Fall colors of my university...

Some snaps of fall colors in my university (UT, Knoxville)...

The pathway near my office...

View of the hill area. 4 trees, all different colors!!!



















Some more colors....

nice view of downtown with diff tree colors

View of the hills and the lake


and finally...

Thats me amidst fallen leaves..

Speaking of Television....

Here, the TV shows can go crazy!! yesterday there was a TV serial with a 3-D episode!! and u will get "free" 3-D glasses if u "buy" a magazine!
BTW, was seeing the late night show with Conan O'Brian and the episode contained his ever so famous "If they mated" series where the combine the faces of 2 celebrities who r dating. This time, the last pair was interesting..It was Paris Hilton and her pet monkey! and guess what was the outcome!! George.W. Bush!!
and O'Brian's comment on that: This is what happens when u combine enormous wealth and lowest level of primates!! :)
Boy!! These guys hate him!!

Karnatakada bandugalu

I guess ppl have already seen this..but if not, this is a good one..enjai!! :)

English Band	Karnataka Version	Complexity
ACDC	CurrentuByattree	High
Aha	Oho	Killer
All Saints	Yella Saadhugale	Low
Audio Slave	Dhvani Gulaama	Low
BabyFace	MaguMaka	Low
Back Street Boys	Hind beedhi huduguru	Low
Bad Boys Blue	Neeli Poli huduguru	Medium
Bad Company	Kettu Kharkane	Medium
Baker Street	Iyengar Raste	High
Bananarama	Devuru Baalehannu	Killer
Barenaked ladies	Nagnavaadhu Hengusuru	Low
Billy Idol	Bekkina Vigraha	High
Black crowes	Kappu Kaagigalu	Low
Black Sabbath	Kari Sabbakki bathu	High
Blind Melon	Kurudu Kalangri	High
Chemical Brothers	Rasayane sodharegalu	High
ColdPlay	ChaliAta	Low
Collective Soul	Atma Chow Chow	High
Color me badd	Kettudage banna haki	High
counting Crows	Enuso kaagigalu	Low
Creed	Vichara	High
Culture Club	Samskaradha Ispet Kendra	Killer
Cutting Crew	Hajam Nan makalu	High
Deep Blue Something	Aallla Neeli eno	High
Def Leppard	Kivdu Chirute	Low
Dire Straits	Sakkath Ayomaya	High
Duran Duran	Maadu Ood-dha Maadu Ood-dha	High
Eagles	Garuda	Low
Everything but the Girl	Figar bittu bere yalla	Medium
Faith Hill	Nambike Betta	Medium
Faster Pussycat	Bega bekku	High
Fine Young Cannibals	Valle yuva nara-bakshakaru	High
FireHouse	Benkimane	Low
Fools Garden	Huchura udhyanavana	Medium
FourPlay	Nalaku Jana Aadodhu	High
Garbage	Kachada	Low
Gipsy Kings	Lambadi Raja	Killer
Go West	Paschima Hogi	Medium
GodSmack	Devuru Kapala	Medium
Goo goo dolls	gugoo (peddu) gombegalu	Killer
Grateful Dead	Aabhari Sattavaru	High
Greenday	Hasuru Dhina	Low
HoobaStank	Yarappa bittidhu?	High
INXS	Solpa Jaasthi Aithu	High
Iron Maiden	Kabna-dha Kanya	Medium
Journey	Prayana	Low
Kansas	Krishnan maavan-dhu	Killer
Linkin Park	Jodso Udyana	High
Little River Band	Chikka Nadhi Baaja	Low
Lou bega	Ousara	Killer
Matchbox 20	Benkipatna ippathu	Medium
Maxi Priest	Langa-ony Poojari	High
Meat Loaf	Mamsada thundu	Medium
MegaDeth	Vishaala-Saavu	Medium
Metallica	Kabna-nekkan-a?	High
Modern Talking	Aadunika Maathu	Medium
Moody Blues	Neeli Feelingu	Medium
Naughty by Nature	Modhlinda Thunturu	High
NickelBack	Childre vapas	Medium
No Doubt	Anumanane illa	Medium
Noble Savages	Punyathma baddi makalu	Killer
Papa Roach	Jirle appa	Medium
Pearl Jam	Mutthina Gojju	High
Pet Shop Boys	Saakuva Praani Angadi Huduguru	High
PM Dawn	Sandhye-ne Bellagge	Killer
Radio Head	Aakasha Vani Thale	Medium
Rainbow	Indradhanusu	Low
Red Hot Chilli Peppers	Bisi Bisi Kempu Menasinkai galu	Medium
Red Nex	Kempu Kathu	Low
Roxette	Yella Thara Kallu	Killer
Rush	Bega	Low
Salt N Pepa	Uppu Kara	Low
Scorpions	Chhelugalu	Low
Seal	Mucchu	Killer
Simply Red	Sumne Kempu	Medium
six pence none the richer	aaru kaasu astay saaku	High
Smashing Pumpkins	Vadadhuhogthairo Kumblekaigalu	Medium
Smashmouth	Moothi vadee	High
Snoop Doggy Dogg	Thika-nai-mari	Killer
Soul Asylum	Atma ke Lodge	High
Spice Girls	Sambhara Hudigiru	High
StarShip	Nakshatradha Dhoni	Medium
Stone Temple Pilots	Kallidha Devasthanada Pushpaka chalakaru	Killer
Take That	Thogo Adhu	Medium
Tears For Fears	Bhayake Kaneeru	High
The Byrds	Pakshigalu	Low
The Police	Hoysala	High
The Who	Yaaru	Low
Third Eye Blind	Moorne Kannu Kurudu	Medium
U2	Ninu kuda?	High
UB40	Mallya Nalavatthu	Killer
Uncle Cracker	Vadiyo mama	Medium
Uriah Heep	Shagni Kuppe	Medium
Weather Report	Vaathavarna Soochane	Medium
wet wet wet	vadday vadday vaddy	Low
Yes	Howdu	Low
Bands banned in Karnataka, Translation Problems.
Jamiroquai
Jethro Tull
Antharax
Queensryche
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Credence Clearwater Revival
Bands that have always been welcome, (Names already sound like kannada)
Beck	Cat	Pre-Trans
Nelly	Tap	Pre-Trans
Madonna	Shall we?	Pre-Trans

A random thought on Television

Our previous generation called TV as an idiot box. But they forgot that it is fun to look at an idiot. It is actually amusing. At my place, i get 4 channels on TV and I love watching any of them. It is like real life.. filled with suspense. You will not know what will be the next program going to be like. you may like it or may not. It is the suspense and the randomness which make it so different from a cinema hall .

I always liked to watch TV. It gives me great pleasure to watch something which is so utterly foolish and scrappy but lively. It fills me with a relief that I am not one of those characters they show on the scree.. This may look like addiction but what the heck??. It is relaxing and thats what I want to do right now.

The "Vikas" Identity

No..this is not the latest book by Robert Ludlum..rather, it is about this guy called Vikas, that's me whoz kinda lost his "identity" in the US of A. How, you ask? Read on...

Firstly, this is a crazy place where people are tightly bound to the rules of calling someone by their firstname and lastname (I had also posted an article abt this once, remember??), and right from the day I have landed in US, I've had problems with my name. For those who do not know, my entire name as per the passport reads:
(Given Names) Venkataramana Vikas
(Last Name)Yelagondanahalli
Some examples of reactions which people have had reading my name...
My first day while registering, at the International Students House: Your name!!... Your Name!! God!
At the Social Security Office:
Officer:While you were 4 years old, did your parents ask you to remember THIS name??
Me: No, in India, I go by Vikas.Y.V.
Officer: Oh, thank goodness me!!!
My VLSI prof: So you are the guy with the super long name!!
Another Prof, reading out my name: Yel..Yala...Yalago...(triumphantly)Yalagondanaal!!!

With all these problems, I advice people to call me by my First Name, Vikas which is much easier. If they can do that well, my identity would still remain intact..but how do people call me????
They call me Vikas (Pronouned: Y Kus), or Vikas (Pronouned: Veee Kus). Can't help it. Viking is spelt as "Y King" and not "V King"...A few days I tried correcting them and told them the actual pronounciation, but after a while I gave up.

Recently I met a guy from Sri Lanka and we were talking and he asked my name. I pronouned my name as VeeKus, so he asked, Vikas? (The Indian way!). That's when i realized I have lost my identity...

Funny Comments

This is great..
Take a look at the last blog by Shaggy on rvinst..

Yup "An exhilarating Experience just missed"

Click on comments and there u go!!!

Link

Check out the 4th comment by scott

The most amusing (auto??!!) comment I ever read.

Anyone booking a ticket to texas now????

What about you shaggy or ambar??? Do u guys have any hand in this?? :))

Elizabethtown

Aim: To get a break from stupid assignment and to give some rest to the rear end which is already sticking to the lab seat.

Abstract: Watch Elizabeth town which is vouched for by roommates in a solitary cinema hall in clemson.

Procedure : Go directly to the cinema at 9:40pm from the lab. Roomates to purchase the necessary ticket.

Result: Slight delay but BAD movie .. Had to think a lot to understand the story and finally give up.No story!! Confusinig and made me lose sleep for 2 hrs.

Conclusion: Never watch a movie which has the name of a city and boasts as intellectual movie.

Grade : C

To hell with lab assignments

Applies to all electrical engineers who have/had lab in their BE and-or masters courses

Being an indian and a RVite at that, I had never imagined that labs will be tough to complete. All we had to do in BE was to copy a senior's ckt , rig up the ckt, tune the pots and get something which looked like what the senior had got. This is how we all passed the lab and assigned marks similar to the senior's record we were using.

It is not the way in MS!! Every univ has lot of funds to get all sorts of liscenced softwares to help (??) students. So every assignment goes like this

Day 1. Prof gives specs and deadline of 4 weeks...Everybody thinks 4 weeks is too long

1st week: Read some books/paper which use the words given in the specs

2nd week: Try completing the assignments of other courses

3rd week: Start with the design, not able to meet the specs, Panic!!!!!!!!

4th week: start consulting the prof, ask for extension. Prof agrees for 1 week extension

5th week: Assuming the design is right, start simulations, no luck
2 days before neew deadline: do night out, somehow get the simulation working
1day before: Do night out, connect on the breadboard, no output!! Panic!!!!
Day of submission, Panic!!, write report, work on the breadboard, Panic!!, submit the report without output

After 1 week: Prof gives his solution and says all designs that were used are wrong. Everybody gets a B

Panic!! think about improving the grade in next test atleast which is due 4 weeks from now

Big Brother in action

This might be in chennai. But I think I have heard of these stories in blore also..