Season of TV shows blown out of cloud... for good • The Register

Bit off the usual path. I try to keep my entries sterile of technical blurbs as they tend to inundate most of my time. But this article was worth mentioning. Something for everyone to keep in mind when looking at 'cloud' solutions.

Not so long ago I had a similar experience when the VPS (Virtual Private Server) provider I subscribe to experienced a malicious attack on their server cluster resulting in massive data loss. Fortunately the server I run is a staging\test environment and did not have any active projects past what I would like to refer to as Stage 1 (install and fiddle). It would have been disastrous had I put in some time and brought it to Stage 2 (Beta release + active use)

Season of TV shows blown out of cloud... for good • The Register

Man on the Sheppard platform

As usual on my evening commute, I had my nose buried in a book, lost to the world, while waiting for the Sheppard train. In my peripheral vision I noticed a man approach me with a note in-hand. Years of navigating through droves of panhandlers and street urchins have developed an instinctive, doctrined reflex that sprung into action and curtly dismissed the man before he he encroached my personal space. I felt my head nod ever so lightly and in a fraction of a second the action was complete. The reasoning part of the brain arrived at the scene of the crime like so many TV shows a few moments too late and immediately radioed for backup, Guilt. Guilt arrives instantly and boy does it do a really throrough job. I was ashamed. What if this man was impaired and just wanted directions ? What if he was mentally challenged and wanted some help to get back home ? The note might have been given by his caregivers to use incase he was lost. Guilt, like a good defence lawyer, takes you apart at the seams and questions your sanity. I flipped the book closed and looked around for the man. I could probably walk up and find out what he wanted to know. The terminal was filling up with the evening commuter crowd and the man had disappeared.

I combed through the crowd while the train pulled in to the terminal and the sea of people rapidly moved in to filled it up. I was still at the platform, when the doors chimed and closed. I walked back to the bench to where I was sitting, annoyed at myself, one for not finding the man, the other for missing the train. As I watched the compartments slowly roll by, filled with tired bodies on their way back home, I saw a man get up from his seat and approach a fellow passenger with a note in hand. Last I saw before the scene passed out of view was the passenger handing the man a Loonie*....

* Loonie: The Canadian 1 dollar coin (commonly called Loonie) is a gold-coloured, bronze-plated, one-dollar coin introduced in 1987. It bears images of a common loon, a well-known Canadian bird, on the reverse, and of Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.

All for want of a shiny new toy...

Once the feet began to ache it dawned on me that I had now become one of those people who you see in the news waiting forever in a line to pick up a shiny, new, over priced, over-hyped, under performing fashion accessory that's apparently a must have in this day and age.

That's right the iPad 2 launched today in Canada and I am in line to pick one up. I will bite my tongue, swallow my pride, steel up and stand with the black turtle-neck clad devotees, bear with their snooty talk while guzzling their Venti cafe-whatchaminghtcallits. All this while blue t-shirt clad drones buzz around giving advice, controlling crowds and handing out little cards with little fruit logos on it. Let's just hope I don't see anyone I know walking about in this mall

Armistice Journals - IV - Mandal Dilemma

Some more from the Armistice series. Mandal,our dorm-mate, kept kept dropping in about something or the other ever so often one day. Ich and MT took it upon themselves to get back at him by mounting a counter-annoy tactic, which worked really well and he ended up storming out of the room yelling explicits in several languages and us laughing till our stomaches ached . I then proceed to my trusty, battered, blue writing desk that was precariously balanced on 1.5 textbooks on one leg and writing out a short piece. This is the draft and the final copy. No edits have been made. I was rather pleased with it. Can't say the same about Mandal. :-)

I hope he is doing well. The last time I spoke to him was in the summer of '03. He had just moved to Navi Bombay and I was in India for a short visit.

There was this guy called Mandal

Who once went after a vicious vandal.

The vandal he had kidnapped an actor

And getting him back was the deciding factor.

The bandit, he hid in the jungle

And the whole operation Mandal did Bungle.

Mandal, he, never did find the actor

Instead, stayed home and bought a tractor.

Drove it around for his friends to see

What a smart chap he be.

Then one day she rode to town

A southern belle in a long flowing gown.

As she walked across the square

Everone at her did stare.

She looked around and smiled knowing

The interest on her the people were showing.

Then our hero rode to town

Stopped at the sight of the one in the gown.

Crazy did he go right then

And serenaded her for the next days 10!

She finally agreed to seal the matter,

but, for tying the knot

he was to get rid of the tractor!

Mandal next day went to the market

Exchanged the tractor for a Luna and a Locket.

Smiling he rode the luna to her gate,

Checked his watch to see if he was late.

Just then a Porche stopped by.

Mandal wondered 'Who's this guy?'

The horn sounded twice and the door flung open

Out she ran, and there stood Mandal hopin'

She looked at him and waved him farewell

Jumped into the car and left him

High, Dry and Unwell.............

13 Rules of Indoor Cricket

While in our first year we had several distractions that kept us from achieving the success that our family had envisioned for us. One of the chief distraction was cricket. Ever since the cricket scandals of '96-'97 I have had an advent dislike for the game and was never an avid cricket fan. But something in my short post secondary exile and the lack of other more appealing stimuli, gyrated me towards a variant of the sport.

In the first few months we were subjected to several occasions of hazing and this had limited our movements to the confines to our hostel rooms after classes. I must admit my fellow roommate in crime and myself used to get ourselves intentionally picked up for these sessions several times just for the sole purpose of scamming a free coffee and snacks after their silly antics. Most of the tasks they assigned us to do were trivial and in some cases fun. But it was the consolation coffee and snacks we looked forward to every other evening. Subsequent they did catch on to our scam and we paid the price for it. But I digress.

My friends in the designated 'mallu' room on the ground floor devised a very clever variation of indoor-cricket to wile away the spare time We had between dinner and lights off. I was quite happy to be left alone with my school work or good book, I was drawn to the intricacies of this improv game that appeared to occupy more and more of my friends time. Eventually I joined in one evening and the next thing I knew was that it was the eve of the exams, we were wrapping up the tournament at 4 in the morning and was scaling up the school wall to sneak out to the telephone booth for a drink and ice-cream.

Th games were all held in room #9 (the mallu room) and the rules were crafted by the way items were positioned in the room, the beds, suitcases and other objects were part of the obstacle course that determined the way the game played out.

So here is a cheer to Shynu, Vinu, Gireesh (lungi), Gireesh (ich), Dhiraj, Ballsgopal and others who partook in this insane game that was probably responsible for a grade or two drop in our final marks.

Rules of Indoor Cricket

Venue: Junior Boy's Hostel rm#12

GVIT,

1. Two teams max 5 a side.
2. Bowling - under-arm only. Ball must bounce once before reaching batsman
3. Ball should not bounce over waist height. Should a ball be thrown and it bounces over set limit, 1 run is awarded to batting team.
4. Wicket-keeper must be behind batsman at all times. Knees on bed. It is illegal to stand on bed.
5. It is illegal for wicket-keeper to step in front of batsman or block his shot.
6. Boundaries are the established 3 walls the batsman is facing.
7. Ball must bounce before touching the wall to be awarded 4 runs.
8. Should the ball not touch or bounce off ground, bed or suitcase, the batsman is out. No direct shots to the wall are allowed. All direct shots result in the Batsman being out.
9. Bowler must be seated in a chair opposite to batsman at a distance of at least 17 feet.
10. Standard ball is a regular tennis ball bound with electrical tape evenly wound around the ball.
11. Vinu's bucket is the Wicket.
12. If a match runs for more than 2 hours, players are mandated to break for drinks and refreshments for an hour.
13. Match can be interrupted only under the below circumstances:

• Warden's surprise visit to hostel
• Seniors roll call for ragging sessions
• Trip to Stadium, interrupted by senior or staff intervention.

Please note that some of the finer details escapes me. Please feel free to drop me a line to update the details.

Armistice Journals - III - The blue Swatch I never wore

I have always had a watch for special occasions or times in my life. The first ever watch, the one that shared my time in highschool, the first 'slightly higher pricy' watch i bought after i joined engineering etc.. In all these different wonderful pieces that counts the minutes that pass us by, there was one particular piece that I've never really worn for too long. Back in '99, i was visiting my folks in Dubai and ended up helping out a friend of my dad's with some computer issue. The gentlemen were nice enough to gift me a blue Swatch Irony series piece. It was a very heavy piece and I loved it! After wearing it for the first day, I realized that my wrist actually began to ache.

I took with me back to my college. the first person who saw it was MT. he couldn't stop talking about it. Come to think of it, he just summarized everything into one word.. 'Awesome' I remember walking up the stairs to his little room on the upper floor and first disaster occurred; I scratch the pristine face on the concrete wall. Dammit! I didn't wear it around the dorm or college since it would become the prime target for theft, In fact I believe I left the unit in Mahesh's room till he moved into the dorm with us. After a few months, an insult to injury, the unit stopped working altogether. Now since I wasn't willing to take this watch to be repaired locally, I shelved it deep inside one of my suitcases and made a mental note to get it fixed once I go back to Dubai or wherever.

As fate would have it we eventually moved out of India and the Middle East and landed in Canada in '01. The watch remained safe and partially forgotten in an old suitcase. Over the next couple of years and with us moving around the country, it was frequently 'rediscovered' and boxed away. Eventually one day, I dug it up and decided to get that battery replaced. The local store was pretty good with these things and they had the watch running in no time. I was happy and decided to wear it for this party that i had planned to go. On the night of, I get ready, check the time to find that I was quite early and decided to wait till a more appropriate time. I settled in living room with a book, and spent the next half hour or so reading. When i noted the time again, i realized that the hands were not moving. The watch had stopped again! After this second attempt at resurrecting the watch, I gave up and put it back into deep storage where it stayed until I moved back to my condo in the city.

Some of the deep storage boxes followed me and with it, the blue Swatch. During my purge exercise, I came across a few watches I owned over the years, including the Swatch. My lovely wife knew of a place that could replace the batteries and it was very close to where she worked. She took two of them, my brushed metal CK, a watch i bought with my first pay-cheque, and the blue swatch. The next day, she brought them both back, each ticking away and in perfect working condition. I was still a little wary of the blue fellow, so I wore it for the next few days, just to keep an eye on things. It seemed fine! It was ticking along, didn't seem to slow down. That's great! The watch can be finally worn! It had been close to 10 years since I had seen this guy work for more than a day!

I was visiting the folks last weekend and figured I should show them the watch that hadn't been functional for 10 years and if they remembered this specific one. As I was closing the door to my balcony, I felt a great weight slip off my hand, and crash on the floor. F!!

I pick up my poor blue Swatch from the floor, One of the metal links on the watch had sheared right off. I stood there in bewilderment, broken watch in hand, half-in and half-out of the condo with time still ticking on by.

Armistice Journal - II

This was written in a calculus class and I was distracted by this girl with a clanging chain on her hand. Yes she was quite pretty too..

Morose encantations from another relm

Leaves the mind in a cloudy swirl.

Hypnotic, surreal, misty haze,

droning mumble from a distant stage.

Amongst the lot, around? yonder?.. behind?

muted tinkles arouse the mind,

Real amongst the myrad of symbols,

wake from comatic slumber

cutting like a beacon horn,

Benevolent lass sitting beyond.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

RETRIBUTION

One great slip in love's delight

darkened her world, once so bright.

She sighs and picks the pieces,

Of shattered life and darkened faces.

gone further by the day

Burned the bridges along the way.

Her precious bundle to her breast she clutches

Miserable though, proudly she trudges.

Her eyes, they, don't betray a thing

Of things she feels deep within.

People, they stare at this ragged child

Woman by age, a child inside.

Once, once is all she strayed

Broke the rule, Oh! how she paid.

Of the past she needs no more a thought

But for shelter for morrow she sought.

Her life she knew she couldn't end it yet

But fight the challenges that fate now set.

A tiny room in a big city

Not wanting anyone's pity

Looking outside the window she spies

the dark city under the gray black skies.

Now the east turns orange & pink

A motion on the bed brings her back in.

Her baby son, on the covers he lay

Sucking his toe busy at play.

He looked at her with his eyes so blue

infant blue, as the very heaven's hue.

Beside him on the bed she lay

As the city began a brand new day.

---------------------------------

This one is one my personal favs. written in under 2 hours before a mid-term or final exam.

GREENSPRUN

I know of this place called Greensprun

The people there, they, eat their young!

I've seen this with my very own eyes,

I swear to you these aren't tall tales or lies.

The Coopers first time had twins,

One a son, the other a daughter.

The son they turned him to mince,

While the daughter, they took to the slaughter.

Got it cleaned all skin and bone,

While the eyes and tongue to the butcher they loaned!

Tommy Bower loved his brother,

That's why he didn't share him with others.

He kept the fingers, pickled them in oil,

For by now, they were getting the spoil.

Ol' man Turner boiled his grandson

The night when the Lakers had won.

He boiled him long, he boiled him good,

For, once where his teeth were,

Only gums, now stood!

The Hurbeths ran a store,

What sold best there, were his cans of gore!

He got his supply from the local clinic,

Cans of puree, they seem to mimic!

All this meat had begun to rot their brain,

And from it, they just couldn't refrain!

Their young now dwindled in number,

For the meat greater grew their hunger!

Alan Stalked his pregnant neighbor,

Cut her up, when she was in labor!

Drenched in blood, they saw him eat,

Holding the babe by the feet!

Soon after, a panic ran out,

The strong remained the weak died out!

No bird in that town would sing,

Nor would the sweet smell that flowers usually bring.

Man-eating men, men no longer,

Worse than animals nothing to name them after.

People say they see them still,

On that town, beyond that hill.

I know better, I was there after,

Five were left Doyce,Green,Solly and Dhamer.

The first two ate the third,

Atleast that was the word.

Doyce moved to Alabama and Green to Kentucky,

about Dhamer, I heard that he was caught in Milwaukee.