tanhaaiyaaN

Notes from the underground!

Thoughts and Thinking

Written By: tanhaa - Nov• 24•09

Here’s an interesting dialogue for everybody to consider:

Krishnamurti: “So where does silence begin? Does it begin when thought ends? Have you ever tried to end thought?

Questioner: “How do you do it”?

Krishnamurti: “I don’t know, but have you ever tried it? First of all, who is the entity who is trying to stop thought?”

Questioner: “The thinker.”

Krishnamurti: “It’s another thought, isn’t it?  Thought is trying to stop itself, so there is a battle between the thinker and the thought … Thought says, ‘I must stop thinking because then I shall experience a marvelous state.’ … One thought is trying to supress another thought, so there is a conflict.  When I see this as a fact, see it totally, understand it completely, have an insight into it… then the mind is quiet.  This comes about naturally and easily when the mind is quiet to watch, to look, to see.”

– J. Krishnamurti (You are the World, 1972)
More about Krishnamurti by clicking here

Interesting thought isn’t it?  No Pun intended.

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Did you know?

Written By: tanhaa - Nov• 06•09

So these circulate all the time in those pesky forwarded emails.  I thought Why not have a space for them on the blog?  Besides, if any readers fumble on this post and can debunk any of these, it’d be fun and one would learn something as well.  Using “Google is my friend”, I have debunked a few of these already and am posting my results in parantheses for all to see.  So here it goes:

  • “Stewardesses” is the longest word typed only with Left Hand (For those touch typists who type with two hands out there)
  • “Lollipop” is apparently the longest word typed only with your right hand.  (Both of these are not true, I found a list of words on the web that can easily debunk both of these statements and here’s that list: AFTERCATARACTS (plural for a condition that sometimes follows cataract surgery), TESSERADECADES and TETRASTEARATES are the longest words which can be typed using only the fingers of the left hand. The first word appears in a Merriam-Webster medical dictionary; the second is in W2. Other such words (some of which are not in dictionaries) are ABSTRACTERS, ABSTRACTEST, AFTEREFFECT, AFTEREFFECTS, AFTERTASTES, AFTERWARDS, ASSEVERATED, ASSEVERATES, BEGGARWEEDS, CASEBEARERS, CRABGRASSES, DATABASES, DECEREBRATE, DECEREBRATED, DECEREBRATES, DESECRATERS, DESEGREGATE, DESEGREGATED, DESEGREGATES, DEVERTEBRATED, EFFERVESCED, EFFERVESCES, EXTRAVASATES, GAZETTEER, READDRESSED, READDRESSES, REAGGRAVATES, REASSEVERATE, RESEGREGATE, RESEGREGATED, RESEGREGATES, REVEGETATED, REVEGETATES, REVERBERATE, REVERBERATED, REVERBERATES, SASSAFRASES, STAGECRAFTS, STATECRAFTS, STAVESACRES, STEWARDESSES, SWEATERDRESSES, SWEETBREADS, TERRACEWARDS, TRADECRAFTS, VERTEBRATES, WASTEWATERS, WATERCRAFTS, WATERCRESSES.
    JOHNNY-JUMP-UP (a fast-growing flower or a brand name for a type of toy) is the longest word found in abridged dictionaries that can be typed using only the fingers of the right hand. Other such words (some of which are not in dictionaries) are HOKYPOKY, HOMONYMY, HOMOPHONY, HOMOPHYLY, HYPOLIMNION, HYPOPHYLL, HYPOPHYLLIUM, HYPOPHYLLUM, HYPOPYON, ILLINIUM, ILLUMINOPOLY, KINNIKINNIK, LOLLIPOP, LUPULINUM, MILLIMHO, MILLIOHM, MIMINYPIMINY, MINIKINLY, MINIMILL, MONOHULL, MONOPHONY, MONOPOLY, NIPPONIUM, NONILLION, PHYLLOPHYLLIN, POLLINIUM, POLONIUM, POLYONOMY, POLYPHONIUM, POLYPHONY, UNHOLILY)
  • In English language, no words rhyme with “Orange”, “Month”, “Silver” or “Purple”.  (While this may seem true in our current state of English language, you can always use archaic English language or different dialects of English language and debunk this fact.  Month can be seen as a rhyme for “oneth”, Orange also has one “sporange”,  and so does silver “chilver” , and finally for purple we have “Curple”
  • “Dreamt” is the only English word that ends with a “mt”.  (It seems that there is also adreamt and undreamt, hence this fun fact is not so true).
  • Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears don’t stop growing. (Not true so it seems, our eyes do grow, though they are very close to the adult eyes).
  • The sentence “Quick Brown Fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the alphabet.  (And most probably that’s why it is always a sentence used when trying to teach people how to touch-type, however it should be noted that this is not the only sentence that uses every letter in the alphabet).
  • These two words in English language have all the vowels in order: abstemious and facetious  (Vowel order – a e i o u)
  • “Typewriter” is the longest word that can be made using all letters on ONE row of the keyboard. (Again, it seems that there are several other words that can be typed using one row of the keyboard and are longer than “Typewriter”, you can google for an exhaustive list of these words as well, so this is not true).
  • A goldfish has a memory span of 3 seconds! (not True, a Goldfish actually has a memory span of 6 seconds)
  • A “Jiffy” is actually a unit of time indicating 1/100th of a second. (Here again, these emails are not quite on the ball — In computer engineering, a jiffy is the length of one cycle, or tick, of the computer’s system clock. In the past, this was often equal to one period of the alternating current powering the computer: 1/60 second in the U.S. and Canada, usually 1/50 second elsewhere. More recently the jiffy has become standardized, more or less, as 0.01 second (10 milliseconds). The word jiffy, with its ordinary meaning of an instant or very brief time, appeared in English during the eighteenth century, but its origin is not known.
    In chemistry and physics, a jiffy is equal to a “light centimeter,” that is, the time required for light to travel a distance of one centimeter. This is a very brief interval indeed, about 33.3564 picoseconds. This definition of the jiffy was proposed by the American physical chemist Gilbert N. Lewis (1875-1946), who was one of the first to apply principles of quantum physics in chemistry.
    SOURCE: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes (Again, wrong, Sharks Don’t Blink — now that’s a fun fact)
  • A cat has 32 muscles in each ear (Not true, a Cat has actually 30 muscles in each ear)
  • An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.
  • Babies are born without kneecaps (they appear between the age of 2 and 6 years)  —– (Again, these pesky “Fact” emails are wrong on this one, this is NOT true)
  • February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon! (Again, we are being fed lies — there have been other years where no full moon was recorded and there will be more in future.  February 1809, 1847, 1866, 1885, 1915, 1934, 1961, 1999 did not have a full moon!
  • Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite (Indeed they are as they are used to make Glycerin, which is part of Nitroglycerin, but directly, no they are not used in dynamite)
  • Elastics last longer when refrigerated
  • The cruise liner QE2 moves only 6 inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns (talk about going green — and that would be true if it was true, however, it seems that the QE2 actually moves 50 feet / gallon)
  • The microwave was invented after a researcher walked past a radar tube and a chocolate bar in his pocket melted.
  • The Winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagra Falls froze completely over (and the same thing happened in 1911 as well ; oh and this deserves a special look, in fact, have a look at this link for more information on this — whether its true or not, is still being debated so it seems )
  • Women Blink twice as much as men (hmm, well this is not true and nothing is proven about that as blinking is affected by emotional state, health, age, etc.)

These were the only ones I received in my email, so if you find more of these fun facts and are attempting to debunk them, post ‘em here, lets do that together.

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Awesome Hockey Masks

Written By: tanhaa - Nov• 02•09

It’s only been 50 years since Goalie masks have been in the game.  Montreal’s Jacques Plante was the first one to ever go out with a mask on.  One has to wonder how goalies were ever able to play without a mask on, and with the speed that puck comes at you, it must have been really scary.

Jacques Plante (1952-1975)

Jacques Plante (1952-1975)

Masks have always been the source of great art for hockey goaltenders and some really beautiful masks have seen the day.  It’s not an easy thing to select out of the plethora of gorgeous masks out there, but I’ll list some of my favourites here and in the process, list some of the best Montreal Canadian masks as well.

Montreal Canadian Masks

Patrick Roy arguably had the most effective mask ever!  That’s right, you think its simple enough, but that’s the beauty of it.  That logo is so visible, it’s amazing.

patrick-roy

Though it wasn’t always like this.  His first mask, when he entered was even simpler.

roy_1

Nowadays, our goaltenders have finally got on with the painting trend.  Here are our current goaltender masks:

halak

Jaroslav Halak

Carey Price

Carey Price

Jaroslav Halak

Jaroslav Halak

Another Halak mask -- seems like he got quite a few there!

Another Halak mask -- seems like he got quite a few there!

Carey Price -- another mask

Carey Price -- another mask

Carey Price - alternative view

Carey Price - alternative view

And some older masks from the Canadians:

Ken Dryden

Ken Dryden

Cristobal Huet

Cristobal Huet

Other NHL Goaltenders

Lets move on to other goaltender masks.  I have selected some of the few that I found were the most amazing.  In no particular order of preference, here they are:

Gerry Cheevers, the guy who started it all

Gary Cheevers, the guy who started it all

Gary Cheevers, another picture of his awesome stiched up mask

Gary Cheevers, another picture of his awesome stiched up mask

Gilles Gratton -- one of the most awesome masks ever!

Gilles Gratton -- one of the most awesome masks ever!

Another Picture of Gratton's mask

Another Picture of Gratton's mask

Gary Bromley --- awesome!!

Gary Bromley --- awesome!!

Eddie Belfour

Eddie Belfour

Eddie Belfour

Eddie Belfour

Marty Turco

Marty Turco

Marc Andre Fleury

Marc Andre Fleury

Manny Fernandez

Manny Fernandez

Curtis Sanford

Curtis Sanford

Cujo (Curtis Joseph)

Cujo (Curtis Joseph)

Another view of Cujo's sweet mask

Another view of Cujo's sweet mask

Brian Hayward

Brian Hayward

Trevor Kidd

Trevor Kidd

John Vanbiesbrouck -- nice isn't it?

John Vanbiesbrouck -- nice isn't it?

Yann Denis -- He got the devil thing going!

Yann Denis -- He got the devil thing going!

Tukka Rask -- definitely needs an honorable mention

Tukka Rask -- definitely needs an honorable mention

Nikolai Khabibulin

Nikolai Khabibulin

Cristobal Huet

Cristobal Huet

Craig Anderson -- that's a nice mask!

Craig Anderson -- that's a nice mask!

Top 5 Masks

According to me… (it’s subjective guys, don’t tell me I got it wrong!) the top 5 masks are as follows:

5.  Gary Bromley
4.  Gilles Gratton
3.  Manny Fernandez
2.  Curtis Joseph
1.  Brian Hayward

Ok, dont’ flame me, it’s just my opinion. Hayward’s Shark mask looks AWESOME! He captured the essence of a shark in there.   All the other masks I posted up there are all my favourite one and it was really hard to select the number 1 mask out of all these and select the ones above from all the awesome masks out there, but Hayward’s mask rocks and I love Trevor Kidds mask even though it doesn’t come in my top 5.

Got any mask you wish to show, post the link in comments!

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Drupal Updating / Upgrading

Written By: tanhaa - Oct• 30•09

Updating or Upgrading Drupal is not an easy task.  Compared to WordPress, where the updating is simply a mouse-click away, Drupal requires you to do certain things that can take a bit of time in extremely extensive sites.  I recently had to update my Drupal installation from 6.12 to 6.14

Now this being my first Drupal installation, and as much as I love this CMS, the updating process can be a pain if not following the instructions carefully.  The instructions can be found in “upgrade.txt” file located in your drupal zip file, also you can find tons of instructions online.  An excellent website learnbythedrop.com can help you out a lot if you are looking for tutorials on Drupal.  Here’s the video I followed to help me update Drupal.  Posting it here so that it can get more recognition on the web!  They say you can fill an ocean, one drop at a time….

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2012 — What’s up with that?

Written By: tanhaa - Oct• 23•09

Three youtube videos on the documentary “Everything 2012″  sure do make you go “hmmm.”

So what is the truth and what is going to really happen, I guess we will have to see.  Why is it that prophecies always tell us what bad is going to happen to the world, how about the good things?

Watch the videos to see what I mean, and do give your comments about what is going to happen in 2012!

Part I

Part II

Part III

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Sarve bhavantu sukhinaH

Written By: tanhaa - Oct• 21•09

This is one of my favorite mantras (Vedic Verses)  to recite.

Sarve bhavantu sukhinaH
Sarve santu niraamayaH
Sarve bhadraani pashyantu
maa kash-chid dukh bhaag bhavet
Aum Shaanti Shaanti Shaanti Aum

Meaning

May all be happy.
May all enjoy health and freedom from disease.
May all have prosperity and good luck.
May none suffer or fall on evil days.

This mantra is for Peace invocation.  It is intended to be recited for the welfare of humanity as a whole.  The reason it is one of my favorite mantras in Hinduism is simple — the mantra is the most selfless prayer ever.   You are not asking anything for you by reciting this, but rather the goodwill and welfare of everybody in the world is being prayed for.  In my humble opinion, it is a representation of Hinduism, a non-violent, peaceful religion.

Here’s the mantra (verse) in Sanskrit:

ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयः।
सर्वे भद्रणिपश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद्दुःख भाग भवेत्॥

(mantra taken from Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.14)

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The BILZ new song — Against All Odds

Written By: tanhaa - Oct• 20•09

Sick track! Sounds awesome! and the video looks great!

Get it on iTunes!

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Our perception of beauty

Written By: tanhaa - Oct• 07•09

Another video showing you the magic of information technology. Look at the girl carefully in the beginning and at the end.

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Hillarious!!!

Written By: tanhaa - Oct• 07•09

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Drupal 6 Installation issues

Written By: tanhaa - Oct• 01•09

Drupal 6 requires php directive “register_globals” to be off.  This is not always the case depending on your hosting environment or even your own requirements as Drupal may not be the only thing residing on your virtual server.

There are several work arounds for the issue if you come across an error during installation asking you to turn “register_globals” off.  It may work for you or it may not work for you, but the final one will definitely do the job.  Just to be safe, try the fixes in the order below:

1.  You can always add or edit the .htaccess file in your root directory with the following line:

php_flag register_globals off

This may or may not work depending on whether the apache configuration on your host allows directives to be fed through the .htaccess file.  Find out more about .htaccess files by going to http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/htaccess/

2. So that didn’t work huh?  Fret not, here’s another solution.  Place a “php.ini” file in your root directory with the following line:

register_globals = 0

did that work?  Basically you are telling php to initialize with the setting for your directory.

3. Wait, we didn’t cover the fact that you may be running your own server! Well if you are lucky enough to have your own server and control over your php.ini file, simply change the register_globals variable to ‘off’  in your php.ini file.  More information can be found at the php website about how to configure your php.ini file.

4. You could also try adding the following line to your .htaccess file (it has been proven to work on 1&1 webservers):

AddType x-mapp-php5 .php

This directive simply tells the server to use php5 for .php files instead of php4 (which might be the default for several webhosts out there)

5.  Ok genius, nothing worked, now what? Yup, that was my case as well, nothing worked, seemed the host didn’t allow default settings to be changed.  Well there’s always the “ask your hosting provider” answer.  If you are so inclined to do so, send them an email and ask them how to turn the “register_globals” variable off for your particular site.  They might not be of much help, but you never know.  Or, (Yes!) there’s another method.  You can simply tell Drupal to ignore it when installing.  It requires you to change the install file located in modules/system directory called “system.install“.  Go ahead and find the line:

if (!empty($register_globals) && strtolower($register_globals) != ‘off’)

and change the “!=” to “==” .   The line should now read:


if (!empty($register_globals) && strtolower($register_globals) == ‘off’)

Curious to know what you are doing here?  Well you are simply telling the system.install file change the “not equal to” to “equal to”.   Basically, you fooled the system into treating a response which would mean that “register_globals” is “on” into treating it as “register_globals” is “off”.  You will not get any more errors when doing the install now.

Now, remember, it is unsafe to have register_globals on.  Your system is not fully secure if that directive is on.  So if you are willing to take the risk, you can implement the solutions provided in this post.

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