TheUniverseBytes

Expiry Date of LPG Gas Cylinder

2012-09-23T18:01:00.003+05:30

Please communicate this information to your family and friends. Have U ever heard about LPG gas cylinder's expiry date....!!

Do you know that there is an expiry date (physical life) for LPG cylinders? Expired Cylinders are not safe for use and may cause accidents. In this regard, please be cautious at the time of accepting any LPG cylinder from the vendor.

Here is how we can check the expiry of LPG cylinders:
On one of three side stems of the cylinder, the expiry date is coded alpha numerically as follows A or B or C or D and some two digit number following this e.g. D06.

The alphabets stand for quarters -

1. A for March (First Quarter),
2. B for June (Second Quarter),
3. C for Sept (Third Quarter),
4. D for December (Fourth Quarter).

The digits stand for the year till it is valid. Hence D06 would mean December quarter of 2006.

Please Return Back the Cylinder that you get with a Expiry Date, they are prone to Leak and other Hazardous accidents.

The second example with D13 allows the cylinder to be in use until Dec 2013. Kindly pass this information to every one, and create awareness among the public.

Ravindra Kaushik (former RAW Agent), Real Black Tiger

2012-09-20T23:17:00.000+05:30

Ravindra Kaushik was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan in the year 1952.He was a good theater artist. During a national level drama presentation he came in contact with RAW, the Indian intelligence agency. He completed his graduation at the age of 23. After graduation Ravindra Kaushik Joined RAW.

In 1983 he was caught and sentenced to death for spying. Later his death sentence was converted into life time imprisonment. India already fought with Pakistan and China. Pakistan was preparing for another war against India. When Indian army got this information, they sent Ravinder Kaushik to Pakistan as Indian Spy with the help of RAW.

There Ravindra Kaushik took admission in Law College and completed his graduation in Law and then after learned Urdu also. After completing graduation, he joined Pakistani Army as an officer and went up being promoted to the rank of 'Major'.. He fell in love with a local Pakistani girl and married her. In Pakistan he spied with new name Nabi Ahmed. He was the 'Black Tiger' of RAW . Some say it was rewarded by India's then home minister S.B. Chavan while others testify that the Title was conferred by then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

He was in Pakistan Army from 1979 to 1983 and during this tenure he dispatched valuable information to RAW which was of great help to the Indian defence mechanism. But unfortunately Ravindra was caught by Pakistan. They put him in jail where he was tortured. In the 1985 he was awarded death sentence which was subsequently converted into life imprisonment. Kaushik remained in various jails from where he somehow sent letters which revealed the pathetic health condition and the trauma faced by him in Pakistani jails. Ravindra Kaushik spent 18 years in Pakistani jails, where he contracted Asthma and TB. He died on 21 November 2001 in a jail at Mianwali. He was buried behind that jail.

He spend 30 years of his life away from his home and family in Pakistan in very unfavourable conditions, only because of his love for the Nation that is India. Indian army killed more than 50 soldiers of Pakistani army in Pahalgaon because they fought with the strategy send by Ravindra Kaushik.

The much hyped Salman Katrina starrer has gathered a lot of controvesy as the promos draw a startling similarlity with this Former RAW agent’s life story. Vikram Vashishtha, nephew of Late Ravindra Kaushik even slammed a leagal notice to the production company. But the production house & the director told the media that “Ek Tha Tiger” is about him.

Whatever the truth is now we do know who the real TIGER was. Kudos to Late Ravindra Kaushik, a real patriot of Mother land who even left his true Indentity behind to serve his nation.

Alien Presence on Moon?

2012-09-15T23:12:00.004+05:30

Is there an "Alien Base" on the Moon? More and more people are coming forward with stories that might prove this is true. Rumors say that there is an Alien Moon Base on the far side of the moon, the side we never see from Earth.
Did you ever wonder why the Moon landings stopped and why we have not tried to build a Moon Base? It does seem like a better and easier idea than a floating space station with no access to any raw materials or supplies? According to the NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong the aliens have a base on the Moon and told us in no uncertain terms to get off and stay off the Moon!

Sound far fetched? Milton Cooper, a Naval Intelligence Officer tells us that not only does the Alien Moon Base exist but the U.S. Naval Intelligence Community refers to the Alien Moon Base as "Luna," that there is a huge mining operation going on there, and that is where the aliens keep their huge mother ships while the trips to Earth are made in smaller "flying saucers".

LUNA: The Alien base on the far side of the Moon. It was seen and filmed by the Apollo astronauts. A base, a mining operation using very large machines, and the very large alien craft described in sighting reports as mother ships exist there. -Milton Cooper

Did Apollo 11 Encounter UFOs on the Moon? from the Book "Above Top Secret" by Timothy Good.

According to hitherto unconfirmed reports with calls to their offering no help, both Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin saw UFOs shortly after their historic landing on the Moon in Apollo 11 on 21 July 1969. I remember hearing one of the astronauts refer to a "light" in or on a carter during the television transmission, followed by a request from mission control for further information. Nothing more was heard.

According to a former NASA employee Otto Binder, unnamed radio hams with their own VHF receiving facilities that bypassed NASA's broadcasting outlets picked up the following exchange:

Nasa: What's there? Mission Control calling Apollo 11...
Apollo: These "Babies" are huge, Sir! Enormous! OH MY GOD! You wouldn't believe it! I'm telling you there are other spacecraft out there, lined up on the far side of the crater edge! They're on the Moon watching us!

In 1979, Maurice Chatelain, former chief of NASA Communications Systems confirmed that Armstrong had indeed reported seeing two UFOs on the rim of a crater. "The encounter was common knowledge in NASA," he revealed, "but nobody has talked about it until now."

Soviet scientists were allegedly the first to confirm the incident. "According to our information, the encounter was reported immediately after the landing of the module," said Dr. Vladimir Azhazha, a physicist and Professor of Mathematics at Moscow University. "Neil Armstrong relayed the message to Mission Control that two large, mysterious objects were watching them after having landed near the moon module. But his message was never heard by the public-because NASA censored it. "

According to another Soviet scientist, Dr. Aleksandr Kazantsev, Buzz Aldrin took color movie film of the UFOs from inside the module, and continued filming them after he and Armstrong went outside. Dr. Azhazha claims that the UFOs departed minutes after the astronauts came out on to the lunar surface.

Maurice Chatelain also confirmed that Apollo 11's radio transmissions were interrupted on several occasions in order to hide the news from the public. Before dismissing Chatelain's sensational claims, it is worth noting his impressive background in the aerospace industry and space program. His first job after moving from France was as an electronics engineer with Convair, specializing in telecommunications, telemetry, and radar. In 1959 he was in charge of an electromagnetic research group, developing new radar and telecommunications systems for Ryan. One of his eleven patents was an automatic flights to the Moon. Later, at North American Aviation, Chatelain was offered the job of designing and building the Apollo communications and data-processing systems.

Chatelain claims that "all Apollo and Gemini flights were followed, both at a distance and sometimes also quite closely, by space vehicles of extraterrestrial origin-flying saucers, or UFOs, if you want to call them by that name. Every time it occurred, the astronauts informed Mission Control, who then ordered absolute silence." He goes on to say:

"I think that Walter Schirra aboard Mercury 8 was the first of the astronauts to use the code name 'Santa Claus' to indicate the presence of flying saucers next to space capsules. However, his announcements were barely noticed by the general public.

It was a little different when James Lovell on board the Apollo 8 command module came out from behind the moon and said for everybody to hear:

'PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS.'

Even though this happened on Christmas Day 1968, many people sensed a hidden meaning in those words."

Rumors persist. NASA may well be a civilian agency, but many of its programs are funded by the defense budget and most of the astronauts are subject to military security regulations. Apart from the fact that the National Security Agency screens all films and probably radio communications as well. We have the statements by Otto Binder, Dr. Garry Henderson and Maurice Chatelain that the astronauts were under strict orders not to discuss their sightings. And Gordon Cooper has testified to a United Nations committee that one of the astronauts actually witnessed a UFO on the ground. If there is no secrecy, why has this sighting not been made public?

A certain professor, who wished to remain anonymous, was engaged in a discussion with Neil Armstrong during a NASA symposium.

Professor: What REALLY happened out there with Apollo 11?
Armstrong: It was incredible, of course we had always known there was a possibility, the fact is, we
were warned off! (by the Aliens). There was never any question then of a space station or a moon city.
Professor: How do you mean "warned off"?
Armstrong: I can't go into details, except to say that their ships were far superior to ours both in size and
technology - Boy, were they big!... and menacing! No, there is no question of a space station.
Professor: But NASA had other missions after Apollo 11?
Armstrong: Naturally-NASA was committed at that time, and couldn't risk panic on Earth. But it really was a quick scoop and back again.
Armstrong confirmed that the story was true but refused to go into further detail, beyond admitting that the CIA was behind the cover-up.

References:

http://www.ronrecord.com/astronauts/mchatelain.html
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ufo/moonbase.htm
http://www.ronrecord.com/astronauts/mchatelain.html
http://www.internationalnewsagency.org/us_astronauts_and_the_ufo_encoun.htm
http://www.debunker.com/texts/apollo11.html
http://www.ufodigest.com/nasa/index.html
Chatelain-www.unexplainable.net
Armstrong-www.space.com
Aldrin-www.nndb.com
Farside of Noon-www.mhhe.com/

World's Top 10 Infrastructure Projects

2012-07-23T14:34:00.001+05:30

KPMG's second edition of the 'Infrastructure 100: World Cities Edition', showcases 100 of the most innovative and inspiring urban infrastructure projects from around the world.

This study provides insight into the innovations that make them 'Cities of the Future' - places where people want to live and do business, says KPMG.

The aim of Infrastructure100 is to showcase and celebrate one hundred examples of great projects underway in cities around the world.
Of the 100 projects, 10 were selected by a global judging panel as being the most noteworthy within each project category.

1. Urban Mobility: East Side Access, New York City, United States of America

In the United States, the $8.24 billion East Side Access project in New York City was singled out by the judges as a project that will not only improve chaotic traffic into Manhattan but also benefit the lives of thousands of commuters as it will shave as much as 40 minutes off daily travel time.

The project will route the MTA Long Island Rail Road through new track connections in Queens, new tunnels under Sunnyside Yard, and through the existing 63rd Street Tunnel under the East River to Second Avenue in Manhattan, connecting the Grand Central Terminal.

2. Global Connectivity: Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Delhi to Mumbai, India

The $90 billion project will stretch across seven states and link the nation's capital, Delhi, with the financial capital, Mumbai.

The sheer scale and far-reaching impact of the project impressed the judges with plans including a high-speed rail line for freight, a six-lane expressway and a 4,000 megawatt power station.

The idea is to develop centres of industrial production along the length of the corridor. The project plan includes nine industrial zones and 24 new cities.

3. Urban Regeneration: Oresund Regional Development, Denmark and Sweden

The Oresund Regional Development project creates a cross-border economic zone between Sweden and Denmark, focused on Malmo and Copenhagen.

The two cities are connected by an impressive new international crossing and share a considerable amount of physical infrastructure.

The aim is to continue to foster growth and connectivity via the proposed 18 kilometer Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, which will bring Germany and Scandinavia closer together.

4. Education: Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University for Women, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University for Women was widely lauded by the judges and is considered a major step in obtaining equal access to education for women in the Middle East.
The self-contained campus will cover 8 million square meters just outside Riyadh and accommodate 40,000 students.

The university will have the capacity to accommodate 60 per cent of the city's high-school graduates and will offer degrees in medicine, pharmacy, management and IT.

According to the judges, the project has a "generational theme" and its effect will ripple across the whole country for years to come.

5. Healthcare: Royal London Hospital, London, UK

The Royal London Hospital at White chapel in the United Kingdom is one of the oldest operating healthcare facilities in England.

The Victorian-era hospital – often associated with the grittiness of the capital's East End – was redeveloped and funded through a 1.1 billion pound PFI.

Following its redevelopment, the new hospital reopened its doors in March 2012 and is now one of Britain's largest, most advanced healthcare facilities.

The new hospital has 1,248 beds, an increase of 186 on the previous facility, with over 40 percent in single rooms with en suite facilities.

Wards are light and airy with natural ventilation and separate areas for women and men, and the 22 operating theaters are one-third larger than their predecessors.

6. Water: Tuas II Desalination Plant, Tuas, Singapore

In Singapore, the Tuas II Desalination Plant will serve a vital function, delivering 318,500 cubic meters (70 million gallons) of water per day for a 25-year concession period from 2013 to 2038.

Singapore currently relies on rainfall and imports from neighboring Malaysia for freshwater supplies.

The wealthy city-state has made several investments in recent years to become more independent and meet the needs of an increasing population.

7. New and Extended Cities: Tianjin Eco City, Tianjin, China

In the Far East, judges were impressed with Tianjin Eco-city being developed with "practical" technology on challenging arid terrain in northern China.

The city is an ambitious economic collaboration between China and Singapore to pilot a more liveable alternative to some of the country's polluted megacities.

With an advanced light rail system, solar energy and smart grid technology, Tianjin eco-city is set to create a new benchmark among global cities.

8. Recycling and Waste Management: Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, Kranji to Changi, Singapore

The Deep Tunnel Sewerage System in Singapore has been under construction since 2000 and is scheduled for completion in 2020.

The massive scheme has been designed to address all of the city-state's long-term needs for used water collection, treatment, reclamation and disposal.

The award-winning system works entirely by gravity, thus eliminating the need for pumping stations and the risks of used water overflows as well.

9. Urban Energy Infrastructure: Cidade Inteligente, Buzios, Brazil

Brazil is at the forefront of intelligent energy systems with its impressive Cidade Inteligente Buzios project.

Among the benefits for consumers are the possibilities of having discounted energy prices dependent on time of usage, consumption control of household appliances, energy savings through the installation of new LED street lighting and increased energy efficiency in public buildings.

10. Communications Infrastructure: BRICS Cable Project, South Africa and Mauritius

A hugely ambitious initiative designed to boost international communication between cities and global access to high-speed internet is the BRICS Cable Project.

As the acronym suggests, this initiative aims to connect the BRIC markets and the United States with a 34,000 kilometre two-fiber pair submarine cable with capacity of 12.8Tbit/s via cities like Jacksonville (USA), Fortaleza (Brazil), Cape Town (South Africa), Port Louis (Mauritius), Chennai (India), Singapore, Shantou (China) and Vladivostok (Russia).

With enhanced internet connectivity, the cable would boost trade links and economic competitiveness.

Most Competitive Cities in India

2012-07-19T15:19:00.000+05:30

Latest report has been founded on four pillars - the factor conditions, demand conditions, context for strategy and rivalry, and the quality of supporting and related industries.

India's capital, New Delhi (with a score of 69.732) has emerged the most competitive city in the country as per the India City Competitiveness Report-2012, compiled by the Institute for Competitiveness (IFC) that conducts studies in this area for use by businesses and governments.

Faridabad, with its high growth has drastically improved in its ranking and holds the 29th spot. Similarly Guwahati recorded a wide improvement in its position," says the report, unveiled Wednesday to coincide with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien's visit here.

Mumbai (67.856) The fifth edition of the India City Competitiveness Report is based on a model that has been established by celebrated management guru, Michael E. Porter, Bishop William Lawrance University Professor, based at Harvard Business School.

Chennai (62.323) Regarding New Delhi, the report says the city has managed to demonstrate a phenomenal growth over a period of time by balancing demand and development in equal measure. The two areas it is found lagging in are administrative and institutional support.

Hyderabad (61.782) The report also says that Noida, another city with close proximity to New Delhi, is now giving tough competition to the metros, even as Pune and Ahmedabad, which had very high.

Kolkata (61.464) Among the smaller cities, while Coimbatore, Mysore, Madurai and Guwahati climbed up, Surat, Lucknow, Agra and Allahabad dropped in their rankings.

Gurgaon (61.167) "Undoubtedly, Indian cities have the required potential to make their mark across the globe. this is clearly evident with igh urbanization rate of these cities and by the trend of their growth," says the report. However, it is required that Indian cities work on their strong.

Bengaluru (61.100) Porter's model is founded on four pillars -- the factor conditions, demand conditions, context for strategy and rivalry, and the quality of supporting and related industries. These are further divided into 12 sub-pillars to give information on 50 top cities.

Noida (60.406) "Cities are drivers of any economy. Their growth will enhance the growth of states and eventually that of the country. In the past few years, they have risen from their age-old shells and proving their potential on the global front," says IFC chair Amit Kapoor.

Pune (59.854) When benchmarked globally, Indian cities have much to catch up. Delhi, which takes the top slot in the country, is benchmarked at 46.7 -- which is way below 71.4 for New York, 70.4 for London, 55.2 for Shanghai and 69.3 for Hong Kong.

A Pre-Nuptial Agreement

2012-07-13T00:55:00.000+05:30

Three years earlier, when a Bangalore-based investment banker refused to marry as her boyfriend wanted to enter into a prenuptial contract. Six months before, when her marriage was being fixed with another person, he insisted on a prenuptial pact, too. With more working couples getting married, and both having accumulated a certain amount of wealth, the fear of losing the already-created and future wealth in case of a separation is driving most of them for such contracts.According to legal experts, as many as 20 per cent of marriages in metros have couples insisting there be some protection of their wealth before they say, 'I do'.

This is more common among wealthy business families, as they want to demarcate the rights of the couples in terms of property.
"Yes, it has become common in India. But, mostly, people are just following the US norm blindly. What they don't understand is the fact that there is no such law in India,"
That is, a prenuptial agreement comes under the Contract Act. In case of a legal dispute, the Marriage Act would supersede it.

What is a Pre-Nuptial Agreement?
A prenuptial agreement is a contract that would-be marrying partners sign, laying out terms and conditions for distribution of financial assets, property, alimony or maintenance, monthly compensation and so on, in the event of a divorce.
A big advantage of a prenuptial pact is it forces couples to have that all-important financial discussion before marriage.

Issues that can be efficiently dealt with in a prenuptial pact range from divorce settlements and prevention of disputes, regarding joint accounts and custody issues of children after the dissolution of a marriage. Another important benefit is that the agreements offer protection from the spouse's debts, if any.

How is it done?
For making a prenuptial contract, both partners need to set out all their assets and liabilities clearly on paper. They could also add the assets and debt they might create after marriage.
Then, they could discuss how all or joint assets and liabilities be divided if the marriage dissolves. Once the separation and share is mutually decided, both parties can sign and approve the same and maintain it. This will involve zero cost, unless the lawyer charges a fee.
If you want sanctity to it, the individuals could get it verified and signed by their own lawyers or together get it stamped and certified by a notary. Here, stamp duty will apply depending on the state you are in and a small fee for the notary.

In India?
In India, prenuptial agreements are not governed by the marriage laws, says Sandeep Nerlekar, managing director & chief executive officer (CEO), Warmond Trustees & Executives, as marriages here are not considered agreements.
However, under Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act, prenuptial agreements have as much sanctity as any other contract, oral or written.
Experts say, India has various laws governing marriages and so for a contract to hold good will be possible only under statutory provisions. Therefore, such contracts might not be binding in the Indian context.

For instance, if the wife says she will have no right over the husband's property, according to the Stamp Duty and Registration Act, for properties costing over Rs 100, she will have to file a relinquishment of property with the sub registrar only then can she not claim her share in the property later, explains Gupta.
Courts do take cognizance of a prenuptial agreement if both parties had agreed. For instance, if you take the marriage discord to court and request that assets be divided according to the contract you made, the court may agree.
Otherwise, divorce norms override prenuptial contracts, says Delhi-based lawyer P S Dhingra, consultant & CEO, Dhingra Group of Consultants.

Additionally, children born from such marriages have right over the father's assets even if the wife has agreed to not have any right over the husband's assets.
There are no cases as yet, say experts, where contracts have been upheld as there are cases where partners disagree to comply by the contract.
And, there are cases where women earn more than the men and still ask for compensation, which men do not agree to.

Warren Buffet - 3rd Richest Man in the World

2012-07-13T00:13:00.001+05:30

1) Warren bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.

4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.

6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.

7) Warren Buffet has given his CEO's only two rules.

Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money.

Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.

9) Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

12) He has donated $31 billion (85% of his fortune) to charity.

Most Expensive Materials in World

2012-07-07T15:15:00.001+05:30

What is God Particle?

2012-07-04T23:27:00.002+05:30

Scientists at the CERN research centre near Geneva, Switzerland, on Wednesday unveiled their latest findings in their search for the Higgs boson, a subatomic particle key to the formation of stars, planets and eventually life after the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago.

What is Higgs Boson?

The Higgs is the last missing piece of the Standard Model, the theory that describes the basic building blocks of the universe. The other 11 particles predicted by the model have been found and finding the Higgs would validate the model. Ruling it out or finding something more exotic would force a rethink on how the universe is put together.

Scientists believe that in the first billionth of a second after the Big Bang, the universe was a gigantic soup of particles racing around at the speed of light without any mass to speak of. It was through their interaction with the Higgs field that they gained mass and eventually formed the universe.

The Higgs field is a theoretical and invisible energy field that pervades the whole cosmos. Some particles, like the photons that make up light, are not affected by it and therefore have no mass. Others find it drags on them as porridge drags on a spoon.

Picture George Clooney (the particle) walking down a street with a gaggle of photographers (the Higgs field) clustered around him. An average guy on the same street (a photon) gets no attention from the paparazzi and gets on with his day. The Higgs particle is the signature of the field - an eyelash of one of the photographers.

The particle is theoretical, first posited in 1964 by six physicists, including Briton Peter Higgs.

The search for it only began in earnest in the 1980s, first in Fermilab's now mothballed Tevatron particle collider near Chicago and later in a similar machine at CERN, but most intensively since 2010 with the start-up of the European centre's Large Hadron Collider.

What is Standard Model?

The Standard Model is to physics what the theory of evolution is to biology. It is the best explanation physicists have of how the building blocks of the universe are put together. It describes 12 fundamental particles, governed by four basic forces.

But the universe is a big place and the Standard Model only explains a small part of it. Scientists have spotted a gap between what we can see and what must be out there. That gap must be filled by something we don't fully understand, which they have dubbed 'dark matter'. Galaxies are also hurtling away from each other faster than the forces we know about suggest they should. This gap is filled by 'dark energy'. This poorly understood pair are believed to make up a whopping 96 percent of the mass and energy of the cosmos.

Confirming the Standard Model, or perhaps modifying it, would be a step towards the holy grail of physics - a 'theory of everything' that encompasses dark matter, dark energy and the force of gravity, which the Standard Model also does not explain. It could also shed light on even more esoteric ideas, such as the possibility of parallel universes.

CERN spokesman James Gillies has said that just as Albert Einstein's theories enveloped and built on the work of Isaac Newton, the work being done by the thousands of physicists at CERN has the potential to do the same to Einstein's work.

What is the Large Hadron Collider?

The Large Hadron Collider is the world's biggest and most powerful particle accelerator, a 27-km (17-mile) looped pipe that sits in a tunnel 100 metres underground on the Swiss/French border. It cost 3 billion euros to build.

Two beams of protons are fired in opposite directions around it before smashing into each other to create many millions of particle collisions every second in a recreation of the conditions a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, when the Higgs field is believed to have 'switched on'.

The vast amount of data produced is examined by banks of computers. Of all the trillions of collisions, very few are just right for revealing the Higgs particle. That makes the hunt for the Higgs slow, and progress incremental.

What is the threshold for proof?

To claim a discovery, scientists have set themselves a target for certainty that they call "5 sigma". This means that there is a probability of less than one in a million that their conclusions from the data harvested from the particle accelerator are the result of a statistical fluke.

The two teams hunting for the Higgs at CERN, called Atlas and CMS, now have twice the amount of data that allowed them to claim 'tantalising glimpses' of the Higgs at the end of last year and this could push their results beyond that threshold.

Why images through Night Vision Goggles look Green?

2012-07-03T17:37:00.003+05:30

The characteristic green tint is by design, for a few reasons. First, device makers have experimented with a few different colors and found that the different shades that make up the monochrome night vision image are most accurately perceived and distinguished when they’re green. In other words, while the night vision images you’ve seen in Silence of the Lambs and Call of Duty might seem a little clunky, green presents a night vision device wearer with the most accurate and user-friendly picture possible. What’s more, because the eye is most sensitive to light wavelengths near 555 nanometers – that is, green – the display can be a little dimmer, which conserves battery power.

Who Invented Night Vision?
The first practical night vision devices were developed in Germany in the mid-1930s and were used by both German tanks and infantry during World War II. U.S. Military scientists had simultaneously developed their own night vision devices that first saw use during WWII and the Korean War.These “Generation 0” devices used active infrared to brighten up a scene. Soldiers carried an IR illuminator to shoot a beam of near-infrared light that then reflected off objects and bounced back to the lens of their scope and created a visible image of what they were looking at. The illuminators used by the German Nachtjägers, or “night hunters”, were about the size of dinner plates and required a large power supply carried on the soldier’s back.
The technology made huge leaps in the following decades, and by the time the U.S. entered the Vietnam War, many troops were outfitted with passive “starlight scopes” that used image-intensifying tubes to amplify available ambient light (usually from the moon and stars, hence the name) and produce an electronic image of a dark area.
This “Generation 1” technology is still around today in the more budget-friendly consumer-grade night vision devices. Military and police forces have upgraded to successive generations of tech with new improvements over the years, but image intensifying night vision – there’s also another flavor, thermal imaging, but image intensification is almost always the kind you see in movies and games – still works on the same basic principles as these early models.

Amarnath Yatra: Come and take the blessings of Lord Shiva

2012-06-26T20:52:00.001+05:30

History of Amarnath Temple
There is no clear cut information of the discovery of the cave. The credit of discovery goes to a shepherd (Gujar) Buta Malik, it is said that he was given a bag full of coal by a saint. When the shepherd opened to see in his house it was a bag full of gold. The happy shepherd went back to thank the saint but found a cave with a lingam inside it . Then onwards this place has become the sacred place of Pilgrimage .Another legend says that Kashyap a sage drained the lake of Kashmir and found the cave along with the lingam in it. Hindu mythology says that this Amarnath cave is the cave which was used by Lord Shiva to tell about the secret of life and eternity to Goddess Parvathi. He was looking for a secret isolated place to tell this "amar katha" to goddess Parvathi. So he selected this cave. And as a preparation he left his vehicle Nandi, the bull in Pahalgam (Bhail Gaow), released the moon at Chandanwari, snake at Lake Sheshnag, Lord Ganesh at Mahagunas parvat, five elements of life at Panjitarni. Finally he created Rudra (Kalagni) and ordered him to set afire and eliminate every living thing in and around the holy cave. Then Lord Shiva took Parvathi Goddess inside the cave to tell the amar katha. It is a popular pilgrimage destination for Hindus - about 400,000 people visit during the 45-day season around the festival of Shravani Mela in July-August, coinciding with the Hindu holy month of Shravan. The Shivlingam has melted owing to the rise in temperatures. It is a normal phenomenon; weather affects its shape and size”The other ice lingams had not completely melted. Many environmentalists blamed global warming for the The Amarnath caves are one of the most famous shrines in Hinduism, dedicated to the god Shiva, located in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The shrine is claimed to be over 5,000 years old and forms an important part of ancient Hindu mythology. Inside the main Amarnath cave lies an ice stalagmite resembling the Shiva Linga, which waxes during May to August and gradually wanes thereafter. This lingam is said to grow and shrink with the phases of the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival. According to Hindu mythology, this is the cave where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort Parvati. There are two other ice formations representing Parvati and Shiva's son, Ganesha.

Safeties to be taken in Amarnath

There is more cool that’s why carry caps, glosses, jerkins, socks etc. compulsory. We feel un comfortable with less oxygen. Take some suggested items such as Halls, Vicks, Torch light or candle, match box etc. The climatic conditions are very uncertain. Rain or snowfall may take place at any time or place during the Amarnath Yatra. It is to be particularly noted that abrupt changes in temperature might occur. Sunny weather may turn into rain / snow fall in a short time . The temperature may fall up to -5° C.

Importance of Amarnath Temple
Amarnath cave temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. An enshrined image of ice naturally formed in a cylindrical form which resembles Lord Shiva-Linga, begins to take its shape on the first day of the bright half of the month and reaches its full size on the full moon day (Poornima). After getting its fullest shape, it begins to wane and disappear on the new moon day. According to the tradition, the largest ice formation is considered as Lord Shiva Linga, one on the left side of the linga is an ice formation of Lord Ganesha, and on the right are formations of Parvati and Bhairava. The Amarnath temple is around 46 kms from Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir and 4500mtrs above the sea level. The time of pilgrimage to this holy shrine is between July and August. The guard of the absolute, lord Shiva, the destroyer, is present in the form of ice Lingam in this cave located at a more remote end of the valley of Lidder. This lingam is made naturally of a stalagmite of ice which awakes and weakens with the moon. There is no clear cut information of the discovery of the cave. The credit of discovery goes to a shepherd (Gujar) Buta Malik, it is said that he was given a bag full of coal by a saint. When the shepherd opened to see in his house it was a bag full of gold. The happy shepherd went back to thank the saint but found a cave with a lingam inside it . Then onwards this place has become the sacred place of Pilgrimage .Another legend says that Kashyap a sage drained the lake of Kashmir and found the cave along with the lingam in it. Hindu mythology says that this Amarnath cave is the cave which was used by Lord Shiva to tell about the secret of life and eternity to Goddess Parvathi. He was looking for a secret isolated place to tell this "amar katha" to goddess Parvathi. So he selected this cave. And as a preparation he left his vehicle Nandi, the bull in Pahalgam (Bhail Gaow), released the moon at Chandanwari, snake at Lake Sheshnag, Lord Ganesh at Mahagunas parvat, five elements of life at Panjitarni. Finally he createdRudra (Kalagni) and ordered him to set afire and eliminate every living thing in and around the holy cave. Then Lord Shiva took Parvathi Goddess inside the cave to tell the amar katha. It is a popular pilgrimage destination for Hindus - about 400,000 people visit during the 45-day season around the festival of Shravani Mela in July-August, coinciding with the Hindu holy month ofShravan. The Shivlingam has melted owing to the rise in temperatures. It is a normal phenomenon; weather affects its shape and size”The other ice lingams had not completely melted. Many environmentalists blamed global warming for the The Amarnath caves are one of the most famous shrines in Hinduism, dedicated to the god Shiva, located in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. The shrine is claimed to be over 5,000 years old and forms an important part of ancient Hindu mythology. Inside the main Amarnath cave lies an ice stalagmite resembling the Shiva Linga, which waxes during May to August and gradually wanes thereafter. This lingam is said to grow and shrink with the phases of the moon, reaching its height during the summer festival. According to Hindu mythology, this is the cave where Shiva explained the secret of life and eternity to his divine consort Parvati. There are two other ice formations representing Parvati and Shiva's son, Ganesha. The cave is situated at an altitude of 3,888 m (12,760 ft), about 141 km (88 mi) from Srinagar, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir. The Central Reserve Police Force, Indian Army and Indian Paramilitary Forces maintain a strong presence in the region due to concerns of security and hence prior permission is needed from the Government of India before making a pilgrimage (Note: as of June 2009, no permit was necessary to go to the cave, even for foreigners. The story narrated by people about the discovery of this Holy Cave is of a shepherd Buta Malik. He is given the credit of discovering this Holy Cave. Story goes like this, that a saint gave Buta Malik a bag full of Coal. On reaching his home when he opened the bag , to his utter surprise the bag was full of gold coins. This made him overwhelmed with joy. He ran to thank the Saint. But, what he found was that the Saint had disappeared. Instead, he found The Holy Cave and Shiv Lingam there in. He announced the discovery of this to the Villagers. Then onwards this has become the sacred place of Pilgrimage. The ancient epics narrate an other story which goes like this. The valley of Kashmir was under water. It was a big lake. Kashyap Rishi drained the water through number of rivers and rivulets. In those days Bhrigu Rishi came that way on a visit to The Himalyas. He was the first to have Darshans of this Holy Cave. When people heard of the Lingam, Amarnath for them became Shiva's abode and a Centre of pilgrimage. Since then Lacs of devotees perform the pilgrimage through tough terrain and avail eternal happiness. The trek to Amarnath, in the month of sharavan (July August) has the devout flock to this incredible shrine, where the image of Shiva, in the form of a Lingam, is formed naturally of an Ice Stalagmite, which waxes and wanes with the Moon's cycle. By its side are fascinating, two more Ice Lingams, that of Maa Parvati and of their son, Ganesha.

The annual Amarnath pilgrimage in Jammu and Kashmir kicked off on Thursday with over 15,000 pilgrims beginning the climb to the cave shrine dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva.

The cave shrine has a natural ice stalagmite that is worshipped as a Shiv Lingam, a symbol
of Lord Shiva.

'More than 7,000 yatris began their uphill 14-km trek at 8 am on Thursday from Baltal to the cave. Another batch of 1,100 yatris has also left the Manigam transit camp for Baltal,' a senior police officer said.
'All the pilgrims are safe. Adequate arrangements of security have been made at Baltal, Manigam and all along the yatra route,' he added.

Another batch of 8,000 pilgrims left the Nunwan base camp in Pahalgam town for Chandanwari, the first of the four stopovers in the 35-km trek from Pahalgam to the cave shrine, located at a height of 13,500 feet.

Hari Prasad, 49, a resident of Haryana who left the Manigam transit camp for Baltal, said: 'We shall pray for peace in Kashmir and the rest of the country when we reach the holy cave.'

'This is the land of saints and 'rishis' (sages) besides being the abode of Lord Shiva. The people here are nice and hospitable. This is my third yatra and I know the locals have always helped the yatris in times of emergency,' he added.

Extraordinary security arrangements have been made for the pilgrimage this year .
Around 3,000 Border Security Force (BSF) troopers reached south Kashmir's Anantnag district Wednesday to provide security to the devotees.

While 1.5 lakh pilgrims have registered themselves so far, it is expected that the number of pilgrims will cross the half-million mark this year.

The nearly two-month-long Amarnath Yatra (pilgrimage) ends August 25.

Top 10 Most Dangerous Dogs

2012-06-25T13:18:00.004+05:30

Are you afraid of dogs? What do you do when you see a dog in the street? If you don't do much, then I recommend that you RUN...because if they are one of these dogs, then you will surely need to visit the hospital and get a few shots right in the butt.

10. Boxer

Developed in Germany, the Boxer is a breed of stocky, medium-sized, short-haired dog. The coat is smooth and fawn or brindled, with or without white markings. Boxers are brachycephalic (they have broad, short skulls), and have a square muzzle, mandibular prognathism (an underbite), very strong jawsand a powerful bite ideal for hanging on to large prey. The Boxer was bred from the English Bulldog and the now extinct Bullenbeisser and is part of theMolosser group.

9. The Dalmatian

The Dalmatian (Croatian: Dalmatinac, Dalmatiner) is a breed of dog whose roots are often said to trace back to Dalmatia, a region of Croatia where the first illustrations of the dog have been found.[1] The Dalmatian is noted for its unique black- or brown-spotted coat and was mainly used as a carriage dog in its early days. Today, this dog remains a well loved family pet and many dog enthusiasts enter their pets into the competitions of many kennel clubs.

8. Chow Chow

The chow is a sturdily built dog, square in profile, with a broad skull and small, triangular, erect ears, which are rounded at the tips. The breed has a very dense double coat that can be either smooth or rough. The fur is particularly thick around the neck, giving the distinctive ruff or mane appearance. The coat may be one of five colors including red, black, blue, cinnamon/fawn, and cream.

7. Presa Canario

The Perro de Presa Canario is a large Molosser-type dog breed originally bred for working livestock. The name of the breed is Spanish, means "Canarianblood hound," and is often shortened to "Presa Canario" or simply "Presa." The breed is also called Dogo Canario, mean Canarian Molosser.
Presas are of strong character and are dominant animals requiring early socialization and obedience training In some situations, the Presa can be aggressive toward other dogs and suspicious of strangers Once the dog has been properly socialized and trained this becomes the exception rather than the rule. Many Presas share their homes with children, other dogs, cats, horses and other farm animals.

6. Doberman Pinscher

The Doberman Pinscher (alternatively spelled Dobermann in many countries) or simply Doberman, is a breed of domestic dog originally developed around 1890 by Karl Friedrich Louis Dobermann. Dobermann Pinschers are among the most common of pet breeds, and the breed is well known as an intelligent, alert, and loyal companion dog. Although once commonly used as guard dogs or police dogs, this is less common today.

5. Alaskan Malamute

The Malamute retains more of its original form and function than many other modern breeds. If a dog owner cannot cope with a dog that will not comply with the owner's every command, a more compliant breed should be selected. This dog has a long genetic foundation of living in the harshest environment imaginable, and many of its behaviors are evolved to conform with "survival of the fittest." Independence, resourcefulness, and primitive behaviors are common in the breed. While intelligent, they are widely believed to be one of the most difficult dogs to train. However, if the training is kept fun for the dog and not repetitively boring, success is within reach.

4. Husky

The Siberian is a medium-size, dense-coat working dog breed that originated in eastern Siberia. The breed belongs to the Spitz genetic family. It is recognisable by its thickly furred double coat, sickle tail, erect triangular ears, and distinctive markings.
Huskies are an active, energetic, and resilient breed whose ancestors came from the extremely cold and harsh environment of the Siberian Arctic. Siberian Huskies were bred by the Chukchi of Northeastern Asia to pull heavy loads long distances through difficult conditions. The dogs were imported into Alaskaduring the Nome Gold Rush and later spread into the United States and Canada. They were initially sent to Alaska and Canada as sled dogs but rapidly acquired the status of family pets and show dogs.

3. German Shepherd

The German Shepherd Dog is a breed of large-sized dog that originated inGermany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog developed originally for herding and guarding sheep. Because of its strength, intelligence and abilities in obedience training it is often employed in police and military roles around the world. German Shepherds currently account for 4.6% of all dogs registered with the American Kennel Club. Due to its loyal and protective nature, the German Shepherd is one of the most registered of breeds.

2. Rottweiler

The Rottweiler is a medium to large size breed of domestic dog that originated in Rottweil, Germany. The dogs were known as "Rottweil butchers' dogs" (German: Rottweiler Metzgerhund) because they were used to herd livestock and pull carts laden with butchered meat and other products to market.[1]Some records indicate that earlier Rottweilers may have also been used for hunting, although the modern Rottweiler has a relatively low hunting instinct.
The Rottweiler was employed in its traditional roles until the mid-19th century when railroads replaced droving for getting livestock to market. While still used in herding, Rottweilers are now also used in search and rescue, as guide dogs for the blind, as guard or police dogs, and in other roles.

1. Pit bull

A Pit bull is one of several breeds of dog in the molosser breed group. Many jurisdictions that restrict ownership of pit bulls, including Ontario, Canada, Miami, Florida, U.S.[2] and Denver, Colorado, U.S.,apply the restriction to the modern American pit bull terrier or any other dog that has the substantial physical characteristics and appearance of being a cross of this breed. However a few jurisdictions, such as Singapore and Franklin County, Ohio, U.S., also classify the modern American Bulldog as a "pit bull-type dog", while in the United Kingdom a pit bull is an American pit bull terrier. All of the breeds share a similar history, with origins rooted from the bulldog and a variety of terriers. The dogs called bull terriers before the development of the modern bull terrier in the early 20th century may also be called pit bulls. Pit bulls are popular breeds used in dog fighting.
Widely reported pit bull attacks have resulted in breed-specific legislation being enacted in several jurisdictions, and in increased premiums for liability insurance. Some airlines have placed restrictions on air travel for pit bulls, though in some instances the restrictions are in place for the dogs' own well-being.

Can Asteroid 2012 DA14 impact Earth on 15 Feb '13?

2012-06-23T21:43:00.000+05:30

A 150-foot asteroid orbiting Earth called 2012 DA14 will pass so close to Earth it will fly UNDER man-made satellites orbiting our planet.
Nasa's Impact Risk report said that the odds of the space rock actually hitting our planet are very low indeed - but on February 15 next year it will pass just 17,000 miles from Earth, closer than 'geostationary' satellites.
If an asteroid of that size hit our planet, it would cause an explosion similar to a nuclear blast.

Two astronomers from the the Observatorio Astronómico de La Sagra in Spain spotted 2012 DA14 in late February and its orbit has been calculated to be very similar to Earth’s.

Some reports suggested that on February 15 next year an impact was a possibility, but U.S astronomer Phil Plait, the creator of the Bad Astronomy blog, has ruled out an impact.

According to RT, NASA has confirmed that the 60 meter (or 197 feet) asteroid, which was spotted by Spanish stargazers in February this year, has a good chance of colliding with earth. The scientists suggest confronting this asteroid with either big guns or, more strangely, with paint. The problem with either option is that there is no time to build a spaceship for the operation. A spaceship could either shoot the asteroid down or simply crash into it – this would either break it into pieces or throw it off course.

NASA expert David Dunham suggested: “We could paint it.” The paint would change the asteroid’s ability to reflect sunlight, alter its spin and change its temperature. However, even taking the asteroid off course could be dangerous when it returns in 2056, according to Aleksandr Devaytkin the head of the observatory in Russia’s Pulkovo, as told to Izvestia in Russia recently.

The asteroid’s closest approach to earth is scheduled for 15 February 2013, when they predict that the distance between it and earth will be under 27,000 km (16,700 miles). With the asteroid zooming that low, it will be too late to do anything with it besides trying to predict its final destination and the consequences of impact. However, NASA’s David Dunham did say: “The asteroid may split into pieces entering the atmosphere. In this case, most parts of it will never reach the planet’s surface.” But theories are that if the entire asteroid did crash into the planet, the impact will be as hard as in the Tunguska blast, which in 1908 knocked down trees over a total area of 2,150 sq km (830 sq miles) in Siberia. So keep your head down and watch the skies.

The Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa

2012-06-21T17:22:00.000+05:30

Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa was voted the best medical spa worldwide.
It's located in Iceland and its massive lagoon holds six million liters of geothermal seawater, which is renewed every 40 hours.

Know your processor

2012-06-21T16:18:00.002+05:30

What's a Core i7 and why is it better than an i3? There's also Core i5? And what about AMD? Figuring out your processor is half the battle of buying a PC.

What is a core?

In layman's language, a core is the part of the processor responsible for carrying out calculations needed to execute programs. When a chip has multiple cores, it means it can process multiple instructions at the same time, thus increasing the software's speed.

Intel has three main Core families...

Core i3: Has two cores and Hyper Threading (HT) - a technology that simulates more cores than actually exist on the processor. This improves performance of programs that can utilize the extra cores. The i3, however, lacks Turbo Boost for extra muscle when needed. Ideal for average users.

Core i5: Has four cores, but no HT. Consumes a little more power than i3. The i5 comes with Turbo Boost that allows for an increase in clock speeds in the range of 300 to 400MHz. For example, if the processor has a speed of 2.8GHz, Turbo Boost will push the speed up to 3.1GHz. Ideal for power users

Core i7: Has four to six cores, with HT. The least power-efficient, but the most powerful. Ideal for professionals who work in 3D or edit multimedia.

AMD..

While AMD doesn't have Intel's raw performance, it's still good enough for everyday tasks and comes at a cheaper price. Of the lot, two AMD processors deserve mention.

The A 3870K: Has four cores and is part of the Fusion series. It promises better graphics at budget prices. Ideal for average users who want a bit of a gaming boost.

The FX 8150: Has eight cores and is part of the Bulldozer series. Not power-efficient and a bit slow in less demanding tasks. But works great in intensive processing tasks like video encoding and 3D modeling. Ideal for a professional on a budget.

What is Ivy Bridge?

Every year, Intel comes out with a new class of processors. The new Ivy Bridge is the third generation of Core i processors, and can be identified by model numbers that begin with 3. In terms of performance, Ivy Bridge processors average 10% faster than last year's Sandy Bridge processors. They are also more power-efficient.

Last but not the least, What is Trinity?

Trinity is AMD's new architecture, replacing the current A series Llano CPUs like A3870K. They can be identified by model numbers that begin with 5. They will be slightly better in general computing like web-browsing or office work, but offer vastly better performance for 3D gaming.

India's most spectacular Highways

2012-06-19T00:56:00.000+05:30

Mumbai-Pune Expressway
An oldie, but a goldie nonetheless. When the Expressway was first thrown open to the public, we were all stunned here was India's first truly world-class express highway. No small engineering feat, the road made the trip from Mumbai to Pune an absolute breeze (although these days, it's not uncommon to encounter huge jams due to landslides or broken-down trucks).

It has it all long straights on which you can let your car loose (two-wheelers are only allowed on a limited stretch), sweeping bends and tight ghat sections where you can have some serious fun. For best results, head out really early, to beat the traffic, and try and get hold of a convertible sportscar! There are enough rest, food and fuel stops along the way (the potato vada at Kamat's restaurant in Khandala is highly recommended), and you'll arrive at your destination with a smile on your face.

Hassan To Belur/Halebid
A slightly off-beat road, to be sure, but a great one nonetheless. Hassan is a fairly large 'small' town about 130 km from Bangalore, and the drive there is itself rather good fun. From Hassan, there's an inside road that leads to the twin temple sites of Belur and Halebid, and it's a truly wonderful drive.
There's hardly any traffic on it, and the surface is smooth, with lots of twists and turns to keep things interesting. You're likely to get lost, because there aren't many signboards along the way, but when the road is that good, who cares? At the end of the drive, you'll have the architectural marvels in Belur and Halebid to keep you company. For more driving pleasure, continue from Halebid to the temple town of Dharmasthala, which also has a fantastic vintage car museum.

Bhiwandi to Nashik
We'll be honest -- the small town of Bhiwandi, on the outskirts of Thane, near Mumbai, is the sort of place to which you would 'send your mother-in-law on holiday', to paraphrase the immortal words of Sir Ian Botham. It's dusty, grimy, full of godowns and, well, not much else but the highway from there all the way to Nashik, India's wine-capital, is fantastic. The surface has recently been re-done, adding to its allure, and with a fast, nimble car or bike, there is a great deal of fun to be had.
You have long straights combined with sweeping corners, and a really nice one-way ghat section lets you attack the tight corners with gusto. Once in Nashik, wind down with a chilled glass of Chardonnay.

Vadodara to Ahmedabad
The joke is that most Gujaratis won't use this express highway because they have to pay a toll. Even if that's true, it's a good thing because you have more of the road to yourself -- and it's a great road. Approximately 90 km in length, it's not exactly a world-tour, but with its smooth surface and arrow-straight nature, you can go very fast on it
It's not unheard of for the distance to be covered in considerably less than an hour, to give you an idea. Enjoy it, but with caution!

Masinagudi to Ooty Via Kalhatty
If you like hair-pin bends, prepare to be transported to heaven -- the Kalhatty ghat has 36 of them, squeezed into a mere 20 km. Setting out from the small town of Masinagudi, inside the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, the road is narrow, but smooth, allowing for spirited driving, with the forest on either side.
The ghat section begins normally enough, but rapidly becomes extremely steep, and you need to be a skilled driver to not burn your clutch on the hair-pins. Buses going over the side are quite common drive with care. Once you reach Ooty, stretch out and relax in the still-pleasant hill station.

Maneybhanjang to Sandakphu
This one's slightly unusual, in that you can't actually drive on the road by yourself. The only people allowed to drive are those that own and drive the vintage Land Rovers, which ferry people to and from the village of Sandakphu, 12,000 feet up in the clouds. Maneybhanjang is near Darjeeling, and the trip from there to Sandakphu is one you won't forget in a hurry, it takes close to eight hours to drive a mere 35 km, over a terrifyingly steep, broken road that criss-crosses India and Nepal.
The views are breathtaking, though, none more so than from Sandakphu, from where you can see four of the five highest mountain peaks in the world. The route is also a paradise for trekkers.

Kaziranga to Tawang
If you're in Kaziranga, one of the loveliest national parks in the world, you can consider yourself lucky to begin with. Get hold of a sturdy car, preferably a four-wheel driven SUV, and point its nose in the direction of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh -- this will round off the experience in no small measure. It's a two-day drive, and you'll have to break journey in a place en route, you'll cross the lovely Orchidarium near Bhalukpong.Dirang to Tawang is where it starts to get really interesting -- on the way to the snow-bound Sela Pass at 14,000 feet, you'll drive up a perilously narrow road with huge drops on either side, with black ice on it. Once through the pass, you drop back down to Tawang, at 10,000 feet, and its beautiful, 400-year old Galden Namgyal Lhatse monastery. From Tawang, there's another fabulous drive to Zemithang, on the border with Tibet the current Dalai Lama came through here when he fled to India.

Yamuna Expressway
All right, so this road hasn't even been formally thrown open for public use as yet and, given the political machinations in Uttar Pradesh, it could be a while before that happens. Those lucky enough to have got sneak previews say that it's manna from heaven for drivers smooth, wide and pedal-to-the-metal throughout.
Apart from its practical considerations (vastly reducing the driving time from Delhi to Agra), the road is bound to see plenty of exotic machinery being blasted up and down. You can too get a sneak preview, if you know right people.

Manali-Leh
A true test of grit and character this route is the stuff of legend, and if you haven't done it at least once, you cannot claim to be a true road-tripper. Plans are apparently afoot to construct a proper highway, which will ruin the experience, so get there quick.
Taking along a bike is the best way to fully experience the mind-boggling landscapes (and near-moonscapes) that you'll come across, and you'll have to be prepared for all manner of hardships -- breakdowns in the middle of nowhere, freezing temperatures, rain, landslides and mountain sickness, to name but a few. Once you enter the town of Leh, though, the sense of achievement you'll feel will be worth it. The other route, from Srinagar to Leh via Kargil, is just as spectacular!

Mumbai-Goa on NH17
This is another classic road. A lot of people driving to Goa now take the Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Sawantwadi route, which is longer, better surfaced but a bit boring; NH17 still has more character. It's best done during the monsoon, when the surroundings are an impossible shade of green. The road is a dual carriageway, so overtaking must be done with care, but the right car or bike in the right hands will provide plenty of thrills.
Any number of roadside eateries will keep you refreshed, and for a bit of added adventure, you can veer off NH17 into one of the smaller roads, which tend to be great to drive on as well. Or you can drive straight down to where the road ends -- Kanyakumari

Biggest Tech Failures in History

2012-05-13T06:13:00.000+05:30

Microsoft Windows Me
The "mistake" editionBacktracking on plans to make Windows 98 the last OS before switching to NT builds, Microsoft shipped two more 9x-based platforms: Windows 98 SE (April '99) and Windows Me (September '00). The former was a revamped version of Win98, while the latter was an awkward interim release that arrived shortly after the venerable Windows 2000. Me was unstable and had fewer features than 98 and 2k, making it a tough sell and a horrible OS experience out of the box.Sega Dreamcast
The game console that could, but wasn't
With radical new features including a modem and a VMU memory card, the Dreamcast was successful when it launched in 1998 and 1999. Sadly, that momentum promptly stalled with intense competition from the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, which, among other advantages, used DVDs for games instead of a proprietary format. Some two years later, a tattered Sega ceased production of its innovative console.
Microsoft's Tablet PC
The right idea, the wrong approach

Bill Gates, at the time CEO of Microsoft, presented the Tablet PC in 2001 as the next major evolution of the personal computer. Microsoft's approach was to offer a Windows XP-based slate or convertible laptop that added pen input, handwriting and voice recognition functionality. Needless to say, this didn't work very well and as a result didn't sell either. The Tablet PC was too bulky, the input was unintuitive, and the software lacked refinement, even to this day.
Nokia N-Gage
Ahead of its time or blatantly poor execution?

In 2003, Nokia fused a lackluster gaming platform with a cumbersome cellphone and set its crosshairs on the Game Boy Advance. The N-Gage's vertical screen was cramped, swapping games meant removing the battery and its cellphone was oriented sideways. Perhaps even more discouraging, it had fewer games than Nintendo's handheld while costing over double at $300. In its first weeks, the device was outsold 100 to 1 by the GBA.
HD-DVD
Casualty of the high-def format war

Streaming is the present and future of video, but for a while if you wanted to watch proper high-resolution media, you had to place your bets on either next-generation format: Blu-ray or HD-DVD. Eventually, the former came on top and HD-DVD quickly faded into oblivion (launched in 2006, died in 2008), leaving behind about a million obsolete players, including the popular Xbox 360 add-on unit.
UMPCs
Small form factor of fail

Ultra-mobile PCs saw a few different iterations, from Sony's sexy but impractical VAIO U to the equally impressive but yet awkward OQO UMPCs. Trumpeted as the next-generation pocketable Windows devices, UMPCs never received mainstream adoption -- not least because of their use of Vista. A few years later, the iPhone would prove smartphones were the true future of mobile.
Palm Foleo
Palm almost beat Asus to the netbook

The Foleo was a mini-notebook in development at Palm for a few months before being cancelled. It had a lot in common with the first commercially successful netbook (Asus Eee): small footprint, low price, as well as decent battery life and connectivity. On the other hand, the Foleo's pending doom was written on the wall. For example, it would have depended on a Treo smartphone to fully function (a la Blackberry Playbook, meaning total failure). Despite those shortcomings, we believe Palm missed out big should they have polished their short-lived project further. Netbooks were widely successful Asus sold hundreds of thousands of units in no time.
Windows Vista
Six flavors of fail

After repeated setbacks, Windows Vista finally launched with a confusing array of six editions during the slow PC sales month of January. Ironically, part of the final delay was used to "crank up" Vista's security and uptight security became one of critics' main complaints. There were also numerous software incompatibilities, various performance issues (gaming/file transfers/battery life), and it failed to deliver promised features such as WinFS.
DRM on PC Games
No one benefits from restrictive DRM

DRM has been cooking for years but 2008 brought with it many controversial examples -- most notably Spore, which used a modified version of SecuROM for online authentication and limited users to three installs. After being slammed with thousands of one-star Amazon reviews and two class-action suits, EA released a SecuROM-free copy on Steam in December '08, but not before Spore became the most pirated game of the year.
MySpace
Just because Facebook is now worth $1000b

Until 2008, Facebook was the second largest player in social networking, trailing behind MySpace by a considerable margin. A year after being acquired by News Corp. in 2005, the service was in such privileged position that it beat Google as the most visited website in the US. Thanks to a combination of poor decision-making, horrible design and user experience, and a lack of focus on core social components, MySpace failed to capitalize on its position, leaving Facebook to attract a wider user demographic in the long haul.
Sony PSP Go
No 99 cents games for you

In 2009, Sony set out to explore the uncharted waters of digital distribution. Unfortunately, existing PSP owners didn't want to "upgrade" and ditch their UMD collections, newcomers were discouraged by the PSN's weak catalog and neither wanted to part with $250 for a handheld. Factor in the rapid adoption of smartphones with their infinite sea of 99-cent games and the PSP Go's voyage was arguably doomed from the outset. Only time will tell if the PS Vita shares the same fate.
Google Wave and Google Buzz
The web's giant lack of social skills

Google is arguably the most powerful force on the web, but with Facebook as well as other social and mobile newcomers threatening its dominance, the company has repeatedly tried to become a top social destination. Before Google+ there was Buzz which failed to gain momentum despite having close ties to Gmail. Google Wave also caused a stir initially, but it failed in its attempt to create a clever communication tool that had the potential of replacing IM and email.

Android Tablets, HP TouchPad, Blackberry Playbook
Until they are able to make a dent on iPad's market share

Google has arguably done a great job with Android and those efforts have paid off on the smartphone front. On the tablet side however, not so much. Even with great partners and multiple hardware iterations, somehow it feels like Android keeps lagging behind Apple's iPad. The recent delays in getting Android 4.0 ICS to all outgoing tablets makes matters even more visible. But at least they are trying to make a dent on iPad's sales. Meanwhile, HP's TouchPad and the Blackberry Playbook were a complete disaster, from lacking basic functionality, to their complete mismanagement and premature cancellation.

Top 10 Most Beautiful Train Stations

2012-05-06T02:36:00.000+05:30

These are some of the most incredible train stations in the world. Some of them look like museums while others are modern and beautiful. If you missed your train these incredible train stations would probably make your wait more bearable.
10. Dunedin Train Station
Dunedin, New Zealand

9. Central Railway Station
Helsinki, Finland

8. São Bento Station
Porto, Portugal

7. Gare du Nord — Paris, France
Paris, France

6. Grand Central Station
New York City, New York

5. Union Station
Los Angeles, California

4. King’s Cross Station
London, England

3. Sirkeci Station
Istanbul, Turkey

2. Rossio Station
Lisbon, Portugal

1. Atocha Train Station
Madrid, Spain

Ordinary Things Banned in Certain Countries

2012-04-28T08:36:00.000+05:30

PAN Number Explained

2012-04-21T01:43:00.000+05:30

PAN is a 10 digit alpha numeric number, where the first 5 characters are letters, the next 4 numbers and the last one a letter again. These 10 characters can be divided in five parts as can be seen below. The meaning of each number has been explained further.
1. First three characters are alphabetic series running from AAA to ZZZ
2. Fourth character of PAN represents the status of the PAN holder.
• C — Company
• P — Person
• H — HUF (Hindu Undivided Family)
• F — Firm
• A — Association of Persons (AOP)
• T — AOP (Trust)
• B — Body of Individuals (BOI)
• L — Local Authority
• J — Artificial Juridical Person
• G — Government
3. Fifth character represents first character of the PAN holder’s last name/surname.
4. Next four characters are sequential number running from 0001 to 9999.
5. Last character in the PAN is an alphabetic check digit.
Nowadays, the DOI (Date of Issue) of PAN card is mentioned at the right (vertical) hand side of the photo on the PAN card.

Eggs thrown at Windscreen

2012-04-11T04:29:00.000+05:30

If you are driving at night and eggs are thrown at your windscreen, DO NOT STOP ...to check the car , do not operate the wiper and do not spray any water, because eggs mixed with water become milky and block your vision up to 92.5%, and you are then forced to stop beside the road and become a victim of these criminals.
This is a new technique used by gangs, so please share this info with your friends and relatives.

Steve Jobs Quotes

2012-04-02T03:11:00.000+05:30

A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.
A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.
Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator... these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it iPhone! Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is.
And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.
And no, we don't know where it will lead. We just know there's something much bigger than any of us here.
And one more thing.
Apple's market share is bigger than BMW's or Mercedes's or Porsche's in the automotive market. What's wrong with being BMW or Mercedes?
As individuals, people are inherently good. I have a somewhat more pessimistic view of people in groups. And I remain extremely concerned when I see what's happening in our country, which is in many ways the luckiest place in the world. We don't seem to be excited about making our country a better place for our kids.
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected.
Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me.
Bottom line is, I didn't return to Apple to make a fortune. I've been very lucky in my life and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided then that I wasn't going to let it ruin my life. There's no way you could ever spend it all, and I don't view wealth as something that validates my intelligence.
But Apple really beats to a different drummer. I used to say that Apple should be the Sony of this business, but in reality, I think Apple should be the Apple of this business.
But innovation comes from people meeting up in the hallways or calling each other at 10:30 at night with a new idea, or because they realized something that shoots holes in how we've been thinking about a problem.
Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn.
Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things.
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works.
Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. The iMac is not just the color or translucence or the shape of the shell. The essence of the iMac is to be the finest possible consumer computer in which each element plays together.
Each year has been so robust with problems and successes and learning experiences and human experienes that a year is a lifetime at Apple. So this has been ten lifetimes.
Everyone here has the sense that right now is one of those moments when we are influencing the future.
First was the mouse. The second was the click wheel. And now, we're going to bring multi-touch to the market. And each of these revolutionary interfaces has made possible a revolutionary product - the Mac, the iPod and now the iPhone.
For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through.
I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.
I don't think I've ever worked so hard on something, but working on Macintosh was the neatest experience of my life. Almost everyone who worked on it will say that. None of us wanted to release it at the end. It was as though we knew that once it was out of our hands, it wouldn't be ours anymore.
I get asked a lot why Apple's customers are so loyal. It's not because they belong to the Church of Mac! That's ridiculous.
I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I've done that sort of thing in my life, but I've always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don't know why. Because they're harder. They're much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you've completely failed.
I met Woz when I was 13, at a friend's garage. He was about 18. He was, like, the first person I met who knew more electronics than I did at that point. We became good friends, because we shared an interest in computer and we had a sense of humor. We pulled all kinds of pranks together.
I think it's brought the world a lot closer together, and will continue to do that. There are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything. The most corrosive piece of technology that I've ever seen is called television - but then, again, television, at its best, is magnificent.
I think right now it's a battle for the mindshare of developers and for the mindshare of customers, and right now iPhone and Android are winning that battle.
I think we're having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we're always trying to do better.
I want to put a ding in the universe.
I'll always stay connected with Apple. I hope that throughout my life I'll sort of have the thread of my life and the thread of Apple weave in and out of each other, like a tapestry. There may be a few years when I'm not there, but I'll always come back.
I'm an optimist in the sense that I believe humans are noble and honorable, and some of them are really smart. I have a very optimistic view of individuals.
I'm sorry, it's true. Having children really changes your view on these things. We're born, we live for a brief instant, and we die. It's been happening for a long time. Technology is not changing it much - if at all.
I'm very excited about having the Internet in my den.
I've always wanted to own and control the primary technology in everything we do.
If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.
In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design.
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
Innovation has nothing to do with how many R amp&; D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R & D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it.
It is piracy, not overt online music stores, which is our main competitor.
It takes these very simple-minded instructions - 'Go fetch a number, add it to this number, put the result there, perceive if it's greater than this other number' - but executes them at a rate of, let's say, 1,000,000 per second. At 1,000,000 per second, the results appear to be magic.
It took us three years to build the NeXT computer. If we'd given customers what they said they wanted, we'd have built a computer they'd have been happy with a year after we spoke to them - not something they'd want now.
It's hard to tell with these Internet startups if they're really interested in building companies or if they're just interested in the money. I can tell you, though: If they don't really want to build a company, they won't luck into it. That's because it's so hard that if you don't have a passion, you'll give up.
It's not a faith in technology. It's faith in people.
It's not about charisma and personality, it's about results and products and those very bedrock things that are why people at Apple and outside of Apple are getting more excited about the company and what Apple stands for and what its potential is to contribute to the industry.
It's not the tools that you have faith in - tools are just tools. They work, or they don't work. It's people you have faith in or not. Yeah, sure, I'm still optimistic I mean, I get pessimistic sometimes but not for long.
Japan's very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don't think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that's already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor.
Microsoft has had two goals in the last 10 years. One was to copy the Mac, and the other was to copy Lotus' success in the spreadsheet - basically, the applications business. And over the course of the last 10 years, Microsoft accomplished both of those goals. And now they are completely lost.
Most people have no concept of how an automatic transmission works, yet they know how to drive a car. You don't have to study physics to understand the laws of motion to drive a car. You don't have to understand any of this stuff to use Macintosh.
My favorite things in life don't cost any money. It's really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.
Now, we are selling over 5 million songs a day now. Isn't that unbelievable? That's 58 songs every second of every minute of every hour of every day.
Older people sit down and ask, 'What is it?' but the boy asks, 'What can I do with it?'.
Our DNA is as a consumer company - for that individual customer who's voting thumbs up or thumbs down. That's who we think about. And we think that our job is to take responsibility for the complete user experience. And if it's not up to par, it's our fault, plain and simply.
Our goal is to make the best devices in the world, not to be the biggest.
Pointing is a metaphor we all know. We've done a lot of studies and tests on that, and it's much faster to do all kinds of functions, such as cutting and pasting, with a mouse, so it's not only easier to use but more efficient.
Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
So let's not use a stylus. We're going to use the best pointing device in the world. We're going to use a pointing device that we're all born with - born with ten of them. We're going to use our fingers. We're going to touch this with our fingers. And we have invented a new technology called multi-touch, which is phenomenal. It works like magic.
So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they're gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.
Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.
Stay hungry, stay foolish.
Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.
That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
The design of the Mac wasn't what it looked like, although that was part of it. Primarily, it was how it worked. To design something really well, you have to get it. You have to really grok what it's all about. It takes a passionate commitment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it up, not just quickly swallow it.
The desktop computer industry is dead. Innovation has virtually ceased. Microsoft dominates with very little innovation. That's over. Apple lost. The desktop market has entered the dark ages, and it's going to be in the dark ages for the next 10 years, or certainly for the rest of this decade.
The desktop metaphor was invented because one, you were a stand-alone device, and two, you had to manage your own storage. That's a very big thing in a desktop world. And that may go away. You may not have to manage your own storage. You may not store much before too long.
The engineering is long gone in most PC companies. In the consumer electronics companies, they don't understand the software parts of it. And so you really can't make the products that you can make at Apple anywhere else right now. Apple's the only company that has everything under one roof.
The manual for WordStar, the most popular word-processing program, is 400 pages thick. To write a novel, you have to read a novel - one that reads like a mystery to most people. They're not going to learn slash q-z any more than they're going to learn Morse code. That is what Macintosh is all about.
The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it to a nationwide communications network. We're just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people - as remarkable as the telephone.
The over-all point is that new technology will not necessarily replace old technology, but it will date it. By definition. Eventually, it will replace it. But it's like people who had black-and-white TVs when color came out. They eventually decided whether or not the new technology was worth the investment.
The people who are doing the work are the moving force behind the Macintosh. My job is to create a space for them, to clear out the rest of the organization and keep it at bay.
The reason we wouldn't make a seven-inch tablet isn't because we don't want to hit a price point, it's because we don't think you can make a great tablet with a seven-inch screen.
The seven-inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone, and too small to compete with an iPad.
The system is that there is no system. That doesn't mean we don't have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that's not what it's about. Process makes you more efficient.
There's no other company that could make a MacBook Air and the reason is that not only do we control the hardware, but we control the operating system. And it is the intimate interaction between the operating system and the hardware that allows us to do that. There is no intimate interaction between Windows and a Dell notebook.
These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise. You may have a child with a birth defect and be able to get in touch with other parents and support groups, get medical information, the latest experimental drugs. These things can profoundly influence life. I'm not downplaying that.
Things don't have to change the world to be important.
This is what customers pay us for - to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it.
This revolution, the information revoultion, is a revolution of free energy as well, but of another kind: free intellectual energy. It's very crude today, yet our Macintosh computer takes less power than a 100-watt bulb to run it and it can save you hours a day. What will it be able to do ten or 20 years from now, or 50 years from now?
To turn really interesting ideas and fledgling technologies into a company that can continue to innovate for years, it requires a lot of disciplines.
We don't get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? So this is what we've chosen to do with our life.
We hire people who want to make the best things in the world.
We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them.
We think Android is very, very fragmented, and becoming more fragmented by the day. And as you know, Apple strives for the integrated model so that the user isn't forced to be the systems integrator.
We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn't build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves. We were the group of people who were going to judge whether it was great or not. We weren't going to go out and do market research. We just wanted to build the best thing we could build.
We want to reinvent the phone. What's the killer app? The killer app is making calls! It's amazing how hard it is to make calls on most phones. We want to let you use contacts like never before - sync your iPhone with your PC or mac.
We're going to be able to ask our computers to monitor things for us, and when certain conditions happen, are triggered, the computers will take certain actions and inform us after the fact.
We're just enthusiastic about what we do.
We've demonstrated a strong track record of being very disciplined with the use of our cash. We don't let it burn a hole in our pocket, we don't allow it to motivate us to do stupid acquisitions. And so I think that we'd like to continue to keep our powder dry, because we do feel that there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future.
Well, Apple invented the PC as we know it, and then it invented the graphical user interface as we know it eight years later (with the introduction of the Mac). But then, the company had a decade in which it took a nap.
What we want to do is make a leapfrog product that is way smarter than any mobile device has ever been, and super-easy to use. This is what iPhone is. OK? So, we're going to reinvent the phone.
When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back.
When you're young, you look at television and think, there's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want.
Who wants a stylus. You have to get em and put em away, and you lose em. Yuck. Nobody wants a stylus.
With our technology, with objects, literally three people in a garage can blow away what 200 people at Microsoft can do. Literally can blow it away. Corporate America has a need that is so huge and can save them so much money, or make them so much money, or cost them so much money if they miss it, that they are going to fuel the object revolution.
Woz is living his own life now. He hasn't been around Apple for about five years. But what he did will go down in history.
You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.
You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new.
You know, my main reaction to this money thing is that it's humorous, all the attention to it, because it's hardly the most insightful or valuable thing that's happened to me.
You'll see more and more perfection of that - computer as servant. But the next thing is going to be computer as a guide or agent.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it.

Airbus Unveils Transparent Airplane

2012-03-29T07:01:00.000+05:30

Airbus has unveiled a futuristic concept for a transparent plane that may be everyday air transport in 2050. With its see-through aircraft cabin, passengers of the future will get a window on the world as they fly through the sky. They will be able to see everything to the sides and in front of them.
The concept cabin unveiled at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, would be a bionic structure that 'mimics' the efficiency of the bird bone, claimed the company.
It would provide strength where needed, and also allows for an intelligent' cabin wall membrane, which controls air temperature and can become transparent to give passengers open, panoramic views.The company believes that mid-century passengers might be able to enjoy a game of virtual golf or take part in interactive conferences, while the cabin 'identifies and responds' to travelers' needs.In the 'interactive zone' there are virtual pop-up projections taking passengers to whichever social scene they want to be in, from holographic gaming to virtual changing rooms for active shoppers.The 'smart tech zone' is tailored towards the more functional-orientated passenger with what Airbus describes as 'a chameleon-style offering.'It aims to meet individual needs ranging from a simple to a complete luxury service, but all allowing 'you to continue life as if on the ground'.
"Our research shows that passengers of 2050 will expect a seamless travel experience while also caring for the environment," the Daily Mail quoted Airbus engineering executive vice-president Charles Champion as saying.
"The concept cabin is designed with that in mind, and shows that the journey can be as much a voyage of discovery as the destination," he added.

Indian Government Services Online

2012-03-04T07:54:00.000+05:30

Indian Railway Recruitment Board Websites

2012-02-26T02:44:00.000+05:30

Ahmedabad -www.rrbadi.org
Ajmer -
www.rrbajmer.org
Allahabad -
www.rrbald.nic.in
Bengaluru -
www.rrbbnc.gov.in
Bhopal -
www.rrbbpl.nic.in
Bhubaneswar -
www.rrbbbs.org
Chandigarh -
www.rrbcdg.gov.in/
Chennai -
www.rrbchennai.net
Gorakhpur -
www.rrbgkp.gov.in
Guwahati -
www.rrbguwahati.gov.in
Jammu-Kashmir -
www.rrbjammu.nic.in
Kolkata -
www.rrbkolkata.org
Malda -
www.rrbmalda.gov.in
Mumbai -
www.rrbmumbai.gov.in
Muzaffarpur -
http://rrbmuzaffarpur.bih.nic.in/
Patna -
www.rrbpatna.gov.in
Ranchi -
www.rrbranchi.org
Secunderabad -
www.rrbsec.org
Thiruvananthapuram -
www.rrbthiruvananthapuram.net