m-i-s-c-e-l-l-a-n-y

Google Buzz - phasing out

2011-10-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

Google is retiring its Buzz services - Looks like this never picked up and in face of Google Plus, is the right thing to do.
I have been using this so just thinking two minutes about this.

SIMPLICITY

2011-10-16T01:20:00.001-07:00

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication," observed the genius & greatest
painters of all time, Leonardo DaVinci.

"We, who have so much, must do more to help those in need. And most of all,
we must live simply, so that others may simply live," noted the American
actor and environmentalist, Edward Begley Jr. Mahatma Gandhi put it even
more simply when he instructed his countrymen thus: "Live simply so that
others may simply live."

All over the place, we observe people saying and doing things in a
complicated way. The German-born poet, Charles Bukowski calls this the work
of the intellect. He says, "An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard
way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way." Charles Mingus, the
American jazz musician, composer and civil rights activist, put this
slightly differently when he said, "Making the simple complicated is
commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple - that's
creativity."

Bhagvad Gita, termed and accepted as the king of education, the most
secret of all secrets - by common men & philosophers world-wide - also
discusses this attribute at more than a couple of places. It lists
simplicity as a divine quality (in Verse 16.1) and a knowledge item (in
Verse 13.8). But, what is this simplicity? And, how should one go about
cultivating this sophisticated of all qualities?

Discussing knowledge (in Verse 13.8), divine qualities (in Verse 16.1) and
austerity of the mind (in Verse 17.16), the same Bhagavad gita offers an
answer to these questions. Accordingly, simplicity (or 'aarjavam' in
sanskrit) means - without diplomacy - one should be so straightforward that
he can disclose the truth even to an enemy. To cultivate this quality, it
recommends (in Verse 17.16) that the mind be devoid of duplicity (called
'saumyatvam' in sanskrit). And this, it says, is possible only when we
think of the welfare of all.

So, the secret is to keep the mind free from duplicity, placing others'
interests ahead of self. Experience and conditions come and go,
complications arise and fall away, but the simple man alone is loved and
remembered in the long run!

Navratri

2011-09-28T09:12:00.001-07:00

It is believed that Goddess Durga on her 10 day journey around the earth
removes all evil.......

May Goddess Durga destroy all evil around you and fill your life with
happiness and prosperity.

Rajni Mania

2011-09-22T23:32:00.001-07:00

Rajnikant was bragging to Amitabh Bachchan one day,
"You know, I know everyone.
Just name someone, anyone,
and I know them.
Tired of his boasting, Amitabh called his bluff,
"OK, Rajini how about Tom Cruise?"
"Sure, yes, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it" Rajini said.
So Rajini and Amitabh fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door,
And sure enough, Tom Cruise shouts: ---
"Thalaiva! Great to see you!
You And your friends come right in and join me for lunch!"
...Although impressed, Amitabh is still skeptical.
After they leave Cruise's house,
he tells Rajini that he thinks Rajini knowing Cruise was Just lucky.
"No, no, just name anyone else" Rajini says
.."President Obama", Amitabh quickly retorts
..."Yes", Rajini says,
"I know him."
And off they go.
At the White House, Obama spots Rajini on the tour and motions him, saying :----
"Rajini, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting,
but you and your friend come on in and let's have a cup of coffee first and catch up".
Well, Amitabh Bachchan is much shaken by now,
but still not totally convinced.
After they leave the White House grounds,
he implores him to name anyone else.
"The Pope," Amitabh Bachan replies
..."Sure!" says Rajini,
"My folks are from Italy and I've known the Pope a long time".
Rajini and Amitabh are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Rajini says,
"This will never work.
I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people.
Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope."
And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican ..
Sure enough, half an hour later Rajini emerges with the Pope on the balcony.
But by the time Rajini returns,
he finds that Amitabh Bachchan has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.
Working his way to Amitabh Bachchan's side,
Rajini asks him,
"What happened?"
Amitabh Bachan looks up and says,
"I was doing fine until you and the pope came out on the balcony
and the Italian man next to me asked,
*
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"Who's that on the balcony with Rajini?"

How social networking can harm you?

2011-09-20T10:50:00.001-07:00

Here is an interesting observation from a leading newspaper about social networking. Read here for details:

Be careful when using social networking

Meet GOOGLE PLUS – new social networking avatar

2011-09-03T00:32:00.001-07:00

LiveJournal Tags: Google Plus Social networking

Looks like Google is trying its hand on social networking with its new project Google Plus. Not much is available about the project, but it seems that various social networking items are rechristened. Have a look at the following:

1. Hangouts – Looks like this is similar to video conferencing.

2. Circles – Your circle, you and your friends. We already have it, Orkut, Facebook, Linked-in. How many social profiles can you manage?

3. Sparks – Way to find out about your interests, etc. Wasn’t buzz was something similar.

I really doubt that this project is just basic what I have wrote above and seriously hope that there is more to it. But the question is, this has to be really remarkable if it has to succeed. We have already seen people moving from Orkut, which was a huge success few years ago, to facebook. It can happen again, from Facebook to GooglePlus, lets wait and see.

Note: The +1 button below is the building block of this project.

Two Cover drives and a straight one

2011-08-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

LiveJournal Tags: Sachin Tendulkar,Cricket,India Vs England

This is how the Indian reply to England can be summed up. One of them is hit by the maestro, Mr Tendulkar and One by ever dependable, The Wall, but had so much of contrast. I am not sure how critics would react as the one played by T did not have noticeable feet movement, just shifting of the body weight and meeting the red cherry with the meat of bat and you would say, wow, exquisite timing. Second played by Rahul had some movement, adjustment of feet and same effect the bat meeting the ball at the right moment. Again a gasp and a chase which resulted in ball winning the race.

Pic.- Sachin coming to out to bat at Lords

Would have been better if it this was first boundary hit by Tendulkar, but thanks to KP, an overthrow resulted in the first boundary by the great man. Meanwhile I forgot the straight drive hit my the newcomer, Abhinav Mukund, well to me, it was the shot of the morning. Though he missed out on a well deserved half century, looks like the lad has the temperament to go further. Time only will tell, though.

Can’t help but have to react to the remarks by KP, these are just mind games, the big man looks supremely fit and the way he is batting, he can get out in only two ways, either playing an atrocious shot, which is unlikely, or done in by a jaffer. We never know, though, Cricket is a stragne game and the people who play the game are even stranger. Remember Kapil Dev hitting out four sixes in a row when India was nine wicket down and struggling to avoid follow on or Tendulkar hitting 241 without playing a single cover drive.

Thats it for now. Going to catch the telly.

Who will (NOT) win the WORLD CUP !!!

2011-02-28T23:45:00.001-08:00

India – certainly not for one reason, bowling (fielding too). One thing is for sure that with this kind of bowling attack, one team cannot survive three KOs. How strong the batting line up may be, you cannot rely on batsmen to pull the games for you. It is one thing to make a big score and survive once, but if you want to win tournaments, you will certainly going to have tons of luck.

Pakistan team has more balance, Australia is certainly having thought of their bowling attack, South Africa has good balance. The fourth semis option is wide open and I would not bet on India, this could be SL, ENG or IND.

After a long time, there are no clear favourites. Good for CRICKET.

T-Shirt Signs

2011-01-26T00:49:00.001-08:00

Interesting T-Shirt signs.

Moments from Indian Cricket

2011-01-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

Featured here are some famous pictures related to Indian Cricket. These pictures will surely evoke some emotions to the cricket loving people in India.

1. Miandad doing acrobatics in 1992 world cup. Pakistan eventually lost this to India. He was bowled by Srinath in this match.

2. Sourav Ganguly celebrating at Lords after India defeated England in NatWest final. Andres Flintoff took off his shirt in Mumbai and many still think that Ganguly was returning the favour.

3. Aamir Khan losing his wicket after pakistan was making good progress while chasing India’s 289. There were few words exchanged and Prasad also did the talking not only with the ball, but through his lips as well. M J Akbar put it aptly that Aamir lost his temper, lost his wicket and lost his match as well. Yes, he was captain in that match. This match also was jadeja’s exploits with the bat. Sachin made 31 and Sidhu was named man of the match for his 94.

When Shoaib Akhtar refused to bowl

2011-01-08T09:20:00.001-08:00

This is fact and not fiction. I was watching telly and had a chance to watch replay of 2003 world cup match between India and Pakistan. Wasim Akram said that Shoaib was bowling second over and he was hit for a six (upper cut) by Sachin Tendulkar. He was hit all over the park and did not come to bowl in fourth over.(this was bowled by Waqar). The initiative was with India and they did complete a famous win that day.

This match was played at Centurion. This photograph is of Sachin Tendulkar after reaching his half century.

Twitemail

2011-01-07T08:05:00.001-08:00

There is a new application which makes updating the twitter account very easy by just sending an email. By registering on this site you receive an email and once this is done, you are just required to send an email to this twitemail account.

In the background, twitemail creates a webpage and posts the link on the twitter, all behind the scenes. Nice app.

This also advertises your site as your links are available on one more site.

After sending an email, the email is published as a link followed by the subject line as following

and this is what you will find on twitemail site:

and the link shown here is the link to THIS post.

(for programmers; The this pointer is explained)

Site Review – Dropbox.com

2011-01-03T21:27:00.001-08:00

I started using and immediately liked it, but yesterday I detected a problem that a person needs to have an administrator access on XP in order to use it. This is not a problem in Vista but definitely a big dampener for XP. Hope they are doing something about it as the forum also does not provide any solution to this. Could not find any satisfactory answer on forums as well. Would definitely like to use this.

A good product but above problem is already hurting them.