The game is done! I've won,I've won!

Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
Except for the fact that the game is not done. In the least.
This is something I might have mentioned before, but I'll say it again,anyways:Winter is a time to sleep 16 hours a day.
Besides, a winter without rain is-not the right winter.
As things-to-do pile up, my mind wanders at random to Ancient Mariner lines and I keep thinking of a number of completely unrelated things.
I am waiting for someone's post, it is supposed to be a happy one.
Still waiting for it.
For some time, I have been intending to read Ghulam Bagh, for I have heard a lot about it.
I came across the song of ice and fire series and started reading it. At first,i was not impressed. But further reading took me deep in the world of Starks, Lannisters and Targaryens. Then I watched the entire season of A Game of Thrones, and now I am waiting for ACOK. Despite knowing the entire story beforehand (or as much of it as has been revealed to date, till A Dance with Dragons), it was a nice watch. The way the season stays true to the real story is nice,too.

The Wall is such an interesting place

A Dream Of Spring (break)

So this weekend was spent dreaming, with open eyes.
Someone announced the date for exams in a very public place. It was thoughtful, I must say. Still........
I was turning the date over in my mind, subconsciously,when I realized  what final exams really imply.
I sat up with a jolt.Upon rechecking, the result was the same:
  The spring break is near!!!!!
 So,naturally, the rest of the weekend was spent in a blissful fantasy.I dreamed of the chocolates I'd eat, the mornings I'd spend curled up in a warm bed, the books I'd read (the break isn't really important for this) and the long story I may write,if I can muster the energy. Who knows, I may get an idea for doing something  interesting , though that not very probable, as I have not thought of many interesting things to date. (I am an exceptionally boring and bored person.)
In short, my weekend was radically different from that of my friend, the distracted soul.
(DS, times change often,so don't dwell too much on useless things.)
There are a few things to do in the meantime, of course. There is a project to be made, along with, horror of horrors, a report. Due to a series of unfortunate and unforeseen events, I'll  have to make the report myself *shudders*
Besides, a minor problem is that I am as yet undecided about the project. In the end, if I cannot find anything more interesting, I'll have to settle with a matrix inverter. (The thing I most like about a matrix is its name. Matrix! Maybe I should search for a nice title page for my report, with iridescent green letters on a black background.)
If I cannot find something to do with prime numbers, matrix inversion it will have to be.
I got to play with a beautiful Nook today. Thank you, my friend-with-a-Nook.
There are a couple of lines by Ghalib which are the favourite these days,ever since I first read them last week: 

تماشا ،  کہ اے محو  آینہ داری

تجھے کس تمنا سے ہم دیکھتے ہیں

Valar Morghulis

For some time, I have been living in Westeros most of the time, with the characters of A Song Of  Ice and Fire, so that may explain the title. When I finish the last book, I may write a review, if I can summon the energy.
Winter is a perfect time for hibernation. At times, I have thought about what may happen if human beings get the ability to properly hibernate. For one thing, it will definitely lead to a decrease in the use of resources all over the world.
If I cannot hibernate properly,  I would like some soma.
It has been so long since I tried to properly string some sentences together that I am forced to write really incoherent things here.But it may be some consolation to know that they are not as incoherent as my thoughts.
I have learned, through my experience, not to judge things\people\events at once. Because all these things change, and change constantly, change all the time. Change is really the essence of life.
Maybe I believe too much in Nietzsche's opinion, that there are no facts, only interpretations, but I can not help believing it.I have myself found it to be true too many times not to believe it. Like Iqbal said, about the heart being a thousand-sided diamond and each side having a different colour. Things and people always have so many dimensions and two dimensions may be very different from each other. You may like one side and dislike the other. The end result is that you are puzzled. Befuddled about what to think and what not to think.What to say and what to hold back.
Well, it may not happen with other people, but it happens with me.

The final result is that I am left with no opinion about most things.And 'I don't know' is not a very good answer. Other people are not content with it. At times, even I am not content with it.
Maybe it is just about having a bad judgement.
How can I judge?

FPGAs are fun

They definitely are. Its just that they leave you a bit depressed-when they leave you, that is.
And they are dangerously addictive.

Life is beautiful + an official apology to microcontrollers

Every year, near this time of summers, my sight undergoes a magical transformation. All at once, I discover(or rediscover) that Life Is Beautiful. I become a super optimist and start seeing hope along with beauty everywhere. After spending some time contemplating, I succeed in convincing myself that every thing happens for a reason, and that the basic purpose of this life is to be happy. Generally, I feel very content to be me. I practically become incapable of malice towards any person, thing, place. I cherish everything and dislike nothing.
 This is very much a universal phenomenon.Yes, summer vacation can do that to you.
So, the new thing is that I intend to do a few new things this time. They shall be written down one of these days. Maybe they shall get posted here.
In a previous post, I loudly stated that I loathe hardware. It is only fair that I should apologize just as loudly. Well, thing is, I do not count micro controllers as hardware any longer. All right, they are hardware, who am I kidding? I just do not loathe them. As a matter of fact, I rather like them. They are nice. One of these days, I shall write a detailed post about the project I worked on with a couple of friends.

Just a Story

Allow me to narrate a story today.

Once upon a time there existed a place known as the Me-Me land. Most of it was inhabited by two very distinct species. To be exact, there were more of them, but our story concerns only two of them, the most important ones.

The first specie was called the Mankind. They were THE human beings. With their towering heights, raucous laughter and their way of looking down upon everything, they were the dead center of the Me-Me land. They were, in fact the axis around which the whole place revolved.

The other specie had quite a small population, but they always made mischief and brewed trouble for the humanity. This species, known as Woe-Men, was so named because they were always the origin of mankind's woes.. Most people thought that they were mankind’s punishment for the Original Sin. The more philosophical ones said with a shrug that what cannot be cured must be endured.

They looked like underdeveloped human beings, but the mankind was convinced that they were utterly false. They knew that Woe-Men were just a bad copy of the human race. A mere shadow, they had failed to evolve with time and were  devoid of the faculty of thought. ‘Who needs brain for making sandwiches, unless it is brain sandwiches they are making?’ the mankind often said.

Another thing that needs to be introduced here is the Tail-Ban school of thought. The Tail-Ban philosophy was quite popular in some sections of the society. It was very simple, and stated:

“Woe-Men are the ungainly tails of our society. Ungainly tails MUST be hidden away as best as possible, preferably under lock and key.”

It needs not be mentioned that  the Tail-Bans believed in the transitive property of equality.

Most of the elder human beings, those who ran the Me-Me place, can not be accused of belonging to the Tail-Ban school of thought in any way. They even publicly supported the idea that a Woe-Man can operate a plane, provided that it is plain enough. But in their heart of hearts, they religiously believed in the Tail-Ban philosophy.

Due to a number of reasons, most of them political, the ruling people had to tolerate Woe-Men. So, they did what every sensible human being would do: they made a special set of special rules and devoted themselves soul and heart to see that these rules were obeyed to the last radian. Some of them are given below for the enlightenment off the reader, along with the reason due to which they were enforced.

1. The Woe-Men had long, thin strands of hair growing out of their heads. These cables could send powerful signals that had the potential to jam and flabbergast every single system and signal in the Me-Me land. To prevent this from happening, these strands had to be covered all the time with the best insulator known: thick fabric. All the time.
2. Woe-Men were crafty creatures. The authorities believed that wherever there was a Woe-Man, there must be some thing fishy. They knew a trick: they could make food invisible just by looking at it and move it to their bags. So they were forbidden from setting foot in any restaurant or eatery. A small slit was installed for them in the back wall of each café , so the café owners would not lose their bucks. Special care was taken that nothing edible should be visible to them through these ‘windows’. They were just large enough for a plate, a bowl or a glass to be passed through them.
3. Another very important rule was that Woe-Men could not wear shoes with laces. Otherwise they would start thinking that they were human beings, too. Whoever ever heard of such a thing in the Me-Me land?
   To be exact, there were a few tiny problems in the place that were not due to Woe-Men. There were people who managed to speak for hours on end without letting a single intelligible word escape their lips. There were water coolers which had heaters installed inside them. Inexperienced people came and paid loads of money to play with seriously out-of-order machines. But all of these were honest, unintentional mistakes and could be easily forgiven: Woe-Men, on the other hand, could not be.

At this point, the storyteller stopped.

P.S. It is, as the title says, just a story.

The Lord Of the Flies-And How much I loathe hardware

I loathe working on hardware, even in a simulator.
Debugging it is, like, finding a needle in a bundle of hay.
Thats enough for now.I have to hand it over in a day or two, so I should not think about its virtues or lack thereof.
As I mentioned before, The Lord of the Flies turned out to be exceptionally well. It narrates the life of a group of boys, stuck on an island.
The basic idea the writer conveys is that human beings are, basically, the same as the were a couple of million of years ago. Their instincts have failed to evolve, and it is so very natural for them to revert to savage life. All the civilization could not do much to them. Unchecked by law, they do exactly as they please.
There is just one thing, stuck at the back of my mind. I just can not help thinking that had there been some of the XX gender on the island, there would have been some compassion.