much ado About nOthing~!!

9 Safe investments in India for a middle income householder

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:07:00 +0000

Hmmm, I was looking for some 'safe' investment options for investment in these troubled times of bad politics and worse market fluctuations ...when I came across this kinda old article in rediff.com(Which in turn, had been taken by rediff from Sunil Dhawan, Outlook Money).. Well, reading it turned out to be pretty interesting and worth sharing as it not only listed out the options but also mentioned the pros and cons of the stuff. It even featured some of the commonly held myths on investments and busted them... and so without further ado, here is the link:
"The 9 safest investments for you"

Just to summarise, as per the article, the 9 safest investment options are:

Bank Deposits (the usual suspect)
Public Provident Fund (a very good tool when you desire to have a certain amount of tax saving edge to your investments)
National Savings certificate. (good tax saving tool which can tailored for every pocket, easy to procure and for people who are not looking for a regular income kinda outcome to the investment)
Senior Citizens Saving Scheme (one of the best tool for retired individuals)
Post Office Monthly Income Schemes (another reliable and easily available scheme. albeit, personally I feel the ROI is a little bad).
8 per cent Taxable Savings Bonds (these are an alternative to the Post office scheme with a half yearly interest payment option and no upper investment limit)
Kisan Vikas Patras (interest on this tool is fully taxable but it has been a reliable item to investment when looking to supplement existing investments to have something set aside for a future expenditure)
Time deposits (available from both banks and Post Offices. not very attractive tools where interests are fully taxable better to go for section 80c enabled FD tools)
Recurrind depostis (another tool available from both Post Offices and Banks. Banks offer the more attractive option in this)

The First Grader.....

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 19:22:00 +0000

Stumbled across this old joke. Long, yet quite funny! ( BTW .. IIM Ahmedabad is currently the best B-School in India, in case you haven't heard of it)

A beautiful teacher was having trouble with one of her students in 1st Grade class. teacher asked,'Boy. What is your problem?'
Boy answered, 'I'm too smart for the first-grade.My sister is in the third-grade and I'm smarter than she is! I think I should be in the 4th Grade!'

Teacher had enough. She took the Boy to the principal's office. While the Boy waited in the outer office, teacher explained to the principal what the situation was. The principal told teacher he would give the boy a test and if he failed to answer any of his
questions he was to go back to the first-grade and behave.She agreed.
the Boy was brought in and the conditions were explained to him and he agreed to take the test..
Principal: 'What is 3 x 3?'
Boy.: '9'.

Principal: 'What is 6 x 6?'
Boy.: '36'.

And so it went with every question the principal thought a 4th grade should know. The principal looks at teacher and tells her, 'I think Boy can go to the 4th grade.'

Teacher says to the principal, 'I have some of my own questions.
Can I ask him ?' The principal and Boy both agreed.

Teacher asks, 'What does a cow have four of that I have only two of'?
Boy, after a moment 'Legs.'

Teacher : 'What is in your pants that you have but I do not have?'
Boy.: 'Pockets.'

Teacher : What starts with a C and ends with a T, is hairy, oval,
delicious and contains thin whitish liquid?

Boy.: Coconut

Teacher : What goes in hard and pink then comes out soft And sticky?
The principal's eyes open really wide and before he could stop the answer, Boy was taking charge.

Boy.: Bubblegum

Teacher : What does a man do standing up, a woman does sitting down and a dog does on three legs?

The principal's eyes open really wide and before he could stop the answer...
Boy.: Shake hands

Teacher : You stick your poles inside me. You tie me down to get me up. I get wet before you do.
Boy.: Tent

Teacher : A finger goes in me. You fiddle with me when you're bored. The best man always has me first.
The Principal was looking restless, a bit tense and took one large Patiala Vodka peg.
Boy.: Wedding Ring

Teacher : I come in many sizes. When I'm not well, I drip. When you blow me, you feel good.
Boy.: Nose

Teacher : I have a stiff shaft. My tip penetrates. I come with a quiver.
Boy.: Arrow

Teacher : What word starts with a 'F' and ends in 'K' that means lot of heat and excitement?
Boy.: Fire truck

Teacher : What word starts with a 'F' and ends in 'K' & if u don't get it, u have to use ur hand.
Boy.: Fork

Teacher : What is it that all men have one of it's longer on some men than on others, the pope doesn't use his and a man gives it to his wife after they're married?
Boy.: SURNAME.

Teacher : What part of the man has no bone but has muscles, has lots of veins, like pumping, & is responsible for making love ?
Boy.: HEART.

The principal breathed a sigh of relief and said to the teacher,

'Send this Boy to
IIM AHMEDABAD,
I got the last ten questions wrong myself!'.

Unable to attract a single girl, frustrated man sues Axe

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:42:00 +0000

New Delhi. In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company, which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for 'cheating' and causing him 'mental suffering'. The plaintiff has cited his failure to attract any girl at all even though he's been using Axe products for over seven years now. Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in instantly attracting women.

Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used, unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes, shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the brand managers of Axe. Vaibhav was pushed to take this step when his bai (maid) beat him with a broom when he tried to impress her by appearing naked in front of her after applying all the Axe products.

No girl ever asked Vaibhav to call her

"Where the !@#$ is the Axe effect? I've been waiting for it for over seven years. Right from my college to now in my office, no girl ever agreed to even go out for a tea or coffee with me, even though I'm sure they could smell my perfumes, deodorants and aftershaves. I always applied them in abundance to make sure the girls get turned on as they show in the television. Finally I thought I'd try to impress my lonely bai who had an ugly fight with her husband and was living alone for over a year. Axe effect my foot!" Vaibhav expressed his unhappiness.

Vaibhav claims that he had been using all the Axe products as per the company's instructions even since he first bought them. He argued that if he couldn't experience the Axe effect despite using the products as directed, either the company was making false claims or selling fake products.

"I had always stored them in cool and dry place, and kept them away from direct light or heat. I'd always use a ruler before applying the spray and make sure that the distance between the nozzle and my armpit was at least 15 centimeters. I'd do everything they told. I even beat up my 5-year-old nephew for coming near my closet, as they had instructed it to keep away from children's reach. And yet, all I get is a broom beating from my ugly bai." Vaibhav expressed his frustration.

Vaibhav claims that he had to do go a lot of mental suffering and public humiliation due to the lack of Axe effect and wants HUL to compensate him for this agony. An advocate in Karkardooma court, who happened to mistake Vaibhav for some deodorant vendor when he entered the court premises with all the bottles, has now offered to take up his case in the court. HUL has been served a legal notice in this regard.

HUL has officially declined to comment on the case citing the subject to be sub judice, but our sources inform that the company was worried over the possible outcomes of the case. The company might argue that Vaibhav was hopelessly unattractive and unintelligent and didn't possess the bare minimum requirements for the Axe effect to take place. Officially HUL has not issued any statement, but legal experts believe that HUL could have tough time convincing the court.

"HUL might be tempted to take that line of argument, but it is very risky. There is no data to substantiate the supposition that unattractive and unintelligent men don't attract women. In fact some of the best looking women have been known to marry and date absolutely ghoulish guys. I'd suggest that the company settles this issue out of court." noted lawyer Ram Jhoothmalani said.

Please help....

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:40:00 +0000

"Jai Ho!" : The Pussycat Dolls version

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:22:00 +0000

I recently saw this pussycat dolls' version of Jai Ho!. Well, I dunno if just me, or did u also notice? that, day by day the presence of the other members of the "band" (???) is growing smaller and smaller than Nicole's in any of the videos. No offence to all u Nicole fans, but I guess its just a lil justice if the others get some air time atleast and not just measly, out of focus camera jabs dat they are being subjected to in the videos. Wonder how they stand upto this. I think maybe its cos they think they'd be nothing without her..or maybe she is THE most hyper talented woman musician/magician who has them under her wicked spell . Anyways, I felt that all of them looked like drag queens at some points of the video....but since this is for the Nicole fans...the video follows....

T2 BOX SET ::: WTF?????

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 20:28:00 +0000

Well, all the cyborg talk of the last post led me to snoop around for Some T2 jewels...T2 or Terminator 2 is a movie I really, really, really , really like... it was like the most wonderful movie I had seen at that time, with all its SFx and stuff like dat... back in the glory days when we used to watch movies on VHS..(*sigh*),.,... So when i saw this foto in a site, I really rushed to see wat it was...well it was the T2 box set....and that quickly brings us to the next question...what is in the Box?...

Well, the following are the items in the box:

Terminator 2 Skynet Edition Blu-ray
Terminator 2 Extreme Edition DVD
Terminator 2 Ultimate Edition DVD
Terminator 2 Digital Copy
A 14" terminator endoskull which is the container for the said discs. This lil thing...actually lights up and makes wierd noses!!

This Terminator 2 Complete Collector's Set for just $120....now which moronic numb-skulls will buy four copies of the same dvd for that price???...well certainly not ME(ur still asking why?? cos i am not a moronic numb-skull, u numb-skull!) even though its like one of my favorite movies of all time ..hope u don't get duped by scooping up this stuff under the influence of terminator salvation fever (wat ? dont tell me u dont know the name of the forthcoming sequel to the terminator series)...By the way, during the same search for T2 stuff, i found some nice unreleased stuff from the T2 movie...will post them in some subsequent post ....
So 'til that time ..
Hasta la vista, baby

The day of the Cyborg draws near!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Just read it in one editorial of one of the newspapers dat I read... (actually i read only one ... was just feebly trying to show off some cerebral Machoism, by saying 'papers'!! heh heh) ...that some medical scientists may have taken quite a giant step towards one holy grail of Medical science....an implantable "Total Artificial Heart".

According to the article, a group of medical scientists from the The IIT Kharagpur's School of Medical Science and Technology, seemed to have devised an artificial heart, which it seems, can be made available for just Rs.100,000!!- thats 30 times cheaper than the ones avaialble abroad. The device is the result of 4 four years of effort ..which has resulted in the unique 13-chambered (and I thought the human heart had only four!!) prototype which is allegedly more reselient and tougher than any model available anywhere. It has already been succesfully tested on small animals like frogs etc..with tests on goats in the pipline (will be held around May...PeTA ppl hope u guys are reading this stuff?...so get ready for some action already !!... this technology needs some publicity..) After obtaining the requisite permisssions from the Indian Council for Medical Research, the inventors of the device, hope to go in for human implantation.....

Wat are the effects of this? well, for one, it catapults India into the 'cutting' edge arena for advanced prosthetic research... it also provides,and, in a way , accelerates the Judgment Day as told to Sarah Conner (Dunno wat i referring ? well, go and watch Terminator and Terminator 2... u dolt!) by providing a huge step towards the cheap and mass production of bionic ppl (otherwise known as cyborgs...hmmm, I know that Ur thinking i watch too much sci-fi...but hey don blame wen the day finally dawns on us....)....other side effects includes some stuff for humans by saving lives through providing cheaper alternative to saving lives of many ppl...wo know this may end up increasing the already swelling throngs of medical tourists to India...

But then one may also wonder dat till when this technology will be required? or who knows? by the time the tech is finally ready for use the regenerative medicine may itself get a boost of its own and thus make the prosthetic, a tech of yesterday .....

Uncyclopedia ::: get all ur "Un-Knowledge" Here !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Hmmm, random web-surfing leads you to some pretty wierd/novel/funny/shocking/yada yada sites. I found Uncyclopedia on one such random ride atop a strange wave in the vast "Internet-ic" Ocean....

Welcome to Uncyclopedia,
the content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
24,014 articles in English

.... are the words which welcome you on the home page ....leading you on to unlearn virtually everything that you have learnt since childhood...
A parody of the Wikipedia...this wiki of satire aims to be as expansive as its analogous site....and also operates in a pretty similar manner...'cept for the fact that the authors are supposed to write nothing but the absolute fiction about anything in the world (without being offensive of course, ...the times being troubling as they already are)...

Well, I found that I was behaving pretty much the same as in Wikipedia, wer I'd start in some random topic and keep drilling and wandering till I reached some wierdo page which is completely unrelated to wat I came searching there for in the first place...albeit the difference being that none of the pages were fact( fiction at its purest!!)...in general, the experience was quite fun ..though I found some articles too ridiculous to be funny (Guess i am too "smart" !!...hmmm now thats a fiction that'd make a good entry there heh heh).. Anyways, here's an excerpt which I think made quite a splash when it was published in the wiki :

The One True Monster

The Flying Spaghetti MONSTER is only called such because of his distinctly non-human form; we were not created in his image, not by a long shot.
“Let us sing praise to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, for He is a loving God. Of His might and dominion, there is no compare; of His mercy and deliciousness, there is no equal. No other god can challenge Him; in the taste test, He is invincible. Through His pasta, He has blessed us with everlasting life, and holy is His Name. For He is the Flying Spaghetti Monster: the One, True, and Most High God, creator of man and midgit, giver of pasta, giver of sauce, from age to holy age; not created He was, but ever He lives, through the glory of spaghetti, now and forever. R'Amen.”

~ Ishmali Camuwundra on the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Here's the Wikipedia page on its parody....

I think the wiki's worth one visit atleast .... to see how imaginative ppl can really be !!!

Live Earth is Cancelled !!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 08:25:00 +0000

The Live Earth show has been cancelled after the dastardly turn of events which have taken place in Mumbai....sad ..very sad..stupid $%^$heads with no sense of culture, music or humanity have but a stop on one of the greatest conglamoration of International artists for a cause so essential to every living creature on earth, in the name of religion....one more reason to be an atheist as I am.... I leave u with the excerpt of the Joint Statement by Liveearth.org and Kevin Wall:

Everyone involved with Live Earth India, from our U.S.- and India-based
staff, artists and crew to our India-based broadcast, production, non-profit and
marketing communications partners, is stunned and saddened by the tragic events
of the past few days in our host city Mumbai. We always felt very welcomed and
safe as we spent more time on the ground in Mumbai to finalize plans for Live
Earth India, scheduled for December 7.
Due to circumstances far beyond our control, we are saddened to announce that Live Earth India has been cancelled.
We will continue to work for solutions to the climate crisis for the good of the
people of India and around the world. But for now, our thoughts and our prayers
are with the victims of this terrible attack, with the bereaved, with the people
of Mumbai and with everyone in India.

Updates for the already purchased tickets will be available via liveearth.org within a few days

Live Earth India:::tickets available and performers line-up announced finally!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:35:00 +0000

Its finally announced folks!!!!!!...the line up to the mother of all concerts in India and also how and wat u need to do to get there ppl.....!!!!

Really, super duper, adrenalinally, hyperactively excited to get the update...so without much of an ado will spill the beans ..the source to all this is from the Live Earth India website which is included as an enclosure to the post.

The Artists Line-up:

ROGER WATERS,
WILL.I.AM.,
ANOUSHKA SHANKAR,
ABHISHEK BACHCHAN,
AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN,
HRITHIK ROSHAN,
PREITY ZINTA,
BIPASHA BASU,
FARHAN AKHTAR,
ARJUN RAMPAL,
DIA MIRZA,
SHIAMAK DAVAR
Hard Kaur,
Jalebee Cartel,
Vishal & Shekhar,
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy,
Sunidhi Chauhan,
Sonu Nigam
Shaan.
BON JOVI
AMITABH BACHCHAN and others..

The Ticket information:
Music fans across India can purchase tickets for this once-in-a-lifetime concert today online at www.bookmyshow.com/liveearthindia, via phone on 39895050 and in-stores Rhythm House (South Mumbai), Hiro Music (Bandra) & Music World (Malad).Concert tickets are priced at Rs. 625, Rs. 1250 and Rs. 2500.

If u dont get these, u can still catch the show online on MSN Live..the online partner to the concert or on the Telly with Star Tv's Channel [V].

So wat are u looking at??? ...go get 'em tickets before they all run out!!!!!!

click this link for more dope on this stuff

Hollywood Movie Releases of the Month ::: November 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Movie Releases for the month of November

Click on a movie title for more info on the Flick! (via Google Custom Search)

NOVEMBER 7, 2008

MADAGASCAR: ESCAPE 2 AFRICA - Starring Ben Stiller and Jada Pinkett Smith

REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA - Starring Alexa Vega and Paris Hilton
ROLE MODELS - Starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott
SOUL MEN - Starring Bernie Mac and Samuel L Jackson

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE - Starring Dev Patel and Freida Pinto

NOVEMBER 14, 2008

QUANTUM OF SOLACE - Starring Daniel Craig and Mathieu Amalric

NOVEMBER 21, 2008

BOLT - Starring John Travolta and Miley Cyrus
TWILIGHT - Starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson

NOVEMBER 26, 2008
AUSTRALIA - Starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman
FOUR CHRISTMASES - Starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn
MILK (Limited) - Starring Sean Penn and Josh Brolin

P.S: All Dates pertain to the USofA Box offices

Tell A Friend ::: New Twist to the bookmarking tale~!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:34:00 +0000

I came across "Tell a Friend" while looking for some tool which would allow for better bookmarking of my posts..and man! I really loved it!!. So, didn't waste any time in adding the lil thingy to my blog. (You'll notice it at the bottom of each of my posts)
Now we all know that when tongues wag, the lamest rumors become the hottest news.And, this is where "Tell a Friend" comes into the picture..(for the record though, I ain't implying that my posts are lame ok!!)

The site or rather the tool harnesses the power of "The Word of Mouth" (although its more like "word of fingers" in this case!!) concept of marketing ur goods .

The explicit video that I have posted (source: from tellafriend.socialtwist.com) will allow for the better understanding of this concept..as will the learn-more page here.
What struck me about the thing are two things...the ability to send messages thru instant messengers and the high level of customizability (see! i know long words too!!). Man, you can even customize the pop-up window!!. Hmmm mention of the pop-up brings me to a major highlight...cos using tell a friend..u can spread the fire without leaving the page...unlike almost all the similar available widgets..now aint that cool!!
Coming from the horse's mouth:

It's free!
Just copy and paste. No integration or coding.
Users can share content across IM, Email or Social Networks
Users share content without leaving your site
Visitors can access their contact lists and easily reach out to their friends
Leverage trust-in-friends to spread the word
Have announcements which are context-rich

And to add to all this blitz, it also has the features like analytics, choose ur widget etc..(features which are, de rigueur these days). For corporate customers, they are packing in more goodies.(well its obvious of course!! cos they'd be showing them the dough, u freeloader!!).

Well, the guys have tied with a lotta bigshots for their promotion and seems they are going all out on this one. The people behind this have added fewer social bookmarking option leaving out a few important ones but, with its ability to send messages thru IM, it beats the pants off of its competition in terms of versatility. Check out the home page.
I give my thumbs up on this one (...and hopefully it'll be up for some time)

P.s: I noticed that this site is part of SocialTwist which is in turn a business of Pramati Technologies..home to India's own Application server...my kudos to them

So wat are u waiting for....

GRAN TORINO Theatrical Trailer ::: Prime Clint Eastwood~!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:04:00 +0000

Yippeee!!! Clint Eastwood's back!.. and how!!!!. I simply love this guy's movies man(Well I used to stubbornely hate Cowboy Westerns till I saw "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly"). He's pure genius...an institution in his own..he's a..ok ok I better stop gushing bout him and get onto business...

Well, many ppl were kinda hoping this movie would be a "Dirty Harry" sequel, thankfully, its not. Clint Eastwood seems to have come out with all guns blazin (quite literally) and a really kick-ass performance in yet another engaging movie from his stable (Hey thats wat i think after seeing this trailer alrite..don't blame me if u find it otherwise..but i think am pretty accurate wit my predictions ..remember Drona and Karzz? lol!)

The Director:
Clint Eastwood

The Cast/Starring:
Clint Eastwood, Cory Hardrict, John Carroll Lynch, Geraldine Hughes, Brian Haley, Dreama Walker, Doua Moua, Brian Howe, Sarah Neubauer, Lee Mong Vang, Nana Gbewonyo, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang, John Anton, Austin Douglas Smith, Ahney Her, Ramon Camacho, Rio Scafone, Anthony Moscato, Elvis Thao, Brooke Chia Thao, Sonny Vue, Jerry Lee, Chee Thao

The Story/Plot:
Its 'bout a disgruntled Korean War vet Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood), who sets out to reform his neighbor, a young Hmong teenager, who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possesion: his 1972 Gran Torino (For those who are wondering...its a Ford Car). And how, in true Clint Eastwoodian Tradition. ends up being their hero (not that he really wants to be) saving their backsides from some pretty badass bad blokes(the word pretty, here, doesn't imply the looks of the bad guys nor their derrieres ok just incase u have me politically misnderstood heh heh)...

My Take:
Looks like it'll be a good movie...its Clint all the way...and at his age he's really kicking butt..and i mean really!! (Big B look up and take notice). And as in all his movies, the human emotion factor is also high. So, looks like a movie dat I'll watch..have a look at the trailer and do tell wat u think urself ...is worth a dekko??

The Trailer:

Add Recent Posts and Recent Comments to Blogger ::: The Easiest Way~!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:27:00 +0000

Hmmm now this has been around for many days and not many talk about it even though lotsa ppl use the "Recent posts" and "Recent Comments" in the same way as I do but don't write 'bout it...( i wonder why??!!)....So "much ado About nOthing~!!" does wat its meant for ... ;) :p

How to Add "Recent Posts" / "Recent Comments" to Blogger
(and I am gonna tell it 2 u even if u already knew how to!)

Step1:
Click the Layout view of the respective blog in your Dashboard. You'll find that you have been directed to the page elements page.
Step2:
Click the "Add a Gadget" Link which you have on your Layout. This time something'll pop up...more precisely a pop up window.
Step3:
In that pop up window (the window from Step2 or did u forget already??) you'll find a gadget that goes by the name of "Feed" ...Click the Blue Button wit a white "plus" sign on it to the right side of the "Feed" gadget.
Step4:
On doing step3, you'll find the window's changed and now the silly thing's asking u to feed it some URL. Well, dont hesitate ...paste ur comments/Blog feed URL to it...the comments feed in my case is:
http://rajsharmablogs.blogspot.com/feeds/comments/default
And so this step will create for ME (not U awrite...use ur own feed for dat!!) a "Recent Comments" thingy
Click on the "continue" button.
Step5:
You'll find the window's changed again (the chameleon dat it is!!). Make the required changes you need and click the "Save" button.

Behold! a "Recent Comments" Widget to ur Blog... see? no sweat!!!...Repeat the steps for including a "Recent Posts" widget to your blog but while in Step4, just provide your blog feed URL
(e.g.: http://feeds.feedburner.com/rajsharmablogs)
instead of the Comments feed...to get ur desired results..

Hope u liked the post ...(and hopefully, i dint shove it down ur scrawny throats like the spinach of ur Yore!!)

'til l8r ....tk cr

Comment in same post page ::: Its here... finally!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:31:00 +0000

Its finally here!!...after spending many days in "Blogger in Draft" anonymity, the post comment on the same page that u see the post has become a feature in Blogger.com. Finally, i can comment in peace in a blogger blogpost without having to look at drab, redirected post comments page...good riddance!!! comments page!! (though it'll still be around if u post from the main page of the blog)

Display Favicon in Blogger ::: Faviconize Yourselves!! (New)

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:16:00 +0000

Well I had a personal favicon on my blog until today I discovered that the silly thing had disappeared!! ...so had a look under the blog's hood and did some tweaks and behold! the lil thingy's back!... So, since I underwent the entirely tiresome process of cut-pasting the one line of code, I've decided to document the entire process of putting in a Favicon for ur Blogger.com Blog (oh and by the way, u'll find it's a little different from other places). Here goes:

How to add a Favicon to your Blogger.com Blog (for Dummies!!!)

Create a favicon

Step1:

Make an image/logo that'll suit ur blog in an image editor (MS-Paint is one for starters)

Step2:

Convert the image to a favicon (.ico) file using any of the many online tools available out there in the Internet. I used www.html-kit.com for my favicon

Step3:

Host the image from some file hosting server that allows a direct access to the image file. I used my trusty 'ol Fileden.com account for this one.

Now add the freakin' favicon to ur Blog already!

Step1:

Step2:

In the dashboard, click on the layout link for the particular blog.

Step3:

On reaching the layout view, you'll get to see an "Edit HTML" link..click it!

Step4:

We've reached THE most important step now, so, pay attention!

Look for the title tag in the gibberish which will arise wen u click the "Edit Html" link.

Hopefully it look like:Below this, type the following additional gibberish:

Step5:
Click the "Save Template" button. Voila! u have a shiny new favicon.

well, many places may tell u to put ur <link> tag in the <head> section for putting the favicon into ur blog. But, you'll notice I have put mine below the <title> tag (which is still actually inside the <head> tag). Well, i recommend this different approach because Blogger.com appends the meta content in the <head> above the title of the blog while dishing out ur stuff to people and within that code, they have the code for the Blogger.com favicon as well and that was the reason why my favicon disappeared in the first place!.

Anyways u can learn more about favicons from here and there...

So until later ..ciao!!

Photofunia.com ::: Joyful Photo Fun!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 08:16:00 +0000

Hmmm not in wat ppl would call "Pink of Health" right now, which would explain my hiatus from posting to the blog. Well, now if u live in India and don't contract any kind of tropical fever once in a while then it'd be a real shame!! wouldn't it?? :P. Anyways, thanks for sticking in there....and doing wat the title of the blog says, "much ado about nothing~!!" lol.. really appreciate it...

Now getting down to business, something caught my eye in my friend Nischal Shetty's blog (u can spot it in my blogroll) and simply loved it.... Its a website called "Photofunia.com". The site is a online tool (yup!, yet another web 2.0 phenom!) for mashing and re-mashing ur pics ...online!. This website has some pretty cool photo-effects which it will render upon the photos that u provide the tool with. I tried it out wit some of my own fotos, which turned out some pretty interesting results...check out some of them below:
U can do all the Above stuff and more without having to be a Photoshop Wiz!! all at Photofunia.com

As of now, Photofunia.com has about 70 foto effects to chose from (but they all slightly differ from foto to foto ..which is good)..the facial recognition tech. is quite good actually but be sure to use a relatively bright foto or u might not get the effect u desire (read botched image!!)....anywz...its got my thumbs up on this one ...sooo wat u wating for? go.. go check it out!!

ciao!!

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ::: The Movie Teaser Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Hi!..I am back, wit a movie story.... finally!!

This time its the penultimate number in the Harry Potter series.. the darkest of the Harry movies yet released ..the Half Blood Prince...This movie is the second in the longer of the Harry Potter Series, the first of which, was the Order of the Phoenix, one, in my opinion, which was a damp squib. That was because the feature was much short in relation to the novel, which had deserved a longer attention, but the producers

seemed to think otherwise. Dunno wat this one will offer though.

This particular one continues with the awesome graphics and moments that the other movies of the franchise offer, superb sfx and gr8 performances... but it remains to be seen as to wat the movie, in its entirety offers.

The Director:

David Yates

The Cast/Starring:

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Alan Rickman,Tom Felton, Bonnie Wright.

The Plot/Story:

For those who came in late, this one starts with Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. In this part, he comes across a mysterious book which is said to belong to a person, who prefers to call himself the Half Blood Prince (owing to his roots of being part-muggle and part-wizard). This book, as Harry finds out, belonged to an old student of Hogwarts who was a genius, but like Harry himself, was an outcast to the vox-populi of the school.

The story also delves into the childhood of the Dark Lord, Voldemort and how he began to turn to his dark side ( reminded of Star Wars and Darth Vader anyone??) .....the more Harry reads the book of the Half Blood Prince, and the more similarities he finds between the Prince and himself...and the more determined he becomes to discover who the guy really was ....a mystery which is unraveled at very end of the story.

My Review:

Hmmm yea I will definitely watch it as this is my most favorite story amongst all in the magical Harry Potter saga (so will many other's cos of the huge fanbase the books enjoy.. and quite rightfully!!.. i might add). But, only this time will be seeing it wit slight apprehensions since the last movie when I had felt a Lil let down. As for the teasers and trailers ..well the performances look their usual marvelous selves....Daniel looks Harry..Mr. Fiennes exudes his usual, evil, nose less Voldemort persona...and Ginny's all grown up!!!...the child Tom Riddle (Marvelo) also appears to have been given some good riveting dialogues...mixed reactions on this one...

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince hits screens July 2009...Like the previous film, this film will be simultaneously released in regular theaters and IMAX 3-D....So, look out for it!!

'til then, watch and enjoy the teaser..

have fun an' make merry ...

10 Effective Ab Exercises ::: C'mon lets Workout !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Hmmm of late, I am being approached by people around me, asking wen the next blockbuster is gonna hit screens and wat my opinions 'bout it are(all thanks to my blog and the raving reviews dat i write ahem! ahem!)....well ppl, yea i like showbiz a lot(movies in particular) but I ain't no walking, talking movie encyclopaedia folks!! (or so i tend to think..). So, to shake things up a li'l, I have decided to change the topic for couple o' days....but nothing to worry the movie trailers and reviews will keep coming, cos 'ol habits.. die hard!! (heyyyy... waitaminnit, die hard's a movie too!!..maybe i am a movie addict!!)....

Well, i came across this article at about.com...it instantly caught my eye, the reason being very clear from my earlier post (I am somewer between the 1 and 2 year stages...). Having gone from fab abs to ab flabs in recent days had really been a shock for me....so have started to take my exercises more seriously. By the way, in the process of this, have come across lotsa things 'bout exercising and health, which, I'll hopefully be able to share in my subsequent posts, its only the top ab exercises for this one..wit some of my quips on the various forms of bodily contortions...(u can check out the exercises by clicking the number one exercise link and moving onto the next ones in d page which opens)

Bicycle Exercise (my favorite cos its one of the few ones to target the obliques together with the abs)
Captain's Chair (its good for the entire upper body)
Exercise Ball Crunch (Never tried that huge ball ..so cant say anything bout this)
Vertical Leg Crunch (effective!!!)
Torso Track (its a tough one folks..be careful wen u do this)
Long Arm Crunch (one of the oldest in the books!!)
Reverse Crunch (yup it works!! hmmm well its supposed to or it wont be here :D)
Full Vertical Crunch (this golden oldie is actually quite effective!)
Ab Rocker (this looks like the one they show on TV!..dunno if it really works heh heh!)
Plank on Elbows and Toes (i dint know bout this one b4. do check it out its quite cool!!!)

(source:about.com)

I tried out almost all the exercises above ('cept for the pilates one with the huge Ball and torso track) and well, i can say they all are quite effective but only to the extent of wat u eat (and u should see me gorge!!! Its the reason why I still am li'l on the pudgier side in d belly area :D) and ur genes...well, Ur genes u can't help but wat u can is, by eating a low calorie, filling diet (do not crash diet it'll make the situation worse) and stay happy!! (believe me extreme mood swings really do wreck havoc wit ur regimen!!!)...Don't keep dreaming about 6 packs ..they'll come to u if u have them in u (thats in the genes part)

so until l8r,

ciao

(dont forget ur cardio!!!!!)

Software Career Growth Meter... Where do you Stand??:::email forward

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:15:00 +0000

Ha ha !..I got this picture few days back in my mail...still at awe how the foto actually imitates real life!!!

keep watching this space, i have a good post related to this comin up in a few hours....hope u'll love it.....ciao

A Judge's Dilemma ::: An E-mail forward

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:14:00 +0000

I got this forwarded mail the other day...kinda seemed interesting enough to post....

In a small town, a person decided to open up a liquor shop, which was right opposite to a church.

The church & its congregation started a campaign to block the liquor shop from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business.

Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the liquor shop and it was burnt to the ground.

The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the liquor owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the church through its congregation & prayers was ultimately responsible for the destruction of his liquor shop, either through direct or indirect actions or means.

In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for the act of God. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented:

'I don't know how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a liquor shop owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church that doesn't.'

Quantum of Solace ::: the trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:07:00 +0000

Well I know am a lot late with this post ..just kinda slipped outta my mind to post it ...anyway ,,,...here goes..

Quantum of Solace continues the high octane adventures of James Bond in Casino Royale. Betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. Pursuing his determination to uncover the truth, Bond and M interrogate Mr White who reveals the organisation which blackmailed Vesper is far more complex and dangerous than anyone had imagined.

Forensic intelligence links an MI6 traitor to a bank account in Haiti where a case of mistaken identity introduces Bond to the beautiful but feisty Camille, a woman who has her own vendetta. Camille leads Bond straight to Dominic Greene, a ruthless business man and major force within the mysterious organisation, Quantum.

On a mission that leads him to Austria, Italy and South America, Bond discovers that Greene, conspiring to take total control of one of the worlds most important natural resources, is forging a deal with the exiled General Medrano. Using his associates in the organisation, and manipulating his powerful contacts within the CIA and the British government,

Greene promises to overthrow the existing regime in a Latin American country, giving the General

control of the country in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of land. which is however a main source of the South American water supply. In a minefield of treachery, murder and deceit,

Bond allies with old friends in a battle to uncover the truth. As he gets closer to finding the man responsible for the betrayal of Vesper, 007 must keep one step ahead of the CIA, the terrorists and even M, to unravel Greenes sinister plan and stop Quantum getting its way.

(source: traileraddict.com)

psst....the gal from Hitman, Olga Kurylenko is the bond gal this time..watch out!!

P.S.: This Bond Movie comes to India on November 7 before it hits U.S. Screens a week l8r ..hmm now hows that for staying ahead heh! heh!

DragonBall Movie ::: a really sneak peek!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:00:00 +0000

The ever popular anime series DrangonBallZ comes live next april....with an interesting cast and a good 'ol storyline, it looks quite promising...well folks couldn't help bring the spoiler to u....sorry for this ..but like i said couldn't keep my fingers from wagging...heh !!

Director:

James Wong

Cast/starring:

JustinChatwin, James Marsters, Emmy Rossum, Jamie Chung, Joon Park, Eriko Tamura, Randall Duk Kim, Texas Battle, Ernie Hudson, Chow Yun-Fat.

Story/plot:

Goku (Justin Chatwin) goes on a journey to find Master Roshi (Chow Yun-Fat) and gather the seven mystical Dragon Balls before the evil Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) can. Along his way, he meets Bulma (Emmy Rossum) who then joins him to help him in his mission. When arriving at Roshi's place, he is not welcomed with embrace but he has to fight Roshi. Roshi soon learns that Goku is the grandson of Gohan (Randall Duk Kim) and thus trains him to prepare him for the ultimate battle with Lord Piccolo to prevent him from collecting the powerful orbs.(from wikipedia)

My review:

Well like everyone else, I too liked Dragon ball Z..alot actually...heh! heh!...with Stephen Chow (director-actor of acclaimed movies like Kung fu hustle, Shaolin Soccer and the forthcoming kung fu hustle 2, keep watching this space for updates!!) at the helm of affairs in its production this Fox movie certainly seems to be worth a dekko!!!

so ciao ...

till l8r folks!!!

enjoy the Dragon Ball trailer...(official one!!!) btw way u may find the movie a little dated and a bit too americanised ..also piccolo isn't green!! nooooooooooo...

Indigen ::: Ice age but not quite heh! heh!

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:35:00 +0000

Well i was scouting around for trailer of the new Ice Age sequel coming up in july '09 and came across this funny lil small cartoon called Indigen. I am sure u guys will really enjoy this lil one.
In this there's a Scrat lookalike who goes around creating trouble for an african aboriginal who gets a really hard time..in a battlefield...made by a talented french group...looks as good as Ice Age if not better...

The video kind of makes u think whether the two are indestructible or something..it also reminds one of the classic Tom and Jerry adventure albeit it has a lot of gore in it...lots and lots of it actually!!! Watch out for the blood, gore, flying body parts and stray missile folks!!!

watch the video for more details....

Ice Age 3: the Dawn of the Dinosaurs::: releases June '08

noreply@blogger.com (Rajarshi sharma) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Scrat, Manny , Ellie and Sid return for a new installment of the all time fav movie Ice Age...and this time the adventure gets gigantic...or Mesozoic... maybe Jurassic even... or something like that...well its got dinosaurs in it.

If u ask me the title kinda lacks some logic cos i thought the Ice ages happened after the dinosaurs...but then wat the heck...who cares as long as i have fun... as for parents who are concerned dat their kids are gonna download some wrong info into their lil brains........... well folks u gotta take the responsibility of atleast some education!!!

enjoy the trailer...

ciao..