~ the world around ~

Shifted .....

2008-02-04T20:02:00.000+05:30

I've moved

Find me at "Share N Scribble"

My other series on Chettinad continues ....

till then .....

i'm contemplating to shift ....

2008-01-25T20:13:00.000+05:30

i'm contemplating to shift to Wordpress, service seems to be good (enough and more space), at a cost they allow to point the Blog to your registered domain, M.I (most importantly) they allow everyone with an email ID to comment on your post / blog ..... like this feature the most .... & flexible themes possible ......

planning to shift to Share N Scribble soon ......

Whatte match ....

2008-01-20T09:17:00.000+05:30

the match played yesterday (is it y'day or today or both?) between Lleyton Hewitt & Marcos Baghdatis was a cliffhanger match. 282 Minutes sheer / pure tennis. End of it i liked Baghdatis's attitude towards the game where kept denying the ice cold Hewitt the match point some 5 times. End of it he was in tears while leaving the court at 4:34 am AST.

pleasure watching tennis ....

that too in the newly installed Set-top box at home (chennai has Conditional access system) and i was avioiding to bite the bullet to move from FreeToAir channels to paid channels ....

The mascots of Beijing Olympics features in Online Games

2008-01-14T21:22:00.001+05:30

Fight the winter clouds

Football 5-a-side

Softball

Obstacle race

Leap and leap

.

........... the above are the online games featuring the Beijing Olympics 2008 mascots ....

Top 10 key terminologies .....

2008-01-10T21:00:00.000+05:30

And the Top Ten Key Terms:

1) "Auspicous Clouds"

2) "Good Luck Beijing"

3) "One World, One Dream"

4) "Opening and Closing Ceremonies"

5) "Bird's Nest and Water Cube"

6) "Countdown"

7) "Ticket Lottery"

8) "Torch Relay Route"

9) "Olympic song"

10) "Beijing invites the world"

The "Top Ten" voting period ran from November 22, 2007 to December 21, 2007, Beijing time. A total of 1,063,954 web users took part in the voting, representing 49 countries and regions, including China, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and Germany.

The campaign was organized by the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office, the Beijing Internet Affairs Office and the Media and Communications Department of BOCOG. It was sponsored by 13 well-known websites.

Top 10 wishes @ Beijing olympics

2008-01-05T17:19:00.000+05:30

after the Top 10 stories, now the Top 10 wishes ...

1) "I wish Liu Xiang will become an Olympic champion"

2) "I want to become a torchbearer for the Beijing Olympics"

3) "I wish I could watch the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies together with my family and friends"

4) "I wish the Olympics success"

5) "I want to pose for a photo in front of the newly-built Olympic venues"

6) "I wish the Chinese women's volleyball team will successfully defend their Olympic title"

7) "I wish for smooth road traffic"

8) "Count me as an Olympic volunteer"

9) "I want to be photographed with sport stars and get an autographed copy"

10) "I want to exchange Olympic pins with friends from other countries"

soon the Top 10 key terms ............

the top 10 Olympic stories

2008-01-01T18:28:00.000+05:30

Following a month of public voting and panelist assessments, the 2007 Top Ten News Stories of the Beijing Olympic Games were unveiled Monday night. The most popular report involves volunteer recruitment for the Games.

The results are as follows:

1) "Smile Wristbands for Olympic Volunteers are unveiled, 700,000 people register as volunteers"

2) "Jade-inlaid medals for the Beijing Olympics embody Chinese characteristics"

3) "Planned torch relay routes for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics are released"

4) "Pictograms for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games are unveiled"

5) "With 21,888 torchbearers, the Beijing Olympic Games will have the largest number of torchbearers in the history of the Olympic Games"

6) "2007 'Good Luck Beijing' sport events examine Olympic preparation work comprehensively"

7) "Creative phase of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies ends"

8) "Beijing sends invitations to the world at the one-year countdown celebrations to the Beijing Olympic Games"

9) "17th CPC National Congress calls for successful Beijing Olympics and Paralympics in 2008"

10) "The slogan 'I participate, I contribute and I enjoy' becomes a feature of the campaign under the theme of 'Welcome the Olympics, Improve Manners and Foster New Attitudes'"

will follow this with top 10 wishes and top 10 key terms used and popular ....

Culinary delights @ Beijing Olympics

2007-12-24T17:29:00.000+05:30

Foreign athletes famished for Chinese food may find their appetites are not satisfied in the Olympic Village during next year's Games, according to a menu distributed by the organizer.

Asian-style food including Chinese, Japanese and Korean dishes would together account for 30 percent of the menu designed for athletes in the Olympic Village," said Xiang Ping, deputy director in charge of the Games Service Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG).

She said that a preliminary menu had been drawn up and sent for expert appraisal, with results expected next month. "Western food will comprise most of the menu," she said.
She did not disclose whether the famous Beijing roasted duck or Kung Pao Chicken (diced chicken with peanuts) would appear on the menu.

Xiang said that there would be no religious segregation, such as a special Muslim canteen, in the Olympic Village. "The International Olympic Committee has suggested to BOCOG that the Games' spirit of sharing and harmony should surpass religious distinctions," said Xiang.
She said the menu would designate special dishes for athletes with religious dietary requirements.

Bionic Ball, Technology in the foot ball ....

2007-12-14T21:27:00.000+05:30

A new "bionic ball" being tested at the Club World Cup in Japan could soon be a regular feature at FIFA tournaments, its developers said on Thursday.The technology, involving magnetic sensors that determine if the micro-chipped ball has crossed the goal line, has worked well so far, according to co-designers adidas and Cairos.

The developers added that feedback from the players at the seven-team competition had been positive."We are very satisfied," adidas's chief of FIFA Affairs Gunter Pfau told a news conference in Tokyo to demonstrate the ball's qualities. "No ball was damaged. All the systems have worked."An implanted microchip sends an instant signal to the referee's wristwatch to indicate if the whole of the ball has crossed the line.

courtesy : the daily star

Traditional Medicines @ Olympics 2008

2007-12-14T07:22:00.000+05:30

Athletes will be able to use traditional Chinese medicines at next year's Olympics without risking positive dope tests if they take basic precautions, a Beijing organising committee (BOCOG) official said on Tuesday.

Dr. Dai Jianping, who state media quoted last week as saying traditional medicines would not be used, said all Chinese drugs were subject to the same regulatory standards as those from the West."There is no direct relation between Chinese traditional herbal medicine and doping," Dai, who is responsible for medical services at the Games, told reporters."It has been around for several thousand years and is very healthy for the body. Like Western medicines it can protect the body. It would be like saying vitamin C is a kind of doping."Dai said China's drug administration had to approve all traditional medicines and, as in other countries, the ingredients were analysed and listed on packaging."After the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announces the banned list, we select those that can be used and those that can't," he said.

Chinese coach Ma Junren, whose long-distance runners broke several world records in the early 1990s, said his charges used traditional products such as turtle blood to help them achieve their fast times.

Green Bus

2007-12-09T11:25:00.000+05:30

The first batch of 20 double-decker, environment-friendly buses have been manufactured.

The diesel-run bus, upgraded to meet the national IV Emission Standard, is 90 percent domestically produced and extends 12 meters.

The steward-less bus adopts a passenger-friendly design in the floor layout, passenger flow, and seat material and maintains stability while being driven.

A total of 350 buses of this kind are expected to serve Beijing ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Ke Nako. Celebrate Africa's Humanity

2007-11-29T21:13:00.000+05:30

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World cup, an international tournament for football, that is scheduled to take place between11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. It will be the first time that the tournament has been hosted by a nation in theConfederation of African Football, leaving the Oceania football confederation as the only FIFA Confederation never to have hosted the event.

The logo for the 2010 FIFA world cup was recently unveiled

Venues

The final venue list was released for the World Cup: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg (two), Nelspruit, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria and Rustenburg.

The stadiums ..... venue for the victorious

2007-11-25T18:33:00.000+05:30

Hey some of the places where the action will happen at the Beijing 2008 olympics ...... be there to watch the fun, atleast be glued to your TV sets to watch the action.

Pin the hopes

2007-11-17T16:06:00.001+05:30

The medal(s) for the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 is designed with inspiration coming from Bi ....... China's ancient Jade piece inscribed with Dragon ....

Fuwa - the mascots of Beijing Olympics 2008

2007-11-11T17:21:00.000+05:30

Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.
Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Bei Bei is the Fish, Jing Jing is the Panda, Huan Huan is the Olympic Flame, Ying Ying is the Tibetan Antelope and Ni Ni is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature -- the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky -- all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation.
Spreading Traditional Chinese Good Wishes Wherever They Go, In the ancient culture of China, there is a grand tradition of spreading good wishes through signs and symbols. Each of Fuwa symbolizes a different blessing -- and will honor this tradition by carrying their good wishes to the children of the world. Prosperity, happiness, passion, health and good luck will be spread to every continent as Fuwa carry their invitation to Beijing 2008 to every part of the globe.

At the heart of their mission -- and through all of their work -- Fuwa will seek to unite the world in peace and friendship through the Olympic spirit. Dedicated to helping Beijing 2008 spread its theme of One World, One Dream to every continent, Fuwa reflect the deep desire of the Chinese people to reach out to the world in friendship through the Games -- and to invite every man, woman and child to take part in the great celebration of human solidarity that China will host in the light of the flame in 2008.

courtesy : xinhua

Command centre - the nerve of the Beijing Olympics 2008

2007-11-08T19:32:00.000+05:30

Beijing's first government data pool and emergency command center has commenced operations.
The center will operate during and after the Olympics.
The Digital Beijing Building, located a few hundred meters northwest of the National Stadium, the main stadium for the Games, will be the central powerhouse of all statistical, visual and audio information from all 37 venues nationwide during the Olympics.
The center will be able to receive live images from spectator stands at all venues, sources told China Daily.

The center, 11 storeys high and two levels below ground, will continue to be the government's command headquarters in the event of an emergency after the Games.
"Here we have access to the cell phone network, the land phone network, the government's network and the police network, either cable or wireless networks. That's why we are able to respond as the command headquarters in times of an emergency," an official from the municipality's IT office, who requested anonymity, said.
"Because we have been working with five telecom and Internet service providers, we are basically a telecom headquarters."
Experts said that with such a network, the city would be able to track phone and Internet communications in the event of a terrorist attack.
"Unlike the US where reportedly 100 percent of phone communications and 80 percent of Web communications are monitored, our country has not obtained advanced technologies like that," said Liu Jianwei, an electronics information expert from Beijing-based Beihang University.
"At the moment, problems like web communication filtering have not been solved. But I believe both citizens and the technical personnel should conduct themselves under the framework of the law."

courtesy : xinhua

Dry run @ Beijing

2007-10-31T11:10:00.000+05:30

Beijing has had to divert water from a willow-lined river northeast of the city to replenish its Olympics rowing and canoeing venue which has run dry, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.The municipal government had spent about 430 million yuan ($57 million) to divert water 13 km from the Wenyu river to the Chaobei river which had run dry for nine consecutive years, Xinhua cited deputy director of the Shunyi district reform and development commission Qin Yongjun as saying.

The Olympic rowing and canoeing centre in Shunyi was built especially for next August's Games and features a 3-km rowing lake which holds 1.7 million cubic metres of water.Beijing sits in the arid north China plain, where water tables are falling fast due to climate change and rising consumption by farmers and booming cities.The country has embarked on massive engineering projects to divert water from rivers feeding the south to the dry north.It is also starting to address the serious problem of pollution of water supplies from untreated city sewage, industrial waste and farm run-off

Xinhua said Shaanxi province, in the northwest, will build ten sewage disposal plants to reduce pollution in the Weihe River, the largest tributary of the Yellow River.
By 2010, it plans to build 40 sewage plants along the Weihe River, which receives more than 800 million tonnes of sewage and wastewater annually. The Weihe accounts for about 18 percent of the discharges in the Yellow River basin, the source of irrigation and drinking water for millions of people in the north.

Trivia # 2

2007-10-29T17:32:00.001+05:30

The Dead Sea is so called because of the high salt content of its waters. That spells instant death for fish that happen to wander in, as they occasionally do from the Jordan River. In fact it kills most animal and plant life--with the exception of tourists, who love the property of the salt water that makes it so easy to float on.

Bacteria survive in the Dead Sea, though, as do brine shrimp and a class of plants called halophytes that love salt water. So it's not entirely dead, although not exactly a wild and crazy place, either.

(Sources: The Handy Science Answer Book)

Answers for Quiz # 1

2007-10-26T11:25:00.000+05:30

Answers to the Quiz # 1 :-

1. Kothamangalam Subbu.
2. David Yates.
3. Minmini
4. Saritha.
5. Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor.
6. Karthik.

Soon with more ....

Quiz # 1

2007-10-23T13:02:00.000+05:30

1. On whose work was the Tamil classic Thillana Mohanambal based?
2. Who directed the last of the released Harry Potter movies?
3. Who sang A.R. Rahman’s path-breaking number ‘Chinna Chinna Aasai..” from Roja?
4. If it was Rati Agnihotri in Ek Dujje Ke Liye, who was it in the original Telugu (Maro Charitra)? 5. In the popular Hindi hit Amar Akbar Anthony, who played Amar and Akbar?
6. Which Tamil actor is credited under the name Murali in Telugu flicks?

Answer in my comments box / guest book .....
Correct Answers to be posted tomorrow .....

It's really small - ~the world around~

2007-10-22T13:08:00.000+05:30

One half of me was really surprised and the other (cynical one, i guess) was not equally surprised to see the same / similar posts in this link (of a Confused Calcuttan) and leading me to another link of Adino on my earlier post on East Vs West .......... (also check out the 3 depictions missed by me in Adino's post with topics : "Stomach Ache, Defnition of Beauty & Perception of Each other's culture")

This only makes you realise how small the world around you is !!!

Please visit the ORIGINAL of the East Vs West design too ....

errata : my earlier post said this design was conceived by Liu Young, But its actually Ms Liu Yang

Trivia # 1

2007-10-18T10:09:00.000+05:30

How are enormously heavy steel ships able to float?

They appear to defy basic laws of nature. But in fact, they're obeying a law of nature, buoyancy, which Greek mathematician Archimedes reportedly discovered while taking a bath. The trick in building ships so that they don't go straight to the bottom is to get the shape right. The vessel has to be configured so that it will be buoyant, displacing a volume of water weighing as much as it does. In other words, if an amount of steel equal to that in a giant tanker were rolled into a compact ball and dropped into the sea, bye, bye ball. But if the metal is spread out over a thousand feet, the ship can cross the ocean.

East vis-a-vis West

2007-10-11T10:11:00.000+05:30

A very interesting email hit my mailbox, this was a caricature based comparion of the various attributes of the Easterners (China, Malays, Indonesians, Thai, India .... mostly Asians) and of the Westerners ( i guess mostly eurpoeans).

Though some of them you don't tend to agree fully, but this brings smile and a nod to most of our lips. This was concieved by Liu Young, born in China & Educated in Germany.

The BLUE coloured ones depict Westerners

The RED coloured ones depict Easterners.

on Opinion :-

on Way of Life :-

on Punctuality :-

on Contacts :-

on Anger :-

on Queue when waiting :-

on Me :-

on Sundays on the road :-

on Party :-

on Inside a restaurant :-

on Travel :-

on Handling of problems :-

on Three meals a day :-

on Transporation :-

on Elderly in day to day life :-

on Shower timings :-

on Moods and Weather :-

on The BOSS :-

on What's trendy :-

on The Child :-

on Things that are new :-

Do you agree ? .............

Resignation ....... in a software firm

2007-10-05T16:00:00.000+05:30

Poetic Resignation

The name is good, the brand is big
But the work I do is that of a pig
The work or the brand; what is my way?
I don't know if I should stay.

To work, they have set their own way
Nobody will care to hear what I say
My will be NULL, they wont change their way
I don't know if I should stay.

The project is in a critical stage
But to do good work, this is the age
This dilemma is killing me day by day
I don't know if I should stay.

The money is good, the place is great
But the development is at a very small rate
Should I go for the work, or wait for pay
I don't know if I should stay!

The managers don't know what they talk
The team doesn't know where they walk
That's a bad situation, what say?
I don't know if I should stay.

I can go to any other place
But what if I get the same disgrace
I can't keep switching day by day
I don't know if I should stay.

The -ves are more, the +ves are less
Then why have this unnecessary mess
No more will I walk their way,
It's all done, I won't stay.

Thanks & Regards
Employee

Manager's Response

The decision is good or decision is bad
Only God knows still I am glad
Keep moving in life that is what I can say

If you feel right go in the same way
May god give you the work, the challenge you want
Anyway there is always a second chance
Chances are there, grab them snatch them
That is what I can say

Keep on jumping companies to get more and more and more....
That will keep you always a fore (Even to me)
From my experience I can tell you
Being in software development is like taking hell out of you
You are frustrated since you have no quality work
And you were frustrated because you had quantity work

It's always like that previous job was better than the current one
And expects the new job will be much better than this one
But what you get is a frustration level up to sun
Than you will again send the resignation like this one
This is all what I want to say

Have you completed all the formalities?
Filled the form and got it signed from department humanities (HR)
Once done you can take all your cash
But don't refer others as they will follow you're a*s.
At last I appreciate your contribution to the company
Even though there was not any....

You will keep a copy of this with you for FYI
Don't feel shy
As I also got it some time back from my old manger say Hi....
That is all what I want to say.

Thanks & Regards
Manager

Korea talks are for Real

2007-10-03T12:12:00.000+05:30

The leaders of the Koreas got down to talks on Wednesday after a cool start to a summit between two countries divided by decades of animosity, but news of a deal on unwinding Pyongyang's nuclear arms programme could lift the mood.

South Korea President Roh Moo-hyun has said he wants the summit with Kim Jong-il to ease tensions between the states, which are technically still at war, and help the economy of his impoverished northern neighbour. The international community is offering Pyongyang massive aid and an end to its isolation if it gives up atomic weapons.

Yesterday, Washington said it had approved a tentative deal reached at six-party talks in Beijing that would disable North Korea's Soviet-era nuclear complex by the end of this year.

The nuclear deal, almost exactly a year after the North conducted its first nuclear test, should ease pressure on Roh to force disarmament concessions out of Kim. Roh, in the final five months of an unpopular presidency, faces heavy pressure to come home with results from a summit which has been widely criticised as unlikely to achieve much.

Today's summit talks coincide with the day both states mark the legend of the foundation 4,300 years ago of the Korean nation.

Many analysts say the Seoul government is less fearful of the North's military threat it has lived with for decades than of its neighbour's collapse and the impact that would have on its own economy, Asia's fourth largest. That in turn means that Seoul sees spending billions on the gradual rehabilitation of the North Korean economy as in its own best interests.

Roh is expected to witness one of the North's typical mass games extravaganzas featuring goose-stepping soldiers, dancing schoolgirls and a large flip card animation section that promotes unification under the North's communist banner.