17 Oct 08 Sensex falls into a blackhole
BSE Sensex falls nearly 900 points from yesterday’s market close to 9911. This is the first time in nearly 2 and half years, it has fallen below the 10,000 mark. This is a bad time for the market, which is called as Bear market during the falling times. People getting panicky and selling the shares for unheard of low prices, leading to a loss of about 20+ lakhs per capita. Today is probably what you can call ‘Black friday’.
For your information, Rupee has touched 48.85 per dollar mark. Like the tag line of Harry potter and the Order of phoenix, “Tough times lie ahead”
Tags: 48.85, bse, dollar, rupee, Sensex
15 Oct 08 Stock market in turmoil!
Merriam - Webster’s dictionary states the term
Turmoil - a state or condition of extreme confusion, agitation, or commotion.
But I guess one can safely edit the term in the dictionary as
Turmoil - International Stock market
I don’t know what started this extreme confusion, but since the battle between Senators Obama and McCain started, the stock market took a downward spiral. Adding insult to the injury is the bailout plan. According to me it is a stupid concept put forth by the Congress government of USA. Bush has lost it completely.
Here is an excerpt from NYTimes.COM
Q. The bailout program being negotiated by the Bush administration and Congressional leaders calls for the government to spend up to $700 billion to buy distressed mortgages. How did the politicians come up with that number, and could it go higher?
A. The recovery package cannot go higher than $700 billion without additional legislation. As for that figure, it lies between the optimistic estimate of $500 billion and the pessimistic guess of $1 trillion about the cost of fixing the financial mess. But the $700 billion is in addition to an $85 billion agreement on a bailout of the insurance giant American International Group, plus $29 billion in support that the government pledged in the marriage of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase. On top of all that, the Congressional Budget Office says the federal bailout of the mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost $25 billion.
Q. Who, really, is going to come up with the $700 billion?
A. American taxpayers will come up with the money, although if you are bullish on America in the long run, there is reason to hope that the tab will be less than $700 billion. After the Treasury buys up those troubled mortgages, it will try to resell them to investors. The Treasury’s involvement in the crisis and the speed with which Congress is responding could generate long-range optimism and raise the value of those mortgages, although it is impossible to say by how much.
So it would not be correct to think of the federal government as simply writing a check for $700 billion. It is just committing itself to spend that much, if necessary. But the bottom line is, yes, this bailout could cost American taxpayers a lot of money.
Q. So is it fair to say that Americans who are neither rich nor reckless are being asked to rescue people who are? What is in this package for responsible homeowners of modest means who might be forced out of their homes, perhaps for reasons beyond their control?
A. Yes, you could argue that people who cannot tell soybean futures from puts, calls and options are being asked to clean up the costly mess left by Wall Street. To make the bailout palatable to the public, it is being described as far better than inaction, which administration officials and members of Congress say could imperil the retirement savings and other investments of Americans who are anything but rich.
The last two lines clearly says the dialogue uttered by Rajini in Sivaji. “Rich getting richer and the Poor getting poorer”.
Tags: Bush, congress administration, Rajini, Sivaji, Stock market crash, turmoil
06 Oct 08 Results of NASSCOM exam
Ah, the title did catch your eye, didn’t it? Well, it sure is incomplete though. The complete sentence is ‘Results of NASSCOM exam in another 3 weeks’. What the ____?? Why do they need three weeks to release the results which appeared in the monitor (almost immediately) once the exam got over?
The placement office didn’t appear too enthusiastic about it when we asked them the same. I can understand you feeling ‘avanga enniku than surusurupa irunthurukkanga?’. Oh its true… its true…
Tags: AIHT, NASSCOM exam, result
06 Oct 08 Precedented delay - Round 1 - L cube
I was feeling excited to attend Round 1 of the ON campus recruitment conducted by L cube Innovative solutions. But it was a big let down (not that I really care) as the exam started by 4.30 (when I was travelling towards home). Just what I expected when I heard that the exam will be conducted afternoon.
The thing is, Internet programming model exam was conducted today morning as they thought students would be writing the Round 1 during noon. That didn’t happen and I was happy to have written the exam morning itself, when I had the mood to write it.
Tags: delay, l cube, on campus, round 1
05 Oct 08 L Cube Innovative Solutions - On Campus #2
Its ON CAMPUS in AIHT! But don’t get any ideas. The organization is L-Cube Innovative solutions, visiting our college tomorrow for Round 1 alone. Round 2 and so forth will be conducted in the company, based in chennai. I visited their website, but wasn’t interested in gathering the information about them. The thing is, they demand a bond for One lakh rupees and 2 years of, ah, association with them. If that isn’t enough, the pay scale is Rs.10,000 for three months and Rs.16,000 for the year. Not that I complain about the pay scale, but the bond thingy definitely puts me off.
So, those who are trying for this company, I wish you all the best.
02 Oct 08 TechVista - Microsoft Research Symposium - Part 2
Lunch - After eating a couple of Dosas and a chappathi with Paneer mutter, I felt full and went to the ice cream counter and gobbled up a couple. The AC hall had its effect on me and the good lunch lulled me to sleep. If thats not enough, the european Rick rashi came and spoke about SenseCam project in a tone that sounded like a lullaby to me. Thats it, there was none to stop me from falling into a deep slumber.
Next up, a lovely presentation by Shree K Nayar, whose english was IMPECCABLE, without use of “uhh.. duhh” para lingo, had me wide awake. I was listening intently for about 30 minutes and with only 10 minutes to go, the guy started with technical stuff in camera and that immediately sent me off dozing. But for the first 30 minutes of the 45 minute presentation, I could understand a lot from what he said and he did make me listen to his speech with his perfect english. He knew what he said and I could visibly see the confidence he exuded on the stage.
Next, one Mr. Vijay Chandru came, spoke for about 15 minutes totally off topic, god knows what he said. The next 20 minutes, he was saying something about the topic, but remained in slide 1. I was pissed off and went out to explore the trade centre. When I came back, his talk (luckily) was over and the prizes to the best posters were awarded to the IIT-ians. 5 students were selected and awarded the Fellowship from Microsoft with a grant of US $25000 (about 11.25 lakhs). Then the party got over and I made my way back in the same bus to attend the Wedding reception of our HOD.
Tags: microsoft, research, techvista, trade centre
01 Oct 08 TechVista - Microsoft Research Symposium - Part 1
October 1, 2008
A very special day, and why not. I registered for the Microsoft Research symposium - “Techvista”, a few days back and I got the email confirming my registration on September 29th. I was excited and looked forward to attend the event. Next day, it was another pleasant surprise for me. I got an email ‘Important Information’ from Techvista guys, saying about few points to be noted. But the points that caught my eye were
1. Chartered buses will start from Tambaram and will drop you off at the same point in the evening - Oh yea!
2. Lunch session at 1 pm - OH YEAH!!
Last but not the least
3. 100 copies of Office 2007 to the winners of the lucky draw event - THATS GREAT!
Now then, I have 3 reasons that favor my decision to go to Tech vista. So, I started from my home, caught the bus waiting at Vasantha Bavan by 7 am. Reached Nandambakkam Trade centre by say 7.45, had tea and biscuits and went in at 9 am. I had the privilege of meeting Dr. John Hopcroft (rings a bell? - He is the author of our Theory of Computation book). Things started well, with Prof. Anandan of IIT Madras talking about the Digital India Heritage project. We were treated to a FANTASTIC visual demo of their project and I was introduced to a new technology ‘Photosynth’ of Microsoft. MAN! It was off the hook!
Next up, John hopcroft started his talk on optimizing the search engine. He started off well, but went too technical in the middle. I couldn’t understand a single bit of what his diagrams - mostly consisted of Graphs, edges, vertices - meant. Next came a professor, PhD laurete from Microsoft research team, who talked about all the aspects of playing with the camera. How much did I understand? - 0. Next up, a lady by the name Shafi Goldswayer, obsessed with Comic sans font came and gave a shoddy presentation. It was by far the worst presentation I’ve ever seen.
Lunch at 1 pm. Sine the morning breakfast at 10 pm turned out to be a scene from the Koyambedu market, I made it to the lunch room tad 10 minutes early and waited for the plates to arrive. But, the lunch session went pretty decently and the food was good, infact great!
Post lunch session - in Part 2
Tags: microsoft, research, techvista, trade center
28 Sep 08 NASSCOM test on 29th September
Our college has been chosen to host the NACTech test, conducted by NASSCOM. It is conduct to test our competence levels and with this score, students can attend the second round of recruitment process of a few MNCs if it complies to the level set by them. The test is going to be held tomorrow (29th august) for me, from 9.30 AM to 12.30 PM.
Totally 151 questions need to be solved in 165 minutes and the break up is as follows
Part A- Mandatory Test (common to all):
==============================
It has six sections with a total of 111 questions to be answered in 2hr. 15 minutes, with break-up as below:
1. Verbal Ability Test: 25 questions in 20 minutes.
It tests your competency on Grammar and Comprehension.
Topics covered are: Synonyms, Articles, Prepositions, Reading Comprehension(Tech).
2. Analytical Ability: 25 questions in 30 minutes.
It tests your competency on Analytical Ability & Logical Reasoning.
Topics covered are: Venn Diagram, Puzzles, Data Sufficiency, Conceptualization, Pattern Completion, Series Completion.
3. Attention to Detail: 20 questions in 20 minutes.
It tests your competency on Eye for Detail.
Topics covered are: Eye for Detail, Math Operator Replacement, Aptitude/Decision Making.
4. Programming Fundamentals: 30 questions in 40 minutes.
It tests your competency on Programming Ability.
Topics covered are: Algorithms,Flowcharts,SDLC.
5. Learning Ability Test: 10 questions in 20 minutes.
It tests your competency on Learning Ability.
6. Written English Test: 1 question in 5 minutes.
It tests your competency on Written English.
Topics covered are: Grammar, Vocabulary, Content, Spelling and Punctuation.
===============================================================
Part - B : 40 questions in 30 minutes
===========================
Topics Covered: Introduction to Databases, Relationships, ER Diagrams, Constraints and Keys, Normalization, Indexing, Performance, Locking, Database Structures & Processes, Process Management, Deadlocks, Memory management, OS File Management, OS Security fundamentals, IO Management, Device Management, Network Technology, Network Topology, OSI Reference model, Protocols, Client Server Architecture, Linked Lists, Trees, Stacks, Queues, Dynamic Memory Allocation, Sorting and Searching Algorithms, Structures, Software Life Cycle(SDLC),Requirements Analysis, Design, Coding, Levels of Testing, Implementation, Maintenance, Development Models.
The test matrix is available at NASSCOM’s website itself. The eligibility criteria is 60% above in 10th, 12th and UG.
Tags: AIHT, NASSCOM test pattern, online test
19 Sep 08 Security - where?
Security is becoming a pressing issue. I don’t mean personal security (though it applies), but security of PC from viruses/worms/backdoor etc., Microsoft’s Windows is a widely acclaimed operating system, mostly for the user friendly GUI and nice features (largely due to the hardware compatibility). But it being the most insecure OS is not a new thing. However hard the geeks in MS try, there is always a loophole in the Operating system. I installed Kaspersky Antivirus in lab, and frankly I believe it is a good antivirus (thats my view). But the trouble in the lab was with the update feature. As a result, virii throng our pc and 99% of our college pc’s are infected.
It is essential to install a linux distro in your PC these days. They display the autorun virus files in your pen drive and you can select and delete them. I rely heavily on Ubuntu as it is *the* most user friendly linux variant
Tags: AIHT, College, kaspersky, lack of security, Ubuntu
14 Sep 08 A Grand reception
I thought yesterday’s event @ tagore engineering college was forgettable and hence the day should be a forgettable one too. But the reception of my Chittapa (V.V.Ramanan, Sports editor, The Hindu) was a good consolation. The event was very grand and I had the opportunity to hook up with my relatives after a long time. I met few VIPs, like Thalaivasal Vijay and others whom I don’t know. The food was excellent and the night out at the lawn of New Woodlands was great! The party got over at 10 o’ clock and we made our way back home, very tired.
Tags: ramanan, reception, thalaivasal vijay, the hindu, vip
