Weather Underground PWS IKARNATA11

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Of morality and resignations!

After the "IPL betting" news broke everyone is on their toes talking about players/politicians/actors morality. Even the most corrupt main stream media is demanding resignations on basis of morality. Even the keyboard warriors (the software engineers like me, lol) are active on twitter/facebook/blogs talking about morality and that he/she should resign from their post/designation.

This is all bull shoot.
1) For a fact, I have never come across a single software engineer who has talked about resignation because it was immoral/illegal to work on a visit/business visa. More over after experiencing so called 'good' things in the west they speak about how 'corrupt' India is and how politicians have no morality! I have definitely met few people who quit the job because they didn't get on-site opportunity, lol.

2) And not to forget the 'fake' resumes that are floating around (esp from that state in India where everyone wants to go to America). Clearly morality is not a question when faking in your resume, because everyone does it! Guess that's the first line of defense of a crook!

3) And for those living/working outside India and who dont belong to above category of moral-less people, first check if you are NRI. Because being a NRI its illegal to have resident savings account, it needs to be converted to NRO account asap! And you become NRI the moment you decide to leave India for indefinite term or if you live outside India for more than 180 days in that financial year! I bet 90% of people will still have savings account in India which is not converted to NRO account. Thats illegal. No, Ignorance of the law is no excuse for breaking it. 

4) And there are majority of us where we have heard about some friend's dad/relatives OR our own relatives who are corrupt! Yet, we never report them to the police (remember not reporting to authorities is equivalent to abetting the corrupt). Even worse, most are proud that they can get 'things' done with the help of someone holding a high govt post. These are the friends you call when you get caught after drink drive or when you met with an accident or something goes wrong! We don't think of morality when we need undue favors from them.
 
So before we all blame politicians for their lack of morality look yourself in the mirror!

And remember, if we don't vote then we don't have rights to complain about the infrastructure/roads/healthcare.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Dowry in Installments!

I should say guys have become smart nowadays! Most of my friends, while searching for bride, are looking for working women.
Few decades ago guys were after non working wives and most would demand dowry. And even bride's parents were willing to oblige as well!
But now the scenario has changed. Guys have realised that a lump-sum down payment, adjusted to inflation, after 10years will be worth nothing. Hence they have started looking for 'earning' wife who will bring in some money monthly and in the process help mitigate financial burden of the family. Hopefully her salary increments every year beating the inflation! This is a win win situation as guy gets the money and girl gets the 'freedom' to do job. Girl is happy as no more she is being forced to sit at home and do usual chores. More importantly government is more than happy that now there is one more idiot who is paying taxes, lol. The feminists are obviously grinning.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Life in the UK Test - 2013 - Sample Questions

Gave Life in the UK test (2013 edition) couple of weeks back. Thought of posting the questions as there are not much sample questions out there! The new edition book is definitely bit tough compared to the previous edition. There are many dates/events to remember now!
I did prepare well and expected the test to be tougher, but turned out to be simple test. Finished 24 questions in 10mins! Is that a record? ;)
I have put the questions in my own words as I don't remember them exactly as they were!

Questions below:-

1) What did Charles I do to loose trust of parliament!

2) Whats Hogmanay?

3) Choose the correct one... a) Nelson died in battle of Trafalgar. b)Nelson died in Waterloo battle.

4) In which era was social reforms were liberalized and 'Beatles' happen!!! 50s,60s,70s,80s?

5) Can devolved governments have own civil service?! [I got this one wrong!]

6) During whose rule the doomsday book was written?

7) Q about national trust? Which agency takes care of Parks/monuments?

8) There are 15 national parks in UK. Whats purpose of national parks? a) protected places b) xxxxx c) leisure activity/play football! d) xxxxx

9) Geoffrey Chaucer wrote tales of pilgrims about which city?

10) Who was the famous PM during world war who showed character?

11) During whose rule the colonization began? a) Victoria b) Elizabeth I c) xxx d) xxx

12) Q about who is patron saint of Scotland?

13) What are other national holidays known as? Ans: bank holidays

14) Which among the below is a Crown dependent country? Ans was: Channel Island

15) Which of the following are 'values and responsibilities'? Options were a) respect and obey law b) join political party c) treat others with fairness d) join military basic training

16) How many Juries are present in the court of England/Wales?

17) Which are the two houses in the parliament in England?

18) True or false. Bishops are elected to the House of Lords.

19) Which of the following is not a UK coin? a) 2p b) 5p c) 25p d) 50p

20) Which of the following is true? a) you need to have a TV license even if you are watching TV on internet b) you don't need a TV license if you are watching the TV on internet!

21) Which is the official home of PM? Ans: 10 Downing street.

22) True or false. In England/Wales people eligible to vote need to complete their own registration form.

23) Which of the following is true? a) people who canvass advise people to vote for their party b) people canvassing help people to fill up ballot paper.

24) What is 'small claims procedure' meant for? a) settle minor disputes b) some other options...

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Weather Station, WMR88

As a kid I always wondered how do they report amount of rain in mm/inches. While staying in Sirsi (after moving from dry Chitradurga, I was shocked to see the amount of rain can occur in a day in Sirsi! Was bit depressed in the beginning seeing so much of rain and complained[or cried?] about going to school. That was in 9th std, lol), I did try once to measure the amount of rain using an old plastic mug. But this didnt satisfy me. It always stayed in my mind that I will one day do something.

That day came after almost 15years when I came across a website "http://www.weeleyweather.co.uk/". An enthusiastic lad had setup a weather station and I was really impressed by his dedication. Though I was aware of weather station kit before, I was looking for some reviews before proceeding to buy.

After going through few reviews on the internet, I choose "Oregon Scientific WMR88 Full Weather Station". This one was good for beginners, semi-pro and I didnt mind spending £140 on that. With this you can measure and analyse Temperature, Humidity, Rainfall, Barometric Pressure, Wind Speed and Direction. You can upload the data to computer via USB cable.

The full weather station includes:-
1) A 'Base station' or console, which displays the data it receives from sensors. Only drawback is data is not stored in the console!, it has to be fed to a PC to store it. This is a major drawback in India because of power cuts! There are other alternatives available.

2) 1 Wind sensor (includes wind wane and anemometer) which takes note of wind direction and speed. This will mounted on top of the house.

3) 1 temperature & humidity sensor which will be mounted on outside wall.

4) 1 rain gauge, to measure the amount of rain!

Check the manual below on how to setup up the weather station! I found it pretty easy to setup and running.
(manual for the weather station can be found at "http://uk.oregonscientific.com/ulimages/manuals2/WMR88.pdf")

The good thing about the weather station is that it is wireless. The sensors are not wired to the console!

I bought the weather station in March2012 and its been setup and running since April2012. The link to the weather data is below:
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IKARNATA11
There has been only one incident of heavy rainfall on 1Nov2012 when pressure dropped to 1007.7hpa and we had rain of around 15cm!!!

The data received by the console is uploaded to 'Weather Underground' website via software "Virtual Weather Station Internet Edition" VWS V14.01. This software is paid and not free. There are other free weather station softwares like cumulus and 'wview' for linux.

Currently I have a PC running the weather station software for 24hrs (power cuts permitting), uploading weather data every hour. The total cost of running this is as below:-
1) WMR88 - £140
2) VWS software - $100
3) Cost of PC running 24hours - The electricity bill is coming upto 300Rs/month. Mine is a Dell Zino HD PC which has power cosumption of just 75W.

In future I would like to see a full fledged android app capable of running all features of weather station software. This will nullify the need for PC. Plugin your base station to an android phone, running weather station software, via USB :)

 PS:- I had mounted the temperature & humidity sensor outside my house and as predicted by my dad, within couple of months, it got stolen by some over enthusiastic thief :). I thought he will return it considering its of no use for him! But probably he felt too embarrassed to come back! So advise is to secure it!


Monday, February 18, 2013

What if 'Numerals' were a secular nation as India

Once there was a secular country called Numerals. Everyone was happy when they wrote 2+2=4. But after sometime someone said 2+2 only represents one section of numerals i.e., even numbers & there is no representation of odd numbers in the society. So govt thought lets give opportunity to odd numbers as well and a law was passed to represent 2+2 as 3+1. This controversial decision gave rise to communal riots, saying now even numbers are sidelined to appease odd numbers. The pseudo intellectuals/sikulars/commies/socialists met again and decided 2+2 should be now represented as 2+1+1, where 2 represents majority, 1 represents minorities, another 1 represents other minors among minorities. Though the law was passed, everyone is still pissed about it. In future, there is a request by one kapi to introduce his/her universal zero loss theory. So 4=2+1+1+0 ;-)...

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Langoti Vs Underwear

In the series of A vs B posting this is one more addition. Thought, I should let out all the crazy thoughts I have inside me before I reach a stage in life where I am no more interested in posting them.

Me and my colleague from Indore were chit chatting about effects of IT industry on our lifestyle and how it has changed the face of consumerism in Indian cities. The earning capacity of people has increased substantially compared to what it was few years ago. IT Industry is bringing a lot of revenue to India through exports, but at the same time a lot of foreign brands are invading tier-1 and tier-2 cities. People now are getting taste of pizza and burger. McD’s and subway can be easily found now.

Though the spending capacity has increased people aren’t saving much, reason being they have lot more options to spend the money on. And also the cost of living has risen enormously. So at the end of the day, no matter how much you earn, you are spending a lot more and saving less. People don’t mind to paying more for comfort and quality.

At this point of chit-chat my friend asked me if my lifestyle has improved. And if it has improved give me an example. I told him ‘I don’t know if my lifestyle has improved, but I know for sure my spending ability has increased. Previously I used to wear Indian made local brand of Underwear but now I am wearing foreign brand’J. Now our thoughts were diverted more towards Underwear.

Indian men have always worn loincloth or Langoti (langot). There was no concept of underwear until some western guy introduced it. Langoti suits more for us than underwear. Reason being better ventilation, it suits more for Indian hot humid dry weather. Underwear is more suitable in cold countries. The western trend brought us Underwear and along with it brought itching as well. And for itching it brought suitable ointments to apply. All made by western. A humble Langoti with better ventilation couldn’t face the itching underwear. Why only underwear, it’s the same story with bra. And Go commando is nothing new for Indian women in villages :P