I still feel the same.
Introspection… (still true)
Was browsing through some of my older posts and came across this rhyme I posted nearly two years back which still holds true for me.
Would be interesting to know how many of you relate to this particular rhyme?
Recent Category Posts – K2 Sidebar Module
Do use WordPress? Heard of K2? If not, then you really have to give it a good look.
From the K2 website:
K2 is an advanced template for the blogging engine WordPress developed by Michael Heilemann, Chris J Davis, Zeo, Steve Lam and Ben Sherratt.
It won't make you coffee, sing songs of sweet regret or sit at your bedside when you're ill, but it might make life just a tad bit easier for you.
Think of it this way: Where WordPress is everything that goes on behind the scenes, K2 is everything that reaches the readers of your blog.
WordPress itself takes care of authenticating users, fetching and sending data to and from the database and provides you with the backend administration interface.
K2 on the other hand is the frontend of WordPress. It's main concern is displaying the data fetches through WordPress in the right way at the right time. Furthermore, where more basic themes like Kubrick have little situational awareness, K2 cares about you and is always trying to make sure you are presented with exactly the tools and data you need.
K2 supports syles. Much like the main theme can be styled by using different CSS files.
K2 also has a stellar Sidebar Module(SBM) which is much like WordPress Widgets on steroids. Though, WordPress Widgets do have a more cleaner approach as they hook onto the WordPress Plugin API. On the other hand, SBM has a better UI to configure and more granular control for the users. Couple it up with solid API for the programmer. You can even disable SBM from the K2 admin panel to support WordPress Widgets.
So, here is my first SBM for K2.
Recent Category Posts - K2 Sidebar Module
Someone also had requested this as a sidebar module at the K2 forums.
The programmers and the ABCDEFG problem
Again and again I am reminded of the ABCDEFG problem I read in "The Nudist on the Late Shift -- and Other True Tales of Silicon Valley" by Po Bronson.
"The ABCDEFG Problem." I call it that because all good programmers have tons of choices to work on, A through G. Some choices seem cooler and some seem dumber, some possible and some improbable, but as to the payday lurking behind the door, they all look alike. They're just A through G, take your pick. Choice A may be 3DO, and choice G may be $2 million of Microsoft stock, and Choice C may be a quarterback with four Super Bowl rings, but you just don't know. It's sort of like choosing one million units of foreign currency by which country's paper bills have the splashiest colors, or making a million-dollar bet on the NCAA basketball tournament by whichever team has the sexiest cheerleaders. The variables that programmers have to go on (A-G) are not the variables that determine the outcome (X, Y, and Z).
And rightly said, "The variables that programmers have to go on (A-G) are not the variables that determine the outcome (X, Y, and Z)." So, do what you love and have fun coding 🙂
You can read an excerpt from the book here.
P.S. Hanisha, I still have the book I borrowed from you. Thanks 🙂
Dhak Bahiri – An Unsuccessful Attempt, Successful Hike
I had been on a hike to Dhak - Bahiri Caves in the Sahyadris. Though we planned it out as a short night trek it ended up being one hell of a long adventurous hike.
Amit, Mohit, Vikram, Varun and Me started off from Lonavala around 2:00 am at night. We lost our way initially in the city but the choukidars (watchmen) got us back on track. We had to reach Tungarli Dam and follow the trail half-way (approx 6kms) towards Rajmachi. Then take a right and hike towards Mansarjuma range. It took us 3.5 hours to walk in the moonlight with a couple of breaks in between to reach a place which looked like a village. It was breezy and so we though of sleeping for a couple of hours and hike the rest in daylight. We accidentally discovered a Hanuman temple while it was still dark and slept in it.
We got up by around 7:30am by noises around and so tried to figure out our location. We were at a village and it was good to know that we were still on the right trail. We also met another group which were asleep in a school nearby. They pointed us in the direction of Dhak vaguely and we took off so we could reach early. We were still 2.5 hours away from our base, Kondeshwar Temple.
What followed next was following a trail in the wrong direction for another 1.5 hours through the jungle. At a point we were totally confused and couldn't find a distinct trail. It was then that I indulged in photographing wild flowers.
Finally, we decided to get back to the village and ask the villagers. We had already lost 2 hours, had 2 bread packs and just half a bottle of water. Back in the village, we understood where we missed the trail from the villagers and refilled our bottles. We thought of having breakfast and then continuing the hike. We had our bread with a generous serving of butter and moved ahead.
This time we were on the right trail. We could see the village, the dam, Rajmachi twin forts (Shrivardhan and Manoranjan) and a distinct trail most of the time. It was 11 by now and we were hiking in scorching heat. We followed the trail through the forest and finally got a glimpse of Dhak. There it was standing tall and a delight to our eyes after so long. Finally, we could see our destination and thus pull ourselves through rest of the hike.
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Our next stop was the Kondeshwar Temple. We took rest in the temple for some time and started off for the final stretch. We had grossly miscalculated the time needed to get here. Initially, we were thinking of reaching Kondeshwar by 6am and now it was 12:45pm. The last ST bus service from Jambivali (nearest village) to Kamshet was at 6:00pm. So, we had to make sure that we reached the village by that time.
Most of the last stretch was through the jungle. Feels good to have vegetation to protect you from the sun.
Finally, we reached the point from where there is a steep descent to approach the Bahiri caves. After a 30 feet descent on the right you see a big cave which can accommodate atleast 30 people. From there crossing the rocks and climbing up leads you towards the Bahiri caves.
The path ahead looked dangerous. There was a clean fall of 80 feet of the left and the inclination was around 70 - 80 degrees throughout. The footing of the rocks was a few inches at most places. Me and Amit ventured ahead, others rested in the cave. Actually, they kept a close eye on our movement and guided us along the path when needed. It was 2:30 pm and the basalt rock was hot. No way could we support ourselves on the rock face. Our fingers had a burning sensation each time we took support on the rock. The climb was getting riskier. With no solid footing along the path stopping was not an option. We somehow got ourselves to safer location where we could stand on our feet without taking support from the rock. Next up was a vertical climb and then a rope climb to top it all. Because of the lack of water intake we were more susceptible to cramps. It was then that we decided that we better stop. Lets make another attempt, next time in the morning. Finally, it was a sane decision and we carefully got ourselves back to the cave where others were waiting.
Thats it! We headed back to the village and had some refreshments before hopping onto the ST bus to Kamshet. Journey back home was long (Kamshet - Lonavala - Kalyan - Slow train - Dadar - Borivali) and I reached home at 1:30am. All along the journey I had an incomplete feeling but the satisfaction of not doing something outrightly foolish.
All I want to say is, "I will be back ;)"
Click on the image below to look at the complete album:
ErlyWeb: ErlangOnRails
I have been playing around with Erlang for some weekends now and I find it to be really interesting. I like the functional programming paradigm too. The syntax reminds me a little of Prolog (from my engineering days).
Programming Erlang: Software for a Concurrent World is the Pickaxe book for Erlang written by Joe Amstrong. Joe designed and implemented the first version of Erlang in 1986.
What's all this fuss about Erlang?. This and recent articles on reddit got me interested in Erlang.
Yariv Sadan has also developed a web framework on Erlang named ErlyWeb. ErlyWeb is in its 0.7 version and has some Rails kinda feel to it but doesn't look as clean as Rails because its on Erlang. Not many people get it but its actually because of Ruby that Rails does most of its magic its said to do. ErlyWeb is a commendable effort and I really want to give it a fair shot before I form a opinion about it.
I have a very interesting project in mind where Erlang fits the bill perfectly. More about it sometime later 😉
Take the Pledge
E-Week India PLEDGE
If even one of the below resonates with you, please pledge:
Today, I renew my Pledge to an Entrepreneurial India.
I Will:
- Break barriers between industry and academia
- Foster information flow between the sectors
- Regularly include entrepreneurs, industrialists, investors and professionals in campus programs
- Find new and innovative ways for students to experience industry before graduation
- Facilitate faculty interaction with industry
- Work to bring the discoveries of the lab into society
- Innovate in my work
- Consider working for start up companies
- Stop complaining – and start fixing the problems and barriers to entrepreneurial growth
- Change my thinking from, “Why?” to “Why not?”
- Continue, always, to dream big and work to bring those dreams to reality
- Encourage and support others, so that we all might live in a richer, better India.
Valu – The Wild Bull
Saw "Valu - The Wild Bull", a Marathi language film. I don't remember the last Marathi film I saw in the theatre. Did I ever see one?
Valu is about a small village in Maharashtra, which finds itself in fear of a destructive wild bull. Two city officials arrive to catch the bull, which they find far more tricky than they anticipate. They travel with a documentary filmmaker from the city who films their mission. The camera interests and involves the village folk far more than cornering the bull. After many adventures of their own and with the village elders and inhabitants, they finally succeed. The film looks at village life on many levels, ranging from political rivalry, family tensions, forbidden love, all of which is observed with wit and subtlety. What emerges are aspects of the human mind: on one side a sense of curiosity, mystery, competitiveness and friendship, and on the other, abrasive egos, the blinkered one-sidedness of religion, and the tenacious will and need to survive.
Source: http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=18673
Everyone of us liked the film. Lakshmikant also gave his mark of approval on the technicalities of the film.
Pros:
- Well defined characters and strong performances.
- Universal humor. More of situational and character based humor.
- Compact. Not even for a second did my mind wander away from the movie.
- Beautiful picturization. The village has been portrayed realistically.
- Relief. No fake looking enacting of popular Bollywood movies.
Promo of the movie:
A sure must see after Shwaas.
AkshaySurve.com has been plaintxtd :)
Upgraded to WordPress 2.3.2 and changed the theme to plaintxtblog from plaintxt.org.
I have also added a Photos section.
I hope the migration has been successful and permalinks are working fine. Do let me know if you notice any issues. Also tell me how do you find the new theme?
India Poised – Our Time is Now
Did you miss the India Poised anthem? I am sure you will relate to it at some level. It is a must see for every Indian.
Find more videos like this on VentureSprings
Add to it the Lead India spirit - D.O. (Tum chalo to Hindustan chale) and we are unstoppable.
Feeling patriotic before the Republic Day, 26th of January.
Jai Hind!