#NYE Live Nude Music Show - New York City (NSFW)

Warning : This post contains some controversial 18+ NSFW material.

In my previous post about Dec 31st 2012, I was talking about how some people hang around the bars of East village and Lower east side neighborhoods of Manhattan during the New Year's Eve.

Talking of NYE's, I just remembered a controversial event that was held in New York City. Precisely on Dec 31st of 2011. It was essentially a music show by the punk rock band Kraut in one of the bars in Lower east side. I don't remember, but I think it was the-now-closed dive bar Local 269  on East Houston st. Oh yes it was Local 269 for sure.

And it was controversial because it had a live full nude show by another band as well. The lead singer, guitarist, drummer were fully nude top to bottom. I mean seriously, they had no clothes whatsoever and their dicks were like swinging to the beats. Check out the pictures for yourself. The photos have been blurred a bit to reduce the NSFW-ness.

P.S : On googling a bit, I found the band name is The Afterbirth. Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve - Columbus Circle, New York City

With 2014 less than 24 hrs away, lets rewind to the last day Dec 31st of 2012. Most people spend their money in attending various all-you-can-drink NYE parties or attending the ball drop at Times Square. However a lot of people hop around the various bars and lounges in East Village, Lower East Side or the Midtown neighborhoods.

A lot of shops and malls are thronged by locals and tourists alike. If shopping during New Year's is your way of celebrating, one of the happening places is the 5th ave stores and the shops around Columbus Circle.

'The shops at Columbus Circle' i.e the Time Warner Center is beautifully decorated with christmas trees, synchronized lighting and a host of other festivities. Check out a couple of pictures of the Time Warner Center interiors during NYE 2012 :

This mall features some popular fashion brands like Boss, Armani Exchange, Cole Haan, H&M, J.Crew, J.W.Cooper, Moleskin , Thomas Pink, True Religion, Wolford to name a few. Make sure to have an open mind and and an open wallet :) Happy shopping :)

New Year 2014 - The Countdown

Ola! Como Estas? Well well well, 2014 is just around the cornor and its time to say 2013 a goodbye forever.

So folks, what are your new year resolutions?  Any memories of 2013 you would like to share? How was 2013 for you overall - Good or Bad?

How do you plan to welcome the new year 2014? Which NYE party you going to?

Do drop by your valuable comments... Ciao

Kill a Process in Unix

In UNIX and OSX, you can kill a process from the command line using the "kill" command.

kill -9 PID

The PID (Process ID) can be found by using ps -ef command.

Eg:

ps -ef | grep jrockit

The output will show the Process ID. Let's say , for instance it's 4519.

Then you can kill the process by using :

kill -9 4519

-9 is basically a signal (SIGKILL) to be used with the kill command. The default signal is -15 i.e SIGTERM which is milder signal to terminate a process.

More detailed information about kill signals can be found here.

Technorati cliam token USM62NJ7A438

Hardcode subtitles using Handbrake - Apple OSX

If you're a movie buff like me and watch a lot of non-english, foreign language movies, you must be coming across the headache to find english subtitles.

Although you can google and download the subtitles file ( .srt files ), it can be quite convenient to permanently hardcode the subtitles to the video. A very good app to do so is known as Handbrake

Although the main purpose of Handbrake is to transcode video into different formats, it is also useful to hardcode a .srt file to a video.

A sample screenshot is shown below :

As you see, you can simply choose a video by clicking Source. Then click the subtitles tab at bottom and click "Add External SRT" to choose the .srt file.

Once selected, just choose the Output format and click Start to encode. After it's done, you see a funny popup like this :)

Free up memory (RAM) in Mac OSX

While using Mac OSX at times you feel may some application is eating up too much memory, whereby the system performs too slowly. If you observe any noticeable lag in the performance, chances are a lot of memory RAM is being used up and the free RAM is too low.

In such a case, open the Terminal and type the following:

purge

This will free up a lot of used or inactive RAM.

In fact in order to check the exact figures, open the Activity Monitor from the Utilities. Then click the System Memory tab from bottom. Compare the figures of Used and Free Memory before and after running the purge command. You'll see that the Free Memory stats shoot up drastically, thereby improving the performance.

Reading files recursively from a directory in Perl

Here's a sample illustrative script to read filenames from within a directory recursively in Perl and then executing some commands is as below:

use strict;
use warnings;

my $dir = "/usr/var/";   <----- here you can mention the location / path of the directory

opendir DIR, $dir;   <---- DIR is the directory handler

my @files = readdir DIR;

foreach my $file(@files) {

// execute_your_own_commands_here

}

closedir DIR;

As you see above, the array @files will store all the filenames within the specified directory.
In the next foreach loop, we perform some set of commands recursively on each of the files.

Splice function in Perl

While using arrays in a Perl program, sometimes you might require only a part or a chunk of the array instead of the whole.

Splice is a function which is used to carve an array and cut a portion out of it.

Consider the following illustration.

Eg:

@arr = ('10', '90', '30', '70', '40', '60');

Now as you may be aware, each value in the array is identified by it's index. The first element of the array is denoted by index 0. The second element is denoted by index 1 and so on...

Let's use the splice function to cut the array:

$portion = splice(@arr, 2, 4);

If you observe above, we have basically specified the range of elements from 2nd to 4th index within the array.

In this case the element on 2nd index from left is 30 (since foremost element's 10's index is 0) and the element on 4th index is 40)

The above command will result into values ('30', '70', '40') getting stored in the @portion array, which is a chunk of the original @arr array.

In general, splice syntax can be remembered as splice (<array-name>, <beginning-index>, <ending-index>)

Chop vs Chomp in Perl

In Perl, the basic difference between the keywords 'chop' and 'chomp' is as follows:

Chop is used to literally chop the last character of a string. It simply deletes the last character.

Eg:

chop garlic;

The output will be garli with 'c' getting chopped off :)

On the other hand, Chomp is used to delete the endline character "\n";

Eg:

$var = "garlic\n";

chomp $var;

The resultant value of $var will be the same string garlic, but with only the newline character getting deleted.

Show file extensions in Mac OSX

People new to Mac OSX often ask how do I see a file's extension, since by default the extensions are hidden. In order to view the extensions, do the following:

• Open any finder window or just click anywhere on the desktop.

• From the topmost Finder menu, click Preferences.

• Click the Advanced tab in the Finder Preferences.

• Tick mark the "Show all filename extensions" 

Check if a directory exists in Unix

In Unix, you can check if a certain directory exists or not using -d

Eg:

if [-d $directory_name]
then
       execute_some_commands
fi

In the variable $directory_name you specify the name of the directory. If the directory exists, then the if loop executes and the commands would be executed. 

Blog Renaming

Hello folks this is Ironclad Writer and if you're reading this post, you're not alone :) { a funny take on  Terminator Salvation... just kiddin }

Ok so as I said previously in my post on Blog rebranding, I am considering renaming my blog in the next couple of days.

I would like the name to be more catchy, something unique. Something which attracts more eyeballs and drives users to explore the whole blog, looking for interesting material. I basically intend to write posts on a range of multi variety topics. I want the users to be satisfied while browsing, to enjoy reading the posts which piques their interest and curiosity. Hence am looking for a unique blog name which matches the wavelength.

There are a few blog names in my mind currently and which are still available. I would appreciate if users reading this could suggest me a few good names. If you think of some good name, do leave your comments and suggestions.

Over and out. Thank you.

Move Task - Ant

Move task in Ant is used to move a file or a directory or a set of files to a new directory.

• Move task can also be used rename a single file (analogous to mv command in unix)

Eg:

<move file="test.txt" tofile="test_updated.txt" />

• You can use to move a file to a specific directory as follows:

Eg:

<move file="test.txt" todir="/usr/var/move_here/" />

• Move a set of files to a certain directory

Eg:

<move todir="/usr/var/mover_here/">
    <fileset dir="/my/src/dir_to_be_moved">
         <include name = **/*.jar >
         <exclude name = **/ant.jar">
     </fileset>
</move>  

A detailed official guide of the Move task and its parameters can be found here.

Rename build properties in Ant

It is possible to rename the build.properties file to something more specific to your environment. For instance, you can have separate build.properties file for DEV, QA, UAT or Production environment, if you want to.

You could rename it to lets say build-dev.properties or build-test.properties

Accordingly, rename the property tag in build.xml where you define the properties file.

Eg:

<property file="${user.home}/build-test.properties"/>

Salman Khan - Indian Superstar

Happy birthday Salman Khan. Just the other day, I was watching the trailer of Salman Khan's new movie "Jai Ho", which already has more than 12.5 lakh views on youtube since 2 weeks of upload date. While watching I remembered an action scene from one of his movies. I didn't immediately recall the movie name so I checked his filmography on IMDB. And Viola! the movie name was Wanted.

Salman Khan is one actor who has been active in Bollywood for about 2 decades starring in many average-to-flop films. However, it was only after his blockbuster Wanted in 2009 that lady luck smiled on him. Since then, he has constantly given great blockbuster hits like Bodyguard, Dabangg, Ready, Ek Tha Tiger and the most recent Dabangg 2. With every movie he's been setting a new benchmark for the box office collections.

In Dabangg, he stars as a corrupt but lovable cop. He believes in swift justice and dispenses it instantly.
He is a bad guy for the bad guys but a good man to all good innocent people. He robs from the villains but helps the needy and poor. His character was very much styled on the lines of Robin Hood, in terms of morality. That's what made him lovable.

It was in this film that certain things became iconic. His unique dance steps. His moustache. The action scenes in defunct warehouses. The "Smile Please" comic photographer. His Sunglasses.

Regarding his sunglasses, he always sports them on his shirt collar behind. I believe this fashion has attained a unique cult status among the audience. Many people have been emulating it since the movie. Check out this random photo clicked on a street of Mumbai.

Dhoom 3 - Bollywood's record breaking Blockbuster

Dhoom 3 - India's latest action thriller has broken all the box office records till date. People are constantly flocking to the theatres to watch the movie in hordes. As of today it is said to have already the ambitions INR 300 crore mark (approx. USD 3.5 million)

As per this Bollywood Hungama article, it has broken all the box office collection records for the Opening Day, Opening weekend, Highest Single day collection and all the collections of key international markets like USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand.

Dhoom 3 happens to be one of the costliest sequel in the Dhoom franchise, set in Chicago & Mumbai. Some critics also call it India's answer to Fast & Furious. The acting, the visuals, the stunts, the songs, the mystery are all top-notch and too impressive.

Plot wise, many movie-goers describe the latest blockbuster as a mashup of Christopher Nolan's The Prestige and some elements of The Dark Knight.

This bike-action thriller also features some uber cool BMW bikes like Aamir Khan's BMW K 1300 R and Uday Chopra / Abhishek Bachchan's BMW S 1000 RR. 

I bet the movie will boost BMW's bike sales due to a tremendous spike in the consumer interest, following the movie's success.

Taking pictures from a boat or ship - Photography

Taking photos from a boat or a ship can be extremely challenging.

Since the ship is always moving, you are moving as well. So it is extremely challenging to maintain a proper focus. Keeping the camera on a tripod reduces slight distortion but still since it's on an uneven surface, the resultant pictures are not so good i.e they are blurry and distorted.

Make sure the lens you're using has Vibration Reduction (VR) or Image stabilization. It reduces some blur and distortion from the pictures.

Try to use a grip hand strap instead of a neck strap for added stabilization. You can buy one online here from B& H Photo Video store in New York City.

I would recommend you experiment with the settings and try to master getting perfect photos. If you're in Manhattan, I'd suggest you take the free Staten Island Ferry and practice getting some pictures of the Manhattan skyline. First try during the day time and then try at night. However, it becomes extremely challenging to get pictures at night, due to low light conditions. I'll cover the low light condition scenario in another post for now.

Take a look at my very bad quality night time picture of the Manhattan skyline taken from a boat. You can imagine how challenging and difficult it is to get still shots from a ship. Observe the blurriness and distortion. This was taken during the 9-11 anniversary so you can see the 9-11 memorial lights.

Increase memory used by JVM for Ant builds

Sometimes for builds using Apache Ant, we come across the Out of Memory error. In order to increase the memory used by JVM for the build, do the following:

Set ANT_OPTS=-Xms256m -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=120m

Sherpa Goal Zero Solar Kit

Let me assume, you're reading this post because you're a keen camper or a hiker or are atleast interested in having those hobbies. If you're planning a multi-day hike / camp to some remote location, I'd suggest you take a look at the Sherpa Goal Zero solar kit. I came across this Sherpa-50 kit at the Eastern Mountain Sports in New York.

This kit is extremely useful to recharge your electronic devices like smartphones, digital camera, laptop, tablet, or basically any device either using the USB or the 12 V DC power plug port etc.

Sherpa-50 and other variations of the brand are easily available on Amazon.

However in order to recharge, you have to use sherpa batteries or use the solar panel or could charge using a 12V car. I must the Sherpa Goal Zero would be my first choice for my recharging needs when I plan to go to a long hike or a trek or go camping.

An excellent detailed review can be found here. Also check out a tabulated comparison chart for various solar chargers currently available in the market.

Twitter - request Archive file

Did you know that you request an archive file of all your tweets? Yes, twitter offers this functionality to users to download a file which contains all the activity and tweets of their profile.

To do so, click the settings (iron wheel) button on top and go to Account. At the bottom of the Account page, you'll see the following:

Bokeh blur effect - Photography

Bokeh is an interesting blur effect in DSLR photography. Most users new to the DSLR photography are not aware of the terminology. As a matter of fact, I myself didn't know what bokeh was, until one day I accidentally shot a photo with an interesting blur effect. The photo looked nice with the blurred lights during the night. Honestly speaking, it just happened to me while experimenting with different settings of my Nikon. I was just randomly trying out different combinations in various modes.

What followed was a bit of a research on the internet and lots of googling :) I came across this very helpful tutorial which helped me recreate the previous camera settings for a bokeh. After a bit of practicing I do feel that although the steps to create a bokeh seem quite simple at the first glance, it is infact quite tricky under various situations.

When you try to click a bokeh under low light conditions, it can be a bit tricky. Another tricky and challenging situation would be to try to click a bokeh of a city skyline at night from a boat or ship. We will look into this scenario in another post.

For now, lets just focus a bit on the bokeh. Check out a sample photo below to get an idea:

Bokehs can be extremely pleasing to the eye in stylish portraits. You could also use them as backgrounds and overlay text on top of it to create flyers, posters etc. In my next post on Bokeh, I'll specify some generic steps for recreating the camera settings and also some photos.

Pass arguments to build file - Apache Ant

In Apache Ant, we can pass arguments to the build file using the switch -D. We can define a value for a property from the command line using -Dname=value

Eg:

ant build.xml -Dx=5

Bourne shell (bash) vs Korn shell (ksh)

There are a few notable differences between Bash shell and Korn shell as follows:

Difference	Bash	Korn
Redo previous command	Arrow Up	the letter 'r'
Source file	We can use the keyword 'source' as well as dot to source a file Eg: source file or .file	We can just use the dot to source it Eg: .file

System vs Exec vs Backticks - Perl

In Perl, the main difference between system, exec and backtick is what happens during the compile time.

Just to refresh your memory, the backtick symbol ( ` ) is on the button above tab button.

Here's the comparison:

System	Exec	Backtick
System returns a value after a command is run, irrespective of whether the command executed successfully or failed.	Exec does not return a value.	Backtick is used to capture the output of a command.

Ant - read from build.properties

While performing builds using Ant, you must be aware about the build.xml file. The build.xml can read the parameter values from the build.properties file, which usually is one level up.

You have to define a property which mentions the properties file from which the script would read the values.

<property file = "build.properties" />

Deglet Noor - Algerian Pitted Dates

Check out this box of Deglet Noor dates. Degelt Noor happens to be the type of dates cultivated in Algeria and Tunisia.

A good link on comparison of various types of dates can be found here.

The last time I bought it, the price of a 850gm box was USD 6.99

If you search Amazon, you can find a couple of brands like Hadley, Ziyad, Golden etc

Date, in general is a very nutritional product and is a very good source of Potassium.

Safari 6 for OSX Lion - Buggy, Problematic

Why why why Apple did you "upgrade" Safari to actually downgrade it??

Safari v5.x was so nice previously and worked so smoothly.

Ever since its upgraded to v.6.1.1 on my OSX 10.7.5, its performance has sharply downgraded. It stops responding on certain websites. It eats up big chunks of memory. 

The previous cinematic most-visited Top Sites page was so tasteful than the now-simplified straight lines rectangular crap.

When you toggle between windowed and fullscreen, Safari usually tends to hang or stop working or you see the spinning wheel running forever.

Why have you changed the Bookmarks section? Previously it was so organized and helpful with the screenflow. Damn you apple and your android-y simple designs. 

Safari these days is so irritating, I've switched to Chrome for good.

For simple designs customers should buy cheap chromebooks, why the premium Apple should stoop down to cheapo level? Bring back the zing, the color than using the current stupid simplistic designs... End of rant

Korean Honey Citron Tea

Recently I came across the Korean brand of herbal tea with Honey Citron flavor. On digging further it seems it is knows and Yuja cha. It's also known as a good remedy to cure common cold.

Check out this photo of the tea jar

To prepare the tea mix 1-2 tablespoons of the tea syrup alongwith water and add sugar if needed.

Fresh new electronic music on my iPod Playlist

Here are some new additions to my iPod playlist :

Ghostpoet - Cold Win (Special Request Remix)

Current Value - Megalomania

Mount Kimbie - CSFLY Remixes

Marco Bailey - Faint Hope

Klangstabil - Shadowboy

Piemont - Off to Drink

Dominos Pizza India Coupon Codes

The next time you're craving a Dominos pizza in India, I suggest you order them online. Infact, here's a small list of coupon codes which almost always tend to work.

RMB25 - Sitewide 25% discount on most orders above 400 bucks. 

al20a - a flat 20% discount.

MOBAPP25 - 25% disocunt when ordered through the mobile app.

Create file without editing in Unix

The best way to create a new file without editing or opening it is using touch command.

Eg: 

touch test1.txt  => This will create a new file test1.txt

Touch can also be used to update an existing file's timestamp to current time. The Date modified timestamp will indicate current time

Note that if you want to touch a file only and only if it exists, use the -c switch

Eg:

touch -c log.txt

(If the log.txt exists previously, only then the access and modification timestamps would update. If log.txt does not exists, the above command will do nothing i.e a new file will not be created)

Remove directories - Unix

The command to delete or remove directories is rmdir

Note that rmdir can delete only empty directories. You CANNOT delete non-empty directories using rmdir.

In order to remove non-empty directories use the rm -rf command instead. Use the -r switch with caution since it deletes the inner contents of a directory recursively.

Disk Space - Unix

In Unix, in order to find the disk space statistics of mounted volumes, use the following command:

df -h

The output will show the size of volume, the used space and the available free space in the Mb and Gb format.

Eg:

Filesystem        Size      Used    Avail   Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2     465Gi   275Gi  190Gi     60%            /

Process Status - Unix

The ps command is quite a useful command in Unix to find out information related to processes.

There are a lot of switches for the ps command for doing a bunch of things.

Most frequently used switch is -ef  This can be used to to list all the running processes alongwith their PID's (process ID)

• If you want to find out all processes of a specific user then use the foll.

ps -u <username>

Eg: ps -u root

• If you want to find the PID of a certain process, searching by its process name then use the following command: 

ps -ef | grep <process name string>

Eg: ps -ef | grep jrockit  (Narrow down the output of ps command by piping it to a grep statement)

Blog rebranding

These few days I am contemplating a fresh rebranding of my blog. Does the name 'garlic paste' sound good enough and different?

Just recently I updated the blog header with a fresh new image, replacing the default boring black text.

What can be a good name to a blog which can attract more eyeballs while maintaining good quality content? Any thoughts? Ideas?

In the near future, I do wish to create more content based on a variety of topics, thus gradually establishing a web presence. Currently, as of today if you observe, most of the topics are based on Technology and Travel. Gradually I would like incorporate content based on current news, fashion, sports, photography etc.

Your ideas and suggestions are welcome. Lets start with a good sounding unique blog name. Does an egyptian mythology name sound okay for a blog? Or something geeky perhaps?

Suggestions please...

Deliver & Rebase basics - Clearcase

In clearcase when you want to your changes on your stream (child stream) to be delivered (merged) to the another stream (usually parent stream), it is known as delivering. In other words, you typically deliver from your development stream to the main integration stream.

The rebase is exact opposite of delivering. It is used to move the changes from parent stream onto a child stream. Typically in a multi-member team, when you rebase a parent stream onto your own child stream, the recommended baselines act as the foundation for the project.

Recommend a Baseline in Clearcase

The concept of baselines is to make sure all team members are on the same page and all have the latest updated versions of the project code.

A recommended baseline is a set / collection of the versions of various components which are identified as stable.

In order to recommend a baseline in Clearcase from the command line, we have to use the chstream command in the following fashion.

cleartool chstream -recommend <baseline-name> <stream-selector>

More detailed information can be found at this IBM technote here.

Unlock Stream - Clearcase

In Clearcase in order to unlock a stream use the commnd as follows:

cleartool unlock <stream-selector>

Eg:

cleartool unlock stream:Testvob_stream@\Test_pvob 

System Uptime - Unix

In Unix, you can find how long your system was up by using the uptime command

You could get the output like:

15:34  up 22 days, 29 mins, 4 users, load averages: 0.78 0.82 0.77

Hard Link vs Soft Link - Unix

As you may be aware, in Unix we can create Links to point to a certain program or a file.

We create a link using ln command. We can create a symbolic link (also known as symlink) using the -s switch.

Eg:

ln -s /path to file1/file1.rtf /path to file2/file2.rtf

Now there are 2 types of links : a Hard link and a Soft link

Basically both types point to a certain file or a program. However one key difference is when the original file name is changed or modified.

If the name of original file is modified or renamed or if the original program is deleted from its location then:

a soft link is broken BUT a hard link does NOT break

Secondly, a Hard link cannot point to directories while a Soft link can link directories.

Exit status of previous command - Unix

In Unix, one is often asked to find out the exit status of previous command i.e whether it was executed successfully or not.

In order to find out, type the foll. in terminal :

echo $?

If the output is 0 then it means the previous command got executed successfully.

If the previous command failed then the output of echo $? would be 127.

Tail the Logs - Unix

Tail is just another basic command in Unix where you can 'tail' a certain file to view its contents Bottoms-up.

Usage:

tail -lines <file-name>

Eg:

To view last ten lines of a file log.txt. Note the -n switch

tail -n 10 log.txt

To view the live results of a logfile use the -f switch

tail -f logfile.txt

Shawarma Factory, Mumbai

If you're in Mumbai and have some craving for Mediterranean cuisine, a quick fix is the Shawarma Factory located in the Andheri neighborhood. Just a few days back, it was getting late at night and I was damn hungry. So I quickly ordered a delivery parcel for the vegetarian Combo platter.

The platter came in a nicely packed compartmentalized box. It had the following food items:

• Paneer Shawarma
• Veg Biryani
• Fattoush Salad
• Arabic styled pickles
• 2 Falafel balls with hummus
• Pita breads
• A small piece of the semi-sweet pastry 'Baklava'

Take a look :

The Biryani (rice preparation) was decent and had a few paneer cubes (Indian cottage cheese) in it.

For the Paneer shawarma, you can see the Paneer pieces (top middle compartment) which we are supposed to put in the pita bread alongwith other veggies to form a roll.

The falafel balls were nicely cooked with a crunchy texture. Oh and the small piece of Baklava pastry was way too small. I suggest they increase the size of it by atleast an inch.

All in all, a quite decent platter package for a competitive price of ₹ 199. They do have a chicken shawarma platter for about ₹ 250 bucks

Check out the listing and reviews of this establishment here.

Unix - Remove range of lines from a file

In Unix, we have the ability to remove certain lines from a file by using sed. Sed as you may be aware, is a short for stream editor. Using Sed, we can specify the range of lines which we want to delete.

Usage :

sed -i <beginning line no> <ending line no> <file-name>

Eg:

For deleting lines from 3 to 9 of a file Test.txt, use the following command

sed -i '3,9 d' Test.txt

Mason Dixon - New York City

This post is dedicated to the once famous popular Manhattan hotspot - the Mason Dixon.
It was one of the most frequented bars in the Lower Eastside neighborhood since it featured a mechanical bull. Most young folks would drop by in groups, just to test each other's mettle riding the bull :) I must admit the bull must have resulted in tremendous liquor sales.

Unfortunately the bar was closed in fall 2011 for good. Probably due to the envy of other establishments.

Here are a few snaps in it's glory days

Northeast Blizzard 2010 - Part 2

Oh the memories! How wonderful!

Checkout this pic from a Manhattan LES apartment on the day of the blizzard. I believe it was Dec 26.

Northeast Blizzard 2010

Merry Christmas folks! It's already mid-December this year and its time to say 2013 a goodbye. But before welcoming 2014, I just remembered the cruel unforgiving Northeast blizzard of 2010 which happened around 25-26-27 Dec.

While sifting through my pictures, I found out some great snaps of the next day after the blizzard. On the day of snowstorm though, I remember how the transportation came to grinding halt. NJ Transit trains connecting NJ to NY were totally stopped. A state of emergency was officially declared. Everyone were sitting indoors and no one was seen outside. However I did venture out on that night and managed to grab some videos. I'll post them once I find them (They are hidden somewhere within the huge repository of memories :)

Oh and in the meantime, here are some post-blizzard pictures in and around Central New Jersey.

Clearcase Scenario - Reserved Checkouts

While using the Clearcase tool, one might come across a scenario where you are unable to checkout a certain file/folder because some other user has performed a reserved checkout on it.

In a simple scenario, one can ask the other user to either undo the checkout or perform a check-in.

However in a slightly tricky scenario, what if the other user has left the company and his user id is no longer active / functional.

Then in that case check with the administrator. He usually has the rights to remove the views associated with the reserved checkout.

He would most likely identify the view name by finding checkouts. Once the view name is found, he would try to find the view's UUID

Eg : cleartool lsview -long viewname

The UUID is usually of the form dfaa0744.56c611d4.b0da.00:b0:d0:20:d5:9d

Once the UUID is found, one can completely remove the defunct view from the system using rmview.

Eg : cleartool rmview -r -uuid dfaa0744.56c611d4.b0da.00:b0:d0:20:d5:9d

Now since the view associated with the reserved checkout gets deleted, the issue gets solved and the user can smoothly checkout. Hurray!

Rename file in Unix

People new to Unix or linux environment often wonder how to rename a file from the command line.

Just remember, the command to rename is mv

Usage:

mv old_filename new_filename

Eg:

mv file1.txt file1_new.txt

Clearcase - Squid Patch Activity

In UCM enabled ClearCase, where companies use ClearQuest for bug tracking and is connected with ClearCase, we sometimes come across instances of corruption of the activity records.

Eg. of error :

Could not perform requested operation: a UCM/Clearquest data 
inconsistency may exist:
Clearquest "Defect" record "<record ID>" is linked to a UCM object that 
can not be found.

This usually happens if the link between the activity record id and database is broken (probably due to network failure).

In such a case we need to run the squid_patch utility located at CC_HOME\etc\utils to re-link the record.

Usage:

• Go to E:\Program Files\IBM\RationalSDLC\ClearCase\etc\utils   (Check relevant location of the utils folder as per your setup)

• Then run the squid_patch utility 

[ Eg: squid_patch.exe DBD -activity DBD001122334 ucm_vob_object "" ]

Please refer the foll. technote and article.

OSX - Indian Rupee Symbol

For Indian users using, Mac OSX, here's a quick tip for saving the Indian Rupee ₹ symbol as a shortcut.

1. Go to System Preferences -> Language & Text
2. Then click the Text tab next to language
3. Click the + button from bottom to add a new shortcut
4. Type (INR or inr or Rs) under the Replace column and type the equivalent ₹ symbol under the With column

Check the following screenshot for reference

Now open up TextEdit and type INR and it will automatically replace it with the ₹ symbol.

Shell Scripting - Read User Input

Inorder to accept user defined input in a shell script, make use of the read command. Try a simple example in Terminal.

Eg:

#!/usr/bin/bash
echo "Please enter your name"
read name
echo "Welcome to shell scripting $name"

Make sure the bash interpreter location is correctly defined in the shebang statement. Else you would see the error like - bad interpreter: No such file or directory

Shell Scripting : The Shebang

People who are new to shell scripting or are new to it often hear the term "shebang". If you're one of them, then you might have seen the shebang symbol in the topmost line in any shell script but maybe you're not sure what it means or what's its significance.

The symbol #!  i.e shebang is part of the topmost statement of a shell script which is used to tell which interpreter you'll be using.

Eg:

#!/usr/bin/bash  (Bash interpreter)

#!/usr/local/perl   (invokes the Perl interpreter)

#!//usr/bin/ksh (Korn shell interpreter)

#!/usr/bin/awk   (use the AWK interpreter)

OSX Terminal Clear Screen

A lot of pro Windows users when switching to a Mac, often find it difficult to get rid of their old habits.

One of those habits happen to be clear screen (CLS) in the DOS prompt. But on a Mac, when you fire up a terminal window and type a few commands, you usually tend to type CLS later to clear the clutter. And you are are like Oh boy! how in the world do I clear the screen? :) when you see the error [ -bash: cls: command not found ]

Here's a quick tip: Just remember to type Command+K to clear the screen.

Pav Bhaji @ Juhu Beach, Mumbai

Juhu Beach is one of Mumbai's open public spaces where people come to relax on the beach, stroll on the sands, jog around listening to their iPods and of-course to relish authentic street food.

Check out the following video to see the preparation of most popular street food - Pav Bhaji

Pav Bhaji is essentially a fine mixture of potatoes of tomatoes with spices and lots of butter.

Macbook Pro Battery Tips

• Macbook Pro is one of the few laptops that have had the best battery performance in my opinion. Having used Dell and HP laptops loaded with Windows OS, in the past, it was evident how quickly the battery runs out of juice. Macbook Pro's on the other hand has had really good battery performance. I've heard that the Macbook Air has much better battery performance.

• However, ever since Apple released the OSX Mavericks free upgrade, a lot of users have complained about battery issues. Infact the hullabaloo about battery issues is so loud, that I've refrained from upgrading to Mavericks even if it's free. As a matter of fact, if you see the 200+ feature list for the upgrade, you'll notice that a majority of 'new' features are useless. So instead, I just upgraded the Safari browser along with the other regular app updates. However, ever since Safari was updated to v6.1 even my battery drains out quite fast. I have a feeling that the Safari browser is a lot buggier than its previous versions and tends to max out the CPU and memory consumption - thereby draining out battery much faster.

• Inorder to keep a track on the battery shelf life I've started to use an app called Coconut Battery. Its a small little utility to monitor the battery statistics. One good feature I liked about it is you can save data on various dates and keep a track on the charge cycles. My 15" MBP is more than 2 yrs old and has had close to 200 cycles by now. As per Apple's support article, my model supports a max cycle count of 1000.

• I also read somewhere that the battery performance usually gets deteriorated due to overheating. Overheating happens when you run multiple apps which use system resources heavily. So it would help to keep a check on the battery temperatures as well. Deteriorating batteries tend to bloat and bulge thereby affecting the internals. You can check some apple discusiion forums about the same here.

• You can also calibrate the battery by going powerless once in a while and allow the battery to completely drain out. Then let the laptop cool for some time. Once cooled down, plugin the power cord and restart again.

Debonair's Pizza - Versova, Mumbai

Just a few days ago, we wanted to try out something from the 2-month-old outlet of South African pizza chain Debonair's Pizza in Mumbai. We were kinda bored of the same old pizzas from Smokin' Joes or Dominos or Papa Johns. So we thought of checking out Debonair's Pizza unique pizza offering - the Triple Decker. Picked up the phone and ordered a large ₹645 (taxes extra) Veg Triple Decker. We were told that the delivery would take approximately 40-45 minutes.

I was quite excited to taste it since the marketing photos on the menu card looks quite tempting enough considering its a 3-layered stacked pizza with a variety of toppings. Quite a unique offering for the Indian market. Ok so in roughly about an hour, the bell rang and here came the pizza. The delivery boy asked me to check the bright red spot on the box indicating that the pizza was freshly baked and hot.

Now lets analyze the whole pizza experience.

• Packaging

The above picture of the box was clicked after feasting on the pizza, so you see the black spot on the box which means the temperature inside is cold. At the time of delivery it should be glowing RED, which was red as promised. No issues about it. Honestly it adds a certain level of WOW-ness to the package.

Note: At the time of delivery, if the round spot is Black, your pizza is FREE.

Rating : 4.5 / 5

• Visual Appearance

Lets look at the menu photo found at their Zomato listing. The picture is so visually appealing, it increases your appetite.

Now lets look at what the pizza actually looks like. The 3 layers are quite thin in thickness. Its like 3 thin crisp bases topped on each other.

Lets take a closer look from a slightly different angle. Yes the colorful oozing melting cheeses does a fine job of stimulating appetite. The yellows, reds, greens makes up a pleasing picture.

Rating : 4 / 5

• Taste

Here is the most important part - taste. At the first bite you can relish the delicious 3 cheeses if you start eating from center towards the border. After a few bites you can feel the complex symphony of tastes of toppings - mushrooms, pineapple, olives, tomatoes, onion, chillies, corn etc. The pineapple sweetness is sometimes interrupting while you feel your tomatoes and olives and corn and the blended cheeses. Otherwise its a decent tasting pizza which I could rate 3.5 on a scale of 5. Next time I'd like to try their localized Indian pizzas like Pudina Paneer and Chicken Makhani.

The whole pizza is super filling for one person - my belly was full after eating 2/3rd of the portions.
I would recommend eating the triple decker on an empty stomach or sharing it with your friends.

Rating : 3.5 / 5

• Pricing

The price tag of 645+ taxes came up to approx 750. I think the pricing is still on the costlier side. Its local competitor Joey's Pizza in the neighborhood offers same-sized delicious pizzas for half the price tag. Also there is no online ordering facility like Dominos, so you have to phone-in and order one.

I think most people would pay the premium, just to check how unique the Triple Decker is.

On the pricing front, I believe the prices have not hit the sweet spot yet, its not alluring enough to sway Joey's loyalists or attract repeat customers.

Rating : 2.5 / 5