Smoking Kills
April 30, 2006
April 29, 2006
The comments are here =>
I got a mail yesterday from one of my friends who wanted to know that why would I stop comments on blog. I just hope a lot of people don't have this problem because comments are allowed on my blog. (follow the arrow). Now I know why I don't get too many comments here...
Well, this is also the my 200th post. Congratulations to you and me.
Innovation In India
Gautam Ghosh has commented on his blog about a discussion taking place on Atul's blog. The topic of the debate is wheather Indian Organisations are Innovative or not. Gautam emphasizes that Indian Innovation is 'decentralized' and that it affects more people than certain organisations. One line that I liked was "We shouldn't be seeing innovations through the Western lens." (link)
He talks about the "maruta" in rural Punjab, making lassi in washing machines, Jaipur foot and Aravind eye hospitals and links to a BBC story about innovation in Rural India. (link)
But the real information comes from a page, which is listed somewhere down in the comments. The link is to a web site called the Indian Innovation Association. (link). This website writes about the latest and the upcoming products of Indian Innovation.
Trot down to the Hall of Fame page and you'll realize that there are a lot of products being created in India. But the problem that I see now is why don't we as ordinary citizens of India hear about it? Is it because of a general feeling that it might not be of much use to us? Or is it because the really important ones always come from the west? Or probably it is just bad marketing. I would like to see the technical creativity of India being spurted out on the Television, the Radio, the Newspapers and the Blogs becaues that is how I would really know if India is still shining. Wouldn't you?
Tagged India, Innovation
April 28, 2006
Sensex on a roll
The sensex fell by 490 points today morning due to panic amongst investors after hearing about the ban on 24 operators by SEBI. This was the biggest drop, and was only lesser than the 564 point fall on Black Monday about two years back.
(link)
SEBI had banned 24 operators including IndiaBulls, Karvy and Anagram yesterday in the IPO scam. Though SEBI had clarified that the ban on the broking firms is applicable only to their own account (proprietary) trading and the clients of these firms would be able to trade as usual, panic ensued.
(link)
The sensex is moving up again and is only about 60 points away from yesterdays's close.
Tagged Sensex, India
Lok Paritran Manifesto
Lok Paritran, a political party started by IITians, released thier first election manifesto in Chennai yesterday.
The party's nominees will contest in five constituencies in Chennai (Anna Nagar, Thousand Lights, Chepauk, Mylapore and Anna Nagar) and Villivakkam and Mudukulathur in Ramanathapuram on `axe' and `drums' symbols.
The manifesto emphasizes on the following issues:
- To work towards the eradication of corruption.
- To ensure that the implementation channels are clean and efficient with minimal leakage of resources.
- To work with transparency and accountability by introducing measures such as having regular communication channels open with the public.
- To work towards eradication of poverty and unemployment through policies like promoting vocational education.
- To improve public health and sanitation by means such as conducting health camps, promoting health awareness and the construction of basic facilities like toilets, in areas where these are required.
- To improve the condition of farmers through measures like providing effective and sustained irrigation facilities, and training programmes to educate the farmers.
- To improve the level of education in the State by promoting the spread and reach of primary education and introducing skill based education programs at the secondary school level.
- To ensure that the Constituency Development Fund that is assigned to every MLA will be used to address the fundamental issues of concern in each constituency.
link (via)
Tagged LokParitran, India
April 27, 2006
Iran's clergy against women in stadiums
The clergy in Iran have opposed the move by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to allow women and families in the stadium for the Soccer World Cup. The President, who is an ultra conservative had lifted the ban on Monday.
Members of the clergy say it is wrong for men and women to look at each other's bodies, even if they have no intention of taking pleasure from it. The President added that the presence of women and families in public places promotes chastity.
I never knew men in Iran were so horny that they couldn't forget about women ever while watching the World Cup.
(link)
But this is something I'm sure you would have never heard before. Sixteen-year-old Isma Mahmood was deported to Pakistan last month after serving six months in shackles and handcuffs in a prison in Saudi Arabia. Her crime: being raped by a Saudi man.
(link)
Tagged World Cup, Iran
Snoop Dogg Arrested Again
BBC reports rapper Snoop Dog (real name Calvin Broadus) has been arrested at London's Heathrow Airport and has left seven police officers with minor injuries.
Police said that when they were told they could not board the flight they got abusive and violent. Six of the thirty men with him were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder and affray. Snoop Dogg and his entourage were due to travel to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Snoop Dogg has a criminal record dating back to the early 1990s when he was a teenager. In the early 1990s, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and spent the next three years in and out of prison. In 1993 he was charged for being an accomplice to the murder of Phillip Woldermarian though in 96 he was found not guilty of all charges but voluntary manslaughter. Around 1998 he was arrested again for marijuana possession and was fined $370. Three years later, Snoop was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. In 2003 Snoop Doggy Dogg's bodyguard, McKinley Lee, was grazed by a bullet after unknown assailants showered Snoop Dog's car with bullets. The same year he was also named in an affidavit claiming that he and the makers of the "Girls Gone Wild: Doggy Style" tape lured two underage girls to take their tops off for the camera by offering them marijuana and ecstasy. The suit was settled in July 2004.
(link)
Tagged Snoop Dogg
Of Undeniable Propositions
Marriage proposals can be quite interesting if done the right way. People can go to great heights to impress their loved ones. Especially like this guy who painted this. I wonder if he was really aware if Google was trying to get a big picture of the earth, when he painted this. And no it's not the picture which has been fixed to make you believe that somebody did this, the actual one can be seen on google maps. The place is in New York I believe.
(link )
But there is one thing I know for sure, she couldn't have refused it. Sometimes it's just not possible to refuse. (Ofcourse there are mean women, but who wants them anyways).
(via)
Tagged Marriage, Proposal
Muriel Spark
Indianwriting links to the first ever published story from Muriel Spark, a leading British novelist.
No part was undergoing a process; the outline lacked the signs of confusion and ferment which are commonly the signs of living things, and this was also the principle of its beauty. The eyes took up nearly the whole of the head, extending far over the cheek-bones. From the back of the head came two muscular wings which from time to time folded themselves over the eyes, making a draught of scorching air. There was hardly any neck. Another pair of wings, tough and supple, spread from below the shoulders, and a third pair extended from the calves of the legs, appearing to sustain the body. The feet looked too fragile to bear up such a concentrated degree of being.
Her first novel "The Comforters" was published in 1957, but it was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) which established her reputation. She expired at an age of 88 about two weeks ago.
(link)
Other Links :
Indianwriting | Wiki | BBC
Tagged Muriel Spark
April 26, 2006
United 93
The Tribeca film festival, founded by Robert De Niro, has opened with the world premiere of "United 93", a movie about the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Several of the festival's 275 films also tackle the impact of that day. These include documentaries about a fire department chaplain killed at the World Trade Center - entitled Saint of 9/11 - and also The Heart of Steel, about volunteers who helped victims of the attacks.
Among the 90 premieres at the festival is the first US screening of Mission: Impossible 3, which sees Tom Cruise travelling across Manhattan by helicopter, speedboat, sports car and underground train. Other major movies include the disaster remake "Poseidon".
The trailor has been drawing a lot of negative vibes recently after a lot of families of 9/11 victims raised objections against the movie. Almost four and a half years have passed since that day and yet there is a lot of backlash from the community. But Writer director Paul Greengrass, says Tribeca was "the most appropriate place for the film to play first". He is supported by festival creator, Robert De Niro, who feels "it would seem strange" not to show the movie.
Even though there is widespread controversy, some say that this is the film of our generation. However, according to voters on IMDB, the authority on movies on the internet, the decision seems divided into three. One who believe the movie was excellent, one who think it couldn't have been worse and the rest in between.
The movie would take it's time to reach India (for me to be able to give a review), where I'm sure it would be quite welcome, since 9/11 cannot draw the same emotions in any country other than the one which has bears the scar.
Links :
BBC | IMDB | Website | Trailors | Variety | Slate
Tagged Movies, United 93
Pepsi planning foray in Family Planning
Sudesh Sharma, a resident of Ujhani village near New Delhi, had purchased two bottles of Pepsi from a retail shop near Kashmere Gate in the Capital in year 2003. After suffering from a pleathora of diseases, he examined the bottle to find amongst other things, a condom.
He filed a complaint with Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (North), who has ordered Pepsico India Holdings Ltd to pay Rs 1 lakh towards the Consumer Legal Aid Fund and Rs 20,000 as damages to Sharma.
Pepsi has denied any negligence on its part, and maintains in court that the bottles may have contained spurious products illegally marketed under its brand name.
(link)
20th Anniversary of Chernobyl Blast
At 0353 IST, 27th April 1986 an explosion at Chernobyl nuclear plant tore off the plant's roof, spewing radioactive fallout over swathes of the then-USSR and Europe. The Soviet took its time to announce the "possibility of a catastrophe" which caused 93,000 deaths by cancer alone, while the total number could be as high as 200,000.
(link)
Ukraine is holding a series of events today to ommemorate the 20th anniversary of the world's worst nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl power plant. At evening ceremonies in Kiev, hundreds of mourners, each carrying a single red carnation and flickering candles, gathered for an outdoor Orthodox Christian service. President President Viktor Yushchenko was also present.
(link)
Links :
Wikipedia Entry
The Chernobyl nightmare revisited
Chernobyl 20 Years On
Sasha Yuvchenko : Survivor
Poems by survivors
Wordwood Forest : A natural history of Chernobyl
Assessment of Radiological and Health Impacts
International Atomic Energy Agency Report on Chernobyl
United Nations and Chernobyl
Game: Stalker - Shadow of Chernobyl
Chernobyl Children's Project International
The Chernobyl Myth : Vilhelm Konnander's weblog
Remembering Chernobyl : Andrea Mitchell
Bring Forth New Life : On An Overgrown Path
Chernobyl : Megan Case
A Chornobyl [Chernobyl] Poem : Renaissance Research
Tagged Chernobyl
Wi-Fi for Yaks
Yak farmers in the mountains of the fighting Nepal are using wireless internet technology to keep in touch with their families. They are taking advantage of a wi-fi network set up in a remote region of the mountain kingdom where there are no phones or other means of communication.
All of this has happened as a result of a campaign led by a local teacher Mahavir Pune, and helped by volunteers. It took him five years to connect the villages of Nangi, Paudwar, Ghara, Tikot, and Sikha to the internet.
Yak farmers are now using the network to buy and sell livestock, and exchange vetinerary tips. After getting the network in place, Pun says they could talk to the people taking care of the yak and ask them if they had problems, for example if they needed medicine or food or if they had any messages for their families. They can send message via e-mail and also they can do it through NetMeeting video conferencing software, so they can also talk.
After the first success, Pun is now trying to find ways of doing live teaching from one school by one teacher to several schools at the same time.
(link)
Tagged Wi-Fi, Yak, Nepal
Doctor sits up, sues AI
Pages can be written about the falling standards of Air Travel in our country. The long queues, bad food, not-so-good air hostess, and the list goes on. But a certain 72-year old doctor, Vinayak Shrikhande, from Mumbai had the experience of travelling for 18 hours, from Mumbai to New York, in a seat which could not recline. He asked for the crew for help, but they only managed to get the seat belt stuck in the socket to make sure that the journey could not be any more uncomfortable.
The surgeon approached the consumer court and demanded damages. In the landmark judgement, Air India was asked to pay Rs 2.75 lakh ($6111) as damages and Rs 5000 as legal costs. The court also issued a show-cause notice to General Manager, Air India, Narendra Kumar, seeking explanation as to why he should not be prosecuted for perjury for filing a false affidavit in Air India's defence.
Air India says that they have apologised to the consumer and offered to upgrade to first class on his next flight and that they would appeal to a higher court.
(link)
Tagged Air India
Long Live The Corporate
The Indian Stock Market, which has grown from 11,000 to 12,000 in just 19 days, has had positive reaffirmation. The results of 116 early bird companies have been announced and have shown a healthy trend in sectors as diverse as IT, cement, construction, automobile and private sector banks.
Phanisekhar, analyst, Angel Broking, said, “The year has been good for the frontline IT companies. However, mid-cap IT companies are expected to deliver a mixed bag of results. The demand has been picking up in the US, while Europe continues to open-up providing exciting opportunities for the Indian IT industries.”
The net profit has grown by a mammoth 48.7% and the operating profit has grown by 46.28%. The gross profit has grown by 19.6% and the profit before tax has risen by 53.7%. Out of the many companies which showed profits, Surana Metals & Steels has recording the maximum increase, which is of 494.92% in profit after Tax.
(link)
Tagged Stock, Profit, India
April 25, 2006
For LifeHacker
I have been an avid follower of LifeHacker for the last few months. It is undoubtedly one of the most informative tech blogs.
They are currently accepting entries for the Lifehacker’s Coolest Workspace Contest. (link). To participate, you can send in your photographs of your workspace at tips@lifehacker.com . This is mine.
Tagged Office
April 24, 2006
Anti-Tele Marketing Scipt
I found this via digg, though I don't remember the link. Still this is quite interesting.
Telemarketers make use of a telescript - a guideline for a telephone conversation. This script creates an imbalance in the conversation between the marketer and the consumer. It is this imbalance, most of all, that makes telemarketing successful. The EGBG Counterscript attempts to redress that balance.
Keep this handy and start following the script right after they shoot the first question. Best of luck.
(link)
Tagged Telemarketing
Ladybag for the absent minded
The Ladybag purse is for the young professional women, who would like to make sure that they do not leave their cell phone, house keys, or the wallet at home. This bag has sensors to alert the owner when it detects any of those things as missing. Not just that, it can also display the owner's emotions on a LED screen. If the owner hugs the sides, the bag becomes happy, and if she fiddles with the zipper it gets nervous.
The owner's keys, wallet and cell phones are tagged with radio frequency identification devices (RFID), and when those items are taken from the bag, a small screen on the bag shows which object is missing from its contents.
link (via)
Tagged Ladybag
Sabifoo : IM to RSS
Web 2.0 has alraedy been stacked with new ideas, and here is another one. This one is called Sabifoo and it allows you to send instant messages to RSS. This brings to light a whole new publishing infrastructure, where publishing is as simple as sending a message. Sabifoo uses the instant messaging account you already have. You just need to add Sabifoo as a buddy on your friends list and start publishing to your RSS Feed.
The people at Mashable have other interesting ideas.
I think there’s a lot more potential here - I’d love to see a private notetaking application built in the same way. After all - your IM client is always on your desktop, and could provide an easy way to jot down an idea. But you could do more than that - how about the ability to use your IM client as a submit form, and send those notes off to other services via an API? You could create calendar entries (”meeting at 2pm Tuesday”), draft blog posts, write SMS messages and add items to your todo list, all without firing up your browser. Mash it up with Backpack, Writely, 30Boxes, Wordpress and whatever else takes your fancy.
Other than that, I think it'd a great tool for blogging if blogger is blocked at your office.
link (via)
Tagged Sabifoo
Top Deaths This year
We've all heard and read about the the lives of great men and women who have walked the earth this century. But here is a different kind of a list, about the top deaths this year according to the FBI. FBI investigates over 36,000 cases of homicide a year and these are the top 11.
1- Debby Mills-Newbroughton, 99 years old, was killed as she crossed the road. She was to turn 100 the next day, but crossing the road with her daughter to go to her own birthday party her wheel chair was hit by the truck delivering her birthday cake
2- Peter Stone, 42 years old, was murdered by his 8-year-old daughter, whom he had just sent to her room with no dinner. Young Samantha Stone felt that if she couldn't have dinner no one should, and she promptly inserted 72 rat poison tablets into her fathers coffee as he prepared dinner The victim took one sip and promptly collapsed. Samantha Stone was given a suspended sentence as the judge felt she didn't realise what she was doing, until she tried to poison her mother using the same method, one month later.
7- Helena Simms, Wife to the famous American nuclear scientist Harold Simms was killed by her husband after she had an affair with the neighbour. Over a period of 3 months Harold substituted Helena's eye shadow with a Uranium composite that was highly radioactive, until she died of radiation poisoning. Although she suffered many symptoms, including total hair loss, skin welts, blindness, and extreme nausea and even had an ear lobe drop off, the victim never attended a doctor's surgery or hospital for a check up.
8- Military Sergeant John Joe Winter killed his two timing wife by loading her car with Trinity nitrate explosive (similar to C4). The Ford Taurus she was driving was filled with 750 kg of explosive, forming a force twice as powerful as the Okalahoma Bombing. The explosion was heard by several persons some up to 14 kilometres away. No trace of the car or the victim was ever found only a 55-meter deep crater, and 500m of missing road.
You can find the rest here.
(link)
Tagged Death
About Assholes and Ordering Wine
Waiterrant has an intersting article on how to order wine without looking like an asshole. Now I'm no connoisseur and all that I know about wines could be written on a grain of rice besides I'd choose the worst beer over the best of wines. So these wine related issues don't really concern me but now it's good to know if the other guy is faking. (I hate the wine sipping morons anyways. We're Indian, not french, who has wine with dinner anyways?) What follows is a list of things you really shouldn't do:
I appreciate the artistry that goes into making wine and I respect people who have a good grasp of Oenology. However, since most people are dopes when it comes to ordering wine, I’ve assembled a list of tips to help you not look like a putz. It’s not an exhaustive list. (It’s not a knowledgeable list for that matter either. I’m sure the wine snobs are going to rip it apart.) It’s just a list of observations I’ve made over the years.
Most customers swirl the wine around in the glass to oxygenate or “open it up.” That’s fine. But SWIRL the wine! Don’t spin it like you’re trying to separate U-235 in a centrifuge machine!
Then they stop, smell, spin it again, stop, smell, spin, stop, smell, spin etc. After a few minutes they finally taste it and I have several new grey hairs. Maybe I can see that for 1975 Bordeaux. But for a $25 bottle you can pick up in the grocery store for $6? Please. You’re showing off.
The list is quite long and exhaustive, and there are like a million comments which follow. That should keep you covered till you can leave office today.
(link)
Tagged Wine
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