Wednesday June 6, 2012

Wednesday June 6, 2012:

And its live !

Today morning, the current project I was working on went live successfully. Yep, it may not sound that big to anyone else. Buts its big for me. This is the first project I have lead from offshore. And one where I have lost considerable amount of sleep and peace of mind. Its been five years since I started my career, and this is one of those milestones I have been striving for since day one. And although I have been part of many smooth releases and go-lives in the past,  I never thought that this release would be so taxing on mind and soul.

But all said and done, its surely something I am happy and proud about.

Wireshark 1.6.8

Wireshark 1.6.8:
MD5: 8AEEBD68536B47C7E3755091E7A50309

Information: website

Size: 19.12 MB

MediaFire: Download

License: Freeware
Wireshark’s powerful features make it the tool of choice for network troubleshooting, protocol development, and education worldwide. Wireshark was written by networking experts around the world, and is an example of the power of open source. It runs on Windows, Linux, UNIX, and other platforms. This download is for Windows only. Wireshark can read live data from Ethernet, Token-Ring, FDDI, serial (PPP and SLIP), 802.11 wireless LAN and ATM connections.

Do Some Serious Relaxing This Weekend [Weekendhacker]

Do Some Serious Relaxing This Weekend [Weekendhacker]:
You've had a long week at work and three full days to relax your stress away. Here are some ways to get the most out of your relaxation this weekend.

Consider Going Off the Grid

Whether you can't pull yourself away from work or you're just starting to feel phantom vibrations from your phone, it may be time to take a little break from technology. As much as it can make our lives easier, it can also cause a lot of stress, so if you really want to get the most of your relaxation this weekend, consider putting the phone away for awhile—or at least turning off your notifications.
On the flipside, there are a lot of cool ways that technology can help you relax, and we'll be mentioning some of them in this post. It's up to you whether you want to go off the grid or not—everyone's different, and if technology isn't the root of your stress, you might be fine keeping it on and making use of some of these tools.

Get the Best Sleep of Your Life

Napping is, of course, one of our favorite ways to relax. We've shown you how to make the most of your naps, master the power nap, or even reboot your brain with a caffeine nap. Looking for the perfect time to squeeze in a few Zs? Calculate the best time with this interactive map wheel.
If you're having trouble sleeping, this is a great weekend to reboot your sleep cycle and start getting the rest you deserve. You can do this on your own, but we've also found certain tech gadgets to be pretty useful, not to mention a few smartphone apps, too.

Exercise Your Way to Tranquility

Exercise is obviously a great way to relieve stress, but if you're looking to do something a bit more physical without an intense workout, we've got solutions for that too. Try relaxing with our guide to meditation for the rest of us, or finding a good yoga style that fits your needs. Throw some tech into the mix with apps like Breathing Zone and Buddhify if you feel like you need a bit of extra help, but again, they're far from necessary to get the full benefits of these exercises.

Take On a Relaxing Weekend Project

Of course, some of us just can't stand doing nothing—we want to do the stuff we love! We've got all the guides you could possibly need for kicking back with a few video games or some light reading, but if you want to get a bit more involved you can learn a new skill, finally ditch cable TV, or even hack your gadgets and void some warranties. Take a look back at our Weekendhacker archives for any weekend-long projects you may have missed, and take this long weekend to do a little catch up. Just make sure you're ready to hit the ground running when you get back to work! Photo by Chris Isherwood.
Got any other great relaxation techniques you're going to put into practice this weekend? Share them with us in the comments.
Title photo remixed from Michael Condouris.

Diamond Necklace : A clean , fresh malayalam movie from Lal Jose

I booked this place on the net just to rant. Rant about what I hate, what I would like changed. But lately I have just been reposting from other blogs. So here goes….

 

If you have not figured it already, I am a  mallu. Yup, Im a keralite/malayalee, from God’s own country. Yesterday I got some rare time to myself. I went out to watch a good malayalam movie: Diamond Necklace. Here are my thoughts on this.

It’s one of those rare nice, clean fresh movies which usually comes out as an experiment.  It has it all: good script, humour, thrill, a little suspense, a positive message, beautiful picturization. And good acting. Yup, real make believe characters who speak real world dialogues. The kind a normal person would speak in the real world in similar situations. And the part I liked best: there are no superstars and no comic side kick. No Jagathy/Jagadeesh/Suraj Venjaaramoodu/Salim Kumar. I would watch any movie without them.

 

 

Dr Arun played fantastically by Fahad, lives a high flying life, enjoying all luxuries money can buy. He lives in high rises, drives swanky cars, enjoys night life and has  a gang of like minded friends.  His philosophy of life is “ I have no regrets about the past, I have no worries about the future. I live in the present”.  Nice . Except that his flamboyant lifestyle in Dubai, which is the 20th most expensive city to live in,  is raking up a high credit debt.  His fellow doctor colleagues and specially his mentor Akka, (Rohini) advice him to change his lifestyle, but he manages to continue living on plastic, even gets an extension on his outstanding credit and flies home after getting them to lift his travel ban. Before this, he falls for Lekshmi, the new tamil nurse who has joined (Gautami) , and dreams of a new life with her.

Once home in Kerala, an opportunity to get rid of his debts presents itself. A marriage into a an affluent and rich family, with promises of a rich dowry, and new influential relatives.He falls for it, and marries Rajshree (Anushree), a village belle who lives in a small world of her own. But the day after marriage, he realizes that he has been taken for a ride. He realizes that the new extended family is actually in poor financial state, and he gets way little than what he had expected. Now he is expected to bring his new bride back with him to Dubai.

In Dubai, he loses his luxurious apartment, car and most of his friends. He has to adjust with some malayalee labour personnel in a labour camp, and each of his credit withdrawal attempts is rejected, leaving him with little money. He sees and opportunity and befriends and moves in with one of his tumor patients, Maya (Samvrutha), to temporarily alleviate the rent problem. And it is here that he sees her “Diamond Necklace”, the one which is referenced in the movie title. Both Lekshmi and Maya find out about his marriage, and he feels his has cheated them both.Now he is at crossroads with his conscience. 

Maya is diagnosed with life threatening cancer, she is going to die anyway, and has no living relatives, except Akka. She would have no use with a diamond necklace. On the other had, his wife’s rich relatives and their expectations poses new problems. And of course, there is the bank who wants their money back. Arun decides to  temporarily borrow (steal) the necklace, and to replace it with a duplicate replacement, pawn the real necklace, and thus buy in some more time for this debt problem.  He steals from Maya at the hospital after giving he on extra dose of morphine.His conscience torments him every step of the way, because he knows he is a doctor stealing from his doomed cancer patient.

More problems. His naive wife discovers the necklace. And thinks this is his gift to her on her birthday. Even boasts to her relatives. Now everyone knows about the necklace. He cannot just pawn it.

It is at this juncture that he turns to Venu (Sreenivasan) for help and advice. Venu intervenes, and gets the bank to write off 40% of Arun’s, debt in the name of global recession. And also an 18 month extension on the balance debt. Exactly how this is possible is not explained. But that is not important. What’s important is that Arun no longer requires the necklace. He can replace the original back, and remove that terrible weight on this conscience.

While he was away, Maya had suffered the effects of morphine overdose, and the in-duty nurse at that time, Lekshmi, is fired. Also Maya, who has now learned the meaning of life, understands that she had no right in expecting a new life from Arun. She decides to leave, leaving her valubles, along with the necklace, to Arun and asks him to give it to his wife.

Arun now legally gets the necklace (which is actually the duplicate he had got made), along with the original. He gives the duplicate to his wife, and decides to help Lekshmi, who had big dreams of starting a hospital in her village in Tamil Nadu. He gives her the necklace, and asks her to sell it for the money she requires.

Maya is shown happy, and contended in life. She now lives in the present, and is shown travelling in India.  In the final scene, Rajshree is shown oggling and fondling her necklace (she does not know it’s a fake). Arun asks her if she has ever loved him, more that the necklace. To prove her  unconditional love to him, she casts the necklace into the sea.

 

There is some really nice and smart story telling here. Aruns dreams living in a house-of-cards comes down in an instant, and he has nowhere to run , as all of his friends ignore his request for help, or are in similar situations. He is genuinely a nice guy, spreads happiness and joy around. Stealing does not come easily to him. On the other had, Rajshree’s relatives take him for  a ride and push him further into crisis.   But he is not able to think straight and come up with a simple solution. Fahad plays this character convincingly.

Lekshmi, Maya and Rajshree are all different women with whom Arun has a relationship. Though he does not want to, he ends up hurting all of them at various points. I specially loved Samvrutha playing the terminally ill patient Maya. Her pain and suffering seemed convincing. And she looks gorgeous !

And Sreenivasan excels in another of his toned down characterization of a typical malayalee labor employee, who has been struggling in Dubai for 19 years. He represents knowledge, wisdom and trust in the movie. Maniyan Pillai Raju as the bank manager is another character I liked.

The song NIlamalare, nilamalare has been playing on my computer for 2 days now. Its melody and classical beats is a fresh departure from the usual malayalam soundtracks of these days.

The movies shows the dangers of not having a strong financial plan in life. It also shows how people make the wrong decisions in life when they are faced with  problems and can’t think straight. Living in the present is not a good idea. You need to really plan out a future. Specially if there are others in your life who depend or look up to you. This is a message I feel the youngsters of this and coming generation need to imbibe. A movie with a similar message which came out last year was Ranjith’s Indian Rupee 

It’s  a must watch movie for all generations of cine goers. Don’t miss it. Its not everyday that you get to see a beautiful story told  in a fresh manner  on screen.