Finally I added the CAPTCHA to my blog. During the last two month my blog was very badly hit by bloody stupid spammers. Altegether I deleted over 3000 useless comments. Anyways not it is safe :)

Woo! Hoo!

Sri Lanka is down another MVP. Well! not yet 100% official I guess. We were happy when Imran was selected because the MVP pool went up by another one. But he didn't get a chance to enjoy the privileges of MVP due to he lost the title because he joined Microsoft Sri Lanka. Anyways, this time it's not him, It's Ruwan ... Last week he moved to Singapore, for one year I guess. According to the info gathered while talking with him he is going to be listed under Singapore MVP List. So we really are going to miss you bro. Wish ya all da best

So now it is my self, Merill, Manzi, Pras, Jinath, Buddhike and Dinesh.

Biggest problem is what will happen to Tech2Guys? Last Thursday we were suppose to have the May IT Pro User Group Meeting. But couldn't. I received several calls regarding the meeting, which means there are many enthusiasts. We'll see what's gonna happen to the user group meting. However online form will go on.

Gold medal winner Sri Lanka's Chinthana Vidanage waves from the podium during a medal ceremony for the 2006 Commonwealth Games men's weightlifting 62 kg category in Melborne, Australia, Friday, March 17, 2006.

source: http://news.sinhalaya.com/wmview.php?ArtID=10850

Real Programmers don't eat quiche. They like twinkies, coke and palate-scorching Szechwan food.
Real Programmers don't write applications programs. They program right down on the bare metal. Applications programming is for the dullards who can't do systems programming.
Real Programmers don't write specs. Users should be grateful for whatever they get: they are lucky to get any programs at all.
Real Programmers don't comment their code. If it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand and harder to modify.
Real Programmers don't document. Documentation is for simpletons who can't read listings or the object code from the dump.
Real Programmers don't draw flowcharts. Flowcharts are the illiterate's form of documentation. Cavemen drew flowcharts; look at how much good it did for them.
Real Programmers don't read manuals. Reliance on a reference manual is the hallmark of the novice and the coward.
Real Programmers don't write in RPG. RPG is for gum-chewing dimwits who maintain ancient payroll programs.
Real Programmers don't write in COBOL. COBOL is for COmmon Business-Oriented Laymen who can't run a business, much less write a real program.
Real Programmers don't write in FORTRAN. FORTRAN is for wimp engineers who wear white socks. They get excited over finite state analysis and nuclear reactor simulation.
Real Programmers don't write in PL/1. PL/1 is for insecure anal-retentives who can't choose between COBOL and FORTRAN.
Real Programmers don't write in BASIC. Actually, no programmer writes in BASIC after reaching puberty.
Real Programmers don't write in APL, unless the whole program can be written on one line.
Real Programmers don't write in LISP. Only idiots' programs contain more parenthesis than actual code.
Real Programmers don't write in PASCAL, BLISS, ADA, or any of those other sissy computer science languages. Strong typing is the crutch for people with weak minds.
Real Programmers' programs never work right the first time. But if you throw them on the machine they can be patched into working order in "only a few" 30-hour debugging sessions.
Real Programmers never work 9 to 5. If any Real Programmers are around at 9:00 am, its because they were up all night.
Real Programmers don't play tennis, or any other sport which requires a change of clothes. Mountain Climbing is acceptable. Real Programmers wear climbing boots to work in case a mountain should suddenly spring up in the middle of the machine room.
Real Programmers disdain structured programming. Structured programming is for compulsive neurotics who were permanently toilet trained. They wear neckties and carefully line up sharp pencils on an otherwise clear desk.
Real Programmers don't like the team programming concept. Unless, of course they are the chief programmer.
Real Programmers never write memos on paper. They send memos via computer mail networks.
Real Programmers have no use for managers. Managers are a necessary evil. They exist only to deal with personnel bozos, bean counters, senior planners, and other mental defectives.
Real Programmers scorn floating point arithmetic. The decimal point was invented for pansy bedwetters who are unable to "think big."
Real Programmers don't drive clapped-out Mavericks. They prefer BMW's, Lincolns, or pick up trucks with floor shifts. Fast motorcycles are highly regarded.
Real Programmers don't believe in schedules. Planners make up schedules. Managers "firm up" schedules. Frightened coders strive to meet schedules. Real Programmers ignore schedules.

Source: http://funnies.paco.to/RealProg.html

Everybody is excited to see the VS Launch event. Guys who got the change to attend are thrilled. Guys who missed ... some are still crying, because they missed the best event ever hannened in the country. One guy made a request 'Wela next time when there is something please please please please make sure I get an invitation becasue I missed the VS Launch event ... so I don't want to miss any future events. Can I reserve my invitation to any future event now?" 

So, many are asking what is next?  Cople of things on the pipe. You will know on time to come .

.NET Forum is active than ever. Interlude session we did @ the VS Launch is a big kick for the forums.

Before we announced the VS Launch event we had 1507 Users registered. Right at this moment the count is 1732. I want to make this over 2500 by the end of this year . Let's see ...

Went to Wasgamuwa National Wild Life Park in the weekend with couple of friends. This time participation was very bad. Pathi didn't come because he got married few weeks ago, Nalaka got work to do on Independance day, and the worst case was 'Sunil Nana' couldn't come because his wife over ruled this time. and as usual Abey, Chamee, Mendis had various reasons. So this time the team was ... TD, Tarik, Nalle, Outa, Lakkana, Andos and me. Even though it was a small crowd it turned out to be a great trip. As for me it was really relaxing trip because the only electronic device I had was my camera. No computers, no mobiles :)

Off road Safaries were really thrilling. Elephants getting pissed off to the engine sound was sometimes a scary scene .. on the other hand it was exciting.

Have tons of photos. But as usual my schedule is back to busy mode. I'll put those up as soon as I get a chance.

YO! Tarik Nana ... Have a nice trip back to Oman ... be safe ... Keep in touch through emails.

Found some news in couple of sites about this amazing idea. Basically it's a whole new opening for the advertising industry. You might wonder can there be any 'new' mode for advertising, because the whole world is filled with advertising. Even if you go to a remote villages in deep congo/amazon i'm sure you will find a coca-cola poster .

In the current known methods some people use radio and television as the advertising media. Some stick to posters, flyers etc etc.

Well! In this new method you have to put your posters and stuff on your roof top . What da hell? Who the hell is going to see? Guys did you forget. There are thousands (or is it millions) who are looking down through Google Earth and MSN Virtual Earth. So small size ads won't do. Make sure you paint your ad as big as possible on your roof top.

It sounds like a creazy idea. But I think it Rocks!

First I tried installing it on a Virtual PC. I allocated 1 Gig RAM to the virtual pc memory and started the installation. Even though the Ubuntu's title is 'Linux for Human Beings' I couldn't see any 'human related' user friendly messages or information during the setup. It was filled with all those scary messages. Installation was a 'dos screens' type based one which I think a thing of the past. Unfortunatly after the installation Virtual PC didn't get started properly. Screen opened up in a creazy resolution and with color patches everywhere.

Then I gave a try with my extra hard disk. Phew! Finally it worked.

May be the earlier Virtual PC tryout failed due to it is not supporting to be installed on a virtual enviorenment (i'm not sure about this). Because it cannot be due to a error in Virtual PC. I'm sure of this because I already have many Operating Systems installed on VPC which are running perfectly.

So my final conclusion about Ubuntu is ...

I herd that there are over 600 different versions/types of Linux available. I have Mandrek and Redhat installed in virtual PCs. When compared I didn't felt anything special at all about Ubuntu. I think Ubuntu is just another one of those Linux types, or if I have missed anything I would really appriciate it if Linux guys can educate me.

All my friends who are into open source (but still using windows) said that Ubuntu Linux will make a difference and a competetion to Windows XP and Windows Vista.

So I decided to check it out. Right at this moment i'm downloading Ubuntu Linux. Will post more info later.

Wish You All a Very

Happy New Year

The 50 Greatest Gadgets of the Past 50 Years
Here's PC World's official (and entirely idiosyncratic) list of the top tech gadgets of the last half century.

We're living in the golden age of the gadget. Don't believe it? Check your pockets. Odds are you're carrying a portable music player, an electronic organizer, a keychain-size storage device, a digital camera, or a cell phone that combines some or all of these functions. And you'd probably be hard-pressed to live without them.

At PC World, we'd be lost without these things. We don't merely test and write about digital gear, we live and breathe the stuff. In honor of this raging gizmo infatuation, we polled our editors and asked them to name the top 50 gadgets of the last 50 years. The rules? The devices had to be relatively small (no cars or big-screen TVs, for example), and we considered only those items whose digital descendants are covered in PC World (cameras, yes; blenders, no). We rated each gadget on its usefulness, design, degree of innovation, and influence on subsequent gadgets, as well as the ineffable quality we called the "cool factor." Then we tallied the results.

After a lot of Web surfing, spreadsheet wrangling, and some near fistfights, we emerged with the following list. Some items in our Top 50 are innovative devices that appeared briefly and then were quickly consigned to museums and future appearances on eBay, but whose influence spread widely. Others are products we use every day--or wish we could.

With the holidays in full swing, and as folks shop for the right gear to give their loved ones, join us as we visit with the ghosts of gadgets past and present.

The X Prize Foundation last year award $10 million to a team led by aircraft designer Burt Rutan and Microsoft's Paul Allen for a pair of suborbital flights aboard SpaceShipOne. NASA would need to offer $100 million to generate private interest in developing a vehicle for human orbital flight.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20051212/spaceprize_spa.html

I have tried lot of RSS readers because I wanted to find the best one . Finally I decided to stay with NewsGator because it is fully integrated into Outlook. And during most of my day I have Outlook opened. So I don't have to open another program to check my RSS feeds list.

And the good scene is Similar kinda feature is built into Outlook 12.

During my presentation @ yesterdays User Group Meeting feedback I got from the audiance was really good. For most of the questions I gave the answers. But for one I said 'I don't know', because I didnt know an answers.

Well! After the meeting one guy said, saying 'Don't Know' to a question is not a good thing and you should have said something. Dude ... how can I say anything about something which I don't know. I think it is better to say 'I don't know' without just saying some bullshit.

Another comment what this person made was 'You should know everything' . How in the world that I can know everything about something. If somebudy is thinking that MVPs know everything or they must know everything ... dude ... you are wrong. We are not a group of people who knows everything about everything. We know certain things very well, and rest we have the guts to face it.

I have seen lot of speaches from Microsoft Speakers and even they say 'I dont know' in some cases. Nice thing is when they say 'NO' people think 'his experties are in a different area'. BUT when we say 'NO' it becomes 'You should know everything'. 

So .. How can you say 'NO'? ... you just put letter 'N' and letter 'O' together and it becomes 'NO' . There is nothing wrong in saying 'I dont know'.

This clip was taken by merill

http://www.welasharp.net/videos/me_at_ecarnival.avi

Tomorrow is a very important day to the whole country. It's the 5th Presidential Election. Whos going to win? Is it Priminister Mahinda Rajapaksha or is it the Opsition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe. In couple hours time people will decide. See how powerful a vote is

Meanwhile all the media channels are preparing for their own battle to do a cool telecast on the Election, Results broadcasting etc.

I'm sure when all of us started doing 'IT' we went through several interesting lectures on 'Introduction to Computer' or 'Computer History' or 'How Computers evolved'. But have you ever seen any of those machanicle calculating devices or those big ass analog machines. Or a hard disk which is about 1 feet in diameter that can hold couple of megs only?

Well! If you havent seen any of those check out the following two URLs from channel9 to see the 'Tour of the Computer History Musium'

Tour of the Computer History Museum - Part I
Tour of the Computer History Museum - Part II

Thanks to the guys who are doing the Computer Musium. I always wanted see all those old stuff. Hope i'll be lucky enough to visit the musium someday in the future :)

5 ways blogging can help your business

Last saturday while I was checking through the DVD shops to buy some new movies came across this. P.U.M.P. - Sri Lanka's 1st digital Magazine. Filled with lot of interesting topics like Fashion, Game of the Month, Movie Madness, Music, On the Rise etc.

I was able to find only the 3rd and 4th issues. Have to hunt for the first two issues. Anyway its a cool magazine. It's on a good quality print, with a FREE CD ... and all these for only 100 Rupees.

Great work guys