How much is too much?

How much exercise is too much exercise? Scientists have grappled with this question. Here too, love is the answer. Specifically, love for yourself. How much do you love for yourself? When you stand naked in front of the mirror, how closely do you look? When you close your eyes, can you visualize your abdomen? Can you name more than five of your muscles? Are you intimately familiar with the contours of your thighs? If so, no amount of exercise is too much for you. It enhances your physical beauty, and you get to spend time with your favorite person.

Personally, I would try to avoid you. In Delhi, things can get violent very quickly, so it’s best to keep some distance from the large ones. Of course, a quick knee to the groin can fell ever the mightiest oak, but eventually, the oak gets up again. It’s fair to assume that a large and muscular person, a devoted to his or her body as a temple, would not have much love left for other people. I am not suggesting that all muscular people are psychopaths. I have muscular friends who are very good-natured. But the odds are not promising. If you are not a people person, running is another option. However, your chances of overdoing this are quite high. The most common cases of exercise addition are amongst runners. 

In case you run, and would like to know if you’re addicted, here’s a simple questionnaire:

“Do you spend enough on shoes to feed a family of four?”

“If your wife were in labor, would you go for a run?”

“If you were in labor, would you go for a run?”

“Beyond a point, do you feel excruciating pain, which tells you that you’re alive?”

“At this point, do you keep running until you feel even more excruciating pain?”

If you answered yes to more than three of the above, you need to run less.

Of course, not all exercise involves loving yourself beyond reason. Other forms of exercise are more sociable, such as yoga and cycling. Each of these can be both solitary and group activity. Of all the available exercise options, cycling seems to be the safest, with a relatively low chance of addiction. Cycling has a built-in safeguard. While the helmets are cute and the shorts can be stylish, and you love the wind in your face, there’s only so much punishment that the human buttocks can withstand.

With this,

Sudarshan

(Source: - From the author of Murder with Bengali Characteristics novel)

Bonding beyond a blood-relation !!!

A good heart has stopped beating, a good soul ascended to heaven. Someone rightly said when we lose a loved one here on earth, we gain an angel in heaven that watches over us.  

I am writing this condolence notes with the memories of the past and extend my deepest sympathies to my very good friend, Krishna, who has lost his mother-in-law today. She was a wonderful person who I had the good fortune of meeting and spending time with. I will never forget the image of her gentle and bright face. Remembering her wonderful and gentle soul will forever remain in my heart. May God give her eternal rest !!!

Me & Aunty at ISKON Temple, Chennai 

Let me take you back to the time I met her. It was late December last year. When I had just shifted from Mumbai to Bangalore. I shared my accommodation for few months with my best friend, who was staying alone in a 2 BHK rented apartment. As It's not always easy to settle down immediately in a new town because there are always a whole lot of pain to start with household things again. Moreover, my friend wanted me to join him because he was staying alone in a big rented house and we haven't met each other for more than five years. So I agreed upon to join him.

One day, Krishna called me and said his mother-in-law and wife had the plan to come to Bangalore for a few days and asked me if it would be Ok with me if they stay with us, else he would make some other arrangements for them. I scolded and asked him what even made him think of asking such a question. It was obvious that they would stay with us as long as they were in Bangalore.

Krishna mother-in-law had been living in Chennai with her daughter i.e. Krishna's wife. Krishna's wife was working for an IT company in Chennai while Krishna my friend was working for another company in Bangalore. 

Finally, the day came when his wife and mother-in-law were to come to Bangalore. I still remember the exact time when I met Aunty, it was quarter to seven in the morning. I greeted her "Namaste Aunty and she gave a big smile back and hugged me. She told me "I don't have a son and I will call you as my son here after." I was overwhelmed with an emotion as it was such a heart-touching moment for me. I was speechless but was able to nod and reply “Of Course Aunty !! You can call me anything that makes you happy.”   

After a few hours chatting with her, I was shocked when she told me that she has been diagnosed with Cervical Cancer a few months ago and that it was in Stage 4. She explained the reason for visit, to Bangalore - she was to visit Shimoga, a famous place in Karnataka for Cancer Treatment, to consult an Ayurvedic Doctor. Her regular allopathy treatment would continue at  Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore, where the Cancer was initially diagnosed.

After hearing about the Cancer and how she described the whole thing, I was completely blank for a while. Somehow I could muster the courage and murmured "Don't worry, you are going to be fine very soon". Her next statement will always echo in my ears whenever I remember her, "No Beta!! Cancer has no answer. But I will certainly live a life as if nothing has happened to me. I don't want my loved ones to suffer because of something wrong happened to me.". 

And I must say she did live a life like a lioness till her last breath. She fought this deadly disease like a great warrior on the battlefield. But we can't fight death.  

From the first day I met her, she was always happy to talk to me. We talked for hours whenever my time allowed me to connect with her. Her daughter and son-in-law would both tease me asking "What is the special bond we guys have". They would tell me she is their mother and mother-in-law but she would never talk to them as much as she talks to me. All the time she talks something good about me. They would also tell me what kind of a magnetic charm I have. I would always smile back and say "Why don't you guys ask her ?". 

Aunty would talk to me in different capacities, like a best friend, a guardian and a mother. She would advise me on many things and would always ask how things are going on the personal front. Her questions would vary from "Why don't you have a girlfriend?, When are you getting married, Do you want me to find someone for you?" to "I want you to marry and see your wife before I die". I would get to learn a lot about life from her. 

Me, Aunty, Nidhi & Krishan 

Whenever, she, my friend, his wife and I would get-together, either here in Bangalore or in Chennai we would engage in a many a debates. Aunty always stood by me and never let others speak anything against me about anything. Sometimes she supported  me on some topic where I couldn't justify something more logically or happen to lose my argumentative grounds. "So what ??? He said, means he is right". Later, we smiled at each other and I would thank her by saying "Thank you, Aunty !!". Her daughter and son-in-law always formed one group and wanted me to lose the debate. But aunty never let it happen. She supported me at times even without knowing the context of the debate. The rival group (her daughter and son-in-law) would start screaming "Mom !! you don't even know the context, yet you support him". Aunty would say I am her son and is not interested in knowing the context. She would support me all the time.    

I still remember every single word that you spoke to me as an advice. How could I forget your exceptional sense of understanding human behavior? If someone would have spoken to her for less than an hour, she could have described everything of one’s past and future. And, once she would have got a sense of not being an honest and generous, none could dare to be around. I was fortunate enough that you liked me and allowed me to be around you. I can’t describe who you were, no matter how much I talk about you. It won’t be easy for me to forget the past.  

Aunty's health started getting worse after July this year, as the frequency of chemotherapy increased with each subsequent month. The infection was spread to the whole body and all vital organs were almost stopped functioning. Last month, she called and asked me to come to Vellore to visit her at the Hospital and see her as it might be our last meet. Sadly, it turned out to be true and it was the last I would ever meet her in person. 

I went to Vellore and stayed in the Cancer ward till quite late that night. Though the hospital administration doesn't allow any visitors to stay more than the designated time, that day I guess the hospital made an exception. Whenever I tried to return to my hotel from the patient ward and ask her "Aunty, it's too late. You should rest now." She would have tears in her eyes and say "I may not get to see you after this." 

Her words would break me and I wouldn't dare to leave. She would further share that seeing me would make her pain go away. She held my hand and shared how much she loved her daughter and son-in-law and how much they took care of her. Yes, she was right! Both her daughter and son-in-law were working professionals but they took care of her without ever batting an eyelid. Great job guys !! I respect you both.    

Until last December, I hadn't even known this great soul and now it is impossible to ever forget her. Sometimes, we meet a person for a very short period of time, but they leave the biggest of footprints in our lives. Aunty's kindness and love can never be matched. 

Aunty !! You will always remain in my heart. Your love was unconditional, truer than most blood-relations, even. How I wish I could have met you once again. 

A person that departs from this earth  never truly leaves, for they are still alive in our hearts and  minds and through us, they live on. My heartfelt condolences.

R.I.P !!!

With tears,
Sudarshan

Global Warming – A grave threat to Ecology

“The earth has a natural system of balancing the absorption and release of heat, which it absorbs from the sunlight, but for the last few years, the balance seems to be under severe threat. There has been an enormous increase in gases like carbon-di-oxide, methane, nitrous oxide etc.”

As the temperature rises, there is a rise in sea level, due to the melting of glaciers and the ice sheets of Greenland and Anatarctica. While sea level is expected to rise almost every year but a considerable variation is seen nowadays. In some regions, the rise in sea level may be almost nil, but other might experience a rise of as much as twice the global average. The predictions are that rise in sea level in some parts of north pacific and to the west of Greenland may be comparatively more and it can spoil the ecological balance of the respective region.

As per the latest report of U.K. Met office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, global warming over the next century might turn out to be much worse than estimated. If the Green House Gas (GHG) emissions are stabilized, which means immediate cut of 60-70 % emission of Carbon Dioxide globally, even then, the rise of atmospheric temperature would be 1⁰C and rise in sea level would be approximately 1 Meter. Based on the finding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Centre predicted that warming overland could lead to a 6⁰C rise in temperature by 2100 that is 2⁰C higher than the earlier estimates.

As per the findings of a joint study conducted by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi and Hadley Centre, the global warming may also cause a good increase in rainfall over the western coastline of India.

Effects of Afforestation:-

It is assumed that planting more trees will solve the problem as the trees absorb more carbon dioxide, but it is a wrong presumption. Planting more trees will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in some parts of the world, but in other parts, global warming may hamper the growth of trees or even may cause their destruction. Therefore, afforestation may not be a perfect solution to this problem. One important point to note is that forest area is usually darker than the other areas, especially when the surface is snowclad and being darker absorbs more sunlight comparatively. Hence, it might accelerate warming. Different forests reflects different amount of sunlight, dark green forests absorbs more solar radiation that land surface and so the benefits of their carbon intake could be reduced and in some areas be reversed by the darkening effect. Dying forests might result in greater emission of carbon dioxide, thus changing the climate to our peril.

The Hadley Centre reported that average temperature in 1999 was lower than that of 1998, but the year 1999 was still the fifth warmest year since global records began in 1860. The Centre has further discovered that by 2050, the trees and soils will start falling and perishing which will result in less absorption of Carbon Dioxide.

Global warming due to sunlight is likely to be set off or reduced to some extent by volcanic aerosols. During the 21 century, the large-scale reduction in rainfall is being expected in some areas such as southern Africa, Australia, Central America and the northern region of South America. The highest increase in perception over land may occur in East Asia, Central Africa, Eastern South America and at high latitudes.

The Hadley Centre has also predicted that Antarctica ice may have all but melted away by 2100, if urgent precautionary measures are not taken to cut down emission of Green House Gases (GHG). The melting of ice is due to warming of water of the North Atlantic as well as due to rising air temperatures in the region. Melting ice from the frozen continents shall increase the level of sea. Melting of sea ice can further accelerate global warming, as the ocean surface would not now reflects as much sunlight as ice sheets.

Adverse effect of Global Warming

• Antarctica home of penguins is getting hotter slowly and gradually. The annual melt season has increased up to three weeks in last twenty years.
• Mount Kili Manjaro has lost 75 % of its ice cap since 1912. The ice on this Africa’s highest peak could vanish totally within next 15 years if no remedial measures are taken.
• Venezuelan mountain peaks have only two glaciers today out of six.
• India’s worst heat stroke killed more than 2500 people in May 1998.
• Polar Bears in Hudson Bay are having fewer cubs, possibly as a result of earlier spring ice break up.
• Florida farmland up to 300 meters inland from Biscayne Bay is being infiltrated by salt water rendering the land too toxic for crops. Salt water is also nibbling at the edge of farms on Maryland’s eastern shore.
• Coral reefs suffer from the loss of algae that colour and nourish them. The process called bleaching is caused by Warmer Ocean.

According to World Meteorological Organization, deaths from heat waves in big cities are expected to double worldwide over the next two decades, if no measures are taken to check the global warming. In the largest cities of USA, an average of 1500 deaths take place every year. It is expected to increase such deaths to 3000-4000 by 2020.

A study conducted by Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) reveals that the effect of aerosols in the atmosphere will magnify the warming over several developing countries. The study indicates that precipitation might change over tropical regions due to aerosols. Aerosols have both a warming and cooling effect, as they indirectly help in formation of cloud droplets, making cloud more bright and more reflective.

In 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCCC) was adopted. It recognized that industrialized countries were mostly responsible for increased Green House Gases, concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere and should be the first to act against climate change.

In 1997, United Nation’s conference on global warming was help in the ancient Japanese Capital of Kyoto for ten days; the climate change meet lay deadlocked, as none was ready to take initiative to check the further damage to planet earth. USA and 37 other industrial nations agreed to binding reduction in their Green House Gas emission by 2012, setting out a target of five percent below 1990 levels. The next meeting held at Buenous Aires, where it was agreed on Nov. 14 1998 to set a time table for discussing by 2000 the many issues that still need to be settled.

Actually the USA and Europe want that other developing countries like, India, China, should act as per the accord signed at Kyoto, but India, China have their own reasons, as in these countries, industrialization has just began, while developed countries who are actually responsible for the global warming must act fast to have some remedial measures.

In a nutshell the global warming has become a grave threat to the ecological balance of the earth. The civilization is moving slowly towards a doomsday. All the nations, particularly the most industrialized, developed countries have to be active to take immediate action on the matter, otherwise, the human race shall have to face an unimaginable peril and the day is not too far.

Discipline should not be slavery

When a religious person goes into a ritual, it is not a ritual at all. His heart is in it; then his words have wings. I am against the ritual when there is no heart in it. Here’s a story about Moses. He was passing through a forest. He saw a man praying. But the man who was praying was saying such absurd things that he could not go further. He had to stop the man. He was saying: "God, you must be feeling sometimes very alone – I can come and be always with you like a shadow. I will give you a good bath. I am a shepherd. And I will take all the lice from your hair and your body..." 

 
    Lice ? Moses could not believe his ears: "What is he talking about?" Moses stopped him and said, "Listen! What kind of prayer is this? What are you doing? To whom are you talking? Lice in God's hair? He needs a bath? And you are saying 'I will rub your body and make it absolutely clean'? Stop this nonsense. This is not prayer. God will be offended by you." 
    Looking at Moses, the man fell at his feet. He said, "I am sorry. I am an illiterate, ignorant man. I don't know how to pray. Please, you teach me!" 
    So Moses taught him the right way to pray, and he was very happy because he had put a man on the right track. Happy, puffed up in his ego, Moses went away. 

    And when he was alone in the forest, a thundering voice came from the sky and said, "Moses, I have sent you into the world to bring people to me, to bridge people with me, but not to take my lovers away from me. And that's exactly what you have done. That man is one of the most intimate to me. Go back! Apologise. Take your prayer back! ‘‘You have destroyed the whole beauty of his dialogue. His love is true. Whatsoever he was saying, he was saying from his heart. It was not a ritual. Now what you have given to him is just a ritual. He will repeat it but it will be only on the lips; it will not be out of his being." 

    Don't learn empty gestures. Let your gestures be alive, spontaneous. Otherwise, deep down you know that this is a ritual, deep down you know that this is just a formality you are performing. And if that is your feeling inside, what is the point of going into it? 
    I am against rituals because they have killed the spirit of religion in the world. But i am not saying don't pray, but let the prayer arise. Let it be of your own. Don't repeat it parrot-like. I am not against rules, but the rules should arise out of your understanding. They should not be imposed from the outside. I am not against discipline, but discipline should not be slavery. All true discipline is self-discipline. 

Only disciplined people become free, but their discipline is obedience to their own inner voice. Let your own awareness decide your lifestyle, life-pattern. Don't allow anybody else to decide it. If you do, your life will remain superficial, it will be hypocrisy.

(Excerpt from The Perfect Master, courtesy OSHO International Foundation)

Beyond Mandir & Masjid

The Allahabad high court judgement may not bring closure to the Ayodhya dispute. The Sunni Waqf Board has indicated that it intends to move the Supreme Court on the judgement, which says that the land where the Babri masjid stood must be divided between Hindu and Muslim groups. The court has ordered that there must be a status quo at the site for the next three months. All must respect the verdict and due process must be followed in seeking redress. It’s welcome that political parties and religious groups have stressed the need to maintain peace and have appealed to cadres not to take to the streets. 

    The court appears to have used non-legal categories like faith to come to conclusions about Ram’s exact birthplace. The reasoning and evidence used by the court is hidden in the 10,000 pages that constitute the three bench judgement. But we hope the judges have based their conclusions on sound legal principles. In any case, the court judgement can be a first rather than a final step in resolving the dispute. If any party feels aggrieved, it has the right to go up to the Supreme Court. Both sides could come to a mutually satisfactory out-of-court settlement as well. 

    It must also be kept in mind that the HC ruling doesn’t condone the act of demolition of the Babri masjid carried out by the sangh parivar on December 6, 1992. The demolition wreaked havoc on the country’s multireligious fabric. It divided communities and set us back by many years. The wounds are healing, slowly. Any act that threatens to reopen old wounds must be avoided. A new resurgent India has emerged from the debris of the violent 1990s. A new generation has come of age since then and it doesn’t want to be tied down by ancient hatreds. Simply put, a mandir at what is believed by some Hindus to be Ram’s birthplace is not an existential issue for this country, especially its youth. 

    Political parties must recognise the shift in ground, which is best evident in the twin cities of Faizabad and Ayodhya. Local people, especially the youth, insist that their concern is not a mandir or a masjid at the disputed site but facilities that’ll enable them to improve their material conditions. People have had enough of pitting Ram against Rahim. We need to move on and the onus is on the state, political parties and community elders to ensure that the issue is not kept simmering for too long.

Our Planet with different Habitat

The natural environment in which creature lives is its habitat. For instance, in the wild, lions live in African grasslands called the savanna. Thereby the savanna is the lion’s habitat. Other examples of habitats are forests, oceans, coasts and mountains. Oceans make the world’s largest habitat.

They contain 99% of the habitable space on the planet and are home to creatures ranging from the microscopic bacteria to the largest animal that has ever lived on earth, the blue whale.

From the North Pole to the South Pole and everywhere in between, the earth holds a vast number of diverse habitats. From the Arctic fox that braves the sub-zero temperatures of the North Pole to the two humped Bactrian camel that lives in the rocky deserts of Central and East Asia, life flourishes everywhere on our planet. But this is changing now. Due to human activities such as deforestation and pollution many species are losing their habitat. Habitat loss is the main threat to 85% of all threatened and endangered species.

We share our planet with millions of creatures both big and small. As citizens of Earth it is our responsibility to live in a way that we conserve our planet with all its unique inhabitants. 

With This

Yours Friend

Sudarshan Singh

You Are As Big As You Think

Attention to detail is regarded as a sign of efficiency. Whatever we set out to achieve, details are usually far more important than we are likely to suspect. Nevertheless, attention to detail can be carried to excess. Some people, in their anxiety to do things properly, spend so much time and energy on details that they lose sight of the main purpose of their plans. They fuss over trivialities and lose sense of proportion. In such a situation a useful piece of philosophy to bear in mind is: a man is as big as the things he worries about. When an artist paints a landscape, he doesn’t concern himself with individual blades of grass or the multitude of separate leaves on the trees. He concentrates on a mental impression of the whole scene before him. He regards the mass shapes of the various features as they will appear upon his canvas. He studies the positions of the dominant features, the depth of perspective, the relationship of the colour masses. His chief concern is to achieve balance and a satisfying, artistic result. The details of his picture fall into place to the extent he considers it necessary to reproduce them. We would do well to look upon life as the skilled landscape artist who gazes upon the scene before him. We should try to visualize the general prospects before us. We should first of all know where we are going and why. Having decided these main issues, we can then select the most attractive advantages we hope to gain, and the most difficult obstacles we must overcome before we can reach our goal. Whatever there is to be tackled, first view the whole task, in a clear mental picture? Then divide it up into its most important parts. Deal with each part thoroughly until the details emerge for final consideration. Think big. You are as big as the thing you worry about !

With This
Yours Friend
Sudarshan Singh

Moral Majority

There is a general perception that informal subgroups or even disparate large segments within many nations pursue a strict moral agenda, usually based upon a deep belief in a religion. The term Moral Majority refers to such people. Whether such people form a majority or not is highly debatable and remains unproven. Nor are there any reliable surveys devised to test such majority claims. But in the name of Moral Majority, there are always some groups who launch campaigns, often smacking of fanaticism and, even resort to criminal and offensive political or social, often a mob-like response against individuals or groups whose actions and behaviors dare depart from the perceived moral standards of the so-called majority. Every country, including India, has this phenomenon of “Moral Majority” that from time to time causes dissension or discord in society, distends issues to their extremities and pits opposing groups who abuse, confront and clash with one another—all in the name of majority. Usually, such groups are informal and disorganised but there are also some political or cultural or religious outfits who assume collective burden of watching and guarding the society as a whole against any immoral influence or action, imported manners, fads or fashions from an alien culture. In India, which is a big and secular country, there are numerous such entities who are organized and always ready and eager to jump into the fray whenever a slight occasion for moral reaction arises. It could be a book, cartoon, painting or speech or some kind of entertainment and the Moral Majority is there to condemn, howl and hurt the protagonist of any so-perceived “immoral action”. In India, the concept of Moral Majority does not appear to have had much impact on politics. In the USA, however, where the term “Moral Majority” gained wide currency, Ronald Regan’s election in 1980 and George Bush’s elections are said to have been greatly influenced and their victories attributed to Moral Majority. In fact, the

Moral Majority was a political organization in the USA that had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying and set up conservative Christian political action committees that campaigned on issues that, it believed, were important to maintaining its Christian conception of moral law, a conception they believed represented the opinions of the majority of Americans (hence the movement’s name). Some Indian secularists label the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh and the Shiv Sena as organisations that represent

in India the equivalent counterparts of the US-based Moral Majority we have described above but such a view does not have much basis simply because India is so vast a nation and is so lacking in moral fibre that claims or accusations of being Moral Majority of any kind does not hold water. The same is true of the Muslim outfit Deoband that pronounces fatwas of one kind or the other that hardly rub on the majority of Indian Muslims. In India, it is the political parties and politicians who dominate and hold sway over all so-called religious lobbies and Indian politicians are devoid of any moral fervour. They are wily and make use of religion and religious moral groups only to grind their own axes. The devil is not a big concern in the Indian tradition, nor is Moral Majority an Indian concept.

With This

Yours Friend

Sudarshan Singh

Virtualization

Virtualization is a cornerstone design technique for all cloud architectures. In cloud computing it refers primarily to platform virtualization or the abstraction of physical IT resources from the people and applications using them. Virtualization allows servers, storage devices, and other hardware to be treated as a pool of resources rather than discrete systems, so that these resources can be allocated on demand. In cloud computing, we’re interested in techniques such as paravirtualization, which allows a single server to be treated as multiple virtual servers, and clustering, which allows multiple servers to be treated as a single server.

As a means of encapsulation of physical resources, virtualization solves several core challenges of datacenter managers and delivers specific advantages, including:

Higher utilization rates — Prior to virtualization, server and storage utilization rates in enterprise datacenters typically averaged less than 50% (in fact, 10% to 15% utilization rates were common). Through virtualization, workloads can be encapsulated and transferred to idle or underused systems — which means existing systems can be consolidated, so purchases of additional server capacity can be delayed or avoided.

Resource consolidation — Virtualization allows for consolidation of multiple IT resources. Beyond server and storage consolidation, virtualization provides an opportunity to consolidate the systems architecture, application infrastructure, data and databases, interfaces, networks, desktops, and even business processes, resulting in cost savings and greater efficiency.

Lower power usage/costs — The electricity required to run enterprise-class datacenters is no longer available in unlimited supplies, and the cost is on an upward spiral. For every dollar spent on server hardware, an addition dollar is spent on power (including the cost of running and cooling servers). Using virtualization to consolidate makes it possible to cut total power consumption and save significant money.

Space savings — Server sprawl remains a serious problem in most enterprise datacenters, but datacenter expansion is not always an option, with building costs averaging several thousand dollars per square foot. Virtualization can alleviate the strain by consolidating many virtual systems onto fewer physical systems.

Disaster recovery/business continuity — Virtualization can increase overall service-level availability rates and provide new options for disaster recovery solutions.

Reduced operations costs — The average enterprise spends $8 in maintenance for every $1 spent on new infrastructure. Virtualization can change the server to admin ratio, reduce the total administrative workload, and cut total operations costs.

With This
Yours Friend
Sudarshan Singh

Web Crawler

A web crawler is a relatively simple, automated program, or script that methodically scans or “crawls” through Internet pages to create an index of the data it’s looking for. Alternative names of a web crawler include web spider, web robot, bot, crawler and automatic indexer.

A web crawler can be used for many purposes. Probably the most common use associated with the term is related to search engines. Search engines use web crawlers to collect information about what is out there on public web pages. Their primary purpose is to collect data so that when Internet surfers enter a search term on their site, they can quickly provide the surfer with relevant web sites.

When a search engine’s web crawler visits a web page it “reads” the visible test, the hyperlinks, and the content of the various tags used in the site, such as keyword rich Meta tags. Using the information gathered from the crawler, a search engine will then determine what the site is about and index the information. The website is then included in the search engine’s database and its page ranking process.

Web crawlers may operate one time only, say for a particular one-time project, or if its purpose is for something long term, as is the case with search engines, they may be programmed to comb through the Internet periodically to determine whether there has been any significant changes. If a site is experiencing heavy traffic or technical difficulties, the spider may be programmed to note that and revisit the site again, hopefully after the technical issues have subsided.

Web crawling is an important method for collecting data on, and keeping up with the rapidly expanding, Internet. A vast amount of web pages are continually being added every day and information is constantly changing. A web crawler is a way for the search engines and other users to regularly ensure that their databases are up to date.

With This
Yours Friend
Sudarshan Singh

The web that was and the web that will be

Well, right from the pragmatic computing environment to the evolution of the web as a concept, owing to an organization’s (the combination of CERN and Tim Berners-Lee) need to share documents located on their many computers, the world wide web has come a long way to offer many a benefit to the world of computers delimited by location.
The current web represents information using natural language. The World Wide Web is mainly based on document written Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), a markup convention that is used for coding a body of text interspersed with multimedia objects such as images interactive forms.
The web’s mettle is evident by way of its effective powerful human-computer-human collaboration. Thus, available information may be transcended beyond network boundaries form one place of computing location to another.
But the information sufficient from the web need not have semantic or meaning in simple term. For example, the current web is unaware that Comapp is a magazine published by the CAA that Michael Jordan was Basketball player of the 90’s, so on and so forth. i.e. the web is designed for human consumption, and thus lacks a sense of understanding; the web does not have a partial sixth sense in place and the knowledge domain is a mandate of the human mind.
Thus, for the purpose of limitless participation, i.e. the participation of humans as well as machines, the concept of Semantic web was evolved. Semantic web is an evolving extension of the World Wide Web where in web content can be expressed not only in natural language, but also in a form that can be read and used by software agents, thus permitting them to find, share, and integrate assimilated information more easily.
The very word semantic relates to the study of meaning and changes of meaning, the latter in English being words having dissimilar contextual meaning. So, Semantic web enforces the expelling of human intervention for browsing through search pages, reading the labels on hyperlinks, and deciding the links to traverse, by enforcing a process which would proceed on its own as a substitute for the above stated sequence of human capabilities.
Semantic Web probes to transform data located anywhere on the web accessible and understandable, both to people and to machines. Semantic Web, envisioned by Tim Berners-Lee, is prime and remains green owing to the same being an informally defined concept rather than an integrated, working system. Thus, the evolution of the World Wide Web to substantiate computing power with interpretive prowess has disembarked a new era of “Web Based Services”.
Although it is said that human knowledge belongs to the world, Semantic Web shows that computers share a small integral part of the same.

With This
Yours Friend
Sudarshan Singh

Notepad Fun

Notepad Fun

Here, there are some tricks that you can check it in your notepad editor and you will see unexpected result!

Just try it:-

Trick 1

* Open a blank Notepad file (Run->notepad)

* Write .LOG as the first line of the file, followed by a “enter”

* Save the file and close it.

* Double-click the file to open it and notice that Notepad appends the current date and time to the end of the file and places the cursor on the line after.

* Type your notes and then save and close the file.

* After that open the file and see the changes. By this trick you can also use your notebook as personal diary.

Trick 2

* Open notepad.

* Type “bush hid the facts” (without quotes).

* Save it and close it

* Then open it again and see the changes.

Trick 3

* Open notepad

* Type the text “this app can break” (without quotes)

* Save the file

* Re-open the file in notepad

* Notepad displays seemingly-random Chinese character, or boxes if your default notepad font doesn’t support those characters

Trick 4

* Do you know the number of the flight that was used to attack the World Trade Center??? The flight number was Q33N.

* Now, open your notepad, type the number of the flight (i.e. Q33N)

* Now click on format->font increase the font size upto 72, and change the font style to ‘wingdings’

* Now see the amazing thing.

With this

Yours Friend

Sudarshan Singh

Open Source Software and Growth of Linux: The Indian Perspective

Information technology is currently a major concern of developing countries.It is a technology vital for development but the cost is high and implementation is not easily achieved. A related issue, which few developing countries are fully confronted, is that of copyright and illegal copying of software. Complying with international standards means ending widespread copying of software endemic in most developing countries and the prospect of very high and recurrent software costs. Other problematic issues are security and virus problems. A recent development, which is attracting much interest, especially in developing countries, is that of open source software (OSS) and the Linux operating system (OS) in particular. This type of software goes a long way in helping to resolve such issues. In OSS the source code (human readable set of instructions which makes a software) is distributed along with the executable form (the computer readable set of instruction which makes a software, also known as compiled form of a computer software). Once software has been ‘compiled’ into a computer readable form, it is practically impossible to understand the internal functioning of it. It is also not possible to modify it. All commercial software companies distribute their software products in compiled form. By doing so they gain monopoly on improving their software by adding features or fixing bugs. This power encourages them to behave the way monopolists often do: bugs do not get fixed unless this brings a profit, and upgrades become expensive. By following this practice these companies have gained a monopolistic market share of the strategic system and application software for personal computers. Their strategy is described as one that has included predatory pricing (cutting prices to drive rivals out of business); cross-subsidies (using one part of a large company to underwrite loss-making activities in another); and technological predation (using inside knowledge of the operating system to make rival’s software run badly). One example of this is the ‘browsers war’, (the rivalry between Microsoft and Netscape to capture internet browsers market). In this Microsoft was at advantage since it controlled the source code of Windows and both Internet Explorer and Netscape had to run under Microsoft Windows. These strategies adopted by commercial software companies, has given rise to unhealthy dependence on proprietary software, huge expenditure on licensing fee, growth of gray market in pirated software, troublesome environment in local software industries and most importantly discouraged innovation in the software industry at global level. The freedom of research and development offered by OSS has to be understood against this background.

India’s Contribution to Linux Development

Indian contribution to the development of Linux has been very low so far. In fact no Asian country—apart from Japan and Korea—really contribute to the development of Linux. The reason for low Indian contribution is low internet penetration in India. The biggest developer base consists of students from universities and colleges but in the absence of decent internet link they are not able to get in touch with the open source community engaged in development of Linux. Though there are some efforts put in by enterprises like Pacific Hitech, GT Enterprise C&B Consulting (Banglore) & HCL, but people in India have been consumers of the efforts of others. As the internet connectivity in schools and colleges improves, more and more students - who are the primary source of innovation - would start contributing to the Linux effort in India. However a non-profit organisation known as Linux-India.org has been set up to foster Linux growth in India. The group includes engineers, corporate users, consultants, journalists and normal computer users as well. It has got its centers in almost every Indian city working to promote Linux. It organises workshops and seminars to disseminate information about Linux. Indian software developers engaged in developing OSS can also post their software at this platform. The IBM Linux Development Center in Bangalore - one among only seven such IBM facilities worldwide - supports business partners and independent software vendors across the Asian and South Asia regions. The center brings key IBM enterprise-class strengths to Linux, especially in areas such as reliability, availability and serviceability, clustering, file journaling systems, etc.

With this

Yours Friend

Sudarshan Singh