Had my first BE practical today. CAPS. That’s Computational Analysis of Power Systems (or something to that effect). Was a simple one, we had to write code (I used MATLAB) to generate the Y-Bus (that’s the admittance matrix) of a given system. Was fun.
RANT: My college recently upgraded some of our computer labs. All sparkling new Zenith machines, with 2.8 GHz Intel P4s and 256 MB DDR 400 RAM (ouch!). Guess what also is included in the configuration? Samsung (yuck!) DVD Writers. Now, I have no idea who decided to buy them, but they are there.
And the problem is, all of them have Windows XPSP2. And we have been provided with limited user accounts. With the DVD Writer disabled. CRAP! Of what use is a 4k hardware, if it is not accessible to the users?
The lab admin tells me that it is done to prevent people from copying unwanted stuff and to prevent junk from coming to the lab. Right. And like that’s going to prevent people. I know of atleast three ways of getting in stuff, in the current configuration right now. But never mind.
I was just calculating: About 40 machines, all with DVD Writers. Imagine: 140000 could have been saved! But no, we like to buy things, and wait to see them rot. Maybe I should drop by the HoD sometime soon…
UPDATE: And I remembered about ergonomics. Aparently the people who redesigned the new lab had no sense of design. The tubes reflect off the monitors, the keyboards have no wrist rests, the mouse and the monitor are at abnormal heights, so that your hand and neck will start paining after sometime. Stupid, stupid people.
We got our ids created for storing our files on the new Windows server. The admin would not give me an id hthite, since he believed an underscore was necessary to make an id. He would simply not listen to me. Finally had to settle for h_thite. Geee, where do they get these people from?
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My PC is showing tell-tale signs of the Ostrich Algorithm. More on that specific thing later.
But here’s the sceneario. Removed all the PCI cards. Comp still reboots. Sagar suggested that I try removing one of my RAM chips. Alright, what the heck, did that. Removed one 512 MB chip. The PC runs perfectly. Now then, to determine if the removed chip really is faulty, I removed the current RAM chip, and put in the earlier removed one. And the comp still works fine. :-S
Wonder what gives? Too weird. So now, I have put back both the chips in. Let’s see what happens with 1 GB of RAM.
If nothing happens, and the machine is stable, I’ll start adding in the PCI cards one-by-one tomorrow, so wish my machine (and me) luck!
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Strange incident of the day: At Malad station, saw a nice gal (or lady, for sake of chivalry) beating up a poor man with her umbrella. What a funny sight! From what I could comprehend, the man (giving him the benefit of doubt) accidently pushed the woman, or something like that. She, being the agressive and man-hater, decided in a fraction of a second that he did it purposely, for whatever reasons that come to her head, and started shouting at him, while her hand (and the umbrella) repeatedly hit the poor chap. He was trying to avoid the blows, apologizing all the while.
I sincerely feel it could not have been a purposeful doing. Must have been an accident, things were crowded there. But then again, that’s exactly the place to take a chance, isn’t it?
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Watch this place for the Society for Promotion of Ostrich Welfare, courtesy my discussion with Swapneel (and his quick recollection of Hermione’s S.P.E.W.). Coming soon to this blog! 
