wind energy
There is some renewed interest on my part in wind and related non conventional energy. Thanks to a brother of a friend whom I met last month only, I know a bit more about wind mills and the economy around it.
One thing that has come around is that its a entrepreneurial venture best suited for someone who has relatively deeper pockets. Relating to the sheer volatility and the size of investment required for this business, it becomes a hard to get for a normal first generation entrepreneur.
For example, in India, a typical windmill costs around 1.5 crores to set up. Though government provides decent subsidy on taxes and depreciation benefits to make it relatively viable, you still need about 25-30% of the initial investment to be put in. Further, the amount financed by banks needs a separate kind of guarantee, just because the asset is relatively immovable. You know, they cant just get the windmill out of its root and sell it to claim their money, in case the business defaults on the loan.
Further than that, there are open questions on the stability of the returns from the windmill. Though there are devices measuring the wind speed and therein judge the potential of a place to produce wind energy. These devices are put in place by a govt body and data is recorded to be sold to the companies in the business for generating wind energy.
However, there is no certainty that this data will come around. Remember, its a huge investment going to be based on the data produced by these measuring devices.
Some basic economics around windmills in india are found here -
@Agriculture Information
One thing that has come around is that its a entrepreneurial venture best suited for someone who has relatively deeper pockets. Relating to the sheer volatility and the size of investment required for this business, it becomes a hard to get for a normal first generation entrepreneur.
For example, in India, a typical windmill costs around 1.5 crores to set up. Though government provides decent subsidy on taxes and depreciation benefits to make it relatively viable, you still need about 25-30% of the initial investment to be put in. Further, the amount financed by banks needs a separate kind of guarantee, just because the asset is relatively immovable. You know, they cant just get the windmill out of its root and sell it to claim their money, in case the business defaults on the loan.
Further than that, there are open questions on the stability of the returns from the windmill. Though there are devices measuring the wind speed and therein judge the potential of a place to produce wind energy. These devices are put in place by a govt body and data is recorded to be sold to the companies in the business for generating wind energy.
However, there is no certainty that this data will come around. Remember, its a huge investment going to be based on the data produced by these measuring devices.
Some basic economics around windmills in india are found here -
@Agriculture Information
Connecting to an Oracle Server...which way is faster...
I've never came across this question as such, because its sort of given that you connect to a server any-which way the administrators define the policy. The tuning perspectives came in only afterwards.
However, in a recent situation, I had to connect to a remote server from my client system and was wondering whether I should connect using tnsnames.ora or should I use the basic authentication mechanism, using the complete connect string.
I thought that the tnsnames.ora would incur some latency in connections. On the other hand, connecting directly without using any such files is like doing a telnet to the server on a given port.
Also, I have seen that if you attempt to connect using the complete connect string from the tnsnames.ora file, it also works.
Since I was not clear myself, I did post this question on oracle forums. And a gentleman, Billy Verreynne took out some time to help explain the concept. Many thanks to him.
As it stands, the basic methodology of connection is same in both cases. However, if you happen to have a huge tnsnames.ora file, it would be an overhead to parse the file and get the connect string for the service name you attempted to connect to. But it would only make a difference, if your client connection process go into hundreds then it might make any noticeable degradation. Basically, client would have to parse the huge tnsnames file few hundred times per second.. then it might make a difference.
Billy also suggested that if you switch the server mode from dedicated to shared, it would help.
So, for my conclusions, its the same if you connect through tnsnames or through a native connect string.
However, in a recent situation, I had to connect to a remote server from my client system and was wondering whether I should connect using tnsnames.ora or should I use the basic authentication mechanism, using the complete connect string.
I thought that the tnsnames.ora would incur some latency in connections. On the other hand, connecting directly without using any such files is like doing a telnet to the server on a given port.
Also, I have seen that if you attempt to connect using the complete connect string from the tnsnames.ora file, it also works.
Since I was not clear myself, I did post this question on oracle forums. And a gentleman, Billy Verreynne took out some time to help explain the concept. Many thanks to him.
As it stands, the basic methodology of connection is same in both cases. However, if you happen to have a huge tnsnames.ora file, it would be an overhead to parse the file and get the connect string for the service name you attempted to connect to. But it would only make a difference, if your client connection process go into hundreds then it might make any noticeable degradation. Basically, client would have to parse the huge tnsnames file few hundred times per second.. then it might make a difference.
Billy also suggested that if you switch the server mode from dedicated to shared, it would help.
So, for my conclusions, its the same if you connect through tnsnames or through a native connect string.
@Bangalore...
Well, in the intervening absent period, quite a few things have taken place. A new city has been added to my list of "worked at" locations, Bangalore. Yeah, the so called silicon valley of india.
I have taken up a job in the city here and moved with family. Its an interesting place, lot more cosmopolitan than the image it carries, much better climate for adults (why ?) and worse than expected organization.
As I said, its interesting, as in mixed feelings. The culture is truly cosmo, probably second only to Bombay (Mumbai ??). The kind of mix of people you see here is hard to find anywhere else. All sorts of indians are available and in quantity. :) And then there are those handful of foreigners, presumably offshored by their parent companies for different roles. Just try to venture out on a weekend evening around central Bangalore, the kind of mix visible is very interesting.
The climate is great for us adults. Its always a balanced temperature range, you'd be hard pressed to find an occasion to take your sweaters out. And even worse, my air-conditioner is yet to see the light of the opened box. no need of one. Why I keep itererating about weather being nice for adults, is that because its really bad for kids. the kind of temperature variations that the city goes through even a single day (between 20 and 28) is perhaps too much for the body of the children. They fall sick every now and then, and only after a few months does their bodies get used to it. Its not really nice seeing your kid getting fever or some other thing every now and then.
And, the city is developing beyond its managers expectations. There is no planning whatsoever to be seen for a sustained, planned development of the city. Whereever you see, there is a mix of different kind of buildings. Every other plot has turned into an apartment complex, however small, or spared of any amenities. Roads are so narrow, they cant even think of handling the total load of the vehicles of the city. There is a perennial traffic jam on the main arteries of the city. You have to figure out an alternate route which would avoid the main roads and lead you to your office or some other destination. Using the main roads, its impossible to commute, since you'd always be late.
So, the city has its plus and minus and of course I have only seen so much of it, probably 10-15% and I already complaining, you see, typical human psychology.. complain at every chance you get... :)
Having said all the above, life is not that bad as it might sound after the problems I enumerated.
I have taken up a job in the city here and moved with family. Its an interesting place, lot more cosmopolitan than the image it carries, much better climate for adults (why ?) and worse than expected organization.
As I said, its interesting, as in mixed feelings. The culture is truly cosmo, probably second only to Bombay (Mumbai ??). The kind of mix of people you see here is hard to find anywhere else. All sorts of indians are available and in quantity. :) And then there are those handful of foreigners, presumably offshored by their parent companies for different roles. Just try to venture out on a weekend evening around central Bangalore, the kind of mix visible is very interesting.
The climate is great for us adults. Its always a balanced temperature range, you'd be hard pressed to find an occasion to take your sweaters out. And even worse, my air-conditioner is yet to see the light of the opened box. no need of one. Why I keep itererating about weather being nice for adults, is that because its really bad for kids. the kind of temperature variations that the city goes through even a single day (between 20 and 28) is perhaps too much for the body of the children. They fall sick every now and then, and only after a few months does their bodies get used to it. Its not really nice seeing your kid getting fever or some other thing every now and then.
And, the city is developing beyond its managers expectations. There is no planning whatsoever to be seen for a sustained, planned development of the city. Whereever you see, there is a mix of different kind of buildings. Every other plot has turned into an apartment complex, however small, or spared of any amenities. Roads are so narrow, they cant even think of handling the total load of the vehicles of the city. There is a perennial traffic jam on the main arteries of the city. You have to figure out an alternate route which would avoid the main roads and lead you to your office or some other destination. Using the main roads, its impossible to commute, since you'd always be late.
So, the city has its plus and minus and of course I have only seen so much of it, probably 10-15% and I already complaining, you see, typical human psychology.. complain at every chance you get... :)
Having said all the above, life is not that bad as it might sound after the problems I enumerated.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Been long time...
It has been some really long time since I was active on blogging...Frankly, life has started taking its due on me, and there are lots more things to do/take care besides me, myself and technology :)
I'm a family guy now (some proof of that is this -> http://baby.sraghav.in), and therefore with all aspirations in place, wishes as they have been there, its rather difficult to find time. I dont mean this as an excuse, I dont, but thats what has been going on.
Till now, I have attempted a return to blogging on technology and his blog, I intend not to forget this one, which fondly houses one of my best attempts at writings.
Well, as much as I dislike opining, there are only a handful of people (including family and the best of the friends) who would continuously like to have me brag about me, myself and family...
So, here I am, attempting my return to writing days, with relatively lower frequency for sure, but hoping for a steady stream of posts. I also intend to broaden the scope of content this time around... The idea is to post about my experiences (as always), but also include things around me, us...all of us.. so to say...
Its a wide world, and we all come across different things every other moment. Part of those experiences is considered important by a section of world and becomes news. The rest just passes onto oblivion. Perhaps we can capture some of that. Also, the chosen news items are not always the favourites, and then there are interpretations. Lets attempt that too... In short, lets start commenting on whatever we can lay hands on, rather, I can lay my hands on.
See how it goes on...
I'm a family guy now (some proof of that is this -> http://baby.sraghav.in), and therefore with all aspirations in place, wishes as they have been there, its rather difficult to find time. I dont mean this as an excuse, I dont, but thats what has been going on.
Till now, I have attempted a return to blogging on technology and his blog, I intend not to forget this one, which fondly houses one of my best attempts at writings.
Well, as much as I dislike opining, there are only a handful of people (including family and the best of the friends) who would continuously like to have me brag about me, myself and family...
So, here I am, attempting my return to writing days, with relatively lower frequency for sure, but hoping for a steady stream of posts. I also intend to broaden the scope of content this time around... The idea is to post about my experiences (as always), but also include things around me, us...all of us.. so to say...
Its a wide world, and we all come across different things every other moment. Part of those experiences is considered important by a section of world and becomes news. The rest just passes onto oblivion. Perhaps we can capture some of that. Also, the chosen news items are not always the favourites, and then there are interpretations. Lets attempt that too... In short, lets start commenting on whatever we can lay hands on, rather, I can lay my hands on.
See how it goes on...
Saturday, February 13, 2010
And he walked...and I missed it... :(
He walked today... on 13th February 2010, the saturday, at the age of 1 year 2 months and 26 days, our son, Krishna walked on his own...
A day to be remembered forever, and with happiness...
However, being very selfish and lonely, I have to say, it happened when I was not there. And besides having almost all the gadgetory required to capture such moments, we missed to capture it. We couldnt take any photographs, no video, nothing. Basically nothing to remember that moment by.
But sad as that might sound on my missing it, its great news that he did walk. And, in front of that news, nothing else matters... He walked.. he walked.. he is gonna walk ..........
A day to be remembered forever, and with happiness...
However, being very selfish and lonely, I have to say, it happened when I was not there. And besides having almost all the gadgetory required to capture such moments, we missed to capture it. We couldnt take any photographs, no video, nothing. Basically nothing to remember that moment by.
But sad as that might sound on my missing it, its great news that he did walk. And, in front of that news, nothing else matters... He walked.. he walked.. he is gonna walk ..........
Friday, February 5, 2010
He's gone away ....
for the first time since he was born, my son and I would be separated by a 3 week period. It sounds tiny, but its been two days only, and I am already missing him... :(
He has already started saying "pa pa" and "ma ma" and it feels great. She tries to get him to utter those words on phone, but hardly succeeds.
I wonder how easy it is for others to cope with such separations ?
He has already started saying "pa pa" and "ma ma" and it feels great. She tries to get him to utter those words on phone, but hardly succeeds.
I wonder how easy it is for others to cope with such separations ?
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Doctor's Verdict....
When we visited a doc for the situation, it actually did turn out to be pretty normal. What he said was more like this, "Its pretty normal for a baby of this age. In the weather of Bangalore, the young body is not able to cope up with the changing temperature." I cant really tell you why, but that statement did make lot of sense.
The weather of the city is PERFECT to live in. Its hardly more than 26-27 and its hardly lower than 20. So, that makes a perfect range, but then what ? Well, the temperature changes so many times during the day, that its wierd. You really have to be ready for both extremes from the range.
And with a baby, its harder. You cant always control his actions, what he is doing and what not. When he's playing in water, when he has thrown his socks away and things /temperature and the baby gets cold. The cold eventually turns into fever anyway.
Another thing that came out with doctor's visit was the fact that we were giving him the wrong dosage of the right medicine. For his age and body weight he should have been given 5ml of the syrup, whereas we were giving him only 2.5ml. Once we fixed the dosage, the fever was gone right away. It was such a relief to see him do the things again...
learning curve.. u see.. being a parent is such a huge learning curve.... :)
The weather of the city is PERFECT to live in. Its hardly more than 26-27 and its hardly lower than 20. So, that makes a perfect range, but then what ? Well, the temperature changes so many times during the day, that its wierd. You really have to be ready for both extremes from the range.
And with a baby, its harder. You cant always control his actions, what he is doing and what not. When he's playing in water, when he has thrown his socks away and things /temperature and the baby gets cold. The cold eventually turns into fever anyway.
Another thing that came out with doctor's visit was the fact that we were giving him the wrong dosage of the right medicine. For his age and body weight he should have been given 5ml of the syrup, whereas we were giving him only 2.5ml. Once we fixed the dosage, the fever was gone right away. It was such a relief to see him do the things again...
learning curve.. u see.. being a parent is such a huge learning curve.... :)
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