IMAX 3D - A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE ALTOGETHER

On last sunday (June 27, 2004), I had been to Imax theatre along with my friend Naveen to watch a 3D film titled "NASCAR". Its indeed a totally different experience watching a full-fledged 3D film in a screen of dimension 80ft X 60ft with a 6 channel digital sound system. The experience is nothing short of awesome.

The film is all about the history & present of NASCAR sport and is basically a documentary film. I could feel the experience of being a spectator of live car race, sense the need for speed, and smell the ambience in and around the race. Let me rephrase it... I got the feeling of being substituted in place of the camera and not merely watching a video that had been shot by a camera.

Naveen and I decided to enjoy every Sunday by exploring what America has in store for us. Lets see whatz coming up for next weekend. I guess its a South-Texas road tour ! By the way, You can visit my photo blog to view my pics that were clicked at IMAX theatre.

I AM NOW A SCJP... WHAT NEXT ?

Today onwards, I am a Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP)... Yes ! I had taken up the SCJP examination today at 2:00 pm. The exam was conducted at "Thomson Prometric Testing Centre" in Coit Road - DALLAS. The questions seemed to be pretty easy, though I had to keep my fingers crossed for 4 tough questions. I scored 83% by rightly answering 51 questions out of a total 61 questions (pass criteria is 52%).

Thanks to Naveen for giving me a ride to the exam centre and Venky for taking care of my job-shift at JO Lab (my workplace). I was contented with my performance when I came to know my exam results. The certificate and the ID card will be sent to me by snail mail. I also clicked at a few photo-shots at Prometric Testing Centre after having got the permission from the working staff. I then got hold of a city-bus and reached home safely ~ Now, I am thinking hard about what certification should I take next... SCJD or IBM's Websphere exam. Any suggestions ? ? ?

BACK-UP AT BLOGGER

A Back-up of my blog is now available at Google's Blogger. It basically has the same content as this blog... (just to make sure that my blog is available at all times)

DOES LOOKS BOTHER US ? ? ?

Well... I have made a few small changes to my blogsite (as you can see)... Just varying the background color and changing the pic at your left. I also added the COUNTDOWN list at the side-section to let the world know about my immediate milestones or special events. You may also find a randomly generated adage at the end of page. I am infact trying to give my blog a different look alltogether, by changing the template structure... but it needs hell lot of time for fine-tuning. Hmmm! I have no time & patience right now~

US STATE QUARTERS

Here is a list of state quarters that are in circulation. Quarters representing 30 states have been released until now. The new state coins for 2004 include Michigan, Florida, Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin. I just have 14 of them out of a total 30 state represented coins. Anyways... I have enough time to collect all of them.23/2004

DESTINATION US: ONLY VISA POWER

My friend Vinoth has sent me a very good article that speaks about the reputation of USA, and what is its present stand in the minds of people around the world... Read it yourself ~

Destination US: Only visa power

- THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

If anti-Americanism is on the rise around the world, no one told the
kids in the student visa line at the US Embassy in Beijing. The quest
among Chinese students for visas to study in America, say US Embassy
officials, has become so intense that it has spawned Internet chat
rooms, where Chinese students swap stories about which arguments work
best with which US consular officials.

Just how closely Chinese students strategise over the Internet on how
to get visas to America - at a time when fewer are being given for
security reasons - was revealed to the embassy recently when on one
day one consular officer had scores of students come through with the
same line, which some chat room had suggested would work: ''I want to
go to America to become a famous professor.'' After hearing this all
day, he was surprised to get one student who came before him and
pronounced, ''My mom has an artificial limb and I want to build a
better artificial leg for my mom and that is why I want to study in
the US.'' The consular officer was so relieved to hear a new line that
he told the young man: ''You know, this is the best story I've heard
this morning. I really salute you. I'm going to give you a visa.''

You guessed it. The next day every other student who showed up at the
embassy said he or she wanted to go to America to learn how to build
''a better artificial limb for my mother''.

Hearing stories like this, you have to wonder: Are Bush officials
right when they dismiss all of this talk that President Bush has made
America more unpopular in the world now than at any other time in
post-war history? Do people really hate us? Don't those visa lines say
otherwise?

To begin with, there are a few ''technical'' reasons why
anti-Americanism generally does not have the same edge in Asia as in
Europe and the Middle East. Asia's leaders have much more legitimacy
than leaders in the Arab world, either because they have come to power
through free elections or because they have delivered on their promise
of economic growth. Because of that, they don't need to demonise
America to deflect their people's anger from them. Also, Asia
generally is focused like a laser on economic development - and
countries like China see investment and technology transfer from
America as critical to their growth.

''People in Asia do not hate the US,'' Singapore's elder statesman,
Lee Kuan Yew, said. ''Countries like China and India are focused on
their economic development, they see in America an enormous well to
draw technology and economic growth from.''

But here's the problem: Young people want American education and
technology more than ever, but fewer want to wear our T-shirts - want
to be identified as ''pro-American''. As one former US diplomat in
Beijing put it: ''They want to cherry-pick us, not line up with us.
We've lost prestige.''

The idea of America as the embodiment of the promise of freedom and
democracy - not just of technology and high living standards - is
integral to how we think of ourselves, but it is no longer how a lot
of others think of us. They are now compartmentalising. The unilateral
war in Iraq, the post-war mess there, the walk-away from Kyoto and
other treaties, the Abu Ghraib scandal have taken a toll. The idea of
US as embodying the charisma of democracy has been damaged. As
political theorist Yaron Ezrahi put it, ''America as the do-gooder has
been hurt, but America as the goods-doer is still there.''

Fortunately, this situation is not irreparable. The longing for an
America that exports hope, not fear, and that is an example of the
best global practices and values, runs really deep in the world. In
fact, it is one reason that some people abroad are so angry with
President Bush - because they blame him for taking that America away
from them. I'm convinced a different approach or different
administration would elicit a big response from the world. But for
now, we will pay a price, because when people want to line up for our
visas but not for our policies, it means Americans alone will have to
bear the burden and the price of those policies. That is not good for
us. When you lose your status as a power with values, you weaken your
ability to fight those powers without values.

VIETNAM WAR

It is the longest war that US had ever fought and eventually lost. I happened to read a small book on Vietnam war, which my friend Naveen had got it home. It just had a 10 page description & analysis about this war (a very interesting one to read...) The best part of it is to learn the reasons why the Americans lost the war, and the lessons that they learnt from it.

The war was basically between the communism-favored North Vietnamese and the Republic favoring South Vietnamese. US obviously supported the South Vietnam by supplying enough fighting equipments and the war lasted for 25 years before US accepted defeat. The North Vietnam was supported stongly by both Soviet Union and China (the 2 strong Communist forces). USA had its piece of share in the war to protect people from communism, which was a noble cause. Just to tell you about the US military efforts and the intense of the war, let me quote some analysis from the book...

US warplanes dropped three times more explosives on North & South Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos than were dropped by all combatants during the world war II. This amounted to 15 million tons of explosives. The US dropped more tonnage of hanoi and haiphong during the Christmas Campign of 1972 than Nazi Germany did on Great Britain between 1940-1945. The US spent $120 billion on the war.

I am sure that you would now like to know 'why they failed to win?'. Read the below one!

The policy of greadual escalation was wrong. Once commiteed, the United States should have launched massive air attacks on North Vietnam, as was belatedly done during the Christmas season of 1972. Moreover, politicians and military officers imposed too many restricted fire zones, handicapping ground operations against the Viet Cong. The US should have also blockaded Cambodia and Laos, cutting off Communist supply lines, and perhaps invaded North Vietnam. The aim of the war is to win...

Lets see what did USA learn from its failure. This info is from the concluding para in the book...

However rich and powerful, the United States was incapable of imposing its will upon a determined, albeit much weaker foe. The American experience in Vietnam demonstrated the limits of national power in an age of international diversity and nuclear weaponry.

I guess... it is because of this lesson, that USA decided to adhere to its limits and did not dare to get involved in solving the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan. The good part of it is the lessons learnt by USA,... but the bad part is the terrible blood & life loss in the war.

GETTING MORE OUT OF SUMMERS...

Well... I am stuck to my summer plans so far (all that I had said at the beggining of the summer semester). But, I forgot to consider any of the extra-curricular stuff into my summer plans. I was more focused on the Technical skills that I could acquire, but totally overlooked the opportunity to learn golf, practice swimming in the early morn, skate to distant places, play tennis ...etc. Anyways, I came to realize it while conversing with Rajesh anna. He had also adviced me to go and visit places in US, do something more different than others, and make the most of student-life in USA. I am just trying hard to find companions for short trips out of Dallas. I dont know why all my friends prefer to stick to their homes as if it might get robbed at any moment.

Today, I enquired about the golf course details and I am likely to join the course from the beginning of next month. In the morning, I skated to far away places that I have never skated before. To be more precise, I skated to the CS department building & JO lab from my appartment. It was very refreshing and am feeling good & energetic today. I would love to go swimming from next week onwards... Lets see how things go ~

DO YOU KNOW WHY? ? ?

Y'day... The clear morning sky slowly got smudged with the dark water clouds, thunders boomed, weather turned breezy, sunlight got dimmed ... and then, something strange happened. Do u know what? ? ? It RAINED (ha haa haa... i guess this is how suspence movies/books are screenplayed). I was just trying to immitate the same screenplay in my writing. I saw "Scary Movie 2" recently, and it is in this film that all these kinds of screenplays are exagerated & made fun of..

Well... Anyways, it really rained yesterday. I always wonder why thunders throb and lightning flashes whenever it rains (though I must have studied the science behind it in my school-days... but who remembers!) I found the answer in my G.K book and shall quote it below.

Warm, wet air surges upwards into the sky and cools dramatically forming thunderstorms. Some of the water inside the clouds freezes and strong air currents make the ice and water droplets bump together. This knocks tiny charged particles called electrons from the ice and so there is build-up of electical charge. This charge is released by a stroke of lightning. The lightning heats the air around it to an incredible 30,000 degree celcius. This heat causes the air to expand very fast (faster than the speed of sound). It is this which causes the crash of thunder. Often, we see lightning first and then hear the thunder bolts as light travels faster than sound.

Well... this is the story behind the scenes.

MY PIC AT TCS WEBPAGE...

Hey ... Finally after 2 months of my work at the Jonnsson's Lab, my photo has been put up at the CA's page in the UTD's TCS website. You can find my pic at the end of the list since I am one of the new-comers to TCS.

GOOGLE - THE LEADER !

GOOGLE is undoubtedly, the leader among the search engines. Now, its emerging as a leader in the email world too. The 1 GB free email space by Google has attracted many users to shift their email destinations to Google's GMAIL. Now,... all the COPY-CATS (Yahoo!, Rediffmail,...) are following the path led by Gmail. Yahoo! has upgraded the server space to 100MB, while Rediffmail is offering 1GB to each user.

It is definitely a pleasure to be a leader and lead the industry than to follow the leader and copy the trend. Well... now what is MSN & Hotmail waiting for? Its 2MB space is no where near its competators' offer. May be it is planning to offer something extra-ordinary than just email server space. But, I really doubt how long will this be carried on... 1 GB is a lot of memory! Hope these sites continue this free service, and do not change it to be a paid service once the web-traffic bombs their servers. Google has also made a mark in the Blogging world with its BLOGGER. Hmmm! Google stands as yet another example to prove that INNOVATION WORKS !

R U GETTING BORED READING OFFSHORING ARTICLES...?

Are you bored reading Offshoring articles...? Let this be your last one to summarize all of them! Most of the articles on "Offshoring and Outsourcing" are redundantly based on the same old topics and arrive at same old conclusions. I have been browsing such articles since last year, but found no news that added to my existing knowledge of it. I could break down the evergreen opinions on Offshoring into simple points as:

1. Companies feel that there is a great reduction in their cost & expenditure by offshoring projects to low-wage countries.

2. These companies feel that it gives them an opportunity to lay more emphasis on R&D, and carry out extensive research in US.

3. India & other countries are announcing, and proving that they are also capable to carry out Research & Development works, and not just low-salaried jobs.

4. Issues about what can be offshored and what should not... (obviously security issues come into play)

5. The US government consistently keeps announcing that the offshoring has not substantially affected the job market in US (in contrary to the statistics). However, everyone knows what the facts are... It also puts the temporary job growth to limelight, inorder to wipe the tears of the affected ones.

6. The US government also attempts to reduce the offshoring trend, but all in vain.

7. Some say that "Offshoring" is just a temporary trend and the industry will be back to normal after a while... but most of them deny that to be a temporary trend.

8. The effective solution suggested by the economists is that, R&D has to grow stronger and come up with innovations and new technology. As a result, the low-wage countries cannot immediately employ such new trends in technology.

IBM - THE INNOVATOR ALWAYS

I came across this article (click here)as I was browsing some tech-news at CNET. Well... this is a good article that focuses on the research works on the near-future trends that are carried out in IBM. As we all know, IBM always enjoys the pleasure of innovation.

2 UPDATES FOR TODAY

Hey... I got email access to GMAIL and it will be my new & official email address (seshukarthick at gmail . com) from now on. Gmail allocates 1 GB to all its users (you might have known this anyways). My second update of the day is ... guess what? I have started off with a new Photo-Blog and named it "FLASH MEMORY". The blog title is just to give credit to my digi-cam's flash-memory-card without which I might drop the very idea of a photo-blog. Having captured several cool pics with my cam, I thought this blog may serve as a right tool to share some of my best photo-shots with you all... You can find the hyperlink to my Photo-Blog at the side-section under the category "Personal Links".

FUNNY FUNNY WEATHER...

Today (since last night), there were thunder showers at Dallas and let me remind you... this is at the mid of summers. The rain started downpouring all of a sudden without a forehand clue for the spectator. The lightning and thunder bolts are very common sights even before it rains or just when the sky become cloudy & messy. The weather in Texas is so strange and funny that the local residents use a maxim that says - "If you dont like the weather today,... wait a moment... and it will change."

Hey... let me tell you about one more observation of mine. Here, we can see the moon at any time during the day. At 1:00 in the afternoon (everyday), I could find both the sun and the moon starring at each other in the sky. How peculiar it is... Never I have seen such a sight in India.

FREAKY FRIDAY

'Freaky Friday' is the movie that I had seen y'day night. Its a very hilarious, entertaining, frolicsome (all mean the same) movie... I prefer watching such fun-oriented ones to heavy-story weighted ones. The story of this film tries to convey a message that every person can understand each other if one can put oneself in the place of the other person. The story goes like this... A mother & her daughter always failed to understand each other and ended up in repeated arguments. One day, some fortune cookie from China (a magical toy) made the mother to get into the body of her daughter and the daughter to get into her mother's body. Now, the actual fun starts ... and this lasts until they completely understand each other.

This reminds me about how I quarreled with my old friend during my under-grad college days... Not a day passed without a quarrel with her (all in the name of friendship)! Sounds odd... isn't it? Gone were those days when i lacked the emotional maturity. Now, things are going very cool between us... and do u know how & why? Its because we very rarely communicate with each other. Haa haa haaa~

COMPUTERS IN REAL LIFE

I Wish I could Use Computers in Real Life... (an article forwarded by my friend)

1) 5 minutes ago you were traveling to office at 80 mph in your brand new car. Now you are traveling to hospital at double the speed in an ambulance. You wish there was 'UNDO' in life!

2) You are already late, and your key is missing, You wish there was 'FIND TOOL' in life!

3) You are a bankrupt, after investing in some weird business, You wish there was 'REBUILD ALL' in life!

4) The train is so crowded that you cannot get anywhere near that nice girl at the other end, you wish there was 'ZOOM AND VIEW FULL SCREEN' in life!

5) One day you realize that you are turning bald, You wish there was 'CUT & PASTE' in life... And the best one is ...

6) After marriage you realize that there is bound to be a mismatch, You wish there was an 'EVALUATION PERIOD' or at least a 'SAMPLE ! DOWNLOAD' or a 'DEMO VERSION'!

SURPRISE TO THE B'DAY BOY !

Hey... let me tell you a birthday tale that resulted in more than one surprise to each of us. My friend/room-mate A.B.Vinodh flew to his sister's place on May 30th and would return home on June 1st (morning). Let me remind you that his birthday is on June 1st. So, we all (I along with my other room-mates - 5 guys) decided to give him a surprise at 12:00 midnight on May 31. We bought a Chocolate-Tuffle cake and a few candles at Walmart and had a ride to the place where Vinodh is staying. It was just 5 minutes past 12:00 at night when we called Vinodh to come down the stairs and open the main door. We placed the cake on top of the car, lighted a few candles and all of us were ready to shoot photo-snaps at Vinodh as soon as he comes. He peeped through the window and he waived his hand at us in half-sleep. It all looked like a replication of how friends celebrate b'day parties in films (especially Hindi films). Things were getting as expected till now.

Now, here is a big surprise to us... It requires Vinodh's sister to open the main door since a security code needs to be keyed in before the door is unlocked. However, Vinodh did not wish to wake up his sister / brother-in-law during late-night. Hence, all that he could do is to keep on waiving his hand from his room and through the window. Hmmm ! this is a return surprise to us when we realized that he could not come downstairs and open the main door. After waiting for a while, we decided to go home without the cake being cut by the b'day boy.

It was after 2 days (June 2 - today) that he finally cut the cake. But now, we were more interested in eating the cake & ice-cream than celebrating his birthday. I burst into laughter (as I am doing now) whenever I think of how his bday celebration ended up in surprises to each other. Overall, the surprises were a result of mis-appropriate timed events...

INDIAN BLOGGERS LIST

My blog site has been included in the Indian Bloggers List under my name as SESHU TANVEER and my blog is refered as "Ex-pressions is Solitude".