The Byzantium - Aswin G's debut novel

     Hello readers,

     I'm extremely happy to announce that my debut novel, The Byzantium, has been published and is available for purchase as an e-book on Amazon. I've been working on what is a relatively short novel (at 117 pages on Kindle) over the last few months, and now it's live and ready to be read.

(Link to purchase the book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015NE5M46?*Version*=1&*entries*=0 )

     The history and geography specialists (or Age of Empires specialists, it depends.) among us will know that Byzantium was the capital of the Byzantine empire and the old name of Constantinople, which in turn is the old name of Istanbul. However, The Byzantium has nothing to do with this city, and is in fact, set in a parallel world in an unnamed planet orbiting the star Procyon.

     This book is crafted to be a mystery suspense thriller with all the elements of a detective novel, but it also branches out to capture raw human emotions and questions the fundamental aspects of life, and our notions regarding them.

     Here's a sneak peak at the prologue of the book. An extended preview can be viewed on Amazon.

     The Byzantium is avaiable for purchase on www.amazon.com at 2.99$, and at comparable prices in other Amazon marketplaces as well. Please do stop by and take a look.

     Hoping you'll enjoy,

     Aswin G.

Achieve 'True Randomness' with random.org

    It's fairly easy to make a random number generator. Nearly all programming languages have a function build in just for random number generation. Randomization is a very important aspect in several things, ranging from the probability of a player taking a good touch factoring in their ball control and angle of ball reception in FIFA to daily lotto draws.

      While the generic random() function might get you acceptable results, none of them are 'truly' random, according to www.random.org  . Those functions are pseudo-random, that is, their number generation is predictable to an extent. And if it's predictable, it's not random. Right?

     So random.org offers us 'true' random number generation, based on atmospheric noise. This enduring service has existed since 1998, and is being used for many things, such as lotto draws and online games.

     The site offers many services, free as well as paid. It's worth checking out if you are searching for something that's truly random, no questions asked.

How to make images transparent in PowerPoint

     PowerPoint, the massively popular presentation software from Microsoft that comes as part of MS Office has been around for over a decade and has become synonymous with 'presentation making'. PowerPoint, or PPt in short, is now actively being used for everything ranging from school projects to business seminars.

     This popularity of PPt is no gimmick. The software has gained trust and credibility by coming loaded with posh features and options that keep getting better and more diverse with every update.

     But one of the few 'limitations' of the PowerPoint is the lack of the ability to make images transparent, preventing you from adding in cool 'faded' effects or simply having semi-transparency whenever required. Thankfully, there is a workaround for this, and it's a fairly simple one.

1)Launch PowerPoint, and open the presentation where you want a transparent image.

2)Now go to Insert → Shapes and choose a shape, and draw it on the presentation.

NOTE: You don't have to worry about the size of the shape, as you can always re size it later, but choosing a shape corresponding to the image you intent to make transparent helps. (For example, choosing the circle shape if your image is circular will make managing it easier later on.)

3) Right click on the shape and choose 'Format Shape'. The Format shape pane will open up.

4)Under the 'Shape Options' tab, click 'Fill' and choose 'Picture or Texture fill'. Now, from the options that show up, choose 'Insert picture from file', and proceed to browse and open the image you wish to make transparent. (Format shape changes to Format picture as you do this.)

5)And just like that, you're done! Now you can use the transparency slider to adjust the transparency of your shape, which is now an image.

Hope that helped!

How phrases change with time

You may have heard of 'Bastardization', the process by which the use or meaning of a phrase or a word change with time. In this image, there are some great examples of bastardization in English, with the phrases even ending up having the exact opposite of their original meanings. It's a totally cool read to check out.

All credits go to www.facebook.com/pages/Tumblr-is-life/1420819151499426 for finding out this gem.