Voicemail on Mobile Phone

1. Received a voice mail directly into my voicemail box of Mobile Phone - with out the phone ringing.
2. Calling back the phone number states, the person is on vacation.

Makes me wonder if this is legal?

• http://www.infolinkca.com/services/voice-mail-courier.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_marketing#Voicemail_Marketing
• http://www.onecommand.com/solutions/pdfs/VoiceMessaging.pdf

1. Apparently, this can be done as long as there is a person's name and call back phone number provided in the message.
2. Also, as long as this person is associated with the business, it is fine. Does not matter if this person is on vacation while the message is delivered.

SV150 list

There are 150 (148?) publicly traded companies in the Silicon valley as listed by San Jose Mercury News for 2011?

2. HP
3. Abaxis
4. Accuray
5. Adobe Systems
6. Advanced
7. Advanced Micro
8. Affymax
9. Affymetrix
10. Agilent
11. Align Technolo
12. Altera Corp
13. Apple
14. Applied
15. Applied Micro
16. Ariba
17. Aruba Networks
18. Atheros
19. Atmel Corp
20. AXT
21. BigBand Networ
22. Blue Coat
23. Brocade
24. Cadence Design
25. California
26. Cavium Network
27. Cepheid
28. Cisco Systems
29. Coast
30. Coherent
31. Conceptus
32. Contango Oil G
33. Con-Way
34. Cypress
35. Dialogic
36. Dionex Corp
37. DSP Group
38. eBay
39. Echelon Corp
40. EFI
41. eHealth
42. Electronic Art
43. Equinix
44. Essex Property
45. Exar Corp
46. Exponent
47. Extreme Networ
48. Fairchild
49. FINANCIAL
50. Finisar Corp
51. FORTINET
52. Franklin
53. Geeknet
54. Genomic Health
55. Gilead Science
56. Google
57. Granite
58. GSI Technology
59. Harmonic
60. Ikanos
61. Infinera
62. Informatica Co
63. Integrated
64. Integrated
65. Intel
66. Intersil Corp
67. Intevac
68. Intuit
69. Intuitive
70. iPass
71. IXYS Corp
72. Jazz
73. JDS Uniphase
74. Juniper Networ
75. Kla-Tencor Cor
76. Landec Corp
77. Linear
78. LSI
79. Magma Design
80. Mattson
81. Maxim
82. Meru Networks
83. Micrel
84. MIPS
85. Mission West
86. Monolithic
87. Nanometrics
88. National
89. Natus Medical
90. NetApp
91. NetFlix
92. NETGEAR
93. NetLogic
94. NetSuite
95. Novellus Syste
96. Nvidia Corp
97. Oclaro
98. Omnicell
99. Omnivision
100. Openwave Syste
101. Oplink
102. Oracle Corp
103. Pericom
104. Plantronics
105. PMC - Sierra
106. Power
107. Protalix
108. Quantum Corp.
109. Questcor
110. QuinStreet
111. RAE Systems
112. Rambus
113. Robert Half
114. Rovi Corporati
115. Saba Software
116. Sandisk Corp
117. Sanmina-SCI Co
118. ShoreTel
119. Shutterfly
120. Sigma Designs
121. Silicon Graphi
122. Silicon Image
123. SJW Corp.
124. SMART Modular
125. Spansion Inc.
126. SuccessFactors
127. SunPower
128. Super Micro
129. Supertex
130. Symantec Corp
131. Symmetricom
132. Synaptics
133. SYNNEX Corp.
134. Synopsys
135. TeleNav
136. Tesla Motors
137. Tessera
138. TIBCO Software
139. Tivo
140. Trident
141. Trimble
142. Ultratech
143. VeriFone Syste
144. VMware
145. Volterra
146. West Marine
147. Xilinx
148. Yahoo
149. Zoran

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Anti Indian?

The Kung Fu Panda 2, like it's predecessor, story is set in China. The main character and hero is a Giant Panda bear, an animal native to central-western and south western China. While the dragon has historically served as China's national emblem, in recent decades the giant panda bear has also served as an emblem for the country. Its image appears on a large number of modern Chinese commemorative silver, gold, and platinum coins.

Lord Shen, heir of the peacock (designated Indian National Bird) clan, sought to harness the power of fireworks as a weapon. The peacock is portrayed in white color and is the villain in the movie.

All thought came about when a movie critic watched this movie in 3D format on 2011/05/29 at San Diego, CA.

China <> India are neighbors and the relationship is a bit long and complicated. Would US company dare to make a Panda as villain in a movie? Especially, if Peacock is the hero of the movie?

Well, not too sure when/if Dream Works is going to feel the back fire... but, when it does, this author feels, it would be pretty bad - in this highly interconnected world.

Anti Hording - Gold?

When the price of Gold goes down, many gold sellers are saying they are out of stock on Pure Gold stuff like Maple Gold Coins.

Butano Falls Info

GPS Co-ordinate: 37.242222 N, 122.316944 W

Wurr Road, Pescadero, CA and Jeep Trail

Jeep Trail meets Butano ridge Loop Trail. Keep right

Notes from http://www.bahiker.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=5&topic=176:

Butano Falls is on private land -- behind a little gated community. It's not actually on the property of the community, but in the watershed behind it.

There's an alternate way into those falls, but it might be a bit of work finding it. Though with GPS help you might be able to do so.

Besides the trail back to the houses -- there's a trail directly to the top of the ridge. I think this connects up to the fire road on the northwest edge of the park.

I think there's actually 3 falls there... each about 15-20 feet tall -- but very pretty -- more like water flowing over big boulders....

I am heading back up there in 2 weeks -- I'll hike up to the top of the ridge. I'll bring the GPS (if I remember).

==

YouTube Notes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAa3dLglO_w:

I use to fish Butano Creek above the falls with my Gradfather. Fish and Game still has Butano Creek listed as open to public fishing above the Falls. But no public access?

You CAN hike down the falls but it would take a long time and be precarious.

Statement(s) owning the killing of another human

"I was responsible for entrusting the 19 brothers – Allah have mercy upon them – with those raids" a leader of global ... group

"Today, at my direction, the United States launched .... they killed ... and took custody of his body." #44th head a state

Apple violated CPC 637.7 with iOS4?

Should we try Apple and Google on California Penal Code Section 637.7 violations?

(a) No person or entity in this state shall use an electronic tracking device to determine the location or movement of a

person.

(b) This section shall not apply when the registered owner, lessor, or lessee of a vehicle has consented to the use of the electronic tracking device with respect to that vehicle.

(c) This section shall not apply to the lawful use of an electronic tracking device by a law enforcement agency.

(d) As used in this section, "electronic tracking device" means any device attached to a vehicle or other movable thing that reveals its location or movement by the transmission of electronic signals.

(e) A violation of this section is a misdemeanor.

(f) A violation of this section by a person, business, firm, company, association, partnership, or corporation licensed under Division 3 (commencing with Section 5000) of the Business and Professions Code shall constitute grounds for revocation of the license issued to that person, business, firm, company, association, partnership, or corporation, pursuant to the provisions that provide for the revocation of the license as set forth in Division 3 (commencing with Section 5000) of the Business and Professions Code.

Apple iPhone from wikipedia:

In April 2011, software security specialists discovered a hidden unencrypted file on the iPhone.^[206] The file, labeled "consolidated.db", stores the geographic location of the iPhone owner's every move. The file was released with the June 2010 update of Apple's iOS4 and its storage capacity is almost one year's worth. Unlike Google's "Latitude" application, which performs a similar task on Android phones, the file is not dependent upon signing a EULA or even the user's knowledge.^[207] The file is also automatically copied onto the user's computer once synchronized with the iPhone. Apple's representatives have not yet commented on the finding, in spite of requests by The Associated Press and others, but so far there has been no evidence of Apple having access or using the tracking data.^[208] An open source application named "iPhoneTracker", which turns the data stored in the file into a visual map, has been made available to the public.^[209] While the file cannot be erased without jailbreaking the phone, it can be encrypted by the user.^[210]

If Federal government is shut down - ask for refund from uncle Sam

Human face of American Federal Government shutdown

1) 800,000 federal employees and equal number of federal contractors will not have a job

2) Many non essential Services will be disrupted for citizens

3) Laid off federal employees will be eligible for unemployment insurance - based on the state they live in

4) US Postal will work - as it is not from Tax Dollar

5) Shutdown can trigger American Federation of Government Employees a lawsuit against their employer - the Government

US Federal Government shutdown?

If the law makers can not keep the lights ON in the United States of America Federal government, how can we the Americans trust our sons and daughters to be sent harms way expecting you to provide the resources for us?

One possible way is to not let any of the current legislators to stand in the next election. If they do, do not support the people who sign their nomination papers.

May be the governments we are toppling all over the world is a mistake - may be they are doing the right thing - not following democracy?

My hunch - It is all one big drama. These politicians will drag it to the last minute - getting media coverage.

Switching to Apple

Things to watch out for while switching to Apple:

1. Collect all the software you need to run dual boot with Windows on the second boot partition, assuming you need it
2. If you need Windows concurrently running on your Snow Leopard (latest MacOS). I prefer free version - VMWare Player on windows. The equivalent is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMware_Fusion. This used to be paid product
3. If you need to run Windows Application under MacOS, (yes, this is possible), you might want to consider http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrossOver
4. You need to see how you plan on staying current on OS and other software
5. Many software is available on Windows - not on Mac. Some times, things are not reliable/not well tested on Mac. The features need not be exactly same on both platforms
6. Collect the list of software needed to run under Apple - Word, excel, power point, Eclipse, C++ compiler, etc
7. One possible installation process - have 10GB for each OS (Mac/Windows/Linux) in it's own partition. Have the rest in another partition. Use the 4th partition for All your data - so it is accessible for all the OSes. Remember, all these OS have a mechanism to read each other's drives - so you might not miss the files. This also would help you in backup/restore operation - where you need just the 4th partition. The OS partitions are just engines that run on your data
8. No wonder, the SaaS (Software as a Service) is getting more popular. Google provides a way to do Word/Excel/Power Point - all online - using any browser. No software installation needed...

Central Board of Film Certification

I am interested in collecting original Central Board of Film Certification of old films. Absence of it, I am interested in 2 lower requests

1. Copies of these documents - Photo copies/image files
2. Certificate details in database
3. Copy of the certificate as shown in the movie (slightly different from the original/even photocopy)

Look at the Central Board like software Testers who report 'Bugs'. The movie makers will have to fix these bugs, prior to release.

Official links: http://cbfcindia.gov.in/

It would be nice if we can capture these movies credits as database.

How about capturing all these movies in all kinds of database? Meta Data??

Scaling Mission Peak

Today I had the privilege of scaling Mission Peak. Parking was overflowing. Parked on the Vineyard Avenue.

Trail Head @ 6:48am
Decend @ 8:08am
Back to Trail Head @ 9:08am

Going up 1:20, down 1:00 round trip of 2:20

Trail open from 5:00am to 10:pm

http://www.ebparks.org/parks/mission Official page suggests 5 hours. Noticed a small bird, like sparrow, with stripe on it's forehead - yellow and black.

Noticed lots of cattle. Saw water spot for the cattle.

Near the peak, there were 2 dumpsters. Saw, an Asian looking women carrying 2 bags full of plastic bottles - basically an self organized volunteer bring trash down. I bow to this lady on her service. Thank You.

Noticed few bottles and few napkins left behind.

There were some dogs on trail most on leash.

There are 2 places on the trail that prevents cattle from crossing.

No water with you, please do not try to scale the summit. You can get in to dangerous situations.

There is rest room and water fountain near the trail head.

San Antonio reservoir is visible when you start ascending the final stretch. The Bay is visible almost close to the Trail head.

Good resource on Mission Peak: http://www.exerciseforthereader.org/misspeak/

The windsock was flying in full today, meaning wind is minimum 17mph. There was one biker on the trail.

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.