Kampai

別に

Got to get out of this jinx.
:(

PS: 別に = Betsuni

For Your Consideration

[Update]:
Prologue:
For Your Consideration is a heading frequently used in advertisements in entertainment trade publications such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. They are specifically directed towards members of awards voting groups in the entertainment industry, like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that annually presents the Academy Awards celebrating the best in motion pictures, or the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences which presents the Primetime Emmy Awards for television.

I stumbled upon these ads for Heath Ledger as Best Supporting Actor, and The Dark Knight as the Best Movie. They are posted here 'coz they look amazing

Come to think of it, I would have voted for the Best Actor Award itself.

Prologue [PS]: Was too damn bored to type this out before.
Prologue [PS2]: A horde of other such ads can be found here.
Prologue [Ps3]: Heath Ledger RIP

Extra Homework and a Large Wrecking Ball

1. Object 1:
2. Object 2:



PS: Object 1 reminded me of Object 2

PS2: The phone number in Object 1 incidentally ends with 007

PS3:
Captions
Object 1: Unknown Monkey Business: APE 'X'
Object 2 : Lil' Irish Girl Becky calls up a demolition company

World's Worst Hacker

It is a bit of a long read, but its so damn worth it.
All hail CP, for this beautiful piece of IRC transcript.
Also, the comments are not mine, they belong to the original poster of the dialogue.
Enjoy:

* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-a97f9137.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-61a2169c.dip.t-dialin.net) has joined #stopHipHop
[bitchchecker] why do you kick me
[bitchchecker] can’t you discus normally
[bitchchecker] answer!
[Elch] we didn’t kick you
[Elch] you had a ping timeout: * bitchchecker (~java@euirc-a97f9137.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)
[bitchchecker] what ping man
[bitchchecker] the timing of my pc is right
[bitchchecker] i even have dst
[bitchchecker] you banned me
[bitchchecker] damit it you son of a bitch
[HopperHunter|afk] LOL
[HopperHunter|afk] shit you’re stupid, DST^^
[bitchchecker] shut your mouth WE HAVE DST!
[bitchchecker] for two weeks already
[bitchchecker] when you start your pc there is a message from windows that DST is applied.
[Elch] You’re a real computer expert
[bitchchecker] shut up i hack you
[Elch] ok, i’m quiet, hope you don’t show us how good a hacker you are ^^
[bitchchecker] tell me your network number man then you’re dead
[Elch] Eh, it’s 129.0.0.1
[Elch] or maybe 127.0.0.1
[Elch] yes exactly that’s it: 127.0.0.1 I’m waiting for you great attack
[bitchchecker] in five minutes your hard drive is deleted
[Elch] Now I’m frightened
[bitchchecker] shut up you’ll be gone
[bitchchecker] i have a program where i enter your ip and you’re dead
[bitchchecker] say goodbye
[Elch] to whom?
[bitchchecker] to you man
[bitchchecker] buy buy
[Elch] I’m shivering thinking about such great Hack0rs like you
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-61a2169c.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)

What happened is clear: That guy entered his own IP-Address in his mighty Hack-Tool and crashed his own PC. This way, the attack on my PC was a failure. I was already starting to think that I did not have to worry, but a good hacker never calls it a day. Two minutes later he returned.

quote:

* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-b5cd558e.dip.t-dialin.net) has joined #stopHipHop
[bitchchecker] dude be happy my pc crashed otherwise you’d be gone
[Metanot] lol
[Elch] bitchchecker: Then try hacking me again… I still have the same IP: 127.0.0.1
[bitchchecker] you’re so stupid man
[bitchchecker] say buy buy
[Metanot] ah, [Please control your cussing] off
[bitchchecker] buy buy elch
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-b5cd558e.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)

There was a tension in the room… Would he manage, after these two failures, to crash my PC? I waited. Nothing happened. I felt relieved… Six minutes passed by until he prepared the next wave of attack. Being a Hacker, who usually cracks whole data centers, he knew what his problem was now.

quote:

* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-9ff3c180.dip.t-dialin.net) has joined #stopHipHop
[bitchchecker] elch you son of a bitch
[Metanot] bitchchecker how old are you?
[Elch] What’s up bitchchecker?
[bitchchecker] you have a frie wal
[bitchchecker] fire wall
[Elch] maybe, i don’t know
[bitchchecker] i’m 26
[Metanot] such behaviour with 26?
[Elch] how did you find out that I have a firewall?
[Metanot] tststs this is not very nice missy
[bitchchecker] because your gay fire wall directed my turn off signal back to me
[bitchchecker] be a man turn that shit off
[Elch] cool, didn’t know this was possible.
[bitchchecker] thn my virus destroys your pc man
[Metanot] are you hacking yourselves?
[Elch] yes bitchchecker is trying to hack me
[Metanot] he bitchchecker if you’re a hacker you have to get around a firewall even i can do that
[bitchchecker] yes man i hack the elch but the sucker has a fire wall the
[Metanot] what firewall do you have?
[bitchchecker] like a girl
[Metanot] firewall is normal a normal hacker has to be able to get past it…you girl^^
[He] Bitch give yourself a jackson and chill you’re letting them provoce you and give those little girls new material all the time
[bitchchecker] turn the firewall off then i send you a virus [Please control your cussing]er
[Elch] Noo
[Metanot] he bitchchecker why turn it off, you should turn it off
[bitchchecker] you’re afraid
[bitchchecker] i don’t wanna hack like this if he hides like a girl behind a fire wall
[bitchchecker] elch turn off your shit wall!
[Metanot] i wanted to say something about this, do you know the definition of hacking??? if he turns of the firewall that’s an invitation and that has nothing to do with hacking
[bitchchecker] shut up
[Metanot] lol
[bitchchecker] my grandma surfs with fire wall
[bitchchecker] and you suckers think you’re cool and don’t dare going into the internet without a fire wall

He calls me girly and says only his grandma would use a firewall. I know that elder people are much more intelligent then younger, but I couldn’t let that rest. To see whether he really is a good hacker I lie and let everything as it is. I don’t have a firewall at all, only my router.

quote:

[Elch] bitchchecker, a collegue showed me how to turn the firewall off. Now you can try again
[Metanot] bitchhacker can’t hack
[Black[TdV]] nice play on words ^^
[bitchchecker] wort man
[Elch] bitchchecker: I’m still waiting for your attack!
[Metanot] how many times again he is no hacker
[bitchchecker] man do you want a virus
[bitchchecker] tell me your ip and it deletes your hard drive
[Metanot] lol ne give it up i’m a hacker myself and i know how hackers behave and i can tell you 100.00% you’re no hacker..^^
[Elch] 127.0.0.1
[Elch] it’s easy
[bitchchecker] lolololol you so stupid man you’ll be gone
[bitchchecker] and are the first files being deleted
[Elch] mom…
[Elch] i’ll take a look

In panic I started the Windows Explorer, my heart beating faster. Had I under-estimated him?

quote:

[bitchchecker] don’t need to rescue you can’t son of a bitch
[Elch] that’s bad
[bitchchecker] elch you idiout your hard drive g: is deleted
[Elch] yes, there’s nothing i can do about it
[bitchchecker] and in 20 seconds f: is gone

Yes, true, G: and F: were gone. Did I ever have them? Doesn’t matter, I did not have time to think, I was scared. bitchchecker was comforting me with a music tip.

quote:

[bitchchecker] tupac rules
[bitchchecker] elch you son of a bitch your f: is gone and e: too

Drive E:? Oh my god… All the games are there! And the vacation pictures! I instantly take a look. Everything still there. But the hacker said it was deleted….

Or isn’t it happening on my computer?

quote:

[bitchchecker] and d: is at 45% you idiot lolololol
[He] why doesn’t meta say anything
[Elch] he’s probably rolling on the floor laughing
[Black[TdV]] ^^
[bitchchecker] your d: is gone
[He] go on BITCH

The guy is good: My CD-drive is allegedly deleted! Bitchchecker turned my ancient disk sucker into a burner! But how did he do this? I’ll have to ask him. Some encourage him. He himself is giving advice how to avoid the disaster on my hard drives.

quote:

[bitchchecker] elch man you’re so stupid never give your ip on the internet
[bitchchecker] i’m already at c: 30 percent

Should I tell him he’s not attacking my computer?

quote:

* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-9ff3c180.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)

Too late… It’s 20:22 when we get the last message of our hacker with the alias “bitchchecker”. We see that he has a “Ping timeout”. We haven’t seen him since then… must be the Daylight Saving Time.

When you see it...

[before you start.... click on the image to watch it in full resolution...]

[shudders]
[updated]
[bonus image follows: 'coz the resized version above reduces half the surprise]
[click for a better resolution]

Google Ad Non-Sense

I thought of putting up a similar post right after Google asked me whether I wanted to "Find God Right Away" after I put up "Lectures on Philosophy – Madhva Philosophy", but I resisted the urge then. Thinking back, that was the closest I ever came to finding Him - Lord Almighty was just a click away.

The same thought recurred after Google suggested I get an Airtel connection after this rant -
"Cells, Connections and Catastrophes". The irony was stark.

But the latest ads are criminally good. I had to post these up.

Bertoni & Associates
Facing the death penalty?
Get help Available 24/7
Call us today!

www.BertoniandAssociatesLaw.com

Matthew R. Hoff
Experienced criminal
defense lawyer
Fighting for you!

Attorney-matt-hoff.com

Facing The Death Penalty?
Las Vegas criminal defense firm
Serving the Las Vegas Region

MartinHartAttorney.com

Man, who would be benefited by this, I wonder. Like anyone would be checking updates on their blog, sitting in their cells in death row. As far as I know, the only thing felons get is one phone call, and a convicted dude would have used that up, long before he'd have ended up on the Green Mile.

PS: Should have taken a screen shot.

A fat lot can happen over ...

So... I got a sms from this weird number saying:

"May I know who is this do u stay in kengeri"
Receive: THU 19:08 30- 0ct - 08

I promptly replied back, to the same weird number, the same weird message:

"May I know who is this do u stay in kengeri"
Send: THU 19:10 30- 0ct – 08

I Rxed:

"Hey actually I lost my cell i had received call by this number so please tell me where you stay near temple"
Receive: THU 19:12 30- 0ct – 08

I Txed:

"When did u get a call from this cell? And if u have lost ur cell how do u remember a call from this cell?"
Send: THU 19:17 30- 0ct – 08

Twenty five minutes passed with no reply, and then it hit me that I might be missing out on the sequel to “A lot can happen over a coffee”.
But since the start here was hugely different, I texted thus:

"Guess I scared you away. I am sorry u lost ur phone. I don’t think we are acquainted, though. Adios"
Send: THU 19:49 30- 0ct – 08

Calling someone a scaredy - cat works all the time. A reply is guaranteed. No one lets that one slide. I waited eagerly, and sure enough the mobile buzzed and I got this incredible piece of information:

"I didnt get you"
Receive: THU 20:00 30- 0ct - 08

I so wanted to retort with a stronger version of “Go soak your head”, but there was still that chance of it being someone of the fairer sex; so I thought I would play along. But, in order to avoid further colossal misunderstandings like the one above, I resolved to henceforth dumb down my replies, so that even a four year old would go “Sheesh! Talk more mature”

And so I went:

"Hehe. To make things simpler – tell me your name and I will text mine."
Send: THU 20:02 30- 0ct – 08

"First you"
Receive: THU 20:03 30- 0ct - 08

"Lol. Sure. I am Aniruddha. Pleased to meet you. And you are?"
Send: THU 20:05 30- 0ct – 08

"Manoj"
Receive: THU 20:06 30- 0ct – 08

Grrrrrrrr. 58 minutes through this and I end up with a vijaydreamz equivalent.

"Still think we know each other?"
Send: THU 20:10 30- 0ct – 08

"But tell me where do you stay"
Receive: THU 20:09 30- 0ct – 08

"I stay in Bangalore."
Send: THU 20:10 30- 0ct – 08

"Dude reply man"
Receive: THU 20:21 30- 0ct – 08

There was no end in sight to this. So, I resorted to the same thing that had shut him up in the first place:

"I did, mate. Told ya I was from Bangalore. How on earth did you get this number again?"
Send: THU 20:26 30- 0ct – 08

Well… Guess that worked.
Haven’t heard from him again.

That’s the way the cookie crumbles…
Bah!

The Hanging

The children always came early to the hanging. And they were usually the loudest. The man could hear them, even though they were out of his sight.

He walked slowly, with his head bowed. He had known it would come down to this some day.

He had no regret for his sins whatsoever. That family had wronged him one too many times. His was an act of rightful revenge. He had been unmerciful in his onslaught.

The trail had been swift and the sentence heavy. But that was expected of a multiple homicide case. He hadn’t uttered a word.

A group of people surrounded him now. There were soldiers in arms, the high priest, the mayor, a few members of loyalty, and a swarthy guy from the family he had taken out, other clergy and a few merchants that walked alongside him.

The thought of that swarthy guy, really angered him. He hadn’t been successful in taking out the entire family. It weighed heavily on his chest now and it hurt deep. Curbing these feelings made him get a bad taste in his mouth.

It started raining softly. It felt fitting somewhat. It helped to calm down his emotions a bit. He resolved himself to go on strong. He wouldn’t give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him break down.

The crowd was within sight now. The children ran towards them. The stones they threw were aimless, and even the ones that hit were ineffectual. Their antics and curses were more like a competition among themselves.

The adults were different though. The jeers and curses were more hurtful and profound.
But he shut out all sounds and only looked dead ahead as he walked.

The posse of people reached the gallows. The soldiers split into two groups and stood guard in front of it, armed and ready. It was at times like this something always happened. The crowd was waiting for the man to break down, try to escape at the last moment, for a woman in the crown to swoon, for a rattling old woman to start cursing hysterically.

The man stepped onto the wooden stairs of the gallows. The made a loud creaking sound as he stepped on them. He reached the top and turned to face the booing crowd.

He had always been good at hiding his emotions. His face was like a mask. The jeers turned more hostile as a few soldiers, the swarthy guy, the mayor and the high priest followed the man on to the gallows.

But he still showed no emotion.

The people, angered now, by the lack of response, were only waiting for the mayor’s signal. Chants of ‘hang him’ ‘hang him’ rent out loud. The high priest finished his prayer and closed his book. The mayor then nodded and bowed his head. That was the signal.

The crowd erupted. The children, however, were staring fascinated - too strung out to make any noise.

The man stepped forward and placed the noose on the swarthy guy’s neck, and tightened it expertly. He stepped back and released the lever.

The ground under the swarthy guy gave way. His neck broke with a loud snap.

The man allowed a faint smile on his face now.
He had, at last, gotten them all.

The crowd was mostly quiet now. They were watching mesmerized, as the dead body, caught by a breeze, started to swing slowly in a lazy circle.

Even if anyone in the crowd caught his smile, it wouldn’t have mattered in the least.

The hangman always seemed happy after a clean hanging.

LOLWUT

PS: Borrowed without permission from Sharath [Seagull's] album

Gmail doesn't work in Chrome...

...and it seems like I aint the only one with the problem..

Fellow affected dudes with their testimonials:

Roman D Clarkson: "Chrome and Gmail seem to be strangers"
DafyddG: "Chrome - first attempts to open Gmail (GoogleMail)" - And most of the anonymous commenters on that page.
et cetera.

One would think that of all things they would check before making the release - is to atleast verify the functionality of Gmail in Chrome

This is just.. insane
O_O

Memories

The Purpose Of Life

A lot can happen over gtalk?

BAH!!
:`(

[1:39 PM, October 11, 2008]

vijaydreamz: hi
asl pls
me: hi
vijaydreamz: am 25/m located in chennai
n U???
[...]

[5:31 PM, October 11, 2008]

vijaydreamz: hi u there???
me: hey
how did u get this id?
vijaydreamz: 4rom orkut:-)
me: hehe
we havent really met before, have we?
vijaydreamz: nope dude...
jus was looking at some profiles n jus wanted to add friends n chat
me: oh
why pick guys then?
:P
vijaydreamz: oh is it???
me: all this time you thought i was a girl?
:-o ?
vijaydreamz: yeah man...
me: c'mon, man
vijaydreamz: oops!
me: did u even look at my profile?
:D
vijaydreamz: nope jus got ur id thought a gal
me: for future reference.. to the right of the profile.. if it says - 'His Friends'
and ‘His Communities’
it means that it is a dude
:D
vijaydreamz: thanks mate will follow tht
me: better luck, man
adios
vijaydreamz: cool
bfn
me: u too, mate
vijaydreamz: sure tc

P.S: I hope Kitta will not sue me for using a play of his post as the title of this post, and also most of the P.S's below.
P.P.S: I too hope the Cafe Coffee Day guys will not sue Kitta for using their slogan as the title of his
P.P.P.S: I 2 ht 'SMS Englsh'.
P.P.P.P.S: Again borrowing - Thanks to this anyways. I wanted something to write about and his chat arrived like a silver lining.
'Phinal' P.S : [Kitta's 'Phinal' P.S- Maybe I should call him back again? ;)] This is the only thing I surely ain't gonna borrow.

Square brackets...

... adding charm to inboxes since 1994.

xkcd and philosophy

1. Pillar
2. Nihilism
3. Existentialism
PS: I got the above stuff by clicking the 'Random' tab. I guess it calls:PPS: For people who haven't yet discovered the web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language:

Reasons...

... to explain September (4)

PS: Images from top: Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, One Piece, One Piece

Weird Search Strings

• Avondale, Arizona arrived from search.yahoo.com on "White Noise" by searching for "white noise and whispers".

• Avondale, Arizona arrived from search.yahoo.com on "White Noise" by searching for "white noise a mental problem".
  

• Hamburg, Hamburg arrived from google.de on "White Noise" by searching for "dha a perfect circle".
  

• Bangalore, Karnataka arrived from google.co.in on "White Noise: Motorola W230 – Dark Titanium Gray" by searching for "ideas shared takaal"
  

• Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh arrived from google.co.in on "White Noise" by searching for "the word that describes a human being as a lied, sheet, faltoo"

Need for Speed

In a day otherwise plauged by vague lectures and over-the-head static timing analysis fundae, I chanced upon something that one doesn't normally see in this part of the world.

I had about twenty minutes to go before the second pointless session started, and there were a lot of computers around. Naturally, I logged on to one machine to 'browse-maadi'.

But, I simply had to download Mozilla Firefox, as Internet Explorer Version:6.0.2900.2180 was my only other pathetic excuse for a substitute. So, that's exactly what I did.

And this is what i got.
This is what I got.:-0
One of the very few situations in life when you can exclaim - with real conviction:
ZOMG

Page Load Error

And so the net stopped working.

This is bad as it is. On top of that it was a weekend. On top of that I still had about 400 MB to spare for this month, and today was the last day of the month*.On top of THAT I had just finished watching all 273 episodes of Naruto and Naruto Shippuden straight, within three weeks… and just when I thought I would do something different, I had no internet.

That was just unacceptable.

So, this is what I did:

1. I checked the green LEDs on my modem. All four were bright green and shining merrily.
2. I checked the connections between my modem, CPU and the switch box. Check.
3. I pinged google.com. It said

Ping request couldn’t find host google.com. Please check the name and try again.

4. I pinged my DNS server. That worked. It said:

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms ttl="64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms ttl="64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms ttl="64

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms ttl="64

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms.

But it solved nothing. I still had connectivity. The wisdom of the world was denied to me still.

5. I disabled and enabled the Local Area Connection; to see if that would help in anyway. Nope.
6. I changed the Network Connection settings in Mozilla. From “No proxy” to “Auto-Detect Proxy Settings for this network”. And back again. It only said:

   Page Load Error. Connection Interrupted. The connection to the server was reset while the page was loading.The network link was interrupted while negotiating a connection. Please try again.

7. I launched Internet Explorer to see if that would help in any way. It said happily: This page cannot be displayed. And blah .. blah…
8. I installed Opera. The installation file had been dormant in my Software folder forever. Crossed my fingers and tried again. Negative still. : (
   
9. I started disabling firewalls. I disabled Windows Firewall, Stopped On- Access Protection in Avast Antivirus, Deactivated Avira Antivirus, Disabled Symantec and tried out points 5 – 7 again. I was still bang right in the middle of square one.
10. I called up three people in BSNL. Over their excuses about this being a Sunday, and something about no statistics collected from the server on weekends, I told them I had to solve this today and got a helpline – 23492198 –called that and got a docket number under Option 5 – ‘Problems in BSNL broadband’. I still haven’t heard from anyone there.
11. Somewhere along this I also discovered that https sites worked sometimes. But that was a short lived joy. Thanks to the heavy rains, the four green lights stopped shining. Though three of them came back - for a long time, the third LED on the modem, Internet, wasn’t even lit.
12. I retraced all the steps I had taken to port-forward on my computer. I removed all entries from the TCP/IP properties tab. Changed entries in my DSL Router. I re-tried points 5 – 8. Every single one. In different permutations. Got tired of the bayish color of Mozilla when it repeatedly mocked my attempts by coming up with different error messages of Page Load Errors.

So, I gave up then.

Shut down the computer.

Restarted it.

And thus this post.

: | : |

* [BSNL 500C Internet Connection, 1.5 GB download limit, 175 free calls, Night 2 – 8pm Free].

Atlas LOL'd

And so this dude got placed in Texas Instruments.
Exhilarated, he calls his parents. His dad picks up.

Jubilant-dude: Dad, I got placed in TI !!!! :D :D :D
Dad: Why on earth did u sit for a cycle company??? :O :X
Now-not-jubilant-dude: :| :|

Tetris And Motorola W230

I was watching Earthquake's - "One Night Stand", his 2005 HBO special [Stand up Comedy]. This dude, though not hilarious, has own honest material which is pretty funny at times. Anyway, he wasn't moving around a lot or using props, so I started playing Tetris on my mobile, as I was watching the show.

Now … I rarely play Tetris on my mobile. But it’s the only solution in places where music is taboo like in seriously boring lectures, non- fiction libraries, or situations like the one above - watching videos full screen while there is not much moving on the screen.

I had never before finished an entire game on my mobile though. I started playing the game when I was almost 60% through the show, and almost by the end I realized that I was playing pretty decently. I was in level 8 and the screen was empty.

So, with the prospect of making a high score, looming large, I continued. Now, anybody who has any idea about Tetris, knows that the bricks start falling faster as the level increases. And particularly in my mobile – Motorola W230, as you reach the 10^th level it gets real hard to play.

So invoking all the experience I had gained while playing Tetris – [follow Logik’s detailed account here], nicknamed Sh00t, in my final year in NITK, I concentrated hard. I started planning the placement of next two bricks, so that I could press the minimum number of keys to rotate them to the required shape and get them to the required spot.

I played for well over 35 minutes - because the screen saver came on, and that doesn’t happen on my computer, until half an hour has passed with no hardware interrupts.

I reached 14^th level at last. A level change occurs only after completing a particular number of lines. And that’s 35+ as the level reaches 12 or so. In 14^th level, at the beginning I was well off, with only three unfinished lines at the bottom. But in this particular level the bricks come down like rain. I barely had time to recognize the shapes falling. So before long I was totally sunk under a ton of bricks and the game ended.

I was happy though. It was a high score. It could be stored in the phone’s memory forever. :D

The screen read:

Game Over:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Score: 57753

Power: 54

Level: 14

Lines: 239

Efficiency: 38

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Press any Key.

And so I did.

And it gave me three options:

Tetris

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Start

Help

About

DAMN!!!

There is no way to score high scores. Bah!!

The only thing I got to show right now is a dull numbing pain in my left hand for holding the mobile and pressing all those damn buttons to complete 239 lines without a damn pause.

This post is to do justice to my aching hand.

So, this is a heads up for other Motorola W230 users. There’s no point playing Tetris on the mobile if you don’t have your own blog to post your high scores.

Epic Fail???

I honestly don't think so!!
Internet >> *.*

:P

All That Remains

Your man's back, wounded and lost,
Long has it been, since you saw him last.
He's defeated in his fight, long and hard
Atleast he's back, you are glad at heart.

Reach for the apple, as you sit by his bed,
Unbroken the peels fall, long strips red.
You smile inwardly, as for sure you know
Time's a healer, another chance's bestowed.

Revenge, long as it lasts, consumes all
Only emptiness, guilt, at the end of it all.
No good comes out of it, no one's benifited
You'd tried convincing, yet your man had fled.

The apple's neatly peeled, quatered and cut,
Your man's come around, sitting up and alert.
He's strained, weak and his head is down
But lesson's been learnt, now you will lead him on.

You smile warmingly, and offer him the fruit
He glares at you; strikes the plate with his fist
Disbelieving and hurt, you watch as he walks off again
The apple's squashed on the floor. All that remains is pain.

Bantamweight (54 kg)-Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Talk about perfect timing. It was the exactly like the other day when I wandered into the crowded TV room in 8^th block, NITK, Surathkal - just before Yuvaraj Singh hit six sixer’s in one over. That was great to catch.

Today was very similar. To take a break from Naruto, which I have been watching from the past two weeks, I walked downstairs and just happened to catch the Bantamweight bout – Round of 16 between and Sergey Vodopyanov [Russian Federation] and Akhil Kumar [India]

About the boxers:

Sergey Vodopyanov [according to the commentator], had never before lost an international boxing match that he had competed in. He was the No.1 in the World Championships in Bantamweight, 2007 Chicago, IL, USA. Again, the No. 1 in Feliks Sztamm - Bantamweight, 2008 Warsaw, POL.

On the other hand, Akhil Kumar, was only 17^th in the Flyweight event – 2004 Athens, GRE, and 3^rd in Asian Championships - Bantamweight 2007 Ulaanbaatar, MGL

Highlights of the match:

The final round was the best. It was one of those things that you watch at the edge of your seat, hoping with all your might that it will turn out well, and it actually does. That’s the main reason for this post. It made my day.

The Russian had led throughout the game.

The scores were:

Round No. Points

Round 1 - 2 : 1

Round 2 - 6 : 4

Round 3 - 8 : 7

And in the final round, he got the 9^th point first too.

Vodopyanov was extremely fast. [Out of the nine points that the he got, I couldn’t see when he got five of those. Slow replays at the end of each round gave a glimpse of how he might have got his points].

The Indian never quailed or lose hope. He was strong, swift and nimble on his feet throughout.

The equalizer was amazing. A flurry of straight punches in the end paid off.

It was 9 - 9, with still more than half a minute to go in the final round.

I bet any one who was watching the game, with any little interest, would have been holding his breath throughout the last round.

It went to the judges, as the score was a tie at the end, and they ruled in favor of Akhil Kumar. The world champion was stunned to the point of tears. The Indian was a happy man.

Confirmed reports say that he is aiming only for gold, and would in no way settle for anything less. And that his victory today was a gift to commemorate India's Independence day.

A great match to catch anyway - fluke or no fluke.

For now - Akhil Kumar – FTW!!

PS: Wikipedia never ceases to amaze. It hasn’t been three hours since the match, the last paragraph in Akhil Kumar’s profile already reads

“He made his way through to the second round in the Bantamweight 54 kg category at the Beijing Olympics in China in 2008 after beating the Frenchman Ali Hallab in points 12-5 in round one. He then beat current world champion Sergey Vodopyanov 9-9 after judges' decision.”

0_0

PS2: Caught the last three laps in the Women’s 10000 m race just now.

The one who came first - Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia -[incidentally was second throughout the race], had enough stamina to actually sprint the last lap after running for more than 25 minutes.

She won in 29:54.66 – less than half an hour for 10 kms. The sprint was the best part.

OMHG.

PS3: Akhil Kumar has shaved his head. The difference is remarkable. Check the papers tomorrow to see for yourselves.

Why So Serious?

___________________________________________________________________________________
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Boo
Boo Who?
Don't Cry, Its Just A Joke
_________________________________________________________________________________PS: Watch the movie, if you haven't already done so. If you have. go watch it again.

Cells, Connections and Catastrophes

And it so came to pass that I had to get a cell phone. A wise man said that 'Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough'... I guess it was George Bernard Shaw…. I guess it is true.

Anyway the process of selection of a cell was not a piece of cake. After going through a lot of sites on cell phones on the world wide web, to get the cell phone, and ending up right back to square one, I gave up and went to the nearest mobile store and looked at the mobile phones that were on display there. This helped - because the mobile phones in the store were an insignificant subset of the universal set. To further fasten up the search I reduced the ‘required’ features to - mp3 player, enough inbuilt memory to store a decent number of songs, and FM player [I had polyphonic and color display too, but there were no cell phones with any of the above features without color and decent sound, so adding these features to the ‘required’ list was redundant; so I scratched them off]. After spending about thirty five minutes in the store, I ended up with Motorola W230.

I reached into my pocket to pull out the cash and buy the phone, as I had spent enough valuable time on this already, the female behind the counter sheepishly informed me that it was out of stock, and I had to wait for a week, to actually get my hands on one of them.

I had to use all my energy to bite back several sentences that jumped in my head which were made up mostly of [not-so-usually used] four letter words.

I was walking out of the store, when she called me back and told me that there was one last 'piece' in another Mobile Store outlet in Malleshwaram and they could get it for me the next day. That sounded agreeable, as after about 21 years without a cell phone, an additional day is nothing. So, as asked, I gave her my land line. True to her word, she called me up the next day. I told her that I would be there to collect the mobile within the hour. But she sounded unhappy, and asked me couldn't I come sooner.

The shop was two bus stops away. I was there within eight minutes.

As I was walking into the store, I bumped into this guy, who it turned out, was on his way to Malleshwaram to get me my cell. The damn phone wasn't even in the store. I didn't want to return home empty handed, so I waited there.

He did not return for another 48 minutes, and by that time I had sat at all chairs in the store; stared at all the models in the huge ads put up, handled every mobile phone that was on display; watched Enrique Iglesias have a good time with Kournikova, on a Moto cell along with the security guard; attempted to swing his lathi in intricate patterns without seriously hurting myself or anyone within the swing range; went out and had a coke; came back; and was reading the insanely boring specifications off a box of bluetooth headsets, when the guy walked back in. His late-coming was received by the store employees with comments which were creative and almost musical.

But I was relieved. I grabbed the box from him and departed from that place. I haven’t gone back in again. Hope I never have to.

And this is just the beginning.

This was Sunday. 13th of July.

Monday dawned. The only thing I could see on my display was 'Emergency only'. I thought it was nigh time to change it.

I went to the Airtel dude in TI, entered my name and gmail id into the sim application form, paid the activation fees, got my sim and promptly incubated it into my cell. I was promised that it would get activated within 24 hours. And so I waited. Patiently.

For three damn days.

I then got to know that my sim with the promised number -9008022333, had some “technical” problem and could not be activated, so he had sent me a replacement sim with this female. This Mahatayee [allegedly] after a hard day’s effort of finding me and failing miserably; gave up and returned the sim back to the Airtel dude. I went and collected the sim-2 from him.

I chucked the original sim and put the new sim with the number- 9008966445 into the mobile. This sim was supposed to be pre-activated, and there was not supposed to be any delay. This was Thursday already, and by now I had grown to detest 'Emergency only'. The no-waiting-for-activation was good news. I eagerly restarted my mobile. It chimed merrily, and said 'Aloha' like it does every time it is restarted.

But then I saw 'Emergency only' staring right back at my furious face.

The Airtel dude promised profusely that it will be activated by that evening.

Thursday afternoon dragged into evening. Evening turned into night, night into Friday, Friday into Saturday.

It was Saturday night when I was about to call the Airtel dude for the 7th time, in exasperation; just for the heck of it I restarted the cell, and it said
'Airtel
19-Jul-08'.

I was :D.

The first thing I did was to call my land line. It rang. I was :D :D.

I called my mobile number then from my land line, and it recursively said "ee number chalane alli illa. This telephone number does not exist. ee number....'.

I was back to x-(

evilsense was online then, and I rung him up and he told me that the incoming phone number was 9xxxxxxxxx. And it was.

That is my damn mobile number.

I change two sims, contact the Airtel dude everyday, call Airtel every other day, wait for a week, then end up with a mobile number that another 'Aniruddha' from Intergraph was supposed to get. For the next two days the only thing I do is to try and convince disbelieving Airtel 'verifiers', that I was perfectly sure that my initials are P N, and that I was talking to them from TI; and that I certainly lived in 119, VHBCS Layout.

People these days, somehow just don't believe that. Check my previous post for additional proof.
:P

Anyway, I at last convinced them to change this number- 9xxxxxxxxx to my name.

Later, next week sometime, I got a sms saying:

"Your bill plan - AES 199 kk, Monthly Charges - 199.0
Local Outgoing Charges -
To Airtel Mobile - 0.4
To Other Mobile - 0.4
To Landline - 1"

That is crap because I have a receipt with me that states clearly that I have purchased a sim for the 299 New Airtel Corporate Plan.

After another round of phone calls /conversations, and meetings in the TI reception area with the Airtel dude, I had vocal confirmation that the plan had been changed.
I sighed and accepted that. Things were quiet for sometime then.

Another week passed. The monthly bill was supposed to come by August 3rd. I still hadn't got it by the 4th. So, jobless as I was, I smsed Airtel *121# and inquired about my billed amount.
And I got a sms back saying:

Your amount due as on 04-Aug-08 is 251.16.

Shite.

Again that is bull crap because the minimum charge has to be 299/-. That’s the monthly rental for the Airtel 299 corporate plan.
I smsed bp to 121, and it happily declared that my bill plan was still AES 199 KK.

I went back to the Airtel dude, and as always, he called other Airtel dudes, and they called each other some more and later I got another sms saying that:

Your bill plan – 299. New Corp Plan – KK. Monthly Charges – 299.
Local Outgoing Charges -
To Airtel Mobile - 0.5
To Other Mobile - - 0.5
To Landline – 1.

Whew!!

And then I got my bill in my mailbox day before yesterday.

Jeezuz!
[The sentences that sprung up in my mind, this time, were juicier, with some five letter words included to add more color and tang.]

Nothing, in the bill, except my house address on top left of the page is right.
My name has no initials mentioned.
The mobile number is not mine. It was what I was supposed to get. It is 9008966445. My number for the nth bloody time is 9xxxxxxxxx.
The amount mentioned is not the amount I have spent. I am not even sure that my account number is right. If the bill period has anything to do with when the sim was activated [which the Airtel dude told me would be], then even that is wrong. The dumb sim got activated on the 19th and I have expenses from the 2nd of July. There is no billing plan mentioned even.

Aaaargh.
[I am running out of new decent expletives to use... onomatopoeia ne gati]

So, I decided I would take up matters into my own hand, go to www.airtel.in and check stuff out by myself. I went to the site, entered the mobile number and registered myself. I get the password on my mobile. I logged in. The first screen that greeted me is a form that has all fields mandatory. I fill out name, age and other usual stuff, and then discover that in the mandatory date of birth field - the dumb ‘day’ scroll-down button is screwed. It only says ‘day’ when scrolled down. There is no way to enter any number in that space. Hence there is no way to enter a valid date of birth. There is no way to complete that form. No way to check anything.

Aaaargh [some more].

But at least I got their email id.

So I sent them a mail:

"Sub: Problems with my bill.
Hi,
I have two issues to raise.

1. The bill that I have got is not mine. The phone number is wrong. My sim has been activated to 9xxxxxxxxx. But the bill is under the number – 900866445. This matter is regarding Bill No – 797180227.The billed amount that is shown in my mobile, is also different than what has been sent to my email account.

2. I cannot register in www.airtel.in. The date of birth tab is mandatory in the registration form. The month and the year scroll-downs work well. But the ‘day’ tab is stuck. There is no way to input a valid date into the form. And without filling that tab, there is no way to go to the next screen and see any other details.
I would be pleased if these issues are solved soon. I have brought this issue up several times already, but nothing has been done.
I cannot pay the bill which doesn't have my mobile number.

Aniruddha P N"

I got a reply back saying:

"Dear Mr. Aniruddha,

Thank you for contacting Airtel.

You have expressed concern over the receipt of wrong mobile bill and the inability to access the date column in our Airtel website for your Airtel number 9xxxxxxxxx.

We understand your concern and will work towards resolving the same.

To enable us to process your concern, kindly send us the mobile bill that you received for us to initiative further action regarding the same.

Further, we would like to inform you that the invoice dated 03/08/08 for the above mobile number would be delivered to the email address anirudh@gmail.com within 8 days from the bill generation date.

Also, with regard to your concern over the inability to access the date column for your mobile number 9xxxxxxxxx, we kindly request you to select the "month" drop down list before selecting the "date" to complete the formalities.

If you still face the same problem, we request you to call our 24 Hours Customer Care service 121[Toll Free] for more online assistance.

For further assistance, mail us at 121@airtelindia.com or SMS to 121 (toll free).

We value your association with Airtel.

Warm Regards,

Kamei N
Customer Care Executive
Bharti Airtel Limited"

So, i replied back:

"Dear Sir,

I have attached the mobile bill that I received on 3rd August, as you had requested.

The email id that you have mentioned in the mail is not mine. You have indicated an email id - anirudh@gmail.com. But my email id is aniruddha.pn@gmail.com. I would like it if you could send the new bill to this id.

Also, I still have the same problem in www.airtel.in. No matter which way I choose – that is month first or day first, I still can’t get the scroll-down option to work. I still am not able to log in.

Thanking you,
Aniruddha P N"

This last mail was sent by me at 7:49 PM (2 hours ago)
I’m awaiting their response.

Till then, so long.

PS: I always wanted to blog about this. But more illogical stuff kept happening. I decided today that crap that has happened till now is worth blogging. It is here for your entertainment.