Bollywood Blog Wave

So, RGV is the latest to join the Bollywood Blog bandwagon.
I hadn't had enough motivation to check Aamir's and Amitabh's
blogs, but RGV was too difficult to resist.
And I wasn't disappointed too. RGV talks about film making,
and that's what I want to read. I checked Amitabh's blog
as well afterwards, and he documents every little detail.
For e.g., boarded the flight, flight landed, went to Mehboob
studio. Good. Me not interested though.
Aamir's blog had something about Sachin and IPL. Couldn't
enthuse me enough, so had to skip it.

As far as RSS feeds are concerned, RGV's blog rules.
The only way I am ever going to read a blog is through
RSS feeds. For me they are synonymous with each other.
RGV's feeds provide the full content of the post.
Amitabh's feeds are very very short. Just one or two lines.
And Aamir's blog doesn't even have a RSS feed, so I have
created one using page2rss. All the links are available below.

According to Google Reader, as of now, 412 people
are subscribed to Amitabh's blog and 57 to RGV's.
Aamir's blog doesn't have an RSS feed, and only
now, have I created one, so 0 till now.

BTW Suchitra Krishnamoorthi blogs too, not
on a personal blog, but on a blog with multiple authors
including Deepak Chopra.
It is here. And no doubt her posts are more interesting
than any other author out there.

RGV : Blog RSS feed
Amitabh : Blog RSS feed
Aamir : Blog Feed

novel movie difference

Almost every movie based on a novel is lambasted by
the readers for not being able to live up to the latter.
I guess I know why.

Reading a novel allows one to visualize the characters
and incidents in their own way. Actually one does never
visualize any character in full detail, or may visualize
incrementally as the story moves on. Especially the
face of the character is rarely visualized by anyone.
And then, all of a sudden, there is a real human
face on the screen, with all its limitations,
claiming to personify a character. Kind of jolts
the reader.

In other words, a reader has a rather abstract view
of the characters and surroundings, which for some
reason makes him/her feel good. But the moment
someone tries to concretize it, reader is repelled
since it doesn't match his mental image.

shimla kufri etc.

Shimla, Race towards Jakhu temple,Ride in Kufri on Tattoos,

Mehrangarh Fort Jodhpur - part II

Shots of Devi Temple, a Rajasthani folk singer
singing one of the most melodious songs I ever heard.

Mehrangarh fort Jodhpur Part I

Canons at the top of the fort, blue city.

Little Miss Sunshine

In the movie, there is a mention of a huge and
famous book by Proust. The original is named :
À la recherche du temps perdu, that's in French.

It has twice been translated in English.
First : Remembrance of Things Past)
Second : In Search of Lost Time

Apparently the copyright has expired for the
first one, so it's available for free download
now.
from here : http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/proust/marcel/

A YouTube partner made a copyright claim on one of your videos

I had uploaded this video once on youtube.
It contains an audio track from Crazy Frog.

Apparently Universal Music Group has
a copyright on that particular soundtrack, so
today I recieved this mail from Youtube :

YouTube | Broadcast Yourself™

Dear YouTube Member:

UMG has claimed some or all audio content in your video Mentor Graphics Noida Goa Jan-2007 TBX. This claim was made as part of the YouTube Content Identification program.

Your video is still live because UMG has authorized the use of this content on YouTube. As long as UMG has a claim on your video, they will receive public statistics about your video, such as number of views. Viewers may also see advertising on your video's page.

Claim Details:

Copyright owner:	UMG
Content claimed:	Some or all of the audio content
Policy:	Allow this content to remain on YouTube. Place advertisements on this video's watch page. Applies to these locations: Everywhere

UMG claimed this content as a part of the YouTube Content Identification program. YouTube allows partners to review YouTube videos for content to which they own the rights. Partners may use our automated video / audio matching system to identify their content, or they may manually review videos.

If you believe that this claim was made in error, or that you are otherwise authorized to use the content at issue, you can dispute this claim with UMG and view other options in the Video ID Matches section of your YouTube account. Please note that YouTube does not mediate copyright disputes between YouTube owners. Learn more about video identification disputes.

Sincerely,
The YouTube Content Identification Team

Copyright © 2008 YouTube, Inc.

So, the video will continue to be there, but
UMG will be able to monetize it. Fair enough !

Search Engine for Quotes

Here is a customized search engine, which searches only for quotes.

Since its url is difficult to remember, I have embedded it in a
blog : quotesearch.blogspot.com.

It searches for your keywords only in selected pages
of selected sites, for e.g. all the memorable quotes
pages of imdb, all the story pages of fundooquotes etc.

Happy quote searching.

Another phishing mail :

------------------------------

Delivered-To: --my email here--
Received: by 10.110.93.18 with SMTP id q18cs110422tib;
Mon, 9 Jun 2008 10:02:20 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.114.255.1 with SMTP id c1mr3611945wai.143.1213030939284;
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:02:19 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path:
Received: from cenpec2.cenpec.org.br (cenpec2-dedicado.locaweb.com.br [200.234.199.81])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id i39si33570803wxd.22.2008.06.09.10.02.18;
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:02:19 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of apache@cenpec.org.br designates 200.234.199.81 as permitted sender) client-ip=200.234.199.81;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of apache@cenpec.org.br designates 200.234.199.81 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=apache@cenpec.org.br
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:02:19 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <484d621b.2787460a.0f31.6bc0SMTPIN_ADDED@mx.google.com>
Received: by cenpec2.cenpec.org.br (Postfix, from userid 48)
id 77EB193647; Mon, 9 Jun 2008 14:19:21 -0300 (BRT)
To: --my email here--
Subject: Update Your Records
From: ICICI Bank
Reply-To:
MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/html

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Message-Id: <20080609171921.77EB193647@cenpec2.cenpec.org.br>
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 14:19:21 -0300 (BRT)

xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"

xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"

xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"

xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40 " xmlns:(null)0="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
















name="country-region"/>


name="place"/>

---

align=left>

style='font-size:12pt ;font-family:Tahoma;'>Security Alert
style='font-size:12pt ;font-family:Tahoma;color:#003399'>

ICICI Bank has been

receiving complaints from our customers of unauthorized access of the NetBanking

accounts. As a result we have started reviewing our


NetBanking Accounts periodically and temporarily restrict access of those

accounts which we think are vulnerable.It has come to our attention that your

account


information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect

your account in this year 2008 and to reduce the instance of fraud on our

website.


If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update

your personal records, you will not run into any future problems with our online

service.


Once you have updated your account records your online banking account service

will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

To update your records click

the following link(s) and fill in the necessary requirements :

Personal

Account Holders -



https://infinity.icicibank.co.in/BANKAWAY?Action.RetUser.Init.001=Y&AppSignonBankId=ICI&AppType=retail&abrdPrf=N


Business Account Holders -



https://cib.icicibank.co.incorp/BANKAWAY?Action.CorpUser.Init.001=Y&AppSignonBankId=ICI&AppType=corporate

Please sign in to Online Banking after you have

verified your account to ensure your account security. It is all about your

security.


We seek your cooperation for serving you better.

Sincerely,





Benoy Dasgupta


Security Department


ICICI Bank

The Famed ICICI phishing attack

I have attached this mail with headers.
I guess this is one of those famous mails,
used for hacking ICICI customers accounts.
-----------------------------------------------

Delivered-To: --my email address here--
Received: by 10.110.93.18 with SMTP id q18cs103450tib;
Mon, 9 Jun 2008 09:01:28 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.100.178.13 with SMTP id a13mr3889104anf.29.1213027286181;
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:01:26 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path:
Received: from corvette.speedlimithosting.com (3a.dc.5d45.static.theplanet.com [69.93.220.58])
by mx.google.com with ESMTP id c13si20539843anc.32.2008.06.09.09.01.25;
Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:01:26 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 69.93.220.58 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of radioone@corvette.speedlimithosting.com) client-ip=69.93.220.58;
Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=neutral (google.com: 69.93.220.58 is neither permitted nor denied by best guess record for domain of radioone@corvette.speedlimithosting.com) smtp.mail=radioone@corvette.speedlimithosting.com
Received: from radioone by corvette.speedlimithosting.com with local (Exim 4.68)
(envelope-from )
id 1K5joB-0007Dx-7E
for --my email address here--; Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:01:23 -0500
To: --my email address here--
Subject: Secure Your NetBanking Account
From: ICICI Bank
Reply-To:
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Message-Id:
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:01:23 -0500
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - corvette.speedlimithosting.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - gmail.com
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [32023 32002] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - corvette.speedlimithosting.com
X-Source: /usr/bin/php
X-Source-Args: /usr/bin/php /home/radioone/public_html/calendar/tasks/settings.inc.php
X-Source-Dir: radiooneindiana.com:/public_html/calendar/tasks

---

Security Alert

ICICI Bank has been
receiving complaints from our customers of unauthorized access of the NetBanking
accounts. As a result we have started reviewing our

NetBanking Accounts periodically and temporarily restrict access of those
accounts which we think are vulnerable.It has come to our attention that your
account

information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect
your account in this year 2008 and to reduce the instance of fraud on our
website.

If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and update
your personal records, you will not run into any future problems with our online
service.

Once you have updated your account records your online banking account service
will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

To update your records click
the following link(s) and fill in the necessary requirements :

Personal
Account Holders -

https://infinity.icicibank.co.in/BANKAWAY?Action.RetUser.Init.001=Y&AppSignonBankId=ICI&AppType=retail&abrdPrf=N

Business Account Holders -

https://cib.icicibank.co.incorp/BANKAWAY?Action.CorpUser.Init.001=Y&AppSignonBankId=ICI&AppType=corporate

Please sign in to Online Banking after you have
verified your account to ensure your account security. It is all about your
security.

We seek your cooperation for serving you better.

Sincerely,



Benoy Dasgupta

Security Department

ICICI Bank

Maruti Suzuki Car Dealers in Noida

ROHAN MOTORS LIMITED
C-11,Sector-1,Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201301
Tel: 0120-2543613, 2543609

Note : Very close to the above mentioned showroom
is Maruti True value Showroom, that is Second hand
Maruti cars, by Rohan Motors.

VIPUL MOTORS LTD
COMMERCIAL BUILDING P-6, OCEAN COMPLEX,,
Sector-18,
Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201301
Tel: 0120-2517780-83

An Excerpt from The Argumentative Indian

There is in fact, another factor that influences this interpretational bias. There is and old
dichotomy in the way in which Western and non-western ideas and scholarship are currently
comprehended, with a tendency to attribute a predominant role to religiosity in interpreting
the works of non-Western intellectuals who had secular interests along with strong religious
beliefs. It is, for example, not assumed that, say, Isaac Newton's scientific work must be
understood in primarily Christian terms ( even though he did have Christian beliefs), nor presumed
that his contributions to worldly knowledge must somehow be interpreted in the light
of his deep interest in mysticism ( important as mystical speculations evidently were to
Newton himself and even perhaps for some of the motivation for his efforts).

In contrast, when it comes to non-Western cultures, religious reductionism tends to exert
a gripping influence. For example, there is a widespread tendency to presume that none of the
general intellectual works of Buddhist scholars or of Tantric practitioners in India or China
could be 'properly understood' except in the special light of their religious beliefs and practices.

The Argumentative Indian - partial Review - essays 1-7,16

I have read 8 out of 16 essays by Amartya Sen in
The Argumentative Indian. In fact I have skipped
a lot of content as he himself acknowledges in the
preface that a lot of material might be replicated,
since essays have been written at different times,
and not originally intended to be a book.

Most of the book is about how India and Indians
have contributed to the world much more than
their religious beliefs and practices. How,
India has had a rich democracy and an ability
to accommodate various ethnic groups since
time immemorial which has facilitated a lot of
give and take between different cultures not
only in terms of the cultural exchanges but
scientific, or rather mathematical influences as
well.

Speaking of the scientific and mathematical exchanges,
he repeatedly cites the decimal system and few
astronomical calculations by our ancient scientists.

And, as is expected of a Nobel laureate, he backs
each claim of his with some solid evidence and
debunks some popular myths about India and Indians.

He also chastises the Hindutva brigade of attempting
to isolate India from the rest of the world and thus
hindering the free flow of ideas.

All in all, old wine in new bottle, but a bottle which
is rather impressive due to the solid evidence that
he cites to cement his claims. Though I would have
been much happier if he had actually unearthed
some contribution by India to the world, which is
hitherto unknown. Decimal system, democracy, multi-ethnicity
are all well known, well established. Give me something
new, as is expected of a Nobel laureate !!

A dialogue in Sarkar Raj

Sarkar's wife: वक्त बदल रहा है. बदलते वक्त के साथ आप भी बदलना सीख लीजिये.
Sarkar : अगर हम भी बदल गए तो पता कैसे चलेगा कि वक्त बदल रहा है.

Sarkar's wife: Waqt badal raha hai. Badalte waqt ke saath aap bhi badalna seekh leejiye.
Sarkar : Agar hum bhi badal gaye to pata kaise chalega ki waqt badal raha hai.

Sarkar Raj

Not too many sequels are known for living
up to their originals, except Lage Raho Munna Bhai,
but still...

Amitabh has done well.
Abishek is average.
Aishwarya has done better than Abhishek,
but not quite as good as Amitabh. Her
close ups are exemplary.
There is quite an overdose of the background
music plus many a times Amitabh takes epochal
pauses between his dialogues which remind me of
Atal Bihari Vajpayee's last days as prime minister.
7/10.
I don't know why am I saying this,
but it's better than Om Shanti Om.

Apache Serve Bible 2 ebook download

Apache Serve Bible 2 ebook download

IPL final

Though Rajasthan Royals have won the IPL final,
and though they were expected to win it quite easily,
the fact is throughout the match they seemed the
underdogs.

Those big bags under Warne's eyes loudly proclaimed
that he hadn't slept well, when he came for the toss.
Then Chennai under Dhoni kept their cool and played
slightly beyond their potential to reach 162.

Chennai team gave the impression that they had peaked
at the right time. And, they had indeed. Just that Yusuf
had other ideas.

And, when Rajasthan came out to bat, they were 44-3,
not long after their chase began. Akmal was injured at
least thrice during the match,Kaif once and Greame
Smith didn't even play due to injury. All of which made
Rajasthan's journey difficult. And when Yusuf was having
a hell of a time playing a confident Murali, it seemed that
all was over for Rajasthan. But, thanks to some loose deliveries
by Murali, and Pathan's ability to control his nerves,
his confidence was back with two consecutive sixes off him.

What might go unnoticed though is Kaif's innings. He made
only 12, but what he did was he made runs in Murali's over,
which would have most likely not been made by anyone else.
And had that last over by Murali been a tight one, game
would have been very different.

All in all, the final was between two of the best captains
of the tournament, no one would be able to contest that
claim.

Some computer hardware shops in Noida

Opposite Atta Market :
Narsingh computers : 0120-2547283,2591683,4248621
Sri Ganesh Computer : 0120-4246110,9312048861

IIT Student commits suicide before convocation

IIT girl commits suicide hours before convocation
Expressindia.com - New Delhi,India
Kanpur, May 31: Upset over poor academic record, a girl student of Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself ...
See all stories on this topic

IIT-K confers degrees on 994 students
Economic Times - Gurgaon,Haryana,India
31 May, 2008, 1545 hrs IST, PTI KANPUR: The Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur today conferred degrees on 994 students of various courses during the ...
See all stories on this topic

The Argumentative Indian : Excerpts

Chaarvaaka's materialistic view of the world(24),
arjun doubts were well placed(5),
pohibitory vs. neutral attitude towards secularism(20),
British Raj didn't give India its identity ( 39),
"India has succeeded in supposedly western spheres of success, like logic,reasoning etc.(80)",

Movie Review : The Man from Earth

No panoramic shots, no super stars. Sheer power of a good story well told.

Bike/Motorcycle dealers in Noida

Hero Honda :
Name
M/S. UPPAL MOTORS PVT LTD
Address
B-7, SECTOR-4,
NOIDA
201301
Uttar Pradesh
Phone
0120-2440801
0120-2440803
Email
uppalmotors2000@yahoo.com
Contact Person
VIRENDER UPPAL



Name
M/s. DIVINE AUTO SOURCE PVT LTD.
Address
C-71, SECTOR - 58,NEAR LABOUR CHOWK,
NOIDA
201307
UTTAR PRADESH
Phone
0120-4227222
Email
divineautosource@gmail.com
Contact Person
MR. RAHUL BHANDARI

TVS
Aditi automobiles,
C-2,Sector-10,Noida.
Phone : 2548629

Bajaj

Address	B-77-78, PHASE-I , SECTOR-2, GAUTAM BUDH NAGAR Pin- 201301
Phone Nos	(120)24442223 , 2442224 , 4531969 , 4756520
Mobile Nos
Contact Person	ASHOK GARG
E-Mail	d10418@baldealer.com
Fax	2531969

Sony Service center in Noida

N.R.I. Electronics
D.R. White House
Near Vinayak Hospital,
Sec-27,Noida
Time : 10AM to 7PM (Tuesday closed)
phone : (0120)2540122/2540123

Sony Customer Care phone number : (Delhi) 011-66006600

First semi-accident

As you might remember, I had started biking to work almost a week ago,
and today I had my first semi-accident. Just 10 seconds ago, I had negotiated
a very tricky situation at a decent speed, without hitting the brakes. And I
thought I would scrape through this one easily as well, but the brakes
didn't work as expected and in fact I hit them at least a second late.
So, I crashed into a Maruti 800 in front of me, without causing any damage
to either side, thankfully. The driver waited for some time and eventually
decided to come out. It was evident that he was reluctant to engage in
an argument, since he approached me rather slowly. I was ready with
my "sorry boss" and "Main nuksan bhar doonga", but he was "Koi baat
nahin" and that's it.

Even yesterday, I was in a battle of sorts. I refused to yield space to a person
coming from wrong side on his bike. He was a "cool dude" type, with a hunky
frame. Though I didn't give him any space, another "gentleman" did.
And once through,he started yelling, in English, "That's called helping out". I tried to
ignore him, but he was adamant. "Stupid" "Stupid", I guess he said it 4-5 times,
and he actually came pretty close to me in the process, accelerating in my face effectively.
I was trying my best to ignore him(thankfully I didn't have my AK-47 :-)).
Then the signal turned green, and we parted ways. Otherwise, who knows... :-)

It's cool to be fat

if you are Shane Warne, that is.
Not many athletes, let alone the plebeians,
can make it look as cool as Warne.
His leg-spin is legendary, and now captaining
a nondescript Rajasthan team in IPL, he
has put the team at the top of the table,
ahead of much more expensive and star-studded
teams.
The intensity and effort he puts in making
field placements, not only for his own bowling,
but also others', and the constant chit-chat
that goes on between him and his bowlers seem
to have born fruit.

Weather in Noida

has been fantastic for past two days. It has been raining here and there.
Temperatures have lowered and a breeze has been flowing across. All in
all it reminds me of all those years in Bangalore.

Noida Sand storms

For the past few days sandstorms have been a regular
feature of Noida's night life. They are high speed,highly
threatening sandstorms. Seems that the whole building
would be blown away. Yesterday coupled with rain
they played a hand in defeating Delhi's local team in
IPL.

The mythical man month e-book

Torrent here.

Flex 3 Cookbook by Joshua Noble, Todd Anderson

Download it from here.

Apache cook book (e-book) by Rich Bown, Ken Coar

You can download it from here.

Bomb blasts in Jaipur

Before Feb 2006 : Number of bomb blasts in Rajasthan = 0.
Feb 2006 : India Pak reopen railway route connecting Rajasthan to Pakistan.(Thar Express)
Oct 2007 : Bomb blasts in Ajmer(Rajasthan).
May 2008 : Bomb blasts in Jaipur(Rajasthan).

Woman breastfeeds fawn

This picture by Hindustan Times lensman Himanshu Vyas has won the IFRA Gold Award for News Photography. Vyas had heard about an orphan fawn being looked after by a Bishnoi woman near his hometown Jodhpur. At the mud dwelling, he noticed the fawn playing with her children.

'When hungry, the woman breastfed the fawn and her daughter simultaneously. Wildlife activism is publicised around the world. But this connect between man and nature is unparalleled,' he says.


Source : GoFrostFire

Rahman Ray

More than a month ago, I watched this movie : Ray.
It's based on a legendary musician Ray Charles.
One of the unique things about him was that he
sung his own songs, with his own lyrics while
using the tunes from Gospel. Now, Gospel is basically
related to Christian religion and can be thought
of as really sacred part of the religion. It was considered
blasphemous by many. How can someone use
the religious tunes, and play with them, and morph them....

But that's art ! I was just thinking of an example
on the same lines from Indian music fraternity.
And the very first name that came to my mind
was A. R. Rahman. For? For his Vande Mataram song !

I still remember, it created quite a furore in those
days when it first appeared on the music charts.
It was such a wonderful song, but still, it was sort
of sacrilegious. After all, it was like someone manipulating
India's national song ! But if the truth be told, it was
a fantastic awe-inspiring tune !

And that's art !

Biking

For the first time today, I rode to work on Pankaj's bike.
I wasn't sure if would be able to make it without hiccups,
but everything went well. And I guess I have to thank Noida's
traffic for that. People drive and ride rather slowly here, may
be due to the high number of traffic signals and speed-breakers.
Thanks to Pankaj, thanks Noida and thanks Anant for helping
me with starting the bike :-)

Munna Bhai Stock Broker

Munna : Arre Circuit
Circuit : Haan Bhai

Munna : Wo Tehelka mein Punjab ke Kisan log ka story padha kya?
Circuit : Kya hua Bhai, ye Kisan log kya kiye Ab?

Munna : Arre kuchh nahin re, jyada fasal ugane ke vaaste ye log fertilizer vertilizer use karte hain.
Circuit : To karne do na bhai, jyada ugayenge tabhi to jyada log khayenge, waise bhi ye Bush Vush bahut halla kar rele hain ki apun Indian log eez sala jyada kha reh le hain aaj kal.

Munna : Arre Bush ki to maan ki Aankh, ye jo fertilizer se fasal ugate hain ye bahut jahrili
hoti hai re, wo log khud hiz nahin khate.
Circuit : To bhai apun kya karega abhi, apun ko to jo milega apun khayega na bhai, abhi
apun kidher se ye Organic food dhoondhta firega.

Munna : Lekin apun ko kuchh karne ka maangta hai Circuit..
Circuit : kya karega tum bhai

Munna : Ye jo bhi fertilizer stock hai apne paas, sab bech daal, nahin chahiye apun ko haraam ka paisa
Circuit : To phir wo paisa kidhar lagayega bhai?

Munna : Koi Organic farming ki company bata apne ko
Circuit : Haan pata karta hoon na bhai.

Reproduced from : Munna Bhai Stock Broker

Suicides in TamilNadu

Here is a story about Goldsmiths in TamilNadu committing suicides
due to arrival of new technologies which have rendered them jobless
and debt-trapped.

Now, what I wonder about is whether committing suicides is a southern
Indian phenomenon. Farmer suicides in Vidarbha and Andhra are part
of the folklore now. Famines form part and parcel of Rajasthani farmers'
lives but haven't heard of mass suicides there ever.

E-book learning Flash Media Server 3

You can get it from here.
I got it here.

Using jockstrap(supporter) while running

Here is an answer from now dysfunctional Google Answers service.

Question was whether running too much without an athletic
supporter (also known as jockstrap) could cause erectile dysfunction?

"
While there are several accepted causes of erectile dysfunction (ED),
including medical conditions (illness, hormone imbalances, especially
Diabetes), emotional/relationship issues and certain medicines, I
couldn't find any information linking running/jogging without an
athletic supporter with ED.

Running without an athletic supporter may lead to minor injuries
(depending on one's stride and speed and the size of one's
penis/testicles, general fitness, et cetera) that shouldn't have a
lasting effect because when they happen, the person immediately stops
the activity to deal with the discomfort and/or pain involved. If
someone is running 3-5 miles a day for a long period of time without
experiencing any pain, running would not likely be the cause of ED.

Athletic supporters mostly provide safety from contact injuries
(bruising and rupture) when worn with a cup, and discomfort otherwise.
"Some advertisemnents refer to preventing strain on the scrotum and
spermatic cord, but these may be overrated. European soccer players
seem to get along fine without athletic supporters." from:
http://www.infernosoft.com/community/hockey/jock/jockstraps/

It also notes that athletic supporters do not prevent hernias (related
to strain on the scrotum and spermatic cord). Although you didn't ask,
there was no evidence found supporting a connection between a hernia
and erectile dysfunction, though logic would indicate what if there is
an injury, obtaining an erection may be painful or impossible until
the injury has healed.

If this is your situation, you should talk to a urologist or your
family doctor about the situation, as there may be some underlying
cause that can be corrected with treatment or should be under medical
supervision. In these situations, the sooner the better. This answer
does not constitute medical advice, per the Google disclaimer below.
"

An easy way to search movie quotes

Type this in google :
intitle:memorable.quotes site:imdb.com <your keywords here>

This way you are easily tapping into imdb's huge quote collection.

Excerpts from Shoba De's interview to Tehelka

Here is the original.

The rich might want to photoshop India for the world, but does it ever discuss the other India? You celebrate our new cash-rich economy, yet 5 or 6 states have slipped further down the poverty line. Where does nation-building fit into all of this?

But to answer your question, except for politically correct forums, in all these years, I have never heard the uber-rich discuss the have-nots. They are just not interested! They are in denial. It’s not a part of their scripted dream, so why must they have to deal with it? Their conversation is always about making more money and enhancing lifestyle. Clothes, exotic villas, cars, bags, price of diamonds, gizmos. The women’s distress scale is measured by whether they have bought the correct bag or not (the price of just one of these bags could feed ten poor families for a year.) But there is a reason for this. The super-rich in India today are mostly first-generation rich, so their attitude to money is very different. They haven’t quite grown into a full sense of security about it, they are almost overwhelmed by their own capacity to spend. I am fascinated by this new money. There is an attempt to be casual, but they really want to be acknowledged as belonging to the billionaire’s club. They have a kind of schizophrenic reaction to money — maybe it’s a hangover from their parents’ days. So there are multibillionaires who are so wealthy the next five generations could live off them, and their 12-year old sons might ask them to buy them Porsches, yet they will count the sandwiches on their private jets or haul up their staff for changing the flowers before they have drooped.

In this, the idea of corporate governance or social responsibility is a very new thing. But you have to see it in the context of India being a very young nation. The Ambanis, Ruias, Mahindras, Mittals — all first and second generation rich — are only just waking up to the idea that’s there’s something called giving back. It may take a few years more — even another generation — but slowly you will see the beginnings of an endowment mentality. With the new globalisation of thinking, as India’s super-rich travel the globe and meet the world’s biggest philanthropists — Bill Gates or Warren Buffet or even an Anita Roddick who said, let my children make their own wealth, and has willed most of her empire to her favourite charities — it will take time, but slowly I believe a new kind of thinking will set in.

Kufri to Simla - on a bus top - Shot with Nokia E-51

Excerpts from the book : "To Think Of Tea"

page 168, Chapter XII
A discussion in the English parliament over reducing the import
duty on tea :
Sentimental advocates affirmed that tea ' tamed the rude strength
of men, and ennobled the graceful weakness of women'. (This was
before the days of female athleticism.)

page 153, Chapter XI
Compared with alchohol, ' laments Mr. Lucas, 'tea has done nothing
for the humorist.' This is true, but why the challenge? Compared with
alcohol, tea has done nothing for the poet. Compared with alcohol, tea
has done nothing for the dramatist.
....
but if we ask, 'Compared with alcohol, what has tea done for man?'
There is an answer ready.

Kanpur Once Again

IIT Kanpur has topped the student suicide charts among all the IITs
for at least last 5 years, may be more, I don't know about previous
years. And, it is unwilling to let go of this position.

It is high time IIT Kanpur did something to stop producing a depressed
student batch year after year after year.

I wonder if there is a single student batch in IIT Kanpur, which
can claim to have graduated without losing at least one of their
batchmates to suicides.

If they can't do anything to rectify this, it would be best to shut
down this institute in the best interest of thousands of students'
psychological and mental health.

Here are some news stories on the topic.

IIT-Kanpur student commits suicide
NDTV.com - New Delhi,India
Prashant had joined IIT in July last year and was living in the hostel. His family also lives in Kanpur. The police are investigating the reason behind the ...

IIT student suicide

Calcutta Telegraph - Calcutta,India
Prashant Kumar, a city resident who was a electrical engineering student, locked himself in his hostel room in the hall number 2 around 12.30pm, IIT ...
See all stories on this topic

Father alleges caste prejudice behind IIT-K student’s suicide

Lucknow Newsline - Lucknow,India
The authorities of the IIT-K, however, quickly rejected Kureel’s allegations. Rejecting the alleged caste biasness at the institute Deputy Director Kripa ...
See all stories on this topic

Sideways

Now this movie is so similar to Little Miss Sunshine(LMS) in so many ways. First, a lot of it
is shot in in a lot of sunshine, on the road, when two friends take up a car journey for a
week. In LMS it's a family that takes up a road journey.

LMS is full of loser characters, Sideways has only one but enough to drown any number
of souls down.

Another useful Firefox shortcut

CTRL + SHIFT + T

Accidentally closed a tab that you need back? Use this shortcut to load the most recently closed tab. It can help save a lot of time if you navigated deep into a site, closed the tab and then realized that you needed the information again.

Source : Young Entrepreneur Blog

I am Mr. Crude

I am not Mr. Charming,
   I am Mr. crude,
Don't know what you think,
   I ain't a cool dude

hey, cut the sweet talk,
   I would rather shout,
I could break any heart,
   in a raging bout.

- A poem by D Tolz (that's me) (It's original, not the name, the poem)
- Tune : this poem/song can be sung in the same tune as Mr. Tambourine man.

Sams Teach your Visual C# in 24 hours - book download

Part 1.

Part 2.

Term of copyright in India - more specifically to Computer Programmes

Source here.

TERM OF COPYRIGHT

Is copyright protected in perpetuity?

No. It is protected for a limited period of time.

What is the term of protection of copyright?

The general rule is that copyright lasts for 60 years. In the case of original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works the 60-year period is counted from the year following the death of the author. In the case of cinematograph films, sound recordings, photographs, posthumous publications, anonymous and pseudonymous publications, works of government and works of international organisations, the 60-year period is counted from the date of publication.

Are computer programmes protected under Copyright Act?

Yes. Computer programmes are protected under the Copyright Act. They are treated as literary works.

It ain't me

Go 'way from my window,
Leave at your own chosen speed.
I'm not the one you want, babe,
I'm not the one you need.
You say you're lookin' for someone
Never weak but always strong,
To protect you an' defend you
Whether you are right or wrong,
Someone to open each and every door,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

Go lightly from the ledge, babe,
Go lightly on the ground.
I'm not the one you want, babe,
I will only let you down.
You say you're lookin' for someone
Who will promise never to part,
Someone to close his eyes for you,
Someone to close his heart,
Someone who will die for you an' more,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

Go melt back into the night, babe,
Everything inside is made of stone.
There's nothing in here moving
An' anyway I'm not alone.
You say you're looking for someone
Who'll pick you up each time you fall,
To gather flowers constantly
An' to come each time you call,
A lover for your life an' nothing more,
But it ain't me, babe,
No, no, no, it ain't me, babe,
It ain't me you're lookin' for, babe.

नॉएडा सब्जी बाजार के भाव (चौडा मौड़ सोम बाज़ार) 7 April 2008

Noida vegetable prices on 7th April, 2008 (Som Baazar, Near Chauda Maud,
Sector-21)

सब्जी	रु. प्रति किलोग्राम
टमाटर	15 से 20
आलू	६.७
प्याज	१०
भिंडी	३०
परमल	२०
लौकी	30
फली	20
धनिया	40
नीम्बू	40
पत्ता गोभी	५
बैंगन	10

True google rank

Reproduced from here.

Download

What it does is this :

Give as inputs a keyword or keywords, and a domain name or a web page
and the range in google results to search for. It will tell you where does your page/domain
appear in the search results in the 100 results starting from that result number. For e.g. if your domain name www.example.com is the
fifth result on 2nd page of google results for keyword=example, and 3rd result
on 4th page, output would be :

Found at these ranks : 15 33

There are two ways to use it :

Browser :
open first.html
for multiple keywords, simply enter them separated by spaces.
no support for phrases yet.
enter a url and result range to search

Command line :
Usage :

php.exe true_google_rank.php <keyword> < url >
< start result num between 0 and 999> 

for e.g.
php.exe true_google_rank.php dogra wikipedia 10


multiple keywords need to be entered inside " and ".
no support for phrases yet.

You will need php.exe and php5ts.dll for that, bundled
with this zip file .(on linux, I haven't tried yet)




Download


Warning : If you use this script too often(may be 5-6 times a minute),
you might get the dreaded sorry.google.com page. Google decides what
is too often.

License : GPL.

If you like this, contribute by clicking on the Donate button below :

October Sky

I haven't seen too many movies when your heart
comes to your mouth so often in a miserly span
of 90 minutes. The fantastic soundtrack has a role
to play in that as well.

Name of this movie is an anagram of Rocket Boys,
name of the novel on which it's based. Also, in a research
done by Universal Pictures, women over 30 would not go
to see a movie titled "Rocket Boys",^[1] so Universal
Pictures changed the title to be more inviting to a
wider audience.

Typing my time away

If we fly from boredom, we fly from ourselves. - Friedrich Nietzsche


What are the things that I do to run away from boredom
and give myself an illusion that something is happening
all the time though I ain't doing it :

1. Keep a watch on the stock market ticker.
2. If there is a cricket match going on, nothing
like it. Keep watching the score.
3. Keep an eye on the torrent stats, up/down speed, download percentage.
4. Google Reader !
5. Gmail !
....

RSS feeds from Noam Chomsky

For those who didn't know this.
Here is the link.

Little Miss Sunshine

Okay. So this movie is all about a family, which right from the first
frame is drowning in a pool of piss(excuse my language please, it's
a good movie), with some really cool background music to back it up.

Few minutes and a failed clutch later the piss kind of gives way to,umm,
some clean water, then mud, then clean again and so on.. It's a real
roller coaster ride.

And the climax, boy, what a climax. It's like all the frustrated souls
in the family come on stage and get dancing and the agent of this
catharsis is their little daughter, the Little Miss Sunshine, she
truly is.

Let me know if you want to watch it ;-).

Be evil and don't be evil

been reading "iCon-An unauthorized and unflinching portrait of Steve Jobs",
for a while. Had read The Google Story a few months ago as well. Whereas the google
story was mostly about how the Google founders kept the devil at bay from taking
over their souls, iCon is mostly about how Steve Jobs has succumbed to the devil
time and again. It doesn't really make for a pleasant read nor an easy read. Though
there are some interesting episodes illustrated in here, they don't really tickle you.
Anyway, will try to finish it in a week or so (it's been a week alreay, I am a slow reader
I know, but here I have been even slower).

Jotting down notes

Ev'rybody's building the big ships and the boats,
Some are building monuments,
Others, jotting down notes,
Ev'rybody's in despair,
Ev'ry girl and boy
But when Quinn the Eskimo gets here,
Ev'rybody's gonna jump for joy.
Come all without, come all within,
You'll not see nothing like the mighty Quinn.

Aamir Khan gets quizzed by B Raman over Tibetan issue

Few hours ago, B Raman's open letter to Aamir Khan appeared on Rediff.
Anyone interested in Aamir Khan's decision to carry Olympic torch
should read this.

Here is a critical point he raises:

"Wherever the Olympic Torch is being taken, the Chinese have been keen that some prominent Muslim and Buddhist personalities also participate in carrying the torch so that they can demonstrate to the protesting Buddhists of Tibet, Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai and to the protesting Muslims of Xinjiang that prominent Buddhist and Muslim leaders in other countries have endorsed the Games.

The importance of your participation and of the participation of Saif Ali Khan to the Chinese was not only because you are both widely-admired film artists. It was also because both of you are widely-respected Muslim personalities.

The importance of the participation of football hero Baichung Bhutia to the Chinese was not only because he is a football hero, but also because he is a highly-respected Buddhist personality. He saw through their game and declined to let himself be used by the Chinese. It is a pity you have not seen through their game."

Notes on Noida

If you live in Sector-21, you will find it interesting to see how the color
of sky changes from gray to blue once you step into Noida Stadium, which
is just in front of your sector. I find it surprising myself, but it seems
that air inside Noida Stadium is just too clean.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
No matter in which part of Noida you reside, just step
out of your home and you are greeted by an army of cars,
either stationary or moving. The number of cars is huge
in this part of India(NCR) as compared to any other.
You can observe almost every model in almost all of its
available colors. Makes the buying process so much
easier ;-)

Shades of Red behind the Celluloid

I came across two stories in a week highlighting a bizarre pattern : Red + Celluloid.

1. Mani Ratnam's son moves across as 'red volunteer'

2. Not Without My Father

Away from the pseudo-activism of the Bollywood glitterati, a young assistant director of Taare Zameen Par fights for her father, who is under arrest on charges of being a Naxalite commander.

Another Google Prank ?

Post of Google Blog :
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/announcing-project-virgle.html

Project Home Page :
http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html

Application form for inhabiting Mars :
http://www.google.com/virgle/application.html

Sehwag

Update : Sehwag has raised the fastest
triple hundred as well. Now 2 out of 3
fastest are his.

Now, out of the 7 fastest double centuries,
3 belong to Sehwag. All 3 have come in
matches where the audience has been
conspicuous from its absence(in Multan
it was stadium crowd, in Chennai it is
television, in Lahore both).

Source : Cricinfo Stats

Two cool launches today on the web

1. Photoshop on the web, with 2GB free storage.

2. Youtube starts providing geographical information about the
audience of your videos, think of it as google-analytics for your
youtube videos.

A list of words I hate

1. Suddenly.

will continue updating this list..

Psychology tidbits

A fantastic movie : Oridnary People.
It talks about Survivor's guilt.
I am sure a lot of people are affected by this(survivor's guilt), and
this movie talks about it in a very effective manner.

Ratan Tata conferred degree by IIT, Kharagpur

"The award was given in recognition of Tata's outstanding leadership in globalising India and transforming the Tata group as a formidable corporate entity, a press release issued here today said."

Source : http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200803181721.htm

It could have as well read like :
"The award was given , on the continued insistence of West Bengal Govt , in recognition of Tata's ability(or lack of it) for not backing out of Singur despite continued violent protests."

Cricket is a lonely game, lonelier to be preciese

Just to quote from an article about this book :

By His Own Hand: A Study of Cricket's Suicides
by David Frith


Some excerpts :



"Tension and psychological stress in cricket are greater than in most other sports," it cannot be dismissed out of hand. Especially when he says that findings show the suicide-rate among professional cricketers around the world is higher than in any other sport.

"Only superficially is cricket a team game. It is an individual game, and a lonely one. The player has to work out his own solutions in his playing days, and after retirement train himself not to dwell on the past too much."

David Frith's By His Own Hand is a study of some 80 cricketers who committed suicide, and few write with his breadth of vision and depth of knowledge.

"Cricketers are vulnerable because the game attracts sensitive men of aesthetic temperament, the very men who are, in the end, least well served by it."

Jodhaa Akbar

Forget the historical correctness, no one is sure about it.
Watch it as a work of fiction, and you will love it.

Another quote couplet

Submit and be saved. - Jesus Christ
Defy and be damned. - Karl Marx

From the prologue of "Tibetan Journey", a book by George N. Patterson.

A quote couplet

"Life is unfair, get used to it." - Bill Gates

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. "
- George Bernard Shaw

But Bill Gates has made a lot of progress Mr. Shaw, and not only for himself but many
others as well. Or hasn't he?

P/E ratios

I was just comparing P/E ratios for the same company(ies) in various publications.

	Moneycontrol	Rediff Money	Times-of-India
Bharti Airtel	30.02	42.67	29.7
Reliance Industries	20.49	32.48	19.8

So, there is a clear difference. Moneycontrol and Times calculate PE based on trailing twelve
months whereas Rediff calculates based on exactly an year ago.

For e.g. a company A has following quarterly earnings :
Mar'06 : x
June'06 : y
Sep'06 : z
Dec'06 : w
Mar'07 : p
June'07 : q
Sep'07 : r
Dec'07 : s

So, to calculate P/E today(Feb'2008), Rediff would take E = x+y+z+w but Moneycontrol
would take it as E = p+q+r+s.

pagerank of fundooquotes.com

Google pagerank of fundooquotes is 1/10 now.

Death

There is a quaint similarity in The Namesake and Anuranan. Both are wrapped in Bengali
ethos and have utilized the shock value of death to the maximum. If the sudden death
of Ashoke in The Namesake rocked the viewer to the core, Rahul's cold hand in Anuranan
leaves him numb. Not too many times have I seen this brilliant usage of death in shocking
the audience.

Anuranan

A nice, slow and breezing movie.
Some of the fine moments in it :
1. When a kindergarten student proposes his Miss(Rituparna).
2. (a shuddering moment) When Raima touches Rahul's hand and finds it cold.
3. When Rituparna wakes up from a nightmare and fights with Rahul.
4. When a Tibetan kid holds Rahul's little finger.

The Tipping Point

Some concepts from The Tipping Point :

1. Dunbar's number - limit on the number of people one can be comfortable with.
2. Principle of Broken windows and its application in reducing New York city crime,

will post others as and when I read them.

Tyranny of niceness

Source
Many psychologists will tell you that niceness is bad for you. Some psychologists even talk about the "tyranny of niceness", the urge that prevents you reaching your full potential. No psychologist is yet on record as saying that niceness can cost you Test matches but, if Australia lose in Perth, Ricky Ponting might well receive a cold call from one.

Ponting and Bush

Ricky ponting looks and speaks like George W. Bush.

Side effects of shaving

Shaving can have numerous side effects, including cuts, abrasions, irritation and the feeling that something is missing. Many side effects can be minimized by using a fresh blade, applying plenty of lubrication, and avoiding pressing down with the razor. A shaving brush can also help. There are many products on the market to get rid of them, they commonly dry the affected area and some help to lift out the trapped hair(s). Some people choose to use only single-blade or wire-wrapped blades that shave farther away from the skin. Others cannot use razors at all and use depilatory shaving powders to dissolve hair above the skin's surface.

Many people traditionally believed that shaving would cause the hair shaved to become thicker and darker. However, this bit of conventional wisdom has been disproven. The resulting stubble only makes the hairs seem to be thicker, as a shaved hair has a blunt end as opposed to the tapered end of an unshaven hair, and because hair is often darker in color near the root. Clinical studies have demonstrated that shaving does not have an effect on hair growth rates or density.^[12]

^{Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaving}

Staring at screens is bad for your eyes

c. Staring at screens is bad for your eyes

Looking at a screen from the same distance for long periods leaves our eyes weak, dry and sore.

(To protect your vision, experts recommend taking a short break from the computer every 20 minutes, walk around. Focussing at different distances strengthens the eye muscles.)

Source : http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/no_one_looks_at_the_screen.cfm

CSS vs Tables

CSS versus tables

For more details on this topic, see Tableless web design.

Back when Netscape Navigator 4 dominated the browser market, the popular solution available for designers to lay out a Web page was by using tables. Often even simple designs for a page would require dozens of tables nested in each other. Many web templates in Dreamweaver and other WYSIWYG editors still use this technique today. Navigator 4 didn't support CSS to a useful degree, so it simply wasn't used.

After the browser wars subsided, and the dominant browsers such as Internet Explorer became more W3C compliant, designers started turning toward CSS as an alternate means of laying out their pages. CSS proponents say that tables should be used only for tabular data, not for layout. Using CSS instead of tables also returns HTML to a semantic markup, which helps bots and search engines understand what's going on in a web page. All modern Web browsers support CSS with different degrees of limitations.

However, one of the main points against CSS is that by relying on it exclusively, control is essentially relinquished as each browser has its own quirks which result in a slightly different page display. This is especially a problem as not every browser supports the same subset of CSS rules. For designers who are used to table-based layouts, developing Web sites in CSS often becomes a matter of trying to replicate what can be done with tables, leading some to find CSS design rather cumbersome due to lack of familiarity. For example, at one time it was rather difficult to produce certain design elements, such as vertical positioning, and full-length footers in a design using absolute positions. With the abundance of CSS resources available online today, though, designing with reasonable adherence to standards involves little more than applying CSS 2.1 or CSS 3 to properly structured markup.

These days most modern browsers have solved most of these quirks in CSS rendering and this has made many different CSS layouts possible. However, some people continue to use old browsers, and designers need to keep this in mind, and allow for graceful degrading of pages in older browsers. Most notable among these old browsers are Internet Explorer 5 and 5.5, which, according to some web designers, are becoming the new Netscape Navigator 4 — a block that holds the World Wide Web back from converting to CSS design. However, the W3 Consortium has made CSS in combination with XHTML the standard for web design.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design

Sehwag is back !

One of the most satisfying songs ever ...

Song by ex-students from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Download and enjoy :
http://www.jammag.com/mp3s/bodhi/bodhitree_gaand_mein_danda.mp3

Lenovo laptops

Avoid buying them.
I had to replace my battery once since it stopped charging altogether
and now just when the warranty period is over it refuses to start up.

My tryst with ergonomy

Problem : lower back ache.
Solution : lumber support(from Ergoworks/Amaron etc., available in pharma shops)
Exercises : for lower back,abdomen(leg raises,stomach crunches)

Problem : wrist pain in right hand
Cause : a combination of excessive usage of keyboard/mouse/playing table tennis :-)
Solution : Shifted mouse to left hand, wrist support by WristEase,
Exercise : wrist/finger/thumb stretching exercises, push ups



Problem : a combination of neck-ache coupled with upper back ache, which led to back spasm.
Solution : exercises prescribed by an Orthopedic surgeon at Appollo clinic, Sector-56,Gurgaon
and general exercises(climbing stairs at high speed etc.) . A video is also available here.
Also, as long as possible don't use laptop on your work-desk. If needed use with a docking-station or a spare monitor attached externally to your laptop.

Gurgaon vs. Noida

Is there any comparison really?
Noida is well connected internally and to Delhi via buses, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws etc.
Gurgaon has no auto rickshaws, very few and expensive cycle rickshaws,
Connectivity to Delhi via buses is pathetic.

Electricity situation is much better in Noida. Roads are well planned, make
right angles. Gurgaon lacks there too. Traffic signals are much more than Gurgaon.

But one thing is in favor of Gurgaon, and that is, at a lot of places its air breathes
much easier and better than Noida. May be because of a huge number of industries
are set up here in Noida.

About smoking

Summary of an essay in the book "The Tipping Point",

it's about how to stop teenage smoking which leads to

smoking addiction.

Key conclusions :

1. it's in the genes, the amount of nicotine you can take.

2. the people who affect the teenagers the most are,

not their parents or other adults, it are other teenagers.

solution : addiction requires crossing a certain threshold

of nicotine you take per day. if cigarette companies

put less nicotine in each cigarette, that threshold would

never be crossed and no one would become an addict.

Windows registry cleanup and disabling autorun

***************
Some malicious softwares can use Autorun to infect your Windows PC.
You can disable this feature using TweakUI on WindowsXp.
If you are not using XP, search www.microsoft.com or google to find out
how to disable it.
****************************
Today I uninstalled a lot of programs on my XP machine, since I thought
a large registry may result in slower performance. After that I was about
to run a registry cleanup tool when I read this :

"
There are a number of problems with the concept of a registry cleaner. Most notably, there is no reliable way for a program to know whether any particular key is 'junk' or not. Windows is closed source, so registry cleaner designers can not know for sure whether any particular key is still being used by Windows or what detrimental effects removing it may have; leading to examples of registry cleaners causing loss of functionality and crashes.

With regards to performance, whilst on Windows 9x computers, it is possible that a very large registry could slow down the computer's startup time; the on-disc structure of the registry is entirely different on the NT line of Operating Systems (including Windows XP and Vista). Slowdown due to registry bloat is thus far less of an issue in modern versions of Windows. More importantly, however, the difference in speed due to the use of a registry cleaner is negligible: rarely do they remove more than a few kilobytes from the total size of the registry. In fact, technology journalist Ed Bott has claimed that no-one has ever succesfully managed to measure any significant performance increase from the use of a a registry cleaner. Any potential user of a registry cleaner must thus balance a probably negligible perfomance increase against a non-zero possibility of system instability.
"
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registry_cleaner

So, I dropped the idea of using a registry cleaner.

Why open source softwares are good for India?

Because India has a huge services industry and an almost non-existent
product-industry in software. Now, advocates of product based companies
abuse services companies with all the venom they ever possessed.
And sometimes rightly so. But an open source model can go very well
with the current software demographics in India. As Ajay Shah wrote
a decade ago :

, "Open source is a profound idea.... The enduring puzzle of India's software companies is their persistent inability to grow from projects to products. Open source is a powerful answer to this problem. Open source reduces the importance of products and raises the importance of services.

With open source software, Anyone can contribute by improving the code -- adding new features, correcting errors, etc. The open source universe avoids the waste involved in 'reinventing the wheel,' which takes place in all software companies. In the open source world, each programmer builds on the work of others before him. This brings down the cost of development."


Source : http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4250

'Indians Are Privately Smart and Publicly Dumb'

In his book Games Indians Play: Why We Are the Way We Are, V. Raghunathan writes about a farmer whose corn won top awards year after year. When a reporter asked about the secret of his success, the farmer attributed it to the fact that he shared his corn with his neighbors. Why, the reporter wondered, would the farmer want to share his seed when those neighbors also competed with him for the prize? The farmer's reply was, "The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grew inferior corn, cross-pollination would steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors do the same."

That Indians often fail to act like this farmer is the principal theme of Raghunathan's book.

Here is the source.

The fastest man on no legs

For more, read here.

Why we flock to India for a bride(Confessions of an NRI)

Some time ago, I was part of a yahoo group consisting mostly of NRIs.
There once started a discussion on why most Indian men go back to India in search
of a bride. Here is an interesting response from one of those Indian men from USA:

"
You want to really know why? Because here we believe in freedom and all these great values
but when it comes to practice Indo Americans fall short of acting on it or maybe because of
race prevented from becoming these values. As a result, they really just care about the
American dollar. How does this tie in with marriage. Well Indian women see Indian men as
second class citizens here in the states. This country the minute you set forth makes you
very aware that you are not important culturally. The white man here especially dates all
our beautiful Indian women yet the Indian men who want to date anyone have problems because
they have been given an inferiority complex and also often are told that they have never
been seen in good light. Ever seen a white man come up to you when you are with their own
kind quite frequently. Do you see an Indian man approaching an Indian girl who is dating a
white guy. Never they have no balls (well most of them). So the truth of the matter is that
the Indian man is forced to go back to India and marry a woman because his status becomes
so high because he has American dollars now. That is probably the only reason it is so easy
to flock back to India and pickup a wife. Of course any parent from India is going to see
that the guy is a dollar sign. Of course luckily we are so traditional as a culture that
even money doesn’t necessarily become the only glue for the relationship well at least
I want to think so.
"

Hard work never killed...

"Hard work never killed anybody, but why take a chance?"
- A quote attributed to various people.

This quote always comes across as a joke on the lazy type.
Whoever dared to think there was something wrong
with working hard, was instantly forced to think of himself
as someone making up excuses.

But the fact is, that hard work actually kills people.
And not only the blue collar people(working hard
physically), but also the white collar ones.

Have a look at this about what has happened/is happening in Japan :

Source : Karoshi
"...during the Bubble Economy, however, when several high-ranking business executives who were still in their prime years suddenly died without any previous sign of illness, that the media began picking up on what appeared to be a new phenomenon."

So next time you want to work hard, think hard :-)
--------------------------------------------------------
Original post on 01-01-2008
Work-related stress can kill, study finds(Added on 23-01-2008)