thŕattle

Qus: What is the direct effect of Chicken Pox?
Ans: God saved all chickens with it.

Qus: Hmm. Then, what is its indirect effect?
Ans: Prevents sickness due to Small Pox.

F-35, the latest in its class, 5th generation, supersonic, multi-role stealth fighter in production for US & UK military. LockHeed Martin is the main contractor. F16 & F22 Raptor is built by them. Huuuh! And L-3 Display Systems will do the Panoramic Cockpit Display subsystem (PCD) for F35.

Ok. The news is, L-3 will use LynuxOS, a hard real-time operating system, to manage the PCD. Using an RTOS to manage a display? Sounds strange isn’t it. The display system in an aircraft is very crucial for a pilot to be aware of his surroundings & situation. There is lot many information to be conveyed such as general flight information, sensor data, communication, navigation, and identification systems.

Put yourself in this situation. You are in a hostile environment that is full of ridges. You are on a solitary mission. F35s can accomodate just one crew. You come across a bunker at a distant and want to destroy it. You suddenly realize that the weaponry you have isn’t very destructive when launched from a distance. You need to go closer to hit. At the same time, you are alerted of an oncoming surface-to-air missile. What will you do?

You need to go close to the target without deviating much. You need to maneuver along the ridges. You have to stay low to the ground to avoid radar signatures. Also you need to avert the missile assault. Ho God, please keep the Display system from crash, let it be time critical, be it a redundant system, let it show necessary information and let it keep you away from death. Hehe! Display systems show your fate.

In another news, the display systems of the planes & helicopters built indigenously are purely interrupt based. On an interrupt, manipulate the Frame buffer directly. So in that ISR, will the other interrupts be disabled? >:O Hopefuly, let these flyers be used only for rescue missions & reconnaissance activites.

BTW, can the LCD performance/operation be affected by gravity? Brainies to answer.

Recently, I was caught up with a few web based tools. They are really handy & has compelling features.

• Remember The Milk – a productivity tool to manage tasks & get organized. It is themed in Milky white & fully AJAXed.
• Rojo – a feed reader. Feed classification is based on Tags & looks much better than bloglines.
• Meebo – consolidated IM package. Supports Yahoo/GTalk/Jabber/ICQ/AOL/MSN – OneStopShop for all IMs & with no installations. Available in Tamil too.

I use these sites atleast 3-4 times a day. Will you?

I am India – Video on Google-Video
This film is a journey through emerging India,” the fastest growing free market democracy in the world”. It celebrates the relentless … all spirit of the people of India, who through their karma give it a place amongst the leading economic nations of the world. Conceived and produced by Bharatbala Productions for India Brand Equity Foundation.

The video puts across these quotes in the style of a Mani Ratnam’s movie title:

• A man’s karma is to forever turn the wheel of life towards a better future for all.
• The wheel of dharma is the unstoppable energy of life.

Bharatbala had captured quite amazing visuals showcasing improvements in Manufacturing, Economy, Agriculture modernization, Refineries, Renewable energy, Infrastructure, Women Empowerment, Telecommunication & ofcourse IT. I guess it is the only video of Bharatbala showing no children. The bacground music is impressive, as always.

There are a few glimpses of the campuses of Infy, TI & Adobe. Are there any other sightings?

Towards the end of the video, they show a Sydney-Opera-House look-alike structure. I wish it not to be Yet-Another-Infy-Architecture. Enjoy the video.

Wandering the streets, not as always;
Looking for some Tea, as always;
There came an Internet cafe!
Is this the Modern World, I’m in?

No it isn’t! If it is,
Google Local Or Airtel LBS should have been helpful;
Both didn’t! So where am I?