InkScape tutorial : Draw an 8-ball in 8 minutes...

 InkScape is a powerful opensource vector editor that gives 'Nitrous' powered wings for your creativity to take shape. Below is a beginner tutorial for drawing an 8-ball easily in InkScape in as less as 8 minutes.

My homegrown Linux Penguin

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 Linux is my favorite operating system, and I'm attached to it to the point of addiction. The knowledge one gains from it, and the control one feels using it, are nothing short of ecstacy.

Apart from a slew of technical attractions, there is a non technical attraction to Linux. The famous Linux Penguin - 'Tux'! The beauty of Tux is that the logo that represents Linux is like Linux itself; it can be edited in any way anyone wishes.

This public nature of the logo has only beautified Linux. There are hundreds of variations of the Tux penguin, from the Tux-Rambo to Mario-Tux to even the gut spilling Zombie Tux!!! A list of cool Tux versions have all assembled here.

Like the multiple images of Tux, the story behind Tux are also diverse. According to Wired, there is a bizarre variety of stories, ranging from

"Linus (Torvalds) was assaulted by a huge, rabid man-eating penguin that was running amok and was moving at more than a 100 miles per hour when it attacked him"

to more serious stories like

"Torvalds was never attacked, nibbled, or otherwise molested by a penguin, but became fixated on Tux because a fat penguin wasn't a typical corporate logo"

Such a plethora of back stories and logos of varied hilarity and dexterity, have only made the Logo as well as the OS it represents more lovable.

Above is my Easter egg Tux I created using Inkscape, following this excellent tutorial.

Making a steaming cup of Digital Coffee...

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Making a cup of steaming hot coffee is a pleasurable experience.  Bringing together the various ingredients and weaving the magic to bring out that silky brown color, that soul-filling aroma, is an exhilarating experience, second only to the heavenly experience of relishing it until the last drop.

How does this experience compare with creating the same cup of coffee digitally?

How to draw your own Cartoon with Inkscape

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Inkscape is the Omnipotent (with an uppercase 'O') fantasy world where you are limited only by your imagination. All you need is a gentle guidance into the World of Inkscape, and before you know, you are a digital Da Vinci! Okay, I exaggerated it a bit, but you get the idea. Creating has never felt this powerful for me before!

My tryst with Inkscape

I recently needed to create posters and labels for a small startup we conceived. I first tried the Raven vector editor in Aviary. While it fit my needs very well, it was really buggy, and didn't let me save my work, effectively nullifying whatever I did.

Then I installed InkSkape in my system. I must say, it is really very powerful and useful for hobbyists or opportunists like me. After successfully designing my label in Inkscape, I was so intrigued by it that I have started learning it. Hope I become something useful with it.

Anyways, above's my first creation, the holy symbol of Lord Ganesha that symbolizes the beginning of everything... the 'Pillayar Suzhi' :)


More to come. Wish me luck! :)

I'm back, for the umpteenth time...

Hi friends...

I'm hoping to be finally back to where I was, now that the magic potion I had taken has started wearing off. I've decided to rise and shine, just as the leaf above, to break the daily routine, and try and write at least a few sentences whenever possible. Hopefully, I succeed in doing that...

BTW, I took the above picture, using my Sony Ericsson S302 mobile phone (2.0 mega pixels) I've always been interested in photography, and more of my photographic efforts are coming soon here... See you around...

The Doorbell (Drabble)

(A drabble is a story with exactly 100 words)

The bell rang. Lazily, I got up from my bed. Covering myself with my nightgown, I went to the door and looked through the peephole. It was Jake, my boyfriend. Strange, I never knew he got up so early. Instinctively, my eyes reached for the mirror. Making sure(?) I was presentable, I opened the door.

"Hey! What a surprise! Come in!"

He didn't. Instead, He stared hard at me. Before I could ask him what was wrong, he brought a knife out of his pocket and slashed my throat!

I woke up from the nightmare, sweating profusely.

The bell rang.

My Ramblings on being a Super Hero!

If I were a superhero... now thats an interesting idea. I've always
wished I'd be a super hero. The one with superpowers like incredible
speed, ability to open any lock, incredible strength(i know, why would
I need an ability to open locks when I have an incredible strength to
break them? silly, yet,thats what I want), flying if you permit,or at
least wall crawling. No webbing though. In my part of the world there
aren't many sky scrapers. Enough of my powers.



I've always wondered how superheroes fight crime. I mean, only if you
know when and where a crime happens, can you fight it. So what am I
supposed to do? Prowl the streets all day and night looking for crime?
And I haven't been in a crime scene. Not even once. If telepathy or
some kind of 'spider sense' helps in finding crime scenes, what will be
the area of coverage? Not to large I suppose, or my head will explode
with an overflow of distress calls. What am I talking? I don't even
know how a crime scene will look like and yet suppose that my quiet
neighborhood is full of crime scenes?! Gotta get real.



So anyways, even if I do find a crime scene by someway or other, how am
I supposed to know what's going on there? I mean, just because a man
gets beaten doesn't mean he's the good guy. For all I know he might
even have killed the attacker's child. What am I supposed to do? Stop
the fight and let the criminal go unpunished? This bothers me always
when I see a superhero movie. Why does a superhero always fight
robberies? Does he do only that or has he had any bitter or rather
embarrassing experiences? I may never know. Unless, I myself become a
super hero. Or rather, if you know me as well as I do, I may,very
likely, turn to a super villain. I don't know what my passions are as a
super villain. I'm yet to decide what crime I might involve myself in.
More training required.



Now about the partner part. Mmmmm, nice to imagine. One gorgeous
looking brainy babe(not as clever as I'm, I mean), coming up! Now if
she's really gorgeous and as brainy I expect her to be, then chances
are, she might not want to become my partner. In that case, I'm sure I
may see what one of my criminal passions is..



Well! Back to reality. Me! Super Hero? Knock it off!