Shaastra Google SEO event...

SHAASTRA is the annual technical festival of IIT Madras.
Shaastra this year has launched challenging and awe-inspiring events like Google SEO Event, Breakthrough 2006, AI wars, Project X, Simulation Championship etc…

Shaastra Thamesportal Zalecenia Autophytes Invernesshire is the required search string on which the participants need to do SEO for the GOOGLE SEO event!

A random set of two of of these ( like Shaastra Thamesportal or Shaastra Zalecenia or Shaastra Autophytes or Shaastra Invernesshire or Thamesportal Shaastra or Thamesportal Zalecenia or Thamesportal Autophytes or Thamesportal Invernesshire or Zalecenia Shaastra or Zalecenia Thamesportal or Zalecenia Autophytes or Zalecenia Invernesshire or Autophytes Shaastra or Autophytes Thamesportal or Autophytes Zalecenia or Autophytes Invernesshire or Invernesshire Shaastra or Invernesshire Thamesportal or Invernesshire Zalecenia or Invernesshire Autophytes )will be searched at a time and the rank will be averaged.

The aim of the SEO is to create a website which will top Google’s rankings when a given search string is used.
Website: http://shaastra.org

This website will give you information on how you can be a part of Shaastra. It will also tell you how to get here and issues on food and accommodation. Shaastra is ISO 9001:2000 certified and that in simple terms means that they document everything they do, they anticipate and avoid problems and don’t repeat past mistakes.

Oh and btw, if you own a blog or a website of your own, pls pls pls provide a link to my website http://meetnaren.seo.iitm.ac.in from your page. My site aint even figuring anywhere in the 1st 100 results!!! Damn!!! Maybe SEO aint my cup of tea :-( I am not gonna give up that soon... The contest ends only on Oct 31st... I'm gonna fight till the last day. Atleast to get it into the 1st 100 :-)

Mainframe musings

For the first time, I'm getting a bit technical on my blog. So, if you are not into mainframes, refrain from reading this post.

We had a problem moving a module into ENDEVOR two days back. The error we got was
DDIO FILE IS FULL.

This occurred because everytime we add a module to endevor, it gets added to XPEDITOR which refers to "DDIO" files (sometimes called Symbolics) for the source listing. When the DDIO file reaches the maximum extents allocated, we get this error. We decided to delete some file listings from the DDIO file to make space for the new ones. Now there are two ways to do this:

1) Get into XPEDITOR and delete the source listings you want to delete.

Get into UTILITIES
---------------------- XPEDITER/TSO 7.4 - PRIMARY MENU ----------------------
OPTION ===> 5

0 DEFAULTS - Specify defaults
1 PREPARE - Prepare programs for debugging
2 TSO - Debug programs interactively under TSO
3 BATCH - Debug programs interactively under batch

5 UTILITIES - Perform utility functions

C CODE COVERAGE - Code Coverage Reports and Utilities

T TUTORIAL - Display information about XPEDITER/TSO
X EXIT - Exit primary menu

Profile ===> DEFAULT - *** NO DESCRIPTION ***

For Online Technical Support Reference: http://frontline.compuware.com
COPYRIGHT (C) 2005, Compuware Corporation. All rights reserved.
(800) 538-7822

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Select DDIO FILE FACILITY.
----------------------- XPEDITER/TSO - UTILITIES MENU -----------------------
OPTION ===> 3

1 REGION SIZE - Display memory available for testing
2 LIST ALLOCATES - Display files allocated to your test session
3 DDIO FILE FACILITY - Create/Format/Copy/Export and list DDIO file(s)
5 CONVERT PROFILE - Convert XPEDITER/TSO release 5.1 user profiles
6 CONVERT INCLUDE - Convert include scripts to new qualification rules
7 MERGE - Merge profiles from alternate users

Press ENTER to process or enter END command to terminate
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Enter your DDIO file name
---------- CSS UTILITIES - Source Listing File Facility -------- CSS V8.2.0
COMMAND ===>
Commands: SEtup DDIOCALC (DDIO calculator)
DD (DDIO tutorial) SD (SD/DB tutorial) LP (LP tutorial)

Processing Options for S/Member List: Source Browsing Options:
Confirm Delete ===> YES (Yes or No) Unit ===> VIO
Show print setup ===> YES (Yes or No) Blocking ===> 10
Language ===> ENGLISH (ENGLISH/JAPANESE/USAMIX/USAUC)

SEL Options: C (Create) I (Info) S (Member List) A (Adv Function)
M (Move/Copy/Export/Import)

SEL ---- Source Listing Shared Directories/Databases/DDIO files ----
_ _______________________________________________________________
S (1) your DDIO file name here
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the next screen you will be presented with a listing of all the modules within the dataset. You can delete the modules you wish to free up some space.

2) The other way to do this is to use CWDDSUTL utility in a batch job. A sample job is shown below:

//FORMAT EXEC PGM=CWDDSUTL,REGION=1024K
//ABNLDFIL DD DSN=your DDIO file name here,DISP=SHR
//SYSUDUMP DD SYSOUT=*
//ABNLREPT DD SYSOUT=*
//ABNLPARM DD *
DELETE YEARSOLD=2
/*
This will delete all the listings in the DDIO file which are 2 or more years old. Similarly you can also use DAYSOLD and MONTHSOLD parameters too.
You may also use DEL RN=nnn where nnn is the list number of the module you want to delete. This list number can be obtained from the XPED screen where all the modules in the DDIO are listed.

How to improve your memory

Few days back I was hanging out with my friends and one of them was yet to arrive. We wanted to call him up and my friend asked his number when I just told the number without referring into my mobile phone. "Epdi da phone number lam gnabagam vechirukka nee?" he asked. That invoked a thought process in my mind. I had to ask myself, "How do I manage to remember numbers well when most others are not able to?". I figured out some points which I consider are the reasons behind my "good" memory.

Your brain can remember pictures more easily than text
I found that when I recalled that phone number, I wasn't trying to remember the sequence of digits, I just remembered the image of that number on my mobile. This led me to conclude that I remember numbers not as sequences of digits, but I just imagine them being written on a paper and try to have a snapshot of what was written stored in my memory. When I want to recall that number, the image of that number on the paper comes to my mind and I just read the number from the image I just recalled. I didn't realise this fact until I had to find an answer to that question of how I remember numbers.
I dunno if this is what is referred to as "photographic" memory, but believe me, it goes a long way in helping you remember simple things.

Thought backtracking
Another technique that I think helps improve your mind's ability to retain thoughts longer is backtracking. Have you experienced a situation where you were sitting idle and thinking about something that leads to another and you end up having no memory of where your thought process started??? In such a situation, do not just give up on finding where you started thinking from. Successfully backtracking to your initial thought improves your brain's ability to retrive the most abstract of thoughts in the back of your mind.

Math does help
I'm basically good at numbers. Not too good, but good enough. When I look at any number, I just try to arrive at some relation between the numbers instinctively. Dunno when and how I started this, but it just helps me keep my mind active at all times. Whenever I walk on the road and look at the number plates of vehicles I find myself doing some stupid calculations to get to some relation that leads me nowhere.
I saw this number "TN-09 7806" the other day. This is what I started thinking - "7806 -> 78 - 06 = 72, which is actually a multiple of 09". So what, you may ask. That is what I'm also thinking. Doesn't lead me anywhere, but I think doing such simple math keeps your mind active and can make you good at numbers.

It is a sad fact to note that my memory is just fading away like anything nowadays, dunno why :(
So I just wanted to inform you folks of the above things before I forget them ;)

SOK - Shock!

Be warned, spoilers ahead!

There are some movies that excel in every single department. And still, you have that feeling of emptiness, telling you that something is missing, giving you that dissatisfaction that makes you wonder why. Sillunu Oru Kadhal belongs to that genre. The music is captivating, the camera mesmerising, the editing perfect and the story too, is refreshingly different with the best possible climax. And yet it lacks something.

In this movie, Surya joins hands with director Krishna, who worked as an assistant under director Gautham. If you are fiercely romantic, or a die-hard fan of Surya (or Jyothika), you would just love this movie. You might even watch it more than once. But if you're the neutral viewer who doesn't wanna take sides, you wouldn't consider watching it the second time. You might not even like the movie in the first place.

Romance being the main theme of the story, there have been some unnecessary "cutey - sweety" scenes added here and there. And it's too obvious and made up. These scenes stand out from the story separately - not blending with it. If you're the type that loves the mushy stuff, you'll probably like it, but I was totally exasperated. Looks like they wanted to reason out why they had kept a title like that and added such scenes in the movie!

The performances by Surya and Jyothika need special mention. Their off-screen chemistry does reflect on screen too. The emotions of a wife as a result of the knowledge of not being the first woman to stay in her husband's heart have been brought out by Jyothika really well. Surya excels both as the responsible husband of Jyothika and the arrogant lover of Bhoomika. Bhoomika, though not very expressive, manages to play her role just right. Vadivelu fails to impress much, but Santhanam, with his witty, sarcastic one-liners is hilarious.

R.D.Rajasekar's camera, as usual, is a feast to the eyes. I expected that the song "New york nagaram urangum naeram" would be taken in the night (going by the lyrics, I have every reason to do so), but it's not so. But still, to say the camera work in that song is extraordinary would be an understatement. Add to this Anthony's editing and you get a song that you wouldn't mind watching a thousand times. Reminds me of "Suttum vizhi" from Ghajini which also had amazing visuals with the same Rajasekar - Antony combination.

On the whole, I wasn't satisfied with this movie very much, though all the elements of the movie were good. Maybe because I had too much expectations about it. Maybe there's too much romance in this movie that I got bored. Maybe there was too much crying in the second half. Watch it not expecting much and maybe you'll be satisfied. Maybe.

Kaelunga, kaelunga...

If you’re in Chennai, there’s a very high probability that you’ve had a chance to listen to this great radio channel called “Suryan FM”. In case you’re one of the unlucky few, tune in to 93.5 Mhz and you’ll know why I call it great. My bus driver is kind enough to let me listen to the charming and lively voices of the RJs of this wonderful channel.

I board the morning bus feeling energetic and lively from the home-made breakfast I had. Then I realize I have to put up with the torture of listening to this channel. I try to sleep and with great difficulty manage to do so. By then the channel had done enough damage to my ears. There is this amazing programme where (supposedly) a Tam-Bram guy (kittu maama) and an ultra-modern girl (susi??? maami) are having a conversation. The most irritating part of this programme is the accent these guys use to imitate the maama and maami. Just where in the world did they get the people for this programme??? Both of them suck big time!!! At times I just feel like jumping out of the bus and going to office by MTC.

In the evening it gets worse than ever. Anytime you board the bus in the evening, there’s always a programme available to take a toll on your already ruptured ears. You have this RJ called Toshila (I first heard that as Tequila) whose primary motive in life is to make guys ready for any arguments they can possibly pick with their spouses. How else would you explain questions like, “What would your wife do if you accidentally forget your wedding anniversary?” or “What would you do if your mom and wife disagree over something?” What in the world is she gonna do knowing all such stupid stuff??? And I have to mention this: if you think only the RJs and programmes in the channel are stupid, you would say the listeners who call in to share their “experiences” or to answer the idiotic questions are dim-witted jobless idle morons.

Once I decided to avoid this stupid programme and intentionally boarded a bus which started a little later. I repented my decision very badly. I felt Toshila was far, far better than this guy who calls himself Funky Shankar. It would be apt to call him Monkey Shankar. He thinks he is a great DJ and does awfully horrible remixes to such wonderful songs. I feel there should be a censorship board not only for the content being aired on the channel, but also to the songs broadcasted. This guy also has a very made-up accent, trying to have a cool attitude (again trying to sound like a DJ) but in vain.

And it doesn’t stop there. Once I came in the night cab service and guess what… I was so tired and was trying to sleep when this guy called “Panappaakkam Sugumar” came in to drive my sleep away. This guy tells some meaningless poems (written by God knows who) with a voice sounding like he’s suffering from constipation. I was being pushed to the limits of tolerance!!!

Thankfully, nowadays, my iPod gives me company to keep all these useless stuff off my ears. If you are one of the unfortunate people who have to put up with this channel everyday, I feel really sorry for you. Suryan FM can add another phrase to their tagline…
“Kaelunga, kaelunga, kaetukittae irunga, naaasamaaa ponga!!!”