Rapid revolutions can be trouble...

Rapid revolutions worldwide can be trouble for any one who has a resource to call their own. Imagine, you own just a pair of shoes. The person who has no shoes can take it away from you when there is a revolution. While some level of revolution around the world can be good, it can hurt if there are too many instances of it in short period.

Looks the world is trying to get to 'democracy' as the only mode of governance. While I like the freedom that democracy brings, we should not forget that it was the United States of America having a very mature democracy decided to use the Weapons of Mass Destruction against innocent civilian of another country. How long would it take to forget the atomic bomb dropped in Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 as part of the second world war.

We need diversity and it is very healthy. While I am a supporter of Open Source in Software, I dislike GPL becoming a monopoly. Similarly, while democracy can arguably be the best form of government, having other forms will ensure democracy evolves for the good - rather than staying a monopoly.

Wondering if the people in the world are getting in-tolerant towards others ways of life.

(There seems to be opportunity to rewrite this article by consolidating the points - and/or separating major items in to separate articles).

Nice Quote

"People do Things for Their Reasons, Not Yours" - used as a suggestion for leaders while looking for change.

US Incarceration rate: is it a plan of suppression

US Incarceration rate the highest in the world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate a whopping 743 prisoners per 100,000 population. For comparison, India has 32 for every 100,000 population!! 1 in every 32 adult is in prison or on probation...

Some aspects / interpretation

1. US has lesser tolerance to differences with in it's own population. Why can't we let some one who commits non-violent crime continue to be part of the society?
2. Privileged, Richer and intelligent people, don't want to and don't like to live among the under privileged people - who tend to be incarcerated more often than the rest of the population.
3. US condemns the rest of the world (Most of the world population) for 'freedom' and 'human rights' violation. Isn't incarceration a form of extreme deprivation of 'freedom' and 'human rights'? Who will fight for this cause?

This data was highlighted by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on one of his speach.

Big Basin waterfalls Visit 2011/01/08

Big Basin water falls trip

Drive from home is 1 hour - I forgot it 2 times in a row

Started at the trail head at 8:00am - when it was very cold. all 10 digit (finger) tips were in pain

Forgot food. Picked up tender pine needle - rich in Vitamin C. Relieved my cold in winter!!

Returned at the HQ at 11:45am

Went through washed out trail...

There is checkin/checkout slip available - where you can give emergency contact info. I wrote down my exact plan of trail.

Alamere Falls: lessons learned

Visited Alamere Falls on 1/17/2011.

Meeting time: 6:00am on Monday 2011/01/17 South Bay. Leave before 7:00am
Nearest town: Bolinas, ca
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Max 63°; Min 51°. Should be 55-60F when we are on the trail. Also, Sunday rain.
Map: http://www.nps.gov/pwr/customcf/apps/maps/showmap.cfm?alphacode=pore&parkname=Point%20Reyes%20National%20Seashore
Map info to note: Just make sure you are able to recognize the trail head and the waterfalls and few thing in between.

Tide: Could have been better :-( The tide will be receding from it's peak... So, view from the beach might be tricky/difficult...
2011-01-17 1:47 AM PST 3.20 feet Low Tide
2011-01-17 7:26 AM PST Sunrise
2011-01-17 7:58 AM PST 6.57 feet High Tide
2011-01-17 3:31 PM PST -0.82 feet Low Tide
2011-01-17 5:18 PM PST Sunset

Trail Head:37.934242, -122.747442 (Google map)
The Falls: 37.953889, -122.783611 (Google map)

One possible Driving Directions:

From US 101 in Marin County, exit CA 1/Mill Valley/Stinson Beach
Drive on Shoreline Highway to the junction with Almonte, about 1 mile
Turn left on CA 1 and drive about 2.5 miles to the junction with Panoramic
Continue straight on CA 1 about 13 miles to an unsigned junction with Olema-Bolinas Road (just past Bolinas Marsh)
Turn left. Drive 0.1 mile to a T intersection with Olema-Bolinas Road, turn left,
drive about 1 mile to the junction with Horseshoe Hill Road, and again, turn left
Drive to the next stop sign, then turn right onto Mesa Road
Drive about 4 miles, then continue the last 1 mile on the dirt road to the trailhead at the end of the road

Hike

0.0: From the parking lot, head up the stairs, then turn left onto Coast Trail.
2.0: Junction with Lake Ranch Trail. Stay to the left on Coast Trail.
2.76: Junction with Crystal Lake Trail. Continue straight on Coast Trail.
3.24: Junction at far end of Pelican Lake. If you don't want to go to Alamere Falls, tturn around and retrace your steps back to the
trailhead. Otherwise continue straight on Coast Trail.
3.27: Junction with Alamere Falls Trail. Turn left.
3.67: Grassy knoll and first scramble down rocky shoot to falls area. If you like, cross Alamere Creek at the top of the second fall,
head north a few yards, then descend a rough notch in the cliffside to the beach. When ready, retrace your steps.
7.54: Back at the trailhead.

----

Boots on the ground:

1. Started at 7:30am from south bay
2. Stop in SFO for coffee
3. 10:30am start from the trail head
4. 12:30 start from the falls
5. 2:00+ start driving
6. 4:30pm back home (GG bridge toll : $6:00)
7. Fog did have negative impact of driving and also visibility on the trail
8. The parking lot was overflowing when we returned

• My muscles are sore for 2-3 days after any long hike. One of my friend who accompanied me yesterday said he always pops Ibuprofen 6 hours prior to hikes - so that he will avoid any knee/muscle inflammation due to additional workout he gets.
• When visiting tidal falls (Waterfalls that fall directly in to the Ocean), you need to be aware of the tide cycle (high/low tide) when you visit. We were extra lucky - as we got delayed 2 hours later than the plan - when the tide was receding. (While, I knew the exact timing and the phenomena, it was real first hand experience)
• California coast - during winter - on sunny days, can have less visibility due to fog that is still on land (not pushed in to the ocean) well past noon. We were able to hear the ocean loud - but could not see the waves - at 10:30am - while we were walking along the coastal clifs. If the fog did not burn out soon, we would have been forced to not get the Tidal Fall - from the beach....

Apple boots WikiLeaks app from iPhone store

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9201920/Apple_boots_WikiLeaks_app_from_iPhone_store

It does not worry me as much Apple booted WikiLeaks app. Apple is not a good citizen anyway. http://www.adbi.org/files/2010.12.14.wp257.iphone.widens.us.trade.deficit.prc.pdf notes "How the iPhone Widens the United States Trade Deficit with the People’s Republic of China".

How can Apple be punished? Do not buy apple products - they are costly anyway. Buy their competitor's products. Apple is going by the coolness factor. This is pure myth - what's cool today can be ugly tomorrow. Take for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell-bottoms (today's flare-cut) was so cool in the 70s and is not cool anymore...

Bank of America <> WikiLeaks

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12028084

Bank of America stops handling Wikileaks payments

"not process transactions of any type that we have reason to believe are intended for Wikileaks" citing "Wikileaks may be engaged in activities that are... inconsistent with our internal policies for processing payments".

Personal opinion: US Constitution's first 3 words states "We the people". Over time, "money" has become more important than "We the people" in the US. Now the companies take the most protection from the law and return the least back to 'the people'. Law, you can think of as "We the people" having agreed to provide protection for the greater good.

Not surprising to note that Visa was born out of innovation from 1958 innovation of Bank of America. Visa and BoA have harmed wikileaks.

I wouldn't recommend people to take their business out of BoA. Instead, stay and request reversal. This way, people asking change can be under the 'customer' umbrella protection - that will be lost when they are not having that privilege/protection. Time will tell - if staying and protesting is better or leaving is better.

Basic question on the cables that is being published by wikileaks.

1. What is the issue the businesses and US state department are complaining?
2. Has it been established that this is infact a 'property of the US'?
3. Are these 'property' collected/stored legally? By legally, was it collected/transmitted/stored legally complying with the local laws and treaties?
4. Some of the leaks, as we note, are statements of the heads of states. How can US claim to have the wordings of another nations head of state to be US 'property'?

Why is any entity, US government, or any one trying to know every thing and also 'own' every thing of human kind? Just each person and collection of persons (sovereignty?) just care about their own and prosper - with minimal interaction all over? May be rich nations focus on their own business and internal matters - so that all the mess (was/financial collapse/environmental degradation) can be fixed and avoided.

Who are pulling the plug on WikiLeaks

The following companies have pulled the plug on WikiLeaks.

1. Visa / Master Card
2. PayPal

My question to these 3 large enterprises - why shouldn't you be tried for Anti Competitive practice? Who are your competitors and what you have done to the competitive landscape? If there are real alternatives, WikiLeaks could migrate to that - but, there are none - as you probably have killed them all. Yes, you did create these markets - but, you also enjoyed government protections and laws created to enable your bread and butter. Please do not forget it - other wise, the people could act on such info, if and when they could...

2 Others who probably are not monopoly and they decided to harm WikiLeaks anyway

1. Amazon
2. UBS bank

For all these businesses who harmed directly WikiLeaks, can you prove your actions are correct and ensure that you will act on ALL the customers who fit the criteria you used against WikiLeaks? I have not seen any one or any government said anything wrong about WikiLeaks about their actions 'under oath'. Remember, WikiLeaks is showing situations where heads of states were telling different information in public - while saying the opposite in private meetings...

Groupon <> Google

Group on > google might be due barcode.

ATM Crash?

Walk to ATM after business hours. Insert Check Card and insert Check in to the slot.

Suddenly the ATM machine has a software malfunction and the system goes for reboot ejecting your Check Card. Now what? What happened to your Check now!!!

Wikileaks & Amazon

How does Amazon figure out that Wikileaks do not own the leaked documents? What if US Government had indeed given to Wikileaks - as Iran's president claims.

http://aws.amazon.com/message/65348/

There have been reports that a government inquiry prompted us not to serve WikiLeaks any longer. That is inaccurate.

There have also been reports that it was prompted by massive DDOS attacks. That too is inaccurate. There were indeed large-scale DDOSattacks, but they were successfully defended against.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) rents computer infrastructure on a self-service basis. AWS does not pre-screen its customers, but it does have terms of service that must be followed. WikiLeaks was not following them. There were several parts they were violating. For example, our terms of service state that “you represent and warrant that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to the content… that use of the content you supply does not violate this policy and will not cause injury to any person or entity.” It’s clear that WikiLeaks doesn’t own or otherwise control all the rights to this classified content. Further, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents that WikiLeaks is publishing could have been carefully redacted in such a way as to ensure that they weren’t putting innocent people in jeopardy. Human rights organizations have in fact written to WikiLeaks asking them to exercise caution and not release the names or identities of human rights defenders who might be persecuted by their governments.

We’ve been running AWS for over four years and have hundreds of thousands of customers storing all kinds of data on AWS. Some of this data is controversial, and that’s perfectly fine. But, when companies or people go about securing and storing large quantities of data that isn’t rightfully theirs, and publishing this data without ensuring it won’t injure others, it’s a violation of our terms of service, and folks need to go operate elsewhere.

We look forward to continuing to serve our AWS customers and are excited about several new things we have coming your way in the next few months.

— Amazon Web Services

Time to Break Telecom Companies again?

Non-coherent thoughts/Rant...... on why can't I do communication/entertainment/news from any where any time from any device at much lower rate than today. Most money seems to be going to inefficiencies, lawyers, restrictions - instead of openness and effectiveness/efficiencies.

Today some of my friend's expense is close to $200/month. Why not get a whole lot more than what we get for $200 than what we get today? Especially, when we allow air waves to be used by folks, land be dug on the roads by cable companies, allow laying cables under the seas and allow for satellites to go over my head.....

It was in 1984 AT&T was broken due to Anti Competitive practice. Here are the concerns that I have with these large Telecom companies and my thought process on solution

What would Like to see happen

1. Charge customers on the itemized actuals - not blanket

• Last mile - Cell Phone ping (The phone will be able to receive/send it's location to the nearest tower) - If you roam, you have to be charged differently. You must have the capability to tell if you are 'home'/'work' in which case, you can configure automatically to be routed to home/work number - instead of expensive air waves
• Last mile - Cable Companies collecting the cable from home to hub
• Last mile wired connection going to the Exchange

Home internal wiring by yet another company/skill set.

There does not seem to be a reason for old analog thingy any more. All can be digital - people can charge - more like electricity fees on consumption and possibly flexible rates on peak rates.

1. Once the last mile is connected other set of companies can provide trunking facility
2. Another company can provide customer service - so we can provide for 'packaging' companies - these are 'Walmarts' of the communication world
3. 
   

1. Why should I not have Vonage Phone software installed on my AT&T or Verizon phone

What would this bring to the greater good? Better usage of the resources available - 'airwave' and Superior quality service (expertise), competition. Gives opportunity for small players to get on equal footing. Possibility of rapid innovation

ATI from AMD - TV wonder tuners

http://www.amd.com/us/products/pctv/tv-wonder-tuners/Pages/tv-wonder-hd-650-combo-usb-for-mac.aspx

Available for Mac & PC. There are multiple vendors for PC (including HP, Dell)

Comcast M-Card support HD

1. DCH 3200 Comcast user guide; DCH 3200R
2. DCX 3200
3. DCH 6416
4. DCH 3416; DCH 3416R
5. DCX3400
6. Pace RNG 110

cablecard - HDTV

Comcast offers cablecard free that can be used on "Digital TV Ready" TV.

I need to take back the previous statement. See article

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2010/10/fcc_fixes_cablecard_rules_cabl.html

FCC fixes CableCard rules; CableCard market likely to stay broken

You won't have to sit around your house waiting for the cable guy to pop a CableCard into your TiVo, under regulations approved by the Federal Communications Commission today. The FCC's rules will also require that cable companies clearly document their CableCard options and provide the same channel lineup to subscribers who rent their own boxes and those who buy other vendors' CableCard-compatible devices.

But don't think that today's rulings will yield a greater selection of cable-compatible hardware anytime soon.

The FCC's actions, as outlined in a press release (PDF) and documented in a 59-page filing (PDF), attempt to fix long-running problems with CableCard. This technology, developed a decade ago, miniaturized the security and authentication features of the cable box into a card you could pop into any compatible TV or video recorder.

The idea was to allow the cable-TV hardware business to function like a normal electronics market: Instead of being limited to devices offered by your cable operator, you could buy the gadget of your choice and then pick a service.

But cable operators failed to support CableCard in practice, insteadcontinuing to push their own boxes and DVRs. Manufacturers, in turn, backed away from the technology after seeing poor sales. The FCC's 2007 requirement that cable operators use CableCards in their own products failed to budge things.

(The Washington Post Co. owns a cable service, CableOne; I have no idea what its management thinks about this issue and don't particularly care, as it doesn't provide service anywhere near the Washington area.)

At this point, you don't need the fingers of one hand to count your CableCard options: There are TiVo's DVRs, Moxi's lesser-known recorders, Ceton's computer add-on ... and then nothing, as far as I can tell.

But CableCard can still work fine when properly supported--as I found out last Christmas, when my in-laws got a new TiVo HD. Since Comcast allows Bay Area customers to "self-install" CableCards, all my father-in-law had to do was pick up a card at the local Comcast office, pop it into the TiVo and call up Comcast to read off some numbers on the TV's screen. HIs setup can't get Comcast's video-on-demand programming--a generic limitation of CableCard systems, since they can't tie into interactive cable offerings--but I have yet to hear him say "we miss the old cable box."

The FCC's action should ensure that every cable subscriber--as well as customers of Verizon's Fios TV, which is classified as a cable service--can get that experience by nine months from now. (Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice wrote that the Philadelphia-based company had already been working to make self-install the standard and so expected that effort to be "substantially completed in the first quarter of next year," well before the FCC's deadline.)

It may also help more people discover that CableCards exist and can save them money.

But it won't breathe any new life into the market for cable-compatible hardware. Electronics manufacturers have largely written off CableCard; TiVo essentially owns that market, even though I regularly hear from readers who don't care for TiVo's monthly service fees.

Meanwhile, the FCC's rules don't affect satellite TV services, which have shown even less interest than cable operators in opening up their hardware business to outside competitors.

The only real hope lies not in CableCard or an upgraded but largely ignored cable standards initiative called tru2way, but in the FCC's proposal for a universal interface that currently goes by the name AllVid. But that is years from resulting in hardware we can buy and use with any TV service: cable, satellite or fiber.

So for those who don't want to pay the TiVo tax, it will be cable boxes as usual. I wish I could be more optimistic, but I've seen this movie too many times; I know how it ends.

Are you expecting a different ending? Tell me in the comments what I'm overlooking.

By Rob Pegoraro | October 14, 2010; 6:33 PM ET

10 waterfalls in single park - Oragon

This is bit too far from San Jose (near Salem, OR)

http://www.oregonstateparks.org/images/pdf/silverfalls_trailmap.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Falls_State_Park

catsone clients list

"Password Retriever" site:catsone.com/careers

1. http://www.cbsinfosys.com/
2. http://redolentech.com/
3. http://www.tricitywellness.com/

iPhone Apps

1. slideGrabber
2. TV Guide
3. Vonage
4. CrunchMap
5. E*Trade
6. Messenger
7. PeriodicTable
8. Tirukkural
9. Bible
10. SF Way
11. Chess Free
12. Contacts+
13. NPR News
14. LinkedIn
15. Y! Finance
16. KARAJAN
17. Relative Pitch
18. VNC
19. Connect4
20. Tirukkural (2?)
21. Unit Conversion
22. Evernote
23. GPSLite
24. Public Radio
25. iWant

iPhone web/ app ideas

iPhone apps ideas

1. Thirukkural (Books)
2. Name of Tamilnadu places
3. Schedules - bus, train, flight (preferably - status, reservations)
4. PIN / STD codes
5. Places/Points of interest
6. temple list
7. classified advertisements
8. 
   

Pay Day and Direct Deposit - some info

1. Each employer has their own pay cycle. They can pay 2 times a month or monthly.
1. The pay cycle is legally required to be informed to ALL the employees. Usually, this information is posted in the coffee break area (a big poster - with the date written by hand).
2. Asking about your pay is just a normal question - should not feel shy/bad to ask.
1. If you feel bad/shy to ask, you probably should not be working for the employer. Seriously, there are other difficult/hard things that can happen in employment - if you cant even ask what's the status of your pay, how can you deal with much difficult situations?
2. It is YOUR hard earned money that you are giving on "LOAN" for your employer. So, asking about the status of your pay is legal and is usual.
3. Some hourly payments, the cut off date for each pay period can be different for the actual pay.
1. If the pay day is the first of the month, the cut off day might be 26th of the previous month (or 5 business days).
2. Getting accounts and cutting checks take physical time. Some times this is done by third party and the paper work (including checks) has to be sent across physically
3. This cut off date can be announced or need not be
4. Direct deposit can take up to 3 pay cycles for it to actually go through.
1. Until this happens, you will get a physical check.
2. Checks can be handed to you in person or sent be snail mail
5. Even if pay is sent through direct deposit, they still owe you pay stub. This is legal document you can use to tell some one that you are getting paid (like bank or loans)