One foot in the Mudd

I've Moved!

2011-06-20T14:21:00.001-07:00

Folks- i have been working on creating a new blog using Wordpress - so please visit the new URL - http://blog.supermenon.com

I need to create the auto re-direct- but till i can figure out the how to auto redirect and not crash my blog - i request you to please click here

#southwest pilot holds plane for Traveler

2011-01-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

I have read, from various sources, how Southwest is a people centric organization - and considering their stock symbol is LUV, I thought this was the most touching story for a long time. Kudos to the pilot.

I picked up this story from:

http://www.elliott.org/blog/southwest-airlines-pilot-holds-plane-for-murder-victims-family/

It’s easy to be an airline industry critic in an era of “no waivers, no favors” and fees on top of fees. It’s easy to paint airlines as heartless corporations that treat us like self-loading cargo.

But every now and then, you hear a story that turns you into an adoring fan. Like Nancy’s story.

Before I continue, I should mention a few things: Nancy is a faithful reader of this site, and I agreed to use only her first name because of the brutal nature of the crime and the age of the victim. Second, I’m not an emotional, John Boehner-type, but I can’t read her story without getting a little teary.

So you’ve been warned: Grab a tissue.

Last night, my husband and I got the tragic news that our three-year-old grandson in Denver had been murdered by our daughter’s live-in boyfriend.
He is being taken off life support tonight at 9 o’clock and his parents have opted for organ donation, which will take place immediately. Over 25 people will receive his gift tonight and many lives will be saved.
This morning, after only a couple hours sleep, my husband and I began to make all arrangements to get him to Denver to be with our daughter. He is currently on business in LA and is flying Southwest.
While his employer, Northrop Grumman, made arrangements to get his ticket changed so he could get to Tucson today (which he had to do in order to not spend any extra money) I called Southwest to arrange his flight from Tucson to Denver so he would be stepping off one plane and getting on another.
He has several free flights with them so I couldn’t really do it on the website. The ticketing agent was holding back tears throughout the call. I’m actually her step-mother and it’s much more important for my husband to be there than for me to be there.
In LAX, the lines to both check a bag and get through security were exceptional. He got to the airport two hours early and was still late getting to his plane.
Every step of the way, he’s on the verge of tears and trying to get assistance from both TSA and Southwest employees to get to his plane on time.
According to him, everyone he talked to couldn’t have cared less. When he was done with security, he grabbed his computer bag, shoes and belt and ran to his terminal in his stocking feet.
When he got there, the pilot of his plane and the ticketing agent both said, “Are you Mark? We held the plane for you and we’re so sorry about the loss of your grandson.”
The pilot held the plane that was supposed to take off at 11:50 until 12:02 when my husband got there.
As my husband walked down the Jetway with the pilot, he said, “I can’t thank you enough for this.”
The pilot responded with, “They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you. Now relax. We’ll get you there. And again, I’m so sorry.”
My husband was able to take his first deep breath of the day.
I don’t know any other airline that would have done this.

I’m speechless. Twelve minutes many not sound like a lot to you or me, but every second counts when you’re an airline. Southwest can turn an entire plane around in about 20 minutes, so 12 minutes is half an eternity.

I shared Nancy’s story with Southwest, and a representative said the airline was “proud” of the way the pilot had held the flight. Again, most airlines would punish an employee who holds up the line for any reason.

My Monday post is normally called, “Can this trip be saved?” But today I’m sharing a trip that was saved amid tragic circumstances by a compassionate pilot and an airline that supported his decision to hold a flight.

Good work, Southwest!

Chocolate Coffee moist cake

2010-11-14T03:53:00.001-08:00

My first attempt at a moist cake, if i may say so myself, came out pretty well.

Here goes:

1 1/4 cup maida

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk (plus a little extra bsed on requirements)

1/2 cup oil (plus a little extra based on requirement)

4 tbps butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1tbsp coffee poweder

1.5tsp baking poweder

1.25cups sugar

2tsp Vanilla essence

white chocolate 25 gms - optional

dark chocolate 25 gms - optional

Add coffee, maida, cocoa. egg, oil, milk, essence, baking poweder and sugar. blend

heat the chocolate and mix - and put it into the mixture. add butter and blend

preheat over to 175degrees cent

transfer into tin and place in oven for 45mins or till knife comes out clean.

enjoy!

of broken bones and cycles

2010-11-12T20:02:00.000-08:00

I couldnt figure out what i should put in the topic, but the very fact that i cracked up while cycling is somthing of importance.

10/10/10 - the Hercules City Challenge - organized by CRX Sports was supposed to be an exciting treasure hunt with clues and we had to go to the clues to get the next one, slated for the previous week, but due to some reason it got pushed to the 10th. I was all excited since i was preparing quite hard for it. the routine included a 20 odd km ride in the morning (as often as i could) a run in the evening and on weekends a 1-1.5km swim. i was happy with my fitness level, to the point i set my sights on riding upto yercaurd from salem the following weekend all this to get to my ultimate goal - coimbatore to ooty ride - 70kms of which 50 were uphill. The gradient was steep and not forgiving, but the chennai bikers had done it last year, and i was determined to do it. Why? I want to ride downhill from kotagiri to mettupallayalam - what a ride- crazy decent, 2nd only to the kalahati climb - which incedently was the other objective. Ride ooty - mysore and then come back by car / train / bus.

So, the flag off of the HCC was from adyar - a decent 20kms from home- at 545 am. So that means i needed to leave by 5 to do a good warmup and not exhaust myself before i got there. So wake up call at 430 from my wife, got ready, and just before i left i figured i should eat something and drank a half glass of milk. good thing. Switched off all the lgiths, fans, internet, and by the grace of god- wore a headband under my helmet. Finally got out by 515.

Started off, good pace, relaxed ride, decided to climb the bridges on the way - thats 2 steep "mini flyovers" Ala Govt of TN. reached the start by 550, a good ride, and all charged up. registered myself, set up the playlist and got in line.

was starting in group 5, so the last group. all groups left, and finally we took off. furiously pedaled down to the first check point - cofee day. While i approached, the guy came out and stuck out the clue, i was like wow- touch and go. took it - it read " the coolest cycle shop in mylapore" being a TI event, the only one is the BSA shop which i know. So started putting the clue into my pocket, I caught a glimpse of the speed breaker in front but didnt think much of it, one hand on the handle bar, and another in the pocket, and the next thing i know im falling.

toppeled, hit the ground, rolled and was out for a few split seconds. Shit! shit! this is not good. got up, moved my hands, the left shoulder was making a funny noise - click click...everytime i move. not good. shit shit! forget the bruises.. this was bad. moved my sholder- i could lift it- but with pain - atleast not a dislocation. there was one competitor who stopped to help me. Thank you! there was a shop outside which i fell. no one came forward to help , everyone was just looking at me.

the race organizer in the check point came running and helped me up. i just held my shoulder - witout moving it. crap! my race ws over. I asked them to bring the ambulance -cause i felt it was quite bad. jst hung around there, in a lot of pain, till finally the ambulance came. The guy sprayed a lot of volin - for what i dont know, i asked them to take me to the hospital.

to add to it, my phone was busted. i couldnt take out my wife's number and tell her. finally called my mom - nto the best thing- with sirens blaring and at 630 in the morning, being woken up is jolting. then called a friend to come and pick me up from Global hospital. They were the healthcare partners for this event. They took awesome care of me throughout this. the Xrays, medicines etc etc.

I must thank Global Hospital. Thank you! For the record i was like "ive never heard of global hospital" and went there expecting a small 25-30bed place - but man was i wrong. They are expanding to about 1000 beds and its HUGE!

http://www.globalhospitalsindia.com/Index.aspx

So i was diagnosed with a broken collar bone, they first gave me some pain killers and stuff. Asked if i hit my head, since there was not bleeding or anything i was fine. the bruises and stuff were painful. The gloves saved my hands from getting scratched.

I was discharged and told that i need to just rest for the next 6week. crap! one stupid move and im out for such a long time!

The only good thing - lance armstrong also broke his collar bone!

So now its only recovery.

Of dinners with friends

2010-11-10T23:14:00.000-08:00

Last evening was extremely pleasant. Took some time off, went for a nice concert and then went out with a group of folks from different nationalities.

What struck me was some of the things that we are Indians take for granted, which does not seem to feature in other cultures.

One thing that I have not been able to get my head around is the bill pay concept. So if you are going out as a group for dinner, each one orders something for themselves, and then pays for just that. Culturally, the continental dishes are platted, with one portion, but most indian dishes are shared with a few people.

IF you must do an ABC on this, then count the number of spoons of gravy, that you are taking, divide it by the total number of spoons of gravy that are available and cost of the dish, to get your contribution to the bill. And guess that goes for starters as well. But beyond that, it becomes and uncomfortable scenario where one says that they didnt eat. Anyways, it is something that I need to take time to understand, and comprehend.

Another thing, now this I am not to sure is an Indian hospitality thing or a personal thing, is dropping a person back. Well, if it on the way or a slight detour, I would in all fairness drop the person (I am not referring to male of female) back if it is late. But last evening saw something else. The fact that a person in the group, and not an indian, had a car and a driver, yet, he neither offered nor did anyone ask him to dropped. At 12am finding public transport would obviously be difficult, so given the fact that the driver is there and car is there, i would have assumed an extension to drop- but none came. What was strange was the lack of even enquiry on method of return. hmmm.

well, this is life.

Transfer of vehicles - Automobile Association of Southern India

2010-10-19T23:18:00.000-07:00

TRANSFER OF VEHICLE Very often people buy or sell vehicle, but do not intimate about the transfer to the Registering Authority. This will create problems and it is illegal. Any such transfer has to be reported within 14 days of the transfer to the Registering Authority. If it is not so reported, the Transport Department will take legal action against both transferor and transferee.

The intimation should be done by sending Form 29. Further, the Transferee should register it within 30 days. Form 29 (in duplicate) and Form 30 have to be filled up and given along with original RC, valid insurance and valid emission under control certificate, along with fees of Rs. 131/- in case of four-wheeler and Rs. 61/- in case of two-wheeler. Address proof in the form of Ration card, or Passport or Voter’s ID card or LIC policy, is required. Compounding fee will be levied in case of delayed transfer. If the vehicle is under hypothecation, no objection certificate from the financier is also necessary and signature also on Form 29. In case of four-wheeler, the copy of the PAN card of buyer and seller are required.

Transport Department has released a press release in view of the increasing number of accidents, thefts etc. This is communicated to the members in view of its importance.

my mayonnaise

2010-10-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

pretty excited about the 2nd attempt of mayonnaise this morning. The last time i made it, it was quite a disaster. too much lemon and not beaten enough.

but the 2nd attempt this morning turned to be quite nice. the magical recipe - the 222221

2 spoons of Mustard

2 eggs (whole)

2 teaspoons of sugar

2 pinches of salt

2 pinches of pepper powder

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

1 cup of oil

add everything into the blender, blend.. add 1/3 of the oil,

add another 1/3 blend again

and another 1/3 blend till thick.

pour into a salad- enjoy! :)

natural disasters in the US

2010-10-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

Via: Homeowners Insurance

the first time i bite the dust!

2010-09-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

Well, after buying the Trek, and restarting my cycling, i was awating that moment when you have a crash, and today that moment was there - waiting for me with open arms.

Over the last week, i got hit twice by motorcyclsts - for absolutely no fault of mine, i actually chased one bugger through the traffic and was tempted to whack the fellow, but let him go because he apologized a lot.

But today, for no fault of anyone but my own, i said hello to the pavement setup by the lovely chennai corporation.

I was trying to change lanes and take a turn, and since there was traffic, i decided to pull over to the left and then cut across to the right after waiting for the opportunity to cut across. while the bike was slowing down on the left side of the road, i failed to see a rather large stone. well, large for the cycle to handle and it hit the wheel, the handle bar turned, and bang! i was on the pavement.

0 - pavement in zero seconds flat! fastest time down!

took a while to figure out what the hell just happened, picked my self up, checked all the gears and then continued.

Moral learnt? Yup- always keep both hands on the handle bar! :)

Of Facebooks Spammer policy!

2010-09-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday yesterday- a lot of people posted wishes on my wall.. so I decided to respond to them all...

and this is the message FB gives me:

"Facebook's systems determined that you were going too fast when posting on walls. You must significantly slow down."

I thought since FB has an investment from MS- it might work that way - so i logged out and logged back in again.. but i think its a little more advanced... after three more posts... it gave me the same message...

finally .. i had to open multiple windows and comment on all of them. Crap!

A nice cup of tea!

2010-09-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

There are those moments that you start thinking about, and yearn for them. Well, this morning was the culmination of one of those moments. Last week, the gas got over at home and then the entire week was spent eating out. As a kid - you think - oh its going to be so cool when you can just go out and eat all the time, but seriously, after 4 days, i was dying for the gas to be delivered just so that i can have home cooked food. Its either the lack of drowning oil, or simply the lack of artificial flavors and rich spices that makes home cooked food bearable and guilt free, but none the less, the greatest loss from the lack of a gas cylinder was the simple fact - microwave tea! - which i must warn you, after a while gets pretty sad.

So my mind and pallet were yearing for that one cup of rich, milky tea with a dash of cardamum and sugar, which you can sip and say - aaah! wah Taj! seriously, its that one sip that allows you to relish the taste of tea and give you that little caffeine kick! :)

So this morning, after a gap of one week, i made myself a cup of tea, boiling milk and water and then lettling the tea sit for just the right amount of time, which brought back that feeling after such a long time... bliss!

nice way to start a great day! :)

awe inspiring #cycling story!

2010-09-01T00:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/happily-evie-after?page=0,1

this is the first time i am reading about someone who has jumped from a corporate life to that of a professional athlete! pretty awe inspiring stuff!

How to hire a helping hand! #Joke

2010-08-26T00:10:00.001-07:00

got this off reddit! really hilarious!

She was a very good-looking woman and determined to keep the ranch, but knew very little about ranching, so she decided to place an ad in the newspaper for a ranch hand.

Two cowboys applied for the job. One was gay and the other a drunk.

She thought long and hard about it, and when no one else applied she decided to hire the gay guy, figuring it would be safer to have him around the house than the drunk.

He proved to be a hard worker who put in long hours every day and knew a lot about ranching.

For weeks, the two of them worked, and the ranch was doing very well.

Then one day, the rancher's widow said to the hired hand, "You have done a really good job, and the ranch looks great. You should go into town and kick up your heels." The hired hand readily agreed and went into town one Saturday night.

One o'clock came, however, and he didn't return.

Two o'clock and no hired hand.

Finally he returned a round two-thirty, and upon entering the room, he found the rancher's widow sitting by the fireplace with a glass of wine, waiting for him.

She quietly called him over to her..

"Unbutton my blouse and take it off," she said.

Trembling, he did as she directed. "Now take off my boots."

He did as she asked, ever so slowly.. "Now take off my socks."

He removed each gently and placed them neatly by her boots.

"Now take off my skirt."

He slowly unbuttoned it, constantly watching her eyes in the fire light.

"Now take off my bra.." Again, with trembling hands, he did as he was told and dropped it to the floor.

Then she looked at him and said, "If you ever wear my clothes into town again, you're fired."

Kobe's - Restaurant Review- Chennai - Naaaiiiceee!

2010-08-20T04:43:00.002-07:00

Had heard about Kobe's coming to chennai a while back from a friend who tried the place, and she was pretty excited with the quality of food that she got. A group of friends and I finally got some time to go there, and I was pleasantly surprised to eat there. Tucked off the main road, its very easy to miss this place. You end up driving through a rather large parking lot, and the valet parking is a bliss. We were seated almost instantly even though we did not have a reservation. We ordered almost all the meats that were there- fish, lamb and chicken. I had the veg burger, but tasted the meat, and I was quite impressed with the food.

The quantities were sufficient for a single person, and the toppings were decent. There was a sizeable meat portion with an equally balanced helping of vegetables on the sizzler. The sauces were different and you could at certain points taste the individual flavours of the sauces.

I must comment here on the quality of the meat. It was very well cooked. Not under done nor over cooked. However, I might have been a little happier if they had not microwaved my burger before serving as it made the bun hard as a rusk, but i foudn that to add a nice crunch to the burger. I personally woulde have liked the patty to be a little more moist with the mayo or sauces being offered on the side for me to add.

The staff were courteous and the place appeared clean and neat. There was sufficient ventilation as our eyes did not start burining from a table of 4 sizzlers. Which is a feather in their cap.

I would recommend this place and will surely visit again.

Mainland China- Restauran Review- GWAD Aweful!

2010-08-20T04:43:00.001-07:00

I went to mainland china last week with my wife and a few friends. They had a special offer for platinum card holders which at that point looked like an awesome deal. there was a soup of your choice, a series of 4 starters and 4 main course dishes which comprised of 2 non veg side dishes, 2 veg side dishes and 1 rice and 1 noodle and 2 deserts (i dont remember if it was 2 or 3)

the hitch is that it has to be a minimum of 4 people and you hvae to have a platinum card.

the deal is a good deal, but i was quite dissapointed with the quality of food presented. The soup was excellent, but after that everything was downhill. Yes, the crispy corn and the dimsums was still how i remembered it, but that was the star attraction. They served some fish starter in which the flavor had not reached the fish. The maincourse was pretty much the same. There were two veg dishes - which I can classify just that veg dishes - it was a hash of tasteless vegetables thrown into some gravy. I dont know what they were trying to serve- left overs or just all the excess greens that they had in the kitchen. I had half a mind to ask the staff if they thought we were cows - and looking for greens to graze on. I could not eat much of the main course as it was sub par to say the least. The chicken that they served was tasteless and almost the entire portion of the food went for a waste. The only saving grace was the desert. My wife loves the chocholate spring roles and they did not fail to dissapoint this time either. I was trying the honey fried something with icecream and loved it.

I suspect the fish was a little spoilt as it tasted a little off- and i spent the rest of the night and early morning rushing to and from the rest room. Yes, i did get an upset stomach the next day, but i also got a bad case of indestion from the food. I dont know if I can pinpoint it to the fish or the overall food. But this time I was really disappointed with Mainland china.

So if its chinese you stay far away from mainland china and try some other place.

________________________________________________________

Update - 1st September 2010

I should have posted this earlier - but as soon as my review came out, I had someone from Mainland china contact me. It was nice to see them take some solid action against what was being said. They said they would look into the entire issue and sent me an apology as well. What i really appreciate is the fact that there was some follow up. Whether or not solid action is taken I guess would be secondary, but the fact that they extended a helping hand to look into this issue is nice.

Grub Rescue - error with Windows 7 and Ubuntu

2010-08-19T22:14:00.001-07:00

So you have installed a dual boot windows 7 and Ubuntu and then after a futile attempt to make things work at office, decide to delete the partition onto which Ubuntu has been installed. you restart and bang!

GrubRescue>

You realize that you need to get things fixed without formatting the hard disk and loosing your windows files.

Here are the steps which I took that worked for me.

1. Boot with a regular windows 7 CD.

Select the English (or your language option)/ keyboard setup etc and click next

3. select "Repair Windows" option

4. after the installation of windows is found, select the install and click next.

5. select the Repair boot option

now if this does not work. You need to get your hands dirty.

6. Select the option of "Command Prompt"

7. Enter the following command

bootsect /nt60 sys c:\

this should repair the mbr

incase this does not work try the next option

bcdedit /export C:\BCD_Backup

CD Boot

Attrib bcd –s –h –r

ren c:\boot\bcd bcd.old

bootrec /RebuildBcd

then it said

“Scanning all disks for windows installations.

Please wait, since this may take a while…

Successfully scanned windows installations: 1

[1] C:\windows

Add installations to boot list? Yes(y)/No(N)/All(A) : “

I pressed ‘Y’ as there was only one instance of windows installation. Then it said The operation completed successfully.

6. Next entred the following command bootrec /fixmbr It said The operation completed successfully.

7. Next entred the following command bootrec /FixBoot Again It said The operation completed successfully.

incase this does not work try the next option

go to c:

type Dir

if you get a blank directory then thats the problem. Find out what drive letter has been assigned to the primary windows installation drive. in my case, the rescue drive setup by toshiba assigned c to itself. and my windows was loaded onto what dos assumed was D: so i changed the bootsect command a bit

type :

bootsect /nt60 sys d:\

and bang!

Windows boots up!

thanks to www.pcchimp.com for this support

and http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7repair/thread/42d3f550-bf5f-459d-94ed-4cbadd7c933c

#twitter coming of Age in #India?

2010-08-18T00:40:00.000-07:00

It was a pleasant surprise.
Came to office on this morning, and the airtel internet connection was not working. to the point of frustration as it was not a on off scenario but an annoying slow and painful connection. Which forced me to post a tweet : Well, an hour and a half after that - i get a reply :)
if not anything - i know someone is listening - and as i promised our friend sitting behind the name of tatadocomo - when the number portability comes in - i will jump out of airtel!
:)

Heights of Cross selling - #IRCTC!

2010-08-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

IRCTC is now no longer selling train tickets only.... but also flight and train... :)

have 2 employees - you need a server - according to #Dell

2010-07-28T21:52:00.000-07:00

I came across this rather interesting article published by dell, targeted at the SMB market.

http://tinyurl.com/3yu2ell

Ten Signs That You Need a Server

If you’re a small or medium business owner with more than one computer, it’s time to consider investing in a server. A server will keep your data secure and organized and will help you run your business more efficiently and professionally. If you’ve reached one of the 10 thresholds below, a server could do your business a world of good:

1. You Have More Than Two Business Computers

The bottom line is, if you need two or more computers in your business, then it’s time for a server. By storing and organizing data in a core location, you’ll be able to access and share files easily and manage business information more efficiently.

2. You Have More Than One Employee

A server enables your employees to share software tools and access company databases on-site and off-site. As your business grows, you’ll be able to better manage additional computers and software applications and better control which employees and devices have access to certain information.

3. Your Customers Think Your Business Is Owned by Go Daddy

If you’re still using a Web site hosting company like Go Daddy®, then it’s time to upgrade to your own server. Hosting your own Web site and email system presents a more professional image and enables you to conduct business more easily by consolidating email accounts.

4. You or Your Employees Conduct Business Outside the Office

If you work from home, travel frequently or have a mobile workforce, a server will allow you and your employees to remotely connect to your company network and access information and resources no matter where you are.

5. You’re Tripping Over Cords

If you have two or more computers that share access to peripherals, such as printers and fax machines, it’s time for a server. Not only will a server help you eliminate the mess of excess cords, it'll also help you save the cost of buying them.

6. You Can Never Find That Master Document When You Need It

If you share documents between multiple computers, you run the risk of losing important files and of having multiple versions of vital documents. A server will help you manage your files and provide a centralized location for you to store and organize important documents, so that you always have access to what you need, when you need it.

7. Your PCs Are Old and Grumpy

Whether you want to replace your old PCs or help them function better, a server can help you. A server makes the migration of files from an old PC to a new one a cinch, and freeing up memory and storage offers a welcome break to older PCs that are loaded down with data.

8. Your Computer Crashed and You Lost Critical Data

If you have valuable files and data that can’t be replaced, a server will help protect them from loss and corruption. You’ll be able to back up information easily and restore files that were accidentally deleted or misplaced. You’ll almost never have to worry about a crashed hard drive wiping out your system again.

9. You Want to Protect Information from Unauthorized Users

A server will allow you to restrict access to sensitive information, such as financial records and personnel information, by storing it away from prying eyes. It will also allow you to better manage firewalls and virus protection, especially when you have a mobile workforce.

10. You Want to Improve Communication with Employees and Customers

A server enables you to easily add platforms — such as customer relationship management (CRM) software and accounting programs — which allow you to schedule group meetings, share information, and manage clients and vendors. It also allows your employees to send group emails and faxes, and organize customer contacts and customer data in one location.

_____________________

personally - i think its a cunning ploy to scare people into buying unecessary infrastructure. While the world and its neighbor is moving towards hosted services and clouds, pushing a first time business owner to install a server simply because there are two employees is sad and moreover pathetic.

Windows it pushing that the file share services is good, where you can share folders etc, so why invest in a server?

The points outlined in the article show that a company / startup / small business should first look at hosted services and then when they are too big for hosted services - they should invest in their own infrastructure. instead the article has flipped the schema the other way and proposes own infrastructure from the beginning! WTF?

Finally - reasons to dump #windows and move to #linux

2010-07-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.cio.in/node/6258/nl

Taken from the CIO website - linky above.

What's your excuse for sticking with Windows? Here's why there's never been a better time to get rid of it.

Now is a particularly good time to ditch Windows for good, for workstations as well as servers. For instance, now that Microsoft stopped supporting Windows Server 2003 on July 13, you'll need to find something different to use for your servers. Whether it's switching from Windows Server 2003 to 2008 or to Linux-based servers--or changing out tired and faulty Windows Vista desktops for the alien Windows 7 or something more user-friendly--Linux provides you with freedom and freedom of choice.
You might believe that dumping Windows and switching to Linux is a difficult task, but the change in thought and the perception of that switch are the most difficult. If you've attempted an upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7, you know what pain is.

Business owners find that Linux, for what was once a "niche" operating system, provides the necessary components and services on which many rely. Linux continues its entry into the world's largest data centers, onto hundreds of thousands of individual desktops, and it represents a near 100 percent domination of the cloud services industry. Take the time to discover Linux and use it in your business. Here are ten reasons to give Linux at least a second look:
1. Commercial Support

In the past, businesses used the lack of commercial support as the main reason for staying with Windows. Red Hat, Novell and Canonical, the "big three" commercial Linux providers, have put this fear to rest. Each of these companies offers 24x7x365 support for your mission-critical applications and business services.
2. .NET Support

Businesses that have standardized on Microsoft technology, specifically their .NET web technology, can rely on Linux for support of those same .NET applications. Novell owns and supports the Mono project that maintains .NET compatibility. One of the Mono project's goals is to provide businesses the ability to make a choice and to resist vendor lock-in. Additionally, the Mono project offers Visual Studio plugins so that .NET developers can easily transfer Windows-based .NET applications without changing their familiar development tools. Why would Novell and others put forth the effort to create a .NET environment for Linux? For real .NET application stability, Linux is a better choice than Windows.
3. Unix Uptimes

Linux stability offers business owners the peace of mind that their applications won't suffer lengthy outages due to operating system instability. Linux enjoys the same high uptimes (often measured in years) that its Unix cousins do. This stability means that Linux can support your "99.999 percent available" service requirements. Rebooting after every patch, service pack, or driver change makes Windows an unstable and unreliable choice for those who need nonstop support for their critical applications and services.

4. Security

No operating system is 100 percent secure and Linux is no exception. But, Linux offers excellent security for its users. From regular kernel updates to an almost daily list of security patches, Linux code maintainers keep Linux systems very secure. Business owners who rely on commercially supported Linux systems will have access to every available security fix. With Linux, you have a worldwide community providing security fixes, not a single company with closed source code. You are completely dependent on the response of one company to provide you with timely security fixes when you use Windows.

5. Transferable skills

One barrier to Linux adoption was the idea that Linux isn't enough like Unix, and therefore Unix administrators couldn't successfully use their knowledge when making the switch to Linux. The Linux filesystem layout looks like any commercial version of Unix. Linux also uses a standard set of Unix commands. There are some Linux commands that do not transfer, but this is also true of any version of Unix.

Windows administrators might find that using a keyboard instead of a mouse is a difficult part of the transition, but once they discover the power of the command line, they might never click again. Don't worry, though, for you GUI-bound Windows types, Linux has several desktop managers from which to choose--not just one.

6. Commodity hardware

Business owners will like the fact that their "out-of-date" systems will still run Linux and run it well. Fortunately for Linux adopters, there's no hardware upgrade madness that follows every new version of the software that's released. Linux runs on x86 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. If your system runs Windows, it will run Linux.

7. Linux is free

You may have heard that Linux is free. It is. Linux is free of charge and it is free in the sense that it is also free of patents and other restrictions that make it unwieldy for creative business owners who wish to edit and enhance the source code. This ability to innovate with Linux has helped create companies like Google, who have taken that ability and converted it into big business. Linux is free, as in freedom.

8. Worldwide community

Linux has the support of a worldwide community of developers who contribute to the source code, security fixes and system enhancements. This active community also provides businesses with free support through forums and community sites. This distributed community gives peace of mind to Linux users, because there's no single point of failure and no single source for Linux support or development.
9. Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is a corporate collective of platinum supporters (Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Novell and Oracle) and members who, through donations and membership dues, sponsor Linus Torvalds and others who work on Linux full time. Their purpose is to "promote, protect and standardize Linux to fuel its growth around the world." It is the primary source for all things Linux. The Linux Foundation is a big positive for Linux users and adopters because its existence assures continued development of Linux.
10. Regular Updates

Are you tired of waiting for a Windows service pack every 18 months? Are you also tired of the difficulty in upgrading your Windows systems every few years because there's no clear upgrade path? (Ubuntu Linux offers new, improved versions every six months) and long-term support (LTS) versions every two years. Every Linux distribution offers regular updates of its packages and sources several times per year and security fixes as needed. You can leave any upgrade angst in your officially licensed copy of Windows because it's easy to upgrade and update Linux. And, the best part? No reboot required.
If you'd like to give Linux a try, there are several distributions that are free to download and use without the need for any commercial support contract:

• CentOS -- Red Hat Enterprise Linux-based free distribution
• Ubuntu -- Free, enterprise Linux distribution (Commercial support available).
• Fedora -- The Fedora Project is the free, community-supported version of Red Hat Linux.
• OpenSUSE -- The free, community-supported version of Novell's SUSE Linux.
• Debian -- The parent distribution for many Linux distributions including Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
You can find information regarding switching from Windows to Linux through the Linux Foundation or any of its platinum members. When it comes to increasing your efficiency, saving money, and providing non-stop services to your business and its customers, how many reasons do you need?

This post has been copied from the CIO website, if it is in violation please contact me and I will take it down immediately.

ive lost!

2010-07-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

the doctors told me that i need to lose a significant amount of weight. so i went on this excercise routing, where i did loose a lot of fat first. So after mch stress and hard work, this is how i looked

To boost that, i fell ill, and lost even more weight. :) so this is how i look now.

I married superwoman!

2010-07-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last two weeks, things have been on a bit of a roller coaster for me, in the health department specifically. Been battling fever every now and then, and finally i got run down by the fever bus. But all through this this, my wife has been awesomely supportive and not a hint of anger, frustration or even angst about how my health was going. She patiently drove me to the doctors, gave me cold compresses and gave me "healthy food", usually making it specifically for me. When I had to finally get admitted to the hospital, I did feel a sense of relief, with the fact that she can now relax and there were nurses to run around and take care of me. But yet, she spent the nights in the hospital, and went to work during the week, and followed the whole routine.

I came back home on Saturday, and i was most worried about being a burden on my wife, but i was most amazed with the energy with which she handled everything, and had the energy for more. Making juice, food, bringing me the tabs. etc etc. One thing typhoid (or whatever I am suffering from) does is drain you so bad that brushing your teeth looks like a herculean task. So with the way I see her zipping around, only two things come to mind,

a) Thank you god for giving me such an awesome life companion and
b) I married superwoman! :)

#Kites- A #review

2010-06-13T23:12:00.000-07:00

Kites - i did not get too many positive reviews on the movie, so i thought i might just give it a skip, but then tata sky decided to feature it on showcase and for 75 bucks, i got to watch it, cheaper than buying a DVD and much cheaper than watching it in the theater, plus its legal - so i can relax! :)

At first i thought, how would they make a Spanish woman talk hindi - and with her saying "Mey ullu ki patti hu" was hilarious, but very nicely done, i must comment.

Though the end was a bit depressing, I would have preferred an end where "they live happily ever after" but in this case they live in the happily ever after. The baddies play some crazy baddies. the best part was it was a short movie, and it did not seem to drag. no song dance in the meadows with hero and heroine running towards each other. Rain dance happened, but it was classy.

The cinematography was interesting, with some different lighting angles and shots. The car chase scenes were interesting, though copied from a wide selection of movies, the jumping onto the balloon and jumping off into the lake, as far as i remember - a first for a Desi flick.

None the less, a good entertainer. Kudos to the team.

the most idiotic holdup! Watch and enjoy!

2010-06-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Man walks in, pulls out gun, throws bag on table to fill.
but is ignored.
man leaves.
I cant seem to find the linky for the video directly- so please watch it on the Mirror website:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/06/02/is-this-the-world-s-most-pathetic-hold-up-watch-the-video-115875-22303415/

Limca Advert song!

2010-05-31T23:20:00.001-07:00

Found the song finally on the internet. Not great quality recording, but none the less - the songs here!

limca ad song complete mp3 | lyrics

free music downloads | music videos | pictures

#Ad #Review - #LMN

2010-05-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

I recently caught a review of the new set of LMN TVCs on Agency FAQs a premier provider of advertising content in India (as they say, 2nd only to brand channel which is a huge thing). I decided to check out the ads after reading the review and was sadly disappointed.

The first TVC that was brought out was about the person who was thirsty and was really small, and he becomes big after drinking LMN, Now this TVC, initially made no sense what so ever, but then it sticks to your head. Parle seems to be good at commissioning creative ads, but the disconnect comes with the distribution, as it has been clearly outlined by the smart chips. The TVC is brilliant with Aamir Khan displaying some really cool parkour moves, but then if you go to the shop to pick up a packet of smart chips - its not available on the shelves. So ideally, a campaign with a national foot print should infact be supported by the necessary distribution network to enable the customer to exercise the buying decision.

Back to the LMN advert, the new set of adverts is disappointing.

Firstly, as creative as these might be, I personally believe that the closure is not happening in the ad. I dislike limca as it is way to carbonated for my liking, but the advert is something that sticks to my mind. You drink it you get refreshed. This coupled with some catchy tunes makes it a killer. The first LMN advert conveyed that point, you drink it you get refreshed, however, the new set of bushmen ads fails to send home that message - LMN is what you drink if you are thirsty. The ad establishes the thirst angle, but it fails to convey that message of refreshment achieved by consuming the drink when one is that thirsty.

catch more reviews here:
http://www.afaqs.com/perl/news/story.html?sid=27029

#virgin Mobile ads

2010-05-09T22:12:00.001-07:00

A friend sent me these ads to add cheer to a monday morning and Oh! boy! it did.

Watch the set of ads - and Laugh your ass off! :)

Set 2

Set 3

Intel hots up the mobile computing platform

2010-05-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

It looks like hand helds are the way forward. with intel making a big push, its time people sat up and took notice. With the intels atom processor, first made for netbooks, then moved to the ULCC and now finally to the handheld. Intel is taking ARM and TI head on.

From V3.co.uk

Intel has begun a greater push into the mobile device market with new versions of its Atom processor that cut energy consumption sufficiently to fit inside a smartphone or web tablet, while offering greater performance than ARM-based chips, according to the firm.

Announced today, the Intel Atom Z6xx series forms part of Intel's Moorestown platform, and offers a claimed 50-fold reduction in power consumption compared with the previous generation of Atom chips.

Intel said that this is low enough for them to power a mobile handset and offer a battery life comparable to current smartphones.

However, the chipmaker also claimed that its new platform offers a greater level of performance than ARM-based designs for running applications, browsing the web, and video and graphics. Intel also touted compatibility with its other x86 chips as a major advantage for software developers.

Rod O'Shea, director of Intel's embedded group for EMEA, commented that smartphones are just "computers that happen to make phone calls", and that the technology shown today "hits the sweet spot for this environment".

Devices based on the platform are set to ship in the second half of 2010, according to Intel, but the firm declined to name any vendor aiming to market an Atom-based smartphone within this timeframe. However, Intel did demonstrate to the press a reference handset design running Moblin, alongside a larger 7in tablet system from OpenPeak.

The phone, bearing an Aavamobile badge, was shown running the Quake 3 game in one demonstration, and multi-tasking with a movie playing alongside a running 3D benchmark, and a live video feed open in adjacent windows in another. Previously codenamed Lincroft, the Atom Z6xx series divides into separate chips aimed at smartphones and tablets. The smartphone chips have clock speeds up to 1.5GHz and use low-power LPDDR memory, while those targeting tablet dev ices run at up to 1.9GHz and support standard DDR2.

Both have built-in PowerVR 3D graphics acceleration, plus hardware acceleration for video encoding and decoding. In fact, Intel claimed that Moorestown is the only smartphone platform capable of handling high-definition 1080p video.

Design features helping to save power include new ultra-low power idle states, Operating System Power Management (OSPM), and a technology called Intel Burst Performance, which is similar to the Turbo mode on Intel's Core chips.

OSPM uses an operating system-level utility to monitor which functional blocks of the processor are not being used, and powers these off completely.

Meanwhile, power consumption while idle is reduced to about 100 microwatts in the new SOi3 power state. More importantly, the Atom can come out of this in just a few milliseconds, according to Intel, so that it can 'wake up' to deal with an incoming call, for example.

Intel Burst Performance bumps up the performance of the chip so that it spends as little time as possible in maximum power mode, according to Tikky Thakkar, Intel Fellow at the firm's Ultra Mobility Group.

"It allows us to complete work very quickly and then go back to idle mode," he said, adding that it is like "having your cake and eating it. You can have high performance and reduce overall energy."

A companion chip, the MP20 Platform Controller Hub, lumps together numerous miscellaneous functions, dubbed 'jellybeans' by Intel, such as the system controller, camera support, audio engine and hardware cryptography acceleration. Taken together, these features mean that an Atom-based handset can have a battery life of over 10 days while idle, or four to five hours while showing video or browsing the web, according to Intel.

At the same time, the Atom processor outperforms existing phone chips, and Intel quoted SpecInt 2000 benchmarks that rate it between 1.5 to three times faster than ARM-based chips such as the Cortex A9 and A8 and Qualcomm's Scorpion processor.

Intel is thus looking to take some of ARM's share in the smartphone market, and experts believe that it does have an opportunity to muscle in at the high end. There's certainly an opportunity for Intel if it can offer better performance," said Ovum principal analyst Adam Leach.

However, Leach suggested that Intel "faces an uphill battle" because ARM has been in this market for so long, and its chips are optimised to maximise performance and power efficiency.

"Intel claims huge strides here, but we will have to see products in the market before we can judge," he said.

Meanwhile, Tim Coulling of research firm Canalys said that Intel's platform could benefit from the advantage of familiarity for developers. "What Intel always says is that it brings developers to the game, and enables developers familiar with the x86 architecture to bring their expertise to new platforms," he said.

Another issue is that many of the most common mobile platforms are coded for the ARM platform, while Intel can count only on Google's Android and its own Linux-based Moblin/Meego platform so far. But Coulling said that most users "don't really know or care what is on their phone", and speculated that Intel might try to take advantage of its 'Intel Inside' marketing that has proved a success with PCs and laptops.

"It will be interesting to see if they try and transfer that to other devices," he said.

of cracks and surround!

2010-05-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

Now a days, I have managed to make my life fairly regular when it comes to going to the Gym. I wake up, drop my wife off, and try and clock atleast an hour each day. Yes, health has taken a priority, and it is in my best interest to make sure I am able to allocate time to do this. So, the days that i do visit the gym, something or the other should happen, else woulnt it make life boring? it will then become a scene from Joe vs the volcano, where you live your life as a mindless drone, walking, talking and doing the exact same thing on the exact same moment, Every day.

The last serious entertainment at the gym happened with mr. testosterone and the russian water ballet movement in front of the mirror. Which is interesting to note, that I have not seen him for a while now. Yes, I am rather regular to make the statement with a sense of authority, yup, have not seen him for a while. I think he ran out of white socks that came upto his shorts.

Well, like with every gym, the one i frequent has mirrors on all walls, now I thought this was simply because of the fact that everyone who visits the gym, would like to admire themselves to no effect. But, the truth is far from that. Apparently, when you see yourself doing exercise, its like watching someone else do it, so you end up keeping yourself company, what a sad world we have come to, when the only person in a room full of people to keep you company is yourself. Wow!

What is the flypside of having mirrors all over? Whatever happens, gets reflected all around you - thus the surround concept. Its like a page out of the Enter the Dragon movie, in the house of mirrors, but a lot more disturbing. Esp when people bend over and their pants dont cover.. its terrible and disturbing. Might be classified as one of those `scaring for life` moments! :)

I wonder if someone will ever create a rule for the gym, along with shoes and clean socks, one should ensure your pants cover that crack! Else, some people will be worried that evertime someone in fron bends down, you get a halfmoon! :)

ESMA for IT?

2010-05-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

Today's paper carried an article - http://www.livemint.com/2010/05/04155853/What-is-Esma.html?h=E

About the AP government bringing the IT sector under the purview of ESMA or Essential Services Maintenance Act - now this is rather scary.

As one manager from a company has been quoted as saying:

”[W]hat this means for employees is that they cannot resort to strikes. Also, they cannot cite bandhs or a curfew as an excuse not to report to work. Moreover, companies which depend heavily on outside transport providers had to bear the brunt as the transport services were hit during a bandh or a curfew.”

ESMA needs to be invoked in the event that larger establishments like truckers unions, ATC etc which, if they go on strike will bring hardship to the common man, however, with the IT sector coming into this, it is both pointless and another step towards draconian measures that are being taken to ensure that the golden goose is squeezed till the last egg drops. When has it been in the past where the IT sector has called a `strike` ? there are strict rules in anyones offer letters about forming or even joining unions, and this is to prevent the exact same thing from happening. There are a lot of injustices being meted out to employees, yes, there are cushy jobs, high salaries but the work timings are crazy and equality is non existent.

I dont think its correct to bring the IT Sector under the purview of ESMA. Period! how is it that if a bandh is called, the government can invoke ESMA for the IT Sector? that means the government must then ensure that no bandh is called, else it will make it impossible for them to work. I think its crazy involving the IT sector under ESMA.

This is where the #stella Awards stemmed from! #Joke!

2010-05-01T21:56:00.001-07:00

interesting #statistics

2010-04-28T21:13:00.001-07:00

I was going through some reports on the locations from where people have accessed my blog! very interesting! :)

Mr. V - thanks for visiting from Switzerland!

India (IN)
United States (US)
United Kingdom (GB)
Europe (EU)
Canada (CA)
Russian Federation (RU)
Singapore (SG)
Switzerland (CH)
Asia/Pacific Region (AP)
Australia (AU)
Turkey (TR)
Bahrain (BH)
Germany (DE)
Malaysia (MY)
Netherlands (NL)
Slovakia (SK)
France (FR)
Ukraine (UA)
Japan (JP)
Vietnam (VN)
Sri Lanka (LK)
Brazil (BR)
Hong Kong (HK)
Egypt (EG)
Greece (GR)
Korea, Republic of (KR)
Serbia (RS)

How to make your parents like your choice of bride! :) #hillarious!

2010-04-28T20:54:00.001-07:00

How to make your parents like your choice of bride! :)
__________________________________________________
DISCLAIMER-
I received this as an email forward, this is not my work but that of someone else. That said, if the original writer wishes me to take this down, I will do so immediately. Please message me to do the same. Till such times, enjoy the post.
___________________________________________________

Grandmother was pretending to be lost in prayer, but her prayer-beads were pulling at top speed. That meant she was either excited or upset.
Mother put the receiver down.

"Some American girl in his office. She's coming to stay with us for a week." She sounded as if she had a deep foreboding.

Father had no such doubt. He knew the worst was to come. He had been matching horoscopes for a year, but my brother Vivek had found a million excuses for not being able to visit India, meet or call any of the short-listed Aiyer girls, or in any other way advance father's cause. Father always wore two parallel lines of sacred ash on his forehead. Now there were four, so deep were the furrows of worry on his forehead.

I sat in a corner, supposedly lost in a book, but furiously text-messaging my brother with a vivid description of the scene before me.
A few days later I stood outside the airport with father. He tried not to look directly at any American woman going past. I held up the card reading "Barbara".
Finally a large woman stepped out, waved wildly and shouted "Hi! Mr. Aayyyer, how ARE you?"

Everyone turned and looked at us. Father shrank visibly before my eyes. Barbara took three long steps and held father in a tight embrace. Father's jiggling out of it was too funny to watch. I could hear him whispering "Shivva, Shivva, Narayana."
She shouted "you must be Vijaantee?"

"Yes, Vyjayanthi", I said with a pleasant smile. I imagined little, half-Indian children to be born calling me "Vijaantee aunty." Suddenly, my colourless existence in Madurai had perked up. For at least the next one week, life promised to be quite exciting.

Soon we were having lunch together at home. Barbara had changed into an even shorter skirt. The low neckline of her blouse was just in line with shocked father's eyes. He was scowling at mother as if she was the cause of all problems in the family.
Barbara was asking, "You only have vegetarian food? Always??" as if the idea was shocking to her.

"You know what really goes well with Indian food, especially chicken? Indian beer!" she said with a smile, seemingly oblivious of the apoplexy of the gentleman sitting in front of her or the choking sounds coming from mother. I muffled my giggles. Everyone tried to get the facts without asking the one question on all our minds: What was the exact nature of the relationship between Vivek and Barbara?

After lunch, she brought out a laptop computer. "I have some pictures of Vivek", she said.

All of us crowded around her. The first picture was quite innocuous. Vivek was wearing shorts and standing alone on the beach. In the next photo, he had Barbara draped all over him. She was wearing a skimpy bikini and leaning across, with her hand lovingly circling his neck.

Father got up and flicked the thin towel off his shoulder. It was a gesture we in the family had learned to fear. He rushed to the door and went out.

Barbara said, "It must be hard for Mr. Aayyezh. He must be missing his son."

We didn't have the heart to tell her that if the son had been within father’s reach, father would have wrung the neck she had lovingly circled with her hand in the photo.
My parents and grandmother apparently had reached an unspoken agreement. They would deal with Vivek later. Right now, Barbara was a foreigner, a lone woman, and needed to be treated as an honored guest. It must be said that Barbara didn't make that one bit easy. Soon mother wore a perpetual frown. Father looked as though he was destined to pay for his Karma.

Vivek had said he would be in a conference in Guatemala all week, and would be off both phone and email. But Barbara had long lovey-dovey conversations on phone with two other men, one man named Steve and another named Keith. We all strained our ears to hear every interesting word. "I miss you!" she said to both. She also kept talking to us about Vivek and about the places they'd visited together. She had pictures to prove it, too.

This was the best play I'd watched in a long time. It was even better than the day my cousin ran away with a Telugu Christian girl. My aunt had come howling through the door, and made it to the plush sofa before falling in a faint.
Father said that if it had been his son, the door would have been forever shut in his face.

Aunt had promptly revived and said, "You'll know when it is your son!" How my aunt would rejoice if she knew of Barbara!

On day five of her visit, the family awoke to the awful sound of Barbara's retching. The bathroom door was shut, the water was running, but far louder was the sound of Barbara crying and throwing up at the same time. Mother and grandmother exchanged ominous glances. Barbara came out. Her face was red.

"I don't know why", she said, "but I feel queasy in the mornings now."
If she had seen as many Indian movies as I'd seen, she'd know why. Mother was standing as if turned to stone. Was she supposed to react with compassion reserved for a pregnant woman? Or with the criticism reserved for a pregnant unmarried woman? Or with fear reserved for a pregnant, unmarried, foreign woman who could embroil one's son in a paternity suit? Mother, who navigated familiar flows of married life with the skill of a champion oarsman, now seemed completely taken off her moorings. She seemed to hope that if she didn't react, it might disappear like a bad dream.
I made a mental note to not leave home at all for the next week. Whatever my parents would say to Vivek when they finally got a-hold of him would be too interesting to miss. To my dismay, they never got a chance.

The day Barbara was to leave, we got a short email from Vivek. "Sorry, still stuck in Guatemala. Just wanted to mention, another friend of mine, Sameera Sheikh needs a place to stay. She'll fly in from Hyderabad tomorrow at 10am. Sorry for the trouble."
So there we were, father and I, waiting outside the airport with a board painted in thick felt pen: "Sameera".

At last, a pretty young woman in salwar-khameez saw the board, gave the smallest of smiles and walked quietly towards us. When she did 'Namaste' to father, I saw his eyes mist up. She took my hand in the friendliest way and said "Hello, Vyjayanthi, I've heard so much about you." I fell in love with her.

In the car, father was unusually friendly. She and Vivek had been in the same group of friends in Ohio University. She now worked as a Child Psychologist.
She didn't seem to be too bad at family psychology either. She took out a shawl for grandmother, a saree for mother and Hyderabadi bangles for me. "Just some small things for you. I have to meet a professor at Madurai University, and it's so nice of you to let me stay", she said. Everyone cheered up.

Even grandmother smiled.

At lunch Sameera said, "This is so nice. When I make sambar, it comes out like chhole, and my chhole tastes just like sambar!"
Mother was smiling. "Oh just watch for two days and you'll pick it up."
Grandmother had never allowed a Muslim to enter the kitchen. But mother seemed to have taken charge and decided she would bring in who ever she felt was worthy.
Sameera circumspectly stayed out of the puja room. But on the third day, I was stunned to see father inviting her in and telling her which idols had come to him from his father. "God is one", he said to her. Sameera nodded sagely.
By the fifth day, I could see a common thought forming in the family's collective brain. If this fellow had to choose his own bride, why couldn't it be someone like Sameera?

On the sixth day, when Vivek called from the airport saying he had cut short his Guatemala trip and was on his way home, all had a million things to discuss with him.
Vivek arrived by taxi at a time when Sameera had gone to the University.
"So, how was Barbara's visit?" he asked blithely.
"How did you meet her?" mother sternly asked him.
"She's my secretary", he said. "She works very hard and she'll do anything to help." He turned and winked at me.

By the time Sameera returned home that evening, it was almost as if her joining the family was my grandmother and parents’ idea.
"Don't worry about anything. Just tell us if you are willing to marry Vivek", they said to Sameera, "And we will talk to your parents."

On the wedding day, a huge bouquet arrived at the Mantapam. The tag said: "Flight to India - $1300, Indian kurta - $5, Emetic to throw up - $1, The look on your parents' faces - Priceless. - As always yours, Barbara.”

ibn reports that one party does not give shit to another!

2010-04-26T03:42:00.000-07:00

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cong-did-not-initiate-1984-antisikh-riots/113969-37-64.html?from=tn

men are from mars - women from all over - an #email #forward!

2010-04-14T21:18:00.001-07:00

got this via email this morning, old one- but hilarious! :)

A prime example of 'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus' offered by an English professor from the University of Phoenix .

The professor told his class one day, 'Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.'

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students: Rebecca and Gary.
------------ --------- --------- --------- ----

THE STORY

(first paragraph by Rebecca)
At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary )
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. 'A.S. Harris to Geostation 17,' he said into his transgalactic communicator. 'Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far...' But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. 'Congress Passed Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel,' Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. 'Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?' she wondered wistfully..

( Gary )
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to
live. Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian
mothership launched the first of its lithium fusion
missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the
Unilateral Aerospace Disarmament Treaty through the
Congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile
alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race.
Within two hours after the passage of the treaty
the Anu'udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying
enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one
to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan..
The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded.
The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine
headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam ,
felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid Laurie.

(Rebecca)
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

(Gary)
Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered tedious
neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary
equivalent of Valium. 'Oh, shall I have chamomile tea?
Or shall I have some other sort of F**KING TEA??? Oh no,
what am I to do? I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads
too many Danielle Steele novels!'

(Rebecca)
Asshole!

( Gary )
Bitch!

(Rebecca)
F **K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!

( Gary )
Go drink some tea - whore.

(TEACHER)
A + I really liked this

Men are lecherous

2010-04-07T21:50:00.000-07:00

As a man, i should be defending my own kind by not saying such things, but yesterday - i witnessed the most hilarious and ludicrous display of male hormones, and this made me have to spill it out somewhere.

location - the gym
time - early morning

In the testosterone filled gym there is a lady who does her workout. Being a small gym, everyone does their own thing, finishes up and leaves. But yesterday was different. There was a new member. New members are fun to watch. They fall into three distinct categories.

a) first time gym goers
b) gym transfer candidates or
c) restarting gyming after a while.

How do you know which kind. Its pretty obvious. The first time gym goers dont know the stepper from the cross trainer or how to start a treadmill, they must have someone pressing the button and telling them how to do it. The enthusiasm generally gets them moving much faster than their body would like, and then you see them falling like leaves or sitting down after a session on the treadmill- which in reality completly undoes everything that has been done before that.

So, this new member, of the same species comes in. like a middle aged man who is trying to look hep, he stood out of the crowd like a lobster in a sea of sardines. The shorts were pulled up to his navel, socks nearly reaching up to his knees and shoes. Quite a hilarious site if you actually had seen it.

Now, he is standing at the registration desk. Our lady walks past to get some weights to continue her routine. Like someone who has taken a concentrated shot of caffeine our man walks to the center of the room, and starts some really crazy ass routine of stretching. Now what inspired this sudden flash of adrenaline - is only one source. But the outcome was about 15 minutes of entertainment for the ones who noticed. I was trying hard not to laugh at him at his face, and covered my mouth to hide the smirk, but it WAS hard to avoid! :). IT was, for the lack of a better word, Ridiculous.

Usually the pattern is the same, notice... stare, lech, stare and then look elsewhere and busy. but in those few moments, i shudder to think of the thoughts that might have gone through the head. If a lady walks past, and most men, irrespective of age, location, nationality or educational qualification follow the very same steps- look, stare, lech, stare and then look busy.

Guess,this is life!

Holy Smoke- Highly Unholy! a #review - #Fail!

2010-04-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

Firstly, when i started reading about this place, i was thinking to myself that finally, there appears to be one more steak place in Chennai. but sadly, i would dismiss this place completely. We spent 2 hours for 2 dishes, 1 starter and 2 deserts- hardly the time one would look at spending at an ambiance such as this. The prices on the menu "card" were exotic, yet the experience was far from the prices that were being paid. The menu "card" was printed paper stapled together. Some other patron had ticked on the menu card and crossed off certain dishes- must have been the job of a good Samaritan.

It had the prices of a fine dining, but none of the elements, be it ambience, music, food, quantities or even the experience, were fine dining. The arrangement of the food was a feeble attempt to undo the injustice being done in all other sectors. The music was inappropriate - but good. the only saving grace of the evening. YEt, it was way to loud.

I really don't know what Holy Smoke was trying to achieve, because it neither gives one the confidence of a great restaurant, nor does it deliver on the experience front. I for one would never go back there again nor would i recommend it.

Always ASK never ASSUME! Hillarious!

2010-03-31T02:08:00.000-07:00

His request approved, the CNN News photographer quickly used a cell phone to call the local airport to charter a flight.

He was told a twin-engine plane would be waiting for him at the airport.

Arriving at the airfield, he spotted a plane warming up outside a hanger.

He jumped in with his bag, slammed the door shut, and shouted, 'Let's go'.

The pilot taxied out, swung the plane into the wind and took off.

Once in the air, the photographer instructed the pilot, 'Fly over the valley and make low passes so I can take pictures of the fires on the hillsides.'

'Why?' asked the pilot.

'Because I'm a photographer for CNN' , he responded, 'and I need to get
some close up shots.'

The pilot was strangely silent for a moment, finally he stammered, 'So, what you're telling me, is . . . You're NOT my flight instructor?'

Fuel for Thought

2010-03-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I filled up my fuel tank, and I thought petrol has become really expensive after the recent price hike.

But then I compared it with other common liquids and did some quick calculations, and I felt a little better.

To know why, see the results below you'll be surprised at how outrageous some other prices are!

Diesel (regular) in Mumbai: Rs. 36.08 per litre

Petrol (regular unleaded) in Mumbai: Rs. 50.51 per litre

Coca Cola 330 ml can: Rs. 20 = Rs. 61 per litre

Dettol antiseptic 100 ml Rs. 20 = Rs. 200 per litre

Radiator coolant 500 ml Rs. 160 = Rs. 320 per litre

Pantene conditioner 400 ml Rs. 165 = Rs. 413 per litre

Medicinal mouthwash like Listerine 100 ml Rs. 45 = Rs. 450 per litre

Red Bull 150 ml can: Rs. 75 = Rs. 500 per litre

Corex cough syrup 100 ml Rs. 57 = Rs. 570 per litre

Evian water 500 ml Rs. 330 = Rs.. 660 per litre
Rs.. 500 for a litre of WATER???!!! And the buyers don't even know the source (Evian spelled backwards is Naive.)

Kores white-out 15 ml Rs. 15 = Rs. 1000 per litre

Cup of coffee at any decent business hotel 150 ml Rs. 175 = Rs. 1167 per litre

Old Spice after shave lotion 100 ml Rs. 175 = Rs.. 1750 per litre

Pure almond oil 25 ml Rs. 68 = Rs. 2720 per litre

And this is the REAL KICKER...
HP DeskJet colour ink cartridge 21 ml Rs.1900 = Rs. 90476 per litre!!!

Now you know why computer printers are so cheap? So they have you hooked for the ink!

So, the next time you're at the pump, don't curse our honorable Petroleum minister just be glad your Bike / car doesn't run on cough syrup, after shave, coffee, or God forbid, printer ink!

Why #Ban #cellphones on flights - the #FAA & #FCC explanation

2010-03-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

very interesting.

Via: Cell Phones

#Movie #review - #Vinnaithandi #Varuvaaya - waste of natural resources

2010-03-18T19:39:00.000-07:00

Firstly, the fault should be mine. I went for the movie without reading the reviews. But then again, after reading the "comments" and reviews online - i think i missed something.
Stellar performance by young superstar! i mean- common - someone give me a break. The dude CANNOT act. Yes, i might get screwed for this, but this is my personal opinion. To me personally, most of the acting was a hash and sham job. was it natural acting - no. far from it. It was like a school play. But calling it a school play is going to be giving it so mcuh more credit.

The only decent part was the music - by Rahman, however, the background score was so weird. it was like they were competing with the music to talk.

the look and the character that they were trying to portray fell flat because the dude has ZERO expression. He can frown, thats the ONLY expression. he cant talk, he cant emote and yes shouting is NOT acting.

And to top it off, they had some two bit dancers who had NO idea about desi dance moves, and were close to fumbling. Now if this was a "musical" i think it was bad. If it was a movie i think it was WORSE and if it claims to be a superhit- i think we are doomed as a society.

I dont know what the people were thinking by investing in this flick, or even directing this flick. It looked so amateurish in delivery and acting. The makeup - let me not get into that. I do hope the folks in the makeup department have heard of foundation - the dude actually had white patches on his face.

Damn. so upset that i wasted a whole evening watching this shit which just wouldnt end! 3 hours of torture! no seriously! it was terrible!

for the sake of indian cinema - please dont make movies like this!

the ultimate in car control

2010-03-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Usually - this statement will stand true for Ken Block, however, this small Gif image got me really thinking.

for you

Ken block

#2010 #Mitsubishi #outlander for #india

2010-02-26T18:52:00.001-08:00

Saw this at an expo recently- the outlander being released in India.

Twist with the public transport

2010-02-26T02:42:00.000-08:00

today, I decided to attempt using the public transport system in chennai. Well. i failed! i realised that summer has begun, and more importantly, its hot at 11am. I waited in the bus stop after a meeting for nearly 15 mins. But then i reaslised that I dont know what bus i need to take! Damn! strike 1.

So i decided to take an educated guess. Now route no 54 - seems to be a frigging popular route. More than 12 busses of that route went in the 15 mins that I was there. I really need to try and understand how MTC does its route planning. Now imagine if they actually implement some yeild management methods to work on the routes.

There are three essential conditions for revenue management to be applicable:

That there is a fixed amount of resources available for sale.
That the resources sold are perishable. This means that there is a time limit to selling the resources, after which they cease to be of value.
That different customers are willing to pay a different price for using the same amount of resources.

If the resources available are not fixed or not perishable, the problem is limited to logistics, i.e. inventory or production management. If all customers would pay the same price for using the same amount of resources, the challenge would perhaps be limited to selling as quickly as possible, e.g. if there are costs for holding inventory.

Yield management is of especially high relevance in cases where the constant costs are relatively high compared to the variable costs. The less variable cost there is, the more the additional revenue earned will contribute to the overall profit. This is because it focuses on maximizing expected marginal revenue for a given operation and planning horizon. It optimizes resource utilization by ensuring inventory availability to customers with the highest expected net revenue contribution and extracting the greatest level of ‘willingness to pay’ from the entire customer base. Revenue management practitioners typically claim 3% to 7% incremental revenue gains due to revenue management activity. In many industries this can equate to over 100% increase in profits. A competent revenue management analyst with good decision support tools can generate $10,000 per hour..

Yield management has significantly altered the travel and hospitality industry since its inception in the mid 1980s. It requires analysts with detailed market knowledge and advanced computing systems who implement sophisticated mathematical techniques to analyze market behavior and capture revenue opportunities. It has evolved from the system airlines invented as a response to deregulation and quickly spread to hotels, car rental firms, cruise lines, media, and energy to name a few. Its effectiveness in generating incremental revenues from an existing operation and customer base has made it particularly attractive to business leaders that prefer to generate return from revenue growth and enhanced capability rather than downsizing and cost cutting.

I think it will make MTC more economically viable and more importantly - profitable!

They have a great group of talented drivers and conductors- the thing is now to optimize that specific factor to bring out the best in all necessary parties involved.

some info taken from wikipedia.

#Save #Paper - #Reuse #envelopes - Print This

2010-02-03T20:17:00.000-08:00

I realized that the large A4 size covers that are there in the office are being used just once. So i decided to create my own "Reuseable Envelopes"

Very useful for inter-departmental postage or when you use covers for personal couriers.

Download the template from here

http://www.4shared.com/file/214784714/7bd8a3e8/Resuable_Envelope_Cover.html

updated the URL

damn them buggers @Mcdonalds

2010-01-31T21:34:00.000-08:00

There is a McDonalds at the Ampa Mall in Chennai, situated just opposite the KFC. Outside the McDonalds they have the "Drive through" or the delivery counter. Which is convenient, but during the fiasco - realized its faster to go in a order.

So they have a huge board outside saying - 1 minute or a coke free. i smirked - knowing its impossible to deliver an order in 1 minute.

just to humor myself, i decided to check this "offer" out. So when i placed my order, I collected the receipt like a good little boy should, and then in front of the cashier - started my stop watch. Which is a Casio (just to establish the fact that its not some cheap thing which jumps or runs faster).

He immediately jumped and said "SAAR, this is voonly for zingle ORder SAAR" (yes, some creativity in the language, but the message is the same). So I said ok, if it is 1 minute for a single order, then it should be 4 minutes for 4 items.

Nonetheless, they were pretty efficient and brought it in about 2minutes 20 seconds. So, I showed the waiter who brought the delivery my watch.

He said "Sorry sir, but the 1 minute is not valid for delivery". that kinda kinda put me off. I was like WHAAT?
Then he jumped and said "This is valid only Inside" .. Now that pissed me off even more. Here they have the board outside boldly displaying the fact that if its not delivered in a minute its free, and now they are back tracking on the whole thing. What?

its not about the free coke- its about the principle behind putting a board outside and then not sticking to it. If both the fellows had said the same thing - that this is valid only if you order a single item - then i would have been happy that the delivery was made in 2minutes and 20 seconds.

But with two employees giving me 3 different excuses - that put me off even more. I am sure if i waited longer - they would have come up with more creative excuses.

Anyways- i dont think i will ever go back to McDonalds- instead take my business to KFC, who dont promise anything - but still deliver better.

Its about setting the right expectations - underpromise and over deliver - you have a loyal customer.

My glimpse of #rural #tamilnadu

2010-01-21T21:50:00.001-08:00

I had a meeting in Thanjavur, and decided to drive down. The roads were quite awesome - see pic below- which also had its share of these digital display boards. Quite impressive. What i liked the most - i saw NO accidents. Which is unsual considering the fact its a NH 45 - part of the north - south corridor.

Our meeting took us outside thanjavur - to a place called Allakudi, near Vellam. Crossed a few bridges and lots of farm land to reach there. and it was exquisite.

hoping not to look too touristy but professional (1stop short of a tie and blazer) i took all these pictures from the car.

of #gyms and #excercise!

2010-01-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

Over the past month and a half, i have had my "wake up call" and have started visiting the gym regularly, and am watching my diet to the T.

the last few weeks at the gym have been interesting. been seeing quite an eclectic mix of individuals, body builders and just regular folks.

so i jog for about 10 mins and run for another 10 mins, over the 20 mins that i walk to warm up, this is what i like doing, and have been able to push my stamina, by either increasing the speed, inclination or just duration. step by step, its been painful, but rewarding.

i see some folks, who come and jog for 1 minute, keep wondering - HOW does this help? 1 minute?

another group - they put their weight onto the handlebars of the treadmill and walk- yes now this IS going to help you exercise and loose weight.

yet another group get onto the cross trainer and move really crazyly fast. again, for a grand total of 2 mins.

Like schools, i think gyms need to insist on high levels of personal hygine. this one dude stinks- not the best fragrance you want near your nostrils when you are breathing hard to keep your pace at 12kmph.

well, its been a fun journey, and i guess this is something one has to live with! :)

Security alert - Adobe Zero Day Vulnerability

2010-01-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

from Zdnet

Malicious hackers are exploiting a zero-day (unpatched) vulnerability in Adobe’s ever-present PDF Reader/Acrobat software to hijack data from compromised computers.

According to an advisory from Adobe, the critical vulnerability exists in Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.2 and earlier versions. It is being exploited in the wild.

[ SEE: How to mitigate Adobe PDF malware attacks ]

The company has activated its security response process but declined to offer any more details until an investigation is complete.

Unfortunately, the company did not provide any mitigation guidance for customers.

The folks at ShadowServer describe the situation as “very bad.”

We did not discover this vulnerability but have received multiple reports of this issue and have examined multiple different copies of malicious PDFs that exploit this issue. This is legit and is very bad.

Here’s what we know so far:

We can tell you that this exploit is in the wild and is actively being used by attackers and has been in the wild since at least December 11, 2009. However, the number of attacks are limited and most likely targeted in nature. Expect the exploit to become more wide spread in the next few weeks and unfortunately potentially become fully public within the same timeframe. We are fully aware of all the details related to the exploit but do not plan to publish them for a few reasons:

There currently is no patch or update available that completely protects against this exploit.
There is little to no detection of these malicious PDF files from most of the major Antivirus vendors.

With that said we can tell you that this vulnerability is actually in a JavaScript function within Adobe Acrobat [Reader] itself. Furthermore the vulnerable JavaScript is obfuscated inside a zlib stream making universal detection and intrusion detection signatures much more difficult.

In the interim, Adobe PDF Reader/Acrobat users are urged to immediately disable JavaScript:

Click: Edit -> Preferences -> JavaScript and uncheck Enable Acrobat JavaScript

Or, better yet, use an alternative PDF Reader software program.

[UPDATE: Adobe plans to patch this issue on January 12, 2010 ]

source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=5119&tag=content;wrapper

Amazing Picture

2009-12-24T03:04:00.000-08:00

Picture taken during the opening ceremony of the Bejing olympics - if you scroll down - it appears as though the same drummer is caught in various positions.

- not my picture.

MSI X340 - Finally- competition to #Netbooks!

2009-12-19T22:23:00.000-08:00

With the costs of the netbooks falling and people "assuming" that they are getting notebook for such cheap rates, the market has flooded with netbooks. Sony, Dell, IBM/Lenovo, HP, Asus and the entire pack being lead by Acer- nice touch by acer there to create such a market.

Was finally reading a review on the MSI X340 Slim- Not a Netbook but between a netbook and Notebook. Using the next generation Intel Low Power consumption processor, provides some more advantages of mobile computing on a netbook type platform.

Read more: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=2704

Netbooks have grabbed a big chunk of laptop sales over the past couple years because they are small and inexpensive. Unfortunately, they also have squished keyboards and screens that make them difficult to use.

On the other end of the spectrum are the sleek premium laptops such as the MacBook Air and the Dell Adamo. Like netbooks, these machines are extremely light and portable, but they are much thinner, have attractive designs and have full sized keyboards and big, bright 13″ screens. The problem is that they cost $1500-$2500 and that would break the budget of the average laptop buyer.

However, there’s an alternative that is as thin as the MacBook Air, has nearly all of the features of the Dell Adamo, and has a price tag that is closer to a netbook. It’s the MSI X340 Slim and here is TechRepublic look at it from an IT and business perspective.

Specifications

Cost: $699
Model number: MSI X340-021US Slim (Black)
Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium or Windows Vista Business
Processor: 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500
RAM: 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 (1 SO-DIMM slot, 4GB maximum)
Hard drive: 320GB SATA (5400rpm)
Display: 13.4″ WXGA glossy LCD (1366×768 pixels) with LED backlight
Graphics: Intel GMA 4500MHD (integrated)
Video ports: VGA, HDMI
Other ports: 2 USB, Mic, Headphones, RJ45
Networking: Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000); 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi; Bluetooth V2.0EDR
Webcam: 1.3 megapixels
Card reader: SD/SDHC/MMC
Dimensions: 13″(w)x8.8″(d)x0.78″(h)
Weight: 3.0 lbs (1.4 kg)
Battery: 4-cell Lithium-polymer (8-cell optional)

Who is it for?

This will appeal to users who want a slim, highly-portable Windows laptop for under $1000, and don’t like the small keyboards and irregular screens that you find on most netbooks.

What problems does it solve?

Ultra-slim laptops like the MacBook Air and the Dell Adamo are light, powerful, and attractive. However, you have to pay $1500-$2500 to get that combination of features. The MSI X340 delivers around 80% of the features and coolness for about $700.

Standout features

Thin and light - The dimensions of the MSI X340 Slim are almost identical to the MacBook Air (12.8″(w)x8.9″(d)x0.76″(h) and 3.0 lbs), which awed the technology industry with its thinness and portability when it launched in January 2008. This notebook is a very light load in your briefcase or shoulder bag.
Excellent LCD screen - The display on the MSI X340 is one of the most impressive features. It is clear, sharp, and bright, thanks to the LED backlighting. At 1366×768, it is much larger and much more standard than most of the netbook screens. It’s not as good as the amazing screen on the MacBook Air but it’s close.
Comfortable keyboard - With large keys, well-marked function keys, and a decent tactile feel, the keyboard on the X340 is comfortable to use — far better than any netbook. It doesn’t have quite as nice of a feel as the Dell Adamo keyboard but I liked it better than the chiclet keyboard on the MacBook Air.
Good battery life - Since the X340 has a low voltage Intel CPU and a power-saving LED backlight, it is a power-efficient system when running under a power-saving mode in Windows. I was able to get 3-4 hours of battery life, which is pretty impressive for a 4 cell battery. That said, since this is pitched as a power-sipping machine, I was actually hoping to get at least 5 hours for those long cross-country flights in the U.S.

What’s wrong?

Durability - While the Dell Adamo and the MacBook Air both have solid metal bodies, the MSI X340 is made out of plastic. That definitely gives it a little cheaper look. The silver-painted plastic trim around the expansion ports looks especially cheap. Because it’s made out of plastic, I also don’t expect that this would be a very durable machine, so it if you or the user you’re deploying this machine for are hard on laptops or need a little bit more of a rugged system then the MSI X340 is probably not a good choice.
Built-in mouse controls - I typically don’t like any of the trackpads you find on laptops, but as far as trackpads go. the one on the MSI X340 is not that great. It’s not very large, doesn’t have any special coating, and it only has one mouse button - you click on the left side for left click and the right side for right click. It’s not nearly as good as the large trackpad on the MacBook Air that also includes a great set of gestures to improve navigation. The one saving grace for the MSI X340 is that it also comes with a great little retractable USB mouse.
Lack of disc player - Like the Adamo and the Air, there’s no disc drive built into the MSI X340. That can make it difficult to install software, play DVDs, or digitize any audio CDs. MSI offers an external DVD drive that you can purchase separately.

Competitive products

Bottom line for business

If you really like the lightweight portability of the MacBook Air and the Dell Adamo but don’t want to pay a huge premium for it, or you like the small form factor of netbooks but don’t like the minimal keyboards and screens, then the MSI X340 Slim might be the product you’re looking for.

However, the X340 is made out of plastic, unlike the metal bodies you find on the Air and the Adamo, and that means it’s not going to be very durable. I wouldn’t recommend it for business users that need an industrial strength laptop and I wouldn’t plan for an X340 to last much more than two years.

A wake up call - health is wealth!

2009-12-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

a few days ago, i had this shooting pain in my chest. a part of me felt dread and i was worried sick about what if? a part of me was worried sick about the cost implications of the treatment. i think that is the biggest concern about anything to do with the heart. nonetheless... it is a point that has been reached- as they say a wake up call.

the doctor called me and gave me this news. i know its not like a death sentence - with due respect to those who have more serious diseases, still, knowing that i now have a heart condition is worrying enough.

plan of action going forward, i need to consult with a cardio specialist, and get my act in shape. need to cut down on stress levels and similarly on my levels of tension.

what really sucks is that you think back and wonder- how did i let it get to this stage? can i be so unfit? but most importantly - I ask - why me? :(

shaadi.com stooping really low to get people to register?

2009-12-04T19:47:00.000-08:00

so when you see the above advert what do you think?

this was seen on facebook. I clicked on it - because it looked like a picture from someone's album, and it looked quite appalling.

What i discovered later - was even more shocking!

follow the trail -

First hop

1. http://fast-redirect.info/screensavers/india/

Next-

2. http://redirect.tracking202.com/cl/7843267204

3. http://redirect.tracking202.com/cl2?q=http%3A%2F%2Fhomeworkercentral.info%2Ftracking202%2Fredirect%2Fdl.php%3Ft202id%3D615%26t202kw%3D84326720

4. http://homeworkercentral.info/tracking202/redirect/cl.php?pci=216297

5. http://npvos.com/click/?s=124160&c=188067&subid=1629

6. http://www.shaadi.com/register/welcome.php?a=1

So shaadi.com is now advertising - "Get Sexy Screen Saver Free"

Shame on you Shaadi.com!

And so it comes to a full circle- #TimeWarner to spin off #AOL

2009-11-16T20:02:00.000-08:00

in 2000, when AOL announced that it is buying TimeWarner- personally - i couldnt figure out what was the reason. At 164B AOL might have wanted to bolster its content - from being a pure play ISP to compete with Microsoft's MSN Online. However, AOL was providing a platform - which i could have used to get feeds from multiple wire services thus allowing for aggregation of news rather than a very expnsive news feed.

In December 9th 2009 - TimeWarner will spin off AOL. I believe this comes to a full circle. With the AOL issuing 11 shares for every TimeWarner share to now becoming a separate entity. Personally, i belive this is one of the best things to happen to AOL after the 2003 fiasco of declaring $99B in losses.

With the New AOL - we should see a stronger news feed, and tighter integration with shopping sites and entertainment sites - thus they should push for getting people to spend more time on AOL.com than any other site.

#Windows7 - #ZeroDay Bug

2009-11-16T01:50:00.000-08:00

In a security advisory , Microsoft acknowledged that a bug in SMB (Server Message Block), a Microsoft-made network file- and print-sharing protocol, could be used by attackers to cripple Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 machines.

The zero-day vulnerability was first reported by Canadian researcher Laurent Gaffie last Wednesday, when he revealed the bug and posted proof-of-concept attack code to the Full Disclosure security mailing list and his blog. According to Gaffie, exploiting the flaw crashes Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 systems so thoroughly that the only recourse is to manually power off the computers.

At the time, Microsoft only said it was investigating Gaffie's reports.

Then on Friday, it took the next step and issued the advisory. "Microsoft is aware of public, detailed exploit code that would cause a system to stop functioning or become unreliable," Dave Forstrom, a spokesman for Microsoft security group, said in an e-mail. "The company is not aware of attacks to exploit the reported vulnerability at this time."

Forstrom echoed Gaffie's comments earlier in the week that while an exploit could incapacitate a PC, the vulnerability could not be used by hackers to install malicious code on a Windows 7 system.

Both SMBv1 and its successor, SMBv2, contain the bug. "Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 are not affected," assured Forstrom.

Attacks could be aimed at any browser, not just Internet Explorer (IE), Microsoft warned. After tricking users into visiting a malicious site or a previously-compromised domain, hackers could feed them specially-crafted URIs (uniform resource identifier), and then crash their PCs with malformed SMB packets.

Microsoft said it may patch the problem, but didn't spell out a timetable or commit to an out-of-cycle update before the next regularly-scheduled Patch Tuesday of Dec. 8. Instead, the company suggested users block TCP ports 139 and 445 at the firewall. Doing so, however, would disable browsers as well as a host of critical services, including network file-sharing and IT group policies.

Gaffie's vulnerability was the first zero-day reported and confirmed by Microsoft in Windows 7 since the new operating system went on sale Oct. 22.

Health in corporate india- Please Read!

2009-11-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

I got this as an email forward- thought it to be quite useful. However- i would prefer if this is validated first.

_______

What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India
A month ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India . He was very active in sports, was a fitness freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him run on Bandra's Carter Road . Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids.

It was certainly a wake-up call for corporate India . However, it was even more disastrous for runners amongst us. Since Ranjan was an avid marathoner (in Feb 09, he ran Chennai Marathon at the same time some of us were running Pondicherry Marathon 180 km away), the question came as to why an exceptionally active, athletic person succumb to heart attack at 42 years of age.

Was it the stress?
A couple of you called me asking about the reasons. While Ranjan had mentioned that he faced a lot of stress, that is a common element in most of our lives. We used to think that by being fit, one can conquer the bad effects of stress. So I doubted if the cause was stress.

The Real Reason
However, everyone missed out a small line in the reports that Ranjan used to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep. This is an earlier interview of Ranjan on NDTV in the program 'Boss' Day Out'

Here he himself admits that he would love to get more sleep (and that he was not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others extolled).

The Evidence
Last week, I was working with a well-known cardiologist on the subject of ‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep’. While I cannot share the video nor the slides because of confidentiality reasons, I have distilled the key points below in the hope it will save some of our lives.

Some Excerpts:
· Short sleep duration (<5> compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009.
As you know, high BP kills.
· Young people (25-49 years of age) are twice as likely to get high BP if they sleep less. Paper published in 2006.· Individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999.
· Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-cRP), the strongest predictor of heart attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stayed high!!
· Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (cRP). They increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer, arthritis and heart disease. Paper published in 2004.· Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to 18% increase in heart disease. Paper published in 2006.

Ideal Sleep
For lack of space, I cannot explain here the ideal sleep architecture. But in brief, sleep is composed of two stages: REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and non-REM. The former helps in mental consolidation while the latter helps in physical repair and rebuilding. During the night, you alternate between REM and non-REM stages 4-5 times.
The earlier part of sleep is mostly non-REM. During that period, your pituitary gland releases growth hormones that repair your body. The latter part of sleep is more and more REM type.

For you to be mentally alert during the day, the latter part of sleep is more important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess (lack of non-REM sleep), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down (I’ve been there, done that L)
Finally, as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running related damage.
If you want to know if you are getting adequate sleep, take Epworth Sleepiness Test below.

Interpretation: Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal. Many a times, I have clocked 21 out the maximum possible 24, the only saving grace being the last situation, since I don’t like to drive (maybe, I should ask my driver to answer that line J)
In conclusion:

Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food, exercising (marathoning!), maintaining proper weight. But he missed getting proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. In my opinion, that killed him.
If you are not getting enough sleep (7 hours), you are playing with fire, even if you have low stress.
I always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But I was so spooked after seeing the scientific evidence last week that since Saturday night, I ensure I do not even set the alarm clock under 7 hours. Now, that is a nice excuse to get some more sleep. :)

Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of us are doing exactly the same, perhaps out of ignorance.

100 things restaurant staffers should never do #1

2009-11-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

From an NYTimes article

Herewith is a modest list of dos and don’ts for servers at the seafood restaurant I am building. Veteran waiters, moonlighting actresses, libertarians and baristas will no doubt protest some or most of what follows. They will claim it homogenizes them or stifles their true nature. And yet, if 100 different actors play Hamlet, hitting all the same marks, reciting all the same lines, cannot each one bring something unique to that role?

1. Do not let anyone enter the restaurant without a warm greeting.

2. Do not make a singleton feel bad. Do not say, “Are you waiting for someone?” Ask for a reservation. Ask if he or she would like to sit at the bar.

3. Never refuse to seat three guests because a fourth has not yet arrived.

4. If a table is not ready within a reasonable length of time, offer a free drink and/or amuse-bouche. The guests may be tired and hungry and thirsty, and they did everything right.

5. Tables should be level without anyone asking. Fix it before guests are seated.

6. Do not lead the witness with, “Bottled water or just tap?” Both are fine. Remain neutral.

7. Do not announce your name. No jokes, no flirting, no cuteness.

8. Do not interrupt a conversation. For any reason. Especially not to recite specials. Wait for the right moment.

9. Do not recite the specials too fast or robotically or dramatically. It is not a soliloquy. This is not an audition.

10. Do not inject your personal favorites when explaining the specials.

11. Do not hustle the lobsters. That is, do not say, “We only have two lobsters left.” Even if there are only two lobsters left.

12. Do not touch the rim of a water glass. Or any other glass.

13. Handle wine glasses by their stems and silverware by the handles.

14. When you ask, “How’s everything?” or “How was the meal?” listen to the answer and fix whatever is not right.

15. Never say “I don’t know” to any question without following with, “I’ll find out.”

16. If someone requests more sauce or gravy or cheese, bring a side dish of same. No pouring. Let them help themselves.

17. Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course. Wait, wait, wait.

18. Know before approaching a table who has ordered what. Do not ask, “Who’s having the shrimp?”

19. Offer guests butter and/or olive oil with their bread.

20. Never refuse to substitute one vegetable for another.

21. Never serve anything that looks creepy or runny or wrong.

22. If someone is unsure about a wine choice, help him. That might mean sending someone else to the table or offering a taste or two.

23. If someone likes a wine, steam the label off the bottle and give it to the guest with the bill. It has the year, the vintner, the importer, etc.

24. Never use the same glass for a second drink.

25. Make sure the glasses are clean. Inspect them before placing them on the table.

26. Never assume people want their white wine in an ice bucket. Inquire.

27. For red wine, ask if the guests want to pour their own or prefer the waiter to pour.

28. Do not put your hands all over the spout of a wine bottle while removing the cork.

29. Do not pop a champagne cork. Remove it quietly, gracefully. The less noise the better.

30. Never let the wine bottle touch the glass into which you are pouring. No one wants to drink the dust or dirt from the bottle.

31. Never remove a plate full of food without asking what went wrong. Obviously, something went wrong.

32. Never touch a customer. No excuses. Do not do it. Do not brush them, move them, wipe them or dust them.

33. Do not bang into chairs or tables when passing by.

34. Do not have a personal conversation with another server within earshot of customers.

35. Do not eat or drink in plain view of guests.

36. Never reek from perfume or cigarettes. People want to smell the food and beverage.

37. Do not drink alcohol on the job, even if invited by the guests. “Not when I’m on duty” will suffice.

38.Do not call a guy a “dude.”

39. Do not call a woman “lady.”

40. Never say, “Good choice,” implying that other choices are bad.

41. Saying, “No problem” is a problem. It has a tone of insincerity or sarcasm. “My pleasure” or “You’re welcome” will do.

42. Do not compliment a guest’s attire or hairdo or makeup. You are insulting someone else.

43. Never mention what your favorite dessert is. It’s irrelevant.

44. Do not discuss your own eating habits, be you vegan or lactose intolerant or diabetic.

45. Do not curse, no matter how young or hip the guests.

46. Never acknowledge any one guest over and above any other. All guests are equal.

47. Do not gossip about co-workers or guests within earshot of guests.

48. Do not ask what someone is eating or drinking when they ask for more; remember or consult the order.

49. Never mention the tip, unless asked.

50. Do not turn on the charm when it’s tip time. Be consistent throughout.

http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/one-hundred-things-restaurant-staffers-should-never-do-part-one/?

#Security #Alert #Apple New iPhone malware spotted

2009-11-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of the ikee worm, a second piece of iPhone-related malware has appeared, which enables hackers to connect to any device that has been jailbroken and still has an unchanged root password.

Jailbreaking is a term used to define iPhones that have been hacked by users to enable software other than that available through the App Store to be installed.

The new malware takes advantage of the same vulnerability in the iPhone as the ikee worm and has been dubbed iPhone/Privacy.A by Mac security software house, Intego, which first discovered its existence.

The company explained on its blog that hackers use the tool by installing it on either their own or compromised third-party Macs, PCs, Unix and Linux-based machines - or even on iPhones themselves. The program scans networks that are accessible to it and, when it finds a jailbroken iPhone, breaks into it, steals data including email, contacts and music files, and copies them.

Unlike the ikee worm, which indicates its presence by changing the iPhone’s wallpaper, there is no obvious sign that Privacy.A has been installed. Standard, non-jailbroken, iPhones are not at risk but estimates suggest that between six and eight per cent of all such devices are jailbroken.

Intego indicated that it was not possible to protect iPhones from exploitation by the tool at this time and therefore advised users to stick to stock configurations or risk exposing themselves to known vulnerabilities being exploited by code circulating in the wild. The supplier has developed VirusBarrier X5 to detect and eradicate the hacker tool on potential host Macs, however.

The release of Privacy.A comes the day after a poll by security software vendor Sophos indicated that a huge three-quarters of respondents believed that the Australian student who wrote the ikee worm was justified because he helped raised awareness of security issues.

But Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the vendor, was proved right in saying at the time that the move had let the genie out of the bottle, increasing the likelihood of others writing “a far more dangerous version of the worm, which could have a much more dangerous payload”.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2252939/iphone-malware-spotted

Parachute XVI - A must Listen!

2009-10-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

This is a friend's band - i heard this piece and just fell in love with it. I think you should also listen to it... Simply AWESOME!

http://www.parachutexvi.com/

Trojan attack targets #Facebook users

2009-10-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

Security experts have warned Facebook users to be on the alert after the discovery of a new password malware scam linked to the Bredolab Trojan.

Email security firm Websense claimed yesterday to have seen 90,000 instances of the attack, calling it a "new wave of malicious spoof email attacks".

The messages purport to come from Facebook and are designed to appear as a simple password reset confirmation. However, a .exe file in the mail contains a hidden virus with a nasty payload.

Websense said in a security alert that the .exe file connects to two servers in order to download additional malicious files. The victim's PC then joins the Bredolab botnet, giving hackers full control.

"This spam email attack is designed to play on the subject at the forefront of users' minds: their password security," said Carl Leonard, Websense security labs manager.

"Falling for this scam could lead to the unsuspecting user becoming part of a botnet. With therecent hack of web email accounts, users would feel more compelled to open an attachment that purports to hold their new password, as they'd be worried who changed it in the first place.

"Our advice for users is to always go directly to the web address you have an account with and reset passwords there."

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, confirmed that the malicious emails have been spammed out widely across the internet.

"The 'from' address has been forged, and the attached file is in fact a piece of malware. Sophos detects the malware as Troj/BredoZp-M or Mal/Bredo-A," he wrote in a blog post.

"Don't make life easy for the hackers hell-bent on infecting your computer, stealing your identity and emptying your bank account. Exercise caution when you receive unsolicited emails, and protect your computer with up-to-date security software."

Doctors and the Consumer protection act - #India

2009-10-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

There was an interesting debate going on on the Radio this mornig - as to should the doctors be brought under the consumer protection act. Personally - my views are mixed. A part of me says yes - yet a part of me says no.

No - When someone looses a person or goes through a loss of some kind or is affected by any way- the first question they ask is "Why me?" a feeling of victimization comes in, and then they want to realize their loss by taking "Revenge" how - by filing a case. If doctors try everything to save, no matter what - would that be seen- or would it be that the outcome is noted?

Its easy to sit back and say - yes, i tried, but i am sorry, and the patient thinks- i have to live with this, and not you. how can this be? I personally believe this will lead to unrelated cases against doctors and putting a lot of pressure on the legal system which is already burgeoning.

In certain cases, due to legal reasons - doctors don't treat accident victims, simply due to the fact if they die - the doctors will be responsible and a whole host of police complications. From a legal reform perspective, doctors who do not treat patients should be taken to task - esp accident cases, in which the first hour is the most critical hour.

With a hospital bed density of 3.9 beds per 1000 - the reach of healthcare in India is abysmal, and thus the need to have victims rush to the nearest hospital is of greater importance than to insist - accident case -go to the Government hospital.

In these cases the doctors should come under the purview of the consumer protection act - which simplifies the process of seeking justice due to reduced paperwork and other legally related issues.

In the recent past, a close family friend lost a relative. The patient was in a coma for nearly 3 weeks in the ICU. With the kidneys shutting down and the liver stopping as well. Now, the doctors and in this case I would blame the hospital - pushed the parents to the point where they are now in debt by about 15L. As a parent, any possible hope that the child would survive, will be a ray of hope- simply because NO parent wants to bury their child. However, to a layman, this case of the hospital scans, xrays and infusing blood into a coma patient who's organs have all but shutdown is a process of opportunistic. The said hospital also told the parents to get two medicines that cost over 2L each "which would help clear the body of toxins" created by the defunct liver.

After three weeks in a coma - the hospital took the patient in for an "operation" to clean up the body.

Would these procedures help or were they excessive in order to extract more from the desperate parents is a question I am not qualified to answer, but should doctors come under the purview of the consumer protection act (which incidentally they are) - is a yes.

The next logical question - should a hospital be a corporate entity?

Simply #Gross!

2009-10-23T22:04:00.000-07:00

Pictures taken at a friends House! What did the manufacturers think before they made this? Incase you are wondering - its a scorpion with its tail inside a cobras mouth. I hope as hell that they are breeding these snakes and not killing them from the wild.

Only in thailand!

achievements and yearning!

2009-10-23T02:49:00.000-07:00

This morning, like with all mornings this week, I have been dropping my mother at her office. So it is around 9am whn we finally leave the house and i am able to drop her off in about thirty minutes, and get back to my office in about another twenty minutes.

this morning, like other mornings was the same. I reached home, and decided that instead of waiting downstairs, I would go up and say hello. I also wanted to use this excuse to go up and collect my hands free - a small device on my mobile that I hve een missing sorely- so badly that i did not go cycling since I would not have music to listen to from the phone.

After dropping my mother off at her office, I started back. The drive back was un-eventful untill gemini flyover. What was so different today?

I come past gemini, and am on nungumbakkam highroad - or according to the official releases - uttamar gandhi salai. the reasoning behind this - can be asked to any body after handing them a patiala whiskey- which would make any true blooded man, woman and for pretty much any human - sozzled out of their sane minds.

So as i was driving past the Park hotel i see what appear to be busboys, hiding behind a pillar, but if they were attempting to hide it was a rather tactless move as the city in its entirity could see them, much like the ostrich. The guys had on such loose suits as one of them was demonstrating to the other- he pulled up the sleve of the suite, and adjusted the cuff of the shirt. Now that usually is how its done, in theory, but in practice- he yanked up the damn things almost till his elbow. Therefore, in a single, swift motion, he was able to demonstrate to the entire group of people who were stuck in traffic on the main road - that they dont know how to wear, correct fitting suits.

I personally was laughing at him, but what caught my attention was not the two of them, or the other security guards hanging around the hotel, nor the total lack of traffic on my side of the road and something that is more packed than a can of sardines with traffic on the other, but a lone man on a cycle.

I would have guessed his was either a carpenter or a plumber as he was carrying a hacksaw on his bike. He was looking at those two people with a mixture of awe, jealousy and ambition. That one fleeting second - I was thinking - how many times have i gone through that blend of emotions.

the realization came - life is made up of moments, and stringing these events together gives us the experience and a set of experiences is called life.

The beginning ?

2009-10-21T22:35:00.000-07:00

Wanted to check something on twitter - so went to the site, and lo behold!

the significance of the image- i have no idea- but its a start.

the iPod Journey

2009-10-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

when the ipod was introduced in 2001, it was disruptive. to the simple fact, it took the personal music world by storm. But then to ensure that there is repeat business, Apple launched the iTunes Store. now that just rocked. With it starting operations in 2003, iTunes store has sold over 6 Billion songs by Jan 2009- thus making it the largest music store in the US.

What caught my attention was this advert on the Apple website- which showed that the iPod can now record videos. This is a brilliant product extension. First as a music player. That means that the entertainment desire is satiated. Next it moved with photos and movies full filling the higher need of visually capturing the owner. Next came the camera- that extended the need to capture moments and save them. Wifi to become the mobile computer- Now finally - the motion capture- in effect, the iPod has replaced the Camera, Walkman, Storage device and any other device that a family might need while going out - the only logical extension they can do to the iPod is inbuilt a GPS system - thus making it complete entertainment center.

Pretty exciting times- next they need to increase the battery life - or embed solar cells onto the back of the iPod that will allow it to charge while in the sun.

This is exciting- the possibilities are endless.

#Intel heating up the notebook space - Nehlem goes mobile!

2009-09-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

Looks like the next big thing after the centrino -

Chip giant Intel has taken the wraps off its latest mobile processor based on its Nehalem architecture.

During his keynote speech at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco, Dadi Perlmutter, executive vice president and general manager of the Intel Architecture Group, announced details of the Core i7 Mobile processors.

The new quad-core CPUs are designed for high-performance mobile PCs and, like their desktop counterparts, feature Intel's Hyper-Threading and Turbo Boost technology, which allows the processor clock speed to be ramped up past stock frequency depending on workload.

"With intelligent features like Intel Turbo Boost Technology, Hyper-Threading Technology and a host of others, Intel has revolutionised the laptop PC processor, delivering performance when you need it, energy efficiency when you don’t," said Perlmutter.

"For the first time, mobile users can choose a laptop that delivers internet-server like speed, right in their laps for the most demanding tasks, from intense gaming to digital video editing and social media applications."

There will be three mobile Core i7 processors, the 920XM, 820QM and 720QM, which run at 2GHz, 1.73GHz and 1.6 GHz – with the possibility to boost to 3.2GHz, 3.06GHz and 2.8GHz respectively.

Formerly codenamed Clarksfield, the new units also include two-channel DDR3 1333MHz memory support and full 1 x16 or 2 x8 PCI Express 2.0 graphics.

The Core i7 mobile processors will be available in two flavours, a regular and an Extreme edition, with the latter supporting Extreme Memory Profiles and the Extreme Tuning Utility, allowing users to overclock and fine-tune the laptop.

According to Intel, big names such as Asus, Dell, HP and Toshiba will begin shipping laptops using the Core i7 mobile processors today, with others due to start using them in the coming months.

As you might expect, the new chips are not exactly cheap. When bought in trays of 1,000 units the 920XM will cost $1,054 (£642.31) each, while the 820QM and 720QM are priced at $546 (£332.73) and $364 (£221.82) each when bought in trays of 1,000.

http://is.gd/3HVr4

Paper records are still better managed than Data

2009-09-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

For many companies, management of electronic data is still worse than that of paper records, according to a recent study.

Information management industry group AIIM cited a recent survey of some 700 companies that indicated that many firms are still not taking management of digital records seriously.

The survey found that 26 per cent of companies have no official management policies for electronic records, while only 56 apply legal hold to electronic documents. Paper documents, by comparison, were retained for legal hold in 71 per cent of companies.

The advocacy group blames the disparity in part to muddled attitudes towards management of electronic data. The company suggested that for many enterprises, data retention and archiving is considered an IT issue rather than a records management issue.

"We found that over a third of organisations, if challenged, would not be confident that their electronic records had not been changed, deleted or inappropriately accessed," said AIIM president John Mancini

"These companies would be at a major disadvantage in any legal action, defending or prosecuting."

Management and retention of digital information has become a hot topic for enterprise IT in the past 10 years. Regulatory acts such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPA in the US have forced many companies to apply tighter standards to the way they manage information.

http://is.gd/3HURT

#Thoughts about life

2009-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

We are all searching for something. What particular thing varies from person to person. It is to satiate a need, a want or a desire. The search is what gives us meaning, meaning to our existence, meaning to our waking up each morning, and saying “today is going to be a good day” or “today is going to be a horrible day”. This search leads us to the far corners of the world, up the highest mountains, down the deepest oceans, and to the extreme of climates.
What is your search comprising of? As you evolve over time, a lot of things are either clearer to you, or make less sense as it already made little sense earlier and it is what makes one sit up and thing about what you are doing and what you are going through.

When you go through life, you tend to think that you have experienced life, be it multi cultural exposure or be it multinational exposure. What we are is forged by what we want to be. What we want to be is forged by our ideals. The search what we undertake is a search that never ends. So does that mean we can never define who we really are?

When you believe that you have found something, nature’s course is that you realize that something else is missing or is incomplete, so you start a search for that iteam or feeling. First it is love, then money, then power, then happiness then health. Imagine it to be like a large shopping cart, and the more we pile up, the more difficult it will be to navigate the aisle of life. When we need to turn through and complete everything before we become old, we end up rushing through a lot of memories, experiences and situations that allow us to look back in life and sya “what if?”

The “what if” scenario is something that haunts us all, and thus it raises another quest – a search for the “what if” equivalent to the past experience.
In our quest to discover, we tend to be overwhelmed with feelings and desires, however, these are all obstacles in our quest. These are placed in our paths for a reason. For experience. As they say, god does not give us what we want, however, god gives us the opportunity to bring out that quality. Similarly, as we go about living life, we tend to gain experience. This experience is what is put together to make us better individuals in life. We need to constantly learn from these expriences to allow us to make better judgements, and take better decisions in life.

the #JetAirways Drama - #brandImpact?

2009-09-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

With the recent pilots strike that was called- and the further 256 odd pilots going on strike for the re-enstatement of the 2 sacked pilots, thus putting the entire jet airways operations on hold - and holding the entire aviation industry to somthing just short of ransom. What was really surprising was that during one of the news articles, I rememberd seeing a sign being held up by other jet airways employees- are " 2 pilots more important than 13000 staff?"
it got me thinking- why did they strike in the first place? that 2 pilots got sacked for "forming a welfare group" and this is what the "welfare group" is capable of?
Whom are they kidding?

a 18 Crore a day loss
281 Flights cancelled

now jet is offering a 50% discount. But the brand image has been hit so bad.

How do you measure the brand impact? Folks are going to take a bug hit at this- there was a news article about the customers lost faith due to last minute cancellations.

the largest percentage of jet is busienss travellers- now gaining the confidence is going to cost a LOT more.

Long term impact- will take a while to calculate!

Sidvin Festival of Speed

2009-09-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

just back from the recently concluded sidvin festival of speed. some really awesome racing, and from whre i was watching, some real close calls.

some pictures from the event.

#LongExposure - Night Shots

2009-08-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

We had a nice power outage, which appeared to have knocked out power in lots of places. We were sitting in our balacony and took a few shots!

#India Independence Day 1947 Pictures- Awesome!

2009-08-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

I just got this via email - i dont know the source or the copyright information - so if someone believes this is copyrighted material and want me to take it down - i will happily comply!

Crimson Chakra - A review

2009-08-09T22:10:00.000-07:00

I chanced apon a visit to Crimson Chakra over the weekend, and out of disdain i decided to pen down everything i thought was simply terrrible at the place.

This might be long.. uh oh! :)

firstly, the restaurant claims to be a fine dining restaurant, however, there was hardly any fine in the dining. the place was crowded, noisy and the waiters were sweaty and flustred. Now, when you come to a restaurant where you shell out so much money from your pocket, one would expect that there would be decent linen on the table, and a white pristine table cloth, well arranged napkins and adequate cuttlery. However, this was far from that. Ther was tissue paper and two table spoons on the table. There was a general mat which can be bought at LifeStyle and the glasses were very ordinary. there was no soup spoon and we had to use a table spoon. They removed all our cuttlery with the starters and did not give us alternatives for the rest of the meal.

There were no table cloths and it was this runner that ran across the table. the runner was dirty and the toilet had piping exposed and no paper/ towels.

Either there was something wrong with the water supply or it was not being filtered enough, with every dish and drink smelling of stale water, it put me off to no extent.

The drinks had no substance in them. I tried a ginger and jagery based drink which is not the best drink to have on an empty stomach considering it was quite sweet.

the soup was nxt - the first thought that comes to mind with their soup is broth. Spicy broth. there was no chicken or even a hint of it when we went through it. It was spicy rasam. very spicy rasam.

The next came the starters - the variety in meat was wide- Prawns, Fish, Chicken and Mutton, however, they were pretty similar in their taste and there were almost no accompanyments. Yes, they did provide a set of dips - but there were a 3 dips and 2 powders. Dunno what they expected people to use the spicy powders with spicy chutney and spicier starters.

The Appam - it was an insult to any true bred malayali to eat such abysmial apams. Cold, flat and thick. Appams need to be hot, crisp and cannot be brought one at a time for a large group. What are they thinking?

there ware two dishes to be had with the appam and roti, and then the biryani was brought. That was just OK. nothing great.

The sweet dishes that we got were just terrible. there was WAY too much ghee in the goosberry halwa and the other had some goo (called cotton seed souffle) coming out. finally stuck to ice cream - and had the most sour cherry on it.

All these combined, makes me think - what are people doing putting such expensive restaurants together. At 425 per head for lunch + Taxes - this si no wWAY a cheap place, and the place was in no way "fine dining"

so, they need to pull their socks up togther with some hard work - elese - i hope they see the light of six months!

#Airtel - you are bad!

2009-07-31T03:06:00.000-07:00

I just received an SMS from Airtel -

Kindly note- All Local SMS sent on 2nd August (Friendship day) will be charged @50p/SMS. Dial 171152 (Toll Free) For more details.

On dialing the number- you get the same pre recorded message. how can they do this? if they are doing it for "friendship day" what stops them from doing the same on all other holidays.

So even though I have paid Rs 99 for unlimited SMS (9999 sms actually) per month, I pay for the sms on that day. Doesnt this correlate to extortion?

Airtel - you suck! im being open about it. You are a very bad person. The minute the number portability comes out- im outa airtel. hate you more and more!

outstanding! #quotes

2009-07-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

The object of our Constitution makers was free movement and exchange of goods throughout India. It is essential for the economy of India and for sustaining improving living standards of its people. It should ultimately lead to one-country-one-people concept and economic benefit of the development should reach every citizen wherever he lives. The people of the state must sink and swim together. The long-run prosperity and salvation lies in union and not division. Economic unity is the main force for achieving cultural and political unity and stability and progress can be achieved only by demolishing artificial boundaries and barricades and should be sidelined.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1409791-post1.html

Of luck and #entrepreneurship ! #startups

2009-07-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day, as an entrepreneur, do i rely on luck or chance or both? well, as they say, you get lucky if you are at the right place at tht right time, but does luck play an integral part?

if you have a good day, you will think back and say - yes, i heard this song in the morning, shampooed my hair and used this soap, then there becomes a favorite soap, then it becomes the only soap you use. I think as an entrepreneur, you tend to become a lot more superstitious- so to say.

i remember during the 12th board exams - more than a decade ago, ( i like that phrase) i used to get dropped in the morning, on the way, i used to listen to music, and the days i could not listen to music in the car, i used to panic, and go and mess up the exam. then i started carrying a walkman, listening to a cassette even if the car music system did not work. So how is that relevant now?

My case exactly, if i listen to something nice in the morning, start feeling happy, then use my favouritest shampoo and soap, eat my favorite serial, and then wear my favorite dress, there is a high probability that i will hav a nice day.

now that brings me to the second point and infact, a point which i believe is quite important- positive thinking.

i believe that we should go to our day with a cheer and excitement, not or dispair... yes, there are bound to be stressful events, however, allowing those events to bog you down is not the best thing to have around.

so as an entrepreneur, i think luck plays a pivotal role, and possitive thinking paves the way for luck!

abysmal Customer service @ shopper stop?

2009-07-26T22:51:00.000-07:00

Quite a horrifying tale of pathetic customer service at Shopper stop. considering its proximity to my place, i think i would have easily spent over 30,000 there atleast.

Its even more pathetic when it hits so close to him. My wife had visited and was talked to such...

I had visited Shopper’s on Thursday, July 23rd ’09 at about 8.00 PM. Having selected a shoe, I was waiting my turn at the billing counter. Once I got to the front, there seemed to be some trouble with the billing machine/system. Meanwhile there was an executive counting out cash (of someone else’s purchase) at the same counter.

Having waited for over 20 minutes at the counter without any billing having taken place– I happened to ask the person behind the counter if he could please let me know when the billing for my item could be done.

To which he responded in the most condescending manner “Can’t you see I’m counting out money?! If you’re so impatient – why don’t take this and count!”, and he extended the cash towards me!!
I was OUTRAGED at being responded to in such as manner – to a very polite question to which he could have given a simple answer!!!
I told him so – to which he responded again in arrogance “Don’t be so impatient the systems are also down – if you can’t wait, just leave!”. I told him I would like to meet the manager and not have him responding to a customer in SUCH A RUDE MANNER! He then billed my item in 2 minutes time and shoved it across the counter, all the while muttering to himself!

When i read this email - i was quite aghast! this is very sad! Where are we heading in this world? Does shoppers stop believe that they can get away with such a crime?

Bad doggy shoppers stop! I know for one - im going to stop going there. please do the same!

Flyby Chennai!

2009-07-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

Whilst making our final approach to chennai domestic airport, we were flying quite low - given the fact this was an ATR. I took the liberty of trying to take a few picture, however, due to the total spaz nature of the phone, it brought the flash on even though i turned it off. The airhostess then decided to give us a tip "take a video" which was one of the most brilliant ideas i heard.

anyways, took a short clip of the approach and flgith over chennai at night. Need to go again, and shoot a better video... :)

kerala in the rains

2009-07-10T17:56:00.004-07:00

i am visiting kerala after a gap of about 6 month, and i think to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time im coming in july. Maybe i have done so earlier, but i cant remember.

Some pictures i snapped from the train.

x Files - the Movie

2009-07-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Terrible!

Have been a long time X-Files fan so when the new movie was released, I quickly got the DVD when it hit the stands. So yesterday, my wife and i decided to watch the movie.

summary in a single word - terrible.

The plot, story, characters and the overall movie would hav been a good film if it did not have the xfiles tag, as there was no X in it at all!

at the end of the movie it was an all and all disappointing flick, that mulder and scully had a kid who dies, but they are not married, that the FBI is looking and that no one but him believes in psychics.

One would have assumed that the movie would have started off where the other left off. but that was not the case, and it brought about a whole different angle to it.

It would have made a good episode in the x-files but not a full length film.

The power of positive thinking!

2009-06-29T21:54:00.000-07:00

a long and standing mantra that most people believe in is the power of positive thinking- which according to google throws out about 7,650,000 pages of information. Now how does one not ignore this?

I did not think too much of it till recently. Going through a rather tough patch myself at work, i decided to think positive with the focus on whats happening rather than whats not.

Personally, i think it has made a huge difference. I feel happier, feel less stressed, and most importantly, am enjoying my work a lot more than i could have imagined that i could. I am really beginning to fathom this concept, and guess at a stage where i might embrace it simply for its sheer power and size.

i love camera phones - my picture of the day

2009-06-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

was driving home last evening, and the skies did a little dance. i was at the right place at the right time- i captured this dance.

Its now the turn of Twitter!

2009-06-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

A new spammed malware attack is impersonating messages from micro-blogging site Twitter.

Researchers at Symantec said that the attack poses as an invitation to join Twitter with the message: 'Your friend has invited you to Twitter.' The message also contains images of the Twitter logo and front pages.

Rather than send the user to Twitter by way of a URL, however, the message asks the user to open an attachment under the name 'InvitationCard.zip'. On launching the attached file, the user is infected with a malicious worm that attempts to send out mass email messages.

Users are advised not to open the invitation attachments or any other unsolicited or suspicious email attachments.

"As Twitter continues to gain popularity among social networking users, people are regularly receiving invitations and email updates from fellow users, " wrote Symantec researcher Sammy Chu in a blog post.

"We expect that spammers will continue to use Twitter and other popular social networks as bait in their attacks."

The practice of disguising malware as email attachments and greeting cards is not new. Attacks such as the infamous Storm worm were routinely spread under the guise of greeting card attachments.

Attacks targeting Twitter have also become more common in recent months as the site has seen its popularity soar. Attacks have ranged from account-stealing hacking attempts to cross-site scripting attacks and malware distribution attacks.

source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2244458/malware-threat-targets-twitter

Facebook Worm!

2009-06-19T08:00:00.001-07:00

A general word of caution to all facebook users- considering its one of the most popular social networking sites, i guess is a general caution to all.

There are several worms doing the rounds on facebook - the most recent of them being the koobface.
the modus operandi is the same- send a link through a message, considering its coming from a friend, you tend to visit it, after that it downloads a trojan onto the system. Now the scary part is that its using the macromedia / activex route to run this exploit.
its asking for the update, its downloading a worm onto the system, and then when you visit facebook the next time, it gets your username / password and replicates itself. from the facebook account. It has appeared to have been more complext through a greater level of automation than before. So next time a message comes from a friend, please check the message before visitng the site.

More :
http://news.cnet.com/facebook-fights-new-koobface-worm-another-rogue-app/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/07/elaborate-facebook-worm-virus-spreading/

The game that is Gravity

2009-06-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.media.perthnow.com.au/multimedia/2008/12/html/gravity.html

i came across this game on the internet- flash based, however, terribly addictive. I am not trying to score top points, but jus trying to complete each level.

you have to move the ball to pick up all the magic balls on the way. you need to draw shapes with the mouse to move the ball- all using the laws of physics. So, use levers, weights, inclines etc and move it...
try it- its addictive!

Apple site hacked!!!

2009-06-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

pretty excited with my finding - the apple site http://www.apple.com/asia/buy/locator/svcindex.html if you select a country and then click serach - it takes you to

http://foo.example.com/cgi-bin/tester

thats a comprimize or a REALLY bad upgrade job- like forgetting to remove the gauze from a patient during an operation.

Love affairs with Horns!

2009-06-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Something must really be done to those jokers who cheating on their wives, girlfriends and boyfriends with the horn. Its so weird, and i dont think i will ever get the reason people are so anxious to blo0w the horn. there will be nothing in front of them, yet blow the horn.

thats why i believe we need to start a de-addiction center to help those who have the following:
1. fetish for blowing horns on empty roads
2. hornblowingholic
3. someone who is cheating on their partnr - with the horn - using every opportunity to touch, feel, caress and press the damn horn!

there should be something which makes people reaslise that blowing the horn will not get it done faster, but just make you more irratated. I think the order of the day is to install horns INSIDE cars. so if someone uses it in excess, they cut down automatically, since the noise is now inside as well! :)

Legend that is Yuyutsu

2009-06-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine and his wife are expecting their first child, when asked what is the name on his mind - the name Yuyutsu came up. At first - I thought it was an african name, with the Us and Ys... but then on further research, I was uniquely surprised that its an Indian name and more importantly from the Mahabharatha.

I read the great indian epic a few months ago and, to say the least, have been quite inspired by it. Indraprashtra - the home for the gods was also the kingdom of the Pandavas after they lost everything- a symbol of what can be built even with nothing - now thats inspiration. It towered over the landscapes and contained all the comforts that adorned a king, however, the land was barren before the pandavas were given the place.

coming to Yuyutsu - i starting doing some research and found him to be quite a character. He was the 101st kaurava but was born to Dhritrashtra by a Maid servant who was waiting on him. He was one of the 11 athirathi or one who is capable of killing 10,000 warriors at a time.

He was righteous to the point he stood up against Dhuryodhana's actions - against dhraupadi and the pandavas and was thus the last and only survivor of the Kurkshetra war simply because he joined the side of the Pandavas.

when the pandavas finally passed over - Yudhishthir handed over Indraprashtra to Yuyutsu.

What a story!

sourced from all over the internet.

Techie Awards

2009-05-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

Well,
one must realise with evolving times, the awards and prizes must also evolve. So when you have a bunch of nerds, you obviously want to give them something they like- for instance a limited edition Star Wars Lightsaver! :) (this is inspiration from Big Bang Theory)

I recently came across a rather interesting set of prizes.

The Prizes
The prizes are sponsored by Microsoft India. The winner gets to choose any one prize from the following:

2 Year Flickr Pro Account
(or)
50 WordPress.com Premium Credits
(or)
2 Premium Wordpress Themes
(or)
1 .com domain of your choice, valid for 5 years
(or)
1 .in domain of your choice, valid for 3 years
(or)
1 Premium RapidShare account, valid for 6 month

How Cool is that! Now I'm inspired to compete!

Breaking traffic rules

2009-04-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

Its frustrating when you see drivers blatantly breaking all the road rules, just to make their life easier. This morning, I noticed a large innova with the number TN 04 P 9995 - yes, i am publishing the number here, with the sincere hope that someone reads this and tells the owner- coming out and turning onto the wrong side of the road, and driving a good 100 mts. What more annoying is that this guy does it EVERY day, and sometimes much longer distances.

I know the apartment, but i dont know if i should stop him and tell him to go the other way. :( I just had to get it out of my system... so here is the post.

remember the number is TN 09 P 9995- If you see it - tell the driver to respect road rules and drive properly!

cycling coverage in India

2009-04-19T22:06:00.000-07:00

http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epaperpdf/19042009/18sunday-pg15-0.pdf

Twitter

2009-04-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Have started moving more towards Twitter. Going to try and blog more often.
you can follow me http://twitter.com/madan/

fundraising and VCs

2009-04-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

Venture Capital Crash Course with Jason Mendelson from Andrew on Vimeo.

Uphill ride

2009-04-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

Did my first uphill ride today. It was hard, and time consuming but the low gear ratios on the trek 4300D really helped a lot. the first leg of the journey was a 15 km ride to the base of the hill. from there it was about a 2 km ride UP... now that was killing. However, i told myself that i will not walk- that meant that i had to ride up. I stopped 3 times, but that was worth it. Managing to cycle up.. got me highly kicked. Even though i was the last one up (considering i was the last to start) cycling up was totally worth it! :)

safari 4 Beta

2009-04-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

Really impressive feature

roadside blogging

2009-03-05T04:49:00.000-08:00

one of the biggest disadvantages of having a really fast car is the urge and tendency of pushing the car, now throw in a set of race specificaiton tyres and an empty road well... Damn!!!

So i decided to "see what MY CAR can do" and pushed it. It was an exhilaraing experience, loved every minute of it... But sadly, all good things ,must end and so did my joyride. All things were going jus great when i suddlenly see the temp needle hitting the roof. I stop & check & realise albiet Naturally- that ive blown the cooling system. Bummer.

So i stop, make a few calls and ask for the mech to come by, waiting out here on the side of the road, i decided to blog. Very bizzare but never in my life did i imagine this would happen. Technology would reach such a stage taht i can actually do this.

But the nicest thing to ever happen- a youg lad stops by and says - ive noticed that youve brpken down for more than half hour, would you like some help!!! God bless him. I was speechless. Thank you- for stopping and for being concerned!

Still here, been almost 2 hours, guess ill be out of here in a bit.

Damn i love this country!!!

Delhi 6

2009-02-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

my wife and i finally went for a move after a very long time. we got tickets for delhi 6 - a new realease by the same director who made Rang De Basanti - Rakyesh Omprakash - it was a TRAGIC disappointment. One would assume that with a cast of rishi kapoor, om puri and wahida rahaman, the film will be as gripping as ever, the only gripping that was happening was me clawing into my seat out of sheer desperation.

the film has a very relevant theme- of communal hatred being stirred by people with ulterior motives, caste and arranged marriages. the same thing that all people think of when they come to india.

but thats it, it stops there,. there was a story that was smaller than a grain of rice, and the acting by certain characters was non existent. The most amount of dialogue came from the "news reporters" in the movie than from the lead characters.

how did this get funding? :(

apologies?

2009-02-26T06:51:00.001-08:00

i was thinking and penning down something similar - but this blogger took the words right out! :)

http://imdur1980.blogspot.com

to think about it, there are a few people that i would like to rewind the clock and not say what i had said, and apologize to them, but i don't see that happening. :(

Slum Dog Millionaire - a repeat?

2009-02-23T20:54:00.000-08:00

i know this might seem a little excessive, but what if? I equate this to the East India Company again. they came, they saw, they liked, they used, they got glory and now claim to be theirs.
Danny boyle (As much as I appreciate the other flicks sir!) has said it himself - "In Reality - IT is a british film".
Though the cast, crew, music, script and original story are indian - he is claiming it to be brit! damn!

Source: Times of India: http://is.gd/kCWE

Danny Boyle, 52, was born into a middle-class Irish family. He grew up in Northern England, and perhaps it is because he contemplated priesthood as a vocation in his youth that he now has this inexorably calm demeanour that refuses to be ruffled by accusations of poverty porn. Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan has even called him a saint. The self-deprecatory Brit in Boyle laughs off the praise. “My mother would have loved it if I had been a saint, but I’m far from it. I’m a very real guy,’’ he says.

A very real guy who has made a very real film, the brightest feather in a cap which boasts other acclaimed productions such as 28 Days Later and Trainspotting. “We worked with a budget of 13 million dollars. That is the amount I could raise without having a major Hollywood star in it, but we made it look like a hundred million dollars because we spent all of it on screen.’’

Talking to Times of India from Los Angeles an hour after he picked up his Oscar, a slightly out of breath, Boyle said, “I’m truly happy that every Indian I meet is beaming, and it is the ultimate compliment for me that people in India see Slumdog Millionaire as an Indian film. However, in reality it is a British film. It is a very gritty in the beginning and very realistic because our film culture is based on that kind of realism which in Hollywood and Bollywood isn’t quite there.’’

How soon does Boyle intend to return to Mumbai? “As I have said earlier, I intend to do a thriller in Mumbai. We are talking to a couple of people. It will be a while before the script is ready. I would be very privileged to work in India.’’

Although Boyle’s exposure to Bollywood is admittedly limited, he has seen some of its cinema. “Honestly I hadn’t seen too much of it before I came to Mumbai to shoot Slumdog,’’ he says. “I’ve seen films by Shekhar Kapur, Mira Nair and Anurag Kashyap and Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya and Company. I liked what I saw because they are very much like my taste. These were different films, but I love the regular Bollywood stuff as well.

Finally, who is the real Danny Boyle? Sinner or saint? “I am not a saint, sadly,’’ he says. “I just give my job and the people I work with a lot of respect. And I’m always willing to learn. As a film-maker it is not about having a reputation and just going and doing it. With each film, you have got to learn. I like learning. I like starting from scratch. You learn that from your actors and from people who help you like Loveleen Tandan, Raj Acharya, Resul Pookutty and, of course, the charismatic Rahman.’’

lovely charts!

2009-02-17T20:15:00.000-08:00

finally! i found a site where i can make my process flows et al, without having to lug two laptops (one mac and one pc) just to do my process flows.
and its pretty powerful as well.

check out ...
www.lovelycharts.com