Dawn at Parisutham Valley

You should actually refer to this as me waking up early, having my usual  black coffee and then figuring out that the WiFi was out, either someone was charging something, or it was out, that was immaterial - but now it

Today, there are two options, participate in the 'exciting' flag hunt or take off to take a look at the resort that someone has come up with nearby who's whereabouts don't seem exactly known. Insofar it has been decided that 'Senthil' (Jack of Clubs) drive them over, while I find a reason to stay back.

Sunrise should be happening as I write this, or should have happened already, but the dawn, not yet visible out here in the hill. The valley must be beautiful now, so I'm off to grab a few stock photographs. I should be back after this.

Dinesh has a bruise under his eye, swelling up quite visibly, and at least I am not carrying shades - being a spectacled phenomenon on my own.

Alexander the Great

This is a mindmap for those who have read Valerio Massimo Manfredi's trilogy on "Alexander the Great." All historical characters highlighted have been shown in the mindmap. This will serve to easily remember the names. A few characters including "Ada" have been omitted.

Ascent of Man

A Chronology on the "Ascent of Mankind"

Humankind, as we know ourselves have been on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years. Yet, our knowledge of the past is restricted. This infographic is to bring to perspective the state of civilization today and the ages that have already passed perhaps without record.

Dates for some events is speculative. The rise and fall of civilizations sometimes has happened with the merger of civilizations and has not been indicated. The prominent human-like species has been indicated. The debate on 'Homo Floresiensis' is still on. Some civilizations have been too short-lived to be indicated. Most civilizations depicted have at least risen to beyond 1000 cities for hundreds of years.

Fossil Evidence for the first Female Human ancestor (Mitochondrial Eve) is fairly accepted. Evidence for the first Male Human ancestor is still disputed.

All civilizations indicated have at least used Metal or Metallurgy (Iron/Bronze). Epics indicated are from the perspective of the Indian subcontinent, 'Troy' being the only exception. This has been done based on the influence of the prehistoric event that may have led to the birth of a legend. Dates for events are for occurrence and not documentation. Hence the evolution of writing or evidence of written material does not exist for most prehistoric events. Mesoamerican Civilization includes the Mayas, Incas, Olmecs, Nazcas and other ancient finds in that region.

This infographic is just to show that our history is merely a glimpse in the ages of the earth, and the vastness of life itself on earth ( to put it in perspective, Dinosaurs suffered a major extinction event about 65 million years ago - while this chronological infographic starts later than 5 million years ago.) This is a very simplified representation for quick and easy reading.

Click on the Image to view the graphic in high resolution.

Origins of Freemasonry

Click on the Image to read it in full. Contact me if there's trouble viewing this.

Freemasonry has often been speculated to be devil worship and has been subject to the gossip of society. However, the truth is the Freemasons strongly believe that the brotherhood of men is not as easily formed as it can be broken. Their aim is to preserve mankind as a civilization through all kinds of turmoil and disaster - political, natural, religious, social - and restore a system of morals.

It is noteworthy that Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington - have all been Freemasons. Their have been great attempts to discredit the Freemasons, for most who are part of the brotherhood, do not know any of the greater secrets that are vested in them.

Yet, it is not true that the Freemasons harbor anything against the Church itself. The Vatican itself relies on an order, that remains secret, the Knights of Malta to protect itself from intrusion, and to prevent secret knowledge from being stolen.

The strongest arguments against freemasonry rests on the simple premise that a 'secret' is something to be hidden from society itself. As much as individuals exercise privacy, all clubs, companies and organizations have secrets.

As for the question of religion, Freemasonry preserves itself by presenting itself as Religion Agnostic. It is not the only secret order, nor was the only order available after the Templars. The Order of the Cross and the Crescent too, probably existed long before the Templars.

The above timeline is to give those interested in knowing Masonic history a few key dates and events that are closely associated with Freemasonry. The Deluge, being a  very important part has been given due importance. The Father of Syncretism, Akhenaten is not mentioned to avoid close linkage with the roots of Syncretist - particularly Christian-like religion.

Books to Read on "Software Project Management"

Books and Media to read for Project Management

A list of books with a tentative plan for reading them. The reading time is relative to my reading speed, it might vary for you.

Name	Author	ISBN	Link	Description	Reading Time
"Microsoft Secrets"	Michael Cusamano	0684855313	NIL	Microsoft's Project Management Practices, they are quite strong and usable. The fundamental principles can be caught in a quick read	2 days
"Software Engineering in Practice"	Pankaj Jalote	0201737213	NIL	A book that tries to home in only on the Software Engineering aspects of Project Management. Does not contain the newest research by Michael Boehm	1 day
"The Design of Design"	Fred Brooks	NIL	nps.navy.mil	An Essay on Project Management.	1 hr
"Software Engineering - A Practitioner's Approach"	Roger S Pressman	0072853182	NIL	The Best book on "Software Project Management" until the 6th edition	7 days
"CMM in Practice"	Pankaj Jalote	0201616262	NIL	This is an exclusive Project Management book that covers the CMM standard (and not the new PM-CMM). The newer edition has a description of Infosys' processes	4 days
"Walk the Talk" (NDTV)	featuring Infosys	NIL	Walk The Tech Talk	Shows their project management work	1.5 hrs
"The Mythical Man Month"	Fred Brooks	NIL	0201835959	The last revised edition has a "No Silver Bullet" essay. These are essentially criticisms on project management and are meant to be read after a book on project management is read.	3 days
"I Sing the Body Electronic"	Fred Moody	0140176551	a9/amazon	Learning how to turn around a disaster, enCarta!	2 days
"Project Management" for geeks	Anonymous	NIL	wikipedia	For the impatient and jumpy souls, this is what you should be reading.	3 uSecs on 3GHz HTs
"Quality Software Project Management"	Several	81-7808-767-7	NIL	For the most comprehensive book on the subject.	15 days