wifi - its bad for ya!

Readers be warned. This is not an article about the health hazards of wifi. No, I dont know or care about the lasting effects of long term exposure to 2.4 GHz readio waves. So why am i writing this entry? Well I almost became institutionalized because of it. Let me start from the beginning.

Last week I bought a wifi router (EDIMAX). it was cheaper than the D-Link one so i thought what the hell…everybody is getting D-Link. Plus the one i bought was white in color and will match my motif. What a gay thing to do!I will soon regret it.

I came home. Connected it and within 10 mins had setup my home network. Yippie! Everything thing was working fine. Videos from youtube was streaming properly. Downloaded a file about 17 Mb, which took normal time. Then started browsing. I noticed that it was taking a long time to render the pages. Especially those pages which are heavy on the pics. Like the one on the menus etc. Why was this happening? Tried tweaking the settings. changed channel. nothing worked. This kept tormenting me for a week. Like something inside my brain trying to gnaw the inside of my skull. I couldn’t take it anymore. I tried everything. The only option that was left was….that’s right…a “Firmware Upgrade“. However I had put it off since now a days there are a lot of power cuts happening in my area and if the power goes off while the firmware upgrade is happening, I am in deep deep trouble. But now desperation had set in. I was 2 minutes away from taking a stick and pummeling the damn thing.

So I said my prayers….first time in 6 months. And upgraded it in the middle of the night. Viola! It worked. And everything was back to normal in little world of Sameek. And everybody lived happily ever after.

THE END…Or is it?

The Straight Dope!

Found a great site. The Straight Dope. Its great and addictive. Can’t believe some of the posts.

“Babumoshai” and Regional Bias!!!

I recently realised that I hate the picture “Anand” (the one with Rajesh Khanna and Amitabh Bachchan). Why Sameek? It was a great picture and  one of the landmark films of India. Well, I don’t care. The hell with stupid “Anand”! Ever since that film, people from all around India cant seem to remember any Bengali’s name! So always call them “BABUMOSHAI”. And it is really pissing me off. I have a name morons! It just goes to show the subtle regional bias that people possess. Ow..U are a bengali?? How can you guyz vote for those Commies? Like I ever did that? Its annoying. Stop it. “Haha! Lets make fun of the Bengali”, “Hey babumoshai! Did you have any rosogollas?” Maa Kaali ki kasam, next time I hear something like that I will kick that person in the nutsack. I won’t take any more crap from you all. So Beat it!!

On Team India’s latest Form

I dont think there has ever been a time in the History of Indian cricket that the team played like they are playing now. India was always the underdog and the fan was habituated to being diassappointed. But under Dhoni’s captaincy, this team has added a new dimension. Even though Ganguly , Kumble etc were some some of the greatest to play the game. They lacked a certain quality. They could be intimidated by the opposition. But the players in the new team are FEARLESS. They dont take crap from no-one. I think that is the main reason why the team has reached the level it has today. Now it stands on the brink of a historic series win. The main challenge will be to keep playing like that. Good luck to Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Ishant, Zaheer and the young guns. Make us Proud!!!

Update[ April 7, 2009]: Unfortunately mother nature has played spoilsport and allowed New Zealand to escape humiliation in the 3rd Test. No matter, we still got the series. Congrats Once Again!! This was an excellent Test-series. And New Zealand deserves a lot of credit. The only thing they can do is to schedule a series in such a time when weather doesnt halt play so often. Cheers!

What is Happening?

Not much to say. Actually wanted to write a huge blog when the Sri Lanka team was attacked in Lahore.  Somehow got busy with other activities.  What happened on 30th March 2009, was pretty sad. This world is totally screwed up. N we are stuck with the worst neighbour possible. Who came up with that deal?

That is just one aspect. Election is coming. And the true colors of Democracy are being revealed. I think the term “Dirty Politics” has its root in the Democracy of India. May be its time for a Military coup in our country. Just a thought!!

Mumbai Memorabilia

Mumbai was never more than a city to me. Inspite of all the images on tv, movies and newsprint, the magic of mumbai never penetrated the thick skull of mine. So when i planned to visit mumbai, i was more excited to see my old friends after such a long time.  Little by little i started noticing and hearing a few things about mumbai that got me really excited before I even reached there. Once in Mumbai, the whole weekend passed, before I could contemplate the sheer awesomeness of Mumbai. Being from Kolkata, a very dear place to me, I used to think that Mumbai was special to mumbaikars for the same reason, kolkata was special to me. But the city is and has to be special to every Indian. I wish to return there soon. Mumbai is unforgettable.

Mumbai was excellent but the fact that I was there with the old gang (partially atleast), made one of the best weekends of my life. I am back to work after being awake  all night and travelling back to hyderabad. Fully charged with the memories of the trip. May be a little irritated, buts thats only because i know i wont be having so much fun in a long long time. Cheers Adhi, Debarghya and Utso! Biru and debojit, you were duly missed. We are still here, still strong, still know How to party……..DHD rules.

Ghajini!! A test of patience!

Even though I knew that Ghajini was a remake of of the Tamil film “Ghajini” which again borrows heavily from the English film Memento, I was expecting a lot from Aamir’s new venture. My verdict……”UTTER DISAPPOINTMENT”. Asin was good. Even though i felt she over-acted a bit, but the comedy was kept me to my seat.. But after the fun part was over, it seemed like a never-ending ordeal. Aamir gave a solid performance but…it was just too damn long.

The English Memento was an awesome film. Needless to say,  the director did a smart job by not following the plot line of the original film. The worst thing was the namesake villain. Total useless. What a lousy way to start the new year! Thanks a lot! Next time aamir’s film comes, I will wait till it comes on tv.

AND not to forget……..

“HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!”

May 2009 suck less than 2008!

Installing RHEL Server release 5 (Tikanga) on Dell Optiplex 755

Recently I tried installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5 (Tikanga) on my Dell Optiplex 755 box. As i was expecting, i ran into quite a few problems. I was doing a media installation.

A.  Problem #1: During the booting from CD, it couldnt detect my HDD. Solution: Change SATA Operation to Legacy mode in the BIOS.

B. Problem #2 : After installation, my nic was not detected. Solution: Have to update driver for nic. Get it from here. Check if its the latest version. After downloading it, compile it……….umm…just follow what is written in the README file.

C. Problem #3 : Sound Drivers are not yet detected. Solution: Still searching for the ausio drivers. I’ll post it as soon as i find it.

Cheers!

I’m back…..but why?

Seems like someone had hacked my web-site. But after some tweaking and a little help from my friend Jayant. Special thanks to rakesh, without whom, i would not have noticed it.I got it back online again. The damage done was not severe. but still… I have been neglecting my blog for too long. This was a warning call.

Recently a few events transpired in Mumbai which is not unknown to anyone. My deepest condolences for the innocent people who lost their lives.  Things are getting complicated more and more in our country. Congress and BJP are both failures. I hope we don’t forget what transpired on 26/11. I salute the security personnel who fought so selflessly and pray for those who died saving my country. I hope your sacrifice was not in vain. Its high time we unite. We were found absolutely helpless. Please Mr. P.M. , this is no time to talk soft. Let us all unite in one voice. We need everyone to pitch in. Lets unite so we dont have to live in fear anymore. I know we can do it. Vande Maataram!

Chrome!!

Google is launching the beta version of its brand new browser called CHROME. Seems interesting to me. I guess they wanted to start from scratch and develop a browser more suited for what Google wants to achieve. The storybook for Chrome is a pretty decent read. Check it out here. I am pretty eager to see where this goes.

Continuing on browsers… FireFox recently launched its 3.0.1 version.  I haven’t used it extensively yet. But seems that the Real-Player plug-in that you could use to download streaming videos (from YouTube, etc.) will not work in 3.0.1 . So if you want to use Real-player plug-in with FireFox 3.0.1 wait till Real introduces its own compatible version.

© Sameek Banerjee. All Rights Reserved. Original Theme designed by Dandyna
Modified for this site by Sameek Banerjee