The 3X3X3 cube

It’s been some time since I wrote about my cubes , Let me introduce my basic pair .Two Rubik’s 3X3X3 cubes .These are the first cubes that started my interest in them. My first solve took about 30 or so minutes. But I was not able to repeat the solve again .so I sat down one day at my favorite coffee day, the one in Ginger hotel in Whitefield . The place is open air lounge and has an amazing ambience. Cool winds and no disturbance expect a couple on a discrete table , really helped me in the getting a good mood .After about 4 hours and 3 coffees down , I figured a way in which I was able to consistently solve the cube in less than 3 minutes. Later I reduced the time from minutes to seconds. Some techniques on the internet helped me in increasing the speed of solves. Currently I am hovering around 45 to 60 seconds. I will introduce my other cubes in my upcoming posts.
I bought my first cube in a TOYSRUS at Boise, Idaho for about 11 dollars.But the rest of the 3X3X3 I own are bought at total mall , sarjapura bangalore for about Rs.250.And please if you are serious buy this one.Funskool markets Rubiks Cube in India.The Chinese ones that are sold from Rs.25 onwards are a waste of money if you are a serious solver . They last only that much. try speed cubing and it will fly to pieces...none the less its a good place to start and thats that...

Gangleader For a Day

HI Folks, started this book recently after some good break of two week after my last book (Thanks to the GO Live Activities in my project… ;-)..).This Book was recommended by my friend Jayakanthan, who said that if I liked the Book Freakonomics by Stephen D Levitt, you will definitely like this one .In fact he was right all the way. This Book does deals with one of the topics discussed in Freakonomics, the sociology, Demography and Economics of Gangsters in Streets of Chicago’s Ghettos (the so called ‘projects’).In most Parts, this books is a narrative of the author’s Experience in the most poorest parts of Chicago and how the society has given up on certain sections of itself for good (Even in a Country like USA). Sudhir Venkatesh draws the stark difference in paradigm that marks the understanding of the academician sociologists who theorize about poverty in black communities to the actual ground reality in the day to day life of gangsters, Hustlers, prostitutes and Families that live in these neighborhoods. A must read for guys who need some insight into the Sociology and Economics of Poverty.

Ganesha in Copper

This is the second Ganesha in the series. The glass work is slightly opaque as metallic copper shade is used as key shade with some details added using permanent marker. I did not use metallic shades much. This was the first try .I really loved it for the sepia tinted shade and the design .As I remember, this took much time to finish than others.

Thoughts on Music

"After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that
I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my
own. Music always seems to me to produce that effect. It creates for
one a past of which one has been ignorant, and fills one with a sense
of sorrows that have been hidden from one's tears. I can fancy a man
who led a perfectly commonplace life, hearing by chance some curious
piece of music, and suddenly discovering that his soul, without his
being conscious of it, had passed through terrible experiences, and
known fearful joys, or wild romantic loves, or great renunciations"

-- Oscar Wilde

Back to School ..for a Fun filled day..

On Thursday (09-04-2009, 11:00 am to 1:00 PM), I went to Konappana Agrahara Government school, as part of the volunteering club activities in collaboration with ELCIA Trust .The school had about 190 children and it was their last day at school before summer vacations. This is the second event that we are doing in collaboration with ELCIA trust. We usually conduct several activities to groups of students, this time around we had the following events.
Drawing - indoor activity - 20 kids - all standards
GK quiz - indoor activity - 25 kids - 5th - 7th - standards
Good habits - indoor activity - 40 kids - all standards
Ring/badminton- outdoor activity - 30 kids - above 4th standard
Volleyball- outdoor activity - 30 kids - above 4th standards
Chess - indoor activity - 15 kids above 4th standard
Music- indoor activity - 10 kids - all standards
It was good fun.We had about 30 volunteers conducting and co-coordinating the events .we had got some gifts and snacks for all the kids .That was a fitting last day at school.

From My Experiments with Life

From My Experiments with Life

From My Experiments with Life

The Videos are linked below
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Ganesha in Orange

This is a glass colour rendering of Ganesha, My favourite diety subject.I like the different shapes and designs in which he is represented.I use only solvent based glass colours for painting they are richer in colour,glosssy and more permanent.Arty(Tristar coleman) was the brand I used but it is not sold anymore in that name.The liners are camlin.They have better consistency and flow, two things very essential for the solid lining.

Pencil Sketching : Soha

Hi folks , today I met my friend and roomie in college Ravi.He is an avid photographer and has a canon EOS 450D.Since I had my old sketchbook,he took some shots of the sketches.I wanted to upload one of them here.Many more shall follow soon.This one is a sketch of Soha Ali Khan.
His flickr feed is below.very good photography....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sravi_in

How to Jailbreak an Ipod Touch

This post contains instructions for the Ipod users who want to jailbreak their ware .Well I jailbroke my touch just 12days after I bought it. But that’s not something that I expect from all folks .I am writing down the generic method. It might be slightly different for each firmware.But if you are in doubt, Please feel free to post your queries in comment and I will be glad to clarify them to the best of my understanding .since mine was a first gen touch, I have upgraded the firmware about 4 times as and when apple releases them and also jailbroke them each time.
The Easiest steps of Jailbreaking the touch
Things to download
Quickpwn
Firmware version
Step: 1
Download all the required software . For Quickpwn you can go to their official page at http://www.quickpwn.com/downloads
Please read site for supported versions and tool version .Usually wait for a few days after apple releases an upgrade to the firmware and quickpwn version for the same is released.
As for the firmware packs its available in the same site or u can update them via iTunes .The bottom line is you need the *.ipsw file with you before you use the Quickpwn to do the deed.
Step: 2
Install the Quickpwn
Step: 3
Connect the ipod touch to the computer
Step: 4
Start quickpwn and follow the step. Choose the right firmware file and proceed.
Choose both cydia and installer. I will tell you more on these guys in a later post
Follow the steps and voila, you have jailbroken your touch.

The Fairy on the Mushroom

I used to do some Glass Paintings .Me and my friend suresh used to Paint a lot on Glass. We even used to sell some from time to time. But mostly I was given away as gifts on birthday to friends. Some of the Photos have survived the ravages of time. So I thought ill post some of them in the blog along with the background on them. For the Folks who do glass painting and others who just enjoy good art. This one is one of my all time favorites. The fairy on the mushroom always lingered in my mind. Thought I will share the same with folks.Please note that the frame is actually rendered using photoshop

Things That Make My Life a Bit Better

Many of my friends feel I am a techie and gadget freak who spends lot of cash on Gadgets that has absolutely short life spans and utility. I beg to differ. I invest on things that I need .The Idea of need is so subjective that it leads to some funny conclusions about me. Follow me on my gadget posts and you will understand that the things that I own just makes my life a bit better and so it can do the same to you too.
I always needed an Mp3 player and my Samsung Yepp player after a faithful service of 2 years has given up on me. It was small, beautiful and rugged in sleek black but had only 512MB of memory. Even now it works well as a pen drive (I still have it ...No kidding).

Well, like any other guy catching the westward wind would do the first time they land in US, I walked into the Boise Branch of the late ‘Circuit City’ and bought myself an IPod. The one I chose was an IPod Touch 8GB first generation. It set me back by 310$ all inclusive. It was not soon before I realized that I need to get some form of protection for it. Well you just have two pockets in a jean and we tend to put all kind of things into it .So I went on and ordered the Speck Armor skin. It makes my ipod look like a hippo, but it can take on anything .I have dropped it from all kinds of heights and splashed liquids on it on occasion and what not .That was another 24$,But I felt It was worth every single cent of it.
The headphones that came with it had good audio quality, but it was not useful to me for some reasons. I will post a separately for the reasons and my experiments with Head phones.
All set and I was on my way to audio and Video Glory .The continuation of this post would have details on how I use my IPod Touch, so that folks can benefit from it.

The Silent Partner

This Puzzle is called The Silent Partner. Trust me, you will find the name very fitting the moment you find the solution to this puzzle. As for the materials; I have used enameled Copper Wire. The Wires are slightly expensive (about Rs .420 for a Kg …). The alternative for this is the Zincate Wires (They are Rs 70 per Kg).It’s easy to work with , stainless steel or zincate wires are very hard to bend into intricate shapes. You need special jigs to work with them. For Copper You need only a good nose-pliers and your hands (Not to mention Patience).So the trick to solving this puzzle is to identify the silent partner and use him/her well ;-).This puzzle looks very similar to the Classic Horse shoe puzzle , but the similarity ends there .The solutions are not connected.

The New Yorker Animated Cartoons

Now for the second podcast favorite… This one is also a short comedy podcast from ringtales.com, namely “The New Yorker Animated Cartoons”. Witty to say the least, this short animated feature really entertains. No one can just watch one and feel satisfied .some of them is thought provoking others will bring a smile to the viewer. There is sarcasm and irony strewn all across the series. So guys dig in and let me know how you feel about this …until next time.
Note: Itunes Users please click on the image to go the link for subscription...Its Free ,convenient and Fun. You need itunes installed for this to work.

Satan's Stir up

This is the third Puzzle that I built, interesting one though...not so easy as the last two puzzles that I have created and posted. This one has a two step solution and you need to do the untangling with some patience. The solution is to remove the sword from the rest of the setup. Now for some info on how I create my Puzzles and solve them. I build them in their unsolved state and solve it later. That way I get the satisfaction of Building it and later solving it also (Something no one should miss).Frankly all puzzles should be solved even if it takes some time. So Cheating or finding solution elsewhere is not as much fun as solving them because of the fact that it is not a challenge after you solve it for the first time. So Savour the Puzzle...feel the intricacy and appreciate the solutions...happy puzzling...