Is Plastic Cash really secure?

I recently got to know about the features of ICICI add-on credit card that make it more tempting for getting stolen than cash. Now the number of loopholes in its security are endless.
First the bank doesn't require the signature of add-on card holder. Its just mailed to your house. So if I take the mail before it reaches you and use it then no one can even have doubts. The only signature is on the back of the card. Now we all know how intensely a shopkeeper scrutinizes the signature on the back with that on the slip. I know they are supposed to but its a fact that they don't. I have even heard of cases when a photo credit card was misused by someone else without getting any suspicion of the shopkeeper. So the signature on the back is useless. So if your credit card gets stolen then you cant prove to bank that it was misused. Bank have no records of your signature and shopkeeper doesn't check it.
Second what does any transaction on Internet require with a credit card? Your card number, expiry date, name(sometimes) and the number on the back. Now its nowhere written in the instruction letter that its advisable to scratch out the number on the back to prevent misuse. Because misusing it is a child's task. We all give our cards away in any restaurant or any such place. The guy there can easily write down all the information and transfer as much money as he requires to his pay pal account after which you just cant trace him. How will one ever be able to prove this crime? Nor prove it to bank. I asked the ICICI call center people about this and then they said that please scratch out the number on the back for security. Why cant they tell it earlier? Better why cant the just make us have a password for Internet transactions?

Another incident which I personally experienced was Bank of Baroda Internet account. Now it has so many safety precautions that it is the most unsafe account. First both the Login password and Transaction password must be some 8 characters long including a number and a special character. Now its no easy task to remember such passwords nor hack them. But that was the easy part. The next condition was that both the passwords needs to be changed every 3 months and last 5 passwords cannot be used. So how do i generate and remember such complicated passwords is a mystery. Thus they force me to write down the password which I know is foolish but I don't have an option. I have for now given up on my account. Three months have passed have not accessed it so not changes the password. From what I remember I have to go to the branch to re-activate my account. Hell with it.

I thinks lets just stick to debit cards which are safe and secure.

Stumble It!

Why Linux?

Now I am no fan of open source movement and would gladly switch to Windows as soon as possible but circumstances forced me otherwise. In our hostel with approx 350 comps and some IP thieves its difficult to keep static IP. But I need it to run my hub (for all IT'ians Join InfInIty @ 10.9.11.193:4112 !!!!) so I was forced to shift to Linux to keep my IP. Now Linux it seems is the big brother of windows in terms of network cause in any IP conflict with windows Linux emerges as the winner. So I shifted to only because of this reason. But I had to pay heavy price for that. I had to spent an entire days to only get my songs to play; running the hub was much more difficult task. I spent my entire day editing dunno how many files to make Linux connect via a proxy. After that it got little easier as I was able to install mane things via 'yum'. But when i started to install db hub I got nice surprise as many dependency files were missing. This led to re-installation of latest Fedora 8 (it was much easier than installing every dependency). Now after again setting up Linux for proxy (this time it was much easier) I finally installed db hub and changed its setting in its config file (when will GUI of db hub come?). But it took another 2 days to figure out that it pays to switch off firewall when running a hub. In the meantime I also successfully installed 'linuxdcpp'. So after 3 days I was finally able to 'use' Linux. Using means to see the hub running and listening to songs.
Because Linux means no games and games are our lifeline (using wine sucks as it lags a lot). But its a blessing as I am now getting out of my addiction of games (CS only). But its more of a trouble as I was a very up to date windows user and saved every office file in 2007 format which is as yet unsupported by open office. Also the sound quality is not as good and playing video takes lots of processor (these maybe because of improper configuration but I tried my best and in windows such configs were much easier).
Also I still cant understand the advantage of using Linux in personal computers as as my roomie says all the development in linux are only meant to make it more like windows; so why not use windows instead. Am sure no Indian will talk about the price of using windows :).
But anyways am now getting used to the boring GUI of Linux and if anyone wants to get his Linux working can ask me.

Stumble It!

Right'ing the Wrong

All the countries, religions and traditions have witness many wrongdoing in the past. Indians or more specifically Hindus have been no exception. Hinduism has never been until now been a religion of war. There has been no army that fought for Hinduism. It has always been a very flexible religion; with many gods and no restrictions. It has evolved on faith and not on teachings of some man. Because of no one fighting for Hindus it has not been able to spread itself like other religions. Also because of that and because of division in between people of different regions, India was not able to stand up against any sort of invasion be it of Muslims or of the British. Muslim rulers on the other hand were fighting for their religion and they conquered territories to create more land for Muslims. They forced people to convert or killed them. They looted temples and destroyed all religious places. Akbar and few others were a exception but most employed ruthless means against non Muslims. Therefore much wrong has been done against Hindus in the past.
But the question is can two wrongs make right? Since Independence we have lived in democracy which aims to provide a secular set of laws for peaceful living. It ensure or tries to ensure that no further wrong is done against any community. But there is no law which provides or can provide course of action to heal the wrongs the past without hurting the sentiments of the other community in the present. It was in the past where this cycle was followed: Hindus came and attacked mosques, Muslims came and attacked temples. The latter part was more prominent in India because of their stronger might. But the point is how to end this cycle. Somewhere we have to start living like civilized people forgetting other for their past. This was expected to start from Independence where we supposedly entered an era where laws were written down rationally and to ensure end of such violence. Because if laws don't end such a cycle then we can hope for no peace in long run. The attack on Babri Maszid kept this cycle alive.
Second was the Godhra riots. Its conceded the some elements of Muslim community initiated the act by killing the sadhus travelling in the train. But do you punish the entire community for an act committed by some members of their community of which they most probably weren't even aware of and which most didnt support. Many murders are committed throughout India in which mostly the criminals are Hindus ( not because they are bad but because they are more in number). So should entire Hindu community be punished for their crime. If i kill some Muslim or of any other religion should you and other Hindus get punished for this? Just because you too are a Hindu. We cant correct what happened earlier (unless of course the criminal is caught) but we can ensure that no further wrong is done.
And my next question is that many people supported Babri demolition saying that Muslims did many wrongdoings in the past, but most out of them if given a chance would gladly settle in England not even thinking for a moment that India was most wronged by British. Should India declare war on UK just because there previous governments committed lots and lots of crime?
The answer is obvious.

Atleast someone has similar views as mine :)

This is in continuation of my article 'Is Majority always right'. Here I found an article written in Economic Times:

But does development derive solely from and absolve the Modi brand of politics?
The 1930s supply a dramatic answer, when three countries were ‘developing’ at a
furious pace under the aegis of three different leaders and political
ideologies. The US was recovering from the Great Depression and basking in the
glow of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Germany, under Hitler, was rebuilding its
war-ravaged economy and acquiring the muscle required to wreak revenge on the
world. The Soviet Union, under Stalin, was tempering the steel it knew would be
required to withstand an inevitable assault by western powers.

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Two things were common to all three leaders: passionate commitment to economic growth and reciprocally passionate support from their followers. For the rest, they stood for diverse political ideologies and led their countries to drastically different political denouements.

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Modi’s politics is similar to Hitler’s in several ways. Vilification of a
minority community and its transformation into a hate object for the majority,
contempt for democracy and its constitutive organisations such as trade unions
and institutional processes such as the rule of law, dependence on the personal
charisma of a demagogic leader, glorification of the nation and the strong
leader who alone can provide prosperity and security — these are common
traits.

As expected the letters to Editor are full of criticism of the article but
one should notice that majority of the letters are from NRI's. I have always
noticed in magazines or even newspapers NRI's are always defending Modi.Maybe because they dont live here and are only concerned with development and
money. Anyways the link to the article is here.

New Yr celebs spanned ovr 3 days

As thr trdition of our grt college BHU, the second session every year has to start just 4-5 days before New Yr to ensure that no one is able to fully enjoy it :). Well so as usual this yr session started from 26th. Additionally this yr we had been thrown out of our rooms for hols so had to somehow adjust everything back which took 2 days to fully complete. So aftr all this hectic work and to enjoy the weekend and 31st night we were more or less roaming around for 3 days.

30th December: It was Sunday and I was able to somehow convince people to go biking(scooty'ng in my case) to Ramnagar Fort which is around 12-13 kms if we take the Allahabad Highway. But luckily pontoon bridge was operational at that time and it reduced the distance to mere 3-4 kms (out of which more than half km was on pontoon). So we reached the fort well in time even after the initial disaster of theft of wallet and mobile of one of my peers from the hostel room (but he anyhow went even with sullen face realising that his 8000 worth mobile is gone). Also we were short of one vehicle which was later arranged by a guys bro who is our senior. So aftr all the hiccups we finally reached the fort. Now it aint any big fort nor is its museum any that good but with 10 ppl around it was fun. And with the collection of real vintage(but not working) cars and weapons we as sincere CS students(pun intended) observed and compared them with their mordern counterparts(awp,cv,galil,m4a1 etc).
Next we reached a small temple on the top which overlooks river Ganga(this was my third visit to the fort and I still love this place). The view presented is beautiful (as can be seen from the pics in another post).
Next we went for boating who took 150 rs but we rode for only 20-25 mins :(. With 10 ppl on board(ppl like me also) the boat was quite unstable esp as two of the guys were afraid of the river and were quite impatient. But the ride also presented some spectacular pics(yeah yeah i am interested in pics only) which also are posted in another post.
Aftr boating we decided to return via highway to enjoy the ride....it started wonderfully (with traffic police asking for papers). Now no one was carrying the papers...few didnt even had license with them...anyway we produced the required no of license and showed them our identity cards aftr which he let us off without asking for anything(strange na). So we went towards the highway for which we travelled this long road (it was on my insistence) which was made not of coal and tar but of bricks!!!! So we had a real roller coaster ride(esp me on my little Dio) and aftr all this trouble we reached highway only to realise that we were on it only for 2 kms :( again we took a road which was full of potholes but finally reached our hostel. by 6:30 pm.
We though we had had enough for one day(it was tiring) but 2 hours later our most confused batchmate came asking for Pizza Hut. We were so tired that initially even I(am a pizza addict) refused...but pizza is pizza and esp for pizza hut how many times can I refuse? So finally 4 of us went to there at new mall JHV which is 15 kms from our hostel!!! Add it with Varanasi traffic of evening. We finally reached it to find that we are on waiting list for half an hour :( So aftr some snacks from McD we got a table. I ordered my usual pizza(double cheeze with extra toppings of sweet corn, paneer and onion) while the other three guys went for pork(one of the guy used to be vegetarian 2 months back; he still claims he is from heart :))
pizza was good(atleast mine) but bill wasnt....taxes amounted to 200rs!!!!!!!!! hell. As if pizzas werent expensive enough.
this ended our day with no meney left and tired like hell esp with class the next day.

31st December: It was Monday and we had 2 theory classes and one lab. Now the theory classes were real bore(RS & SKS). But due to electricity failure we were let off lab(which in any case isnt a bore). So we were free by 2 pm.
Now bcoz of our good proctor the New Yr fest Euphoria which was scheduled for 31st evening was postponed to 1st evening????? Now where is New Yr celebrated on 1st evening...maybe he was trying to conincide our celebrations with that of west coast of america. Whatever so we were left with no place to really celebrate New Yr. In varanasi there are no clubs or anything. There are parties in Hotels which are either too expensive or only couple entry is allowed(not possible in IT BHU). So I was able to convince some good souls to go to mall which would be atleast better than staying in the hostel. Now I had expected the whole mall burtsting with activity but the scene was different...There was public but nothing except the eating joints were open...which gave it a deserted look. Still atleast we had a good meal (me again pizza). 10 of us had come but 2 of them opted to go out early..and therefore celebrated their new yr in hostel only. For rest of us it was a real bad luck story. There was a DJ in mall premises(a local DJ) and there was a sort of small disc. So around at 11:50 as we completed our food and got the guts to dance they stopped DJ. We had just stepped on the dance floor and exactly at that moment the DJ stopped. Maybe they decided that its better to shut disc before these guys start 'dancing' and scare away the crowds(we are all inexperienced in dancing). Whatever aftr greeting each other we finally went to our hostel where we were let in without any jotting down of names as late-comers etc.

1st Jan: Am online aftr a long time so will be describing abt the 1st Jan trip only through pics...And yes I long to be in pics so most of the pics will have me somewhere.
We went to two falls...donno exact names of anyone of them :)

New Pics

We ppl went to Ramnagar fort on 30th Dec last yr(described in detail in another post)....The time around is 4-4:30 pm and as the sun was low and setting down it gave a brilliant reflection on the mighty river Ganga...

The first pic has been taken from the top of the fort while the second pic has been taken from moving boat

The ripples in the pic below were caused from the oars of our boat:

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