What do you call for a knife without a blade & which has no handle?

മുല്ല പെരിയാര്‍ - To worry or not to worry, that is the question.

2009-12-01T12:20:00.005+05:30

ഇന്നലെ രാവിലെ വരെ മുല്ല പെരിയാര്‍ പ്രശ്നം വലുതും, അതില്‍ ബ്ലോഗ്‌, നെറ്റ്, ഇ-മെയില്‍ എന്നിവ വെച്ച് എന്ത് ചെയാന്‍ പറ്റും, അത് മുഴുവന്‍ ചെയാന്‍ റെഡി ആയി, കച്ച കെട്ടി "സര്‍ ആരോമല്‍ നെറ്റ് ഉണ്ണി" ആയി ഇരിക്കുക ആയിരുന്നു. അപ്പം ഒരു ചിന്താ, നമ്മള്‍ ഈ സൈബര്‍ വാറും ആയി അങ്ങോട്ട്‌ ചെന്നാല്‍ അവര്‍ ഇങ്ങനെ നമ്മളെ defend ചെയ്യും, അതിനെ നമ്മള്‍ ഇങ്ങനെ നേരിടും എന്ന്.

കുറച്ച് നെറ്റ് തപ്പല്‍, വൈറ്റ് ഹാറ്റ്‌ തിങ്കിംഗ് എല്ലാം കൂടി, ഒരു വിധം എല്ലാ മലയാളികളുടെയും തല്ലു കിട്ടാന്‍ ഉളത് ഒപ്പിച്ചു. എന്നാ പിന്നെ അദര്‍ സൈഡ് ഓഫ് മുല്ല ദി പെരിയാര്‍ നോക്കുവല്ലേ ?

ഫസ്റ്റ്, ഒരു ഡാം പൊട്ടന്‍ ഉള്ള possible reasons :
1. ഡിസൈന്‍ തകരാര്‍ - ഇവിടെ അത് ഇല്ലാ എന്ന് കരുതാം. കാരണം 100 കൊല്ലം കഴിഞ്ഞും മൂപ്പര്‍ ജില് ജില് എന്ന് ഇരിയ്ക്കുന്നു.

2. Human error/ act - എന്ന് വെച്ചാല്‍, ഡാം operate ചെയുന്നവര്‍ വരുത്തുന്ന കൈ പിഴാ, പിന്നെ, ഏതെങ്കിലും ചുള്ളന്മാര്‍ വന്നു പടക്കം പൊട്ടിച്ചു കളിയ്ക്കുക ഇതെല്ലം ഇതില്‍ പെടും.

3. Poor maintenance - അറ്റകുറ്റ പണികള്‍ അലുഗുലുത്ത് ആയി നടത്തുക, നോകണ്ടത് നോകേണ്ട സമയത്ത് നോകാതിരിയ്ക്കുക etc എല്ലാം ഇതില്‍പെടുത്തുന്നു. 4. Natural disaster - ഭൂമി കുലുക്കം, പെരുംമഴാ/ വെറെ വെള്ളം (some river changed the direction and reached here, or water from another dam !! ) കാരണം വളരെ അധികം വെള്ളം ഡാമില്‍ കൂടുക,

ഇതില്‍ ഒന്ന് തൊട്ടു മൂന്നു വരെ ഉള്ള പോയിന്റ്‌ നമുക്ക് തല്‍കാലം സേഫ് എന്ന് കരുതി സൈഡില്‍ വെയ്കാം.

ഇനി, ഇവിടെ ഭൂമി കുലുക്കം ഉണ്ടാവാന്‍ ഉള്ള സാധിയതകള്‍ നോക്കാം

താഴെ കൊടുത്തിരിയ്ക്കുന്ന മാപ്പുകള്‍ നോക്കുക (ഫ്രം http://asc-india.org/menu/hazard.htm)

1. ഈ ഏരിയയില്‍ ഭൂമി കുലുക്കം ഉണ്ടാവാന്‍ ഉള്ള ചാന്‍സ് വളരെ കുറവ് ആണ്.

2. വലിയ ഡാമും മറ്റും ഉള്ളത് കൊണ്ട് ചെറിയ ചലനം ഉണ്ടാവാം, ബട്ട്‌ നോട് എ കുലുക്കം.

3. 6 or more than 6 രേഘപെടുതുന്ന ഒരു ഭൂമി കുലുക്കം വളരെ വളരെ റിമോട്ട് ആണ്. ( പാലകാടും, ആലപുഴയും ആണ് ഇടുക്കിയെകാള്‍ ഭൂകമ്പം ഉണ്ടാവാന്‍ ചാന്‍സ് ഉള്ള സ്ഥലം !!!)

ഇനി, ലാസ്റ്റ് 200 years ആയി നടനിട്ടുള്ള ഭൂമി കുലുക്കത്തിന്റെ ഒരു മാപ്പ്.

ഇനി, നമുക്ക് ആ ഫോട്ടോസ് ഒന്നും കൂടെ നോക്കാം. (Post by Pachu)

1) അതില്‍ കാണുന്നത് Plaster പോയത് അല്ലെ ? Plaster അല്ലല്ലോ ഡാമിന് ബലം കൊടുക്കുനത്. പിന്നെ, നമ്മള്‍ വീടിനു തറ കേട്ടുനത് ഇത് പോലെ അല്ലെ ?

2) ആ ഫോട്ടോയില്‍ ഒരു കല്ല്‌ പോലും വീണു പോയതോ, മിസ്സിന്ഗോ കാണുനില്ല. ആ നിലയ്ക്ക്, ഡം വീക്ക്‌ ആണ് എന്ന് പറയ്യാന്‍ പറ്റുമോ ?

3) കാവേരി നദിയിലെ ഗ്രാന്റ് അണകെട്ട് BC 1st and 2nd century യില്‍ ഉണ്ടാകിയത് ആണ്. ഇത് വരെ കൊഴാപ്പം ഇല്ല, അപ്പം, piratically, നമ്മുടെ മുല്ല പെരിയാര്‍ പഴയത് ആണോ ? ഇതിലും പ്രായം ഉള്ള എത്രയോ ഡാമുകള്‍ ഉണ്ട്.

ഡാം പൊട്ടിയാല്‍ :
പൊട്ടിയാല്‍, എന്തായാല്ലും നാശ നഷ്ടം ഉണ്ടാകും. പക്ഷെ, നാം കുരുതനുതു പോലെ, 40 ലക്ഷം മരണം etc ഉണ്ടാകുമോ ?

1. ഈ കാണുന്ന പടംസ് ഞാന്‍ ഗൂഗിള്‍ മാപില്‍ നിന്ന് എടുത്തത്‌ ആണ്. ഗൂഗിള്‍ മാപില്‍ സൂം ചെയ്തു നോകുമ്പോള്‍, ഡാം പൊട്ടിയാല്‍, 100% വെള്ളം ഇടുക്കി ഡാമില്‍ എത്താന്‍ ചാന്‍സ് കാണുനില്ല.

2. ഇടുക്കിയുടെ പ്രക്രതി നോക്കുമ്പോള്‍, കൊറേ വെള്ളം മലയിടുക്കിലും തങ്ങി നില്കൂലെ ? ഇത് ഇടുക്കി ഡാമില്‍ വന്നു ചേരുന്ന വെള്ളത്തിന്റെ അളവിനെ, കുറച്ച് കൂടെ കുറയ്ക്കും എന്ന്കരുതുന്നു.

3. എത്തുന്ന വെള്ളം ഉള്‍കൊള്ളാന്‍ ഇടുക്കി ഡാം മതി എന്ന് തോന്നുന്നു.

4. വെള്ളം കിടക്കുന്ന ഏരിയ, ചുറ്റും ഉള്ള ഏരിയ - രണ്ടും ഒന്നും താരതമിയം ചെയ്തു നോക്കു. Comparatively, കുറച്ച് വെള്ളം അല്ലെ ഉള്ളു (even after considering the depth of water too)?

I do care for even if there is only one life under threat. But, what i am trying to do is, trying to get a realistic picture of what is happening.

Before we start a Cyber war, let us have all answers for most of the questions others might ask us. What I feel is, contract for 999 years is rubbish, and going forward, water is going to be costly thing, and let us do all that can help the coming generations in Kerala.

ഡാം തനിയെ പോട്ടുനതിനെകാള്‍ ചാന്‍സ്, ആരെങ്ങിലം ബോംബ്‌ വെയ്ക്കുനതിനാ. അപ്പോള്‍ നാം അങനെ ഒരു ഭീക്ഷണി നേരിടാന്‍ തെയാര്‍ ആണോ ?

നീരുവിന്റെ ബ്ലോഗില്‍ Namaskar ഇട്ടിരിയ്ക്കുന PDF കണ്ടോ ? അതില്‍ പറയുന്ന മിക്ക ന്യായവും കറക്റ്റ് എന്ന് പറയാന്‍ പറ്റൂല - കാരണം, ബാകി സര്‍ക്കാര്‍ വെബ്‌ സൈറ്റ് തരുന്ന വിവരവും ഇതും തമ്മില്‍ ചെരുനില്ല.

What I think is, we should :

Get underwater pictures of Dam, and do an analysis on the health of the dam. We need to know how good the dam is, as on today.

A joint team to review the health on daily basis, and have plans to divert the water when ever required. And DO A DRILL, to make sure that our plans are real and working.

What ever I said above is 100% ammeter work – there are based on my reading and looking the Google Map of dam and area closely.

A system, which will connect both Idukki and Mullaperiyar – which will alert Idukki to be ready (like open the shutter and reduce the current water level etc), if something happens at Mullaperiyar.

I think a terror attack is more likely than a natural disaster – be prepared to face such challenges.

A Taboo called “Eye donation”

2009-05-15T16:52:00.000+05:30

My wife was having red eye and we went to Narayana Netralaya. There we found the Eye donation form. We both filled it and completed the formalities. With there permission, I took some 10 forms with me, to give to my friends at office.

I sent out an e-mail to my gang in office, saying, I have the form, let me know anyone is ready to donate. The first two people, Uma and Vinod were generous enough to fill the form with in 5 mins. They collected some blank form from me, so that they can give to their family members too.

What was surprising for me was, most of the people were not willing or afraid to donate. In some cases, they were even afraid to talk about that !!! All of them are well educated people, who are living in metro and spent most of their time in big cites.

If this is the mind set of these educated-metro people, I wonder how many of the small town and less educated people would be willing to make an eye donation ?

Times of India and Tata was running campaigning for making people go for voting. If that money and time were spent on more realistic causes like this, that would changed the life of at lest one person or family.

Any one need more info on eye donation, do contact me. Believe me : You don’t carry anything after death. If you don’t donate, theseprecious gifts would be either burred or buried. Eye or any organ donation is much better than any pilgrim that you do.

Oh..forgot to tell you. My friend Raghav, he is willing to donate, and what ignited him is, Dr.Rajkumar had donated. Salute to Dr.Raj, I am sure he educated / encouraged millions of people to do the same.

Slum dog Millionaire - A Terror attack on Indian BPO, Tourism and on our country India

2009-01-19T19:08:00.002+05:30

This is what this movie shows :

Indian BPO :

Even the person who supplies tea attends the calls in Indian contact centers.
Indian Call center people lies all the time.
In Indian call centers, anyone walking in to the floor can access the database, and get all the info about the clients (which includes home phone numbers, amount of money in each account etc)

Indian Tourism :

The tourist guides you find in Indian historic places like Taj Mahal etc, knows nothing about the history and they tell lies and stores, which they build, to the visitors
And, almost any one can become a tourist guide
In India, even the kids cheat foreigners.
If you park your car in a lonely place, the car would be dismantled and everything (except the body) would be stolen with in minutes !!!
The above vanishing act would be performed by kids
You can’t leave even your footwear out side an Indian heritage place – it would be stolen.

Crime

Indians are ready to kill even their own brother for a night with a girl.
Indians are ready to do any crime for money and female
Indian police are famous for chasseing poor children kilometers
You can kidnap a girl even in one of the busiest railway stations in India, even in day time. No one will even ask anything.(Police are busy chasing children)
Getting a loaded gun is an easy task for a teenager, by selling stuffs in trains (and know who is Samuel Clot)
During communal conflicts, children are dressed up as Hindu Gods, and stands in the corner of streets.
All Indian men, except the hero, are cruel, and they are mad for drug, money and women.
Indian police can arrest (or rather Kidnap) anyone, anytime and troche them in all the possible ways, including electric shocks
If any crime/abuse is happening for an Indian child, US People are the only hope !!(dialogs is something like “oh!! My son…let me show the real face of America” and give few dollars to the abused child)

India :

US dollar is the currency more widely used in India. Even a blind boy can recognize it by just touching it once.
Indian class rooms are a big mess, and teachers are monsters !!
India is a cricket crazy country. If any one disturbs them while watching cricket, they go ballistic.
Though Indians are mad about cricket, they don know nothing about “First Class Cricket”
Indian super stars are villains in real life.
Indian super starts cheats in real life.
Poor people are abused, even if prove their capabilities in a Reality show.
Indians are ready to be covered from head to toe in human Sh*t, just for an autograph from a Super star.
Indians watch TV shows by sitting in road side.
People traveling on the top of train is a usual scene in this country
Indian talks in term of “Millions”, & “Billions” – not in term of Lakhs and Crores
Well, how is Mahatma Gandhi ? Indians know only Benjamin Franklin, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis

This movie should be treated as a terror attack towards India, since it will have major impact on Indian tourism, Indian BPO business and image of India. Do not watch this movie, since it will only give more finical benefit to the people who done this crime.

When “The Passion of the Christ”, was released, we saw a massive protest all over the country. When a carton was published in Denmark, we saw similar protest in this country. MF Hussein painting created anger waves. But, when a crime like this happens, I don’t see anyone moving a single finger !!!

Do not watch this movie. If you are thinking of A R Rahamn’s music, believe me, he has created better music before.

Check the usage of your G-Mail account

2008-09-15T14:48:00.000+05:30

There are reports people hacking in to e-mail accounts and sends mail, which cause legal actions towards the account owner, who is innocent.

Best way is to have strong passwords, not sharing passwords, always use log off button, use Incognito, clear the history etc.

If you are using G-Mail, there is a way to check whether your account is hacked. Follow the below steps :

1. Login to your G-Mail account

2. Go to the bottom of the screen, where your Inbox is displayed. You can find a line as “Last account activity: xxx hrs back…..” and a link “Details” (as shown below, marked in Red circle )

3. Click on this, and you will get a similar window (IPs of my usage are removed)

4.. Check for any discrepancy. ie : if you are accessing your account only thru browser, you should see Account Type “Browser”. If you see access type is POP3, Mobile etc, you can be sure that some one else is access the account. Also, check the IP. If the account is accessed from some unknown IP Address, be on alert and take the necessary actions.

If you have found some unknown IP address, use some on-line tools (eg: http://www.arin.net/whois/ or http://aruljohn.com/track.pl or http://www.dnsstuff.com/ )

Some of the best practices :

a) Always sing out/logout from your session

b) Clear the history, cache, Passwords, cookies etc, especially when you are accessing the account from shared computer

c) Do not click on “Remember Me”, when you are accessing the account from shared computer

d) Never share your password

e) Use complex passwords (ie: password and user name should not be similar, use extra characters.)

eg: Use combination of Cap, Small letter, extra characters. Butremembering such a password is painful. So, make your own logic. ie: instead of “a”, always use “@”, or instead of “s” use “$” or always typethe third letter in capital etc

Film Festival - Status Yo!

2008-08-14T14:00:00.000+05:30

Status Yo!
Director : Till Hastreiter

It was crazzzzyyyy.....I thought i am not going to understand this film. Lots of different things happening in different places, couldn't find the relation. What the silver train got to do ? Why people are running all around ? Why some one is chasing someone ??? Lots of questions!!!

But in the last 30% of the movie, all the puzzles solved, and it turned out to be a great movie. A new experiment, which i consider as success. It was like “Pulp Fiction”. But in this movie, events happens chronologically.

Visit http://www.goethe.de/ins/in/bag/kue/flm/gfw/spf/en3541710.htm

Film Festival - Distant Lights (Lichter)

2008-08-13T16:47:00.000+05:30

Distant Lights (Lichter)
Director : Hans-Christian Schmid

Lot of human lifes, and so lot of stories. But director handled almost 6 different stories with great discipline and presented in a wonderful way.

Visit http://www.goethe.de/ins/in/bag/kue/flm/gfw/spf/en3535384.htm for the story line. But, this has only 10% of the movie

Film Festival - Cherry Blossoms - Hanami

2008-08-13T16:42:00.000+05:30

Cherry Blossoms - Hanami
Director :Doris Dörrie

This is one of the BEST love story that I have ever seen. The chemistry between Trudi and Rudi is great. Very touching story, it wetted my eyes. The way husband and wife loves each other, and going to extremes that they take for each other is …don’t have words. You got to watch this classic.

Please visit http://www.goethe.de/ins/in/bag/kue/flm/gfw/spf/en3541545.htm for the story.

Film Festival - Four Minutes (Vier Minuten)

2008-08-12T11:48:00.000+05:30

Four Minutes (Vier Minuten)
Director : Chris Kraus

I watched this wonderful movie in yesterday(11th Aug 08). A great movie. The director was able to show the strong human emotions, with wonderful support from the Actors and Camera. I give +10 to camera, a wonderful job. Perfect casting and both ladies do 100% to the character.

The climax shot is a classic one, which I seldom saw. Great brains and touch of a creative genius. The piano is at its best, I never knew piano could talk.

Below is the story line (From http://www.goethe.de/ins/in/bag/kue/flm/gfw/spf/en3541524.htm)

80-year-old former pianist Traude Krüger has been driving to the same women’s prison almost every morning since 1944. She teaches her female students – thieves, frauds and killers – how to play the piano. Seeking out new talent, Ms. Krüger meets lethargic, violent and volatile Jenny von Loeben. As a teenager, she has brutally killed a man, and is therefore considered highly dangerous. However, she used to be a ‘wunderkind’, performing at big concert halls at the age of ten.

When the uncontrollable Jenny beats the living daylights out of a prison officer at her trial piano lesson, she is put into solitary confinement. Still, Traude wins Warden Meyerbeer’s approval for an experiment. Traude is allowed to train Jenny at the piano so that she can participate in a contest for young talents. Little by little, the two vastly different women, Traude and Jenny, form a bond over the struggle with their opponents and the prison’s bureaucracy and approach one another. After another violent incident involving Jenny and a fellow inmate, the warden prohibits Jenny’s participation in the piano contest finals, but Traude smuggles Jenny out of the prison for the final. When she is on stage the police arrive to take her back to the prison.

Jenny doesn’t have much time: four minutes only. But she uses her time wisely, doing something that no one, not even Traude, would have expected.

Fighting with key logger

2007-12-16T04:04:00.000+05:30

Key logger can be hardware or a software. Anything a user types in the keyboard will be capture by these tools and will save in a hidden place(which can be retrieved by the hacker later) or send out as e-mail, without the knowledge of the user.

Hardware’s are easy to detect, look at the connection which goes to the key board. Finding a software logger ? A tough job, even a good techi. But little bit of practice will give you better safety

When you are in a cyber café, make sure that the PC has a reputed anti-virus anti Spyware application running, with latest updates

If you need to access your bank account and secure data, try some reputed or branded café. The system at these places will be hardened, and will prevent the users installing the application

If you have accessed any sensitive data, as soon as your back home, change the passwords

Look at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. If the hacker is an amateur, he/she might have installed a trail or free version of logger software, which will show an icon. If you see any unrecognized Icons, ask the café owner what software is that.

After you finish your browsing, clear the history, cookies etc form the browser. (In IE :Go click on “Delete cookies”, “Deleteà “Internet options” àto “Tools” Files”, and “Clear History”. This will not give you a high level of protection, but this will reduce the risk

Use “On Screen Keyboard” to key in the user name and password. This will reduce the chances of a logger capturing your key strokes

Use a USB Memory stick, with portable applications (what I use is portableapps.com). You can have your browser, Anti Virus package and On-Screen Keyboard along with you. So, when you are using a different system, browse from the application in the USB stick. So, that all your browsing history, cookies etc will be in YOUR memory stick, not in that PC’s hard disk. Another advantage is that, you can carry your book marks etc along with you.

Use Microsoft Key Board Layout. (can be downloaded from the site http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/tools/msklc.mspx ). Most of the key logger assume that the user is using QWERT keyboard, and if you swap the keys, what ever is logged will be meaningless. (ie: You press “ABCD” in the modified keyboard, but the logger will record it as “TRIO”, and it will prevent the hacker to get the actual password)

But this software is around 10 MB, and you can’t keep downloading them each time. Either keep it in a thumb drive and take it along with you, or, always use a single cyber café to access your bank account, and ask the café owner to install it for you

Another area of concern : The unknown hardware “engineer” from your computer vender came to your home for instilling new printer (or fixing some issues), this person installed a key logger, which will send all the key storks thru e-mail, without your knowledge !!!So, never leave your computer alone with a stranger, be near to him and watch what is he doing, what is he installing. Once he/she left the place, get the latest anti-Spyware and scan your computer

Also, make a list of all the standard programs running (in the back ground) and keep a similar list of all the programs that are loaded at the time of boot up. Follow the below simple steps for that.

First Step :
• As soon your new system is ready or after a fresh re-installation, press CTRL+ALT+DEL and access the task manager.
• Click on “Process” and make sure that the tick mark is on for “Show process from all users”
• Take a screen shot or make a list of all the names.

Second Step :
“Run” and type “msconfig” and press enterà• Click on “Start”
• Click on the tab “Startup”
• And note down the list of programs that are loaded to memory, when you switch on the PC.
Third Step

• When you are in “msconfig”, click on the tab “Services”
• Note down the list of services, with Status “Running”

If you find anything subspecies or anything that you don’t understand, ask the vendor or the hardware support people. Ask them to give the reply in writing or via e-mail. Again, verify the information by doing little bit of searching in Google. Re-check the information with your friends. Don’t leave any stones unturned

Who is visiting me...till Nov 01

2007-11-02T07:35:00.000+05:30

Testing the water...

2007-07-14T17:02:00.000+05:30

Just testing the H20...

You can catch me at http://www.geocities.com/helponhpopenview. I publish some tech stuffs.(Don’t scream at me for the look and feel of the site, people look for content there and I have visitors from 63 countries!!!!)

I am yet to start blogging, planning to attack on IT Sec, ITIL, etc....But after seeing lots of Mallu blogs planning to do something different. Not yet decided.

World...wait for me....

Sir.VishalaManaskan...
His Highness Kuruman...
ArchDuke Sandoz.........
Major General EdiVal....be carefull... (chumma...just for an effect...)