Prince John Blog

Why iWriter is Great Place for Freelance Writers

2011-10-16T20:13:00.000+04:00

My earnings as a freelance writer at iWriter.com crossed $100 today and I thought about sharing this excellent place with fellow writers.

Why iWriter is Special

At iWriter, you can write as many or as few articles as you like. Just log in to the site and you can see dozens of buyers requesting articles. You don't have any commitments to write any article. Just pick a topic that suits you. Read the special instructions and click the 'Write Article' button. Depending on word length, you get two to five hours.

If you can't complete the article within that time, it will go back to the homepage so that another writer can write it.

Article Approval

You will get payments only after the buyers approve your article. The FAQ says the maximum it takes is 48 hours. If the buyer doesn't approve your article within that time, your article will be auto approved. In most cases, the approval or rejection of the article happens in 10 minutes to 10 hours - never more than that.

Writer Ratings

The article buyers would rate your writing. It is a five-star rating systems. Worst articles get one star and best articles get 5 stars. If you get 20 ratings with many four and five stars, you will be promoted to 'top' writer. I got promoted immediately after I completed 20 articles. As of now, I have written 41 articles. Among them, 34 are approved, three rejected and four pending (will be approved or rejected in a few hours).

When promoted as a 'top' writer, you get access to high paying articles. I once saw an article writing project paying $20 for a 500-word article. Never saw it again. In most cases, you get $4.05 for a 500-word article. Occasionally, you can also get $10 for a 500-word article.

If the buyers don't like your writing, they can block you too. That is, you cannot see the assignments they post.

As of now, writers can't block the buyers.

I think it will be nice feature as there are snooty buyers who don't approve any articles and give horrible ratings to anyone who writes for them. I will never write for them and I never want to see their projects. I want to block them.

However, most of the buyers are pleasant to work with. Some buyers even tip you for good work. As of now, I have got three tips from two buyers (2 x $1 and 1 x $2) for $5 articles. I will write for them whenever I get a chance.

For Article Buyers

This is a place where you can order articles of desirable qualities and get them delivered in a matter of hours. There are several dozens of top writers competing for the available writing assignments.

Be specific about your requirement. Most of the fellow writers I see get ratings. If you are picky about quality, you can limit your projects to top writers only.

The following type of requests will receive zero response:

""High quality, well-researched, seo optimized articles. I am looking for long term association. I pay $1 for a 750-word article.""

If that is your requirement, sorry. You are not welcome. Beggars are not entertained in business places.

If you plan to give one and two stars to writers without adequate reasons, they will not touch your assignments with a 10-foot pole.

If you are willing to pay $5 per 500 words of well-written content, this is the place.

The place is: iWriter.com

I Forgot I Had this Blog

2011-09-15T17:59:00.000+04:00

Funny. Quite Funny.

I have one of the oldest blogs in the internet. No blog posts for several years. Still, around 20 subscribers.

No, I am not going to post any more posts here. I wonder what I have been thinking about this blog. Sure, I have a few other blogspot blogs. I still can't believe I started blogging seven years ago.

Everything about blogging is changed. Nothing to talk about MY blogging though.

IPL Players are Cows & Donkeys

2010-01-23T08:39:00.001+04:00

IPL is business. Team owners are merchants. And, players are cows and donkeys. I thought everyone understood this. But, no! This became especially true with the furure in India and steaming from the other side of the border.

The IPL is a 100% business venture. The teams are owned by businesspersons from India and abroad. The owners think they can milk the cows and use the donkeys to carry loads. The owners go to the market to buy cows and donkeys. They go to the market, browse over the stalls and would check out all the animals on display. However, they are not bound to buy every cow and donkey they check out.

The merchants buy animals when they find some value in it. If there is rumor that a particular staple has mad-cow virus, no one is going to buy a cow from that shed. Do you need more explanation?

In this backdrop, it is extremely unlucky that Indian media made too much noise. The hoopla was unwarranted and pathetic. What do the media have to do with a private business process? What is the point in calling IPL a 'mafia'? Why do people of Pakistan think they were snubbed?

Do cows and donkeys cry if they can't find any takers? There were as much as 66 cows and donkeys for sale. Only a dozen were sold. The rest have to go back to their homes. It is normal. If there aren't buyers, there is no point in crying 'I am not sold' – especially from the part of a horse, donkey or a cow.

It is also unfortunate that top level politics is involved. Even office bearers of responsible institutions raising furore and creating chaos. The least I understand is why people of a country are taking to the streets? Do sellers protest if they can't sell their animals?

Powermat Home & Office - Wireless Recharging No Longer a Joke

2009-10-13T15:51:00.002+04:00

I first thought about it as a practical joke. Now, I see you can actually recharge your Blackberry, iPod and Nintendo – all at the same time. The Powermat PMM-HO100 Home & Office is here (to stay or not – I don't know).

Magnetic inductive charging of portable devices is the thought behind this product. Actual users of the product already have positive things to say. Less clutter, fewer wires and possibility of charging multiple devices at the same time are positives. You don't have to plug anything in.

The magnet also draws the devices to the right position. Hey, that is a cool feature. Isn't it?

The power shuts off when the device is not charging. It saves some energy and money for you. This also should attract the green customers out there.

The current price is $99.99, which I think would go down in the coming months or at least years. It also comes with optional accessories like Powermat Receiver Case for iPhone, Powermat Receiver Panel for Nintendo DSi, Powermat Receiver Universal Powercube and possibly more.

For more details and photos, go to PCMag.com review.

For shopping, find it on sale at Amazon.

Acer Recalling (Some) Aspire Notebooks

2009-10-12T09:22:00.000+04:00

Acer has issued a voluntary recall notice for some Aspire notebooks, because the microphone cable overheats.

Acer has voluntarily instituted a safety recall program to proactively replace the microphone cable in the affected units to eliminate any risk of overheating.

I still wonder how a microphone cable can overheat. The Acer Aspire models in question are AS3410, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ and AS3810TZG. Check this if you have one.

At Kashiwa Cafe, You Don't Get What You Pay For

2009-10-12T07:30:00.001+04:00

Found a cool story of a Kashiwa Mystery Cafe, where you won't get what you ordered or paid for. Instead, you get what the person before you has ordered.

I thought it was a cool idea to replicate outside Japan and around the world. I honestly think the idea behind this Japanese restaurant is cool and can be copied everywhere.

The official rules of the restaurant include:

For the record, here are the rules of the Ogori cafe:

1. Let's treat the next person. What to treat them with? It's your choice.
2. Even if it's a group of friends or a family, please form a single-file line. Also, you can't buy twice in a row.
3. Please enjoy what you get, even if you hate it. (If you really, really hate it, let's quietly give it to another while saying, "It's my treat…")
4. Let's say "Thank You! (Gochihosama)" if you find the person with your Ogori cafe card.
5. We can't issue a receipt.

And, for photos and a firsthand experience, check this out.

Thank You Danny Boyle

2009-02-26T20:33:00.000+04:00

...for basing Slumdog Millionaire in India and not somewhere in Africa. Your film has given India a new brand image and Bollywood to the global central stage. Everyone knows it is not an Indian film, but you have touched so many Indian myths in a way no Indian ever could. And with just one film, Indian artists bagged more Oscar awards than they could manage in several decades. Lagaan came close, but as you said in your film, Everything is Written.

'India is now the centre of the world and I am now at the centre of the centre' – I don't know who put that dialogue in Salim's mouth. With the film, it really has happened.

I wonder if you really have a golden tongue, Midas touch or something extra ordinary. Why else should India be in the focus of the world because of an English film? Why else should A R Rehman's better creations don't make it to anywhere near the Oscars while a mediocre number win two of the most coveted awards of the world? How else could Rubina Ali fly to America?

Although some fools have assumed it is India's culture or something making it to the world's centre stage, no one can deny your one film has given brand India a new lease of life. Call centre operators pretending to be from somewhere in London or Los Angeles is no new news. The poverty, child abuse, and gangland are always there. The celebration of any victory is not new here. However, no one has ever seen a dream working out the way Slumdog Millionaire did.

I really wonder if the story within the film or the story of the film is more captivating. They two merge so seamlessly that it is really hard to separate the dream run of Jamal in the film and of the film in the world.

Sorry Mr Boyle, I originally intended to bash you for showing the most disgusting and disturbing sights. I also intended to bash you for selling dreams too good to be true. You have already proved the dreams of slums to world's centre stage can be true for Rubina, Azharuddin, and a few others. Everything is written – I take a bow!

Stop Attacking Girls & Women, Now!

2009-02-12T06:58:00.000+04:00

Since Mangalore pub incident, it is getting increasingly disturbing to read about the unholy practices of distorted Hindu activists – Sri Ram Sena to be precise. The different attacks against women at public places are an insult to the constitution of India. They are attacks on personal freedom and liberty.

They are attempts to control women in the name of history, culture and religion. Only Taliban did it. Hindus never did it and the hooligans distorting Hinduism this way should be dealt with strongly and brought to before law.

These attackers are not defenders of culture, but only a bunch of distorted fanatics driven by several motives including jealousy – jealousy of not being able to form meaningful social relationships.

Any attempts to curb personal freedom must be met with strong arms. As we have seen, no government is there to protect the people. The evidence is Nov 26, Mumbai. Here too, the onus is on the general population to come together and to deal with the issues as it should be.

Young men should unite in the name of personal freedom. You can't let anybody take away your freedom in the name of religion or culture.

Nowhere in the world, except maybe for Taliban have I seen anything like glorifying attacks against women. However, today in India, a bunch of distorts are more than ready to attack women – that too in the name of Ram and Culture.

If they are defending a culture, it is not India's. I have read hundreds of stories from Hindu epics. Nowhere have I seen anything like anybody attacking women.

Even Ravana didn't touch Sita, even though he has captured her. Bhasmasur didn't attack Mohini. Wherever women are attacked, it was disaster for the attackers and their nation. If India's custom has been to respect women, how come these hooligans attack helpless women and claim it as an act of defending your culture.

Hey hooligans – by attacking the helpless young women, you bring shame to Ram, Hinduism and India.

links:

15 YO school girl commits suicide

Chief of Sri Ram Sena, Mr Muthalik is all set to receive truckloads of pink panties on Valentine's day and the collection center has to be shut down because of influx of 19,000 panties for Sri Ram Sene in one day.

Mangalore refuses to forgive Sri Ram Sena

How to Earn Big with Today.com VIP Blogging Program

2008-12-23T05:09:00.002+04:00

Today.com offers a blogging platform, where bloggers are paid for the posts they publish there. I will tell you how to take maximum advantage of the program offered by Today.com.

There are two types of payments

1. For the first 30 days, a post of more than 100 words fetch you $ 1 each.
2. 1000 page impressions fetch you $2 each.

The $1/post is applicable for the posts you make for the first 30 days only. Make use of this option and you make $ 30 straightaway. Make a blog post a day, every day for the first 30 days.

If it is not possible, make five or ten posts a day and edit the timestamp for the days to come. You can timestamp for future dates only and not backwards. That is, you can timestamp today's post for yesterday. However, you can timestamp today's post for later today, tomorrow or next week.

Make use of this timestamp feature if your blogging is irregular, but wants a regular output. Remember, press 'Publish' button after editing timestamp and not 'Save' for the post to be automatically published when the time reaches.

However, you need to make a minimum of $50 to get paid. That is, only if your blog attracts significant traffic can you get paid. Thus, it is important that you pick a popular topic, which gets attention. You should also be passionate about writing on the topic on a daily or at least twice-a-week basis.

I have seen several 'get paid to blog' platforms. However, none of them promises to pay for the first posts you make. You have to work hard on developing traffic to your blog before you can get paid.

Today.com VIP Blogger program is the only thing I have ever seen to make such a promise of paying you up front and not having to wait for a lifetime to see some cents in your account.

Indian Media Makes a Mistake Celebrating Obama's Victory

2008-11-06T04:42:00.000+04:00

First of all, my congratulations to Barack Obama for becoming the 44th president of United States of America. I don't see any reason for going beyond that and pampering him as the next best thing since sliced bread. However, not everyone seems to be like that.

Indian media has celebrated the winning of Barack Obama with such frenzy, as if the heavens have opened and Manna is delivered (to the people of India). A McCain victory, as it seems would not be acceptable. I fail to see any rational or reasoning behind the attitude of Indian media houses in rallying behind Obama. I have my share of reservations about him.

Being an Indian, I can't easily digest his campaign against outsourcing. While I don't think politicians or governments can control or prevent companies from getting services from where it is available, Obama's aggressiveness against outsourcing doesn't digest well.

During the initial stages of his campaign, Obama was very much positive towards India, including in issues like Kashmir. However, by the time has ensured his victory, his voice shows some changes.

It was under George W Bush that India-US relations moved forward in the way as it should have. It was not so in the case of Clinton regime, when Pakistan's lip service was always weighed higher and their proxy wars against India got no attention at all. It seems we are heading back to those days.

If it weren't for President Bush, the India-US civilian nuclear agreement would never reach. Obama wants India to sign CTBT and to surrender every right of protecting herself against the real threats.

Obama described India's moon mission (Chandrayaan I) a challenge to USA. How can it be? Indian spacecraft carried NASA's equipments too.

I don't think India has much reasons to cheer Obama's victory. Maybe the communists here can celebrate that USA is going to become a socialist country, which always turns a blind eye towards realities and accept the 'historical mistakes' two or three decades later.

Airtel Rocks to Airtel Sucks: It has been a long journey!

2008-11-01T03:50:00.001+04:00

Having an Airtel connection used to be a happy experience. You will be all smiles as you can stay connected wherever you go and access internet through GPRS without any hassles.

Long gone are those days. Now Airtel seems to have the downgraded their once powerful network. You bang your head against the wall for Airtel going offline most of the time.

The GPRS service used to be a good service. For Rs.374, you could get internet connection for the whole month. Now you have to call the customer service half a dozen times before the service can get activated. Even after activation, you have no guarantee of getting the service.

The biggest problem now is I can't get connected to the GPRS. Though extremely slow data transfer, it was a handy service for me. The 6 KBPS connection was enough for chatting endless hours in yahoo messenger for many hours and for managing my blogging and emailing activities. I also have set up my Gmail account in my Sony Ericsson and it is just plain difficult to go without the GPRS.

It is down for four days now. Every time I call up the customer service, I can expect half a dozen routine questions. The so called customer care support team has given a questionnaire to everyone there, chiefly to test the patience of the callers. I think the answers must be readily available on the computer screens before them.

Since last Friday, I called two times to the customer care wing of Airtel to complain about unavailability of GPRS service. The first time I got an instruction to 'patiently' wait for six hours, after making me answer all the stupid questions – Which data plan do you use? What is your mobile handset model? How much did you recharge? etc . . .

No service for the whole of Saturday. I don't like to talk to anyone and didn't want to make another call. I waited in the hope of getting it ready by Saturday evening. Nothing happened.

The next time I call on Sunday, another lady answers and tells me Airtel network is down (is it RIP?). She also promptly asks me to wait 'patiently' for six hours. I think Airtel has something for this 'six hours'. Every time you call them and if the network is down, the answer ill be to wait for six hours.

The asking will be six hours, but the service would not be activated for 24 or even 48 hours (four to eight times or even more they claim they would restore the service). I must now look for Airtel alternatives – maybe Reliance will be good, TATA might also be good. What about Idea?

And the funniest thing happened on Oct 30. I received an SMS from Airtel, advising me my GPRS subscription will expire on Nov 1 and to recharge with Rs.374 for 'uninterrupted' GPRS service 'for 30 days'.

I charged Rs.374 on October 2, 2008. The service gets activated only after 48 hours (in their own words). But my service was activated only on October 7 and not on October 4.

Again, I didn't get any service for four days (24, 25, 26 and 27). Thus the total number of days I got the service was only 21. I didn't get the service for 30 days as Airtel claims.

Any way, today is November 1. I am getting normal GPRS service and I would like to give Airtel a parting gift with this post. Long live Airtel, not any more money from me to you.

Update on Nov 3:
Though I have got the following message, my GPRS connection is still working. And it works good.

Dear Customer your subscription for GPRS will expire on 1st Nov.Recharge with 374 to get UNLIMITED Access to INTERNET for 30days.Details Call 51569(Toll free)

I'm extremely cautious this time though.

Elephants in Onam Celebrations: (Why on Earth)?

2008-09-14T06:36:00.006+04:00

There are three caparisoned elephants at the entrance of Kanakakkunnu Palace, the chief venue of onam celebrations in Thiruvananthapuram city, Kerala. Do the elephants add attraction to the celebrations? May be or may be not. However, I don't think these elephants will enjoy standing all day long at the same place, entertaining onlookers and posing with strangers for photographs.

I saw tears rolling down the eyes of this elephants – even as people happily pose next to him for photographs. The definition of cruelty may have changed over years. Although they are decorated with ornaments, the legs of these elephants are also tied together with strong chains – these animals can't even move. If they want to lie down and rest for a minute, they have no choice.

The only way they can respond is with the tears that roll down their eyes. I am not a senti type. However, I feel so disturbed at the elephant tears in the midst of the festivities and excitements.

Google Chrome –the Sleekest Web Browser Ever

2008-09-04T09:35:00.000+04:00

I tried Google Chrome, the much awaited web browser from Google yesterday. The expectations were a faster loading, secure and better browser, which would give Internet Explorer by Microsoft a run for its money. The aggressive promotion from the whitest home page would make it happen. However, I feel Chrome would first kill Firefox and Opera.

The reasoning is simple – only those people who have already tried these two browsers are likely to try Chrome too. I don't think people who haven't yet used Firefox or Opera will download this new software, even when it comes from Google.

Keeping in tune with the white-space dominant pages from Google, this browser also leaves much screen space. The usable space is taller by an inch than any other browser.

You can't say this browser is the fastest. You can't say this is the safest either. However, you can definitely say it has the sleekest and the least cluttered browser interface.

The menu bar is gone. The status bar is minimized, but not removed – you will need it. Downloads are easily accessible on a single click from the left bottom corner. The title bar is minimized.

The only thingies that take some screen space are the tab-bar and the omni-box. Omni box is where you enter both URLs and search keywords. You will also get search and URL suggestions as you start typing. Not dozens of them, but a few, to keep it clean and sweet.

Unlike in Opera, once you close the last tab, the window too is gone.

Just like all other Google products, Chrome too has been released in Beta version. There can be several trials pending before it comes out of beta.

I think it is difficult to get tables inside CSS to render correctly in Chrome.

My new blog shows a unique problem when tested in Chrome. The email subscription form is aligned central to the page instead of central to the left sidebar.

The form is located inside a table. In Chrome, it jumps over the boundaries of the sidebar and stays right in the middle of the page, obstructing what I want people to read. There is no problem with IE, FF and Opera.

Chrome, as they said is for the new age computing, where people use software that comes from the cloud, instead of the ones from the hard disk. It may be time to say bye for good to tables. Anyway, here is something for the developers to think about.

Another thing about Chrome is you need to install the Flash plug-ins before you can watch videos from YouTube.com and the Flash elements of hundreds of websites. The Flash components for IE and FF were working, but Chrome asked to install additional plug-ins. It would be better if Chrome used the already-installed plug-ins.

Chrome is a decent browser that loads faster than any other browser. It also loads pages faster and reduces delays by seconds.

Do You Search, Scour or Just Google?

2008-08-22T05:16:00.002+04:00

Search engines want to be better than Google. Promising to be three times bigger than Google is Scour, self proclaimed 'The social search engine'.

What makes Scour a social search engine? It gives a chance for the users to leave feedback of search results in the form of both votes and comments.

How does Scour plan to take on Google? By bringing the goodness of the big three – Google, Yahoo and MSN Search.

Get Paid to Search

The USP as of now for Scour is, it promises to offer money to the users. After a quick sign up process users can get a point for every search they make. They can get additional points for voting up or down a search result and by leaving a comment. A search is worth one point, a vote has two points and a comment fetches three points. The maximum points one can get per search is four.

As of now, new signups get 250 bonus points. You can also download the toolbar immediately after signing up, which would fetch you 100 additional points. I thought I'd download the toolbar later and I never see the offer of 100 bonus points again.

Click here to sign up if you search a lot and like to make money by searching the internet. Don't waste any time, if you see the offer of 100 points after you have signed up.

The payment is in the form of Visa Gift Card. The point value is as described below.

6,500 points = $25
12,500 points = $ 50
25,000 points = $ 100

The payment seems just too far away.

Now my take on Scour

Users can see how each Scour result is ranked in the top three search engines –Google, Yahoo and MSN, in that order. Users can also choose to see the results based on ranking by Scour, Google, Yahoo or MSN. It happens to me, I always pick results ranked high in Google, even while they get comparatively lower rankings by other engines.

When clicked on the result, the new page will have a frame, with a voting option. You can also close this frame. I find this rather feature rather distracting, although it makes easier for the users to cast a vote after seeing the page.

Users can also leave a comment or a vote in the results listing page. On clicking the 'comments' link, a comment form opens just below the search result. Scour team promises to keep the comments moderated and under control.

It takes way too much to complete a search. While Google never makes me wait for a second, Scour seems to take two-five seconds.

The money part makes the recommendation a bit tricky. You have seen how guys new to network marketing buy the story that they just have to 'recommend' a product to make a decent business. However, when money comes to the mix, all he/she can manage to get are some suspicious looks and some lost friendships.

Scour has a similar system, which allows you to 'invite' your friends to the network. You can gain points from the activity of your referrals. If you have 100 friends who will accept your invitation and if they will 'Scour' regularly, you would be looking at some nice change – to the tunes of $ 400 to $ 500 a year.

BTW, don't feel like an outsider. Click here to claim your invitation!

Free Online Tax Returns Filing with ET Tax Wizard

2008-07-24T02:09:00.003+04:00

Don't tax your mind over July 31. Economic Times (by Times of India) provides a convenient, free online tool to file income tax returns in India.

ET Tax Wizard offers a free, secure and completely online process of filing tax returns. Service available only for salaried professionals and not for businesses.

Enter your Form 16 details and other details, which will be saved by the system, making your next year's filing an even easier process. Go to http://tax.economictimes.com if you have taxable income and if you are an Indian citizen residing in India.

Content Writing Training in Thiruvananthapuram

2008-06-24T05:01:00.016+04:00

For those people who fancy themselves as writers, journalists, copywriters, bloggers etc can now get professional training here at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Training to write in professional standards, with exposure to real life work environment, this training program lets you interact with top journalists, copywriters, PR professionals and content writers.

The training course has six seats, which will be filled through written tests and interviews. After completing this course, you can easily find jobs in Indian and foreign companies offering content writing and management services and in all types of media companies. Yes, we provide placement assistance too, although you will become a hot property immediately after you pick up the skills of professional content writing.

The training fees is Rs 6000 (INR 6000) only. This fees is a bargain, provided there is no other training program in Thiruvananthapuram for content writers. At least not like the one we provide you. The fees is payable at the time of admission.

Duration of the training course is two months and is open for people who live in Thiruvananthapuram only. Outsiders need not apply.

Contact me if you write in English, with correct grammar and spelling. We don't have time to correct your grammar and spelling. For me it is a waste of time. Use 'Wren & Martin's High School Grammar' to perfect your English. This training course prepares you as a professional content writer. Send me an email, if you write correct English.

Remember, not everyone will be selected to the course and you may need to attend a written test (free) before getting admitted to the course.

My email id is princetvm[at]gmail[dot]com

Please don't email me if you can't write a sentence in English and if you are not willing to pay the fees.

What Happened to Rich Jerk?

2008-05-04T13:46:00.004+04:00

Instead of the obnoxious sales page, I see the following message at therichjerk.com. I wonder what happened to Rich Jerk. I don't know if it is a problem at my place

This is the Plesk™ default page

If you see this page it means:

1) hosting for this domain is not configured
or
2) there's no such domain registered in Plesk.

For more information please contact Administrator.

I have downloaded the e-book quite a long time back and I don't have anything particular about the website going down. But, it is a bit disappointing, since I have written this only a day or two back.

Update on Monday: It appears to be Sunday problem and the most obnoxious sales copy (that obviously works) is back.

Harbhajan's Time is Up

2008-04-27T09:03:00.002+04:00

Harbhajan Singh, India's star cricketer has shot himself on his foot. Slapping another cricketer is not professional attitude. Here, Harbhajan loses all the sympathy he has got. And, I think after the present inquiry (about slapping Sreesanth) it will be shutters down for Harbhajan.

How to Kill Weevils, Eat Food & Sleep Better

2008-04-13T16:56:00.002+04:00

These little devils have great organizational capacities. They come in 10s of hundreds, invade every little space and give us the most uncomfortable moments. We see them crawling on the walls and our clothes.

No problem up to this point. Problems start when they commit suicide in the food we cook and crawl into our ears – as if our brain is their favorite dish.

The miniature beetles come all black and with never-ending enthusiasm to disturb our dinner and to annoy us when we get ready to sleep. The problem seemed to get out of hand, until one day . . .

The weevils (in Malayalam it is called Karicha, kareecha and mupli vandu) flock near sources of light. And, my mamma decided to prepare a trap.

She filled the bottom two inches of a big pan with water. She placed a piece of brick on the middle and a lighted lamp on the brick. A few drops of kerosene in the water closed the deal.

Then it was time to switch off all the lamps and we could see the weevils flying to the pan, where they can enjoy some light. Little did they knew, they can't rest on the wall of the pan and falling into the water means death sentence for them.

And that was the end of rise of weevils at my house. We started once again savoring our food and our sleep.

[PS: if you try this, spill only a few drops of kerosene in the water and ensure safety in all ways.]

PayPerPost Go to Adwords, Embraces No-Follow

2008-04-13T14:53:00.005+04:00

I don't know if it has been around, but PayPerPost.com has Adwords ads and utilizes Adsense network. It should not be a problem, but I have read this a few months back.

The new introduction by IZEA, the umbrella company of Pay per Post is Social Spark, a place to sell no-follow links. It is still in beta state and I got an invitation for early testing and bug reporting.

The message is clear; you can criticize Google, but just can't avoid it.

Anyway, Pay Per Post never had a problem using Google products, even though the latter received its share of criticism from the former.

Had it been no-follow from the very beginning, many bloggers would not have some heart-aches.

Will Andrew Symonds ever behave like humans do?

2008-02-24T16:19:00.001+04:00

I appreciate his knack of taking runs, not his knack of making spectators his enemies. He doesn't like an Indian player appreciating the performance of an Australian – he will take offence on every such occasion.

If he is clean bowled, the bowler can't celebrate it. You get the picture, I am talking about Andrew Symonds, the cricketer from Australia known for his locked hair, always wrinkled forehead and always smeared face.

See how he reacts after his dismissal in today's match (Sydney, Feb 24). He barks at the bowler, for which he promptly gets direction to the pavilion by the bowler, Ishant Sharma.

Only a few weeks back has he brought the cricketing world to a standstill after finding the reasons for a world war, when Harbhajan Singh patted Brett Lee. Symonds told Harbhajan he has no friends in Australian team. Harbhajan's retaliation disturbed Symonds so much, the latter wanted the former to be punished for racial abuse.

During the appeals hearing, Symonds reiterated that cricket field is no place for sharing friendly gestures.

No wonder, he had an early agreement with Harbhajan. I found it most amusing to learn that there can be agreements like 'I will not talk to you and you shall not talk to me either'.

After his comment, you will say Symonds needs such agreements with all the players he play against. Then again, he will break the agreement and calls you names, for which you shall not say anything, or else, you will face racial abuse charges.

It is a wonder how someone can remain the cricket field, without understanding how the game is played, or at least understand how the species posted at the top spot in evolutionary order interact in a social environment.

I have serious doubts about the intention of Hyderabad on buying this one, who finds it extremely difficult to behave like humans do.

Yahoo-Google Merger – the Possibilities, Risks and Challenges

2008-02-24T16:17:00.000+04:00

Yahoo has categorically denied the buy out offer by Microsoft and it turns out to be good decision for Microsoft, as now they will not be buying a fancy white elephant. Yahoo managers would have in their minds the possibilities of a revenue sharing arrangement with Google, the biggest challenge Yahoo and Microsoft were destined to fight out.

If Yahoo chooses instead to join the leader, it will be the next best financial decision they take, after foolishly shutting down the door to Microsoft. Why it was a foolish decision? Because, Yahoo's balance sheet is showing losses, with no scope of revival in the near future. And because, Microsoft offered a fancy sum, much higher than the perceived value of Yahoo.

The Yahoo-Google Merger Possibilities

Chances are that Microsoft will not be outbidding themselves to acquire such a liability like Yahoo. The next alternative for Yahoo is hand over their search and advertising wings to Google, while retaining other departments like Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Groups, etc. Google can also put the shutters on Google Finance.

This will open the widest advertising canvas for Google, outside its own already biggest and fastest growing one. Yahoo can easily close the taps on funds that go to development of search technology and concentrate on other services, including Yahoo Directory.

Monetizing can be fully outsourced to Google, with Adsense serving ads in the content pages and alongside directory listings. Yahoo can sit back and see ad revenue coming directly from their biggest competitor.

Risks

It also means Yahoo opening all its doors to Google, becoming naked like never before. Then again, it seems to be the only means of saving their business from going into exile.

Challenges

Convincing top office bearers at Yahoo a better option is hard to come around.

I won an Award in Dec last year

2008-02-24T16:13:00.001+04:00

Sorry, but I have written this post in last December.

For those uninitiated lot, I've won an award. Jennifer at The Life of a School Bus Driver! yesterday morning decided to surprise me with a BOTD award.

Don't you know what BOTD is? Well, not everyone knows everything and it is OK. But I have learned it yesterday it is Blogger of the Day Award. Now it is an award winning blog, dude. Cheers!

It is not without a reason that people say: "your time will come". Yep, your time will come kids, boys and girls.

Free SMS Websites

2008-02-17T16:01:00.004+04:00

I know its quite a long since I last posted, this post is to ensure I remember my blog once a while. I am now telling you about the free SMS sending services - (available in INDIA ONLY).

I have been using two SMS services -

mytodaysms.com for cricket news alerts and

160by2.com for sending prank SMS messages to my friends' mobiles.

A friend of mine also forwarded me way2sms.com, which also allows you to send free sms messages.

While 160by2 allows you to use up to 80 characters of the total of 160 characters, way2sms allows 92 characters. The rest of characters are used by the operators to include ads, which makes the free service possible.

160by2 now offers a free birthday remainder - birthday messages will be sent to your contacts as per your instructions.

MyTodaySMS also gives you free updates on stock, astrology, love tips, and a dozen other topics. The messages too have ads at the bottom.

The best thing so far is I didn't get any spam sms from either 160by2 or MyTodaySMS - I didn't sign up at way2sms.

I send only pranks through 160by2. If I send a message of personal nature, I will send it from my mobile only, as a way to minimize the number of people who can read my messages.

Will in the future I get tons of spam sms as I used to get in my Yahoo mail? I don't know. As far as the privacy policy of the services I use are concerned, it is not going to be a problem.

A Touching Story

2008-01-24T18:02:00.000+04:00

A long lost, recently found friend has forwarded me the following story. Check, if the story has something to tell you.

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

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his
5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: "Daddy, may I ask you a question?"

DAD: "Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man.

SON: "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"

DAD: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"
the man said
angrily.

SON: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an
hour?"

DAD: "If you must know, I make Rs.100 an hour."

SON: "Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: "Daddy, may I please borrow Rs.50?"

The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you
can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then
you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about
why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this
childish behavior."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and
started to get even angrier about the little
boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some
money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to
think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that
Rs.50 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to
the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.
"Are you asleep, son?" He asked.

"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy.

"I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier" said the
man.

"It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the
Rs.50 you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" He
yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry
again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up
at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father
grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.

"Daddy, I have Rs.100 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?

Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with
you."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he
begged for his forgiveness.

Why do I give up my little pleasures like blogging and chatting with friends for the sake of my job?

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We
should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some
time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that Rs.100 worth of your time with someone you
love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily
replace us in a matter of days.

But the
family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the
rest of their lives.