Inspirational pics!!

Origami Tulip

Spotted a lot of Tulip bloom this spring. Made an origami Tulip today -->




 

 

Folding steps in diagrams: Here
Diagrams with Instructions: Here
Youtube video Instructions: Here

None of these instructions are mine... lol

Heartbroken

Heartbroken by Heise

The world is so cruel. It makes u think that you are going to get what you desire. It really convinces you. Even if you are a person who deal things mildly whether it is joy or sorrow, the world makes you believe that now there is no way you wont get it.

Finally I let my heart have a little joy. Yes, I got it, so happy now. Even though it seemed like a dream, I believed that I got it. And when the time came it was cruelly snatched away, slipping out from the gap of fingers, so close, but couldn't make it... Why did this happen?.......  I could have lived with out it, I dint have any hopes from the start. I would somehow live my dull life, but you gave me desire. My heart which was not used to wishing and hoping so much, soared at the thought of what I was about to get, it is all my mistake, i fell in to the trap of this mirage. Now my heart, it lies there.... wings cut, broken, shattered... tears cant heal it... When it heals the scars of this wound would be so tough that my heart would never hope again, it would never dare to be happy again only to fall in to the deep trench of sorrow...  It will grow cold... For the fear of losing it would never try for anything again, for the fear of disappointment it would never wish/expect anything again... it will be closed forever to everything, it can no more be called heart, just a part of body with no emotions or desire in it..... I am dead until i die, until i leave this body and mind,  until my rebirth... all thanks to this cruel world...

Live for yourself!

In the present world where money has become everything, we make the common mistake of trying to impress others(often our "enemies") with our status/job/luxuries.... We work so much towards in that direction... to get a new huge house, new car, highly paying job, great body, the list goes on...

All these are good things, definitely.... only if it gives you peace and happiness...

You get a new house/car on loan... You are happy when others praise it... But at the end of the day, you are not able to sleep peacefully in the house because you have to spend coming years working hard to pay the loan...

You go for a highly paid and respected profession that you don't even love, you work with out sleep for that promotion which will just increase your workload with out much increase in income... If it is not what you love... then why? Is it not enough to do a job you love, be a real pro at it and earn what is enough, perhaps a little surplus too... You don't have to earn too much, you are gonna be dead in another 50 years anyways... so don't forget to live your life while you are alive...

It is not necessary to get an awesome body that they show in the ads unless you really love to look so... If you are comfortable being healthily chubby, you don't have to crawl to gim everyday and hate all those rigorous  work outs. Well, I don't think someone can work out that much with out really wanting a great body, so noone need to be told like this probably... lol

Come on friends, we got to stop living to impress others... let's...
DO what we truly love,
BE who we truly are and
LIVE for our loved ones...

Must have free android apps 2012

The following are list of android apps I have on my phone and wouldn't ever uninstall. All of them serve there purpose really well, do not eat up phone(or SD) space and battery, have no annoying ad pop ups and all of them are FREE!! They are best of their kind. Do try them!

1. Android Assistant(18 features)

(Average rating: 4.5 from 54,858 votes)
It helps manage and improve phone's performance. Features of this app which I use most are:
a. Process Manager (Auto Boost and Quick Boost can distinguish different types of processes thus will not kill fatal system processes and apps in Ignore List.)
b. Cache Cleaner (saves a lot of memory)
c. System Clean (Browser History, Clipboard, Market History, Gmail History, Google Earth History, Google Map History)
d. Save Battery Settings (bluetooth, wifi, gps, auto-sync, orientation, haptic feedback, screen brightness, timeout)
e. File Manager (allows to browse through files in SD cards)
f. Batch Uninstall (I use this a lot since I install and uninstall apps a lot)
g. App 2 SD (helps save phone memory)

These are just 8 of the 18 features. To check out the 18 features and know more about this app, go to google play official site: Android Assistant.

2. Antivirus Free

(Average rating: 4.5 from 56,720 votes)
I have used a lot of antivirus app and I guess this one is the best. It detects application install automatically and let you know if the app is safe or malicious. It detects faster than other antivirus app. It is lightweight too.
To check out and know more about this app, go to google play official site: Antivirus Free

3.Bathing Cat

(Average rating: 4.6 from 32,224 votes)
The green battery bar on android gives me no estimate of how much battery I have left. I want an exact figure you know, in percentage. And sometimes while charging my battery gets so heated up that I wonder if my phone is gonna burst! So this app helps me with these two rants.

It tells you percentage of battery charge remaining, no the app doesn't tell you, the cute kitten tells you! The kitten as name tells loves to bath. The water in it's tub represents battery level. If you are charging you phone you can see water filling the tub from a pipe. If water level is too low(you can set how low) the kitten becomes so angry and asks you to charge, cool right?
It also tells you the temperature of battery. If it gets too hot(you can set how hot), the cat starts sweating and asks "Am I on sun?!" It also asks a dozen other things, reminds you to have lunch, go to sleep etc. Yes you get a companion on your home screen!! You can bath it, feed it etc, no you don't have a choice, she will get very upset if you don't feed her milk. I guess I got too excited talking about this!
Anyway, check it out here: Bathing cat.

4. MixZing Media Player

(Average rating: 4.4 from 66,241 votes)

I was not really impressed with the built-in media player. Searching for songs, playing by folder, making playlists etc. could be easier. So I tried out media players from the market and found MixZing to be the best!
Music ID identifies your songs, even those without valid tags, and lets you clean up their tags and album art. Displays lyrics for millions of songs. Sleep timer is another great feature.

Check it out at MixZIng media player.

5. Uva silent widget camera

(Average rating: 4.0 from 6,643 votes)

I love to take photos in the dim light of restaurants but the loud clicking sound of camera embarrasses me. So I got this one. Two complaints that I have: It saves photos to different folder in SD, viewing it right after we take to see if it came out well, is a little difficult since it saves away the photo and gets ready to take a new one right away!

Anyways, here is Uva silent widget camera.

6. Screen Filter

(Average rating: 4.7 from 13,279 votes)

I read myself into sleep. It is possible to decrease brightness in phone settings to 11%, but it still is too bright to read/play games at night. Screen Filter applies a shade that acts as a dimmer to ensure eyes don't hurt.

You can find it here: Screen Filter

7. Sundroid Free Sunrise Sunrise

(Average rating: 4.4 from 1,233 votes)
Why would anyone want to know sunrise and sunset time? Well, I go for jogging a little before sunset or a little after sunrise. And this is the best out there for the purpose. Worldwide sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset times on your phone! Sundroid Free Sunrise Sunrise

8. Path tracking lite.

(Average rating: 4.2 from 337 votes)
Path Tracking Lite records your GPS positions while you perform activities such as Walk/Run, Driving and Bike. Each activity is drawn with different color on the map. It display current and average speed, calories burned, time and distance information while performing activities. You can save and review all these information later for analysis. Pretty accurate and lightweight! Path Tracking lite.

9. SoundHound

(Average rating: 4.4 from 137,664 votes)
Unlimited music recognition! With the world's fastest music recognition and exclusive singing search, SoundHound is instant music search and discovery. SoundHound

10. 20000 Awesome Jokes

 (Average rating: 4.3 from 10,527 votes)

 Have a long journey to office, get this. No net conn. required. 20000 jokes in 40+ categories! Only if you are a person who likes jokes! :P
20000 Awesome Jokes

So, these are the apps from the "google play store" the old android market that I think are must-have!! What are your favorites?

Success -how hard you should try before you give up?

The answer is until you succeed!

Abraham Lincoln had faced numerous failures before he became president. His story inspires us to not give-up no matter how many times we fail... with the right effort, success will be ours!

A list of Abraham Lincoln’s Failures:

• Lost job, 1832
• Defeated for legislature, 1832
• Failed in business, 1833
• Elected to legislature, 1834
• Sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died, 1835
• Had nervous breakdown, 1836
• Defeated for Speaker, 1838
• Defeated for nomination for Congress, 1843
• Elected to Congress, 1846
• Lost renomination, 1848
• Rejected for Land Officer, 1849
• Defeated for Senate, 1854
• Defeated for nomination for Vice-President, 1856
• Again defeated for Senate, 1858
• Elected President, 1860
  
  

success quote -Winston Churchill

The Ass and The Charger

I came across an Aesop's fable, thought of sharing ... nothing new, we all have read/heard it in our childhood...

Once, there lived an Ass and a Charger. The Ass was leading a very hard life. Everyday, it had to carry heavy load from dawn to dusk. Still it wouldn't get much to eat. It was beaten when it was tired or lazy. There was also a Charger who lived in the same house. It was living a sweet life. The horse was fed healthy food. There were servants to take care of it. The owner would take a ride on the majestic horse in the morning. The horse was leading nothing less than a royal life. The Ass envied the Charger very much. Its only duty was just to stay there beautifully, or so the Ass thought.

The war broke out and the charger was taken to the battlefield. It was wounded and died. Then, the Ass thought... Even though I am leading a hard life, even though I am not regarded by my owners, at least I am safe...

Moral: Be not hasty to envy the condition of others.

Aesop's fables

Persistence is the key!

Do not give up! It might be a long journey, but victory will definitely be yours. You do not fail even if you dont win, but you do if you quit. Hang in there, it can't take so long...

DIY comb holder from cookie box

             Don't you just hate it when you can not find your comb when you are running late for work? Here is a cute comb holder that will cost you nothing... If there is an empty cookie carton lying around you can start right away!!

Step 1: Find the cookie carton, cut it as shown below:

Step 2: Cover the box by pasting some paper on it. I used plain white paper so that I can draw something on it. You can use some colored decoration paper too! It is enough to cover the side of the box which will be seen outside. I am so lazy that I covered one side only :D

Step 3: Now paint or write something cute on it! Place a double sided tape to the back side. (The words on the paper: "Experience is the comb nature gives men when they are bald -Chinese proverb)...
Aren't my comb and frog cute?!...

Step 4: Your comb holder is ready! Stick it on a wall or cupboard near your mirror!

 

101.1 Determine and configure hardware settings

Topic 101: System Architecture

101.1 Determine and configure hardware settings

• Weight: 2
• Description: Candidates should be able to determine and configure fundamental system hardware.

Key Knowledge Areas

• Enable and disable integrated peripherals.
  BIOS(Basic Input/Output System): It is the firmware located in a PC, which is responsible for bringing all of the system hardware to a state at which it is ready to boot an operating system. When the PC starts up, the first job for the BIOS is the power-on self-test  (POST), which initializes and identifies system devices such as the CPU, RAM, video display card, keyboard and mouse, hard disk drive, optical disc drive and other hardware. The BIOS then locates boot loader software held on a peripheral device (designated as a 'boot device') and loads and executes that software, giving it control of the PC. This process is known as booting. A BIOS has a user interface (UI), typically a menu system accessed by pressing a certain key on the keyboard when the PC starts. In the BIOS UI, a user can:
  
  • configure hardware
  • set the system (h/w) clock, which will provide time to OS on startup. #hwclock synchronize
  • enable or disable system components
  • select which devices are eligible to be a potential boot device
  • set various password prompts, such as a password for securing access to the BIOS user interface functions itself and preventing malicious users from booting the system from unauthorized peripheral devices.

• Configure systems with or without external peripherals such as keyboards.
• Differentiate between the various types of mass storage devices. Attachment interfaces :
  
• IDE/ATA (Integrated Drive Electronics / Advanced Technology Attachment) 
• SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment)
• PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment)
  all use the ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) standard to communicate with the device.
  The SCSI family of attachment interfaces is not hardware-compatible with the ATA family.

• Set the correct hardware ID for different devices, especially the boot device.
• Know the differences between coldplug and hotplug devices.
• Determine hardware resources for devices.
  /proc kernel.org
  /proc  /proc is a pseudo-filesystem(contain virtual files, size zero) which is used as an interface to kernel data structures. The numbered directories in /proc represent processes running on the system(number = process id number from ps command).
  
  The proc files, interrupts, dma, and ioports, show how system resources are currently utilized.
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  # /proc/interrupts

          CPU0          
    0:   80448940          XT-PIC  timer 

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The first column refers to the IRQ number(interrupt request priority, 1-15). Each CPU in the system has its own column and its own number of interrupts per IRQ. The next column reports the type of interrupt(XT-PIC , IO-APIC-edge,IO-APIC-level) , and the last column contains the name of the device that is located at that IRQ.
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  # /proc/dma

   4: cascade

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  This file contains a list of the registered ISA direct memory access (DMA) channels in use.
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

  # /proc/ioports
  0000-001f : dma1
  0020-003f : pic1
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  a list of currently registered port regions, used for input or output communication with a device.
  The first column gives the I/O port address range reserved for the device listed in the second column.
  



• Tools and utilities to list various hardware information
  
  Report hardware => lsmod, lsdev, and lspci.
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  #lsmod
  Module Size      Used by         Not tainted
  vfat       12844   0 (autoclean)
  fat         38328   0 (autoclean)   [vfat]
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The lsmod command displays all the information available about currently loaded modules. The output of lsmod is a series of columns identifying the module name, its size, its use number(number of modules referring it), and its status(name of referring modules).
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  

  # lspci
  00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82815 815 (contd.)
  00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82815 (contd.)
  00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 03)
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  The lspci command displays information about your system’s PCI(Peripheral Component Interconnect) buses and your installed PCI devices. This information is found primarily within /proc.
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  #lsdev
  Device    DMA  IRQ  I/O Ports
  ------------------------------
  ATI                             c800-c8ff
  bttv                     10
  Creative                       e800-e81f ec00-ec07
  dma                              0080-008f
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The lsdev command displays information about your system’s hardware, such as interrupt addresses
  and I/O ports. The command is useful for obtaining information prior to installing devices that may have hardware addressing conflicts, such as ISA (Industry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard) devices. This command uses DMA files in /proc to also report I/O addresses and IRQ and DMA channel information. There are no options for lsdev. The output lists information in four columns: device name, DMA address, IRQ address, and I/O ports.
  
  Manipulating Modules=> lsmod, insmod, rmmod, modinfo, modprobe. (to list, insert, remove and query modules)
  
  insmod
  #insmod [options -s, -v] modulename
  Insert a module into the running kernel.(has to be superuser) Exist status 1 indicate error(dependency error of prerequisite modules, use modeprob)
  
  rmmod
  #rmmod [options -s, -a] modulename
  The rmmod command is used to remove modules from the running kernel.(superuser, no referring modules)
  
  modinfo
  #modinfo [options -a, -d, -p] module_object_file
  Display information about a module from its module_object_file
  eg: modinfo -d /lib/modules/2.2.5-15smp/misc/zftape.o
  
  modprob
  #modprobe [options -a, -c, -l, -s, -r, -t] module [symbol=value ...]
  In addition to loading single modules, modprobe has the ability to load modules along with their prerequisites or all modules stored in a specific directory. The modprobe command can also remove modules when combined with the -r option. (-t moduletype : Attempt to load multiple modules found in the directory moduletype until a module succeeds or all modules in moduletype are exhausted. Attempt to load available network modules until one succeeds: # modprobe -t net .Attempt to load all available network modules: # modprobe -at net)

• Tools and utilities to manipulate USB devices
  
• Conceptual understanding of sysfs, udev, hald, dbus

Terms and Utilities

• /sys
• /proc
• /dev
• modprobe
• lsmod
• lspci
• lsusb 

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