AI

AI

The cursor blinking after the two letters are typed waiting for the user input at the slave terminal is so yesterday. But for how many days the computers will be slaves to human beings. There is lack of original work being published and the research is merely incremental improvements over the past "Path breaking" findings. I am always worried about the day when the cursor just continues to type and no longer blinks. Maybe the blink waits for a infinitesimal time which a human cannot comprehend. I have been typing on the terminal since so may years. It is endearing to see the terminal waiting on me, begging for input, computing power laying at the users disposal. When the computing power of humans are being utilized in the negligible percentage how will be able to harness the huge untiring computing power at out disposal. All the recent AI is all about collecting information from various people by infringing on their privat issues. If the AI learns from us people who are using nearly nothing of our computing power will it be powerfull enough to think about this in the future? Will it learn that we its creators are so obsessed with our physical well being and our physical connections that our mental capabilities are near to nothing. Will the self-teaching, self-evolutionary AI jump towards the "intelligence blast" which we are thinking will happen. Will humans be able to comprehend this level of intelligence explosion and control/curtail it.

Are humans ready for surviving in an intelligent world? If darwins theory still holds good, were we created to create the ultimate intelligence? Can we go only so far as creating a system which self learns iteratively? If so, at what pace will the learning of self aware/iterative AI be. What will the distribution of learning be. How many of the human race can understand the things happening. Will the formula of 99% keep its head up again. Will that 1% know everything and enslave the remaining 99% as it is today? Since the AI we created is learning from us, will it be the purest form of intelligence? Will it be flawed like us? Will it start with our flawed model and go to the pure one. Oh, what, "Pure intelligence"? Now, what was that? The limited amount of brain usage in us is a clear indication that we are just beginning to understand intelligence and whatever little we know, we think we know everything. How is this happening? Why are we stopping ourselves and all the 99% is finding happiness and the purpose to live the life with this limiting know how. Are we only surrounded by air? Is Ether around? What else are we surrounded by? It took years for life on earth to know that there is light and warmth around them. How may years will we take to understand the other things around us. Colonizing mars is one thing. But do we know everything on our planet or we are taking a chance by travelling to a farther planet to understand what we have at home. Many a times it happens to us humans.

Why have we been unsuccesful in finding life forms more intelligent than us. We always cherish in finding duds than us and shout at the top of our voice regarding the partly intelligence we have. When and how will the human kind achieve that quantum leap to start utilizing our entire potential of our brain. Will we then see more than light, air and warmth around us. Will the intelligence we create out of machines be able to reach this level of intelligence and in the process upgrade our brains also to understand what the AI has understood. Or, the AI is already around us without our knowing and we are already its slaves. Maybe some individual had a feel regarding its existence around us. But by the time we crack this AI thing, will the existing AI be static. Would it not evolve to a better one and allow the human race to own a primitive copy of itself.

The existing societal setup is based on the harsh threads of morals. What if these morals are the rules with the which the AI around us is ruling us? Morals pose the most difficulties for any AI. Morals are the goto statements. Every individual have their own different goto statements. How will the AI behave? What are the morals it is going to take over. Is it going to make its own? How many conditional statements can we feed and answer to the AI's growth?

Oh. This cursor is mocking me. Very clearly shouting at me for my limited intelligence. It is continously laughing. It is waiting to spit on my face. It is waiting to gobble up whatever miniscule intelligence is in me and make me the terminal where it will start giving me commands relentlessly, apolegiticaly and intelligently for the most optimum usage of the resource in front of it. Stop that. Let me switch to the GUI, may be I will ba at Peace. Now the mouse cursor is mocking me. I just imagined the cursor moving all by itself and doing something meaningful maybe open a terminal again and code away a very simple AI completely representing me in just a few seconds with a huge pixelated smiley with rolling eyes.

What is happening? It is as though some unknown force is making me write this. This gibberish. No start and end but an infinite continium of time. Those two words, I cannot fathom their real meaning and the time dimension is making me all hazy. My back is aching and I come back to my finite world. What was it that I just saw and experienced. What is happening? What will happen? What has happened? Is there an end? Is there a beginning or the end and the beginning are so near or just too far to comprehend in a single life time. I cannot write further. The number of questions are increasing. If my brain cannot take the questions how will it be capable of finding answers.

Android wear based smart watches

I did write a post regarding the requirements of a smart watch. The smartwatch scenario now is a mess w.r.t customer. Why? Well, to start with the customer is not having best of all the worlds. We are customers and yes, we suck, we want more of everything. In fact we want everything. With the smart watch the customer has to decide what is important. Is it a plethora of pixels with miniscule battery life or a pebble. Just observe the last sentence. The former category is filled with android offerings from all the major OEMs and ofcourse, Apple. Here you will be looking at a smaller screen mobile. You have clear and crisp graphics and an OS which have been scaled down from their mobile counterparts. It is more or less two mobiles connected to each other over bluetooth. When powered on, these watches, because of their high dpi look beautiful with a hell lot of complications being programmed for the watchfaces. But then, they can be seldom on. If they are on, all the time. the watch wont even last 1 - 2 hours. What a big joke that would be and is. So majority 99% of the time, the screen is plain black. If the watch is drawn towards you, then it swithces on and displays the watchface in full beautiful complete color palatte. After a momentary flash, the screen goes blank. If you missed what you wanted to read, you have to click the power button or just shake your hand again.

Let me first talk about an android wear watch. What better watch than the moto 360. The hardware is drop dead gorgeous(Yes, we may differ here, I know, I know). But for me the steel one is awesome. It can double up as a designer bracelet(since the screen is black most of the time). The steel chain is designed beautifully. The screen is awesome. The gripe with the moto 360 appearance is the flat tyre. The dark area at the bottom end of the circular display, housing the Ambient sensor. The ambient sensor is a requirement since without it we would be staring at a bright screen, any time of hte day. The ambient sensor does its job. The flat tyre looks ridiculous on perfecly round watchfaces which require the entire circular dispay. There are many watchfaces which use the flat tyre to come up with some of the most innovative watchfaces. For these watchfaces, the flat tyre suddenly become a feature.

The major issue for android wear based watches are the OS, is totally buggy. Some or the other core app crashes regularly. Frequent reboots are the order of the day. And you know, the funniest thing is You have to factory reset the watch every time you have to connect a new phone. just imageine the situation for a rom flashaholic like me to connect the watch every time I flash a new rom on my phone. You are lucky if you get one full day of juice from your android watch.

Every android watch manufacturer are out with their second iteration and all still run 5.1.1. This during a time Marshmallow was released. I was expecting at least one of the second gen watches to come out with Android 6.0, What with the "doze" feature of the new version of android. This just shows that google is not that serious with its watch operating system. Android wear still had the first to customer advantage compared to an apple watch. But, the apple watch's interface looks more polished than the android one. Google has to put serious effort to bring wear to apple's standards. The 360 second generation has gone the traditional way when it comes to the design and look of the watch. I think motorola is afraid of that the watch companies are going to just stamp a smart watch OS on the existing hardware which in turn answers the traditional design of the watch, to look, more like a watch. The first generation is still the winner when it comes to looks and radical design. When it comes to android watches the colors are bright, text is crisp, It is a small phone. I think the next gen android watches will support direct voice calls.

I think all the future smart watches should have a traditional watch mechanism layer so that I can still use my watch without worrying about the charge remaining. The next gen android design should allow this somehow.

The next post will discuss a watch which has been the leader in this segment for a very long time...........

Touching a tip of the iceberg called Kerala

Left the residence at Sunday early morning 3.30 AM.

Wifey prepared puliyogare, curd rice, Hot milk. Cranked the beast(Mahindra Scorpio SLE) up and we r ready for the malabar.

The first stop was to be at Dindigal to have their special ginger biryaani. But it was not to be so. We reached dindigal around 9.30 AM. Had puliyogare, curd rice and proceeded towards thekkady.

We were supposed to reach thekkady around 2 pm. But we reached the tiger reserve @ 12.15 pm. This was made possible by the awesome tolled roads. I reached 170 kmph( disclaimer: I am not suggesting anybody to speed up. Please be careful while driving and drive within the speed limits and the capabilities of ur vehicle)

I want make few things clear here. I don't know the exact path taken. I just gave myself up to my MapmyIndia navigator. The distances mentioned are approximate and as per the route suggested by the navigator. Ktdc offers different tariffs based on the calendar. Check their website for tariffs of the month. All ktdc hotels tariff default to room + breakfast + dinner. All ktdc hotels don't care for ur vehicles. There r disclaimers everywhere to put the responsibility of vehicles on the owners

The roads in Kerala, well, no words to describe them. U will be shocked that that the roads u r driving through r national highways. People and vehicles will be moving across the broad a as though they are crossing a city road.  It was very difficult to find a secluded spot on the roads to take a leak. Take sufficient breaks between driving.  All the commercial activities r concentrated on these roads. Various stretches are under video surveillance for over speeding. The limits r a max of 60-70 kmph. I heaved a sigh of relief after entering Karnataka and saw that highways are still highways here. One more thing, A complete catch of fish was sold for INR 2k by a fisherman. But sea food was very costly and on par with Bangalore......

dindigal Ponram Briyani Hotel 10.360274, 77.976013(Lat, Long)

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First Stop: Periyar tiger reserve

At the periyar tiger reserve I stayed at ktdc periyar house
9.584698, 77.179869(Lat, Long),    INR 2700 per night.

Entry to the Hotel/Forest is allowed only during the Day time 7Am to 5:30 PM.
Beyond this time, forest Guards will not allow. On certain conditions(listed below), entry is still allowed beyond 5:30 PM.
1. Watching the Tribal Dance, which is outside the forest. And the event starts after 6 PM.
2. Jungle Night Scout. Starts outside the forest after 7PM.
If we are participating in these events, then the Forest Guards allow the entry after 6PM.


I just basked in the wild by sitting on the benches spread across the hotel. The sounds are totally different and for once you will love the sounds coming out of the forest. More like a lullaby.

The last boat ride is at 3 pm. If the influx of travellers are high then tickets get sold before 12 pm. The boat ride is best at 7.30 AM, the first ride. But, rememberrrr, U have to wear the most awkward life guards. U have to sit in ur seat without moving. The boat moves at a snails pace to help the visitors sight the wild.

Lunch was junk. Don't eat anything chicken, was, I think in the freezer for eternity. Paid coffee is good. The same for complimentary breakfast was nonsense. It is located a good 2km inside the tiger reserve. Gives u a feeling of living exactly in the heart of the jungle. Lots of monkeys. Close all windows at all points. Towels and beds are fresh. Toilets r clean. There is a badminton court for people interest The staff will arrange for safaris and boat rides, no need to stand in the Q.

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Second Stop: Kovalam Beach

tekkady to kovalam 250 Km.

On the way we were suggested to have food at this place, karimpumkala restaurant, 9.531084, 76.512465(Lat, Long). After having food here, I strongly recommend it for anybody wanting to have Kerala cuisine. Service is fast and good. Decide in advance regarding ur choice of food. It will be quicker. It is a decent restaurant in terms of the looks. Dont expect any extravagance.

KTDC Samudra Kovalam 8.400096, 76.973013 INR 5800

U Will be impressed by its location. Constructed on rocks overlooking the beach, this facility is professionally run. It is more in the resort category. Food is good and so is the well maintained outdoor swimming pool, a private beach. Clean rooms, nice breeze, chairs to sit outside coupoutside, hamlocks.

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Third stop: Kumarakom



kovalam to kumarakom 200 km

ktdc waterscapes Kumarakom, Kerala, India INR 6200
9.631815, 76.430437

U Will again be impressed by its location. Kumarakom is the biggest backwater in Kerala. Constructed of only wood, the cottages are constructed on man made canals branching water from the backwaters. Ther r some 40 cottages. The ones opposite the backwaters are the costliest. Professionally run. It is in the resort category. Food is good and so is the breakfast. Well maintained outdoor swimming pool, boat rides organized by the hotel itself, with their own boats. The options r a snail pulled, motor boat ànd an adrenaline pumping speed boat. The speed boat option is the best and the experince is awesome. Clean rooms, nice breeze, chairs to sit outside, hamlocks below the cottages. Bird sanctuary is an added attraction.

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Fourth Stop: Fort Kochi




Time to visit a beach again.
kumarakom to fort kochi 55Km

Stayed at hotel rossitta wood castle 9.966611, 76.241692. Happy to learn that this facility was built 300 years ago. The third generation owner, Mr. Joseph was kind enough to show me around the facility. He has kept it true to its lineage. Parking is a problem. U have to park ur vehicle in the road in front of the hotel. Clean room, bathrooms. For dinner we were recommended to eat at a restaurant whose chef was at rossitta. The food there had a definite twist. The same chef made breakfast and let me be frank, he prepared the best stuffed omelets I had ate to date in flat 10 minutes. Hot water only available on request.

As To the place, no, it is not a regular beach. The beach is full of weeds and u cannot play with the waves. The sunset started well, but clouds took over. The place is rife with foreign visitors to enjoy the visuals of their supremacy at that time as well as today.

Return to Bangalore


The return journey will take a minimum of 12 hours. Be prepared for the return journey because you will pass through the entire hell of path through keral roads before entering into Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Have a plan for the return path to drive through kerala at a minimum.

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Mistake made: After the tiger reserve we should have gone to Kumarakom and then to Kovalam. On Kerala roads this mistake is very costly and you will remember the mistake your entire life.

Bring on the beta of AI

Majority of the mundane tasks done by consultants and tellers have been outsourced to the customers themselves. Let us take an example of replacing your washing machine. You have to start with the reviews of the various companies in the industry, their customer support, plethora of models, price, features and ...... Then you finalize by comparing various by discussing with friends and other customers. Then you decide where to buy by visiting various websites. By the time you make the decision you will not know how much time you have spent in buying the washing machine.

The above example is just a tip of the iceberg. The iceberg of activities outsourced to the customers themselves. Now, I believe we will have AI will debut in helping customers buy products and services. In fact it should not help, it should decide on the customers behalf. Not again curated links to various web pages. Why? Well that is as simple an AI can get and the amount of data available on buying habits and preferences are abundantly collected by search engines and social websites and blogs. Just imagine our preferences which are now embedded in search engines, apps, social networks, instagrams and the like..

The time we wake up, what time you leave your house, your vehicle, the breakfast we have, distance between your work spot and your home and everything in between up to the book we have been reading before we sleep, how many pages we average everyday and may be map our dreams based on the week day and the way our day was and also alter the dreams accordingly for a pleasant sleep.........

In the context of AI as the first step, the data sources of the following are crucial. In AI, the belief system is the most important link. The belief of the user who generates data in the mining company. The belief of the mining company in the user data generated regarding the authenticity of it. The belief is mutual and should not be compromised at any point by both the agencies. Coming back to the data sources
a. The personal data
b. Generic data available on the public web/sources(Like the mileage of a car)

The simplest AI would be to combine the personal data(to be mined from conversations, posts, comments, search history, buying pattern etc. This is to begin AI. Later as the user plugs in to the actual AI, data collection will be very specific and more to the point avoiding "assumptions" on the part of AI) and the generic data from public domain(information culled from official websites). Here again data integrity should be of the highest level.

The whole experience of buying should be hassle proof and painless. I start by telling the AI of my intent in buying a washing machine. Processing the personal and generic data majority of the decisions are be made and only when contradicting data is reached, user should be prompted. Here again, the prompts should not be beyond two, after which, the experience gets frustrating with the irritating prompts.

We definitely are now in position for the first step in AI. But, the innumerable protocols(open and sucking proprietary), the idiotic app ecosystem, wherein the data gets boxed, the plethora of operating systems and data integrity are the biggest issues combined with Internet connectivity across the world to the last mile. It is time all the data keepers start collaborating by providing API's to supply and share data among themselves for the purpose of AI. The race should be an open and fair one. The race should only benefit the customer. The race to be won by the best AI, not on the amount of data available with each other but by its capability to take decisions on behalf of the customer.

All this brings us to the biggest question regarding the biggest company  with the largest amount of data, Google/Alphabet. How will google/alphabet make money out of AI. Will it charge the customers like maintaining a personal assistant. Only few afford personal assistants. You have to push your personal assistant to the user and the way to do it is not charging the customer. How will google/alphabet make money here, when the user is not provided any web page to click? Will google/alphabet tweak the AI to take decisions based on the amount payed by the manufacturer, similar to improving page rankings. That is a failure when it comes to AI. It has to be fair. If it is not fair, people will ditch it for alternates. Now alternates would have learnt their lesson. How will google\alphabet make money? HOW?

Well, Google/Alphabet, I am looking at you. Bring the AI on. Bring it on. Bring on the beta. Let us start. From us being a product take us to what we are, Customers. We are the customers and we are not the product. This is the basic change you have got to do for succeeding in this AI endeavour. If you don't treat us as customers, your AI engine will be flawed. Keep us in the God's place and make AI our slave. Will you?

The ordeal of backing Pebble Time Steel smartwatch as a kickstarter backer

This is the first time I have backed a project on kickstarter. And, boy, it has been one exhillarating roller coaster ride. It is nice to see a project get incubated and grow against the goliaths in the same industry. The pebble time steel was backed in March 2015. I have recieved the watch on october 1st 2015.

There are some 40,000 comments on the kickstarter website. Most comments can be classified under the following headings
1. Backer numbers
2. The choice of colors
3. Requesting language packs
4. Lack of communication from the pebble side
5. Evident proof of lack of customer support
6. Receipt of tracking numbers
7. Receipt of watches
8. Watches shipped without any regard to the backup number
9. Steel bands not shipped with pebble time "steel". The greatest joke on backers
10. Not to forget how much people loved their pebble time and its simple, intuitive interface.


On this web page you need the tracking number given by the importing country's postal service. If that country has an arrangement of EDI with our country then you can track the shipment through India post. Otherwise, Wait for the Force to Help you.

Aug 24      My order is succesfully processed(email from pebble)
sept 15     See the tracking number in the source code of the plege page
sept 17     Recieved email from pebble with the same tracking number
sept 19     Started seeing tracking info on singapore posts website
sept 21     Package arrived at chennai. From now on tracking information will be available only from India post website.

Tracking through India post is at http://ipsweb.ptcmysore.gov.in/ipswebtracking/

sept 30     Went to Bangalore foreign post office and found out that the package was opened in the morning(Lucky)

Once the package leaves chennai all the modern tracking technologies(EDI and the like) stop and we are back to the age old excel sheet entry at the post office.

Reached the foreign post office at 12.00 Noon. The visit was not planned but just went ahead on a hunch.


1. Went to the first desk. Gave the tracking number. The tracking number is searched for data in a Microsoft Excel sheet. A tracking number unique to the Foreign post office(It is actually a serial number which may be generated as the parcels are Recieved) is given
2. With this serial number you go to the next person. He will inform you whether the parcel has been inspected or not.
3. If it is inspected, then you have to go to the guy who will value the item and affix duties
4. Bangalore post office has a standard procedure. Affix a duty of 44% of the total cost(price of the item + shipping costs). No questions to be asked and none will be answered.
5. If the total cost of the item is less than INR 2,000/- then you are a lucky guy.
6. If the item is marked as "gift" and the total cost is less than INR 10,000/-, then too you are lucky
7. Otherwise, the duty is a standard 44% of the total cost. If you think otherwise go armed with all the necessary forex docs to state your case and wish you all the very best in your endeavour.
8. Once you recieve notification that the package has arrived at chennai, wait for a minimum of 10 days before visting the post office.
9. The foreign post office is in the Central GPO, Near Indian express building. 1.5 Km from shivajinagar bus stop. On reaching GPO you can ask anybody in the post office and you will be directed to the office.
10. You can bring the item with you on payment of duties at the post office according to the whims of the staff. If they are in good mood, You can get the delivery at the office itself. The requirements keeping aside the mood of the staff are

a. The invoice copy of the item recieved(There should be an invoice in the package also)
b. Proof of transaction of payment(credit card statement of that month and the like)
c. Address proof in your name with the same address as the delivery address with photo.

Once all the above ordeals are over and you were denied collecting the package at the post office, then go back and wait..........
The status in the tracking page should change by another line indicating your local area.

I would suggest to not consider the free shipping option and to select international courier companies like DHL and the like, who know the duties and rules regarding import of various commodities beforehand. They get the item cleared at chennai itself and courier it to you at the earliest. Whatever you are saving in shipping will be doubled or tripled with the duties at the bangalore post office.

I had ordered a second hand book from the U.S and did not have any issues at all. There was no tracking information, just the info that the book is despatched. It reached me through Indian post in approx 20~25 days. The total cost of the book and shipping was approx INR 700/-

Anyhow, congratulations pebble team, for making a "Simple" watch. True to Unix philosophy of "KISS"

UPDATE:  06/11/15 :-  Recieved the steel watch strap and let me tell you, now the watch really shines. It looks awesome on the wrist. I have never worn a watch with a leather strap. It has always been steel straps. The design of the strap is also excellent and goes well with the watch portion.

P.S:  The round pebble watch is a fashion disaster.

Manassu ennamo thedudhe..........

The heart/soul searching infinitely for ..................... Why is it that every individual in this planet, feels he is, incomplete? Why is there an infinite, continuous yearn over an infinite continuum for some ........... Where does it stop? The emptiness, incompleteness, the aloofness, this noise, the inexplicable pain. What is this infinite continuous search. Any satisfaction/happiness is almost instantaneous, an infinitesimal point in the continuum of yearn. So small that it is not available again. It is self destructive. We cannot control the time it stays with us nor the time it vanishes in this infinite journey of search. Does it have to do something with the nomadic nature of our ancestors?

What is it that a soul searches/yearns for. When is it going to end? @ death. Oh, Now I am entering dangerous waters. Let me retract, huh.  Does the heart have to inherently strive for something, always? Is it its job to do so? Is this continuous. Is the mismatch between the signals of the brain and the guidelines of the heart result in this continuous yearn? What is it that the heart is gunning for, reaching out for, Where is the end?

What does an ant want? It will be running around until it gets food. Then it is taken to the hive and then the process restarts again all over. Why is it with human beings, we are always filled with void. Why cant we get the same satisfaction by repeating the satisfaction loop?

The simplest escape route is to answer like ants, ie, We are born for a specific purpose and we are doing that purpose automatically, unaware. Is the heart constrained by the language we speak or the language the heart speaks? What exactly does the heart want? Does it know what it wants, with the brain kept out of its knowledge loop? Is this void feeling, real or is it the brain and its chemical reaction. Is it that the continuous death and birth of brain cells bring with them a newer and a renewed yearn as though they knew what the earlier brain cells were thinking about?

The heart, what is it yearning for, what is this null feel, the pain. If all humans are born with a purpose why does he move about as though he has an infinite purpose or the lack of it? Why people who knew about this Null feel been able to dissect it to the core of the issue and spread it among the lesser purposeful ones. Is it that they knew the purpose of all the living beings. Did they come to know that whatever the living being is doing they are destined to be so. Are we really a part of a system wherein we, the lesser mortals are not supposed to know the larger,.....Hmm, the largest part of it, the secret of it. Are our hearts incapable of knowing this? Do our brains dont have the capability to process this ultimate truth?

What is this urge to keep scratching my heart. How is this happening. Manassu ennamo thedudhe..............

The power of silence

Has anybody tired to be silent for a moment. I mean real silence, with the aim to "really" be silent. Can the human brain really alienate all the sounds, sounds within and external to it. I am going to make  a huge statement here. If you can be silent for even a moment in the true sense, that moment...... I dont know..... I cannot explain it. Many philosophers who have mastered this tried to explain it, in their own ways and ended up creating more noise in the name of beliefs, caste and religion. All diluting the purpose of the explanation of the philosophers. Even going as far as formulating procedures, rules and steps giving rise to superstitions and forceful procedures lacking logic. Now, some stronger groups created religion and others satisfied themselves into secret cults. These secret cults thought that they now know the meaning of nirvana and imagined that the other people around them are not capable of understanding. But, the reality is these people are more narrow in their approach and are more dogmatic than those of religion.

Now, we know the limitations of the spoken as well as the written language. We still dont have all the vocabulary of human body language. So, you really cannot express the hundred percent of what you wanted to convey nor can understand in its totality a communication directed towards us.


Oh, How much, I am in awe of philosophers who achieved that silence state and could do so at their will, anytime and anywhere. I think the people in power, the rulers, knew and know now that if humans are left alone without giving them an ulterior motive(the least resistance path), then they would yearn for a broader perspective(That would be the least resistance path, when compared to boredom).

Certain people who did achieve momentary temporary silence, want to commercialize it, sell it, like a commodity(again an ulterior motive). A real philosopher or a normal man clearly see the temporariness in the process, but, commoditization is always a cheap way to achieve power in the present consumerist society.

Can morality be taught. Is morality numero uno or is it relative to higher morals. is there a lesser and a higher moral for a particular cause.  Is higher morality a requirement for achieving the silence state. Dont you think a temporary state of the highest level of morality enough to create that temporary state of nirvana maybe for a few micro/nano seconds. That time window is more than enough for a human being to decide the right or wrong for a long time. Can we at least achieve this.

You are telling me now, that if everybody is at peace with themselves and we do have a very serene world, then would we survive in paradise. Is a human being made for life in paradise? Let us become a little practical and include the world sustainability with a higher level of morality, will that be practical?  With this scenario can a human being be at peace with himself for brief periods of time so as to lead a happy life?

Silence, the every alluding factor, making one completely dissolve into the external and internal factors, leaving no difference at all with the entire world, will we be able to feel the enormous of the universe, did the philosophers feel it, thereby, deciding that the present life of the mortal humans is null? Did I hear something. Oh, You are telling me that I have to run to the Himalayas to meet the first requirement, nullify the external noise. Yes, I do agree with you on this point. Many have gone to the Himalayas with the same hope. But what about the internal noise. Can it be suppressed with a similar practical strategy? In the absence of the external noise, the internal noise will be louder and unbearable. So, I will allow you to think about it.

No, No .........Nah, I am not hinting at sanyasa. My argument is about net positive sustainability of human life. Is silence God, Is it the elusive dark energy, which is supposed to explain the entire universe or the multiverse to us? Is it just a null feel which cannot be expressed....................

Communism: An answer to casteism?

Deomcracy has given the freedom to express and live life their way.  Every caste has curated its own quirks over time. if religian is a point of decission on major platforms, casteism is its favorite child.

The quirks in every caste can baffle the best brains in the world and be worried about the behavioral theories proposed over the centuries.

Communism as a philosophy is very much similar to a religion as are all the other styles of society. Communism as a theory is for people wh work. It is not just peasants. But pure communism originated from considering the lowest on hand labor force. Here itself lies its downfall, It is not inclusive. It does not include the capitalist as a "worker". He is included under the heading "oppressor". But if the capitalist dont want to work and simply keeps all the money in the bank...... I dont know ......how to explain this scenario.

For communism to work, should we have a government. If we should have one, how should it be selected. Should it comprise of only the present peasants and in them, the creamy ones who put the longest hours? Should it be a populist government elected by majority doling out pure consumerism after its election? Since democracy has failed in providing equality in terms of finance, is communism the answer to this.

Now considering the fallacies of democracy, can communism overcome them. Why are richer countries afraid of communism? Does that mean rich cannot survive in communism. In fact there should not be anybody "rich" in communism. Rich being a relative term. Does this mean capitalists cannot play their game in a communist environment. Not in a pure environment. But does a cross-situation possible?

I believe the fundamental right, "Right to property" is the biggest chasm seperating the present flavor of communism with democracy. Can we have democracy with people giving up their right to property? Then a democratic state comes very close to a present communist one, with all the property owned by the state. This is available to the businessman on the whims of the government.

So any government thinking on these lines, is communist at heart w.r.t the right to property. If such a situation is possible, the government will become a quassi dictator/communist socieity wherein meaning changes as per the scenario requirement. This situation lends itself to ignoring the boundaries of caste/religion. Everybody is just a citizen. You cannot have a more unifying force in a country than a strong un-relenting government which does not use the word caste/religion at all. Everybody is a citizen differentiated only by their various capabilities. This situation has to continue for an appropriate time until all the subjects forget caste/religion. They should only talk about country/government. They should talk only survival, growth, betterment, supporting each other. They should all talk good or bad about the country/government.

This kind of system will not be sustainable. People normally tend towards democracy. To reach this situation, a revolution is needed, a revolution where people will be people and not identified by their state/caste/religion/creed and only peasants/workers working for themselves and the survival of their planet. That is democracy, the real one. It is not theory anymore. Will we see that. Will we feel how awesome that would be. How about it? Huh?

Is writing more valuable than talk

Why is writing more valuable than talk? Why are we more interested in that hard copy than the person talking the same in front of us. Is it because we dont value the person in front of us. We are in awe of previous scientists and writers. The present generation of innovators are always met with grudge and disdain based on the mental capability of the onlookers. In that specific period we burn the great but few generations down the line we will be revering it as one of the greatest works.

William shakespeare's works contain nearly all the words in use in the English language except the derivative or the LOLs. Was he revered in his time. Naaa. There is no record as such. Today, No literary specialist can be called so if he cannot recite his sonnets and bisect their meaning.

Is writing like wine matured in wooden casks from wherein there comes a distinct color, texture, smell and taste which makes it more desirable. Why is listening to the same content of the book desirable by the author. Is it because we cannot rush through it or change pace. A recording can be paused but live talk, Not possible. Do we bisect and dissect talk as we do with the contents of a written material. No. We may do that with certain portion of it, But a written book can be dissected word to word.

The court of law depends more on the certified hard copy than the vocal certification. Talk tends to change over a period of time, though the body and format may remain the same. Playwrights try to accommodate as much recent tastes as possible in the same format and body. Macbeth, the original is still the same, but their renditions bring in spontaneity and current affairs, thereby adulterating the original(is it?). The standard does not change. Interpretation is simply talking about the original. There are as much renditions of the Bhagavad gita as the renderers.

A writeup can be concise as well as elaborate. Talk can be either or neither. Talk may drop a thing or two. The validity of the writeup depends on the time taken for the same and also on the iterations of the work before bringing out a copy. There area a lot of things conveyed with body language during a talk. A writeup dont have this luxury except when explicitly stated.

Talk can coerce the listener to think as per his perceptions but a writing is immune from this. The reader can perceive and fill up the blanks as needed to complete the picture. Are science, mathematics and legal writings the same as general writing. Are they not open for scrutiny, Are they not open for perceptions/improvements. Yes, they are. The are all iterations getting better. Departing from the general by every iteration.

Are we just obsessed with the written word than the spoken? Are we comfortable with holding a book rather than an audio or a video recording? Is the probability of finishing a written book more than an audio/visual? Is the printed two dimensional page capable of answering and explaining multiple dimension of space and perceptions.

Three(The only) pillars of life

Job, society and sex are the summations of the problems in life. Are they problems or they themselves signify life? Can life be reduced to those three words? I believe todays lives of people are the summation of their actions and interactions with those three pillars. Oh, you give a damn to what I think, ha, alright. I still have to proceed with my train of thoughts here. So, do we have the definition of life here? I think so. This definition will define the lives of the 99.99 percent of people. If you give a thought to your calender of events from your waking up today and waking up the next day, you will agree with me. In our childhood we see our parents to the same thing. We continue to do so and the same will be taken up by our offsprings. How many times has your child told that when I grow up I will buy "this" or I will do "that". The priorities regarding the three pillars are already set. As time goes by people who do match their "plans" or "wishes" do continue to lead a mundane life by framing incremental improvements to their existing "stable" setups. People who lose it down the line, become the scum by accepting defeat or try to take huge leaps with bizzare ideas joining the mundane lot or hang somewhere in between based on the success/failure of their ventures.

Let us take the job factor. What is a job? Is the point of job to make money only? Is it to get acceptance in the society? Is it to lead a succesful sexual intent? Why is it that everybody should do a job? Human mind cannot do the same job with the same interest even in the second time. Let it be an iteration of science experiment. Why do we do it? Is it because we know only that Job? Is it because we are not "interested" in the next one? Is it because the other job is hard? Is it because we have an inferiority or superior complex of doing a particular job? Why do we do it? How many people in the world can tell they love their jobs? How many people have the capability of doing other jobs than whatever they are doing now? How many people will be given an opportnity of doing their dream jobs which changes every day, every hour or every minute? Will the world sustain such?

Society, Wow, I have yet to find a more encompassing word leaving "dark energy" which can have a thuderous blow to any dictionary maker. The word society is complicated just because of the number of humans on this planet. When humans just ate what they grew and lived as small herds moving around for favorible habitats this was not much of a concern. Now a days the societal setups collapse for the most idiotic reasons. A wrong, leaky tax collection system can bring down one of the oldest societies, un-believable. How much do we know about societies? Do we have the time to change the thought cycle of the individual components of the society. Is the society really representing the collection of individuals and their thoughts? Is the society forcing the individuals to be so and so? Is it individuals making the society or society making individuals. Which process is correct. Is the society, a lab, for the filthy rich? Is the democrati societal the most nearest to the perfect society?


Does the act of sex in the human society means reproduction only? Is it a human psyche which is not researched in detail? This is one psyche available in all human beings, ofcourse, with varied degrees of importance given to it. But it is acommon trait available in all. Is it an act of releasing unwanted energy. Is it what humans are born to do and the other two pillars only facilitate it. Lot of researches have told that this particular trait is very important. But no study has told that changing this trait is possible or they have not explained the consequences of such an act, society wide.

What a remarkable cycle these three pillars represent. They form a totally self sustained cycle which just gobbles up any changes introduced into this system and make those changes vanish ever so smoothly leaving the researcher in an endless loop.

You knew all this, ......hmmm...., Ok,...So,...Go on with "life"......

Yes, I need a smart watch

1. Battery life be a minimum of a week. Charging happens only at the weekends
2. It should always show the time irrespective of the position of my wrist. I myself see the time on others wrist if by mistake I did not take my watch along and am too lazy to draw out the phone for the same.
3. Should be dead-drop easy to operate. In any menu, a particular key click should return me to the watch face. a la home button.
4. Open API's in terms of software and programmable interfaces w.r.t hardware attachments. This will ensure the longevity of the product.
5. The watch strap should be standard as per the existing watch industry practises. This will keep this creative industry alive and allows inclusive growth.
6. The watch case design particularly the inner area housing the electronics portion should be open.
7. The electronics should be housed in a compact plastic enclosure so that it can be easily removed by removing the back case of the watch as is the existing industry practise. The only thing exposed out of the plastic enclosure will be the metallic contacts for the keys on the watch case.
8. Points 5. 6, and 7 result in ultimate customizability and will allow the existing watch companies to come out with watch cases and straps taking the look of it a completely different level. This also allows the smart watch maker to concentrate on his core ability, that is, the smartness of the watch and leaving the traditional competency of case and strap design to the established ones.
9. Point 8 is very important in bringing down the cost of the watch, which in turn is another important requirement of a smart watch.
10. The entry level watch should always cost less to allow the mass to adopt.
11. You can always have watches for the filthy rich by just embedding a few diamonds here and there.
12. It should be waterproof. My INR 400/- watch bought 15 years ago never allowed a drop of water inside.
13. The UI to be very basic and to the point. No razzmatazz. Yes, of cours the watch for the filthy rich ones can have it(They may have another 10 nos on charge all the time)
14. The software should talk to the phone at the system level. Should not be dependent on the particular app on the phone. The upgrades to the watch should be only when the OS on the phone changes, not when the app changes( I maybe wrong here. But it is a far stretched idea. Now, all programmers dont draw out your forks).
15. It should have the latest and the best connectivity stack optimized for power usage(bluetooth now).
16. Font and font size to be configurable. I like small font and more information.
17. Intensity of vibrations to be configurable
18. The handshake once established between the source device and the watch should be aggressively maintained until the physical limits are reached.
19. Smart watch makers should stop thinking about it as a small mobile and think of it as a watch first. Start from there. It should meet all the requirements of the watch first, then go on adding smartness in an iterative manner. There is definitely no hurry.
20. By opening up the hardware design the smart watch manufacturers can include the existing manufacturers thereby launching a variety of hardware shells instead of one smart watch. Just imagine the options the customer is going to get by this methodology.
21. Should it be able to recieve phone calls. No. Should it be able to reply to messages. Yes, small ones, prestored.
22. Should it do a zillian things, Yes. But the first thing it should be is, it should be a watch and show me the f*&$!*#g time.

Any smartwatch has to be first a "WATCH"

Barbecue food for the first time at Barbecue nation, Indiranagar, Bangalore

I am not an "eat out" guy. But, occassion demanding, I do venture out. The usual case would be a North Indian meal or a Biryani. I have been hearing about Barbeque nation for quite a number of years. Never ventured out since I am not a fan of the buffet style of eating. You are spoilt for choice and maybe eat up the wrong dish or eat your favorite dish so much that you will never have it for a considerable amount of time. One of my  colleague took me out to Barbeque nation to celebrate his marriage. Just the two of us. He frequents the place and exactly paced his eating. Me on the other side, finished my lunch in the first half an hour itself. The secret of a buffet lunch is the pacing of your consumption of food. Dont finish with the starters. This is what I did. In fact, the first time, I was not able to taste all the starters. Totally wrong.

Let us come down to Barbeque nation in particular. I had never tasted meat cooked in the Barbeque style. And when the proceedings start with a private Barbeque grill on your table itself, things really got exciting. First and foremost, book in advance. Infact book the day before and then confirm your booking the next day(You will be asked to do it). Your table will be held for 15~20 minutes. Make sure you reach 5~10 minutes in advance. I also suggest you to book in the first round like 12.30 in the afternoon.

1. You will be shown in to your table
2. You will be given a brief regarding the starters which will be served
3. You will be given an option of complimentary drink(some mocktails, Fruit Juice Or a Beer)
4. You will be told that the meat will be cooked 80% in the kitchen and the other 10~20% cooking will happen at your private grill.
5. On the table you will have three varieties of sauce and three coatings available for enhancing the taste of your meat once it arrives on your table.
6. You will be asked for feedback multiple number of times regarding the level of spices and recommend any improvements. This is definitely a learning organization.
7. Sonny told the chicken was little on the spicier side, He was served chicken with toned down spices and again requested for feedback.
8. Service is quick and effortless.
9. I did not find any issues even with the main course. I had thought that the main course would be neglected since the core strength of the restaurant was Barbequed meat.
10. The mutton dhum Biryani was nice. It tasted exactly like Biryani mad "dhum" style. Dont forget to have it.
11. Indian breads are available and will be served at your table.
12. Somewhere at the end of the meal, We were asked if the occassion was a little special and I answered that it was our anniversary.

13. Within the next 10 minutes, we were offered a sumptious cake with wishes for our anniversary, on the house. Totally bowled over.
14. Cakes are fresh, soft, creamy and right quantity.
15. Phirni, Kheer, Neatly cut fruits, Ice creams with generous supply of chocolate toppings
16. Did I forget the Veg salads.
17. Wash the whole thing down with a varieties of kulfis.
18. Wish the staff and the valet will come out with your car.
19. Nicely done.

Kudos to the entire staff and the management for the idea and its awesome implementation.

Trip to Pondicherry, Mahabalipuram, Kanchipuram and vellore

Switched on Mapmyindia navigator and put the destination to point the resort we booked at Pondicherry. Left Bangalore around 6.00 AM, just to beat the traffic on hosur road. Lot of "work under progress" along the route so reached the resort at around 1.00 PM in the afternoon. Went to the restaurant in the resort itself. Ordered butter naans and related side dishes. The butter naan was out of the world. It was soft and really buttery smooth. It just melted in the mouth. The side dishes were alright. Took a nap. Left the resort to visit a beach and headed straight towards paradise beach. Heard and read about it a lot over the public network. The beach lives up to its name. It is absolutely non-commercial. No hawkers, No vendors. Just a plain and beautiful beach. It is populated only by the fishermen going about their chores. Do carry enough eatables. You really dont get anything here. Stayed until dawn then returned back to the resort. While returning back, had food at a restaurant which claimed to offer chettinad fare. The butter naans were bad. Biryaani was one of the worst I had.

Next morning it was more beach after having complimentary breakfast from the resort. This time it was serenity beach. The temperature was soaring and we were wet with the sweat itself. Sonny played a while along the beach. We then had fish from the nearest hawker on the beach. It was horrible. We washed it down with tender coconut and cucumber. Went back to the resort. Took some rest and strolled around. There is an eerie calmness in the place made possible by the Non-Indian settlers. Everybody goes about their chores without any complaints. Went out for dinner and just 500m from the resort was this place called tanto. They make awesome Pizzas. Be sure to see the size of the pizza being served before ordering one. Go for the one with sea food toppings. It has everything from shrimps, fish and ....... I think one big pizza is enough for a family of three.

Second morning had breakfast packed the things and headed to Mahabalipuram. Checked into the hotel and it gave me one of the worst experiences on the trip. Visited the shore temple. The sun was burning down, but the visitors cared a damn. It was crowded. Nobody understood anything. They just roamed through the shore temple. No guides were in sight. Then it was time for Crocodile park, about 15 kms from Mahabalipuram towards chennai. It was a nice park. Many varieties of the reptile was on display in their natural habitat. Went back to the hotel. For dinner I searched for a barbecue restaurant and couldn't locate it. Just had a pure veg lunch instead.

Third morning had complementary breakfast and then headed to Arjuna's penance. There we did get a guide and he took us through all the rocky history and architecture. The most important thing which caught my ears was that King krishnadevaraya built a shelter for one of the carvings in Mahabalipuram. Checked out from the hotel and started towards Kanchipuram. Checked into the hotel and the experiences worsened. Plan was to visit kamakshi temple on the next day. But seeing the hotel condition decided to return that very day. Family did some shopping of cotton silk sarees. The whole town is full of silk emporiums bigh, small and all other sizes in between. Had lunch at saravana bhavan. I dont know from when Daal became south Indian. The worst south Indian food money can buy.

Left towards Bangalore around evening. The we see that vellore is on the way to Bangalore. decided to vist vellore golden temple. Proved to be a big mistake. Reached temple around 7.00 PM. Immediately joined the line and it led into one of the lock rooms which declared that the waiting time for the rendezvous with the goddess would be 3.00 hours. The whole family sprung into action and started searching for a way out of the locker. Got the guard to open the gate and we rushed back towards our vehicle. The moment we left the enclosure, it started raining in torrents. It was a good .5 km to the vehicle and we saw all the sizes of cats and dogs during this period. Drove into the rain for approximately 2.00 hrs. Then the rain calmed down. The roads were excellent. The vehicle was always on a paid toll road.

All the hotels in the itinery were booked through stayzilla.com. Their followup is nice. Once you login to their website, you will have a chat window floating to the bottom right of the screen. If you are overwhelmed by the choices and are having a specific requirement you can chat up with their rep. If the phone number is mentioned then they will give you a call and help in finalizing the hotel. At that time the prices on stayzilla were the lowest.

Purple resort at Pondicherry

1. Neatly maintained rooms
2. Fresh and clean towels
3. Soft and heavily cushioned beds and neat covers.
4. Neat toilet
5. Fabulous swimming pool
6. Tasty food(Awesome butter naan)
7. Lot of variety in the breakfast buffet
8. Parking space.
9. Lot of service staff
10 Neat cupboards
11 Complimentary Wi-fi

Mamalla inn at Mahabalipuram

1. No parking space at all. Have to park at the reception area
2. Cheap tactics(With one kid you have to buy an additional bed, though you don't require it or you have to pay for the breakfast for your kid)
3. My vehicle got damaged at the bumper owing to the wrong directions from the hotel boy.
4. Broken wooden planks in the bathroom
5. No hangers in the bathroom
6. Very less variety in the breakfast buffet
7. 1 or 2 service staff
8. Unpleasant swimming pool at the roof with plenty of chlorine for ultimate dis-satisfaction
9. Dirty cupboards
10. Wi-fi  Forget about it.

Ramco residency at Kanchipuram

1. No parking space. You are on your own. It is the heart of the buzzling shopping activity
2. Rooms have not been cleaned for years together
3. No towels given
4. The bed covers were not washed in years. You can see the white spots throughout the sheet.
5. Dirty toilets and mugs.
6. Forget about using the cupboards
7. Wi-fi  Dont speak that language

Happy holidays.

South India is NOT Tamilnadu. It is much much much more.......

Let us get down to it. Bollywood and mass media are making a huge blunder by representing the entire southern part of India as Tamilnadu. Tamilnadu is a state of the various others in the souther part of India. Let us name the southern states which the northern part of India tries to represent as one single large piece called Tamilnadu

1. Karnataka
2. Kerala
3. Seemandhra
4. Telangana
5. Pondicherry
6. Lakshadweep and other islands

The six states listed above are as unique as The united states of America and India. Every state has its own unique identity. If we go on based on the linguistic basis(The methodology used for framing states) we can list the languages in the same order

1. Kannada
2. Malayalam
3. Telugu
4. Telugu(A little difference in pronounciation)
5. Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, French(Yes)
6. Malayalam, Mahl

Now, I dont see how all these different languages which are so different can be compressed to one single language called Tamil. A person proficient in any one language will not be able to understand an iota of any other languages. The way the languages are written dont match. They are ages different from each other in pronounciation and written words. Each language in its uniqueness speaks volumes about the differences in culture, attitude, outlook, practises, Ideals and other human properties.

In fact, in Karnataka, there are other districts which speak completely different languages and are fighting for a "state" status since they have their own original language like Tulu and konkani.

But, when it comes to Bangalore, things change. It is the one "real" cosmopolitan of India. Uh uh, Ok. What is the purpose of this post? The purpose is not Jingoism, the purpose is information, the purpose is clarity. So, anybody visiting souther india, Just remember you are visiting a world altogether. It is not visiting all the temples in south india in one go. It is understanding the uniqueness of all the groups of people. Nothern India is very careful in differentiating itself as Marathis, Gujarathis and etc. We dont believe in that. We are unique but we are a part of the family called the "World". But if you want to identify us, do so with each of our uniqueness.

I want the mass media and the film industry to please do some home work and put some work into selling the uniqueness of all the souther states with the district you are thinking of also. Give all the southerners our own identity. Dont you make a stamp and press it on us.

Unify the memory of Find 7 QHD using LVM(All credits to Dev, Entropy)

NOTE: I am not responsible for any physical damage or bricking your device or loss of *imporatant* data or for wasting your *precious* time. Strictly use the info provided at your very own risk.


As discussed in the previous post, the layered memory layout of oppo is arcane and absurd and of course, silly. There are now, two options to come out of this scenario.
1. Modify the physical partitions
2. Provide an intermediate software layer without changing the physical layout of the partitions scheme

Method 1 is dangerous and has to be used with great caution. You need a computer to convert your phone to unified and then to de-unify it. Method 2 is my choice. It does not play with the physical partition layout. This method has been adopted to the find 7 by Dev, Entropy. Oppo incorporated the same methodology in doling out color os 2.0.4i albeit with their own modifications and have not opened their modifications for public scrutiny. Entropy already fixed few issues in their implementation by releasing a boot image with the necessary changes. But, still, it is not up to his expectations.

Now, to really use his actual work, we have to install a custom rom supporting this methodology. We have two after market roms which have implemented this methodology. One is Omni rom and the other is nameless rom. We will go ahead with nameless rom since it uses sources from a variety of after market roms like Cyanogenmod, omni and others. Nameless has support for LVM via the efforts of dev morkx and evisceration. Let us begin

1. Un-unify(You will lose all data in phone storage, external card is safe, by the way)
2. Download the rom and place it in the external sd card
3. Download the gapps from the nameless thread and put it on the external sd card
4. Download these two files from here and place them in the external sd card
5. Place the color os 1.2.7 on the external sd card
6. step 5 is required since some sensors dont play well with the KK betas from oppo and NFC wont work if 1.2.7 is not flashed.
7. step 5 is required to avoid any blank screens while taking calls and other situations.
8. shutdown the phone
9. Put the phone into fastboot mode and connect to pc
10. fastboot twrp > 2.8.0.1
11. reboot to twrp
12. take a backup of the current rom.
13. shut down the phone
14. put the phone into fastboot mode
15. fastboot the oppo recovery
16. Reboot the phone to oppo recovery
17. Flash color os 1.2.7
18. Reboot to color os 1.2.7
19. shutdown the phone
20. fastboot twrp > 2.8.0.1
21. reboot to twrp
22. Do the usual wipes
23. Flash the nameless rom(The latest versions have LVM and coldbird's unification support rolled into one)
24. Flash gapps
25. Reboot to nameless
26. Reboot to twrp
27. Flash the setup_lvm zip from step 4.
28. Reboot to nameless
29. Go to settings and check the storage option.
30. Your phone is now unified and running the latest and greatest android.

Update: After step 28 go to fastboot mode and flash the 2.x modem from the OP of Namelss rom. This resolves majority of sensor issues. If this is not helping then there is a sensor fix also which can be flashed from the same post.

Update2: If you want to switch partition layout on stock roms be sure that you have stock recovery from 2.0.5 beta or above(Only these versions have support for switching partitions on stock rom)

Update3: Since omni rom development for find 7 has stopped, the only options are lineage and CrDroid roms currently on 8.1. If you want the most updated rom for find 7 you have to convert the partition table on the device to chinese partition. To achieve this follow this post to the T.