Finally i get some time to blog..

There's this film i feel i should blog about..300. I hope many of you know Spartans? I knew about Spartans at the of 10, i was really fond of reading my encyclopedia (Childcraft). At first i found them as a nation of brutes, but later on i came to appreciate a their way of life, although it is a very elitist one. And on friday i got to watch this film 300 (which i watched 5 more times), which is about the great Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans fought whole armies of persians. Eventually they got ass-kicked, but this was something more admirable. The fight for freedom.

Although this story is a bit fantasied, this battle actually took place. And most of the characters mentioned in this film really existed.

I particularly like the special effects in the film..specially the sequence where King Leonidas goes ahead and starts ass-kicking. Spartans are really good warriors,and i think this film is a good tribute to the 300 brave one who stood against the Persians.

There are some quotes that i really appreciated from the movie and here the are..

First of all, the battle cry of the Spartans..HAWOOO

then this one when the Persian messenger first comes to Sparta with the message from Xerxes

King Leonidas: You bring the crowns and heads of former kings to my city! You mock my queen! You threaten my people with slavery and death!
Messenger: This is blasphemy! This is madness!
King Leonidas: Madness? THIS IS SPARTA!

King Leonidas: Spartans! Ready your breakfast and eat hearty... For tonight, we dine in hell!

Dilios: Go tell the Spartans, passerby, That here, by Spartan law, we lie

Xerxes: I will erase Sparta from the histories......The world will never even know you existed at all.
King Leonidas: The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many

and here's a trailer

Yesterday was my bday..and we decided to have a small gathering together with all my friends.

So we went to our usual baz lanniversaire..at bassin canard..ene tas souvenir ena de bassin canard..reached there at abt 12. Obviously, we didnt plan to attend our class at one..so we were there having a drink.

Then at around one..the traditional ceremony craze dizef gater lor dimoune ki gagne anniversaire la..ek dizef la ti mari gater..alla piiiii la...frank tout..pas aster dizef kot james lot coute..(ou pas donne kash aster dizef :p)

apre ene bon bain dans bassin canard (mo p dire zot..sa delo la meme ki fr mo cv tomber!!!!) we were ready pou ceremonie coupe gato..hehe..ti seryer..gato la ti p gagne gout pas assez selement..ah and we could not forget the champaign..sans alcool..depi lontant mo ti p envi fr sa ek ene bouteil campagne zot konner..imper kouma p pilot formule 1 la fr..hehe

hmm ensuite ene voyage la boisson..vu ki tout labierre ti fini by the time mo ti ale baigne dans sa delo la...

Well had some nice time..aster la kan david donne moi ban clip ek foto la lerla mo pou met sa ici..

encore ene fois mo tenir a remercier tout ban kam kinn vini

David (si mo pas met so nom premier li pou leve bezer), Sami, Varun, Vishal, Anusha, Varuna, Neeraj, Nilesh, Toshee, Kash, Yud, Kevin, PC, Splash, Yud so couz

Merci zot tout..nune bien amizer..ti nissa..bientot bizin  remet encore ene plan..kitfois apres exams??

wai ek oci..merci tout ban kinn wish moi lor msn hier..mais ki mo pann ressi reponn (sa tiena mari boucou..)..wadire mo ti imper sou..

Hehe..today i got 23 (sounds old na??)

Well nothing much planned for today..

woke up at 09.00 (although i had classes at 9)..left home at 10.20 coz i had to edit a few stuff on fotoshop for my presentation..waited for a bus for 30 minutes..



When i reach uni had to print some slides..the photocopy centre at the commons was too over crowded so i walked back to the other one near the uni bus stop..there also it was crowded but much less..i finally got to use the pc..and it didnt recognise my pendrive..and when it did..i could access it coz some other program was using it..on doing Ctrl+Alt+Del..i saw that there was a bunch of AdobeR.exe running (a very common virus at uom..)

finally i got to print the slide..and got in class at 11.30..i was 1 hr late..and the lecturer was explaining..so my presentation would have to be next week.



Finally when the class was over..i returned back home..it would b boring to b at uni..all my friends were busy today..got back home..and was planning to go to lecture at 4..the nomad technician came by..and kinda fixed my modem..it was ok..went to jumbo..didn't go to lecture finally..



On returning home..i got a bus..which was also overcrowded..and it was the bus i was supposed to take if i had gone to lecture..and the guy in front of me inadvertently crushed my foot..the one which was already hurt..and damn its such a pain..



Now am writing this post..going to take a bath..theres a small gathering at home..



However tom is party time..hehe..with my uni friends..if u wanna join us..come over to Bassin Canard between 10.30 and 13.00. Am sure its gonna be fun..enfin will post back..



So here it is my bday..omg..am starving..whr is every1???

Ah..interesting subject, specially in this particular moment when there are loads of presentations for the different modules..



The very obvious question : WHAT MAKE A GOOD PRESENTATION??



I ain't a great presenter..nor teacher..but..i do have some views which i might perhaps share..up to u to judge whther to use them, or not..



Before considering what makes a good presentation..let's see what makes a bad presentation, specially in our context at uni..

1. The presenter isn't clear enough in his/her oral delivery - ie, perhaps he/she has a low tone voice, or speaks weirdly..put straight, u cant understand what he/she is saying due to the way he/she speaks.



2. The presenter has too many things to say - this happens often when the presenter tries to speaks about everything in the allocated time.



3. The presenter is reading rather than presenting smtg - this happens either because the presenter doesn't know his subject, or is too shy to face his audience, and hides behind some large pages of notes.



4. Lack of eye contact with the audience - coz he/she is busy reading of course..



5. Too bulky slides - way too many information presented on the slides, and are often just read by the presenter or the presenter just say exactly word to word without reading it (as if to say "hey watch me..i can memorise this HUGE slide by heart")



6. The presentation is boring - due to all the above points

Now we know what we shouldn't do..so let's c what we should do??

(Disclaimer : these are my views..they might work..or not..bt it seemed that they worked for me..till now..i'll confirm when i get the marks for my presentations)

1. Be relaxed. Take it easy its only a presentation. No one will eat u. Try to probe ur audience if possible. To know who you are up to.
   
   



2. Speak nicely. Even if u don't have a perfect English or French, make urself heard and understood. Don't speak to low,and please don't chew a gum while presenting..it's freaking rude..and we can't freaking understand u!!!



3. Body language. It not all about the content of ur presentation, but also how you present it. Walk, smile, gesticulate and make eye contact with ur audience.
   
   



4. Its ok if u dnt speak about everything, atleast have a plan, jot down the most important things to discuss, and discuss them. If there are some less important thing, skip it, most probably some1 will ask about them during the question time, if not, it means it really was unimportant to them.



5. Know ur subject well. This will give prevent u from reading pages and pages of documentation.The plan i was talking about in the previous point will help u know what to talk next.
   
   



6. Don't bore ur audience with too technical details..unless u really have to..but u always can avoid it.



7. Don't use slides if u dnt need them. And if u do need them, don't flood them with too much information, use pictorials, use some main points, keywords..these have a better impact.



8. Don't Be Boring!!! It so easy not to be boring, crack some jokes (not too much), share an anecdote. If u happen to make a mistake at some point, stress on it and make it sound funny, but don't make fun of urself.. Interact with ur audience, ask them their opinions, don't make it a monologue.and ya, be spontaneous..
   
   



9. "Make everything as simple as possible, not simpler". (by Albert Einstein)



10. Presentations are fun, enjoy them!!!

Those were some of my point of views, and what i actually do in presentations. What do u think abt it??

There is an interesting discussion going on at Avinash's blog.



The yearly system!!!!



This has been the object of many rants from the part of the UoM students, specially us 3rd year students who were the "cobayes" of this experiment.



I personally wasn't informed abt the way the course would be conducted when i joined uom. It only on orientation day that i got to know that it was going to be a yearly courses, and that we were the first one to be testing this new system.



Now this means that we would still be like in the  HSC system, where it take 2 year to prepare and then is an exams for the whole two years. Duh.."sappe dans caraye tombe dan dife"..this would imply having to memorise the whole 1 year of study for only one exam.



I think this is a bad idea, and it seems am not the only one,judging from response received on Avinash's blog.



The advantage of the semester modules were that atleast if u didnt work well in one module, u could try catch up next semester with another modules, or retaking the module. Now with this @#$% system, we can only have exams once a year, even it we have a resit, we gonna have to wait for a whole year to re take it. This is a very very very very bad thing. For instance, myself a 3rd year student, if i get a resit (hopefully i wnt, but if i do, then surely it will b from Computer Networks), i will have to come to uni just for that module one whole year..wtf???



We have been voicing out this problem since the very first year..via the student union..and also via the lecturer feedback, bt wht did we gain?? All the courses change on a yearly basis!!!!



Am pretty sure that the lecturers also don't like this system, yet how to change it? It seems like the main concern of UOM is to save cost..



I think its high time the concerned autorities re think abt the system, if not restoring the semester system, atleast give us the possibility to take the resits in the first semester of the next academic year.

Hehe..it is finally over!!!!!

Right now am abt to leave to go drop my Final Year project report to the University Printing, and then on monday it will be submitted. Finally its done..

and just like slackenerny finished too..am asking myself the same bloody question..NOW WHAT?????

Want wifi around?? Just flush it down..



This is the new service from google

Sick of paying for broadband that you have to, well, pay for?

Introducing Google TiSP (BETA), our new FREE in-home wireless broadband service. Sign up today and we'll send you your TiSP self-installation kit, which includes setup guide, fiber-optic cable, spindle, wireless router and installation CD.

TiSP in-home wireless broadband is:

• Free, fast and highly reliable

• Easy to install -- takes just minutes

• Vacuum-sealed to prevent water damage

so what is this all about?

Google TiSP (beta) is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines

here is a schema of the system









upon sign up google shall send you the installation kit..which looks a bit like this







and google also provide help on how to install the system

#1 the spindle of fiber-optic cable from your TiSP installation kit. #2 the sinker to the loose end of the cable, take one safe step backward and drop this weighted end into your toilet.

#3 both ends of the spindle firmly while a friend or loved one flushes, thus activating the patented GFlush™ system, which sends the weighted cable surfing through the plumbing system to one of the thousands of TiSP Access Nodes. #4 the GFlush is complete, the spindle will (or at least should) have largely unraveled, exposing a connector at the remaining end. Detach the cable from the spindle, taking care not to allow the cable to slip into the toilet.

#5 the fiber-optic cable into your TiSP wireless router, which has a specially designed counterweight to withstand the centripetal force of flushing. #6 the TiSP installation CD and run the setup utility to install the Google Toolbar (required) and the rest of the TiSP software, which will automatically configure your computer's network settings.

#7 sixty minutes -- assuming proper data flow -- the other end of your fiber-optic cable should have reached the nearest TiSP Access Node, where our Plumbing Hardware Dispatchers (PHDs) will remove the sinker and plug the line into our global data networking system. #8 you're online! (Please wash your hands before surfing.)