PHP vs. MySql Documentation

Both are open source and critical for survival for many a web
developers. But when it comes to documentation, PHP is like
a million times ahead of MySql. Most of the documentation for
PHP is contributed by its users so I have no idea why does
MySql lag so behind.

Up In the Air

An observation :
1. During the Jim/Julie wedding sequence in the movie, the camera zooms in and out very fast. And it's slightly shaky too. That's because the cameraman is trying to simulate a real life wedding, where someone is shooting with a handheld handycam.

Indian Speed Post

I recently used their services after a long long time.
For quite some time, I had started to rely on various
private courier services.
One of the changes I have noticed is the tracking facility,
which earlier used to be provided by only the private
service providers.
With speed post, you can track your consignments here.

Charges are way less than DTDC,First Flight(FF) etc.
Same shipment from Bangalore to Pune costs Rs. 85/-
on them vs. Rs. 25/- on speed post.

From Bangalore to Jodhpur
DTDC/FF : Rs. 85/-
Speed Post : Rs. 57/-

From Bangalore to Jodhpur Speed Post took between
2-3 days, while DTDC took close to 6-7 days.

Cool Gmail Status messages

Varun Kumar Singh :

♫ Fact of life: After Monday & Tuesday
even the calendar says W T F

Anand Vivek Srivastava :
No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from. :-)

New trains for Rajasthan

In the rail budget announced today :
Ajmer has benefited significantly ( 5 new trains)
1 each for Jaipur and Jodhpur.
List :

Ajmer-Indore Link Express (Daily)
Hyderabad-Ajmer Express (Bi-weekly)
Kolkata-Ajmer Express via Singrauli-Katni-Bhopal-Nagda-Ratlam (Weekly)
Kishanganj-Ajmer Express (Weekly)
Sultanpur-Ajmer Express (via Nihalgarh) (Weekly)
Jaipur-Pune Express (Weekly)
Gandhidham-Jodhpur Express via Bhildi (Tri-weekly)

Here is the complete list.

Oye Amritsar vs. Sonakshi Sharma's family restaurent

Oye Amritsar :
Location : Church Street, Posh of the posh
Food price : 3-4 times of SSFR
Food quality of SSFR : 3-4 times better than Oye Amritsar
Location of SSFR : Koramangala, Third Block.

Up in the air

This movie has been getting lots of traction in
some psychology blogs. It seems like George Clooney has portrayed a seemingly impossible role. Something the psychologists have very genuine problems explaining. For e.g. "How could he be so social savvy while being so detached from everyone and everything around?"

Here is an interesting take in one such blog. This is named Living Single. A very interesting blog BTW. It bemoans the way in which single people have been portrayed in this movie. Stereotyped, it says.

Single women in India

A very interesting conversation here.

3 idots trivia

Towards the end of the movie, Rancho's school in Ladakh is shown,
where some cool inventions are on display. Here are some more details
about them :

Source

"The film also uses real inventions by little known people in India's backyards. The brains behind the innovations were Remya Jose, a student from Kerala, who created the exercise-bicycle-cum-washing-machine, Mohammad Idris, a barber from Meerut district in Uttar Pradesh, who invented a bicycle-powered horse clipper, and Jahangir Painter, a painter from Maharashtra, who made the scooter-powered flour mill."

The Hurt Locker

My rating : 9/10
Just for this one quote :
Staff Sergeant William James: [Speaking to his son] You love playing with that. You love playing with all your stuffed animals. You love your Mommy, your Daddy. You love your pajamas. You love everything, don't ya? Yea. But you know what, buddy? As you get older... some of the things you love might not seem so special anymore. Like your Jack-in-a-Box. Maybe you'll realize it's just a piece of tin and a stuffed animal. And then you forget the few things you really love. And by the time you get to my age, maybe it's only one or two things. With me, I think it's one.

Some Trivia :
Kathryn Bigelow(Director and Producer) was married to fellow director James Cameron from 1989 to 1991. Both Bigelow and Cameron are nominated for Best Director for films released in 2009 (with Cameron's nomination being for Avatar).

Robinson and Crusoe

Watched this play yesterday at Rang Shankara.
More details here.

Duration : 45-50 minutes.
Language : English(But not too difficult to understand)

A lot of children came to this play and enjoyed it.

Don't buy a domain from Yahoo !

Tyranny of Yahoo! Domains.

A Red Alert for all those who have bought their
domain names from Yahoo! or are planning to.

Why?
Because it automatically saves your credit card info
and uses it to renew your domain every year.

But I want to renew it every year anyway.
On Yahoo!, you don't want to do it since their
renewal fees is 35$ per year as compared to 10$
offered by others.

Can't I opt out of auto renewal after I have bought the domain?
The only way to do it is to cancel your
service with Yahoo!. But if you do that,
you will lose all control over your domain.
Basically Domain control panel will disappear
from your dashboard, even though you
have paid for 1 full year.

I have bought it already, what to do now?
1. Migrate your domain name to another service provider.

OR

2. Remember to cancel your service in time(almost at the
end of the 1st year)

OR

3.Cancel your credit card and apply for a new one,
so that they can't reuse your information saved with them.

Casual gaming on FaceBook

Going through some PPTs, came across some not-to-be-missed points :

1. Bragging rights or customization

If the target audience be Asians, have elements in your game which give
bragging rights to the players. And if it be Caucasians, have elements which
allow the user to customize the game as much as possible.

2. User Demogrphics on FaceBook

Users of facebook are increasingly more and more females and older people.
So make your application, keeping them in mind. The point could be
that the games should be easy to comprehend and easy to play.

3. Playing with strangers and reasons for sharing

Players should be able to play with strangers. If your game
allows only your existing friends to be played with, it can
be a hamper player interest. Most of the players would
want to connect/play with people who like the game already
rather than cajoling their friends to play it.

Also, while prompting users to publish feeds, through which
you would like to bring new users on board, make sure that
the new users have a reason to follow the feed. They won't
click it just for the sake of it. There should also be an incentive
for publishing the feed in the first place.

List of deemed universities to be derecognized

Source

• Christ College, Bangalore
• Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology and Research, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh
• Lingaya's University, Faridabad
• St Peter's Institute of Higher Education and Research, Chennai
• Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education, Kanyakumari
• Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida
• Shobhit Institute of Engineering and Technology, Meerut
• Sumandeep Vidyapeet, Vadodara, Gujarat
• Sri Devraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Reserch, Kolar, Karnataka
• Yenepoya University, Mangalore
• BLDE University, Bijapur, Karnataka
• Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences, Satara, Maharashtra
• D Y Patil Medical College, Kolhapur, Maharashtra
• Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai
• Chettinad Academy of Research and Education, Kanchipuram
• HIHT University, Dehradun
• Santosh University, Ghaziabad
• Maharshi Markandeshwar University, Ambala, Haryana
• Manav Rachna International University, Faridabad
• Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, Tumkur, Karnataka
• Jain University, Bangalore
• Tilak Maharashtra Vidyapeeth, Pune
• Siksha "O" Anusandha, Bhubaneswar
• Janardan Rai Nagar, Udaipur, Rajasthan
• Institute of Advanced Studies in Education of Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Sardarshahr, Rajasthan
• Mody Institute of Technology, Sikar, Rajasthan
• Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai
• Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai
• Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education, Virdhunagar, Tamil Nadu
• Periryar Maniammai Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur
• Academy of Maritime Education and Training, Chennai
• Vel's Institute of Science, Technology and Advanced Studies, Chennai
• Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore
• Vel Tech Rangaraja Dr Sagunthal R&D Institute of Science, Chennai
• Gurukul Kangri, Haridwar
• Grapich Era University, Dehradun
• Nehru Gram Bharati Vishwavidyalaya, Allahabad
• Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry
• Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation, Salem, Tamil Nadu
• Bharath Institute of Higher Education And Research, Chennai
• Ponnaiya Ramajayam Institute of Science and Technology, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
• Nava Nalanda Mahavira, Nalanda, Bihar
• Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu
• National Museum, Institute of the History of Art Conservation and Musicology, Janpath, New Delhi

3 Idiots vs. Chetan Bhagat controversy

So Chetan Bhagat says he wasn't given enough credit for the movie.
People from 3 Idiots say, he has been given enough.
They also say that not more than 5% of the movie is based
on his book.

I haven't seen the movie and I guess they are luring people like
me to watch this movie. I am one of those skeptics who believe that
if this movie is based on Chetan Bhagat's book, how different could
it be?

They are answering my doubts through TV channels and newpapers
and what not. I agree, if they had said it in a straightforward manner,
I wouldn't have listened. But as soon as it is in the form of a controversy,
I am all years. So yes, I have heard it loud and clear that :
not more than 5% of the movie is based
on his book.
Thanks a lot for clarification. I will go watch it.


It's free publicity for the producers and I guess Chetan Bhagat
is hands in glove with them.

Jodhpur-to-Bangalore in 6 hours

It would take only 6 hours by train to go from Jodhpur to Bangalore if
we had trains like China :-) Ashok Gehlot ji, give us those trains.

Acharya Tartuffe

Watched this fantastic play today at town hall,Jodhpur.
Genre : Comedy
Parent advisory : uses some adult words("chastity belt","periods")
Language : Hindi.
Image source.


Actors :
Acharya Tartuffe : Sadanand Paatil
Seth Omnaath : Anoop Trivedi
Deepanshu : Abdul Kaadir Shah
Mother of Seth Omnaath : Ambrish Saxena
Kamlesh : Navneet Singh Thakur
Kaamini : Sapna Khatana
Mamta : Kamini Dubey

Here is a description from Delhi Events.

About the Play : Acharya Tartuffe is a play based on Moliere’s French Play 'Tartuffe'.
Omnath, a businessman, met a saint, named Tartuffe in Pondichery and he got influenced by him. He brings him in his home. A turmoil occurs in the house. Omnath and his mother totally devote themselves in his godliness, whereas the rest of the family members go against him. They try to convince Omnath that Tartuffe is an imposter but their effort goes in vain. Tartuffe manipulates Omnath's weakness as his weapon and extends his wicked intention towards kamani, Omnath's wife.

Omnath puts pressure on his daughter, Mamta, to marry Tartuffe, whereas Mamta is already engaged to Rehan. The whole family is under severe pressure. In his blind faith on Tartuffe, Omnath not only throws his on, Dipanshu, out of his house but also disowns him from his property. His eccentricities lead Tartuffe being his legal heir of his property.
Finally Kamani takes charge of the situation. She weaves a plot where Tartuffe gets trapped and is caught red-handed by Omnath. Omnath orders Tartuffe to go out from the house but Tartuffe reminds him that legally it is his property. Tartuffe sends a summon to Omnath and at the same time incites few Hindu religious groups that Omnath has dishonoured a Hindu saint. Police arrives at the situation and in a dramatic way, Chunni, a disciple of Tartuffe reveals Tartuffe's evil background. Police arrest Tartuffe. The whole experience comes as an eye-opener for Omnath and he learns a lesson for life.
Watch the play to know More!

Written and Directed by : Prasanna
Prasanna is an eminent theatre director as well as a well known writer in Kannada. His is recipient of many awards including Sangeet Natak Akademi Awar.

Movies based on not well known disabilities

Aamir khan seems to have started yet another trend
by making Taare Zameen Par, a movie which focused
on dyslexia - not a very well known disability.
Paa carried on the baton by touching the subject
of Progeria and now it's the turn of My Name is Khan
which shows a character with Autism.

Long live Aamir khan and the trends he starts !

Online fraud : Bank of India phishing mail

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Online fraud : Bank Of India phishing mail

Dear customer,

Your access to online services has been suspended. Due to your online account was been try with a wrong password in our network so on our weekly online network maintainace we detected it.

You are now been asked to re-activate your online account to help us update our server informations to match with our latest upgrade, Please follow the re-activation reference below:

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