Failure is by Design

In the month of december, Helsinki city received under 25 hours of sunlight, a little less from last year but 3 times more than 2000, the all time low was in 1987 when Helsinki received only 6 hours of light in the month, well technically the shortest day is 5 hours 40 minutes, but overcast conditions means that the whole month is some shade of grey...

In other news, this is the warmest winter so far, warmer than last year as well, to compare last year by the mid of the month, the seas were frozen while this almost repeated this year when suddenly temperatures dropped after the new year and we were enveloped in now ever where (the above picture was taken at that time)... however this was all shortlived and today the seas have thawed and snow is gone... one cannot say for sure if we are already seeing erratic weather patterns due to global warming... some reports in finland are saying some wild flowers are already in bloom after the cold-warm temperatures... these flowers only bloom around easter...

( You are amazing!!! )

check it out via this link:

http://www.flickr.com/gp/76904097@N00/D5kEq7

slideshow:

This year I set a records of sorts... by traveling to not one or two or a few cities in europe but many...

• St. Petersburg
  
• Moscow
  
• Amsterdam
  
• New Delhi
  
• Munich
  
• Nordkapp (Rovaniemi, Inari, Kirkenes ...)
  
• Tampere
  
• Copenhagen 
• Tallinn
  
• Cologne
  
• Spa-Francorchamps 
• Budapest 
• Wien (Vienna) 

Snapshots from the trips:



Work-wise, research work has been going on smoothly it's been a tad hectic in the last month or two, but it was mostly to wrap it up.

Study wise,  research took a air bit of time this last few months and I have only taken a course in the last 6 months... I should wrap this up early next year and soon thereafter the thesis. I hope before the start of the halfyear, I should be fairly done with it... then I can look at future prospects ... thats still undecided...

any thing else... I think that wraps up the year, work and play... thats all there is to it...

When you can't engineer a solution, reverse engineer the problem :) ~ Varun

Well long gone are the chirping of the birds, the warm sunshine and festivity of summer. In a short period of time the daylight has been reduced to one third of what it was at the height of summer and cold months are here...

Work has been a tad hectic meaning that I have been running around a bit... maybe in circles as well... but this is where research is both exciting and laden with perils and risks... the next month is exciting as the project is drawing to a close, and so are the exams - I cannot run away from them any further... while I paint a dark picture, things are a bit more sundry than what I put in words, there are pre-christmas parties and many other festivities in the coming month... but I guess for once I will have to study a tad bit and be done with it...

शुभ दीपावली या दीवाली की शुभकामनाए!
Today is a festive day in India, it's the festival of Diwali: also known as the "Festival of Lights". It is celebrated to welcome "Lord Ram (Sita and Lakshman)" victorious from their war over Ravan and also culminates the end of their 14 years of exile.

This picture also doubles up as a remembrance for those killed in the bizarre shooting in a Finish School in Jokela (just outside of Helsinki).

A friend of mine (László Kozma) at the university just hacked up a new mashup, it's called the Wikipedia Vision (inspired by flickrvision.) that shows live edits by anonymous users on Wikipedia.

bonus link: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/10/wikipediavision.html

His earlier claim to fame was Fisheye Tabs (my post about it)

हिन्दू कैलेंडर के हिसाब से आज मेरा जनम दिन है| में करवा चौथ के शुभ अवसर पर पैदा हुआ था|
और इस शुभ अवसर पर मैंने अपने लीए ऐक नया मोबाइल फ़ोन खरीदा, नोकीया न९५|

Well I have been a bit busy lately, and a therefore a bit slow in updating. I traveled to Budapest for a Workshop and had blast there in all respects. In unrelated news, I was happy that Kimi Won, Ferrari Won!



Here are some snapshots from Budapest and Wien (where I spent a few days because Serbian embassy hadn't made a decision, yet on my VISA.)

Budapest:

A wonderful picture of the Hungarian parliament (Magyarország) taken from Buda Hill.

Budapest Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vrs/sets/72157602401212148/

Wien:

I indulged in some music in Wien, I went to the Mozart-Strauss Concert at the Schoenbrunn Castle, it was a wonderful experience even if it set me back by more than a few 10s euros.

in Wien , I met some fellow backpackers from USA, Australia, France, England and we had a blast!


Atop the balcony of the Schoenbrunn Castle, with people I met at the youth hostel.

Bonus Pic:

This is a hoarding to an Indian fabric shop in the Wien city-center (stone throw from Stephensdome).

Austrian Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vrs/sets/72157600120538744/

In other news I bought an N95, think of it as an early birthday present! http://europe.nokia.com/A4323278 and called it Irene!

Winter time is here... days are shortening... and there is a lot to do... I think work wise winters are the most productive here, in Finland.      

I am off to Hungary and Serbia the week after, will be in Budapest on the 12th and then be in Serbia (Novi Sad and Belgrade) a few days later for the rest of the week and back in Budapest until mid-week 43.

As you all know Budapest is the Cultural center of Europe (maybe, Eastern Europe - but let's presume for the moment that it is and I have already been to Paris). I am really excited to go there, it was one of my first cities on the checklist. This and Praha (Prague)... It will be nice to meet up with my Hungarian friends and enjoy their hospitality :D

Furthermore, I hope to begin my Balkan odyssey....with Serbia (Novi Sad and Belgrade) and maybe in a few years would be done and I'd be back for my second turn...

Pointer to self, visit Santorini, Caldera in Greece!

One of my friends Kosmas (from Greece) recently read Shantaram and sent across two quotes which he liked the most from the book:

I copy them verbatim:

"But the soul has no culture. The soul has no nations.The soul has no colour or accent or way of life. The soul is forever. The soul is one. And when the heart has its moment of truth and sorrow, the soul can't be stilled."

One of the reasons why we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow. But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you.

No words can describe the race, it was surreal! I was a few 10m from the cars and the sound and the feeling was exhilarating and good company made the experience more enjoyable.
Apart from the F1 race, in the morning Spa hosted the GP2 which Karun Chadhok won and the Porsche Mobil 1 championship!

Guest Pass: http://www.flickr.com/gp/76904097@N00/9m5kq0
and if that doesn't work then: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vrs/sets/72157602061545187/

Kimi Räikkönen Won, Massa second!, unfortunately Hamilton was 4th

I am so glad i didn't goto Monza, It was a Ferrari day from the word go at the Spa! it's one of my favourite circuits, this and Nürburgring are my favourite circuits.



high res: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1023/1413087557_b2b71bdbb8_o.jpg

Copyright of the picture lies with me :) no illegal copies!

For the last few months we have heard that Google is secretly building it's own phone, much like Apple's iPhone. However I believe that Google may not want to build it's own phone...

Google as I see it is builds applications, services - and this is where its strength lies, wouldn't it be better for Google to just build a service that almost all smartphones can use and therefore have a larger customer base?

We have already seen some of the bundling of Google Apps with Samsung, LG phones in the past year. These applications are also available for other handsets... so Google follows an inclusive policy, a model which includes almost all networked devices, be it handhelds, mobiles, PCs, Macs etc.

However, Google might want to create a niche (application/service), by partnering with certain Networks, Device Manufacturers, Operating Systems, it could leverage it's expertise in end-user services/application/interaction and build applications for the future which could influence changes at all levels of the data flow due to such a partnership and also vice-versa.

For an example Location based services are a good start. Google already knows a lot about it's users and what they (may) want. Networks almost know where these users are. It's just an oddity that the device and the networks are not sharing this information (I think Gmaps in the US already does this!, but i think the user needs to enter his current location), Google can exploit its position in the market to bring about the change and thus provide services to the user which might be useful to them! Or a Jabber-SIP calls which pit GTalk with Skype (maybe better services than fring.com). I am pretty sure there are many other ideas that people would like to implement and what would be better is if Google provide APIs for developers to produce Mobile Mashups :)

I would rather have a Google application/services powered phone than a Google phone! What do you think?

Apple on the other hand wishes to build very usable devices which can make adults behave like children and friends turn foe, it plays on people's envy... owners pride others envy!!

NB: this is just speculation! I have no idea what the above mentioned companies are actually doing!

NB2:(06.11.2007 0125hrs EET) Google announced that there would be no GPhone, atleast for now. http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/wheres-my-gphone.html

the D40X

Wireless Mice these days are based either on Bluetooth or some other 2.4 GHz wireless technology, most of these come with dongles and some of them carry it as a clip on. So, it easy to stow both of them away while traveling, and you cannot be without either.

One logitech design I noted, that when you clip on the dongle, it powers down the mouse... Yipee! power saving.. but is this very useful, well it covers the case when you travel etc and forget to switch off the mouse. However, what happens when you forget to switch it off when you retire to the bed late in the night?

I wonder, why the mouse cannot just detect that there is no motion (been idle for say 15 mins or more...) and shutdown itself... well it clearly is meant to detect motion and how difficult can it be to note that the mouse is idle??? I'm presuming that the hardware is capable of detecting motion and the absence of it... furthermore why can't they have a hardware idle timer incorporated into it to detect idle times and power down the mouse???!!! Sometimes I forget to use the wireless mouse and continue to use the touch pad (usually realize it when my fingers start aching!)

Or, I could just buy 4 rechargeable batteries and hope that I don't forget to re-charge them... 2 for use and 2 for charging... but a better power saving mechanism would save a lot of these troubles...  

It was last year that Al Gore released his study (or the study that he funded) on global warming, and well last winter already people (news agencies) were showing how poor the winter was in Europe, green grass in Finland in december... well I think this year is going to be just the opposite, it's going to be a harsh winter, it's going to make up for it's poor show last year (like the law of averages)... well it's been an exceptionally hot summer this year, already (south) Spain and Greece have seen over 40 deg C.

However what makes me think this hypothesis is pure intuition, sorry no statistical data to prove, and that Helsinki's temperature has dropped from 25+ degrees in the middle of the month to about 10-12 degrees during the day, and as the days are becoming shorter there is considerable change in day and night temperature, well the lower limits have fallen from about 16-18 to 6-8 degrees in the same period.

It's about 4 degrees at the moment... and well it's just the beginning of Autumn... It's September today... another week and classes will begin... time surely flies... it was just last year that I arrived here and it was a pleasant 20 degrees during the day...

"Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it." ~Richard Feynman

When I first arrived in finland, eating a 10 euro meal was like Oh My God!, not because it was expensive but I was directly eating up my savings (or my parents) so, was living life with the least of indulgences... however it doesn't mean that I didn't "party"... a glance at my "party calendar" (oh yes I have one... just for statistical reasons :) ) shows that I had quite a bit of fun.

Anyway I digress from the point, I started work in January at the laboratory, it was part-time (20hr of work + study), so I was not anymore eating into savings but living on a balance with little or no capacity to save.

Then came April, and I was working full-time (it took sometime for the work permit to come through) and then I was steam rolling though high-life (:P not quite though)... St Petersburg, Moscow, India, Munchen, Nordkapp, Copenhagen, Tallinn soon fell victim to me as I had enough dough to conquer it all... I have been raising my quality of living, no more living like an Indian student, satin bed sheets, crazy-cool clothes, accessories, computer gadgets, rugs, candle stands, 30 euro steaks once a week (yes, it's almost certain that I indulge in this extravaganza each week), movies at theaters, more parties, hosting parties etc...

Now I am standing on a cross-road, I have to make a big decision... hmmm... not the relationship kind but well maybe a relationship kind, I have to buy a DSLR camera... this will set my savings back... back to null, hopefully not into red though... i.e unless I go in for the Nikon D80, however I am caught in the Nikon (D80:€1100 or D40X:~€800) vs Canon (400D:~€800, aka Rebel XTi) debate

(i.e. wait for Nikon D80 prices to come down, in europe it costs abt 1100 euros)... and I have about a week to decide - well it makes sense to buy it before th SPA F1 race, if not then I can always wait some time longer until an opportunity like this presents itself again... or maybe some friend traveling from the US could pick one up, I save a lot because of the euro advantage :D

update from an unrelated news, The Skype workshop (at the beginning of the month) was amazing, Tallinn was rocking!!! I so love Estonia! Maybe I should really contemplate joining them...

This last week in Helsinki, it was the "Art goes to Kapakka (Bars)" festival which culminated with the "Art night" on friday and the city center was abuzz with people, bands playing at street corners, tents and stages sprang up out of nowhere. The city center hosted about 200 free events and comparable number of paid events as well... it was a night that I cannot forget soon.... there were so many people, it was like a "mela", except people were self organizing and you could still see order in the chaos... there was no visible hurry in the crowd... see what you see... I am kinda short on words to describe the festivities... I throughly enjoyed the night!

UPDATE: I bought the D40X
UPDATE2: I traveled in October to Wien and Budapest, Serbia missed out due to VISA reasons
UPDATE3: I bought the N95.
UPDATE4: Savings? = 0; solace: no debt on credit-cards :D!

वरुण रणजीत सिहँ

varun ranjit singh

now I have my keyboard configured for english, finnish and hindi :D

btw google's transliteration thing is not really helpful especially in writing my name... it took too much effort for it and and I think it closest comes to is वरुण रणजीत सिंह which might be correct as well...

On an unrelated note, most indians find it easy to pronounce my name be it north or south indian, and is able to easily spell it aswell. On the other hand the europeans find it quite difficult, in the past 23 I have never had a short name but now I have many

Warum (the german's confuse my name with this word because it sounds *almost* the same and in german the word means Why/What?

Then there was a canadian girl who took the name to a whole new level by pronouncing it Vrooom! (as in like the sound of a speeding car, roll the r's and stress the o's - I personally liked this one! ;) )

Then there is the Varoon 5 (the Americans like to stress on the u's and it sounds similar to the pop/rock band- Maroon 5).

There are other variants as well but these 3 are the most common, like the chinese who are unable to roll the "r's" call me Valun!