Time Pass Blog Post!

[This was written on 15th July]

I'm writing this while travelling to Mysore in train. I just finished reading newspaper. Finding difficult to pass another 1hr. I've nothing much to do, so started observing people around me...

Opposite to me, two ladies in their late 20s are talking continuously in a language I don't understand! I guess, it might be Konkani, Tulu or Kodava.

In the other side of the compartment, four women in their late 40s are discussing about their families and relatives. Among them seated, a young guy seems to be lost! Once in a while, he is staring at those young ladies! Poor chap!

Behind me and diagonally opposite, there's a young mother with his 1+ year son. This cute boy seems to have lost patience sitting for a long time and she's having tough time in consoling her son!

In the next (front) compartment, there is one cute young lady (may be teen) napping on her mother's shoulder. Next to her is a handsome guy, busy in reading some book. He looks uncomfortable with his shoulder touching hers! May be he is bit nervous! Wonder if he can concentrate on his reading! Opposite to that teen is one old man who looks completely bored!

Oh! my train has reached Shreerangapatna. One advantage in the train is one can pass time by just observing co-passengers! Every time I travel in train, I get to see new kind of people! Signing off as my train is approaching Mysore!

Indian Rupee gets a symbol!

It's official. Indian Rupee gets a symbol similar to USD ($). The new symbol is an amalgamation of the Devanagiri 'Ra' and the Roman 'R' without the stem. And it looks like this:

With this, Indian Rupee joins the selected currencies having its own symbol. Image credit: IBNLive

Now Secured Google Search!

Ever wondered of having a secured Google search wherein no third party will come to know what you are searching for and also the results returned by the search! Well, Google has it for you!

Welcome to https://encrypted.google.com/ 

As you can observe, this site is SSL enabled (that is why it is https instead of normal http in the URL). Secure Sockets Layer aka SSL provides a secure communication between your computer and Google server. What does it mean is whatever you search in Google cannot be intercepted by any third-party including your employer! Even the result pages returned by search is secured!

Before you start using the above link, keep in mind the following things:

1. This secured search is only for web search. It is currently not available for say Google Images and Google Maps. You can observe that when you click on the above link: Image, Map links may not appear in the left or top panel.
2. If any of the search results is http (meaning not SSL enabled) and you click on it, you are coming out of secured channel.
3. You might experience small delay in the search and it is obvious because of secured channel. Of course, the results will not get truncated.
4. You may want to know about some technical limitations to SSL at the protocol level which Google has mentioned in their help site.

So, enjoy this new experience! Should I say, Happy Secured Googling!

Future Airplanes - What's in it for us?

If you are asked how planes might look like in 2030, you might recall some of the pictures from fictional space stories/movies. And you might think the planes look jazzy and super sexy! Well, hold on! This may not be the case!

A research sponsored by NASA has produced some of the designs which might look like any ordinary plane but it would be way advanced when it comes to sound, comfort, fuel-efficiency and more! Yes, some aircrafts may look super cool like this one!

Detailed report on this research can be found at NASA website. If you are aeronautics person, do look at PDFs linked at the end of the report.

Bangalore Auto Woes - Register Complaints

Prashanth has posted information on how to register a complaint on common auto problems faced in Bangalore. Read the full post here.

I also checked Karnataka RTO web site. In web site, it is mentioned that, Autorickshaw complaints should be mailed to these email IDs: addlcptrafficbcp@gmail.com, acat@kslmd.com, clm@kslmd.com. Note that, these mails will go to Additional Comissioner of Police (Traffic), Assistant Controller of Legal Metrology (Auto & Taxi Unit), and Controller of Metrology.