Pidgin Activity logger!

Hey guys,

I am really short of time to catch up with my lunch, and hence excuse me for my gibberish English :P. Recently my dear friend came up with this hilarious idea to log the activity of online users on our Gtalk accounts. Hmm, not a bad idea heh!

So I sat down( many though I was doin madness ) and this is the strategy that I blogged down:

1. Use DBus connectivity to access information from Pidgin client. DBus is a server based model by which you can connect to applications running on your Localhost transparently.

2. Use python as the binding to DBus.

3. When first starting the program, get a count of current online users.

4. Trap signals for Signed In and Signed Out, and whenever one happens, just increment/decrement the count.

5. Log all changes to a file.

6. Make a Graph from the Log file using Matlab.

You would like to see the final output first right ? Heh:


It was a nice experience to jot down the hueristics of your Gtalk activity because we use it way too often. The graph starts at 00:00:00 Midnight for 24 hrs so that makes it one full day. And you can visibly see that the Maximum peak is at about 8-10 Pm and the lowest at around 5-6 AM.

Want your own graph, reply to this post.... and btw I might be releasing a Pidgin Plugin named Activity-Logger pretty soon ;)

For the interested if you can manufacture a plugin earlier than I may, have a look at the code urself: git hub code

KGP -- A Juggernaut in the making

KGP -- KGP Group of Programmers, the recursive name shudders through me a flow of intense adrenaline! And I hope the plans and views that I have set for this 'TO BE' giant, turn out frightingly stupendous!

It's tough to say where it all started, but I know where's it going. I don't know if all my friends who have certainly made the abstract plans to hardware fabrication, share the same intensity and far[t] sightedness. I ain't boasting, and u'll realise in a matter of few kilos of words that I really am having a far[t] sightedness :D.

What is the KGP -- to be as simple as possible, it is an effort to produce "sexy" code. Sexy not only in terms of ideas, but in terms of Coding Style, Technologies, Architecture etc. It's an effort to churn out Cormen( the person ), yes why not! We've got to start somewhere, and maybe my batch has to do the dirty work of flooring, who the FUCK cares! What matters is that you contribute, and that contribution is rememberd not as a "Memorial" but as a profession!

I have many plans with KGP, first of all I would like to teach my juniors, teach won't be the right word.. I should rather use guide, towards a learning of practical aspects of coding. Today code is not all about a single piece of C code which can run with the good ol' gcc mybullshitfile.c followed by ./thiswillconquerortheworld.out :D. Rather we need an organised effort, roots of which can be derived from the community of Open Source!

Here I wish to tell that Open Source is a community rather than a category of software, a community which has people who understand the importance of collaborative coding, and also the idiocracies of Licenses etc. And this includes those from the heart of FSF( read Linux if confused ) to the backwaters of Microsoft and there's no one to say that the Microsoft guy should be hanged over all the code he's written. No!, Open Source is a place to learn and not to spread communism!

I like the model of Open Source and hence adopt it for most of my processes of programming, may be it Technologies to choice of Languages this community helps you out anywhere and everywhere :). This is exactly what I would wish to see.. KGP adopting the idiocracy as well as charm of Open Source Architecture. And I am sure working with a bunch of to-be 'Geeks' will be a fun experience!

What can't we achieve, there's nothing out of our reach! Making softwares can be fun and why can't we make competitive code ? All's needed is organised effort and that's what had been lacking till now! I won't be surprised to see scores of ideas in sections like 'Sandbox' and 'Incubation', and many being completed and launched. It has to get bigger! The Juggernaut has to roll to engulf all. Just look at the consequences, we might end up in a system where code is being produced and not just for voluntary ideas but maybe for companies! We can get work for sites of the magnitude of Kshitij and SF, why not ? Aren't we meant for this fate ?

Can't we produce winners in comptt like Imagine Cup, GSoC and lot's more of them ? Just the organised effort was missing and I and my batch hope to fulfil it with our gift to this beautiful institute, a gift to our juniors.... KGP!

SSH Port Blocking and CSE-Xeon server Tragedy

There has been a quite an uproar over the Xeon-64 servers not being able to accept connections by CSE students of my batch.

Abstract

[ For those who just want to know, "can I get to that fucking machine anyway ?" ]

The problem, to put in very accurate technical terms is, Port Blocking on Outbound traffic. SSH runs on Port 22( Default Value/XEON Server) and CIC network guys have blocked all outbound traffic on Port 22 for most of the halls.... ( atleast RK, RP, NH and more... ).

So the simple thing is this, YOU CANNOT HAVE ANY TRAFFIC ON PORT 22 OUTSIDE THE HALLS. Though local( inside halls ) traffic will suffice. And hence if you are too desperate for the 64bit lady, there are 3 solutions from me:

1. Get the Xeon server port changed to something other than 22, say 4455 etc.
2. OR Ask the CIC/Wipro guys to turn the stupid firewall off.
3. Tell the guys at Hall Server rooms, ask if they can get you through

Details

Let's see what exactly is the scene, I wont talk much theoretical nonsence, but rather show you some concrete output to support the facts.

First thing I will do is to ssh the Xeon( 10.5.18.75 ) server with my user

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sanket@sanket-desktop:~$ ssh sanketa@10.5.18.74
ssh: connect to host 10.5.18.74 port 22: No route to host
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clearly I cannot open the server!

Now I shall try to ssh into Avishek's machine which is in the same Hall as I am:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sanket@sanket-desktop:~$ ssh avishekbanerjee@10.110.11.209
The authenticity of host '10.110.11.209 (10.110.11.209)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 99:15:20:66:1f:d7:de:f9:24:be:dc:99:2a:62:6d:26.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added '10.110.11.209' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
avishekbanerjee@10.110.11.209's password:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Evidently I can see that avishek's system is open for me on port 22.

Another more "techniche" check using nmap.

Xeon Server: nmap -p22 10.5.1875

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sanket@sanket-desktop:~$ nmap -p22 10.5.18.75
Starting Nmap 4.62 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2009-07-24 19:52 IST
Interesting ports on 10.5.18.75:
PORT STATE SERVICE
22/tcp filtered ssh

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 13.085 seconds
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Avishek's Machine: nmap -p22 10.110.11.209
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
sanket@sanket-desktop:~$ nmap -p22 10.110.11.209
Starting Nmap 4.62 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2009-07-24 19:53 IST
Interesting ports on 10.110.11.209:
PORT STATE SERVICE
22/tcp open ssh

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 13.052 seconds
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The results are evident, Xeon server has got no port 22 request, Filtered! But Avishek my friend is very comfy with the thing :D

It's a easy test actually to see if your outbound traffic is blocked. Just try to ssh into a machine you know is ought to be working, and if you can't access.. you're doomed.

Though what I have shown here is Outbound Traffic blocking, and it's actually the case that inbound traffic is totallly okay. Try sshing into your computer from department computers and don't get surprised at the results. ;)

Here's a proof, the machine I will be using is kept in the CSE Deptt and I have access to it( on somehow ). All deptt machines have open outboud traffic, so if I get a filtered output when scanning my m/c in hall, that means that the m/c in hall is refusing!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mailinglist@maillist-cse:~$ nmap -p22 10.110.11.10

Starting Nmap 4.76 ( http://nmap.org ) at 2009-07-24 20:00 IST
Interesting ports on 10.110.11.10:
PORT STATE SERVICE
22/tcp open ssh

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 5.69 seconds
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am OPEN! If you can realize the gravity of the results so far, I can go further explaining the network you're inside.

On the basic layer is a Hall which is connected to a Server( often called Server Room as you all know it ). This server, rather a Gateway, connects to the CIC Network Shells( at CIC ), and there's where they put the port throttling etc! But I don't know why is it that they've put it for some of the halls.
What I can suspect is that, maybe somehow, by redirecting the port 22 traffic to some open m/c and then bouncing off requests from that machine, you can be helped out of this port 22 menace. So if the people at the server room are intelligent enough, you're in God's hands I guess :).

Let's Fly, Cut and Run a Kite with the Kite Runner!

It has been quite a fascinating experience to read the Debut novel of yet another Asian writing prodigy, Khalid Hosseini! The book as we all know, "Kite Runner". It would perhaps be the end of reading spree I have witnessed recently, and now that my breath has become solid and heavy looking at the Semester Performance, I better get some "real books" to read :P

Emotions have always been like a flowing river, uncomprehensible, unstoppable... the style the book's written is no big exception to the fact! I would perhaps go on to comment that, this book is more of an emotion-- cascading like a waterfall --which takes you into a world unknown and unplundered.

With a free flowing hand, and frightful bursts of exemplary imagery, dictionary has been on toes to keep pace with Hosseini's ink. A story truly heart-throbbing and exceptionally serene, takes one into a world few have witnessed. The writer is a small child of "Baba" living in some posh locality of Afghanistan. He and Hasan( their Servant's child ) become the best of friends sharing all possible curves of life, TILL, Amir( the writer ) betrays Hasan and they split.



Amir moves to America with Baba and the story proceeds with how he fights his conscience, which had made him inert to concepts of "Loyalty", "Truce" and "Countrymanship". He returns to Afghanistan, only to discover what his Vanity had hid from him when he was once a child. Without detailing further-- and hence popping the plot --I would recommend you reading this book.

Have a look at the summary for reference: http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_Kite_Runner

1984 by George Orwell -- Devastatingly Serene !

Recently I laid my hands upon the much celebrated Dystopian Novel in English literature, 1984 by George Orwell. This book written in 1949( The exact details can be wikied out ) has been a relevance even after a Golden Jubilee! There are loads of reviews you could find on the internet, but I feel redundancy has always been a feature of this Webbified world !

Starting off with the genre this book belongs to -- Dystopian, Violent, Sexual and Aggressive -- truly exhilarating! Dystopian Literature is that form of thinking which is restricted to a Policy and Doctrine, the vision of a society in which conditions of life are miserable and characterized by poverty.

And hence the elements of Violence, Sexual Obscenity and Aggression can hardly be left out. At first the idea that:

WAR IS PEACE,
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!

Would make you fretted. Same was with me, though it is easy to swallow the fact that our ancestors could be "stupid" enough to believe in the above non-sense! But after I read the book and the views put forward by Goerge via our Narrator -- Winston Smith, you are made to rethink, with terms like "doublethink", "thoughtcrime", "crimestop"... a whole new train of thoughts tramp through!

Here's my favourite pick of thought: The author justifies pretty effortlessly that War is indeed peace, and here's how.

War has been a way for communities and rulers to impose their power and expand territory. But it has been a nature of law, until now, that one war gave rise to another, one conqueror to other. No one thought of ruling the world, FOREVER. The thought never came as they knew they were mortal, one day they had to give way to thier hiers who could be least potent of taking the legacy forward. But the "Party" which rules "Oceania" -- the piece of land on which our Narator is a part -- has different plans. They redefine war from roots, changing the very behaviour, meaning and purpose!

All that party wants is Power, immense power, a power which gives rise to power! They have a head in the form of Big Brother, whose very existence is doubtful. But one thing that is fixed is the "Party"! No person exist independently, and party shall rule forever as it is immortal. For them the greatest reason for "revolutions" in the past have been the Human Emotions, their heart and ability to think have overthrown empires to dust. The plan is simple, keep them in tight control. How to do it ? Eat up all the resources, drain them emotionally, make sex taboo, beat them, kill them, mercilessly! Monitor them day and night -- Thought Police they call it.

War is just a way to keep the resources busy, away from the reach of common man! What they want is not the betterment of people but more POWER. The wars have never been targetted to overthrow rivals, they hardly happen anywhere other than frontiers. Even the frontiers are ill defined. No major power tries to invade into other's territory... war is a convinient way to divert excess -- rather vital -- resources to wastelands!

Party feels that man can either be free, freedom in terms of intellectual and mental, or happy. Both things don't go hand in hand. It is easy to imagine, happiness is what they give! People are starving, dying, ailing of epidemics, but they are happy -- because the "Party" is their saviour!

I can go on and on with the doctrines of the "Party" and the ways in which Ocieana was controlled. But you would rather get your own hands dirty with the fantastic and heretic novel it is!

Happy Reading

Spritual and serene.... the BRIDA way!

"Paulo Paulo, where thou get such words to explain the inexplicable ?"

I am all ga-ga with Paulo Coelho's yet another Masterpiece( if I may be least appreciating ), Brida. I had already been through Alchemist, the renowned bestseller! The story is of a girl, with rather extraordinary talents to see into the meta-ordinary. She is in search for a Guide who could tell her about Magic, about all those questions that intrigue mortals like me!

She finds a man who resides by the woods, called "Magus" and he teaches her the importance of patience, courage and the will to go on in life. She also meets "Wicca" who tells her that she's supposed to be a "Witch", one of the four ways-- the virgin, the saint, the martyr, and the witch --to realise one's mission in life!

The story builds around the internal contradiction Brida faces while trying to strike a logical balance between the Visible( Mortals, earth! ) and the Invisible. Invisible here referring to Heavens where all the Wisdom resides, where we have our fathers and forefathers, where there are answers to all !

Brida by Paulo Coelho

The search for spiritual peace and understanding leads her to her mission in life, to protect and pass the legacy witches had always had. She understands the true meaning of a Soulmate, which turns out to be the "Magus" in the end!

Soulmate is considered by Paulo as one of the major reasons of existence of a bieng, and that his questions about life, birth and aspirations could only be answered by the spiritual search for soulmate !

I would quote some stanzas which I see to be of great inspirational help:

1.

" People give flowers as presents because flowers contain the true meaning of love. Anyone who tries to possess a flower will have to watch it's beauty fading. But if you simply look at the flower in a field, you will keep it forever, because the flower is a part of the evening and the sunset and the smell of damp earth and the clouds on the horizon. "

2.
"Being human means having doubts and still continue on your path."

3.
"And it taught me something else that I'll never forget: finding one important thing in your life dosen't mean you have to give up all the other important things"


There is one thing that people reading this review should take with them. Paulo is a great writer when it comes to influencing people with his sheer superiority of his thoughts, though if you are seeking for a "masala" flick with all those treacherous turns, better not disappoint yourself by taking this work of art! His books can be a rather boor when it comes to keeping the plot, but you need to lookout for those marvellous quotes as some I have posted!

For the record, it indeed is a good read.... go for it :-)!

Literature Gallore!

Though there is a lot I would like to share on this blog, I have a feeling that Blogs are not meant to pour yourself on nitty grity of your micro activities :D! I have been upto some work off late, notably amongst it would be working on the XMPP protocol and reading some of the Classical Literature. In the spree should be mentioned a couple of books which I have recently annhilated to my heart's content, 'The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho' and 'The Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer'. Let's have a miniature review of the books!

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho


This is one state-of-art that made me believe of the capabilities of Literature! I assume that most of you have heard about the book, if not had an eye at this gleaning masterpiece. Religion has always been a dilemma for workaholics and dumbs of my kind[;)]. I have often wondered if those who boister about God, Religion, and Worship would hardly consider the importance of work and ONLY work! I was of the belief-- though not adamant --that work should always precede any other preference AS Work is Worship! But what this book has done is to successfully strike a bewildering concordance between Religion-- in forms of Omens --and ambitions! It is a manifestation of Rituals that one might consider outdated and passe, that have been converted to a substance acceptable by the contemporary society! Paulo Coelho has always been a Religious authority, but the way he has manifested himself into the recent flow of society changes, is not at all an 'ordinary' feat!

I am awestruck by the concordane the book has been able to synchronize with me, and would recommend it to all who wish to find the existence of Almighty amongst their Hectic Schedule.

Paths of Glory By Jeffrey Archer




It is said that the book is a real story, but who'll be amused to read my story ? Huh! C'mon every person on this damn world has his own tale to tell, but writting it down 'just' for the sake of it makes no sense! I hail Jeffrey Archer for the exhilarating display of gleaning bright English, sometimes makes me feel inferior to the richness of language! Indeed the intricate display of words has even kept the Dictionary on it toes! With a myriad display of plethoral diversity, I won't be bemused to see a few guys leave any hope from this book :D!

Though the screenplay has been perfect, I am afraid that the content has rahter blemished the Publication as a whole. The subtitle for the book, "THIS IS THE STORY OF A MAN WHO LOVED TWO WOMEN, AND ONE OF THEM KILLED HIM'. is pretty apt, as you would find out after reading it, but the pace is rather slow, there's no plot or anything of the like .

The story is of a man, a prodigy at mountaineering and first class Alpinist. First he climbs the walls of his college then the Alps of Europe , then the Eiffel Tower and finally set out to conquer the Leaning Lady, none other than 'Mt(Ms) Everest'. The author has impressingly described Everest as the 'Virgin still in slumber, waiting to be ripped through'.

And the other woman is-- pretty obviously --his wife Ruth, who has to muster the pain to live for months w/o him, and finally loses him in front of the more deserving candidate, Her Majesty, Her Highness -- Lady Everest!

The book has a flat paced attire though it talks of bumps and rides through the treacherous valleys and peaks, it is a bit disappointing though it promises a bit more :(!

"""Hope you got my part of story, I would love to hear from what you felt about the books."""