Praveen’s Journal

I would like to share the GNU/Linux tutorial for Beginners in Tamil written by MK Saravanan. This is a bit outdated document. Still, it holds good for beginning in Linux. It would be of much use for Tamil people who are not much fluent in English.

ஆங்கிலத்தில் அதிக புலமை இல்லாதவர்கள் லினக்ஸ் பற்றி அறிய இந்த கோப்புகள் பெரிதும் உதவியாக இருக்கும்.

• GNU/Linux tutorial for beginners - Part 1 (க்னு/லினக்ஸ் தொடக்கக் குறிப்புகள் - பகுதி 1)
• GNU/Linux tutorial for beginners - Part 2 (க்னு/லினக்ஸ் தொடக்கக் குறிப்புகள் - பகுதி 2)
• GNU/Linux tutorial for beginners - Part 3 (க்னு/லினக்ஸ் தொடக்கக் குறிப்புகள் - பகுதி 3)

Note: These files use Unicode encoding. The orginal version was written using TAB and TSCII encoding. Also if you try to open the above files in a browser, all browsers may not display it properly. So, download the file locally and use a unicode capable text editor to view the file.

Have you ever heard a mallu (Malayaalee) rap. If not, here (608kb) is one for you. Here is the lyrics for the same.

Courtesy: Suraj

I am adding this entry to claim this blog in my technorati profile. Technorati Profile

Today, March 30 is a special day for a family. It is of my friend Vishal’s. Today is the birthday of all the four persons of his family; him, his brother, his father and his mother. I have never seen a case like this before. It is a very rare one. I wish Vishal and his family a very happy birthday and many more happy returns of the day.

Here is a couple of Ganguly humors that I have received over e-mail.

4 simple steps to cook Maggi

Step 1: boil one cup of water

Step 2: as soon as ganguly goes for batting, put the noodles in the boiled water and put the tastemaker.

Step 3: stir till ganguly is onfield.

Step 4: As soon as ganguly is back in pavilion, your noodles r ready to eat.

Phone call for Ganguly!

India Pakistan Match has started. As to be expected, it’s a charged up atmosphere and the heat is really on!

India is put in to bat. As to be expected, three wickets down, for a measly score.

There is phone call for Ganguly, at the Dressing Room. The Team Manager picks up the call.

“Hello ! I am Ganguly’s friend speaking . Can I talk to him now ?”

The Team Manager replies : “Sorry ! He has just gone in to bat . ”

The caller replies “No problem . I’ll hold the line ! “

I already had a geek code long back (before a couple of years). I forgot where I stored it Therefore I have created a new one (which better suits now). It well it is here.

GE/CS d s+:+ a– C++ UL++ P+ L++ E W+++ N o K- w++ O M V– PS PE++ Y+ PGP+ t- 5 X+ R+ tv- b+ DI++ D+ G e++ h! r– !y

If I plan to use this in my signature, I should probably phrase it as

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GE/CS d s+:+ a-- C++ UL++ P+ L++ E W+++ N o K- w++ O M V-- PS PE++ Y+ PGP+ t- 5 X+ R+ tv- b+ DI++ D+ G e++ h! r-- !y
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

My blogger <code /> is B1 d t+ k s u– f+ i o x– e+ l+ c-. What is yours? Find out.

Indian stock market vitnessed the attack of bears yesterday. BSE SENSEX slid down by 143 points from the previous close to touch 6368 on yesterday’s close. It is getting closer to what we saw in the early Jan crash of this year. There is no specific reason for this fall. The most common reason given is that the US interest rates which could retard the FII investments. Whatever the reason be, it is going to take a long time to touch 6900+ levels again. Since I was not involved in trading last few weaks, I have lost some tens of thousands. It’s all in the game

Finally I have managed to get the IP to Country plugin up and running. The difficulty was because of the lack in priveliege to load data from CSV file into MySQL. The IP to Country database was in CSV format and I can’t load it on my server. Later, I have created a db on my local machine, loaded the file, taken a SQL dump of it and uploaded it on my server. The SQL dump (last updated on March 1, 2005) is available here. I thought I could share this to reduce the pain of others who come across the similar issue. BTW, I am not sure if the license of IP to Country database allows to share it this way. If found illegal, I will remove the file for download.

This plugin needs a small correction in the way of handling it for WP 1.5. Use this block of code in your “comments.php” file of your current theme by the side of the comment poster’s name.

Update (16 Aug 2005) - The MySQL dump of the latest version (15 Aug 2005) of the IP to Country database can be found here.

One of the forward that I received today. I strongly agree with this letter.

March 29, 2005

Dear Dada,

I have been and remain one of the greatest fans of your batting and more importantly your captaincy. Your captaincy has been one of the most important contributions to the current Indian team, and you and John Wright’s coaching have transformed a country with talent to a country wanting to aggressively go for the victory. This in itself has been an invaluable contribution and the results for the most part have showed. Where the side would once upon a time have meekly given in to the opposition or sulked about past defeats, the team is willing to put the past behind and appears hungry for wins since you took over the helm. Unfortunately, this letter is not about that.

What has become increasingly disturbing over the past few seasons has been your precipitous decline as a batsman. I am not one to believe that good batting can be a fluke. There were truly hints of genius in your batting many years ago. And there was a reason why opposition bowlers feared you. That was not some fortuitous event, but the fact today is that you have truly slumped as a batsman.

You claimed in a recent interview that it is just a small bad patch, but I beg to differ. You have not scored runs in a very long time and your reaction in being dismissed in the second innings of the third test made it very clear that you are well aware of it. In case you have not seen the numbers already, I am attaching below your recent test scores. Next to it, are also Anil Kumble’s.

As is plainly obvious, for the past two years (since the World Cup essentially), you have scored well below your usual average. The pertinent column is the one with the statistics without Bangladesh (for they truly cannot be considered a competitive Test playing team yet). Your average is only 80% of what is used to be and is no where near the 50 mark that a modern specialist batsman should have.

By comparison, Kumble has performed more consistently and in fact scored twice as many runs as you did in the latest Pakistan series. You cumulatively scored less than what a batsman in your position should be easily scoring in an innings. This is a cause for concern. A batsman at your level is expected to be scoring a century every series or at least every other series, not one in two years.

More importantly however is the fact that you are currently taking up a spot in the playing eleven that could go to another batsman that could add to the team’s total number of runs and help them develop as a batsman for the country.

Two names that immediately come to mind are Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif. They are very talented batsmen who are being made to sit out in the prime of their careers. That is unfortunate not only for them but for the millions of fans who follow their beloved team. As you can see from the table below, Yuvraj Singh deserves the place more.

In conclusion, your captaincy has been greatly appreciated and needed and there still is a role for you to play for the team. Unfortunately however, only eleven can be on the playing team and all of them must perform for the team to win. The third test called for a captain’s innings and you failed to deliver, yet again.

Sir, there is something in all the boos that you got. It is the ardent appeal of a nation for you to recognize that something has gone terribly wrong and that you need to step down and come back to form. For the love of the team that you have helped shape, you must move away from international cricket and bring back the left-hand genius that you once were. For I can no longer afford to lose any more bets to my friends that the next innings will mark your return.

A True Fan,
Sulabh Dhanuka