there is a Virus or unwanted program ‘HTML/Crypted.Gen [virus]‘

I read about this and took steps to recover my blog. The old theme is the culprit. I got rid of it and am upgrading to the latest version of Wordpress now.

1) Let all coaches be fitted with Heat Sensors, Smoke Detectors, Fire Alarms (all are located in 3 to 4 places in every coach) and an Emergency Alert system that stops all electricity to that coach, Turns the emergency lights to switch on (better still, depending on the direction of the fire, these lights can direct the passengers towards a safe exit), warns the Engine Driver and sends the location of the train to the nearest station (GPS location or Rail Track way points what ever works).
2) The fire spreads very fast when the train is moving. So the driver can stop the train in with in a few seconds after the warning or else the system will stop it automatically.
3) Infrared cameras fitted on a periscope in the engine to visually confirm the fire.

More time consuming technologies like sprinklers and fire retardant foam sprays , metal wings deployed at the ends of the coaches to prevent spreading of fire and better door locks should be implemented without delay.

We must use the technology we are so proudly exporting at least for our safety.

Explanation:

Normal Procedure: Key in >> Twist to start battery power >> wait for the heater and pump indicators to go off >> Twist more to start ignition.

Solution procedure: Key in >> Twist all the way to start ignition.

Intel August 2008 Price Drop
When I went to place an order for Q9450 (Quad core 2.6 GHz, 12MB L2 cache) processor my dealer suggested me to wait for a couple of weeks. There is a memo sent to the distributors about a new price cut scheduled for 10th August 2008, in Quad Core segment and it is a really good one. Intel Q9450 and Q9550 are currently at Rs. 15,500 and Rs. 25,500 respectively. Q9450 is going to be phased out and Q9550 is going to be available for Rs. 15,000 + taxes.

My Ideas
I think this amphibious Bicycle / Tricycle can be sold in states like Kerala and in countries like Thailand where waters ways are highly used.
Instead of the usual boat, tourists can get a ride on this amphibious bicycle / tricycle. They can even rent their own Amphibicycle and have a trip in the water ways. If successful we can see couples in this amphibicycle instead of a gondola in Venice.

If you have any ideas please share them here.

[1] Yahoo Removed the line “500 Concurrent MySQL connections” from their features list. I couldn’t find it anywhere in their site now. May be they realized that it’s too much for such a low price.

[2] Yahoo India is offering a domain, 5 GB space, 200 GB transfer and a Rs 250 worth of Ad promotion for Rs. 999/Year. Not a bad deal, considering they are offering .in domains also which go for Rs 800/year on renewals. The catch - it’s only for small businesses, so no personal sites are officially allowed. The workaround is - You can call any site with ads as a small business venture and may one day actually make it your cash cow.

I already have a Home 900 Unlimited Connection from BSNL.
Recently a marketing guy from BSNL called me and offered a free phone connection for 1 year. The reason - I was paying more than Rs 1500 per month in bills for the past one year. He told me that this new phone has no free calls and no security deposit or installation charges. The call charges were Rs. 1.20/min.

Then I asked him if I could use this new phone for a second broadband connection. He told me that this was the first time he had heard this question. So he checked and told me that it’s absolutely possible. He gave me a choice of numbers and picked a good one out of them. I said OK, and believe it or not, with in 1 hour I got my new phone installed. The phone was activated the next morning. I applied for a Home 500 plan and paid for the Type 2 Modem (1 WiFi + 1 LAN port). With in 4 days I got a second broadband connection with a Type 4 Modem (1 WiFi + 4 LAN ports). The guy who brought it doesn’t even know what he is holding. I opted out for installation, so he gave me the DNS, login, pass, helpline no. etc. and left.

Now I have a Home 900 automatically converted into a Home 750 (which I will convert into a Flexi 350 next month) and a Home 500 Plan. I use the unlimited one all day and for all systems and the 500 (with 2Mbps true speed) in the free hours. I wanted this setup for more than a year now. And they always said that one billing account can get only one Broadband connection at home. Somehow it’s changed for the better.

The Good News -
“Home 900″ unlimited is now “Home 750″ unlimited (at 256 kbps). A slash in price of Rs. 150 . BSNL automatically changed all Home 900 plans into Home 750 Plans.

If you are not sure how much bandwidth you are going to use, then take Flexi 350 which is enough for casual browsing, email and a lot of instant messaging. If you exceed the plan’s limit of 2GB in a month you will be charged at Rs. 0.85 /MB of transfer. So after exceeding ~ 2.5 GB of transfer in a month your plan will become unlimited Home 750 for that month only.

Impact -
Is minimal, but encourages more people to get a broadband (as it is called by BSNL) connection.
Decreased risk of heavy bills, compared to Home 125 , Home 250 and Home 500 plans which are not suitable for people with less understanding about bandwidth.
If your broadband usage varies between months this plan will save a good amount of money. There is no worry if you decided to use more bandwidth in a particular month- your monthly bill will never exceed Rs. 750

People who don’t have a clue about the bandwidth, usually take a plan with minimal monthly pay i:e 125, 250 and 500 Home plans. And most of them end up paying the heavy bills. There was no option for an optimal speed + cost plan in Broadband category. The beauty of this Flexi 350 plan is not fully explained by BSNL people. They have to brush up their pitch. We used to pay 12000 (including taxes) for a 900 Home plan per year. Now the same plan costs between 4600 to 9960 depending upon usage.

Recommended -

I strongly recommend BSNL Flexi 350 Broadband plan for - email , browsing and instant messaging.

For beginners and parents at home.

For net junkies. If you are on Home 900 (or Home 750 now) you can change to Home 350. There is a psychology aspect here. There is no excuse now. If you know that ‘not being a net junkie’, you can save money, then it can help cure net addiction.

For people with legitimate necessity for net access and a tight budget- like job seekers and part timers. They actually know the value of money.

I hope, one day, we all can enjoy much higher speeds and learn to better utilize the resources.

This plan replaced all the 3 old plans ( Starter, Standard and Professional ). Yahoo says the plan includes Unlimited Web Space, Unlimited Transfer, Unlimited MySQL 4.1 databases and Unlimited Storage for the 1000 email accounts besides all the other goodies like constant backups and multiple mirrors.The best part is 500 concurrent MySQL connections, which is not offered by anyone in this price range.

At last the day we are all waiting for has arrived. Unlimited 2Mbps Broadband Home Plan is here. BSNL gave this ad today and I’ve confirmed with the their customer care. This is going to be integrated into the system tomorrow i:e 8th April 2008. I repeatedly asked them if it is a 256 kbps to 2Mbps plan (Like the Home plan 500) or one like the current Home 900 Plus at 256kbps constant speed and their answer was very exciting to me. It is a 256kbs to 2Mbps variable speed plan (like Home 500) . BSNL did mention that this is an Unlimited Plan in the ad and their customer care explained what “Maximum Rs 750 per month billing” means.

The Plan Details

-

1. You pay Rs 350 per month for 2GB of transfer limit.
2. Once your limit is exceeded, you are billed Rs 0.85/MB of transfer.
3. The maximum billed amount per month is Rs 750.
4. Once the overage exceeds 470 MB (470 x .85 = Rs 400) or your total bill reaches Rs 750 ( initial 350 + 400 = 750) the plan becomes unlimited, and you will be billed no more than Rs 750 for that month.
5. No more “2 AM to 8 AM free hours”. (Who needs them now ?)
6. This plan is for a limited period only. ( It sounds cheesy.. cos they didn’t say if they are going to keep the plan for a limited time or the sign-up period for a limited time)

This the coolest thing BSNL has ever done (besides rural mobiles). I am waiting till tomorrow to see if they keep these specs or change them to 256 kbps.

It’s Impact

- More e-learning courses can be launched by providers
- Rich content can be delivered without compressing too much detail
- The real broadband experience can be felt by everyone
- Students have more time to learn and less frustration downloading a lecture
- We can see an exponential increase in creation and exchange of rich media content

Let’s see tomorrow whether this holds true.

The butt was broken off at the grip. It’s GNW India make .22 cal with Grill tip, scope rail and an excellent Trigger. They don’t make this anymore. I bought a Chinese made Sisco Air Pistol a couple of weeks ago and because of it’s pathetic performance (couldn’t even pierce a coke can at 10m) some new boxes of .22 pellets are in my closet. I loaded the old rifle with a .22 pellet, set up an empty Coke can, aimed and fired a shot. I was totally surprised. This gun was not used for 7 years and it is covered in rust, still the first shot sliced through the coke can, a plastic bin behind it and chipped off a piece of cement before ricocheting and hitting my hand.

I gave it a quick overhaul, fixed it with some nylon rope (the screws on the sides are not available, I have to find some other solution) and zeroed it with some rusty tricks. Now it is amazingly accurate even at 20m. Here is a coke can and my old air rifle.

This is a Good breakfast to start the day.
Take 45 gm muesli with 6 fruits of Ziziphus mauritiana (regu pandu in Telugu). Muesli are available in all Major Super Markets. There are many blends and brands of muesli some have added dry fruits. For best results select a brand without any added sugar. Muesli are usually better than cornflakes and have a high fiber content and low glycemic index.

You can add sliced banana or diced apple for a change. Keep changing the fruit everyday.
You can eat it dry or with some hot milk.

My Toshiba R15 Tablet is making a lot of noise and the Fan is running at full speed almost all the time. In addition to this the laptop is overheating. Usually this is caused by clogging of the heat-sink or fan blades with dust.
My options were -

1) Send it to service (1200km away)
2) Replace the fan and heat sink by my self
3) Try a simple repair. Though risky I took the third option and proceeded with the cleaning.

[Caution: This procedure is not tested thoroughly and any harm caused to the equipment is unknown. Proceed at your own risk.]

Procedure:
1) Turnoff the laptop, remove battery and Remove all connectors.
2) Use suction to remove easy dirt.
3) Use fine nozzle attachment to blow away hard dirt.
4) Use suction again to remove any dirt residue. (If the cleaning is complete, you will hear a whistle during suction- this indicates the vents and fan blades are dirt free.)
5) Plug-in all connectors, replace battery and plug-in power.
*Extra Caution: Some suggest removing Ram modules and Hard Disk also during this procedure. I did not remove them and there seems to be no problem.

After the cleaning my Laptop is cooler and more silent than before. I might need to change the fan later, but this cleaning bought me more time and less noise.

Rewritebase /

. The .htaccess file might look like this before the change

Options All -Indexes
ErrorDocument 404 /404.php

FileETag MTime Size

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^sitemap\.xml$ feed.php?output_type=sitemap [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)(\.html|\.htm)$ index.php [L]

..ofcourse there are more lines of code after this.

And after the change-

Options All -Indexes
ErrorDocument 404 /404.php

FileETag MTime Size

RewriteEngine On
Rewritebase /
RewriteRule ^sitemap\.xml$ feed.php?output_type=sitemap [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)(\.html|\.htm)$ index.php [L]

That’s all. You will see that installation pre-check detects mod_rewrite this time and you can start tasting the flavor of Vivvo.

-If you have a tringme widget at your homepage you can receive wedding/birthday wishes as voice greetings, even when people don’t know your number.

-When someone wants to complement you, but they are shy, they can use tringme.

-Anonymity and accessibility are the best features of tringme. But you might get some unwanted threats/messages also if you don’t protect it. Any calls for me

The game is simple. You have to guess and bet on the color chips that make up (and reveal) the image randomly picked from Flickr. You get more chips for betting more on the color that is abundant in the picture. At first there is a blank frame so most of the people try to bet on the darkest color. And once the outline is revealed you can try to guess the other colors. You can play with your friends by inviting them or can play with the ones occupying the tables.

What I like about the game is the imaginative potential required to play this game. It becomes a leveled playing field. Your intellect or pride won’t help you. Only your instincts and imagination. Very cool.

Warning: It could be a little bit addictive. Play only if you must relax

The only downside (or the upside) is there are not many players to play with. Better invite a friend to join first.

Game on.