Time for Euphoria; Time for Gaiety

Lived through 365 days, both miserable and happy;

Cherished are good days, and forgotten are the unhappy;

Partially or fully, we tried achieving the resolution;

Time for change, starting with a new resolution.

***

Prosperity and happiness, this year would bring you;

Faith and new dreams, this year would guide you;

Love and caring, this year would engender you;

Trust and sincerity, this year would influence you.

***

Let go fear and tears, start with joy and smiles;

Learn from the mistakes, and start living new styles;

Greetings and wishes, glory drawn from several miles;

Networks getting jammed, bathing in compliments of all styles.

***

Neon lights and fireworks, gold light and star light;

Celebrated acutely BIG, sky bright with multicoloured light;

Countdown goes universally, joy, laughter and dancing on tiptoe;

Zero ticks the clock, New Year starts kissing under mistletoe;

***

Last post of the year, thanking you all for the read;

Your inspired suggestions, enjoyed and learned upon read;

Next year would bring, gripping intrigue to blogs we read;

A year of hope, peace, blessing and doing good deeds.

HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2008

TO ALL OF YOU!!!

-Hammett-

Image taken from here

Who's Going to Crack this?

.

I can hear, I can talk;

Friend of yours, yet I can’t walk;

One eye or two, some of us have;

Some have none, yet you enslave.

***

Friends and loved ones, I bring closer;

I don’t love you, yet you keep me closer;

Needless to sleep, sometimes you let me;

Difficult time, you’ll have without me.

----------------------END-----------------------

This riddle is diddle; reading it is half the battle;

Lavender was the first to figure out; leave a comment on your way out.

ANSWER: MOBILE PHONE

- Hammett-

Image taken from here

Caught in Loneliness

.

Do you remember the old days?

When we used to talk every day,

When we used to laugh every day,

I would never forget those days.

***

Like teenagers in love, we were mad;

Those incredible dreams we had;

With you nothing at all seems bad;

Those days are long gone, yet so sad.

***

Dreaming about you is my passion;

In that, I don’t want any regression;

From no one, I need any compassion;

Without you, I’m in severe depression.

***

Dreams we had; lying on the beach,

Moonlit night, on the sandy beach,

To be alone, far from anyone’s reach,

For each other, we were peach.

***

Life would’ve been much better together,

Without me, you’ve gone further,

Thoughts and heartbeat, making life wither,

I’m lonely with feelings, trying to smother.

-------------------------END--------------------------

Cheers!!

Hammett

The B.U.T.T.E.R.F.L.Y E.F.F.E.C.T

Beauty is in her heart, touched me so deep;

Unexpected attention, changed to love so steep

Tender is her voice, always make my day;

Trusted me like hell, never notion of breakaway;

Enchanting she is, with her I feel secure;

Resilience she brings, she is my life’s fixture;

Few moments, makes life so meaningful;

Love she gives, keeps my heart full;

Yearned for us, could’ve been so joyful.

Everlasting desire, keeps me spellbound;

Frenzy I am, daydreams that surround;

Fruitless I am, losing her I was astound;

Everyday so long, my mind her voices relay;

Crushed my heart, yet she wouldn’t betray;

Treasured moments, never fades away.

---------------------END------------------------


Cheers!!! Hammett

Image taken from here

WHO AM I ? ? ?

As big as a giant, powerful and clever in mind;

Not liked by many, I was hard to find;

Evolving small in size, lickety-split I emerge;

Befriended overtime, having me is the urge.

Transforming life, I am earth-shattering;

Never tired, no qualms when catering;

The more I am told, the more I do things;

I sing and speak, and needs no bathing;

No legs no arms, and not any feelings.

This riddle is diddle; reading it is half the battle;

B@loopuu was the first to figure out; leave a comment on your way out.

THE ANSWER: C . O . M . P . U . T . E . R.

- Hammett-

Image taken from here

Tragic Nightmare

Worst nightmare ever, flinching with a shiver

One wobbly tooth, bleeding like a river

Falling on to hand, followed every tooth

Lost in sorrow, benumbed to soothe

***

Could end in trauma, yet just a dream

Waking before dawn, realized the dream

Opening the curtain, dazzled by sunlight

Jumped off the bed, looking for cyberlight

***

Clock on the desktop, cannot be right

Looked out the window, there’s no sunlight

Another wakeful night, subconscious playing tricks

Sitting here sleepless, expressing with clicks

------------------------END------------------------

Hope you liked it.. Still can't forget it..
Cheers!!!
Hammett

ENDLESS REMINISCENCE

Met through a chum, noticed at sight

Behind her back, exchanging bytes

Started with a laugh, leading to a flirt

Thousand miles apart, yet close at heart

***

Unreachable moments, made me forlorn

Waiting to see online, became the norm

Defying the situation, yearned to be together

Every moment treasured, in the cyber shelter

***

Journey back home, never got bored

Entranced in daydreams, over the globe

Sending short messages, back and forth

First prolonged kiss, delicacy and warmth

***

Ill-timed text message, insecure boyfriend

Losing all that mattered, despair descend

Yet no remorse, with abounding appetence

Cherishing the memories, in endless reminiscence

-----------------------------END---------------------------

Guys... that's my first poem. I would love to hear your say.

Cheers!!

Hammett

Image Source: collegepublisher.com

Does What Happens in the Facebook Stay in the Facebook?

I came across this interesting presentation about Facebook and it's connections to the US Government. It highlights that the people who initially funded (and still funds) this website are linked to US Government Agencies; namely Department of Defese (DoD), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and Information Awareness Office (IAO). It raises more questions.... ???

The amount of data they have about each user! Every minute detail about most of us. From your educational history to employment. Facebook could generate mass statistics, any marketing company would be dying to get. What do they do with it? Are they using us? IAO was established in 2002 (after 9/11) to collect any information they could get about every person in the world. From your Internet usage to personal history; they have it.

Mark Zuckerberg assures that they do not reveal your personal information to anybody. Unless, of course, they are forced to reveal certain information through a subpoena or court order. He also mentioned that user details (collectively) are used in marketing, but no individual details of a particular user is given to any third party. Anyway, we Maldivians do not have any control over our own personal data. Our constitution does not protect it. Does it? I might be wrong. However, UK Data Protection Act 1998 gives citizens full control over their data. It is against the law, for any company to process anyone's information in a database without the user's consent. It is an offense to keep data without updating it. It an offence to sell your data to someone else. It's quite the same in United States, protected by the Privacy Act of 1974.

How much do you reveal about yourself on the Internet; Facebook in particular. How much does US Government know about your whereabouts. Status updates in Facebook is quite helpful sometimes. It's the job of intelligence agencies to collect data. Hehe. But shouldn't we know about it.

How many of you cared to change the default privacy settings on Facebook. They've recently given users more control over how much information they share with others and with whom they share; their friends, networks they belong, or the whole world. Anybody can search the whole Facebook community without even having to register. It's a recent feature as well. Earlier this month, they've revised the privacy policy as well. It might be worth going through it. I know, most people don't even care to ready a policy before checking "I've read and agree with your terms and conditions".

Judge for yourself and be warned!!! I hope the Facebook founder is not being a government puppet. He's done a good job so far and we should applaud.

Cheers!

Hammett

Image Source: Photobucket.com

Supari, Killi or Dhiri (Part 2)

Guys...

I'm back. Got about 2 hours of sleep. Believe me, I didn't intend to wake so early. For whatever reason, I can't sleep well these days. Don't let me bore you talking about my insomnia. Let's continue the "supari thing".

In mid November (if I remember correctly), I had an interview in an area called Whitechapel. That area turned out to be more of a Pakistani area. After the interview, I went looking around. I saw a lot of Asian shops and bought some stuff because it's quite cheap compared to the shops in my area. While I was looking around one shop, something suddenly caught my eyes. It's called "PAN PARAG - Delicious Pan Masala". Hehe... "Dhoom Macha De... Rang Jama de...". I've no idea what that means. It's an Indian product. It was in a silver-blue can (size of a medium heeraa panna can). Quite expensive as well; about £2. I took the can and read the ingredients. Alright; betel-nuts (foah), catechu (no idea), cardamom (kaafooru tholhi), lime, menthol, and some flavours. That's not bad. It's better to have it rather than not having anything at all. Price doesn't matter anymore. I bought it. I went into another shop, found the same stuff and was looking around. Guess what??? Oh man!!! Rasilyyyyyyyyyy... Never been so happy. I bought 2 box. Hehe. I was so happy that day. It felt so tasty, probably because I haven't had that for a long time. And about that pan masala, it tastes horrible. The smell is kind of weird; sweet and mint plus some other smell. I think the smell of some traditional medical thing. Whatever, ate it only once.

Anyway, mid this month, I found another shop that sells Rasili. It's about 25 minutes here, not that far. I bought 1 box from there. I wish I had bought a few more. I'd definitely buy more, next time. I ran out of supari on Saturday, I had only 3 packets left. I was planning to go shopping on Sunday. As it sometimes does, my luck turned me down the next day. It was so cold and foggy; visibility was around 6-10 metre. So I couldn't go out. I had 1 packet left; poor me. Went through that day thinking about it a lot. So one Monday, I went to that shop and they had no Rasily. It was all gone. But few weeks back, they had sooo much. The only other supari they had was called Mehefil Deluxe Supari; it's Pakistani. I bought 2 box. Do you think I had any other option? I wish I did.

You're going to laugh at me again. What was inside the box was, not what I expected. Of course, it's small packets of supari. But what was inside it? At first, I didn't even think about that. I put 1 whole packet into my mouth without even looking. Oh man!! Reminds me of last year, when I was in India. I was dining at some restaurant with my cousin. They brought a tray like thing after we finished eating. But on it wasn't anything like what we get back home after dinner. It was a mixture of aniseed (dhiri), mini-sugar cubes, and some other stuff. I tasted it but didn't eat it. Well, this supari was kind of like that.  It contains betel-nuts, dry date, aniseed, cardamom (kaafooru tholhi), and some flavours. It's mostly aniseed; rest of the ingredients weren't much.

I'm eating it now. It doesn't taste that good, but I sort of like it now. Whatever!! hehe... I can't go without normal supari. I need it. I miss it everyday. I miss the areca-nuts, betel leaves, clove, and heeraa panna. But, I don't think I'd find it here anyway. I will go to that shop again, probably next week. I'll tell you about it, if I get Rasily. Thank you for listening to me moaning about my life. I know. I'm crazy. I'll come back to you later with more crazy stuff.  

Cheers!!

Hammett Image Source: Aromantic, UK

Supari, Killi or Dhiri (Part 1)

How many days can you go without areca-nut, supari, or maybe kill? Especially, if you are a smoker. Not a problem in Maldives though!! But for most of us, living or studying abroad, it's hard to find and some people gets used to not having it. I'm not one them. I need it as badly as I need to smoke. Not that bad, maybe!! I don't know.

I didn't bring supari with me when I came here. Damn me!! Well, I had night flight and I was so busy that day, I totally forgot about it until quarter past eleven. All shops were closed then. I was planning to buy at least 3 or 4 box. Unlucky me!! A colleague of mine gave me something that night. Guess what?? A packet of killi. Don't laugh at me!!! It's not that small. The size of a "chicken-ring" packet. Guess I'm not that unlucky after all. Thanks to Zuney.

I had that killi packet for about 2 months. I was eating it bit by bit. I didn't want to finish it off, or not to eat it. Sounds like my thoughts are quite contrary, right? Still, that's how I felt about it. Thinking about this, a rather sad thought just struck me. Those poor kids, orphaned or born to poor families, they'd be taking food and water in quite the same way or maybe worse. How sad is that? I sometimes think about it, you know. Do you? So sad. Let's not jump back and forth between subjects. When I finished that killi packet (it was sad day), I didn't throw it away. Although there was nothing to eat. Did you just picture me eating the packet? No, I didn't. I just kept it and I started taking "sugarfree gum" more than usual. Sometimes, I rather wished I was in an Asian country. Then, it wouldn't be so hard to find things like that.

Well, I got to sleep now. It's very late and I don't want to make this article any longer than it already is. I haven't finished this story yet. I'd return with part 2, once I wake up. I know that you can't stand me carping. Sorry about it. Thank you for listening anyway.

(To be continued...)

Cheers!!

Hammett Image Source: Spices of India

Another Hilarious and Strange Day in the Kitchen

Dear blog readers,

You might have read my first article about cookery. That lesson being learned, I've purchased necessary items for cooking. Maybe not everything yet, hehe. Well, just as I normally do, I had this strong desire to eat roshi and baked beans again last night. Believe me, my appetite is uncontrollable. With enough motivation to get off my arse, I went into the kitchen.

It was a bit messy in there. One of my flatmate did not clean up after cooking. I made up some space and cleared a bit, spread all the required items on the kitchen counter and I reached for the "electric jug kettle" to boil some water. The jug is a cordless one with a docking station connected to the power outlet. It was half empty; there's an indicator showing the level water in it. I wanted to empty a bit more because it'd take less time to boil. When I tried to lift it, it felt heavier (maybe because of the amount of water in it) than usual. After emptying half of the water in that, it was kind of weird when I tried to put the jug back on the dock. I turned on the power switch on the jug, but it didn't come up. I got worried. Stupid me!! The power switch on the wall outlet was switched off. hehe. I put it on, and still no change. It's more strange now. Maybe it wasn't properly placed on the dock. There's a spiral part protruding from the surface of the dock which goes into the jug connecting power to the heating element. I put my hands on top of the jug, and I pushed it down. Hooray!!! I got it working, but I had to keep it pressed down. In a few seconds, it started making a rather strange noise instead of the usual bubbly sound. Hehe... What have I done? I took the jug up to eye level and looked at the bottom. To my utter surprise, it's surface was burnt. But it shouldn't overheat, because it automatically goes off when water is boiled. Probably a manufacture defect. It must've being caused by someone else who used it before. That's why it felt different when I first lifted the jug. Scared the hell out of me though, it could've have caused a fire.

Anyway, I had to boil water in a pan now. Kneading the dough like a professional (:P) made me feel good this time. Took me less time with the proper stuff for rolling, I was ready to cook. Before moving on to baking, I chopped onion, garlic, and chillies; because I wanted to cook both at the same (to save time ;)). I fried those stuff with curry leaves, and put tuna, then tomato paste, and lastly baked beans. I know I did it wrong. Hehe... When I asked my cousin later, it seems that I've to put tomato before adding tuna. Next time ;)... While cooking that, I started baking roshi. It wasn't easy, I was in a rush. I wish I had four hands (Don't you wish, sometimes). I had to keep stirring baked bean and baking roshi... haha.. Using the spatula to lift roshi was making it too slow, so I  take it with my bare hand sometimes. End up burning a finger, because I tried to lift the pan instead of roshi, not to mention that a few of them were overcooked.

Forget the bad experiences, food turned out to be awesome. :)) That's the most important thing. Oh!! I almost forgot dinner. I could stay here writing all night, but I wouldn't. I'm going to get some food. Thanks listening to me babbling. I try not to do it, but here I've done it again.

Cheers!

Hammett

Facebook - An Ecosystem Mirroring the Real World

The Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (former Harvard student) says that he's going to create an ecosystem exactly mirroring the real world, on the Facebook platform. The core of this modeling would be "social graph" in Facebook, which keeps track of everyone on the network with their connections to each other. If every user updates how, when, and where that user knows every other friend, it totally reflects real world connections. The "social graph" has been removed recently, presumably for further development.

There has been rumours about possible sale of Facebook to other social networking websites but Mark Zuckerberg says that it's never going to happen. Recently Microsoft has bought 1.6% of Facebook worth over US$ 240 million. According to Microsoft they are the exclusive third-party advertising partner for Facebook, and would begin to sell advertising for Facebook internationally in addition to United States. You could read details about it in Microsoft PressPass.

Facebook also has opened a launched a fund called FbFund dedicated to giving out grants to third party application developers. Mark Zuckerberg announed this on a 45 minute interview with Michael Arrington held at TechCrunch40 Conference.The size of the fund is US$ 10 million, each grant anywhere between US$ 25 to US$ 250 thousand. They welcome any developers to send proposals for applications which would be reviewed by an advisory board.

With big dreams, unique platform, several thousand applications developed and yet more to come, 250 thousand new users daily, and 7th most visited website on the internet, what do we extrapolate? This all happened in just about 3 years.

This link would take you to the video recoding of the interview.

 

Cheers!!

Hammett

Nanotechology to Boost Battery Life 10 Times

I want to use my laptop for several hours, maybe a day, without connecting to the wall outlet. Don't you? I hate it when my iPod dies, when I so badly need it. Don't you wish, you don't have to charge your mobile phone so regularly? Technology is promising these advancements, and it's very close.

Stanford researchers have demonstrated how they could use nanotechnology to boost battery life. They used lithium batteries which lasts 10 times longer with  the new technology. Lithium battery is most commonly used to power laptops, iPods, mobile phones, and many other electronic devices we use everyday. Electric cars or solar panels could produce more electricity with this new method using silicon nanowires.

These researchers are going to form a company or work in partnership with a battery manufacture for mass production using this technology. It might bring up the price of these devices a bit, but I hope it will go down real soon as any other technology does. How about lots electric cars on the streets next decade, too soon? Drive whole day, and connect to wall outlet in the garage at night. Wow!!  A major breakthrough in electronics, we cannot accept any less. :)

Cheers!!

Hammett

XP Excels over Vista

New tests have revealed that Windows XP with its beta Service Pack 3 performs twice better than Vista, even with its long-awaited Service Pack 1.  The Service Pack 1 is expected to be released in early 2008, intended to boost performance and further strengthen security issues.

According to researchers at Devil Mountain Software (software development company based in Florida) Windows XP Professional with it's beta Service Pack 3 has outshone Windows Vista, in a benchmarking process. Vista, both with and without Service Pack 1, performed notably slower than XP. Vista took 80 seconds to complete the test, while XP took only 35 seconds proving better performance over it's predecessor. Vista with it's forthcoming SP 1 shows an increased performance of less than 2%, compared to performance without SP 1 installed. XP with its beta SP 3 boots 10% performance compared to XP with SP 2. The test bed used in benchmarking was a Dell XPS M170; 2GHz Core 2 Duo with 1GB RAM. And, Office 2007 was used during the test for productivity tasks such as creating documents, supporting workbooks, and presentations.

A survey by IT Professionals shows that 1 year after release of Vista, only 13% of businesses adopted it. It's far behind Microsoft's expectations.With many  businesses awaiting the release, if SP 1 does not evolve sufficiently it could be a setback for Vista. A comparison of XP and Vista during the first 6 months of each operating systems release show that Vista 59.7 percent behind XP. What a shame! Microsoft allowed PC Manufacturers to continue selling with XP until 31st January 2008. However, the pressure from manufacturers and consumers forced the deadline to be extended until June.

Microsoft says that they are still developing the SP 1 for Vista and targets to deliver something meets full spectrum of customer needs. I really hope that's true. I've been using Vista for the past 5 months, and I really wish I had XP on my machine. It's very fancy and has many new features, but it's mostly the performance makes you dislike Vista sometimes.

Let's see how this promising Service Pack would turn out to be. Keep your fingers crossed!!  :)

Cheers!

Hammett

Grammatical Freedom for Facebook Users

"To be, or not to be: Now Facebook users can decide"

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking website around, worth over 8 billion US dollars. Cultivated and grown in the education sector, registration closed to university emails only, Facebook has transcended to a more open website claiming over 58 million members and growing rapidly. It is a place to socialize with friends next door, around the corner, or thousands of miles away, make new friends and share your thoughts, feelings, likes and dislikes, where distance is not a factor anymore.

For years, members of the online hangout has been able to compose one-liners called "status updates" to tell friends what's going on with them, as in, "Sameeh is mixing Windows with Linux". Each update started with the member's name and "is" followed by a blank box. This led to tongue in cheek workarounds (Sameeh is wants to grill Vista on Redhat). Some ignored "to be" completely and followed "is" with a second active verb.

Several groups were formed petitioning against "is" in status updates. One of the largest group being "Petition to Get Rid of ‘is’ from Facebook Status Update!" initiated by a technology consultant, Ahmed Shama, with 182,015 members. Many who speak languages other than English complained that Facebook was imposing a very English-specific way of updating your status.

It's not easy to write whatever you want in the status update, with the "is" forcing you. Most of you would have seen funny status messages, because of the user being tied to "is". Anyway, On November, Facebook hinted on dropping the verb, and the users declared freedom on 13th December. Now, the "Sameeh is wants to grill Vista on Redhat" a thing of the past, users can supply their own verb for "status updates".

You must've been bored reading this... Go and enjoy FACEBOOKING...... hehe...

Cheers!

Hammett

Microsoft Wireless Keyboard Hack

Researchers from a Swiss security company, Dreamlab Technologies, have successfully hacked the the protocol used for securing some of Microsoft's wireless keyboards; Microsoft Wireless Optical 1000 and Microsoft Wireless Optical 2000. They also mentioned that Wireless Optical 3000, Wireless Optical 4000 and other 27Mhz based Wireless Laser Desktop series could be vulnerable to this hack.
These wireless keyboards communicate with a receiver connected to the Computer and all keyboards communicate in the same frequency range. Each keyboard has to be associated with the corresponding receiver before it can function properly. This association is done by pressing 'connect' or 'synch' buttons on the keyboard and receiver. Once a keyboard has been associated with the receiver, it'll ignore packets received from any other keyboard in range.

Three main packet frametypes identified in the research were Data Packets (actual keystrokes), Management Packets, and Synch Packets (Keyboard and receiver association). Data packets are used to transport actual keystrokes from keyboard to the receiver in encrypted form. Meta-keys like "Shift", "CTRL", and "ALT" are transported in clear-text as flag fields. Management packets are used to identify when all the keys have been released on the keyboard with no encryption involved. Synch packets are used in associating keyboard with the receiver and changing encryption key. The encryption key does not change as long as the keyboard and receiver has been in synch mode. Thus, pressing 'connect' key initiates it.

Only the actual keystrokes are encrypted in transmission. No other identifier bits or meta-flags are encrypted or obfuscated at all. A simple XOR (Exclusive OR) mechanism is used to encrypt the one byte USB HID code using a single byte of random data generated using association process. 256 different key values that can be used in any keyboard to receiver encryption can be cracked easily with the very slow computers today. The researchers boasted that by using a simple wordlist checking in combination with a weighting algorithm, they were able to decrypt data within only 20-50 keystrokes.

They've a video demonstration showing how easy it is to sniff and decrypt multiple keyboards simultaneously using an application. The application consists of a sniffer/decoder running in a terminal which opens up a new window as soon as it figures out the correct encryption key, and shows all keystrokes from the keyboard in clear-text. Multiple keyboards can be sniffed with a separate window for each. Researchers said that they are close to being able to use the hack to control the computers as well.

The frequency used by the keyboards is also used by CB radios, and it could be possible to obtain radio equipment that could intercept these transmissions. The effective range of these keyboards are around 10 meters, through walls and floors as well. There is no patching possibility as this is a hardware issue. If you're using any of these keyboards, and is concerned about the guy next door sniffing your usernames, password or other sensitive stuff, you better change to a wired keyboard, bluetooth keyboard, or a more secure wireless keyboard.

Cheers!

Hammett

Further Enhancements to Blogging

Microsoft released a pretty cool desktop application (free download) to make blogging easier than ever; Windows Live Writer. Many cool features, and so easy to use. The most important functionality is that it enables true WYSIWYG blog authoring. Once your blogging account has been setup in the Writer, it'll detect the style of your blog by posting a sample on your blog. With true WYSIWIG, you don't have to worry about how it'll appear on you blog, because you'll be editing it in the same view as it appears on your blog. It has multiple views such as Web Layout, Web Preview, and HTML Code.

With Windows Live Writer you can have multiple blogging accounts (Windows Live Space, Blogger, many more) setup on the writer and switch between accounts in just 2 clicks. It's easy to format the blog and you can also insert tables, pictures, videos, tags, hyperlinks. maps and many more. You can also tell the writer to upload pictures to a particular FTP server you choose, and to link it to the blog. Inserting maps into blog has never been easier. The blogger can insert Windows Live Maps directly into the post and customize it there itself; changing the view to show bird's eye details, aerial or road view and adding pushpins.

 

It's so handy to have an application that would do just what you want it to do, or probably more. I like and hope you guys would find it useful as well.

 

 

Cheers!!

Hammett

Kitchen Experiment - Making Chapati

It's been a while since I wanted to make chapati (roshi). When ever I think about it, I get the feeling that it would be too difficult and I would mess up. I sort of did. hehe...I'm gonna tell you about it. Today, I decided to see how it goes. Within this week, I enquired a few of my friends about the procedure. Let's see how I did it.

I put plain flour into a medium sized mixing bowl. Then I made a hole in the middle, and put some cooking oil, little bit of salt, and hot water. I started kneading with one hand, added more water and continued. I was afraid that I would mess it by adding more water. Hehe... But it was dry and hard to knead, so I added more and more water. Finally I got the right feel; it got smooth and pliable (more dough like). Done with kneading, I divided it into ping-pong sized balls (just 6, not much).

Ready for rolling now. I didn't have have a rolling pin or a board. How disappointing huh? I forgot to buy it the other day, and didn't go shopping today. It's time for improvisation. Using a can of baked beans as rolling pin and a baking tray as rolling surface, I started. I had to dust the surface of baking tray, so that the dough wouldn't stick and would be easy to flatten. It was a difficult job. People don't use cans as rolling pins (now they do, :P); it was too short. Took me about 15-20 minutes to roll out 6 roshi. A few of them were in good shape, while others were shaped as some obscure country on the map.

Cooking it wasn't hard not to mention that I overcooked some. Hehe... I enjoyed the dinner so much; roshi, baked beans (with tuna) and black tea. So homely meal, I savoured every mouthful. Well, roshi was a bit hard (not rock hard...hehe), stiff, thick and difficult to eat. I enjoyed making it and I'll do a lot better next time. I hope I wouldn't forget to buy the rolling pin or else I might end up using a pen next time. hehe.. A good experience and definitely an add-on to my menu.

 

Cheers!!!

-Hammett-

IT vs. Sales

A man is flying a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces his height and spots a man below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: “Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?”

The man below says: “Yes, you’re in a hot air balloon hovering about 30 feet above a field.”

“You must work in Information Technology,” says the balloonist.

“I do”, replies the man. “How did you know?”

“Well, everything you told me is technically correct, but is of no use to me.”

The man below says, “you must work in sales.”

“I do”, replies the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well, you don’t know where you are or where you’re going, but you expect me to be able to help. You’re in the same position you were in before we met, but now, it’s my fault.”

Source: http://www.jokeswarehouse.com/cgi-bin/viewjoke2.cgi?id=20021019

How much do we depend on Internet?

How we interact and socialize has changed over the past 5 to 10 years. The wide spread use of internet had a major role in this.

I remember the time when sending letters was the only way to communicate with friends and relatives residing in other islands. That was quite recent (I’m not that old :P). This was the only mode of communication in Maldives for a long time, until telephone service was introduced in the capital (Male’) and it took few more years to provide this service to residents in other islands. Internet service was launched in late 90s and is now available on all inhabited islands through out Maldives. Dhiraagu, a joint venture company between Government of Maldives (65%) and Cable & Wireless Plc (35%) of United Kingdom, monopolized the telecommunication market in Maldives; to some extent, they still are. Dhiraagu is the only fixed-line telephone service provider in Maldives. Dhiraagu was also the only Internet Service Provider and Mobile Phone Operator until government issued second ISP license to Focus Infocom in mid 2003, and Wataniya Telecom Maldives was issued a license for providing Mobile Phone Service. There have been rumours about a new ISP since 2006, but we haven’t seen this happening yet.

According to Maldives Internet Usage and Telecommunication Report on Internet World Stats (www.internetworldstats.com), 2.1% of the population (6,000) used internet in 2000, 6.4% in 2005 (19,000), and 6.6% in 2007 (20,100). I believe there would be atleast 40,000 to 50,000 internet users in Maldives today.

Do you have any idea how crazy we’d get without having internet access today? I have experienced it and I’m sure some of you would have had that experience as well. It’s a nightmare. I don’t want that that to happen to any of you. It’s our virtual world. It’s our sixth sense. It’s worse than losing any other senses like, eye sight or hearing. Even if you’re blind u can still live in the real world and virtual world. Even if you’re deaf, you still wouldn’t have a problem. However, if your connection to the virtual world is gone (as if you’re not getting it back), how worse could that be? Internet is a part of our everyday life now. A lot of people would agree with me on this.

How much has internet affected our everyday life. Instead of sending letter, we use email now. We talk to friends using instant messaging more than we talk over the phone. Instead of chatting on “Holhuashi’ we post our ideas, feelings, and concerns on blogs and online forums. We spend more time socializing on the internet than we do in the real world. Facebook is a major hit. There are more than 10,000 on the Maldives network in Facebook which shows how much our small community is into socializing on the internet. Most of you reading this article would have a facebook account and some of you might be members of other social websites like Hi5.

How many of you have thought how much technology has changed the way we do things? It has changed a lot, isn’t it? You don’t have to watch the news to get weather forecast. You don’t necessarily have to go to the bank and queue up to get your bank balance or to transfer money. You can do all that online now. What can’t you do online? Anything you can’t do now would be possible in a few years time. Hehe. Yeah. It’s true.

Everyone who uses Internet has an online life and an offline life. As the name implies, online life is the time we spend on the internet breathing, eating, living, drinking, and smoking in the virtual life while offline life is the normal life living the world. Even though it might sounds crazy, that’s the reality. Most people are so different in their online and offline lives. There might be similarities but it’s mostly different.

So, bottom-line here is life would be so hard without internet. Forget about the time when we didn’t have internet. As we have it now and use it everyday, it would be totally a disaster not to have it or even to think about not having it. How many companies would go bankrupt without internet? The disaster that would be caused by internet going down is inevitable. How much would it affect our personal lives? How many of you have dated online. It’s so common these days. I’ve friends who met socializing online and got married later. That’s so cool! In 80s none of us would even think about that possibility. It’s happening now. Online dating is so famous in developed countries as well.

Maldivians love technology, always demand the latest technologies, and we are almost there. We are not that far behind more developed countries. Don’t you want a future where you can do absolutely anything while sitting on your ass? Hehe...There are technological advancements we could never have dreamed of, and yet a lot more to be discovered. Life without internet would suck BIG-time.

Enjoy your life: both of 'em
Cheers :))

Steganography – The Art and Science of Writing Hidden Messages

Wikipedia defines Steganography as the art and science of writing hidden messages in such a way that no one apart from the intended recipient knows of the existence of the message; this is in contrast to cryptography, where the existence of the message itself is not disguised, but the content is obscured. The word “Steganography” comes from Greek words steganÓs meaning covered, and graptos meaning writing and can trace its origins as far back as 440 B.C.

Steganography has been used for hundreds of years as a means of concealing information from prying eyes before ultimately reaching its intended destination. In Histories written by Herodotus, he gives two examples of steganography. The first is Demeratus, a Greek in the Persian court who sent warning of a forthcoming invasion by Xerxes by writing a message on a wooden pallet and then covering it in wax. The messenger was able to successfully smuggle the “blank” tablet to Sparta. A second example was that of Histiaeus who shaved the head of his most trusted slave and tattooed a message on his head. After the slave’s hair grew, he was dispatched with the “hidden message”. The purpose was to instigate a revolt against the Persians. It relies on the sender and receiver agreeing upon the method by which the information will be hidden and therefore some means of prior communication is essential for steganography to be of any use.

Essentially, steganography is the art of concealing private or sensitive information within a carrier that for all intents and purposes, appears innocuous. Simply put, if you were to view the presented information, it would appear to be something that does not warrant further analysis due to the fact that it does not LOOK or SOUND like anything that contains sensitive information. Steganography is sometimes confused with cryptography. Although the two can co-exist, they are not the same. Both are used to protect information but steganography is concerned with concealing information thereby making it unseen while cryptography is concerned with encrypting information thereby making it unreadable.

As technology has evolved, so has steganography technique. How do we hide information in the electronic age? At the most fundamental level, computers use binary, a combination of zeroes and ones to represent text and graphics. The ASCII is the de facto standard for representing text and certain control characters. ASCII uses one parity bit and seven data bits to represent each character in the English language. For example an uppercase “A” is represented by 10000001. A digital image is composed of picture elements or “pixels.” Each pixel contains information as to the intensity of the three primary colors, red, green and blue. This information can be stored in a single byte (8 bits) or in three bytes (24 bits). For example in an 8 bit image, white is represented by the binary value of 11111111 and black is 00000000. Current information hiding techniques rely on the use of a cover object (image, document, sound file, video file, etc.) sometimes known as a carrier. The secret message is then broken down to its individual bits by a steganographic tool (stego-tool) and Embedded in the cover object. Many tools will utilize a password or passphrase which is necessary to extract the hidden message and is referred to as a stego-key. The result of this process is known as the stego-object.

Where can information be hidden? Almost anywhere on the Internet! The standard protocol suite used in the Internet is TCP/IP. The headers used to transfer data between computers allow the use of flags and certain reserved fields. With the appropriate tools, information can be inserted into these fields. The advantage of this technique is that headers are rarely read by humans and thus makes an ideal place to hide data. The disadvantage of this method is that firewalls can be configured to filter out packets that contain inappropriate data in the reserved fields, thus defeating the steganographic transmission. Another popular technique for hiding information is to include extra spaces in documents. These spaces may contain hidden characters. Again this is simple technique for hiding information and consequently is easy to detect and defeat. By opening such a document in Microsoft Word, the unusual spaces become readily apparent. Reformatting the document can remove hidden message. The use of audio files can provide a good carrier for hidden messages. By their very nature, sound files tend to be large in size and thus do not attract attention. The human eye or the human ear cannot detect very subtle or minute changes in visual or aural presentations making steganography an effective means of concealing private information.

The most prevalent cover objects in use today are digital images because of their potential payload (hidden information). A typical image with 640 x 480 pixels and 256 colors (8 bit) can hide approximately 300Kb of information. A high resolution image, 1024 x 768 pixels and 24 bit color could hide approximately 2.3 Mb worth of data. Due to the potential large size of such files compression algorithms are used to reduce the image to a suitable size for sending across the Internet. There is a wide variety if compression algorithms available, but the three most common are BMP, GIF, and JPEG. When choosing a cover image for use in steganography the first two compression algorithms, BMP and GIF are preferred because offer “lossless” compression. The compressed image is an exact representation of the original. The JPEG compression algorithm uses floating point calculations to translate the picture

Following is the elaboration of a few steganographic techniques.

Technique 1: Substitution.

Every file that is created will contain unused or insignificant areas of data. These areas can be replaced without any discernible changes to the visual or aural clarity of the file. The Least Significant Bit (LSB) method replaces the last bit in an 8 bit byte. The theory is that simply replacing this bit in each byte will not be noticeable to the human eye or ear depending on the type of the file.

10010110 01101010 11100101

This represents a 24 bit image (3 bytes x 8 bits). Let’s suppose we changed the first bit (1) in the first byte. This being the most significant bit would mean that it changing would likely have a significant effect on the picture and be easily seen by the naked eye. However, if we change the last bit (1) in the last byte then chances are that this change would not be noticeable. This last bit is the Least Significant Bit (LSB). Therefore to conceal a message, we can use the LSB’s in the picture file to structure a message to conceal within the file.

LSB works best in files that have a lot of ‘noise’ i.e. pictures that have many colors and shapes or audio files that have a lot of different sounds and effects such as echoes. This is because LSB changes the value of a byte and in turn that changes the color or sound. Therefore, the more noise in a file the harder it will be for human to notice any minor changes. Substitution method generally does not increase the size of the file but depending on the size of the hidden message, it can eventually cause a noticeable change from the unmodified version. The LSB technique is commonly used in steganographic applications because it is quick and easy to use. One drawback to LSB is that the technique does not take well to the file changing eh. The picture being cropped or rotated as this can destroy the hidden message.

Cisco Introduces a New Certification; CCENT

Cisco announced a new certification on 25th of June, CCENT (Cisco Certified Entry Network Technician), to its Career Certification Program. This certification is aimed for guys interested in starting a career in the vast field of networking.

CCENT tests the skills required to install, operate and troubleshoot small routed and switched networks with a bit of concentration in security and wireless as well. It’s quite similar to CompTIA Network+ Certification. It’s the first stepping-stone for moving up the ladder toward certifications requiring much more technical knowledge and expertise in the field.

No prerequisites are required for this certification. The required training for CCENT is Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 (ICND) and the exam is 640-822 ICND1, which would be available worldwide on 1st of August.

When you pass 640-822 ICND1, you can take 640-816 ICND2 to get Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Certified. The latter mentioned exam covers topics such as IPv6 addressing, extending switched networks with VLANs, VLSM, VTP, IP routing protocols, NAT, DHCP, Frame Relay, and the list goes on. It’s aimed to make you comfortable with the Cisco terminology, and IOS commands.

The two exams cover the whole content of CCNA composite exam; 640-801. There’s a new exam coming up on 1st August with revised curriculum; 640-802. The revised curriculum of CCNA will be released on 26th of July 2007.

Anyway, for those of you who are inspired to get certified, if you have any questions just comment in here.

Hammett
(CCNA, CCNP, CCSP, MCSE:Sec, Security+)

Apple Safari 3 Public Beta

I installed Apple Safari 3 Public Beta on my Windows XP machine tonight....

It's nice and pretty fast... got the "APPLE" look.....

12 reasons you'll love Safari (atleast Apple says so): 1-Blazing Performance.... 2- Elegant User Interface .... 3- Easy bookmarks...

4- Pop-up blocking... 5- Inline find.. 6- Tabbed browsing... 7- Snapback... 8- Forms AutoFill... 9- Built-in RSS ... 10- Resizable Text Fields... 11- Private Browsing... 12- Security...

It's faster than Opera and Internet Explorer....

Watch the demo and download it for free.....

http://www.apple.com/safari/

Crossroad Guitar Duel - Steve Vai battles Karate Kid

Guys..............

This is the best guitar duel ever... I love it!!!!!



See the solo from 03:28 - 02:20 ... the extravaganza... jsut wow!!!!

FasyLive - Vengeance

I attended the inauguration ceremony of the “Vengeance” album at Runway 2007. Standing there for a few hours to see the impressive performance by Fasy was worth it. His performance was so thrilling.

I have always loved heavy metal music and I’m a fan of Metallica since…. I don’t remember… I always dreamed of seeing a Maldivian guitarist playing so confidently not to mention his splendid talent. He is a great vocalist as well.

I have been listening to Vengeance for the past few days and each and every song is so perfectly crafted. Believe me… you wouldn’t get bored listening to this album.

I'll tell you when I get bored.... ;)

http://www.fasylive.com/

Fasy's "Painted in Black" Video on UTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v0bSo0BPgg

Check it out sometime!!!

PhotoReading !!!!

Hey bloggers... This is my first article... It's not nice to be left alone, while all u guys are enjoying here... isn’t it?

Anyway, PhotoReading, I read about this a week back. I went to Novelty Book-fare where I found this amazing book “Rapid Reading”. Few quotes on the cover page caught my attention.

“Learn to read 25,000 words per minute” - Unbelievable huh!!!
“Read 100% faster – immediately” - heheh…
“Absorb hours of information in minutes” - I can’t wait to do that…

I read this book, and it’s superb. I’d like to share it with you guys.. There are 5 steps to this PhotoReading.

1- Prepare
2- Preview
3- PhotoRead
4- Activate
5- Rapid Read

Step 1 – Prepare
That author says that reading begins with a clear sense of purpose. It’s very true. In this stage you’ve to consciously state the desired outcome from what you are about to read.

Step 2 – Preview
In the preview stage you survey that book trying to sense the structure of the book. Going through the TOCs and introduction will help. You can gather a list of trigger words which embodies the core concepts or events. These trigger words will alert our minds to the details we might want to explore more thoroughly later. Previewing gives us the skeleton (like X-raying) of the book. During the next step we add body to this skeleton. :))

Step 3 – PhotoRead
The PhotoReading technique begins with placing ourselves more fully into the relaxed, alert state of mind and body called the accelerated learning state. Then we adjust our vision for the PhotoFocus state. Here the aim is to use our eyes in a new way: instead of bringing individual words into sharp focus, we soften our eyes so that our peripheral vision expands and the whole printed page comes into view. “At a rate of one page a second, we can PhotoRead a while book in three to five minutes. This is not traditional Reading.”

PhotoFocus creates a physical and mental window – allowing direct exposure of the incoming visual stimuli to the brain. In this state, we mentally photograph the entire page, exposing it to the preconscious processor of the mind. The exposure of each page stimulates a direct neurological response. The brain performs its function of pattern recognition, unencumbered by the critical/logical thought process of the conscious mind.

After PhotoReading, we may have little if any of the material in conscious awareness, which means we may consciously know nothing. The next step creates the mental awareness we need… Keep reading…

Step 4 – Activate
During activation we re-stimulate the brain – probing the mind with questions and exploring parts of the text to which we feel most attracted. We then super read the most important parts of the text by scanning quickly down the center of each page or column of type.

When we feel it is appropriate, we dip into the text for more focused reading to comprehend the details. In dipping, we allow our intuition to say, “Hey, turn to the last paragraph on page 147! Yes, that’s the one. The ideas you want are right there.”

Step 5 – Rapid Read
This final step of the PhotoReading whole mind system is closest to conventional reading and speed reading. While rapid reading, we move our eyes quickly through the text, starting at the beginning and going straight through to the end. We take as much time as we need, feeling free to adjust our reading speed depending upon the complexity, prior knowledge, and importance of the material. Rapid reading directly involved the conscious mind and satisfies our need for clear comprehension.

Remember, this step takes place after the other steps of the system. Those steps make us increasingly familiar with the text.

I’ve PhotoRead a few books since I read this book, but I haven’t been able to activate none of the books yet. I’m still trying. The most important thing in PhotoReading is that you’ve to believe in it. You’ve to believe that you can PhotoRead and you will be able to read at the rate of 1 page/sec, once you master this book.

Please share it with me, if any of you have experienced this reading technique.