Bit Bucket Hell

    The Last Of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen    Posted:

    In the summer of 1996/97. A friend of mine Kevin, one of the smartest persons I knew all my life and I enrolled in a cricket summer camp at school. We had to convince our parents to pay our summer cricket camp fee, Affording cricket gear was a big thing for us, I personally staged a satyagraha movement at home, Kevin had his own struggles trying to convince his dad to get him a good cricket bat. We were coached by school coach Omkar Bilki there was also Sudhakar Rao, Shavir Tarapore, Sadanand Vishwananth who came by in the Mornings. One of those days, we used have occasional visit from the Indian team members and ex cricketers  to meet the kids in our summer camp but the day we were excited the most was when Keki Tarapore, had come down on his old Kinetic Honda speak to us. His coaching reputation had preceded him, as Rahul Dravid's coach. Rahul Dravid, one kid with a similar background of ours had just made it big with an 148 against South Africa inspired a whole generation of aspiring cricketers from Bangalore. We were like may other Indian kids, we just loved the game. I'm pretty well sure VVS Laxman did inspire a whole generation  of cricketers in Hyderabad. Loved the gossip around the game, I  remember one of the earliest cricket gossips, was on Rahul Dravid which went something like this: He was disappointed about not getting century after his International Debut in England earlier that year, speaks to Mohd. Azaruhddin, who in turn asks him to get his collar straight and go play the game, and he hits 148 against RSA. I tried the same stuff in my practice matches with my collar up and scoring 5* with my head held high, not bad for a number 10 batsman.

    I did not see Sachin Tendulkar's debut, never had a TV at home. But I did  watch Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman get their baggy blue cap for India, yet they were not considered stars in team. A few years later, the whole nation is shocked with the news of Match fixing. Most of the kids who idolised the then captain and many talented cricketers at that point were devastated, all of them involved in the scandal getting a 5 - 10 year ban and a few were slapped with a life time ban from the game we all loved. The team boiled down to a few honest men, with a new captain minus all the greats of the late 80's and early 90's. Fans started getting used the non star studded team, who were more like comrades, brothers in arms putting on a serious fight, but not winning coming close. Sachin was already a legend in the International cricket by then, with the Indian sports reporters needed to portray a hero after the legendary Kapil Dev adding a lot of pressure on him, who demolished many great bowling attacks of the late 90's. When Sachin clicked on Indian soil, India usually won the match.

    We all enjoyed the sub continent rivalries with Pakistan, with all those yorkers and In swingers from Wasim and Waqar, what they could do with the new ball was scary and what they did with the old ball was legendary. India fighting back with pace and spin of Srinath, Raju, Kumble and Harbhajan.  But test cricket, the ones abroad, was where Indian's were considered underdogs, after the match fixing controversy Indian team was scraping the bottom of the barrel. There was a time I used to be very sad with India losing every match, that I only watched cricket  for the Brain Lara, ( Genius! Maga) and was happy I did watch him play, as I got to see  the best test matches of my life, 1999, WI vs Austrailia at Barbados. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/63839.html , After that, I wondered why the Indian cricket writers compared Sachin with Lara, who was dominating most of the bowling attacks around the world at will.  But then we all grew up in the generation who enjoyed a match where the mighty Austrailians were beaten. Although Pakistan was a rival due to political reasons, Any team beating Australia found a supporter in rest of the cricketing world. I'm pretty sure cricketers exchanged phone calls when the Austrailians were defeated.  And then 2001 epic test match at Kolkatta, where India stop the mighty Steve Waugh's invincibles, Dravid and Laxman playing the innings to change the India approached it cricket, forever changing the Indian cricketing scenario. From being treated as underdogs to royalty. The economy of Indian cricket, TV rights and multimillion dollar contracts. The wins India got after that in test matches, beating Austrialia in Adeliade, again laxman and dravid spoiling the party. Beating Pakistan, England , South Africa and West Indies in their own territory and marching on to become the No. 1 Test Side in the world. It was only ironic to the fact that India's greatest cricketer was not sucessful in India's greatest Test Match in kolkatta.  Guts and grit showed by Anil Kumble, who was the responsible for many Test match wins of India by himself , one can not forget the exploits in kotla, west indies and Australia . Although it was about the batsmen for the media, they  tend to forget that you need to take 20 wickets to win a test match.

    Its sad to see most of the cricketers whom I grew up admiring would not be in the team as they take on New Zealand tomorrow. Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly,  you will missed  in the middle order, Your bats and partnerships mentally disintegrating the Aussies at home and abroad. So long Gentlemen, Thanks for all the emotions, never giving up and fighting as a team.  

    Comments

    The last of the league of extrodinary gentlemen    Posted:

    In the summer of 1996/97. A friend of mine Kevin, one of the smartest persons I knew all my life and I enrolled in a cricket summer camp at school. We had to convince our parents to pay our summer cricket camp fee, Affording cricket gear was a big thing for us, I personally staged a satyagraha movement at home, Kevin had his own struggles trying to convince his dad to get him a good cricket bat. We were coached by school coach Omkar Bilki there was also Sudhakar Rao, Shavir Tarapore, Sadanand Vishwananth who came by in the Mornings. One of those days, we used have occasional visit from the Indian team members and ex cricketers  to meet the kids in our summer camp but the day we were excited the most was when Keki Tarapore, had come down on his old Kinetic Honda speak to us. His coaching reputation had preceded him, as Rahul Dravid's coach. Rahul Dravid, one kid with a similar background of ours had just made it big with an 148 against South Africa inspired a whole generation of aspiring cricketers from Bangalore. We were like may other Indian kids, we just loved the game. I'm pretty well sure VVS Laxman did inspire a whole generation  of cricketers in Hyderabad. Loved the gossip around the game, I  remember one of the earliest cricket gossips, was on Rahul Dravid which went something like this: He was disappointed about not getting century after his International Debut in England earlier that year, speaks to Mohd. Azaruhddin, who in turn asks him to get his collar straight and go play the game, and he hits 148 against RSA. I tried the same stuff in my practice matches with my collar up and scoring 5* with my head held high, not bad for a number 10 batsman.

    I did not see Sachin Tendulkar's debut, never had a TV at home. But I did  watch Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman get their baggy blue cap for India, yet they were not considered stars in team. A few years later, the whole nation is shocked with the news of Match fixing. Most of the kids who idolised the then captain and many talented cricketers at that point were devastated, all of them involved in the scandal getting a 5 - 10 year ban and a few were slapped with a life time ban from the game we all loved. The team boiled down to a few honest men, with a new captain minus all the greats of the late 80's and early 90's. Fans started getting used the non star studded team, who were more like comrades, brothers in arms putting on a serious fight, but not winning coming close. Sachin was already a legend in the International cricket by then, with the Indian sports reporters needed to portray a hero after the legendary Kapil Dev adding a lot of pressure on him, who demolished many great bowling attacks of the late 90's. When Sachin clicked on Indian soil, India usually won the match.

    We all enjoyed the sub continent rivalries with Pakistan, with all those yorkers and In swingers from Wasim and Waqar, what they could do with the new ball was scary and what they did with the old ball was legendary. India fighting back with pace and spin of Srinath, Raju, Kumble and Harbhajan.  But test cricket, the ones abroad, was where Indian's were considered underdogs, after the match fixing controversy Indian team was scraping the bottom of the barrel. There was a time I used to be very sad with India losing every match, that I only watched cricket  for the Brain Lara, ( Genius! Maga) and was happy I did watch him play, as I got to see  the best test matches of my life, 1999, WI vs Austrailia at Barbados. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/63839.html , After that, I wondered why the Indian cricket writers compared Sachin with Lara, who was dominating most of the bowling attacks around the world at will.  But then we all grew up in the generation who enjoyed a match where the mighty Austrailians were beaten. Although Pakistan was a rival due to political reasons, Any team beating Australia found a supporter in rest of the cricketing world. I'm pretty sure cricketers exchanged phone calls when the Austrailians were defeated.  And then 2001 epic test match at Kolkatta, where India stop the mighty Steve Waugh's invincibles, Dravid and Laxman playing the innings to change the India approached it cricket, forever changing the Indian cricketing scenario. From being treated as underdogs to royalty. The economy of Indian cricket, TV rights and multimillion dollar contracts. The wins India got after that in test matches, beating Austrialia in Adeliade, again laxman and dravid spoiling the party. Beating Pakistan, England , South Africa and West Indies in their own territory and marching on to become the No. 1 Test Side in the world. It was only ironic to the fact that India's greatest cricketer was not sucessful in India's greatest Test Match in kolkatta.  Guts and grit showed by Anil Kumble, who was the responsible for many Test match wins of India by himself , one can not forget the exploits in kotla, west indies and Australia . Although it was about the batsmen for the media, they  tend to forget that you need to take 20 wickets to win a test match.

    Its sad to see most of the cricketers whom I grew up admiring would not be in the team as they take on New Zealand tomorrow. Laxman, Dravid and Ganguly,  you will missed  in the middle order, Your bats and partnerships mentally disintegrating the Aussies at home and abroad. So long Gentlemen, Thanks for all the emotions, never giving up and fighting as a team.  

    Comments

    Quick Reference Links :: PyCon India 2012, Bangalore, India.    Posted:

    Important Dates  

    • Call for proposals opens :: June 26, 2012.
    • Proposal submission deadline :: August 25, 2012.
    • Proposal acceptance :: Aug 31, 2012.
    • First presentation upload :: Sep 15, 2012.
    • Final presentation upload (with changes if any) :: Sept 25, 2012.
    • Conference :: September 28th, 29th and 30th, 2012.

    Important Links

    Contact Details

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Comments

    Renewed my GPG keys.    Posted:

    Its been quite some time since I updated my GPG keys. The previous 1024 DSA keys is just not good enough for security now. So I have gone ahead with the 4096 RSA. Here is my new GPG Fingerprint.  Do not sign or trust this without additional verification. I do encourage you folks to send me an encrypted mail for secure communication.

    pub 4096R/67E226F5 2012-01-16 [expires: 2013-01-15]

    Key fingerprint = BA51 9241 72B9 7DBD 1A9A E717 ABB2 9BAD 67E2 26F5

    uid Ramakrishna Reddy Yekulla (Ramakrishna Reddy) <mail@ramkrsna.net>

    uid Ramakrishna Reddy Yekulla (Ramakrishna Reddy) <ramkrsna@gmail.com>

    sub 4096R/2C8A758E 2012-01-16 [expires: 2013-01-15]

    Download my public key from here : https://gist.github.com/gists/1621383/download  

    Quick Tutorial ::

    Most of the GNU/Linux distributions ship with GPG. Here are some steps to generate your GPG keys.

    • gpg --gen-key
    • Select RSA
    • Select your key size (in bits) : 1024 /2048/4096. My choice was 4096 bits
    • Select an expiration date :: 0 ( for to never expire) / 1y /2y. Its a better practice to put an expiration date. Don't worry you can always renew the keys.
    • If you have an old key, you can sign it with this new key
      • gpg --default-key <old-key> --sign-key <new-key>
    • Upload your keys to keyserver.
      • gpg --keyserver hkps://zimmermann.mayfirst.org --send-key <Key> . Refrain from using the pgp.mit.edu 

    This is just a quick method. Check the following resources to understand Public Key Cryptography.

    Comments

    Easy HDR & Cheap overprocessing with GIMP.    Posted:

    Experiment with the Generic Graphics Library, which is a programming library under development for image processing applications. It is mainly developed for GIMP in order to bring support for higher bit depth images than GIMP currently supports, as well as non-destructive editing

    The API reference for the library is here http://gegl.org/api.html
    There is also a python extension http://git.gnome.org/browse/gegl/tree/bindings/pygegl

    Img_0023_originalImg_0023

    The two minute version ::

    • Open your image in GIMP :: File > Open | Ctrl + O .
    • Duplicate Layer | Shift + Ctrl + D .
    • Apply the GEGL C2G Operation | Tools -> GEGL Operation .
    • In the GEGL Selector choose the "c2g" .
    • The default number of sample is 4 , which is insanely noisy increase it to about 20.YMMV!
    • Duplicate the Original image .
    • Move the new layer above the original layer.
    • Select the Layers mode to "color"
    • Save your Image. Congratulations on your new HDR / Cheap over processed Image.

    If you want more dramatic photograph of the landscape I suggest you to use selective coloring as mentioned here .

    Read on, only if you have all the time in the world, nothing really important, just some rants about my life and photography ::

    My friends have been asking me about my new found cheap thrills to over process my images with GIMP. These are just experiments and hence the photolog above, Although I'm in constant state of improvement and strive for perfection in what every thing I do, Murphy Strikes and Shit happens, I would never get the technically perfect photographs. Hopefully one day I might get close to what I need to achieve. I have used a point and shoot camera for this tutorial. Its a Canon SX130 IS. A few have asked me why did I downgrade from a DSLR to Point and Shoot. It does not really matter, if you take a look at camera's and equipments a few legends have used, they just have less than half the feature of a modren point and shoot camera. Remember, there are no bad photographs. 

     

     

    Comments

    For the Purists, the career oriented and the impatient.    Posted:

    This post is for the students who participated at Pycon India 2011, If you are in your first year of the Bachelors you guys are probably one of the lucky few who might benefit from reading this books. I had posted a similar blog post 4 years ago. http://blog.ramkrsna.net/2007/05/30/standing-out-of-the-traditional-programming-crowd-part-1 . But most of these books have Indian editions now, Will try to link them here.

    For the Purists ::

    For the career oriented ::

    For the Impatient

    Reality Check :: A word of caution.

    Before any of you are inspired to dropout to make a startup, who are still under the reality distortion field of the super buzzed self proclaimed entrepreneurs, wannabe Mark Zucerberg's speak in the hallways last weekend. from future import reality_check

    •  Most of money being referred to is paper money.
    •  Unless you are the co-founder of the company,you probably need to secure your financial planning atleast for the near future.
    •  When they talk to you about equity, most of those numbers are cooked up from their arse and the magic number comes out of thin air. 
    • Always ask yourself are you willing to pay for a product like that before you join the startup   


    Let me put it this way, However cool your project may be or the kinda technologies, programming language you use, If you do not have people willing to pay for it. It will end up as a hobby project. Nothing wrong in the whole scheme of things, its not bad at deal at all, if you want to  Open Source it put it on Sourceforge, Savannah (yeah! I'm guilty, Good old days weren't they) or  Github, Bit Bucket, it will still be a better resume to the potential Employer. Development skills are always in demand, irrespective of your age. Good developer will be recession proof. Get your priorities right, if your goal is to get a job say in the next few months, Go learn C++, Python, Ruby, Clojure, Java and whatever <insert-HOT-programming-language-here> floats that companies boat and your. Same goes with the Curriculum and Academic record, Before you trash it or blame the teachers, educational system, corruption and the country. Respect your curriculum, but do not rely on it for a successful career or enjoy programming. We grow up in an environment to make believe the qualification and the job that you get are tightly coupled, we'll it may be true in many fields, but when it comes to programming or computing as a whole they are very loosely coupled.

    Comments

    Telugu in the Fedora Project :: Status Report | ??????????????? ????????? ????????? ?????? : ????????? ????????? ???????????????    Posted:

    The presentation given at the Telugu Internet Symposium on the state of Telugu in the Fedora Project. The telugu translation of the document is done by  Krishnababu Krothapalli.

    Telugu in Fedora Project

    Comments

    Gimp Selective Coloring :: The 2 minute philpac version.    Posted:

    5184865537_97a8db813b_z5282315993_e175fb0bbd_z
    The Inspiration for the above picture is the Famous Times Square Yellow Cab Poster . Most of the GNU Linux Desktops already ship with GIMP.  For other not_so_awesome Operating Systems. Dont you worry. You can use free software too . Download your respective version from here.
    1.  Open your Original Image in GIMP
    2.  Layer  -> Duplicate Layer (Shift + Ctrl + D)
    3.  Color -> Destaurate or Color -> Desaturate
    4.  Add a Layer Mask, Layer -> Mask -> Add a Layer Mask
    5.  Chose the  White (Full Opacity) Option
    6.  Select a Bursh / Pencil from the toolbox and start coloring the desaturated masked image on the color which requires to be highlighted
    7.  Save the Image . Yay! Congratulations on your first selective colored image

    Comments

    Endless realms of broken dreams    Posted:


    May be its not just me, when I look around. It just raises one question in my mind. How misguided are people?  Every single personal decision people take, is based on what others think about it. Most of us at some given point of life wanted to change the system in our own way. It hurts when we do not change it.

    Once you are in this open loop. Moronic is always an increment operator . Starts from exotic pet you have as a child. The brand of clothes you buy, The apartment you live in. Car you buy. It gradually increases to which company your spouse works, How many kids you plan to have. Which international school they go to. Which in turn get into complex nested loops. We get so entangled in an inner function, that one would feel lost. Like in programming, you need to close all the open loops in life. Some To-Do lists ( loops) would haunt you, Take Action or Just forget about it. If you cannot complete them, its okay to let go. Its alright. The maximum that could happen is you would have failed, which is perfectly acceptable. This year has not been the best of it. Three people I knew, passed away. A few divorces among friends and family. All these keep me wondering about life, universe and everything else on a regular basis
    Time keeps no measure when true friends are parted, No record day by day; the sands move not for those who, loyal-hearted, friendship's firm laws obey - Nicholson

    Comments

    Hunspell kannada    Posted:

    Media_httpfarm3static_ddazw

    This is not a proof read word list , just an initial release. Still need to put a license and proper project hosting for this project. Shankar Prasad has volunteered to proof read this. If you are interested in proofreading contact ShankarPrasad . will be packaging it over this week to use it with OpenOffice . Works with gedit as of now

    Comments

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