FIFA '09

Well I ain't a generic fan of games on PC , but i'd love to announce that i just got myself the EA Sports - FIFA '09 and ..... its ..... GREAT !!!!!

Seriously , its just too good ... With the all new option of manually placing your passes and runs with the mouse control is just brilliant ... Its the first time i ever liked such a game on any console other than the ps2 ... Have a buy !!! It won't disappoint you ... :D

Take Care ...

DaMn ThEsE eXaMs !!!

Its Mon Nov 24 19:24:21 IST 2008 and i've just logged in to while away some time off my studies ... I'M TIRED !!!!!

No wonder the most popular online forums in our country have the title on the lines of - 'I Hate Our Education System' .... :P

Exams get over and I find myself already burdened with the preparation for my next volley of exams ... Its the same old story as always !!! Don't know why i haven't got used to it yet ... :)

So i've bought myself some nice time off today coz tomorrow's just a practical !!! ;) ... But have to give an extra assignment tomorrow to cover up for the previous marks and the low attendances (i get such oppurtunities being Riteek , you see ?? :D )

Anyways , the TODAY'S FORTUNE tab on my orkut home page shows - " The person who reads your fortune has just been fired. Good luck anyways !!! "

Will catch you guys later with some content-filled posts ... 

Till then ,

Take care .....

Ubuntu Easter Eggs

Heyyy ... I'm back !!!! This time i've come loaded with great Ubuntu secrets (many of them are owed to Mr. Devesh "DeBeSsSs" Rai)

So ...
1.To begin with , here's how to open the book of mozilla :
In the URL of your Firefox browser , key in "about:mozilla" without the quotes and you'll be taken to the page 1/3 of the Book of Mozilla , which otherwise from Internet Explorer would have redirected to a wonderfully bright BSOD :P ...

2.Open the terminal and run the following and enjoy the responses :
a. apt-get moo
b. aptitude help
c. aptitude moo
d. aptitude -v moo
e. aptitude -vv moo
f. aptitude -vvv moo
g. aptitude -vvvv moo
h. aptitude -vvvvv moo
i. aptitude -vvvvvv moo

3. Press alt+f2 under GNOME, and type in "free the fish" (without the quotes) in the application and see what happens. :D

4. Again press alt+f2 and then type in "gegls from outer space" (without the quotes) and enjoy the game of sapce invaders but with an exception - the game is played with cows !!!! :)

So , enjoy these for now .... will try to bring you more easter eggs soon ...

Take Care ...

THIS IS IT ............................................

5 hours left for the lights to illuminate one final time this year and mark the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix - 2008 which rounds off the wonderful season we've had (and without sounding too reflective on the season - i would want to mention that The Drivers' Championship is still open !!! :D)

20 drivers , 10 constructors , 71 breathtaking laps comprising 306 kms of driving on this beautiful 4.31 km long Sao Paulo Circuit in Brazil ...

This is THAT-KIND-OF day for which F1 lovers reschedule meetings, appointments, dates just to watch the action one final time before a break of nearly 5 months (the next race would be on the 29th of March{WOWW !!!} in Melbourne)

So whatever you do , wherever you are just DONT MISS THIS !!!!!


p.s. Intrepid Ibex ISO/upgrade is available ... Go in for it and grab some cool power-ups with great themes,appearances and a faster interface ... :D

Title Permutations - Final GP weekend of The Season

So this is it ... Here's where it all will end for this year's F1 Championship ... With both of the titles being open still, it could be anyone's guess who'll snatch away the Drivers' Title and the Constructors' Title ...

Here are all the possibilities for the Drivers' Title -

Hamilton will be champion if: 
- He finishes fifth or higher 
- He finishes sixth and Massa is second or lower 
- He finishes seventh and Massa is second or lower 
- He finishes eighth and Massa is third or lower 
- He fails to score and Massa is third or lower 

Massa will be champion if:
- He wins and Hamilton finishes sixth or lower 
- He finishes second and Hamilton is eighth or lower 

If the pair are tied on points at the end of Sunday afternoon (which would happen is Massa wins with Hamilton sixth, or if Massa finishes second with Hamilton eighth), Massa would win the title by virtue of more victories (six to Hamilton’s five) or more second-place finishes (three to Hamilton’s two).

Going back to what happened last year , when Kimi won the title in the last race ( trailing by 8 points before the start of that race ) - all i can say is - Anything Can Happen...

But whatever you do , DONT MISS THIS RACE !!!!

The Return of The Dark Lord

Heyy ... its so good to be back to writing after almost a month of exile (reasons ???? plenty ... singapore; our national game; debarred lists; presentations; and the end sem assignments ... ) from this place ...

Well to start off, the Singapore trip was great fun ... Enjoyed to the core and saw some pretty cool things and places ... I'll soon paste a link to the web album in my blog ... Met loads and loads and loads of people there and got in contact ...

Even the hockey was great ... We had been training since about a month before the first match and i guess it paid off ... we played H.O.P.E.L.E.S.S.L.Y B.A.D in the first match of the tourney but still won 2-0 against AINT ...

Then we also met the team from ASPESS(omg!omg!omg!) which were unfortunately in our half of the tournie ladder ... 

Believe it or not , we played our best game against them (mostly because their coach had told us before the match that they've aimed at scoring 9-10 goals against us) but still lost 2-0 ... :) and see i'm smiling ... They literally demolished every team in the tournie so even 2-0 seems a moral victory for a bunch of players who were playing for the first time ... :)

And then came the much awaited and anticipated news - my name on the debarred list in UNIX ... lolllz ... that almost shocked the whole class but i knew it was bound to be there ... :D

So after an hour of running around to get OD's (for whatever i could get) i think now i'll be in the 'safe' zone ... lolllz ... I dont think i'll be debarred now , coz of the scary thing this command returns - $echo `who am i` ... :P ... Teachers' would fear to debarr this output character stream ...

So ... this was just to tell u that i'm still on blogger, havent left it or sumthing ... 

Will return soon with some cool Ubuntu stuff ... and other stuff too for non-geeks ... 

Till then ... take care ...

Try Intrepid Themes On Ubuntu Hardy Heron

It's been a while since we are waiting for the visually refreshing Inteprid Ibex version of our OS ... And we've found a way to get a sneak peek of what's in store for us :)

Some of the themes created uptil now, can be used in the current versions of Ubuntu as well ... Here's what you have to do:

1. Add these lines to your /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kwwii/ubuntu hardy main deb-src
http://ppa.launchpad.net/kwwii/ubuntu hardy main

2. Run the following in your terminal :
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install community-themes

Believe it or not , you're through with it ... thats all you have to do ... ;) ... Pretty easy, right ?


And one more thing , Intrepid's sound themes also come in that PPA ... So if you were bored with your same boring login sounds , this will bring a nice change ...

Take Care and Enjoy as always ... :D

The Singtel Singapore Grand Prix - 2008

Brilliant, Breathtaking, Larger-Than-Imagined experience - SERIOUSLY !!!!!

I'm sure all those who watched the friday practice of the race would agree with me ... 

The lights, the roaring engines, and the soaring heat were all there to justify the importance of this race in the history of F1 ... I'd say it really deserves its place on the F1 calendar even before the start of the first race ... :) ... The sight was really amazing ... Roads are awesome ... And the lighting is unbelievable ... Have a look - this really is the mark of the next generation F1 ... 

Catch the qualifying session live on Star Sports tonight at 1930 IST ... 

This is one of the best preview videos for the race ... Have a look ...

p.s. Also try to hear the song "Caravan" from the movie Hello sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali ... It'll be a real treat for all those who enjoyed his voice in Mitwa and Mora Saiyyaan(Khamaj) ...

Michael Schumacher - Brazil GP 2006

Awesome race ... This is why he deserves to be called The Best ... Have a look at this last race of his ...

Daemon Wallpapoz - Really Useful

While working in Ubuntu , I always wanted all of my workspaces to have some uniqueness or identity over the others to make work easier ... I found this cool application - Daemon Wallpapoz 0.4.1 that works like the webshots application in windows to change the wallpaper after a user-specified time period and also , after a li'l bit of twitching , can provide you different wallpapers for different workspaces ... :)

1. Download the archive from http://wallpapoz.akbarhome.com/download.html

2. If you dont have the python dependencies in your system as yet, get them through this :

sudo apt-get install python-gnome2 python-imaging python-gtk2

3. Unzip the wallpapoz archive

tar -xzf wallpapoz-0.4.tar.gz

4. Install Wallpapoz

cd wallpapoz-0.4
sudo python setup.py install

5. Open Wallpapoz via Applications->Accessories->Wallpapoz

6. Assign each workspace with a different wallpaper of your choice by clicking the workspace and selecting the "add file" button ...

7. After the assignment , click on restart ...

8. Check out the cool application by changing workspaces ... :)


To configure Wallpapoz to run every time you boot, go to System->Preferences->Sessions ... Add :
Name - daemon_wallpapoz
Command - /usr/local/bin/daemon_wallpapoz


Have Fun , enjoy ...

First-Of-Its-Kind

Woooohoooooooo ... Just a week and a couple of hours over it left for the Singapore Grand Prix ... Some drivers' techniques to prepare for the first ever race under artificial lights plus the added feature of a street circuit, as quoted by formula1.com are -

I am staying up late at night, I am going out to nightclubs, and I’m eating a lot of carrots because they apparently help you to see better in the dark. I will work on the simulator on Monday. You see I’m doing all the preparations that I can possibly do. I will touch down in Singapore Tuesday morning and then I will head for the track. I will walk it, crawl it, will cycle it, have someone take me around it on their back - you name it, I’ll do it! - David Coulthard , Red Bull Racing , GREAT BRITAIN

This will be tough because it means trying to stay awake until 8 am, then sleeping for practically the whole day before starting the engineering and running schedule at around 5 pm. The first night race is very exciting for the sport and I can’t wait to see what conditions the floodlighting will present. It’s going to be quite a challenge but one that I’m looking forward to. - Jensen Button , Honda , GREAT BRITAIN

Nothing dramatic - mostly I am curious. The other day I read the schedule of our team and it said: the drivers may leave the circuit at 3.30 am! Isn’t that crazy? But in the end it is going to be pretty much on European timing, so I think we are going to be quite used to the schedule. To learn the track we use a lot of videos and the simulator. When I arrive I like to walk the track with the engineers, or I take the scooter if I want a little more feeling - like in Valencia, as there were 25 corners, and you could not get a proper feeling with only one lap of walking. I will arrive on Monday, and have two days to spend with my wife in the city, and then most probably I will have a very lively nightlife to get used to the schedule. - Rubens Barichello , Honda , BRAZIL

It will be more than just a motor race, we envsion it to be a national festival, and one that presents many opportunities for participation for everyone, both visitors and Singaporeans alike. - Mr. S Iswaran, Minister of State and Inudustry, Singapore.

Really looking forward to the drivers zoom around areas such as the Marina Bay, Raffles Boulevard , Anderson Bridge and St. Andrews Road ... It's gonna be a challenge for the drivers and teams , but a real memorable experience for the viewers ...

Ubuntu Log-in Screen

Though its pretty unique and a refreshing and welcome change, but Ubuntu also has some scope for improvement in a few areas ... I'll try to guide you all through to twitch and tune your Ubuntu desktops (safely) and give you pleasure-to-work experience out of it ...

Now, I seriously was starting to get bored of the same old peach coloured LogIn everytime I used to boot with Ubuntu ... A little bit of study revealed that the GDM , Desktop Services Manager in Ubuntu is theme-able ... Customized theme packages are just an update away ... :)

1. Go to the terminal and key in : 

sudo apt-get install gdm-themes

2. After the package is installed , go to System->Administration->LogIn Window ...

3. Navigate to the "Local" tab and check the theme you would like to use ...

Enjoy ... :D ...

Have fun ....

TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE

For all those who're still wondering what's with that middle name of mine , I'd flash your memories to that instance in The Chamber of Secrets where Tom Riddle magically shifts the letters in his name and re-arranges it to form "I Am Lord Voldemort" ... lolllz ... No, nothing of those sorts in my life ... I'm a Muggle ... :) ...

This brings me to my next BIG interest - Counter Strike ... " VoLdEmOrT " is my counter strike alias or in simple words , i'm better known as Voldemort in the CS World ...

I really didnt have any fascination with Voldemort's character ... Its just that I really liked the name for my alias ... Really unique (a bit scary too ... that helps .. ;) )

Our clan(team) name is "rAnDoM" , and i wont shy in saying we're pretty good now ... :P ...
No , really ... We guys actually won the final of the last fest in Amity ... and doing good in other tournies too ... :) ... WCG is up next week (an entire post can be dedicated to this ... it was to be held in mid-august ... then late-aug ... then early sept ... and blah blah blah ... bottomline - still not held ... :D )

C'mon over sometime and see us all playing on LAN ...
Homes , Cafes , and most importantly Classes ... Actually most of our CS-time is spent in Classes ... Back seat ... extension chords ... keeping NETBEANS or TC or the notes of watevr subject's going on at the touch of an ALT+TAB ... lollllz ... it really works ...

Compiz Effects in Ubuntu

This goes out for all the Ubuntu lovers ...

Have you tried installing the Compiz Settings Manager on your system as yet ? If not , try it out ... It's way too cool over the default effects manager in Ubuntu ...

And its quite easy to set the up ... Here's what you have to do :

1. Install CCSM
Go to the terminal and type in :

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

2. Go to System->Preferences->Advanced Desktop Effects Settings

3. To begin with , enable the Desktop Cube, Rotate Cube and Cube Caps plugins.

4. You can also try your hands with all the other effects given towards the bottom of the Settings window ...

Make your Ubuntu work a li'l more exciting with these effects ... :) ...
Enjoy ...

p.s. - The desktop cube described above works only if there are 3 or more workspaces ... For less than 3 workspaces , it only shows a desktop sheet which is quite logically correct ... :)
To activate the "cube" , increase the number of workspaces depending on the faces of the "cube" u need ...
This can be done using the workspaces tab towards the left bottom of your ubuntu desktop (next to the trash icon) ... Right click and enter preferences ...
Select the no. of workspaces by incrementing the columns part ... leave the rows intact ... Now check the cube effect with CTRL+ALT+MouseButton1 ... :)

The Santander Italian Grand Prix

Monza , as always , fills the weekend up with loads of surprises in store for us year after year ....

" The rain that has been such a feature of the Monza weekend continued to wreak havoc on both practice and qualifying on Saturday, and left some star names in embarrassingly low grid positions as one of the sport’s underdog teams came good. " - www.formula1.com

Sebastien Vettel (GER) , became the youngest man in F1 history to be on he pole position for a Grand Prix. Kimi and Lewis , the two competitors for the world championship didnt even qualify for the Q3 , and are sitting on 14th and 15th positions on the grid , respectively ... And for the first time in the history of the sport, we have 7 of the top 8 positions in the grid occupied by different teams ... phew ... That IS really amazing ...

Fingers crossed , waiting for yet another classic Monza experience ...

Ringtones Gallery

I've uploaded some of the ringtones i've created using Virtual DJ ver. 3 as samples ...

hope you like them .. and yeah , these are just some ... if u want the ringtone for any song , just let me know , your request wont be neglected ... :) ... (see how nice i am to my blog readers ... :P ... koi nahi , first blog hai ... itna to allowed hai ...)

1. Tum Ho To (Sinbad Version)

link - http://rapidshare.com/files/144735825/tum_ho_to_-_sinbad.mp3

2. Love Is In The Air - RHTDM Rain Theme

link: http://rapidshare.com/files/144735827/love_is_in_the_air.mp3

3. Yahaan Koi Aane Waala Hai

link: http://rapidshare.com/files/144739436/koi_aane_waala_hai.mp3

4. Asmaani Rang Ho

link: http://rapidshare.com/files/144739435/asmani_rang_ho.mp3

5. Pehli Nazar Mein

link: http://rapidshare.com/files/144739439/pehli_nazar.mp3

My Music

Okkk now ... This can be termed as the second biggest passion in my life after F1 ...

People who know me well , surely are aware of the taste in music I have ...

To briefly describe it , I'd have to say its like Maggi Tomato Ketchup - It's Different !

I mean it might sound strange to some , but i really am not into english songs (leaving aside a few exceptions) ...

A few selected ones among the " $ls -l " (..... :P .....) command's output for the long listing of my music directory (selection criteria being - least likely to be in an average music lovers album :) ) are :

Romantic

*Ye Tumhaari Meri Baatein - Rock On

*Tere Bin - Rabbi Shergill

*Kitni Narmi Se - Dil Jo Bhi Kahey

*Meri Saanso Mein - Aur Pyar Ho Gaya

*Saiyaan - Kailash Kher

*Kiska Chehra - Tarkeib (Jagjit Singh & Alka Yagnik)

*Tum Se Hi - Jab We Met

*Pyar To Hona Hi Hai - Sunday

*Yeh Kya Hua - Shreya Ghoshal

*Koi Aane Waala Hai - Strings

*Humein Itna Pyar Na Karo - Jal

*Baahon Ke Darmiyaan - Khamoshi

*Pehli Nazar Mein - Race

*Meri Zindagi Mein Aaye Ho - Armaan

*Bhaage Re Mann - Chameli

*Khamosh Raat - Thakshak

*Aur Kya - Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani

*Pyar Ko Ho Jaane Do - Dushman

....................... and so on ...

Sad (About thrice as large as the romantic songs' directory ... :) )

*Tere Bin Nahi Lagda - Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

*Mora Saiyaan Mo Se Bole Na - Fuzon

*Aaoge Jab Tum Sajna - Jab We Met

*Jaane Kya Chaahe Mann - Pyar Ke Side Effects

*Nahi Saamne - Taal

*Jhonka Hawa Ka - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

*Guncha Koi Tere Naam Kar Diya - Mohit Chouhan

*Bheegi Yaadein - Aadat (Deep Blue Version)

*Kitni Baatein Yaad Aati Hain - Lakshya

*Tum Ho To - Rock On

*Kahin To Hogi Woh - Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

*Aazmaale - Taxi No. 9211

*Jeeyein To Jeeyein Kaise - Pankaj Udhas

*Mehfuz - Aamir

*Ajnabi Shehar Hai - Jaanemann

*Socha Na Tha - Socha Na Tha

*Yakeen - Atif (Jal Pari)

.............. etc etc ..........

And now comes the part of the exceptions --- >

*When You Say Nothing At All - Ronan Keating ... Originally sung by Allison Krauss

*Hello - Lionel Ritchie

*Its Only Words - Beegees

*As Long As You Love Me - Backstreet Boys

Incase anyone needs any details about these songs (song links/lyrics/blah blah blah) do contact me ... for more song requests contact without hesitation like you all have always requested ... its a pleasure to spread music gyaan ... :D

c yazzzzz ...

p.s. am a little busy with CS these days ... its an abbreviation for Counter-Strike for those n()()bs who couldn't figure it out ... ;) ... just kidding ...

Take care ...

FORMULA 1

Hmmmm ... So this is it where it all begins ....




Formula 1 (or F1 as many call it) is one of the few things for i which i live ... Fanaticism , Mania , Craziness - such words just cant express my love for this sport; it is much more than that ...



So for all those needing a brush up about it, here's how wikipedia describes this sport :

"Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motor sport's world governing body. The 'formula' in the name is a set of rules which all participants and cars must meet."


The first championship race was held in Silverstone , UK in 1950 ... (the track, by the way, still is in great shape but has been left out for the last two years from the F1 calender due its new rotation policy to spread the sport by constructing new tracks in various countries ...)


With the new inclusion of the Singapore Night Race (the first one of its kind) in the 2008 F1 calender and the ventures of building new F1 tracks in India, UAE along with China's last year's entry have been viewed as promoting the sport across Asia ...

Dr. Vijay Mallya, the Indian Industrialist, has also purchased the Spyker F1 Team (previously, Jordan F1) which is now named the Force India Team ... F1 has really spread over leaps in the past couple of years in our part of the world with such moves ...



My devotion (as I prefer calling it) to the sport started more than a decade back ...
The first race i watched on TV was the Monaco GP in 1997 - the same year Schumacher lost the title to Jacques Villeneuve after the controversial championship deciding last race ....
Since then , there's been no looking back for me ... :)