long time no blog?!!

yeah..that's the question Blogger ought to have asked me had it been an interactive software...
I guess this post might just serve the purpose of a space filler...to fill the huge time space which already exists and which will grow further if i don't write this...
So what the hell what was I doing all this while?
Being a prisoner at Agnels Central Jail, there's little scope for a person to have any leisurely blogging. so, the first of the last semesters began quite uneventfully, only to promise lots of events and mishaps later on..
Throghout the three months, mercury arc valves (which, you might've guessed, are well beyond obsolete!), digital communication techniques, numerical methods, switch gears, and control systems ate the choicest parts of the times available...the remaining time was consumed by a nuclear 'owl' who would have us prepare a report, without being aware of what we were doing!!
All this, infact, was to have been expected, because with perfectionists around you like Mr.K and chicken-screw ups like Fish, and people like the Weeping Hag, you can't actually put all your 'final-year-fun-plans' to practice!!!
So, the first bang was fish having his cellular phone confiscated, that too, by an idiot!! Then, him making an incorrect choice of punishments and landing with a stupid tiff with the Hag..he went on to create history...had his phone away from him for a month!!!! (He earned a big name; metaphor for cell phone screws!)
Then, the class didn't fall behind in doing all sorts of crap (there's one going on right now!!)...quite a mess..this semester.....
life did have some good sides..there was a trekking expedition to karnala; good time spent woth the folks...then there was another one to Panchgani (will post the pics later..)
I happened to land with a job in Siemens..
A few more trips this sem are expected..so there's no shortfall in fun...
Overall, these three months get an 'okay' rating from my side..the exams are still pending though!!! hope for an exciting post next time...ciao till then!

For monetary reasons, I have to get back to posting some techno-crap, and that's what I'm doing here...

Siemens AG is the largest engineering conglomerate in Europe and the largest electronics company in the world. The company is a conglomerate of three main business sectors: Industry, Energy and Healthcare. This is a $ 110 billion company, employing almost 480,000 people globally.

Founded by Ernst Werner von Siemens, a German inventor and industrialist, also hailed as the founding father of electrical Engineering in Germany, in 1847, what began as a telegraph company, soon developed into a massive organization, that diversified into power, transportation and illumination sectors by 1890. In 1881, the world's first electrically lit street came into being at Goldaming, UK, powered by a Siemens system. By the 1920s and 1930s, the company began manufacturing radios, television sets, and electron microscopes.

Post the Second World War, Siemens AG started manufacturing computers, semiconductor devices, washing machines and even pacemakers from the Bavaria base. By 1980, Siemens introduced world's first digital telephone exchange, and by 1997, it produced the first GSM cellular phone with colour display.

Between 2001 to 2006, the organization acquired 33 companies, with names like Bayer, Alstom and Huntsville Electrionics Corporation (belonging to Chrysler group) included in them.

As of 2008, the company manufactures a wide range of products in industrial, telecommunications, transportation, control systems, healthcare and other miscellaneous fields like fire detection and hematology systems.

Kung Fu Panda!!!

Sometimes, a few things can compel you to write about them; the latest release from Dreamworks Animation, Kung Fu Panda, being one of them. It's one of the few movies of its kind that offers ninety minutes of pure comedy. The entire team behind this laugh-riot movie deserve a standing ovation.

The movie is the story of Po, a giant panda, who has dreams of becoming a great 'Dragon Warrior'. but dreams remain as reality demands of him to serve in his family noodle shop. However, all that changes when the old Grand Master Oogway has a vision of a dreaded enemy's return, and decides to hold a contest to select the Dragon Warrior who will save the people. Although the story is the stereotypical Chinese action flick, the novelty in the movie is the brilliant blend of comedy in each scene.

The rest of the story is about Po being chosen and the subsequent events which narrate a concept of realization and wisdom, despite the obvious action and fun. The movie guarantees entertainment for any kind of audience. Watch it!

Nerd Talk

Some time back, one fine day, Mr.K happened to categorize me as a nerd. When asked to justify, he replied that reading Wikipedia, being superficial in sports, and being my usual self in the class were characteristics that had earned me the rather infamous title. Although I protested by citing our movie, music and other "Ornithological" discussions, that cap was there to stay...

This morning, I was going through this month's IEEE Spectrum (alright..you may label me a nerd at that), when I saw this article dedicated to people of my kind.."Homo Nerdus" reads the title.
To my surprise, people write books on nerds!! The very first quotation reads,

"Nerds are the ones who don't go to the party so they can stay at home and do homework;
Geeks bring their homework to the party." - David Anderegg, Nerds:Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them(2007)

The rest of the article introduces some very nice words into the existing vocabulary :

The population of nerds taken as a whole is called nerdom.

A person's nerdy traits and characteristics represent their nerdity.

Any long and nerd-oriented activity is known as nerdathon.

If that activity happens to be a computer game or LAN party, its called nerdstorm!

Rap with lyrics relating to computers, technology and engineering, comes under a genre called nerdcore/geeksta (from gangsta)

Any town or suburb populated by a sizable number of high-tech workers is called nerdistan

The emplyees with vested stock options in successful tech start-ups are called millionerds or, if they started the company, entreprenerds

Despite being considered an insult for nongeeks, the word 'nerd' is an identity for one. Nerdhood is his character of which he's proud of and he knows that living nerdily is the best revenge! So, when he hears the word 'nerd' being tossed around with reference to him, he flashes his geek-god looks and turns back to his obsession while telling it to himself,"One day, nerds shall rule!!".

My Professor's Smart!!!!

Ok ...this one's a non-technical post. I'd like to dedicate this post to one of my teachers at Fr.CRIT. I'm not too sure if I'm ever going to write a 'Thank you' letter to these favourite professionals of mine, but some of its contents would be a modified form of this post.

Today, day three of the preliminary exams, my dear friend Fish happened to forget his calculator back home. Now fish's character isin't new to us. That man at once exhibits more craziness than me and very often also exhibits a studios part of him; nonetheless, not unfathomable...now, upon discovering the absence of his calculator, this man(.....) requests me to enter the department and request the teachers to lending a calci..

Enter Mrs.Mini Rajeev, our Power Electronics prof. and undoubtedly, one of the smartest people around. Within the next 45 seconds, she says something, which would otherwise pop out from the mouths of any of us fellows,"If Eldrich forgets his calculator, I can understand, howcome you did it today?"!!!!

I had no idea how a teacher can read her students' minds after having taught them only for a total of five months...that too, to an extent so as to understand what silliness is attributed to whom!!!! That was simply beautiful and....natural

That incident hapens to be fresh (just this morning..). Mrs. Rajeev has many such feathers on her hat...like:

• The day she caught me signalling something to Mr.Newase and the subsequent leg-pulling I was subjected to..


• The times when she busted Mr.Labroo's plans of escaping her lectures..


• Her smart and very much hilarious comments upon the class's response... etc...

Of course, there are events which my bro recounted to me; unfortunately, writing all that here would become extremely time consuming, and I'd like to spare myself the pain of having to type on this DUMB keyboard....

Till the next post...ciao!

Holiday...

It sort of feels stupid when you get back to typing things after a month, but it was something that i couldn't help much...my PC getting busted and a month-long series of examinations were the chief culprits responsible for this huge a gap. The best solution to all that crap was getting out of it, and I did the very same as soon as my exams got over...ran off to The Andamans. For folks who don't know what they are, they're a beautiful group of islands off the western coast of the country; picturesque beaches and islands and to top it all, an absolutely tension-free tropical climate!

The place was so damn good, despite my horrible cold I was able to enjoy it thoroughly. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands, as they're known officially are classified as a Union Territory. The capital Port Blair is the most populated place. A large faction of the populace comprises of Tamilians and Bengalis; I'm not sure of the exact distribution, but every second buy you meet is a Bengali and the guy after him is a Tamilian. There are a total of 570 islands of which only about 40 or so are inhabited. The islands are inhabited by different groups; the Shompen, Onge, Jarawa, and the Sentinelese. These tribes are almost on the brink of the extinction(especially the Onge who number about 97 only), but the're preserved thanks to the govt.'s initiatives.

I cannot write much about the history or about the above mentioned tribes because that wouldn't be the best way to respect either. To talk of the beauty around that area, the islands are a must see; at least once in your life...the place draws huge crowds of all kinds, honeymooners, families, foreigners...everyone. The white sand, blue sky and green waters are a wonderful treat for the eyes and the tropical climate is pretty refreshing... I think, more than my words, the picture could throw some light on what I'm trying to convey...

This Tropical Retreat was followed by witnessing The Great South Indian Wedding.....which involves usage of a 'military bugle' and 'military drums' for the entertainment purpose..I can assure you, that's loud enough to wake up the dead! Now back home, the college here's doing the best it can...expect frequent posts...ciao!

Entertainment for the Geeks...

Check out these wonderful videos...sure to please Electrical Geeks..

This one's about a 500KV line when opened on load...





This one's about how a transformer burns in the event of a short-circuit...