Sporting heroes bow out of fame

Well as the year 2006 draws to a close, lets have a glance at the sporting action in the bygone year. We had the all-anticipated FIFA world cup in the summer which was the best organanised tournament in its history. Germany had opened up its warm arms to welcome football fans from world over and the event was an outstanding success for all the tourists who took many great memories home. Though there were some surprise defeats and non-performances, but it all ended in an eventful finale with a stand-off between traditional rivalling neighbours - France and Italy, with the Azzuris taking the honors in the 11-metre (penalty shootouts). Some of the legends were in action for the last time in this tournament. Luis Figo could not do much for his home country and all their dreams were stalled by a last minute-rejuvenated France side. Le Blues were courting all their experienced legs for one last shot at the golden trophy. Zidane, Lizarazu, Vieira all teamed up for one final tourney together. Though Zidane did not have a respectful exit from the world football stage, but at the end of his career he still proved that he was a magician in the mid-field, with all other big names looking a tad novice against his skills with the ball. This year we bid adieu to many football greats along with Zizou like Lizarazu, Figo, Pavel Nedved etc.

Infact the trend of sportsmen retiring was very ominous throughout 2006. Schumacher called it a day from the racing circuit afte having reigned it for several years. Aussie swimmer Thorpe retired from the game, citing that he wanted to leave when on the top. By the year end, with the Aussies regaining the Ashes urn, most of the prolific players started announcing
retirements plans - Damien Martyn, Shane Warne, McGrath (and probably Langer if rumours are to be relied upon) called it a day and decided to relinquish the baggy green colors. With Warne and McGrath ended a golden era of Aussie bowling, both of them genius in their own kind had tormented the batsmen world over in all conditions. Warne couldnt have scripted his game any better, and having played the gentleman's game in a very hollywood-ish manner, he also left the stage on his own terms, giving a superlative performance in his last game at his homeground in Merlbourne.

With so many greats having left the centerstage, we now look upto the new heroes to fill in the large void left by their predecessors. Hussey, Clarke et al look very much capable for doing it for Cricket Austrailia and so does Frank Ribery is capable enough to fill in the void of the famed French midfield.

Homecoming !

This Christmas I am travelling home after a long gap of more than 2 years. Being a part of a system one gets used to that way of life, psychology defines it as being institutionalised. When I used to read articles on this issue, I would never realise the gravity of these sentences before, but now when I am embarking on this journey I am anxiously anticipating some surprises myself. Well my flight to Hyderabad is from Munich via Dubai. Munich, which I had adopted as my second home after Hyderabad, will always remain in my best memories. I took the train from Trento to Munich, and as the train chugged into the München Ostbahnhof, the ambient surroundings gave me a home-coming feeling miles away from my actual home. On this trip to India, I plan to travel around a bit and do some photography. Hopefully I find time from my family commitments and regularly update about my experiences in India.

Rebel XT popularity rises yet again

I came across this interesting statistics on Flickr, about the camera used by its users. As is evident, there is a healthy increase in the user community of Canon Rebel XT. The simple user interface of the camera, coupled with the excellent features helps the non-pro users take amazing and interesting snaps quite easily and efficiently. I am just too happy with mine and would recommend it for all those thinking of buying an SLR camera this Christmas. For further details on this statistics here is the link.

On extended Cricketing careers

There was a buzz generated when Damien Martyn stepped down from the International Cricket scene by announcing his retirement abruptly. The talk of - how long a cricketing career should be and when and how should it end, has gained a lot of steam. A very interesting article summing up the prevelant mood has been compiled by Tim de Lisle on Cricinfo. I would recommend it for a good insight into the whole issue

Ashes - the Humdinger of all Series

And so it begins tomorrow. The mother of all series - the Ashes. After that amazing end to a keenly contested series in the summer of 2005, the Ashes begin with their next series of battles between men who had become immortal just about 18 months ago. The hype to the buildup of the last Ashes had lived up and we were witness to an amazing piece of cricket in England, when the two best teams in the world (ranked 1 and 2 before the start of Ashes-2005) battled for supremacy over the small urn.

A series that had people flocked to TV sets (apart from the Lost series) and crcket grounds last summer had generated some magical moments, some brilliant displays of sportsmanship and amazing resolute in character from the players. That is responsible in more ways than one for the hype and hysteria among the cricket fans when this series gets underway.

Losing an Ashes series is a blot in Ricky Ponting's otherwise scintillating stint as a captian and he would make sure that it doesnt happen again. For most of the Aussie squad this could well be the last Ashes they play and they would do their best to end their Ashes careers on a high.

Flintoff and his men had pulled off an amazing feat when they won the Ashes after a gap of 18 years - an act that made them larger than life and generated public interest into cricket, which otherwise was losing its fan following in the English crowds. They arrive in Austrailia to defend it, with a much depleted squad as many of the heroes of the victorious last outing are missing. Simon Jones, who developed that reverse swing and caused a nemesis to most of the Aussie batsmen is down with injury. Ashley Giles who showed resolute character in his batting if not in his bowling is coming into the squad after a long lay-off, so he is expected to be a bit rusty and would need some time out there in the middle to hit the peak form. Micheal Vaughan the leader of the last troupe is out with injury and is hoping to return midway in the series. So it all boils down to Peterson, Harmisson, Hoggard and Flintoff to bear the brunt of the pressure and deliver career best performances - if they hope to retain the urn.

The last week has seen all kinds of permutations for the team selection. The Gabba where the series opens is traditionally a bouncy track. The Aussies have a great record on this ground and owing to the bouncy pitch the selectors were planning to fill in the Aussies squad with seamers. But as the line up suggests today its going to be McGrath, Lee, Shane and either of Clark or Johnson which takes to the ground tomorrow. Micheal Clarke, backed by many veteran cricketers found faith in the selectors and he starts tomorrow to add to the stomach of the Aussie batting line up. There have been much talk about the age of the Aussie squad, as most of the players are on the riper side of 30's. But Ponting has rubbished aside any concerns and going by the form of these so-called "aged" players, they are as young as ever.

England have their share of hiccups in the selections. They have brought in Jones to replace Read behind the stumps - a move that surprised many. They have yet to decide whom they pick up between Monty and Giles, but as Fletcher seems to have a soft corner for Ashley, it looks as Monty is going to miss out the tour opener.

All said and done we keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow when the captains go out in the middle to kick-off one of the most anticipated series. Ticket sales have been record-breaking, the media doesnt seem to get satiated with Ashes stories and the crowd is just waiting for some great action. I just hope the series just mirrors the last one, and I get to see some great skills from two of my favourite teams. So bring it on guys - let the action begin.

Blue-ray DVDs

Samsung today launched the Blue-ray DVD player in the UK. For a couple of months we have been hearing about the Blue-ray DVDs as the next big thing in optical data storage/usage. Capable of holding about 50 GB of data, these discs promise a higher picture resolution and a high definition quality of video which means the movies we could watch would have greater sharpness and rich colors.

For further reading on Blue-Ray discs check out the official site of the BDA group

DSLR Photography

Found this good tutorial on DSLR Photography on a forum.

For those of you in the process of thinking to buy a DSLR soon ... my suggestion is go for the Canon 400D aka Digital Rebel XTi. Apparently it is getting good reviews from buyers and has many good features as compared to the earlier Canon version.

for further features check out

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 ..... the Lost-mania begins again !

"the Others ", the hatch, pressing the button, 4, 8,15, 16, 23, 42 ..... if these strike something in your brain then you know what I am talking about.

Yes, I am one of those Losties or Lost-aways, the terms coined to describe the fans of this overwhelming drama series being aired in US on ABC. I was introduced to it by my flatmate in Munich in the summer of 2005 (the time period when the Ashes series was the other most talked about thing). The pilot episode itself had caught me by amazement. After that day, I admit to being stung by the Lost-bee. If you dont make sense of what I am talking about, then check out

Though I am dont belong the distinguished class of Losties, I do follow the series quite closely. I have this colleague in my Uni lab who is another one crazy Lostie, and after each episode we watch we go through this endless discussions over the story and what would happen next. At the end of season 1, me and my München-mate had run our imaginations wild and speculated our own end to the story. But the 2nd season has brought a good twist to the plot. The whole thing about the Hatch just created more buzz to this series. and now when the 3rd season starting to be aired in US on 4th October, we are all waiting with unabated enthusiasm to know what happen to Jack, Kate, and Sawyer after the last encounter with the Others. also what happened after the explosion on the island. the fate of Locke and Mr. Ecko is still hanging. The show writers have introduced some new characters this season and state that the story would revolve around the Others and their lives.

A simple Google for Lost will give tonnes of pointers. Wikipedia has a great stub for it. Though you could find the episode spoilers for all episodes aired, I suggest you to check those story spoilers only after having watched the episode. Some of them have great trivia stuff, which help in giving the complete picture of the story. There is this great forum on Lost where you can discuss/argue the plot. Infact such is the popularity of the show that these holidaymakers were too delighted when they came across the sets of Lost on this island in Hawaii. The show also made way into the comic strip here PhD comics

Talking about the plot, there have been many theories and innumerable discussion threads across several forums. The creators of the show have been on campus in some US universities and involved in some good discussions with the students who are similarly crazy about the whole stuff. I once came across a blog maintained by a student who is tracking the occurance of the numbers in each of the episode and his theories on their relevance to the plot. Personally my take on the plot (as shared by many others as well) is as such - the survivors of the crash as in the state of purgatory death. Though the show creators reject these claims, there are several instances in the plot which support this theory. The manner in which events happen with each of the survivors and they way they are related with their past lives, and how they repent their previous mistakes and the correlation in their emotions with their past to their present life on the island all seem to point to this theory that these survivors are in the state of transigience - admitting their sins and realising their mistakes. for example

• In the episode where Shannon is shot, she sees Walt which nobody else can see. Only when Sayid assures her that he loves her and believes her, that he starts seeing Walt.

• When Kate sees the black horse on the island and confesses her crime to an unconscious Sawyer, Sawyer also starts seeing the horse and finds it perfectly appropriate on the island.
  

• In the episode where Goodwin is unmasked, he tells to Anna Lucia that the Others had taken only few of the survivors because they were the good ones and were now having a good time, implying that the ones left behind and going through the traumatic experiances are not good - sinners in other words.
  

All these give a hint that these events are happening in the minds of these survivors and their events on the island intercross only to the extent that their previous experiences are relevant.

other interesting sites are ...

TV Gasm
Buddy TV

Implementing Trees in SQL

Implementing hierarchical trees in SQL can be slightly tricky. Fortunately some good ideas have been presented by Joe Celko. I came across to ways to implement trees from his books.

One is the Adjacency List model, which in simple words makes use of seperate tables to model the nodes and the edges of the trees. One table could hold the Node data, and one table describing the Edge relations. This approach usually helps in normal situations where complex tree operations are not required.

In case one has to perform some complex calculations on the tree, another model - the Nested Tree model is suggested. The Nested Tree Model is quite interesting and very convenient to implement. The idea here is "Containment represents subordination". Quoting his book " Visualise the nested sets model as a little worm with Bates automatic numbering stamp crawling along the "boxes-and-arrows" version of the tree. The worm starts at the top, the root, and makes a complete trip around the tree. When he comes to a node he puts a number in the cell on the side he is visiting and his numbering stamp increments itself. Each node will get two numbers, one for the right side and one for the left side. Computer science majors will recognize this as a modified preorder tree traversal algorithm."


for further reading check out these pointers ....

A good starter tutorial on Adjacency List Model

Joe Celko’s SQL for Smarties Advanced SQL Programming Second Edition

Joe Celko's Trees and Hierarchies in SQL for Smarties

Machine Learning & Kernel Methods

Standard learning systems operate on input data after they have been transformed into feature vectors. But in many cases the input data cannot be described easily by explicit feature vectors for example in bio-sequences, images etc. Moreover, the construction of Feature extraction module can be complex and even risk losing relevant information during the process.

A solution is in the form of Kernel methods/functions. A Kernel function maps the data into a high dimension space where classes are linearly separable. The High dimension data (e.g. text) can use a simple dot-product as kernel. The Optimisation algorithm only accesses the training data through the
Kernel Matrix.

A kernel k(x,y) is a similarity measure, defined by implicit mapping f from the original space to a vector space (feature space) : k(x,y)=f(x)•f(y)

This similarity measure and the mapping include:

• Invariance or other a priori knowledge
• Simpler structure (linear representation of the data)

check out for further information on Kernel methods, SVM amd Machine learning

Here are some pointers which include course materials on Machine Learning done this summer in some Universities.

• This is my favourite starter page for Statistics.
• Stanford
• MIT
• Carnegie Mellon
• Trento

Bits n Bytes - GeoTagging snaps

Now you could GeoTag your snaps on Flickr or even use some 3rd party tools for doing it and then upload the map onto your Flickr profile. By Geotagging your snaps it gives more semantic sense to the snaps and would also help other viewers to know the place you have taken it.

Here is a quick explanation on how to do it. And this is how my Flickr map looks like

I remember having read (in some research paper talking about semantics in Image retrieval), that the new generation digital cameras would be having a GPS tracker built into them which would automatically tag the snap you have taken with its geographical coordinates. This geographical data would be encoded along with the other EXIF data of the snap. This simple act would be a big blessing for those researchers developing algorithms for implementing semantics in image retrieval engines/tools. By just knowing the location details of a snap one can extract a fair amount of relevant semantic information from the picture/photo.

Bits n Bytes - HDR Photography

Among the recent developments in digital photography, HDR seems to be having a great future. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography uses an encoding format which permits a large range of pixel values enabling one to capture the full range of original light values of the scene. In practice an image is captured at several time instances and at multiple exposures; then these images are merged and while doing so one can enhance features like the shadows of high exposures etc. This kind of photography is used a lot in the development of games and computer graphics. for learning more about this technology visit

• a pretty decent article on HDR Photography

• a comprehensive FAQ is compiled here
  

• Wikipedia stub on HDR Imaging
  

• Recent advances in HDR Technologies
  

• HDR Collections on Flickr
  

Photo Courtesy gabefarns

Humor : Downloading the Internet

found this rather funny joke on W3C site

Customer: "I want to download the Internet. Do I need a bigger hard disk?"

Download the Internet here

Humor : Graduate Foodchain

found this cartoon on this site

Travelogue : Rome, Italy

There are not many cities on par with Rome - the Eternal city. As the old saying goes "all roads lead to Rome", on each of these roads, no matter whichever way you turn you either see a ancient monuments, lavish fountains and huge crowd of tourists. While seeing the city its pretty easy to imagine what it must have been during the age of the Ceasars and Roman gladiators. Travelling around in Rome is pretty practical, a day ticket of 4 euros in the Metro is also valid in the City buses and one can cover all over the city using this ticket.

One can start from one end of the city and traverse across to the other end. There are innumerable monuments and places to see around Rome that it is almost difficult to see it all in one or 2 days. In my case I started from the North East section of the City (since my Hotel was close in there). Easily reachable by the Metro Stations of Barberini and Spagna on Line A, this area of Rome has among popular attractions Piazza di Spagna and Spanish Steps, Fontana di Trevi, Santa Maria della Vittoria etc. The Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps have been a major touristic center of Rome since the early 19th century. Shaped like a bow and lined up by muted shuttered facades, this Piazza is crowded all day and (in summer) most of the night. The Trevi Fountain is the famous and larget fountain of Rome. Its central statue is the Neptune along with two Tritons on either side. It was originally built to serve as an aqua duct for the ancient Rome. It attracts huge number of tourists during day and night, who flock here to throw a coin into the water and make a wish. Huge gallons of water flowing create a sound which gives the whole place a surreal atmosphere. Santa Maria Maggiore is pretty close to the Termini Stazione and has a great blend of architectural styles ranging from early Christian and Baroque era. The Piazza della Republica is also a great attraction, especially in the night which serves an excellent shot for night photography.


The Vatican City, world capital of Catholicism, for sure is the reason why most of the tourists come to Rome. To enter the Vatican one has to wake up early and join thousands in the queue lined up to enter the Museum and the Cathedral. In my opinion its better to see the Bassilica first, if you arrive there around 0700 you can easily enter the St. Peter´s Basilica without any queue. While entering the St. Peter´s you are awestruck by the large number of detailed statues which overlook the square. The early morning sunrays also give an amazing shot of the Papal Altar and the Baldacchino for the avid photographers like me. Most of the great architects of the Baroque and Rennaisance era were involved in the design of the Basilica of St. Peter´s. The famous dome of Christendom was designed by Michelangelo. Once you have finished seeing the Cathedral, you have to join the long queue to enter the Museum and the Sistine Chapel. While standing in the queue you will have infinite time to have your breakfast and practice sleepwalking. The Vatican Museum has one of the oldest art collections apart from the Sistine Chapel and Raphael Rooms. The art galleries are divided into sections of Egyptian & Assyrian art, Greek & Roman art, Etruscan, medivial art and 15th - 19th century art. Raphael Rooms were actually Pope Julius II private apartments who had chosen Raphael to decorate the walls and cielings with his artwork. The Sistine Chapel displays the Fresco work done by Michelangelo. The paintings and graphics depict majorly Old and New Testaments like for example the Original Sin, the Creation of the Sun and Moon etc. As one strolls through the chambers s/he will seldom close his/her mouth as each one is as jaw-dropping as the earlier one. Arguably it is the most enthralling visits of Rome. The Castel Sant Angelo is another major attraction across the Vatican, and offers a good view of the Vatican for photographers from Ponte Sant Angelo. I took this night shot from there. To reach the Vatican one can take the Metro A till the Ottaviano stop.


After crossing the river Tevere, you come across the Piazza Navona. The major attraction of the square is the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. This magnificient fountain was done by Bernini and shows the statues of four great rivers (Nile, Plate, Danube and Ganges). The Piazza is a major social center of the city and has plenty of restaurants lined up all around punctuated by Baroque fountains. This fountain also appears prominently in the plot of the novel Angels & Deamons written by Dan Brown. A couple of blocks away is the Piazza della Rotonda along with the Pantheon. The Pantheon is the Roman "temple of all gods", is the most extraordinary and best preserved monument of the ancient Rome. Other major attractions in the vicinity are the Piazza della Minerva and Sant´Ignazio di Loyola.

The ancient center of the city has plenty of attractions. The Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele is an imposing white marble building beside the Roman Forum. It attracts a large number of tourists and has a museum with a free entry. This photogenic monument looks awesome in the night. It was built in honor of Victor Emanuele II the first king of unified Italy. Just behind this monument is the Roman Forum and its ruins of the ancient era.One can stroll through these ruins for free, which have been preserved amazingly over all these ages. Further ahead of the Roman Forum is the Colosseum, one of the most imposing monuments of ancient Rome.

The Colosseum was as amphitheater built on the orders of Emporer Vespasian. Several gladiators had fought beasts and other wild animals in the arena of this gigantic building. Walking inside the corridors is fascinating if you imagine what it must have been in the bygone era in all its glory, complete with thousands of Romans and one Julius Ceasar. Now you find many of the dressed up gladiators eagerly waiting for tourists to take snaps and make some money. Nearby are the ruins of the Palatine, which was once the residence of emperors and aristocrats. The ruins range from a simple house in which Augustus is assumed to have lived, to the Domus Flavia and Domus Augustana. From certain high altitudes of the Palatine one can take panoramic shots of the Roman skyline. Close to the Colosseum is the Metro stazione to connect you quickly with other major attractions of the city.

Eating is pretty decent in the several restaurants of the city, but if you want to save some quick bucks, you could do shopping in the several markets around the city, prominent among them are the ones aroung Campo di Fiori.

To see some more snaps I had taken in Rome visit my Gallery on Flickr and Webshots

Travelogue : Florence, Italy

The historical section of Florence is a compact area, with all the major tourist attractions in close vicinity of each other.Though the city is easily navigable by foot, one can even rent bicycles right from the Stazione for an hourly rate of 4 euros (tourists) or 1 euro (residents of Florence). Those who study arts and literature, for them visiting Florence is like taking a pilgrimage to see the artistic capital of the world. Writers such as Dante and Machiavelli, Painters and Sculptors like Michelangelo and Donatello have contributed to the reputated artwork on display in Florence.


Once could start touring from the Piazza San Marco, where the Convento di San Marco and Galleria dell´Accademia are start attractions. The Academy of Fine Arts was established in the 16th century to teach drawing, painting and sculpture techniques. The most famous work on display here is the Statue of David done by Michelangelo, however a copy of it is also on display at the Piazza della Signoria. The Palazzo Vecchio along with the Piazza della Signoria have been the heart of political life in Florence. There are several statues of the ancient Roman are on display at this square, including the Fontana di Nettuno. The Ponte Vecchio which is a couple of blocks from this Piazza is the oldest surviving bridge in the city. This bridge is a popular photographic attraction among the tourists who also flock at the several shops dealing with specialized jewellry and antique shops.


The most symbolic monument of Florence is the Duomo of Santa Maria del Fiore and naturally you find tonnes of tourists lining up to enter in each of the major attractions around the Piazza di San Giovanni. The interior of the orange-tiled dome is designed by Brunellschi, it also has frescoes of the Last Judgement. Colorful Neo-Gothic marble facade adorn the walls of the Chapel and Baptistry. The Baptistry also has colorful mosaics illustrating the Last Jusdgement decorating its cielings. When visiting Florence on a short time scale, bear in mind that most of these major buildings have strict visiting timings for tourists and plan your timings accordingly!


for more snaps from I took at Florence check out : Flickr and Webshots

Travelogue : Venice, Italy

This was my 3rd trip to Venice - the Gateway to the Orient. My earlier visits were on the Christmas day last year and once during the Venice Carnival in early spring this year. Yes I have been smitten by this city, as it has always captivated my fantasy since childhood, to see such beautiful buildings standing on water since so many ages. Venice was on my travel itinery of a brief Italian holiday along with some of my friends from Germany who had come come visiting me over this long weekend of Ferrogosto.


Each of my experiences of Venice have been different. The previous one was mainly the carnival festive mood in February. Exploring Venice is like going on a game of treasure hunt because of the narrow streets and bridges you come across. One can walk to most of the places of the city but to go to any of the islands you do have to take the motorboats. The only way to enter Venice from mainland Mestre is through the causeway leading to Piazzale Roma. The trains arrive at the Santa Lucia Stazione facing the Grand Canal. Travelling on a Vaporetto or the motor boat across the Grand Canal is the best way to view Venice. Almost all of the star attractions of the city are along this canal. Facing the Stazione is the domed church of San Simeone Piccolo which resembles the Pantheon of Rome. As the boat wades through the Grand Canal going towards the Rialto you see the Fondaco dei Turchi, a warehouse of Turkish traders in the past, but now houses the Natural History Museum. The Rialto Bridge spans the canal in the commercial heart of the city. Locals and tourists flock around the several food, vegetables and fish markets. Its a good place to watch and photograph the gondolas in the canal below. As you move further you come across the Ponte dell´Accademia (which hosts a large collection of Venetian paintings) and the Santa Maria della Salute just at the mouth of the Grand Canal. This huge Baroque church is supported by over a million timber piles.


The Piazza San Marco is the centerstage of action during the Carnival or as a matter of fact any event hosted in Venice. At the square you have the San Marco Bassilica and towards its side the Palazzo Ducale. The Basilica blends the architectural styles of East and West to create one of the popular buildings of Europe. The Facade Mosaics inside the dome are a popular attraction amongs tourists. The Palazzo Ducale was home to each of the Venetian rulers and its external appearance displays the art of the 14th century. I was lucky enough to see the high tide of the Mediterrainean, during which the water floods onto the square of San Marco. It occurs frequently during the months of August and September, I was told. When I was there, the water was upto my ankle level.


Venice is famous for its glassworks, and its island of Murano is the home to most of the glass factories. The Museo Vetrario has a large collection of antique pieces. Easy reachable from the mainland Venice on boat numbers 5, 41 and 42, Murano should be a must see list for all tourists coming to Venice. Burano is the most of the colorful islands of Venice, is famous for its lacework industry. A day ticket of about 12 euros allows you to use the vaporettos around the Grand Canal and also to any of the islands.


for images of Venice I had taken visit my gallery on Flickr and Webshots

Bits n Bytes - Phenomenon of Sleep

Amongst some of the things that amazes me most about the human body is our cycle of sleep and in addition to it the complex and intriguing phenomenon of dreams. When we sleep, we are in either of the two stages of REM or NREM. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement, is the period of sleep when the eye is in a constant motion, while NREM is Non-REM as the name suggests when there is no movement activity. An ordinary sleep is in cycles of around 90 mins in which the major portion (about 70 mins) is the NREM sleep, the small REM portion is the one in which we are popularly supposed to have our dreams and other bizzare visual experiences. However dreams can occur in the other parts of the sleep as well. Researchers have done tremendous analysis of this complex state of mind, sometimes using Electroencephalographic (EEG) patterns. In layman terms EEG patterns are measurements done on the brain signals and analysis is done based on certain types of waves characterized into - alpha, beta, gamma and delta waves. Each of the waves corresponds to a certain kind of activity. For some interesting reading and detailed introduction to this study check out the ever reliable Wikipedia

Whats surprising to me is that during our sleep, it has been observed that, we enter into a certain stage described as the true delta sleep - the deepest sleep, the EEG graphs sometimes show a near "flat line", which is reported by numerous people as having a near-death experience. Our religious books sometimes refer to phrases like "... in your sleep we take away your souls and return them back ..." (apparantly talking about the life-after-death phenomenon). Do both of these phenomenon mean the same? Your guess is as good as mine.

Sleep is a treasure to human beings, which cannot be achieved all the time. If you wish to sleep, the harder you try and concentrate on going to sleep the more horrible it will be and impossible it becomes. Problems related to sleeping and its associated remedies is a big study on its own. There is some interesting research on sleep analysis being done at University of Zurich and here is a good paper which describes a study on sleep using EEG analysis.

Bits n Bytes - Databases Programming Practices

In a slightly off-dated but worthwhile article on SQL programming conventions, Joe Celko, a premier SQL Guru writes " .... After more than 25 years of the relational model, people are still writing SQL as if it were a 1950s punch card file system. It takes time for a new tool to find its own voice. Motion pictures were originally shot from a fixed position because that is how people viewed stage plays. The engine in a car is in front because that is where the horse went. ... " for further reading visit

for further references check out -

• Tips by Peter Gulutzan

• Oracle Naming Conventions
  

• Justin Watts - Coding conventions
  

• Database best practices by N. Vyas

Bits n Bytes - Tools based on Google

Last weekend I stumpled upon this site maintained by one Douwe Osinga - on the outset it looks quite interesting for those of you Google-culties. It contains several projects and interesting fundoos based on Google .... I found these to be worth trying

• Poetry Translation
• Newsmap
  
• Wordcolor
  
• Google Random Image

Bits n Bytes - Fibonacci Series

Ever wondered how the Fibonacci series came into existence? Yes the same series all the students of computer science or electrical engineering have to encounter in the initial days of programming. I came across their history in a book on "XML Processing" by Elliotte Rusty Harold. I have added it here for your reading.

" .... as far as we know, the Fibonacci series was first discovered by Leonardo of Pisa around 1200 C.E. Leonardo was trying to answer the question, “Quot paria coniculorum in uno anno ex uno pario germinatur?”, or, in English, “How many pairs of rabbits are born in one year from one pair?” To solve his problem, Leonardo estimated that rabbits have a one month gestation period, and can first mate at the age of one month, so that each female rabbit has its first litter at two months. He made the simplifying assumption that each litter consisted of exactly one male and one female.

Leonardo begins with one pair of baby rabbits, a male and a female. At the end of the first month, these two have reached puberty and mate. There’s still one pair of rabbits. At the end of the second month, the female gives birth to a new pair of rabbits. There are now two pairs of rabbits, one pair of adults and one pair of babies. The adult pair mates again, so that they will produce one more pair at the end of the third month, at which point there are now three pairs of rabbits. One of these pairs has just been born, but the other two are old enough to mate, which, being rabbits, they do. At the end of the third month, two of the three pairs have babies producing five pairs of rabbits. Meanwhile all rabbits born in previous months mate, so that at the end of the fourth month there will be three more pairs of rabbits. Leonardo realized that the number of pairs at the end of each month was the sum of the number of pairs the preceding month and the number of pairs the month before that. The rabbits don’t simply double in population each month because it takes two months before a rabbit can have its first litter. Nonetheless, the numbers do grow only slightly more slowly than exponentially; and the process continues indefinitely, at least until you run out of rabbit food or the rabbits take over the world, whichever comes first. The number of pairs each month—1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...— has come to be known as the Fibonacci series after Leonardo’s Latin nickname, Fibonacci (short for filius Bonacci, son of Bonacci)."

Heat wave across Europe

phew! .... its unbearably hot these days. As the heat wave sweeps across European cities, the sun is scorching down over us. Over the last week the temperatures have soared high enough recording maximum measured values at several places. It brings back the memories of Summer of 2003 when the heat was similarly sweltering. Then around 20,000 people had died across Europe, owing to heat-related problems. The governments were not prepared at that time to face such a hot weather, which is quite uncommon to this part of the world. Since then, the officials and the people are more prepared for the scorching summers. There has been record sales in fans, air-conditioners all over the cities. But the increase in air-conditioners forces demand on power consumption which adds to some extra problems to the authorities apart from the environmental hazards the CFCs emitted would cause.

While in school I had given a talk on Global warming and Ozone depletion and the problems that would cause. That was more than a decade ago. Now I seem to experience those problems, about which I had read at that time. If we dont do something serious about the issue of global warming, I fear we could only see some more severe weather conditions in the future. There are constant reports of blackouts in US owing to high consumption demands. If a country like US cannot meet its energy requirements, then we can only surmise about the energy crisis in under-developed nations. Its high time we dealt with this issue seriously.

Philosophy : To Blog or Not To Blog

..... yes thats the whole question. With more and more news being written about bloggers and their responsibilites, Blogosphere is slowly coming into limelight. This week there were 2 news hitting the headlines. Earlier it was the ban on certain blogs by the ISPs in India and today BBC ran an article on how to´s for a blog.

One of my friends is doing research in Intellectual Property and Legal issues over content of the Internet. His opinion is that the blog craze is bound to grow but the bloggers need to be aware of the legal implications and own responsibility of what they write about. Well not everyone is to be careful, its only those who love to complain and cribble over their lives, jobs, employers and people around them, who have to be ready to face some music for their actions. There are plenty of bloggers who write constructive, creative and informative content. I love to read such blogs rather than listen to somebody complaining.

Hobbies & Interests : Photography

Photography is a passion in itself. Considered to be one of the most expensive hobbies, it gives the photographer enough tools and space for creativity. With the varous types of cameras invloved, the several types of lenses tailored for a particular need, photographers coming from several backgrounds, each having his/her own taste, etc - photography in itself is a vast field covering several domains from fashion-documentary-fine art-street-nature-vernacular-night-panoramic-photojournalism etc.

for starters this wiki is a good place to have your interface with this vast, interesting and creative field. With the great boom of digital camera technology, cameras and photography in general has expanded its user base by leaps and bounds. To know more about how your digital cameras this is a good link. For the little advanced users and semi-pros, a DSLR camera is the best tool. this would help all you DSLR fans

I guess most of you host your snaps online at places like Flickr, Webshots , Photo.net etc. I found this interesting blog that has a good set of photos uploaded by their users. My favourite ones are this, this and this

Macro photography is a large field in itself. Here is a good starting point to know the intricacies about Macro Lenses. This wiki is also informative.

I upload some of my snaps at these links

Enjoy !

PS: photo Courtesy of Miwaza Jemimah

Philosophy of Life : The End of Grad School

I came across this on the Net.

lyrics by Steven A. Wolfman

Hello caffeine my old friend
I’ve come to wire myself again
I should be back home in my bed sleeping
Instead I’m trying to write this thesis thing
But the chapters get jumbled in my head
Feels like lead
This is the end of grad school.

Late last night I worked alone
That’s when I heard the telephone
Headhunters spoke with tongues of honey
Weaving fever dreams of money
And the sound of ka-ching is rare for a PhC
We work for free
That was the end of grad school.

“Fools,” said I, “you do not know
Research like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Tenure track will soon defeat you.”
With those words, to lecture I am bound
Abandoning the sounds of grad school

And then some students knock on wood
Pray for three letters and a hood
A decade older than the new first-years
Sixty credit cards in deep arrears
Someday they’ll think: “If I’ll end up at Google,
I might as well go today.
I need the pay,
To make an end to grad school.”

Footnote : The Ph.C., or Philosophical Candidacy, is the utterly meaningless degree one receives upon qualifying for the Ph.D. program, as with a successful preliminary, generals, or thesis proposal examination.

FIFA World Cup - Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006

And finally the month long football fiesta came to an end. The final was a batlle between traditional rivals France - Italy and Italy came out champions in an intensely fought match, which was decided in a penalty shoot out. The majestic stadium in Berlin was packed fully, prominent color among the crowd was 'Blue' common to both the teams. Surpirse injury to Thierry Henry put the French men under pressure, and the Azzuris dominated the proceedings in the first half. Zidane scored the first goal through a penalty, but Materrazi made ammends soon and equalised through a beautiful header. In the second half Henry started with his aggressive style and pressed hard for the goal. Ribery impressed in patches, but when Viera left the field due to an injury, Les Blues were a little stretched. They looked as if playing without a plan and were hoping for Zidane to create something. The match went into extra time, and Zidane began playing some beautiful stuff. But he was heavily marked and Cannavaro and Co never gave him any space. In those extra minutes, Zidane was being singled out and there were comments and sledging at him. At one instant Cannavaro brought him down through a vicious looking tackle. In the heat of the moment, he lost his mind and let his anger get the better of him and as a result did that very insane act of head-butting Materazzi. Though videos showed that he was being taunted and was given hard time by the Italian defenders, a player of the caliber of Zidane is expected to deal with it professionally and not loose your mind. That one moment of madness has put a bad remark over his illustrious career. Nobody liked him to exit the stage in this manner.

The penalties are always a Waterloo for the Italians. Prior to this one, they had faced penalties 4 times and had lost all the 4 times. The pityful scenes of Roberto Baggio hitting over the bar in the 94 finals was still in memory of the Italian fans. But this time, none of their players errored. Grosso held his nerve and netted the final one and the nation erupted in joy. Trezeguet who was the nemesis for Italy in Euro 2000 commited the only mistake France could afford and hit the bar instead. So the wheel turned a complete circle and many notions were discarded. Italy finally won a penalty shoot out and emerged as world champions adding a 4th star to their achivement. They now stand second to Brazil with most number of World Cup Titles.

For the other awards - Podolski deserved his Young Player Award, Buffon got the best goalkeeper title (he never let any ball pass through in all the matches, except that freak self goal against USA). Zidane was voted the best player - a status which was slightly tainted with his dismissal. The real winners of this tournament were the Fans. They made it special by cheering and chanting for their teams both inside the stadiums and outside at the FIFA Fan Fest. Kudos to Germany for hosting a very successful tournament, which was managed very well. The huge stadiums, the Fan Fests, the warm welcoming crowds made it all very successful. Now we meet in South Africa after 4 years to start a fresh new battle for world supremacy. Untill then keep singing - Italia ... Italia !

Travelogue : Brixen, Süd Tirol, Austria-Italy

Last week I had been in Brixen for a Summer school organised by my University. Brixen also called as Bressanone in Italian lies in the SüdTirol region in the border region of Italy and Austria. The region was formerly part of Austrian empire before the World War 1. After the WWII the region was ceded to Italy but the people were more inlined towards Austria, hence it was granted autonomous powers. For more about the history of this region check out this . The people there have their own language, so most of the places you find road signs and other public notices are written in German, Italian and Süd tirolian For more statistics and numbers about the place check out .

The region is a good ski destination in winters and in summers its even more popular among tourists who want to do some trekking in the Alps. Major towns of the region are Bozen/Bolzano, Brixen/Bressannone, Brennero etc. The closest biggest airport is the one on Innsbruck. For more tourism related information see this

site
Since most part of the week was raining, I could not take much snaps. However these are some of the good ones, I managed to click in the few hours of sunshine available.

This one is taken in one of the small gardens in the town.

I loved this one, the effect of the clouds and sunshine beaming through was amazing.

I took this one, while going up one of the hills. After speaking to the couple later on, I learnt that the lady was born in 1925 and the man is nearing his 90s. The old people mostly speak German with Austrian dialect, which I felt was close to the Bayerisch spoken in the south of Germany.

FIFA Weltmeisterschaft 2006 : Zizou .... Allez ... Allez .... Allez

Come Brazil and out comes the magic of Zidane. If you saw the quarter final between France and Brazil, you could not help but be amazed at the skills of Zidane and would have agreed that France were playing like true winners. Before the tournament began, critics had written off the Les Blues. Zidane came out of retirement for the sole cause of keeping the French hopes alive in hunting that all elusive trophy.

When the match began both the teams looked a bit jitterish and not able to overcome their nerves. But 30 mins into the 1st half, Zizou began to spin his magic. His club mates from Real Madrid, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldo had no answer to his absolute control on the ball. He was all over the place, making game giving passes and playing with absolute authority. Brazil met their same nemesis of 98 Finals - a charismatic Zidane. In Henry, Viera and Ribery he had perfect finishers. The only goal of the evening, was a free kick in perfection. It was a surprise that Brazillian defenders had not marked Henry properly, and he perfectly timed the volley into the net.

Its a pity that the greatly hyped Ronaldinho could not score a goal in this tournament. Its sad to bid farewell to Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Adriano and group. Now the battle for world supremacy is being played in the neighboured. 4 neighbours Germany, Italy, France and Portugal will fight it out amongst them for the World title. If France continues to play this way - they will be difficult to kept at bay. The coming week holds the answers to it.

FIFA Weltmeisterschaft 2006 : Dont Cry for me Argentina

And so it is. Germany will face Italy in the semi final on 4th July at Dortmund. The 2 quarter finals were a stark contrast in themselves. While the Azzuris had no trouble keeping Shevchenko and his side at bay and score some brilliant goals, the Germans and the Argentinians had a tough fight - a battle so intensely fought that it had to end on penalty deciders. At the end Lehmann held his post and the trust Klinsmann had put in him. Almost the whole of 72,000 supporters in the Olympiastadion at Berlin were backing Deutschland and chanting "Deutschland, Deutschland", after the match the phrase of "Dont Cry for me Argentina" was seen all over the press and match reports. Without doubt Argentina were one of the best teams in this tournament so far, its a pity that they had to bow out at this stage. Now only Brazil remains the sole representative of South America or else its an all European affair from here on.

Italy meet the host nation Germany in the semifinals, a tie which is quite ambivious for me to take sides. Both the nations have been my favourites. Having stayed in Germany for over 3 years and see them revive under Klinsmann after that disasterous Euro-2004, my heart surely backs Ballack und gruppe. But the Azzuris and their charismatic play so far overcoming the ghosts of match scandals of Italia Serie dont let you remain apethetic to the pulse of the nation you are living in at the moment. Either way its a win-win for me. The evening on the 4th July holds the answer to it.

FIFA - Weltmeisterschaft 2006 : The round of death begins

As the World Cup reaches its final phase, the excitement grows exponentially. The quarter finals are about to start in a couple of hours. Of the eight teams 6 are European and 2 giants from South America. The ties give an indication of tremendous action about to begin. In the past 56 matches we have seen some amazing goals being scored, some great performances and some heart-breaking exits. Of the teams that couldnt manage to make it to the "viertelfinale", I personally miss Austrailia, Ghana, Czech Republic who definitely deserved much better deal. However since only 8 teams can be selected we have the best of them. Now lets see, how these teams fare from here.

As the 1st quarter finals kicks off, there will be intense competition between the two most promising teams in the tournament so far. It will be a pity that only one of them will make it further. Both Germany and Argentina have scored plenty of goals so far. Will the host nation take advantage of its home conditions or not, will the German supporters in Berlin see their team in finals or not, only time will say. Among the other heroes battling for glory, we have Brazil meeting their nemesis Zidane and his France in Frankfurt. A repeat of the 98 finals is anybody´s guess. Its too difficult to say at this moment, but after seeing the performance and composure of Le Blues against the Spaniards, Ronaldo and Co are not going to have an easy song. England have an advantage against a depleted Portugal. The Azzuris are surely looking ahead for their Semi-finals, but can Shevschenko upset their plans? I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Travelogue : Milano, Italy

Last friday I had to go to Polytechnico Milano for a project Seminar. This was the first time for me to visit Milano. After the talk, me and my colleague could visit the city, but that particular day was not optimum for visiting any place. The temperature was soaring, the sun was scorching hot. All one could do is be at a lake or beside a fountain sipping some drink.

We spent some time at the Duomo in the center of the city. The Duomo is one of the largest Catholic Cathedrals of Europe. But unfortunately the frontal view was draped in banners as the musical group Sting were scheduled to give a performance that evening at the city square. I took some snaps around the place. I was impressed by the glass cieling work of the neighbouring promenade. We went around some of the shopping malls. There were tourists everywhere. The fashion capital of Europe, Milan attracts shoppers from worldwide. The home city of D&G, Prada and Giorgio Armani does a buisness of 7 million euros on a daily basis through shopping alone. We also saw the huge store of La Regnisance which is in the vicinity of the Duomo. Tired and beaten by the sun, we could not venture out much into the city and took the earliest train back home.

I have uploaded some of my snaps here

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=551628689&security=bvXrMt

if interested you could read some more history of the duomo here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duomo_di_Milano

Travelogue : Pisa, Italy

On my way back from the Summer School in S. Vincenzo, our group of friends had decided to visit Pisa which was on the way back. After seeing around Pisa all of us would take different routes to go back home. Well we had a small walk down the city, passing through some lanes and streets. Crossing the river of Arno. A little before the Campo dei Miracoli, there was a small festival in the town. Plenty of shops were up for display and sales. There were hawkers selling olives (several varieties - I was amazed to see some of them), Capperi, Clothes, Sweets and Confectioneries, pets (parrots, love birds, turtles, squirrels). The crowd was full of tourists - Americans forming a majority again, some Germans, Chinese, Japenese, I overheard some Russian also, later I also saw some Asians as well - old, young and kids in the pram. The Campo dei Miracoli is the only thing worth seeing in Pisa and its so small that I wondered that people spent so much money to see such a thing which could be as large as the Giant Football Stadiums Germany had made for the World Cup. We took our regular snaps at the leaning tower, then walked around the Cathedral and the Jewish Cemetry. The 3rd significant building you see in the Piazza is the Monastry. The entry to the tower was a little expensive, and due to time constraints, we decided against it. We saw the cathedral from the inside. Photography was allowed, but I was surprised that one could not a tripod in there.

as usual the links to some of my snaps is here

Travelogue : San Vincenzo, Tuscany, Italy

Last week I had gone to San Vincenzo last week to attend a Summer School on Multimedia Digital Libraries. San Vincenzo is a small tourist town in the region of Tuscany, about 50 Km from Pisa on the West coast of Italy. I guess its a popular destination among family tourists, as all through the week I could see a large number of kids and grand parents. The majority of holiday makers were from Germany. If you want to take a break along with your family on a quite beach, with some decent hotels and serenity in the neighbourhood, then San Vincenzo is the place to be. Among the hotels in the city, I guess Hotel Delphino is recommendable, as it is close to the city center, has a good view of the beach and the room prices are pretty good. The region of Tuscany is famous for its Red Wine and Olives. The food of also very good with the restaurants serving some very good delicacies. I suggest Serendipity and La Paradisino for some good evening dinner with the gusts of the Meditterrainean blowing on your face.

I have uploaded some of the snaps I took during my stay there at this link

Travelogue : World Cup at Munich

I had gone to Munich for the Opening Ceremony of the World Cup. Though I could not manage to get a ticket for the stadium, my friends in Munich had decided to watch the games at the Fifa Fan Fest which was being held at the Olympia park. The Train from Trento to Munich was full of crowd both old and young who were going to Munich for the same reason. The Munich Hauptbahnhof was dressed for the occassion. All the stalls and kiosks were decorated with football themes. Flags from the participant nations were all around.

The afternoon of the D-day was full of enthusiasm. One could feel the pulse of excitement among the people, as if something great was being anticipated. There were people from all over the world, dressed in their flag colors, interesting costumes etc. We took a small walk through the Karlplatz to Marienplatz. The mood all along was festive, supporters of several countries, Mexico in majority among the foreigners, were flooding the streets. The game was starting at 6 so we planned to reach the Olympia park at 4 to get in. The way to the park was full of people everywhere. I had never seen so many people in Munich before, also never before I was in Munich during a World Cup. Germany was playing the opening match, so German supporters were for sure pumped up. On the way to the park, we noticed some people going in the opposite direction. The reason was the huge queue lined up at the entrance to the enclosure where the games were being shown. We waited for our turn, but around 530 we were told that the maximum capacity of the place was fulled, and they could not let in anymore people. To our badluck the whole of 20,000 places were taken already. So we went to a nearby restaurant to watch the match. In the evening afer Germany had won, the whole of Munich was celebrating it. Pepole were partying on the streets till the early morning.

The next day we went almost 5 hours ahead of the match to get in. It was England playing Paraguay and there British supporters were already filling in the places. We waited in the hot sun endlessly. There were some small fun games organised by the Fifa guys. There were several shops and stalls in the enclosure selling official Fifa goods. When the match started, the crowd was uproarious. After the goal was scored the whole park was echoing with the song "Its coming home ....". After the match the English fans were rejoicing as before. All in all it was a great experience for the two days. I had taken several snaps and have uploaded some of them here.

http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=551462217&security=AJorIT

on a break

I am currently on a break ..... firstly I had gone to Munich for the Opening Ceremony of the Fifa World Cup, and then had to go for a Summer School in San Vincenzo.

In a couple of days, I shall be back with some good snaps and experiances of these places.

Hay fever woes !

Come May and for many people these days the problems related Hay fever rises .... I am myself a new victim of this allergy ..... while browsing around I found some good information and thought of sharing it here so that those of you experiancing the same woes can find some good tips here ...

One fellow blogger summarises good info here .....
http://organically.blogspot.com/2006/05/hay-fever-plus.html

here is a forum for it
http://www.hayfeverforum.co.uk/

and the wiki stub is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay_fever

FIFA World Cup - Fussball-Weltmeisterschaft 2006

With about 9 days to go for one of the biggest events in sports to kick-off, FIFA World Cup is the flavor of the season everywhere you go. When the tournament was last held in Japan/South Korea in 2002, I was preparing to leave for Germany for my MSc.

The performance of Germany was not very great, except for the miraculous hands of Oliver Kahn. My all time favourites Brazil displayed some amazing performances in the tourney. My personal favourite was the one against China, when all the 4 R´s (Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldinho) showed their skills and the one against England when Ronaldinho´s free kick showed his true talent which was raw then. Now after an amazing season with Barcelona, he is back to create some Samba magic again. Clearly, he is one of the players to watch out for in this tournament. There are some others as well, who will keep you excited with their game. The legendary Zidane is probably playing in his last World Cup, then you have Ronaldo (though he has not shown any great form, but you can expect him to strike form soon). Rooney is said to be in the squad for England, he was a great talent in the Euro-2004 in Portugal. Christian Ronaldo is also a player to watch out for. Among some senior legs, Nilsteroy, Beckham will be a great sight. Ibrahimovich had shown some magical skills in Euro-2004, I hope he carries the same form in this tournament as well.

Well, the tournament is missing some good teams and players like Turkey and Eto´o (Cameroon striker) who could not qualify. But among the less glamourous teams, Iran is supposed to be a dark horse. The team is ranked 24th in the FIFA rankings, much higher than other Aisan entries (Korea and Saudi Arabia). In the Iran line-up, there are 4 players who play for various clubs in the Bundesliga and are sure to make use of their "home advantage".

My personal favourites (in order of preference) this year are Brazil (naturally), Italy, Germany (biased because of living here), France (Zizou for sure), Argentina, Portugal, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Sweden, Iran. I would love to see a final between Brazil - Italy with Ronaldinho bagging the golden boot award.

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Berlin´s new Hauptbahnhof (main train station) opens this week. The 5 storey steel and glass structure took 8 years to complete on a budget of 700 million euros. It features glass panels with an amazing display of Glass and Metal, the motive of almost all the major constructions in the capital city. It also has Berlin´s largest photovoltaic system, a network of solar cells mounted onto the glass itself and is designed to produce 160 Megawatt-hours of electricity each year. It is Europe´s largest station and will handle 1100 trains each day. It has about 54 escalators and 34 lifts offering a full view of the city. Located on banks of river Spree, it is close to where the Berlin Wall once stood. "The gleaming hulk of glass and steel is a "pyramid" for the modern age" according to the Egyptian-German Hany Azer who supervised the construction project. Also referred to as "the gigantic glass armadillo", the whole architecture is armor-plated with 9,000 separate sections and the station's curvature means no two pieces of glass are of the same size.

The whole building is a collection of individually crafted pieces and special attention to detail:* Grooves in the floor help blind passengers find their way to the platforms. For further assistance, raised numbers and Braille have been integrated into metal signs on the hand rails.

* Travelers will be spared some of the noise and bustle associated with train stations, since the approaching high-speed ICE and regional trains slide up to the platform with not much more than whisper. The tracks are embedded in concrete rather than the more commonplace gravel, reducing noise to a minimum.

* Engineers have also come up with nifty precautions against unforeseen accidents. In case of a train derailment, it will automatically slot into an extra track. Compact walls of concrete are in place to prevent the bulky carriages tipping onto adjacent tracks.

* A suspension system in the body of the platforms radically reduces vibration as the trains -- each weighing several hundred tons -- roll in. Thanks to this technology, the buildings close by at Potsdamer Platz and the government quarter won't shudder every minute as the locomotives trundle through.
But of all the fancy innovations, the fanciest may be the loudspeaker system. It's almost impossible to make sense of the garbled, barely audible announcements in most of Germany's train stations. But in Berlin's Central Station, sound engineers have created speaker system that make the computer-automated announcements crystal clear and understandable.

Disclaimer: The photographs are of the courtesy of AFP.

Il Codice Da Vinci

This is my first movie in Italian language, and one of my eagerly awaited movies. After reading the novel and visualising most of the scenes on the cast, I wanted to verify my imaginations with the directors interpretations on the screen. The problem with movies which are adapted from novels is that people have read the book before and hence know the plot in detail. So that takes away any thrill or suspense in the plot. Moreover while reading people visualise the story according to their imaginations and most of the time they are not satisfied with the directors adaption in the movie. In my opinion, only the Lord of the Rings triology stands out for exact interpretation of the screenplay according to the book. The screenplay of Peter Jackson comes very close to Tolkiens fantasy. I was once an avid reader of Alistair MacLeans novels. Personally for me, notable among his work was Where Eagles Dare. But when I saw the Movie adaptation of it (starring Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton), I was not quite satisfied with the direction of Brian Hutton.

Well anyways, Da Vinci Code stands between ok and good reviews. Personally to me the casting was the best part of the movie. I couldnt have imagined Robert Langdon to be much different from Tom Hanks ( his hairstyle was a little odd though! ), Audrey Tautou and Ian McKellen fit the bill for Sophie and Leigh Teabing perfectly. Though there are several differences in the movie from the book (for instance, only one cryptex is shown, there is no second cryptex inside the first. In the novel, Robert and Sophie go to a library in London to discover the relevance of A. Pope, while in the movie they borrow a cell phone web browser on a city bus). More or less the movie is deserves one watch, cannot be recommended for repeated viewing.

Personally I would prefer Angels and Deamons anytime over this novel for its thrills and plot.I hope that it is also adapted into a movie some day.

Bits n Bytes : Windows Academic Search

I came across this site of Microsoft, which makes search in Academic Journals and publications. The concept is very similar to Google Scholar, CiteSeer or DBLP. The interesting thing is the side frame which gives you some information of the link/paper like abstract, keywords etc. for more information about its working and trying it out. go to http://academic.live.com/

Bits n Bytes - Real-Time Mapping of the World

SenseWeb, a project being done at Microsoft, attempts to enable Windows Live Local to have real-time mapping and localized data. The real-time data which would be refreshed on a per minute basis could provide information on local gas prices, traffic flows, parking information etc. According to the research team, people could make informed decisions based on real-life conditions which will be fed directly by people or automated sensor equipments.

For further reading, check out this article -
http://www.techreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch=infotech&sc=&id=16781&pg=1

Bits n Bytes : Canon 350D

Canon 350D, which is also called the "Rebel", is apparently the best voted camera of the D-SLR type. For those of you who are interested in knowing more about this piece of beauty, check out the links below.

A very comprehensively written review is here

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/xt-350d.shtml

to know more about SLR technology read this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-lens_reflex_camera

for Mirror Look-Up fundamentals check out
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/mirror-lock.shtml

This is a good forum for Canon 350D users, you can exchange views, ideas and tips here

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1031

These are some snaps I took with my "Rebel", these are locations in an around Trento, Italy.

An evening shot of the river Adige.

Tulips in the Spring.

Travelogue : The Castle of Neuschwanstein

On this Easter weekend along with some of my friends in Munich, I had gone to the Castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. The weather was not very sunny though, it was the regular grey day, with brief patches of sunshine now and then. We took a RegionalBahn from München Hbf, and the tourist crowd in the train set the right momentum from the word go.

Both the castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau are located in close proximity to each other in the German village of Schwangau near the town of Füssen, in southwestern Bavaria, very close to the border with Austria. This region has a large number of Swans and hence the architecture of the castles, the legends of the past, emblems etc are heavily influenced by this bird.

The Neuschwanstein castle was constructed by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. It was named after the Swan Knight, Lohengrin, of Wagner's opera, and was designed by Christian Jank. The interior tapestries of the castle and wall paintings depict scenes from the operas of Richard Wagner, who was a close friend of the king. Ludwig II had a large number of hobbies during his youth, art and architecture were one of them and had made several friends in the artistic circles. The castle sits at the top of a hill, some 200 to 300 feet above the village. It is heated by a forced air, coal fired furnace in the basement. The bed in the King's bedroom features ornate carving that woodcarvers worked on for 3 years. The castle is fed with fresh water supply that is situated at a much higher altitude. It took about 17 years to build this castle and unfortunately the king lived there for about only 170 days, as he died an abrupt and mysterious death at the Starnberg See on the outskirts of München. Many of the interior rooms remain undecorated to this date; only 14 rooms were finished before Ludwig's death. The nearby Marienbrücke (Marie's Bridge), named after Marie of Prussia, provides a beautiful side view of Neuschwanstein.

This castle is claimed to be the inspiration for the Walt-Disney logo. This castle also featured in the Hollywood adaptation (starring Clint Eastwood) of the Alistair McLean´s novel "Where Eagles Dare".

Schloss Hohenschwangau (Castle of the High Swan County) was the childhood residence of King Ludwig II and was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria. Hohenschwangau was the official summer and hunting residence of Maximilian, his wife Marie of Prussia and their two sons.

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