So far, this year has been full of annoyances and that’s what made me conclude this timeline but still life is truly unexpected (I am trying my hands on that).

Right now figuring out the ways to settle down at Chandigarh, looking out for some good place to put up etc. etc.

Here is the announcement – I know you all are missing me and this blog. Same is on my side (believe me). I will be trying to resume with full blogging by December 2008 but anything before that will be making me happier.

Till than…keep smiling

Last year, I had survived by keeping my computer shut and being with my family for a day and this year, again, I will try to repeat by being with my room-mates…hopefully will plan to go for a movie.

Here comes today’s history straight from Britannica. Today is birthday of legendry writer William Shakespeare (wikipedia). Of course Britannica is just another warehouse of information like Wikipedia but this information is more reliable as it is verified by thousands of recognized experts around the world but then the base model is taken up directly from Wikipedia of providing reliable information free of cost. Ultimately, it can happen that whole web-based Britannica Encyclopedia will be made available for free to everyone.

Still I will love to stick with Wikipedia for now as I have been more familiar as well as comfortable in searching over there and then it is just one year of free subscription for Britannica…not sure if it going to last forever. Will be linking to Britannica now and then where I found better description of subject. Also I like the interface provided by Britannica which is AJAX based (oh btw I couldn’t find AJAX topic related to Information Technology over Britannica)!

Anyway if you are a blogger, you can claim your free membership for Britannica here.

Here comes Flickr Video and thousands of people are protesting against it. Here are two groups over Flickr raising their sound over unexpected service over Flickr - We Say NO to Videos on Flickr and NO VIDEO ON FLICKR!!!.

Hats off to copy rights in Web 2.0!!

Wishing you all a very

Happy Baisakhi

and

start of new Indian Year (Vikrami Samvat)

I am celebrating Baisakhi / Vaisakhi by being at my hometown - Hoshiarpur.

Je dinda na akkhian rab sanu
Das kidda tera deedar karde
Akkhan milian taan mileya tu sanu
Das kidda na tenu pyar karde
Har mod te pain bhulekhe tere
Das kithe ruk ke tera intzar karde
Je milda sajna tu har ik janam vich
Tenu kabul asi har bar karde
Ik tere nal zindgi hun sadi
Asi pyar nahi bar bar karde!

(via)

Kadi apni hasi utte v aunda gussa
Kadi jag nu hasaun nu ji karda
Kadi ronda nai dil kise di maut utte
Kade aive hi roun nu ji karda
Kadi ajnabi da saath v lagda changa
Kadi apne v lagde begane jehe
Kadi mangda dil ik hor zindagi
Kadi eh mitaun nu ji karda

(via)

As sent by Anish -

Ek pyaar se bhara dil tha
jiske armaano ko palko par sajaya karti thi……
ek masoom si ladki thi…….
mohabbat ke khwaab dekha karti thi……..

Ek chehra banakar khayalon mein
phir us chehre ko bheed mein dhoonda karti thi….
kaisi paagal ladki thi
ek khayal ko dhunda karti thi……..

Aksar banati ret ke mehal saahilon par
phir un mehalon mein ghar apna basaya karti thi…….
kaisi naadan ladki thi……
saahil ki mitti se ghar banaya karti thi……..

Kai baar dekha use phulon se baatein karte
kuch keh kar unke kaano mein
khud hi sharmaaya karti thi..
kaisi ek ladki thi…
phulon se bhi sharmaaya karti thi…..

Likh kar hatheli par koi naam hamesha
phir us naam ko mitaya karti thi
shayad naasamajh hi thi
dil par likha tha jo,
use haathon se mitaya karti thi………

Jaane kahan kho gayi wo
abto aksar aaine mein dhunda karti hun……
wo ladki jo aaina dekh
bewajaah muskuraya karti thi…..
banakar ajeeb se chehre
sabko hasaya karti thi……..
badi ajeeb ladki thi……..
har kisi ko sataya karti thi……..

Mohabbat ne hi tod diye
uske sab armaan
jinhe wo bade pyaar se
palkon pe sajaya karti thi…….
shayad duniya bhi bhool jaye usse
par waqt na bhula payeega……
ki ek masoom si ladki thi…
khawaabon ke seher mein raha karti thi………..!!!!!!!!!!!!

(source)

There are nice editing features including effect preview as you get to see in Adobe Photoshop but keyboard shortcuts are missing. Everything is integrated inside Adobe Flash.

Only the basic features are provided for editing the photos as Adobe is planning to come up with paid edition in future.

It gives you sharing options and 2 GB of storage space. Also allows you to bring photos from other photo-sharing and social-network websites like Picasa. Photos can be organized in albums.

I will prefer to wait for international launch of Photoshop Express.

After installing the app, you can just right click on any page and generate the TinyURL for that.

A website for Nice-O-Holics where you can get ideas about doing something nice to others.

Not sure what are the changes Google team has been adding behind the scenes.

Here is the graph and from it, even a novice in share market can figure out about the period when bid happened -

(directly taken from Google Finance)

It pays to be at higher place and still getting a bidder from someone a level higher…Yahoo! cashed it very well.

Here are few advertisements from Virgin Mobile being floated over TV these days -

And now Virgin Mobile is following me on Twitter . One more Hatke (different) thinking (as they promote) from provider…

Beware the communities and groups you associate yourself with on social networking sites. If your interests contradict how you present yourself on your resume, you could land into big trouble

I don’t agree with that. If you fulfil the job requirements and thrash the interview, there is very minor chance that still any employer would like attention to these details. And Digit devoted 2+ pages over that…

PS: I have been reading this monthly tech tabloid for exactly last eight years and is my favorite tech paper-based magazine.

—————-
Now playing: Maine Tere Liye Hi Saat Rang Ke Sapne Chune (Anand)

Roomies: Myself and Pankaj in stolen moments from rest of world

Ek Chutki code ki keemat tum kya jaano HR Babu?

Ishwar ka ashirwaad hota hai ek chutki code

Developer ke sar ka taj hota hai ek chutki code

Har bench resource ka khwaab hota hai ek chutki code

Bugs ka bhandaar hai ek chutki code

TL ki shikayat ka aadhar hai ek chutki code

Release ke samay ninde udata hai ek chutki code

Nanhe se logic ke liye 1000 line ka hota hai ek chutki code

Back pain karata hai ek chutki code

Tension se takla kar deta hai ek chutki code

Per phir bhi hume salary dilata hai Yeh ek chutki code!!

Hamari Hindi filmon ki tarah hamare

Projects mein aakhir tak sab kuch theek ho jaata hai …

Happyzz Endingzzz …

Aur agar aisa na ho to samjho

Project abhi baaki hai mere DOST ……

Thank you, Anish

Watched Race on Friday. Wasn’t too hard to get ticket for house-full show. It got the twists which keeps to struck to your seats and forces you to keep your eyes open in whole movie. I think even Abbas-Mastan wouldn’t have ever thought before that they will be making such a twisted movie. Nice movie told in short and not having very good story especially when I can catch the story suspense part within 30 seconds of its occurrence. Music as well as the background music effects in this movie were good.

Rating: 7.5 / 10

Life is Beautiful (6/10) - Really it is if you dare to overlook the woes of wars. (Wanted to watch it because I had overheard once someone saying that this was the one most justified movie to win Oscar.)

Pink Panther (1963) (5/10) - Wasn’t too funny. The later version of movie is funnier.

Super Star (6/10) - Luck plays a big role, according to such movies but you should still keep trying for better.

The Pursuit of Happyness (3/10) - A crap like by so many people who think that happiness comes with money. Warning - It is a very very serious movie.

Seven (7/10) - One shouldn’t be too brittle to stick to rules but should keep trying to make others follow them in easier way. At least I came to know about the seven sins although now the number has increased. Following from old version -

Sins:

• Pride
• Envy
• Gluttony
• Lust
• Anger
• Greed
• Sloth

Virtues:

• Chastity
• Temperance
• Charity
• Diligence
• Patience
• Kindness
• Humility

New Sins:

• Environmental pollution
• Genetic manipulation
• Accumulating excessive wealth
• Inflicting poverty
• Drug trafficking and consumption
• Morally debatable experiments
• Violation of fundamental rights of human nature

At sometime I was worried about drivers for my recently acquired Digital Camera which wasn’t getting recognized on my laptop (dv6500) previously even after installing the drivers provided along-with the camera but after installing Vista SP 1, Vista started recognizing it - first good thing happened to me after installing Service Pack other than that lot of unused clutter was removed from primary drive during installation although installation easily took half an hour .

32 bit - Windows Vista Service Pack 1 x86

 

64 bit - Windows Vista Service Pack 1 x64

Dry Smile

with

Silent Screams

I saw people going out from work not to turn back

The news went like - 36% of scientists at NASA are Indians: Govt survey.

Of course, any Indian will get interested in reading more of this news after going through such interesting title and getting into detailed news, you get to know that there are 34% Indian employees at Microsoft and 17% at Intel. Voila what a feeling you get specially knowing that these all facts are provided by our own minister of state for HRD, D Purandeshwari in Rajya Sabha (Parliament House).

Just imagine, how thrilled you will feel when you will be getting a similar mail with title - Be A Proud Indian with lot and lot of facts listed down in subject. One such mail I had received in year 2005 and along-with many facts, it contained lot of false data. Find the content of mail below with the link over Internet. And after about three years to that, our minister is presenting all those numbers as facts without checking their truthfulness. Three years is quite long time. Even if minister had figured out that it is 3 years old data, he might had refrained from sharing it but looks like he was in very much hurry to share them in defense of the country’s higher education system and the state of research.

I wouldn’t be getting into details about minister even knowing about him more than average but these are we Indians who select such leaders and should be ready to bear with such statements.

Here is the excerpt of news -

 

36% of scientists at NASA are Indians: Govt survey

NEW DELHI: If you thought that Global Indian Takeover was just a hollow cliche leaning on a few iconic successes like Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi, Citibank’s Vikram Pandit and steel world’s Lakshmi Mittal, there is a slew of statistics now to give it solid ballast.

The extent to which desis have made an impact in the US was reeled off in the Rajya Sabha — as many as 12% scientists and 38% doctors in the US are Indians, and in NASA, 36% or almost 4 out of 10 scientists are Indians.

If that’s not proof enough of Indian scientific and corporate prowess, digest this: 34% employees at Microsoft, 28% at IBM, 17% at Intel and 13% at Xerox are Indians.
And the House of Elders also heard some startling facts about a country that’s still stuck with a Third World tag — 20% of gold in the world is used by Indians and nine out of 10 diamonds used in the world are made in India.

The figures of Indian successes were given to the Rajya Sabha on Monday by D Purandeshwari, minister of state for HRD, in defence of the country’s higher education system and the state of research.
Purandeshwari said that although a lot needed to be done to encourage research, it was wrong to run down the country’s higher education system since most Indians who excelled abroad were products of Indian institutions.

He said there was no slackness in research and the number of PhD holders had gone up from 17,898 two years back to 18,730 last year.

It also raises the finger on our media, as how much reliable it is. A newspaper like Times Of India which boasts of being the most read English daily in India prints out such news without any pre-research and next day it publishes the outcome from junta and blames minister for all the confusion. Then I recall the quote from Die Hard 4.0 said by Matt Farrell that all the news are fabricated and shouldn’t be trusted.

You can see the heated responses of newspaper readers from all over the world over comments section of same news.

Here is the news printed by Times Of India next day declaring it as a hoax -

 

India rising in US: Govt falls victim to net hoax

WASHINGTON: It’s an Internet myth that has taken on a life of its own. No matter how often you slay this phony legend, it keeps popping up again like some hydra-headed beast.

But on Monday, the Indian government itself consecrated the oft-circulated fiction as fact in Parliament, possibly laying itself open to a breach of privilege. By relaying to Rajya Sabha members (as reported in The Times of India) a host of unsubstantiated and inflated figures about Indian professionals in US, the government also made a laughing stock of itself.

The figures provided by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Purandeshwari included claims that 38 per cent of doctors in US are Indians, as are 36 per cent of NASA scientists and 34 per cent of Microsoft employees.

There is no survey that establishes these numbers, and absent a government clarification, it appears that the figures come from a shop-worn Internet chain mail that has been in circulation for many years. Spam has finally found its way into the Indian parliament dressed up as fact.

Attempts by this correspondent over the years to authenticate the figures have shown that it is exaggerated, and even false. Both Microsoft and NASA say they don’t keep an ethnic headcount. While they acknowledge that a large number of their employees are of Indian origin, it is hardly in the 30-35 per cent range.

The story has attracted withering scrutiny and criticism on the Times of India’s website, with most readers across the world trashing it. "The minister should be hauled up by the house for breach of privilege of parliament (by presenting false information based on hearsay). We Indians are undoubtedly one of the most successful ethnic groups in USA, be it in Medicine, Engineering, Entrepreneurship. BUT, that does not translate to those ridiculous numbers that have been presented….this is a circulating e-mail hoax," wrote in Soumya from USA, who said he worked at the NASA facility in Ames, California, and the number was nowhere near what was mentioned in the figures given to Parliament.

"This minister (D.Purandeshwari, Minister of State for HRD)… should be held accountable for misleading the members of parliament and the citizens of India. This just shows how illiterate and mentally defunct the current Indian govt. is," wrote Anand from Melbourne.

Purandeshwari is not the first minister to use the dubious figures in a system where politicians depend heavily on their bureaucrats to furnish facts, figures, and speeches. Former home minister L.K.Advani used the same figures in a speech some years back on a visit to Washington DC.

Here is the original mail (with source) which I had received about three years back (news content in the end) -

Be A Proud Indian

FACTS TO MAKE EVERY Indian PROUD

Q. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
A. Vinod Khosla

Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the
today’s computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm

Q. Who is the third richest man on the world?
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Aziz Premji,
who is the CEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th
position now.

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world’s No.1 web
based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the
creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli

Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000,
responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika

Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

Q. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even
faring better than the whites and the natives.

There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

And yesterday, I came across another surprising news - From March 31, one can get money out of any ATM throughout the country irrespective of the fact to which bank one’s account belong to, by paying just Rs. 20 per transaction. This fee will be applicable till March 31 next year after which it will reduce to zero. Also there wouldn’t be any charge on balance checks.

Here is the news -

From Mar 31, pay Rs 20 for using any ATM

NEW DELHI: Customers will have to pay a maximum of Rs 20 for withdrawing cash from an ATM of another bank from March 31, 2008. However, balance inquiries will attract no charge with immediate effect.

The charge for cash withdrawal is only till March 31 next year, after which it will become zero. Aiming to make all ATM usage free from April 2009, the Reserve Bank of India on Monday said banks cannot charge for balance inquiries and capped the fee for cash withdrawals at Rs 20 per transaction, irrespective of the amount and the bank where the customer holds the account.

 
In a circular issued to all commercial banks, RBI also said that banks cannot charge their own customers for ATM usage, with immediate effect.

 

In the wake of the circular, a bank will not be able to charge more than Rs 20 for transactions carried out using the ATM card of another bank.

A movie raising concerns about national security and giving proud feeling of being Indian! Concept is wonderful but direction wasn’t up to the mark. I couldn’t figure out why it happens that whenever I go to watch out a movie with Pavan, it comes out to be patriotic. Last time, it was Rang De Basanti exactly one year back.

Rating: 7/10

Sweet November

As sweet as one can expect when you do something good to others without expecting anything in return. Long time and I haven’t come across such people! Not a digestible end but they happen and I know…

Rating: 9/10

Notting Hill

Heard a lot about it but didn’t find it sweater or more logical than Sweet November.

Rating: 6/10