iNsAnItY iNtEnSiFiEd

Save the Indian Tiger

2008-02-23T19:40:00.001+05:30

Save the Indian Tiger

Help humans to save face, support WWF

Preliminary reports indicate that tiger numbers in India have declined
sharply from 3642 individuals in 2002 as per Project Tiger estimates to
somewhere around 1,500 tigers in 2007, a drop of a whopping 60%! The range
of the tiger is reduced to a mere 7% what it was a hundered years ago.
Indeed, wild tiger numbers may have reached a level from where recovery
may be near impossible if drastic measures are not taken on an urgent
basis. The time has come when every concerned citizen stands up in support
for tigers in the wild.

To muster the support of citizens across India and the globe WWF-India, the
country's largest non-governmental organization working for wildlife
conservation has started a signature campaign. To know more about WWF-India
you may visit our website at wwfindia.org.

If you care for wild tigers and feel that they belong to the forests, where
their original home is, please lend your voice for their cause by signing
online at wwfindia.org/tiger.

If you wish to make a contribution to this cause, please follow the link
given on this page.

Misunderstood

2008-02-07T17:59:00.000+05:30

Waiting
In the calm of desolation
Wanting to breakFrom
this circle of confusion

Sleeping
In the depths of isolation
Trying to wake
From this daydream of illusion

How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone

If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood

It challenges the essence of my soul
And leaves me in a state of disconnection
As I navigate the maze of self control
Playing a lion being led to a cage

I turn from a thief to a beggar
From a god to God save me

[Misunderstood lyrics on http://www.metrolyrics.com]

How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone

If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood

Playing a lion being led to a cage
I turn from surreal to seclusion
From love to disdain
From belief to delusion
From a thief to a beggar
From a god to God save me

How can I feel abandoned even when the world surrounds me
How can I bite the hand that feeds the strangers all around me
How can I know so many
Never really knowing anyone

If I seem superhuman
I have been
Misunderstood

How not to pay taxes

2008-01-30T21:09:00.000+05:30

WARSAW (Reuters) - Red tape is preventing a Polish man from returning from the dead.

Piotr Kucy, 38 and from the city of Polkowice in southwest Poland, was wrongly identified by authorities last August as a drowned man, only to show up a few days after his own funeral.

Despite pointing out the fact that he was alive to government officials, Kucy still remains dead in official records, stopping him from working and paying social insurance.

But on the bright side, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday, he no longer needs to pay taxes. read more...

Pontigrity (from Once upon a Time in Asstralia)

2008-01-12T22:59:00.000+05:30

"Johnny, Johnny"
"Yes, Papa"
"Eating sugar?"
"No, Papa"
"Telling Lies?"
"No, Papa"
"Open your mouth"
"I think if you are actually questioning my integrity ..., you should not be standing here."

No points for guessing who this Johny is!!!

Pacino's Insatiable Fire

2007-12-03T21:51:00.000+05:30

The movie is Any Given Sunday (Oliver Stone). But the fire that burns in every word spoken comes from Mr. Pacino's own insatiable fury....similar to the last scene in Scent of a Woman........ my blood just started boiling....

and here is the speech

I don't know what to say really.Three minutesto the biggest battle of our professional livesall comes down to today.Eitherwe healas a teamor we are going to crumble.Inch by inchplay by playtill we're finished.We are in hell right now, gentlemenbelieve meandwe can stay hereand get the shit kicked out of usorwe can fight our wayback into the light.We can climb out of hell.One inch, at a time.Now I can't do it for you.I'm too old.I look around and I see these young facesand I thinkI meanI made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.I uh....I pissed away all my moneybelieve it or not.I chased offanyone who has ever loved me.And lately,I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.You know when you get old in lifethings get taken from you.That's, that's part of life.But,you only learn that when you start losing stuff.You find out that life is just a game of inches.So is football.Because in either gamelife or footballthe margin for error is so small.I meanone half step too late or to earlyyou don't quite make it.One half second too slow or too fastand you don't quite catch it.The inches we need are everywhere around us.They are in ever break of the gameevery minute, every second.On this team, we fight for that inchOn this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around usto pieces for that inch.We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.Cause we knowwhen we add up all those inchesthat's going to make the fucking differencebetween WINNING and LOSINGbetween LIVING and DYING.I'll tell you thisin any fightit is the guy who is willing to diewho is going to win that inch.And I knowif I am going to have any life anymoreit is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inchbecause that is what LIVING is.The six inches in front of your face.Now I can't make you do it.You gotta look at the guy next to you.Look into his eyes.Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.You are going to see a guywho will sacrifice himself for this teambecause he knows when it comes down to it,you are gonna do the same thing for him.That's a team, gentlemenand either we heal now, as a team,or we will die as individuals.That's football guys.That's all it is.Now, whattaya gonna do?

Team Hoyt - a story of Human Spirit

2007-11-24T01:00:00.000+05:30

Just when I get terribly dismayed at the devilish architecture of the world and seem to succumb to the pessimisms of hell, humanity throws another story of great human spirit at me ... to inspire, to cherish! Who says Forrest Gumps are just feel-good story?

Wiki-copy follows -

Team Hoyt is a father (Dick Hoyt) and son (Rick Hoyt, b. 1962) in Massachusetts who compete together in marathons, triathlons, and other athletic endeavors. Rick was disabled at birth by a loss of oxygen to his brain because his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, and he also suffers from cerebral palsy. Dick carries him in a special seat up front as they bike, pulls him in a special boat as they swim, and pushes him in a special wheelchair as they run.

Thanks to his parents, who ignored the advice of doctors that he would live life in a persistent vegetative state, and Tufts University engineers, who recognized that his sense of humor indicated intelligence, at the age of 12, Rick was able to learn how to use a special computer to communicate, using movements from his head. The first words he typed were, "Go Bruins!", and the family learned he was a sports fan. They entered their first race in 1977, a 5 mile benefit run for an injured lacrosse player who was a schoolmate of Rick's.

Dick is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Air National Guard. Rick earned a college degree from Boston University in special education, and now works at Boston College. They continue to compete in races, and are also motivational speakers.

As of December 31, 2006, Team Hoyt had participated in a total of 942 events, including 216 Triathlons (6 of which were Ironman competitions), 20 Duathlons, and 65 Marathons, including 25 consecutive Boston Marathons. They also biked and ran across the USA in 1992 — a 3,735 mile journey that took them 45 days.

When asked what one thing Rick wished he could give his father, his reply was "The thing I'd most like is that my dad would sit in the chair and I would push him once."

Greatbong reviews Nandigram

2007-11-23T03:53:00.000+05:30

As usual, a compelling piece by GreatBong.....but also a very grim statement of what our own state has become......how Nandigram represents a real statement of political opportunism and how the equally evil two parties are using the people of Bengal, yet again.......a must read for any Bangali...

http://greatbong.net/2007/11/21/the-killing-fields-of-bengal/

A Must See - Children of Men

2007-09-22T18:18:00.000+05:30

Children of Men - Great use of music, good story, pretty acceptable acting, nice cinematography, this movie is MUCH MUCH better than the average *shit* churned out by Hollywood. Highly recommended.

It ends aptly in John's words -

We don't care what flag you're waving
We don't even want to know your name
We don't care where you're from or where you're going
All we know is that you came
You're making all our decisions
We have just one request of you
That while you're thinking things over
Here's something you just better do

Free the people now
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now
Free the people now
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now

Well we were caught with our hands in the air
Don't despair paranoia is everywhere
We can shake it with love when we're scared
So let's shout it aloud like a prayer

Free the people now
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now
Free the people now
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now

We understand your paranoia
But we don't want to play your game
You think you're cool and know what you are doing
666 is your name
So while you're jerking off each other
You better bear this thought in mind
Your time is up you better know it
But maybe you don't read the signs

Free the people now
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now
Free the people now
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now

Well you were caught with your hands in the kill
And you still got to swallow your pill
As you slip and you slide down the hill
On the blood of the people you killed

Stop the killing (Free the people now)
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now
Stop the killing (Free the people now)
Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it now

Truman - a terrific portrayal

2007-09-09T20:10:00.000+05:30

Seymour Hoffman is a really talented actor and he makes it a point to demonstrate that with each and every movie. But Capote is really a class apart, with the celebrated, equally hated and loved author's portrayal touching heart of the viewers. Also, Clifton Collins Jr. is simply a delight to watch as Perry Smith (I would look forward for Daniel Craig's performance in the same role "Infamous"). Capote is to be remembered for a compelling storytelling style, terrific acting and the harsh realism harping the viewers. As an IMDB viewer puts it, its refreshingly different. Truman describes his attraction to Smith as a kinship wherein they seemed to have grown up in the same house and left simultaneously, one through the front door and one through the back. That summarizes the complexity of the relationship of the two main characters and describes how the film is way different than the bandwagon. Highly recommended!

We're Sixty!!

2007-08-15T19:46:00.000+05:30

Awesome Bengali Ballad

2007-08-06T14:15:00.000+05:30

Gladiator Sound Track

2007-07-30T01:58:00.000+05:30

Not yet, my friend, not yet!

Na Jaane Kyon - Spiderman 2 OST by Strings

2007-07-30T01:04:00.000+05:30

This song rocks!!

You can't ruin my book now!!! :)

2007-07-25T23:05:00.000+05:30

Just finished reading the Deathly Hallows!! A helluva joyride! Now, don't have to be afraid for the blasted spoilers!!!

Great work, JKR!!

Of course it is happening inside your head, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?

Brothers In Arms - Mark Knopfler in his best

2007-05-30T15:32:00.000+05:30

Inspirational!

Toll free numbers in India

2007-05-29T19:11:00.000+05:30

Came across this on the net. Can be quite useful, so sharing.

Airways

Indian Airlines - 1600 180 1407

Jet Airways - 1600 22 5522

SpiceJet - 1600 180 3333

Automobiles

Mahindra Scorpio - 1600 22 6006

Maruti - 1600 111 515

Tata Motors - 1600 22 5552

Windshield Experts - 1600 11 3636

Banks

ABN AMRO - 1600 11 2224

Canara Bank - 1600 44 6000

Citibank - 1600 44 2265

Corporatin Bank - 1600 443 555

Development Credit Bank - 1600 22 5769

HDFC Bank - 1600 227 227

ICICI Bank - 1600 333 499

ICICI Bank NRI - 1600 22 4848

IDBI Bank - 1600 11 6999

Indian Bank - 1600 425 1400

ING Vysya - 1600 44 9900

Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1600 22 6022

Lord Krishna Bank - 1600 11 2300

Punjab National Bank - 1600 122 222

State Bank of India - 1600 44 1955

Syndicate Bank - 1600 44 6655

Cell Phones

BenQ - 1600 22 08 08

Bird CellPhones - 1600 11 7700

Motorola MotoAssist - 1600 11 1211

Nokia - 3030 3838

Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111

Computers/IT

Adrenalin - 1600 444 445

AMD - 1600 425 6664

Apple Computers - 1600 444 683

Canon - 1600 333 366

Cisco Systems - 1600 221 777

Compaq - HP - 1600 444 999

Data One Broadband - 1600 424 1600

Dell - 1600 444 026

Epson - 1600 44 0011

eSys - 3970 0011

Genesis Tally Academy - 1600 444 888

HCL - 1600 180 8080

IBM - 1600 443 333

Lexmark - 1600 22 4477

Marshal's Point - 1600 33 4488

Microsoft - 1600 111 100

Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334

Seagate - 1600 180 1104

Symantec - 1600 44 5533

TVS Electronics - 1600 444 566

WeP Peripherals - 1600 44 6446

Wipro - 1600 333 312

xerox - 1600 180 1225

Zenith - 1600 222 004

Couriers/Packers & Movers

ABT Courier - 1600 44 8585

AFL Wizz - 1600 22 9696

Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1600 11 4321

Associated Packers P Ltd - 1600 21 4560

DHL - 1600 111 345

FedEx - 1600 22 6161

Goel Packers & Movers - 1600 11
3456

UPS - 1600 22 7171

Education

Edu Plus - 1600 444 000

Hindustan College - 1600 33 4438

NCERT - 1600 11 1265

Vellore Institute of Technology - 1600 441 555

Healthcare

Best on Health - 1600 11 8899

Dr Batras - 1600 11 6767

GlaxoSmithKline - 1600 22 8797

Johnson & Johnson - 1600 22 8111

Kaya Skin Clinic - 1600 22 5292

LifeCell - 1600 44 5323

Manmar Technologies - 1600 33 4420

Pfizer - 1600 442 442

Roche Accu-Chek - 1600 11 45 46

Rudraksha - 1600 21 4708

Varilux Lenses - 1600 44 8383

VLCC - 1600 33 1262

Home Appliances

Aiwa/Sony - 1600 11 1188

Anchor Switches - 1600 22 7979

Blue Star - 1600 22 2200

Bose Audio - 1600 11 2673

Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1600 44 7171

Daikin Air Conditioners - 1600 444 222

DishTV - 1600 12 3474

Faber Chimneys - 1600 21 4595

Godrej - 1600 22 5511

Grundfos Pumps - 1600 33 4555

LG - 1901 180 9999

Philips - 1600 22 4422

Samsung - 1600 113 444

Sanyo - 1600 11 0101

Voltas - 1600 33 4546

WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 1600
44 5432

Hotel Reservations

GRT Grand - 1600 44 5500

InterContinental Hotels Group - 1600 111 000

Marriott - 1600 22 0044

Sarovar Park Plaza - 1600 111 222

Taj Holidays - 1600 111 825

Insurance

AMP Sanmar - 1600 44 2200

Aviva - 1600 33 2244

Bajaj Allianz - 1600 22 5858

Chola MS General Insurance - 1600
44 5544

HDFC Standard Life - 1600 227 227

LIC - 1600 33 4433

Max New York Life - 1600 33 5577

Royal Sundaram - 1600 33 8899

SBI Life Insurance - 1600 22 9090

Mattresses

Kurl-on - 1600 44 0404

Sleepwell - 1600 11 2266

Investments/ Finance

CAMS - 1600 44 2267

Chola Mutual Fund - 1600 22 2300

Easy IPO's - 3030 5757

Fidelity Investments - 1600 180 8000

Franklin Templeton Fund - 1600 425 4255

J M Morgan Stanley - 1600 22 0004

Kotak Mutual Fund - 1600 222 626

LIC Housing Finance - 1600 44 0005

SBI Mutual Fund - 1600 22 3040

Sharekhan - 1600 22 7500

Tata Mutual Fund - 1600 22 0101

Paints

Asian Paints Home Solutions - 1600 22 5678

Berger Paints Home Decor - 1600 33 8800

Teleshoppin

Asian Sky Shop - 1600 22 1600

Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1600 11 5225

Tele Brands - 1600 11 8000

VMI Teleshopping - 1600 447 777

WWS Teleshopping - 1600 220 777

Travel

Club Mahindra Holidays - 1600 33 4539

Cox & Kings - 1600 22 1235

God TV Tours - 1600 442 777

Kerala Tourism - 1600 444 747

Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1600 44 5030

Raj Travels & Tours - 1600 22 9900

Sita Tours - 1600 111 911

SOTC Tours - 1600 22 3344

UPS

APC - 1600 44 4272

Numeric - 1600 44 3266

Others

Consumer Helpline - 1600 11 4000

L'Oreal, GARNIeR - 1600 223 000

KONE Elevator - 1600 444 666

Indane - 1600 44 51 15

Aavin - 1600 44 3300

Pedigree - 1600 11 2121

Kodak India - 1600 22 8877

Domino's Pizza - 1600 111 123

World Vision India - 1600 444 550

Telecom Monitoring Cell - 1600 110 420

Father and Son

2007-05-18T16:01:00.000+05:30

Today's 18th May.

LOTR Quick Recap

2007-05-14T19:39:00.001+05:30

This is how it began!

2007-05-14T19:34:00.000+05:30

GnR Doing an Instru version of Imagine

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

The WoW pays off

2007-04-29T02:32:00.000+05:30

Vista and Office 12 pays off in style

2007-04-28T15:24:00.000+05:30

This is pretty old....10 years back.....but still is a remarkable piece of history in action....so cant resist putting it here :)

AOL Goes Desi

2007-04-28T15:18:00.000+05:30

Another web giant goes the India way......now America Online is India online, too!!

http://www.aol.in/

Send letter to India by just writing an email!

2007-04-21T23:55:00.000+05:30

The once ancient public sector enterprises of India mc. have slowly started to renovate themselves and make smart use of technology, and here's a great example of the same. The Indian postal department has now started giving an option to send letters to India by just writing an email, and the source is made available at fairly low cost (if you are not in India). Here's the url - http://www.indiapost.gov.in/IndiaPost-E-Post.html

The Magic of Tablet PC!

2007-04-21T02:17:00.001+05:30

This is really cool. I am bogging using my new tablet and it is being able to understand my really obscure handwriting. Technology rocks! Now, this much event didn't expect. I am using the tablet feature for the first time and I am getting 95% accuracy. Good bye, Keyboard!

Note. Only word the tablet missed was blogging….as it took it to be "bogging"….god knows what that is!

To a life lost without a cause

2007-04-20T04:20:00.000+05:30

A very well written post about a life (rather, many lives) lost without a cause at One of the best Indian blogs

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

Suman Live!

2007-04-18T15:27:00.000+05:30

A Study in Usability

2007-04-17T01:38:00.000+05:30

I wanted to sample the usability of Web Applications to actual business users and how they perceive value. In order to do the same, I went ahead and created a survey at LinkedIn : http://www.linkedin.com/answers/technology/enterprise-software/TCH_ENT/36530-4256932

The advantage of a global community like LinkedIn is we always get high participation from people who really think and try to innovate. Without an exception, the answers show some real insights from real users of Applications. I think all of us developers might periodically learn something from the end-users and align our priorities. Hope everyone finds the survey as useful as I did.

Synopsis

This discussion has added so much value that I decided to share it over here...it has been truly global and I can't thank enough the few good men who participated in the discussion...so many horizons are opened when we get exposure to such a rich group of users...

My Question:
--------------------
When you use web-based business applications, what is the single factor you appreciate the most?

I would appreciate to-the-point answers, like "Speed" or "Less no. of postbacks" or "Lots of tooltips/help links" etc. However, your comments are definitely invaluable and could not understate their importance by any means. So feel free to give a one-word reply and then expand it.

Intention : Being a business application developer, my sole parameter for success is "Quality as perceived by the end-user". Want to increase that score.

Ed Lass, Albany says

OK, I'll bite:

Results for the user--the app gets the job done better than if it didn't exist.

Roshan Shah, Canada says

Minimal Clicks to get to what I want and fast loading of page and small forms to fill if any.

Devesh Dwivedi, Washington DC says

User friendliness: The application should be very user freindly and by that I mean easy to comprehend and apply/use as well. It should be a breeze and not a plop of technical junk. I love more advanced features and functionalities but if it comes at the cost of user friendliness, I won't buy that. - My two cents:)

Alok Jain, Washington DC says

If this is your sole prameter, I would suggest putting some time understand users and their needs.

The importance of any factor depends on users and context. For e.g. for a call center app used by young guys speed is important because their success parameter is dependent on number of calls they can handle. While in Internet banking feeling secure and having precise control/clarity is much more important than speed.

You could apply various techniques to find users' priorities, best would be to just go and observe them and talk to them.

My Take -

I totally agree with that "everyone can't like chocolate ice cream"! Different segments, age groups and job roles will definitely have different priorities and they cannot be judged by a one-size fits all approach. However, what i am trying to accomplish with this question is getting the opinion of different users in different professions and see if I can really find out any common subset - a pattern which would then give us a basic set - after which the specialization would come.

Shane O'Neil ,Canada says

Integration ... Software as a Service (SAS) companies that "get it" develop an API. Importing and exporting data is a necessity; however, an API allows the customer the ability to integrate the web based app with other applications for more flexible functionality, back end integrations and reporting.

From a software provider perspective, APIs can form the basis of a partnership and create stickiness. There is an investment from the client perspective to code to the API. To change vendors means new development cycles and hence a new investment so you'll have to really suck at what you do to make the client go through that pain. Clients will be more forgiving.

An API will also allow the client to develop functionality against your app that may be important to them, but off-strategy or a lower priority to the you.

Two cents. Hope this helps.

Vinod Kumar, Greater Boston Area says

I would extend upon Roshan's answer and say - Usability.

Usability has 2 parts - Intended & Perceived. Intended usability is quantitaive, can be measured by some of the factors that Roshan mentioned - e.g. no. of clicks it takes to go from one place in the application, to another. Perceived usability is subjective - It is how the user views the software as being user friendly.

Paulo Arancibia, Argentina says

A minimum number of click and postbacks by each action and a good balance of color.

Thierry Thomas, France says
Portability: it should really run the same way on any browser.
And speed, of course!

Fred Held, Greater Los Angeles Area says (I love this discussion!)
Sorry for the wordiness, but I love talking to developers.
1) Gets the job done faster, easier, 24/7 availability, remote capability
2) Help really works and does not send you to FAQ. I have NEVER found an FAQ that met my needs. Why that is done is amazing to me.
3) Chat help is incredible. I don't care if it is outsourced to the Congo as long as the person helps me and it is available 24/7
4) Mobile capability, over 40 percent of IBM Global services employees work from their home office small office or mobile locations. This trend is accelerating globaly.
5) Reliability and work is not lost due to a system glitch. An example of "cave man" designs is the clarification tool on linkedin. It crashes and gives a 1970 type meaningless insulting error report and the work is lost. Remember the now famos windows error message. " a fatal error has occured" WTF does that mean.
6) Intuitive usability, I can not say too much about user testing for usability. When at IBM we spent a lot of time on the system we were developing for our client on this. We created a user group who we tested. One such group were truckers. That was fun going to truck stops.
7) Downward compatability. MS and IBM are known for not providing this and forcing the user to upgrade making all the work done in the past unusable. This is bad marketing since the investment in this work far exceeds the cost of the upgrade.
8) How do you measure "Quality as perceived by the end-user". here is an example of IBM's Intranet ran by Mike Wing. They measure the soft stuff very well. A key question answered by the user population is the following. "What percentage of the time do you used the Intranet in your work to find out information versus co-workers and your supervisor" In 1994 they started measuring this the exact same way every year. They gained a lot of information in the survey and used the process of continous improvemnt. They then set a paremeter of succes. The paremeter was when 50% of the time the employee used the Intranet ot get the necessary information or help, they have achieved success. In 2000 they crossed 50% and started accelerating towards much higher numbers.

Once again I apologize for such a long answer but I am passionate about helping developers with rigid requirements documents, small budgets and tight time frames create software that is loved not loathed.

My Take -

I agree with you - "Don't make the customer think" should be the mantra for every web developer....because if I do, someone else won't and the customer would go to him....and web 2.0 is really a revolution.....its not just a technical overhaul....but it signifies the control going back to the customer...the web merging with "customer is the king" philosophy...I would go as far as to term as "The biggest revolution so far in the largest democracy (the web)"

what we really lack is to know that "Am I making that guy happy to whom the tool is being rolled out by the management?" Because at the fag end of the day, that is success to me.....to enable the user smile a bit more...as the system makes his life easier...proactively shares some of his real life work load...I don't want to make him grim with a 200 page user manual :) ...and customer satisfaction is THE GOAL for me....not knowledge of all the technologies or mesmerizing funda over recursive algorithms (though I would be more than glad to have both :) )...... even Simon and Garfunkel sang "Keep the Customer Satisfied" [;)]

Only thing I don't agree with you is the FAQ think....I have often been greatly helped by them:)....

Sachin Palewar, India says
I appriciate simple interfaces much like google and straight-forward navigation so that its intuitive and visitor doesn't feel lost and confused.
In technical terms use of Web 2.0 technologies and Usability concepts play an important role.

Alexander Samarin , Switzerland says
I think, first, you have to define "Quality" in your sentence.
My favourite - flexibility of business applications.
My experience shows that the business people like when their separate requests for change are quickly implemented in existing systems/applications. These changes are typically small (from the point of view of the business) and unpredictable.

My Take -

I couldn't agree more with ur answer...but one thing I want to point out is that you are talking more from the perspective of the management rather than that of the end-users. Extensibility would be a priority for the guy who sanctions the project budget...i.e. if I wanna add x functionality which was not there, I would like to shell out much less dollars than I did for the system implementation...it should be incremental and not break/recreate existing functionality....but that is something we devs nowadays usually keep in mind from the very design phase....however what we really lack is to know that "Am I making that guy happy to whom the tool is being rolled out by the management?" Because at the fag end of the day, that is success to me.....to enable the user smile a bit more...as the system makes his life easier....I don't want to make him grim with a 200 page user manual :)

All in all, a thrilling discussion, am overwhelmed :)

LinkedIn rocks!

Death, be not proud

2007-04-09T02:22:00.000+05:30

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
John Donne

Hillarious!!!

2007-03-30T18:17:00.000+05:30

That is HILLARIOUS!! While Google Maps is cool, this shows while we CANNOT rely on computers all the times in every sense....we gotta drive 'em!

Thanks to my namesake Sircar!

Google Suggests You Swim Across The Atlantic Ocean

India court suspends quota system along caste lines

2007-03-30T01:42:00.000+05:30

Kudos to another judge!!!

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Thursday suspended a government program to reserve spots for lower-caste students at the top medical, engineering and professional schools in the country, a plan that has repeatedly prompted protests.

The quota system for prestigious public educational institutions was to come into effect with applications due to be reviewed in the next few months. But the Supreme Court temporarily halted the program Thursday, saying it could not be implemented until judges had ruled on its legality.

The Judgement Day!

2007-03-29T01:08:00.000+05:30

Justice has finally been served! A judge has unleashed a well-deserved death sentence to Manjunath's killer and appropriate punishment to others. Even in India, truth just gets heard sometimes. We wouldn't forget the wide protest that were sparked by the brutal killings of Manju as well as Dubey. May be the online petitions and blogosphere also played a part in this victory. Kudos to the judge.

Manjunath was a good man, an honest man. May India be fortunate enough to get more public sector executives like him.

LAKHIMPUR KHERI: Aghast over how an unarmed man was put to death without provocation, a district court on Monday sent to gallows a petrol pump owner for murdering Indian Oil executive Manjunath, who had exposed a thriving racket in sale of adulterated fuel.

While awarding death sentence to Pawan Kumar Mittal, the prime accused, 16 months after the murder of the 27-year-old IIM-Lucknow graduate, district judge S M A Abidi, sentenced seven other accused to life imprisonment.

Yehudi Menuhin Beethoven Romance

2007-03-28T16:55:00.001+05:30

Thats what Class means (other than being the backbone of OOP off course!)

Steve Morse Classical Guitar Solos

2007-03-27T17:01:00.001+05:30

This guys rocks(and plays classical music too)!!!

Genious!

2007-03-27T16:50:00.000+05:30

Google Adwords advertises Microsoft Adcenter!!!

2007-03-27T14:47:00.000+05:30

Thanks to my colleage Mr. Santosh Kumar Sahoo for this image!!

Wall Street Journal Most Reputed Companies of 2006

2007-03-23T17:25:00.000+05:30

The ranks are out here .............

Look at the top name :)

Rocks!

N Murthy on Land Acquisitions

2007-03-21T16:40:00.001+05:30

From http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Narayana_Murthy_opposes_SEZ_policy/RssArticleShow/articleshow/1788673.cms

BANGALORE: Software icon N R Narayana Murthy on Wednesday opposed the practice of acquiring farm lands for special economic zones (SEZs), saying that the earlier practice of companies building their own campuses was good enough.

"I agree that we cannot take land from farmers", the non-executive chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited told reporters, who sought his views on the raging debate over SEZs.

"The earlier policy, where individual companies were building their own campuses, was a good one," he said, adding that bringing real estate players in between was probably not the best thing to do.

Murthy, the face of India's booming IT industry, added: "and that's why all this furore has been created. I think the earlier policy of requesting companies to deal directly to get land and build their own campuses is a good one".

He said that the recent Nandigram incident in West Bengal, where 11 people were killed in police firing during a protest, is likely to have "some repercussions".

Can u hear it now, Mr Bhattacharya?

Blog in Hindi!

2007-03-16T16:37:00.000+05:30

Blogger, now in Hindi

Our Bureau

Bangalore, March 15

Bloggers can now publish in Hindi. Google-owned Blogger on Thursday launched a Hindi transliteration service.

Transliteration implies conversion from English text to phonetically equivalent text in Indian languages. So a user could type ``mera Bharat'' and this feature will convert it into the corresponding Hindi script. So users can now publish content in Hindi while using English keyboards for entering text. Keeping in mind that many in the audience is bilingual, Google allows users to freely switch from English to Hindi and back. Google News is also available in Hindi now, the company announced. ``These launches will enable our Hindi- speaking users to express themselves better and access information in a language they are comfortable with,'' said Mr Prasad Ram, Centre Head, Google India R&D, in a release issued by the company.

NOW, What next? We want BANGLA also!!!

Gujrat and West Bengal - two faces of the same coin

2007-03-14T23:23:00.000+05:30

While Trinamool congress displays prehisoric political immaturity at West Bengal, here is a bit of from where it all started, and what really lies beneath the "Enterprise and Common Man friendly" communist government of West Bengal.

Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Scribe_confined_by_CPIM_cadres_at_Nandigram/articleshow/1763238.cms

NANDIGRAM: Journalists covering the Nandigram violence were not spared by ruling CPI(M) cadres who beat up the correspondent and prevented him from filing his report.

Gouranga Deb Hazra, the correspondent, could only communicate to the agency's Kolkata office over his mobile telephone that he was surrounded by CPI(M) activists near Bhangabera area. He was beaten up and threatened not to talk, he said.

The threats were even heard over the mobile phone. "Chup kore thakun... Eto katha balar darkar ki (Keep your mouth shut. Why you are talking so much?)," asked a woman's voice.

"Mere bhut baniye debo.... Mobileta bandha korun (We will beat you black and blue. Switch off your mobile)," shouted a male voice and the connection was snapped abruptly

Canada's Ice Floes Turn Red With the Blood of Baby Seals

2007-03-10T12:14:00.001+05:30

March 9, 2007

JOIN OUR ACTIVIST NETWORK | DONATE NOW

Dear Sayan,

It's that time of year again: The ice floes off the Canadian coast are about to turn red with the blood of the countless baby harp seals who are slaughtered for their fur.

Words cannot describe the cruelty of the annual seal "hunt," which is really more of a massacre and will begin in just a few days. To stop this yearly atrocity, we must generate an international outcry against the Canadian government. I hope that you will support PETA's public call for an end to this slaughter by immediately taking two important actions:

Sign PETA's international petition to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Support PETA's efforts to stop the slaughter of baby seals and the use of all animals for fur.

Canada's annual seal hunt is the largest slaughter of marine animals on Earth. Last year, more than 330,000 baby harp seals were beaten to death so that they could be made into fur coats, collars, and cuffs. The Canadian government claims that hunters only kill adult seals, but 97 percent of the seals killed last year were less than 3 months of age.

Most of these seals are too young to realize that they should try to escape when their killers approach. They lie totally vulnerable on the ice as their heads are bashed in with clubs. Many are dragged across the ice—still conscious—with boat hooks. Often these sensitive animals are skinned alive for their fur. Their bodies are left to rot on the ice because there is no market for their meat.

The Canadian government has authorized hunters to kill more than 335,000 harp seals this year—one of the largest quotas in history. There is no place in the 21st century for this wanton and frivolous cruelty. Canada must end this abomination, but it will take a lot of pressure to compel the government to stop the hunt.

Please support PETA's global campaign to stop the baby seal hunt and raise awareness about the cruelty of fur. Your contribution will have an immediate impact on our ability to pressure the Canadian government.

Thank you for your determination to end this terrible injustice.

For all animals,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President

P.S. Governments respond to public pressure. Please help us meet our goal of 50,000 signatures and tell Prime Minister Harper that Canada will face international condemnation until it brings an end to its annual seal hunt. Then help PETA bring even greater pressure to bear on the Canadian government and the international fur trade by making a generous online donation.

Sign the petition to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to restore Canada's international reputation by bringing a permanent end to the annual slaughter of baby harp seals.

Make a donation to sustain PETA's global efforts to stop the cruel seal hunt and the fur trade.

And the Loser Is...

2007-03-09T11:05:00.001+05:30

And the loser is......... sent you a Business Week link:

And the Loser Is...
The moviegoing audience, which is ignored by the Academy, and the telecast audience, which is subjected to an overlong, overwrought Oscars show

Sanskriti 2007 @ Jadavpur University

2007-03-05T00:00:00.001+05:30

Competetive events Invitation Letter For Competetive Events

This year prelims for Eastern & Western Solo & Group Vocals will be held. No participant(s) will be allowed in the finals without participating in the Prelims

For events in our Technomanagement Fest Srijan 2007, do drop by at www.srijanju.org

Keep an eye on this space for updates..........

Event	Date	Time	Description
Photography (Start)	7-Mar-2007	12:00 PM	Off Stage
General Quiz	8-Mar-2007	11:30 AM	On Stage
Face Painting	8-Mar-2007	1:00 PM	Off Stage
Medley	8-Mar-2007	1:00 PM	On Stage
Antakshari	8-Mar-2007	2:30 PM	On Stage
Hair Styling	8-Mar-2007	3:30 PM	Off stage
Cartooning	8-Mar-2007	4:00 PM	Off stage
Sports Quiz	9-Mar-2007	11:30 AM	On stage
Debate	9-Mar-2007	12:30 PM	On stage
T-Shirt Painting	9-Mar-2007	12:30 PM	Off stage
Eastern Solo and Group Vocals	9-Mar-2007	1:30 PM	On Stage
Creative Writing (English and Bengali)	9-Mar-2007	1:30 PM	Off stage
Western Solo and Group Vocals	10-Mar-2007	11:30 AM	On Stage
Poster Painting	10-Mar-2007	12:30 PM	Off Stage
Rangoli	10-Mar-2007	2:30 PM	Off Stage
Eastern Solo Dance	11-Mar-2007	2:30 PM	On Stage
Western Solo Dance	11-Mar-2007	3:00 PM	On Stage
Eastern Group Dance	11-Mar-2007	4:00 PM	On Stage
Western Group Dance	11-Mar-2007	5:30 PM	On Stage

Exhibition events

A list of confirmed events and the schedule is summarized below. However the events are subject to changes depending on the availability of artists/performers.

Please watch this space for updates regarding the empty slots.

Event	Date	Time
Curtain Raiser - Fossils (Venue: Salt lake Campus)	4-Mar-2007	6:00:00 PM
James	6-Mar-2007	7:00 PM
Students` Performance (Venue: OAT)	7-Mar-2007	6:00 PM
Drama by Nandikar: Borda (Venue OAT)	8-Mar-2007	6:30 PM
Indian Ocean (Venue:OAT)	9-Mar-2007	7:00 PM
Neil Mukherjee, Betty Jardin, Siva Prakash, K Peters, others(Venue: OAT)	10-Mar-2007	7:00 PM
Aman Ali Bangas (Venue OAT)	11-Mar-2007	7:00 PM

Posted from Word 2007 running on Windows Vista

Yet Another Blog

2007-02-22T13:57:00.001+05:30

Yeah!! Shorter of breath and one year closer to death, I add a tech blog to my array of blogs! So now, the content organization would be like

Insanity Intensitied – My Wise Words
Where Dreamers Dare – the entrepreneurs speak
Techie Talk – My tech blog
and finally

{
http://blogs.msdn.com/sayanghosh
}

Happy Blogging to me!!

Posted using MS Word 2007 running Windows Vista

Comeback of a Prince

2007-01-25T18:22:00.000+05:30

"Written off, humiliated, accused of being a mercenary and an injury-faker and haunted by the demon of low scores and by his obvious technical shortcomings, who would have thought he would be back in full cry, playing some of the best cricket of his life in South Africa and now in India?"

Thanks to Great Bongs .....
read on @ http://greatbong.net/2007/01/23/the-eye-of-the-tiger/

Life @ Hyderabad

2007-01-16T23:56:00.000+05:30

Life @ Hyderabad

Adios, Kolkata

2007-01-03T03:38:00.000+05:30

Adios, beloved city of joy. Tomorrow I would be moving out of the city and heading towards Hyderabad for a long, long time! Wherever I might be, my heart will always be at the best city on earth, the city of joy, the city of life - Kolkata.

You can take a Kolkattan out of Kolkata, but you can never take Kolkata out of a Kolkattan!

How to Sync Google Calendar with Outlook and Smartphones Automatically

2006-12-22T22:19:00.000+05:30

How to Sync Google Calendar with Outlook and Smartphones Automatically

A great article for Calendar-maniacs like me!

Neopoleon : Excel as a database

2006-12-10T12:36:00.000+05:30

Neopoleon : Excel as a database: " "

Casino Royale : finally post-Connery Bond comes of Age

2006-12-10T11:32:00.000+05:30

This flick is more espionage than all the post-Connery bond ventures. Craig looks like a serious agent and not like a lost englishman .... good stunts ... this one is worth a view ... finally.

Netaji

2006-10-29T22:10:00.000+05:30

Interesting news.....though 99.99999325% chance of another hoax!

http://www.rediff.com/news/2006/oct/29bose.htm

ULIP comes to terms

2006-10-12T10:15:00.000+05:30

http://www.personalfn.com/detail.asp?date=9/25/2006&story=1

Qriosity 2006 - Quiz in memory of Subho da

2006-09-21T22:13:00.000+05:30

Enquiry THE JU QUIZ CLUB

Home About Enquiry Quizzes Links

Details

Date : Saturday, 23rd September 2006
Time : 1 P.M.
Reporting time : 12.30 P.M.
Quizmaster : Prof Abhijit Gupta
Prof Samantak Das
Registration : both online, and at the venue from 12 Noon
Venue : T.T.Room , Jadavpur University (Ground floor, A C Canteen)

Rules for participating

Each team must have three members
There can be any number of teams from a particular institution
The three members of a team must all study in college/university
Forming of cross-teams is permitted in the sense that you can team up with a college/university student only if you are a college/university student yourself.
Participants must bring their institutional identity cards. Without proper identification, participation may be cancelled

Registration form (fields marked * are necessary)

George Soror on Political Issues

2006-09-20T20:47:00.000+05:30

Opinion that makes sense, very much like the man.

Gates, Unleashed!

2006-09-20T20:44:00.000+05:30

Gates Unleashed!

One more round to go......

2006-09-06T23:38:00.000+05:30

A brilliantly written song -

I've never had what I wanted
I had to fight for what I've got
I'd gamble with anything to keep from feeling
Like a dime in a dollar slot

But that's alright
I've got one more pitch to throw
I'd better hang on to myself tonight
I've got one more round to go

I've always had too much ambition
And it's making me a wreck
I'm bad with small talk,
Feel like I've got the hand, but not a full deck

But that's alright
I've got one more ace to show
I'd better hang on to myself tonight
I've got one more round to go

Oh, all that I want is to be left alone
But they keep calling, thinking I'm stalling
Oh, all that they want -give it heart
Give it soul, don't forget rock and roll
And by morning, need it by morning
They say, "Let's go"

Right to Information

2006-08-20T11:32:00.000+05:30

This comes from a dear friend, and something I strongly support.

I feel it is necessary to be aware of the RTI act as a
powerful tool to reduce corruption and how the
proposed amendment to it can make it virtually
useless. Here are some liks, visit them if you like:

http://www.antibribery.org
http://www.parivartan.com
http://rti.aidindia.org

google video by parivartan on RTI:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7440699775939080409

Here is a small news update on the issue:
RTI Update

RTP - I am not dead yet!

2006-08-19T01:49:00.000+05:30

The subject pretty much proves the theorem, and for those who r still not convinced, this is a pic I took from moving Rajdhani Express using just a cell! Looking at it, must say NatGeo should watch out!

A timeless answer to a probing question

2006-06-27T18:11:00.000+05:30

Q: Why must we put on our pants one leg at a time?

Ans: If we jumped into our pants simultaneously placing both legs in at one
time, we would land heavily on the ground. As a majority of us are getting dressed at the same time of the morning, the cumulative effect would Cause an earth tremor. Due to the use of time zones, the tremor established In Eastern Time would arrive in the central zone at precisely the moment all those people were jumping into their pants. The tremor would increase in size exponentially, and proceed west to combine with the mountain zone folks as they get dressed. As this cycle encircles the globe, it would feed upon the next day's Tremor and eventually cause the earth's crust to break apart and float into space. This is why we put our pants on one leg at a time.

The Code releases this Friday

2006-05-18T19:44:00.000+05:30

Even the Indian Govt shows some sense at times. Talk about exceptions proving the rules!!

After watching the controversial film Da Vinci Code at a special show in New Delhi on Thursday, the Censor Board has cleared the film with an 'Adult' certificate.

The film has been cleared without cuts, but it will carry a disclaimer at the beginning and at the end.

Leaders of the Christian community in India had asked for a disclaimer, an 'Adult' certificate and some cuts before the film is released in theatres in India on Friday.

The religious leaders watched director Ron Howard's latest film in New Delhi on Wednesday and met in the capital on Thursday to give their joint response to Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Das Munsi.

http://in.rediff.com/movies/2006/may/18da1.htm

Reservations in India

2006-05-17T15:59:00.000+05:30

First, serious stuff. these folks are really fighting a battle for thr country. kudos to them and best wishes....this unfortunate country can only be saved by the youth. Pay them a well-deserved visit:
http://youthforequality.blogspot.com/
http://yfewb.blogspot.com/
http://yfemumbai.blogspot.com/

Here is an awesome mail I received about reservations.

I think we should have job reservations in all the fields. I completely support the PM and all the politicians for promoting this. Let's start the reservation with our cricket team. We should have 10 percent reservation for muslims. 30 percent for OBC, SC/ST like that. Cricket rules should be modified accordingly. The boundary circle should be reduced for an SC/ST player. The four hit by an OBC player should be considered as a six and a six hit by a OBC player should be counted as 8 runs. An OBC player scoring 60 runs should be declared as a century.
We should influence ICC and make rules so that the pace bowlers like Shoaib Akhtar should not bowl fast balls to our OBC player. Bowlers should bowl maximum speed of 80 kilometer per hour to an OBC player. Any delivery above this speed should be made illegal.
Also we should have reservation in Olympics. In the 100 meters race, an OBC player should be given a gold medal if he runs 80 meters.
There can be reservation in Government jobs also. Let's recruit SC/ST and OBC pilots for aircrafts which are carrying the ministers and
politicians (that can really help the country.. )
Ensure that only SC/ST and OBC doctors do the operations for the ministers and other politicians. (Another way of saving the country..)
Let's be creative and think of ways and means to guide INDIA forward...
Let's show the world that INDIA is a GREAT country. Let's be proud of being an INDIAN..
May the good breed of politicans like ARJUN SINGH long live...

AN ARTICLE FROM ECONOMIST.COM

2006-05-15T10:05:00.000+05:30

This is a really cool article from Economist.com on Google!

In a few short years, Google has turned from a simple and popular
company into a complicated and controversial one

MATHEMATICALLY confident drivers stuck in the usual jam on highway 101
through Silicon Valley were recently able to pass time contemplating a
billboard that read: "{first 10-digit prime found in consecutive digits
of E}.com." The number in question, 7427466391, is a sequence that
starts at the 101st digit of E, a constant that is the base of the
natural logarithm. The select few who worked this out and made it to
the right website then encountered a "harder" riddle. Solving it led to
another web page where they were finally invited to submit their
curriculum vitae.

If a billboard can capture the soul of a company, this one did, because
the anonymous advertiser was Google[1], whose main product is the
world's most popular internet search engine. With its presumptuous
humour, its mathematical obsessions, its easy, arrogant belief that it
is the natural home for geniuses, the billboard spoke of a company that
thinks it has taken its rightful place as the leader of the technology
industry, a position occupied for the past 15 years by Microsoft.

In tone, the billboard was "googley", as the firm's employees like to
say. That adjective, says one spokeswoman, evokes a "humble,
cosmopolitan, different, toned-down" classiness. A good demonstration
of googley-ness came in the speeches at a conference in Las Vegas this
year. Whereas the bosses of other technology companies welcomed the
audience into the auditorium with flashing lights and blasting rock
music, Google played Bach's Brandenburg Concerto Number Three and had a
thought puzzle waiting on every seat. The billboard was also googley in
that, like Google's home page, it had visual simplicity that belied the
sophistication of its content. To outsiders, however, googley-ness
often implies audacious ambition, a missionary calling to improve the
world and the equation of nerdiness with virtue.

The main symptom of this, prominently displayed on the billboard, is a
deification of mathematics. Google constantly leaves numerical puns and
riddles for those who care to look in the right places. When it filed
the regulatory documents for its stockmarket listing in 2004, it said
that it planned to raise $2,718,281,828, which is $E billion to the
nearest dollar. A year later, it filed again to sell another batch of
shares--precisely 14,159,265, which represents the first eight digits
after the decimal in the number PI (3.14159265).

The mathematics comes from the founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
The Russian-born Mr Brin is the son of a professor of statistics and
probability and a mother who works at NASA; Mr Page is the son of two
computer-science teachers. The breakthrough that made their search
engine so popular was the realisation that the chaos of the internet
had an implicit mathematical order. By counting, weighting and
calculating the link structures between web pages, Messrs Page and Brin
were able to return search results more relevant than those of any
other search engine.

So far, they have maintained this superiority. Danny Sullivan, the
editor of SEARCH ENGINE WATCH[2], an online industry newsletter, ranks
Google as the best search engine, Yahoo![3] as second-best, Ask[4] (the
re-named Ask Jeeves) third, and Microsoft's MSN[5] last among the big
four. Google's share of searches has gone up almost every month of the
past year. Including those on AOL[6], an internet portal that uses
Google's search technology, Google had half of all searches in March.
Excluding AOL, the figure was 43%. This is why people "google"--rather
than, say, "yahoo"--their driving directions, dates and recipes.

Mathematical prowess is also behind the other half of Google's success:
its ability to turn all those searches into money. Unlike software
companies such as Microsoft which get most of their revenues from
licence fees, Google is primarily an advertising agency. It does not
sell the usual sort of advertising, in which an advertiser places a
display on a page and pays per thousand visitor "impressions" (views):
it has perfected the more efficient genre of "pay-per-click"
advertising. It places little text advertisements ("sponsored links")
on a page in an order determined by auction among the advertisers. But
these advertisers pay only once an internet user actually clicks on
their links (thereby expressing an interest in buying). This works best
on the pages of search results, which account for over half of the
firm's revenues, because the users' keywords allow Google to place
relevant advertisements on the page. But it also works on other web
pages, such as blogs or newspaper articles, that sign up to be part of
Google's "network".

THE WORLD BRAIN
These two interlocking "engines"--the search algorithms coupled with
the advertising algorithms--are the motor that powers Google's growth
in revenues ($6.1 billion last year) and profits ($1.5 billion), as
well as its $117 billion market capitalisation. Its horsepower is the
reason why Andy Bechtolsheim, Google's first investor (as well as a
co-founder of Sun Microsystems, a big computer-maker) still holds on to
all his shares in the firm. It's all about advertisers "bidding up the
keywords" in Google's auctions, he says. "How far this thing could go,
nobody can say."

Since its stockmarket debut, however, Google has been adding new and
often quite different products to this twin engine. It now owns
Picasa[7], which makes software to edit digital photos on computers;
Orkut[8], a social-networking site popular mainly in Brazil; and
Blogger[9], which lets people start an online journal. It also offers
free software for instant-messaging and internet telephony, for
searching on the desktop computers of users, for (virtually) flying
around the Earth, for keeping computers free of viruses, for uploading
and sharing videos, and for creating web pages. It has a free e-mail
program and calendar. It recently bought a firm called Writely[10],
which lets people create and save text documents (much as Microsoft's
Word does) online rather than on their own computers. Google is also
scanning books in several large libraries to make them searchable. It
is preparing to offer free wireless internet access in San Francisco
and perhaps other cities, and dabbling in radio advertising. And that
is only the start of a long list.

Whether these are arbitrary distractions or not depends on one's point
of view. For Messrs Brin and Page, they make mathematical sense. Mr
Brin ("the strategy guy") has calculated that Google's engineers should
spend 70% of their time on core products (ie, the search and
advertising engines), 20% on relevant but tangential products, and 10%
on wild fun that might or might not lead to a product. The result is
that lots of tiny teams are working on all sorts of projects, the most
promising ones of which end up on the prestigious "top 100" list that
Mr Page ("the product guy") spends a lot of his time on. Most of the
items on that list in theory have something to do with Google's
mission, which is "to organise the world's information". Scanning and
indexing books, for instance, brings offline information online.

The outside world increasingly sees it differently. Among Google fans,
the company has come to epitomise the more mature (ie, post-bust)
internet generation, which goes by the marketing cliche "Web 2.0" (see
article[11]). In this context, it is assumed to be working on
absolutely everything simultaneously, and every new product
announcement, no matter how trivial, is greeted as a tiny step toward
an eventual world-changing transformation.

At a minimum, this hypothetical transformation would consist of moving
computation and data off people's personal computers and on to the
network--ie, Google's servers. Other names for this scenario are the
"GDrive" or the "Google grid" that the company is allegedly working on,
meaning free (but ultimately advertising-supported) copious online
storage and possibly free internet access. Free storage threatens
Microsoft, because its software dominates personal computers rather
than the internet; free access threatens other internet-access
providers.

At a maximum, the transformation goes quite a bit further. George
Dyson, a futurist who has spent time at Google, thinks that the company
ultimately intends to link all these digital synapses created by its
users into what H.G. Wells, a British science-fiction writer, once
called the "world brain". Google, Mr Dyson thinks, wants to fulfil the
geeks' dream of creating "artificial intelligence". Passing the
so-called "Turing test", created by Alan Turing, a British
mathematician, to determine whether a machine can be said to be able to
think, would be the ultimate reward.

FROM PRIMES TO SHARE PRICES
But many who deal with Google in their daily lives are getting fed up
with such grandiose notions. Google's shares, after nearly quintupling
since they began trading, have fallen in recent months. Pip Coburn, an
investment strategist, says that "Google was a simple story at one
point: online ads on top of the most popular search mechanism on the
planet. Simple. But now it is pretty much a mess and to get the stock
going again, the company may need to work on its own simplicity so as
to match the simplicity of the Google home page itself."

Mr Sullivan of SEARCH ENGINE WATCH says Google has become distracted.
"Oh, give me a break," he wrote in his blog after yet another product
announcement. "A break from Google going in yet another direction when
there is so much stuff they haven't finished, gotten right or need to
fix." He points to a rule in Google's corporate philosophy that "it's
best to do one thing really, really well," and suggests that the
company is "doing 100 different things rather than one thing really,
really well."

Google is thus starting to look a bit as Microsoft did a decade ago,
with one strength (Windows for Microsoft, search for Google) and a
string of mediocre "me-too" products. Google Video, for instance, was
supposed to become an online marketplace for video clips, both personal
and business, but has been overtaken by YouTube[12], a start-up that is
a few months old but already has four times as much video traffic.
Google News, where the stories are, characteristically, chosen by
mathematical algorithms rather than by editors, perennially lags behind
Yahoo! News, with its old-fashioned human touch. Google's
instant-messaging software is tiny compared with AOL's, Yahoo!'s and
MSN's.

Google is beginning to resemble the old Microsoft in another way, too.
A decade ago, Microsoft stood accused of stifling innovation, because
entrepreneurs would stay away from any area of technology in which it
showed any interest. Google, whose slogan is "Don't be evil", hates
this comparison and wants to think of itself as ventilating rather than
stifling the ecosystem of developers and entrepreneurs. "I don't see
how they can say that," says an entrepreneur and competitor who is too
afraid of unspecified consequences to speak on the record. Like most of
Silicon Valley these days, he finds Google's slogan ridiculous, because
"we're not evil either, we just don't go around saying it."

Entrepreneurs like him are getting annoyed by Google's seemingly
endless "betas", also known as "technical previews", when new products
are not yet officially launched but available, ostensibly for testing
and review. Traditionally, beta reviews were meant to last weeks or
months and were targeted at testers who would find and report bugs.
Google seems to use betas as dogs sprinkle trees--so that rivals know
where it is. Google News recently graduated out of its beta after about
four years.

In fairness, Google's role today is more complex than Microsoft's was
in the 1990s, when start-ups often hoped to "exit" by listing their
shares on the stockmarket, and were occasionally expunged by Microsoft
before they got there. Today, start-ups (such as Writely, Picasa, Orkut
and Urchin) often use Google (or the other internet titans) as the
exit, selling themselves to the big guy. It works for individuals too.
Paul Rademacher is a software engineer who last year came up with a
clever way of combining Google's interactive maps with other websites.
Google hired him.

To Google's initial surprise and subsequent chagrin (is it not enough
to vow never to be evil?), it alienates more groups of people as it
enters more areas of modern life. It appeared to be genuinely taken
aback that some book publishers oppose its plan to scan their books and
make them searchable. Google also seemed surprised when privacy
advocates voiced concerns over its practice of placing advertisements
in contextually related e-mail messages on its webmail service, and
again this year when it announced a Chinese version that censors the
search results.

Slowly, the company is realising that it is so important that it may
not be able to control the ramifications of its own actions. "As more
and more data builds up in the company's disk farms," says Edward
Felten, an expert on computer privacy at Princeton University, "the
temptation to be evil only increases. Even if the company itself stays
non-evil, its data trove will be a massive temptation for others to do
evil." In a world of rogue employees, intruders and accidents, he says,
Google could be "one or two privacy disasters away from becoming just
another internet company".

Such concerns are forcing Messrs Brin and Page, still in their early
30s, and Eric Schmidt, whom they hired as chief executive and who is in
his early 50s, to behave increasingly like a "normal" company. Google
recently sent its first lobbyists to Washington, DC. Its decision to
build an "evil scale" to help it devise its China strategy was more
unusual, but its hiring of Al Gore, a former American vice-president,
to aid the process, was just the kind of thing that old-fashioned
empire-building firms do all the time.

Other companies are reacting in traditional ways to Google's dominance.
Former rivals, such as eBay, Yahoo! and Microsoft, are exploring
alliances to counter its influence. When Microsoft tried to buy AOL
from its parent, Time Warner, Google's Mr Schmidt flew in for talks
that led to Google taking a defensive stake in AOL, thus keeping it out
of Microsoft's and Yahoo!'s reach. In response, Microsoft has
contemplated buying all or part of Yahoo!, and has recently announced a
vague but large increase in research spending which amounts to an arms
race. Google is now alleging that Microsoft is unfairly steering users
of its web browser to MSN for searches, and is preparing to dispatch
lawyers to keep Microsoft in check.

Google thus finds itself at a defining moment. There are plenty of
people within the company who want it to play the power game. "The
folks who are closest to Larry and Sergey are very, very worried about
Microsoft, as well they should be," says John Battelle, the author of a
blog and a book on Google. Yet the company's founders themselves may
not be prepared to drop their idealism and their faith in their own
mathematical genius. They have always wanted to succeed by being good
and doing good. "Never once did we consider buying a big company," says
David Krane, Google's 84th employee, by way of example. It would not be
googley. It would, he says, be "yuck".

-----
[1] http://www.google.com
[2] http://searchenginewatch.com/
[3] http://www.yahoo.com
[4] http://www.ask.com
[5] http://www.msn.com/
[6] http://www.aol.com
[7] http://picasa.google.com/
[8] https://www.orkut.com/
[9] http://www.blogger.com/start
[10] http://www2.writely.com/info/WritelyOverflowWelcome.htm
[11] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=6911109
[12] http://www.youtube.com/

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Google launches Google Trends

2006-05-13T10:50:00.000+05:30

Yet another cool feature launched by Google. lets us see what the world is searching for. Somewhat similar to Google Zeitgeist but this one is available throughout the year.

http://google.com/trends

It lets me see that people from sidney are searching the most about Fifa World Cup while Singapore and Dublin are looking for my company . Great Going, Google!!

Greatest creation of Credit Card companies

2006-05-12T19:57:00.000+05:30

Have u ever experienced the following? You are working at peace in ur computer, in ur office on a crucial task. Ur mobile rings and u see an unknown number! U pick it up, and a credit card sales rep floods you with his queries and unsolicited advice? If yes, then welcome to the club brother. Well, there seems to be a few workarounds. Some banks have started to maintain the DNCR, i.e do not call registry and so far, it has worked for me. Here are the links:

ICICI bank: http://www.inuonline.com/dnc/donotcall.asp

SBI Card: http://www.sbicard.com/sbi/donotcall.jsp

Bank of India: http://www.bankofindia.com/home/DNCR/Customer.asp

HSBC : https://www.tools.asiapacific.hsbc.com/webform/apply?id=in+donotcall

Standard Chartered : https://play.standardchartered.com/smail/in/IN12/index.html

Manhattan : http://www.manhattan.co.in/smail/INMAN02/INMAN02.htm

Anyone having more such links, please post them as a comment.

P.S.
In case you are also fed up with mobile phone offers, here's the link for AirTel:
http://www.airtel.in/Common.aspx?path=0/30

For Hutch
http://hutch.in/bottom/dnd.asp

Consolidated DCNR coming soon:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1486563.cms

One more reason to live

2006-05-03T23:50:00.000+05:30

Pink Floyd - Live 8
They still outperform anyone else, they still rock like hell!
They continue to be a reason to live!

Steve Jobs Speak - Video

2006-04-25T11:21:00.000+05:30

This time the video of the inspirational speech of the maverick CEO. (courtesy: My namesake Sayan Sircar)

DADA KO NA BHUL PAYENGE

2006-04-16T14:19:00.000+05:30

MOST ODI RUNS:

Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St Team
SR Tendulkar 359 350 33 14009 186* 44.19 85.93 39 71 107 - IND
Inzamam-ul-Haq 352 327 49 11157 137* 40.13 74.48 10 82 103 - PAK/ASIA-XI
ST Jayasuriya 351 342 15 10481 189 32.05 89.10 19 59 105 - SL/ASIA-XI
SC Ganguly 279 270 21 10123 183 40.65 73.79 22 60 96 - IND/ASIA-XI
M Azharuddin 334 308 54 9378 153* 36.92 73.99 7 58 156 - IND
BC Lara 259 252 26 9359 169 41.41 79.46 19 57 109 - WI/ICC-XI
PA de Silva 308 296 30 9284 145 34.90 81.13 11 64 95 - SL
R Dravid 276 255 34 8861 153 40.09 70.22 11 65 164 14 IND/ASIA-XI/ICC-XI
Saeed Anwar 247 244 19 8823 194 39.21 80.66 20 43 42 - PAK
RT Ponting 244 238 28 8806 145 41.93 78.54 18 51 100 - AUS/ICC-XI
DL Haynes 238 237 28 8648 152* 41.37 63.09 17 57 59 - WI

ODI HIGHEST INDIVIDUAL SCORES:

194

Saeed Anwar

Pakistan v India at Chennai, Independence Cup, 1996/97 [ 1209 ]

189*

IVA Richards

West Indies v England at Manchester, Texaco Trophy, 1984 [ 264 ]

189

ST Jayasuriya

Sri Lanka v India at Sharjah, Champions Trophy, 2000/01 [ 1652 ]

188*

G Kirsten

South Africa v United Arab Emirates at Rawalpindi, World Cup, 1995/96 [ 1049 ]

186*

SR Tendulkar

India v New Zealand at Hyderabad, 2nd ODI, 1999/00 [ 1523 ]

183*

MS Dhoni

India v Sri Lanka at Jaipur, 3rd ODI, 2005/06 [ 2290 ]

183

SC Ganguly

India v Sri Lanka at Taunton, World Cup, 1999 [1463 ]

181

IVA Richards

West Indies v Sri Lanka at Karachi, World Cup, 1987/88 [ 457 ]

175*

N Kapil Dev

India v Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells, World Cup, 1983 [ 216 ]

ODIs - 1000 Runs in a Calendar Year :

Year M I NO Runs HS Av 100s
SR Tendulkar (Ind) 1998 34 33 4 1894 143 65.31 9
SC Ganguly (Ind) 1999 41 41 3 1767 183 46.50 4
R Dravid (Ind) 1999 43 43 5 1761 153 46.34 6
SR Tendulkar (Ind) 1996 32 32 2 1611 137 53.70 6
Saeed Anwar (Pak) 1996 36 36 5 1595 115 51.45 3
SC Ganguly (Ind) 2000 32 32 4 1579 144 56.39 7
ME Waugh (Aus) 1999 36 36 3 1468 106 44.48 2
G Kirsten (SA) 2000 36 36 3 1467 115 44.45 2
G Kirsten (SA) 1996 29 29 4 1442 188* 57.68 6
Mohammad Yousuf (Pak) 2002 32 30 5 1362 141* 54.48 5
BC Lara WI 1993 30 30 3 1349 153 49.96 4
SC Ganguly (Ind) 1997 38 35 3 1338 113 41.81 1
SC Ganguly (Ind) 1998 36 35 3 1328 124 41.50 4

ODIs - Most Sixes in Career :

Name Mat I NO Runs HS Ave 100 SR 6s 6s/I Team
Shahid Afridi 217 208 9 4782 109 24.03 4 108.38 214 1.02 PAK
ST Jayasuriya 351 342 15 10481 189 32.05 19 89.10 199 0.58 SL
SC Ganguly 279 270 21 10123 183 40.65 22 73.79 168 0.62 IND
CL Cairns 215 193 25 4950 115 29.46 4 84.26 153 0.79 NZ
SR Tendulkar 359 350 33 14009 186* 44.19 39 85.93 148 0.42 IND
Inzamam-ul-Haq 352 327 49 11157 137* 40.13 10 74.48 136 0.41 PAK

ODIs - 100s in Most Consecutive Innings

2 SC Ganguly India 141* v South Africa Nairobi (Gym) 2000/01
117 v New Zealand Nairobi (Gym)

ODIs - Most 50s in Career (including 100s)

50+ Mts Inns 100s 50-99
110 SR Tendulkar India 359 350 39 71
92 Inzamam-ul-Haq Pakistan 352 327 10 82
82 SC Ganguly India 279 270 22 60
78 ST Jayasuriya Sri Lanka 351 342 19 59
76 BC Lara West Indies 259 252 19 57

ODIs - Fastest to 4000 Career Runs

Team I NO Runs HS Av
IVA Richards West Indies 88 15 4000 189* 54.79 1975 to 1984/85
CG Greenidge West Indies 96 10 4000 133* 46.51 1975 to 1988
BC Lara West Indies 100 9 4000 169 43.95 1990/91 to 1995/96
DM Jones Australia 102 21 4000 121 49.38 1983/84 to 1990/91
SC Ganguly India 105 9 4000 183 41.66 1991/92 to 1999

ODIs - Fastest to 5000 Career Runs
Team I NO Runs HS Av
IVA Richards West Indies 114 20 5000 189* 53.19 1975 to 1986/87
BC Lara West Indies 118 13 5000 169 47.61 1990/91 to 1997/98
CG Greenidge West Indies 121 13 5000 133* 46.29 1975 to 1990/91
SC Ganguly India 126 11 5000 183 43.47 1991/92 to 1999/00

ODIs - Fastest to 6000 Career Runs

Team I NO Runs HS Av
IVA Richards West Indies 141 22 6000 189* 50.42 1975 to 1988/89
SC Ganguly India 147 14 6000 183 45.11 1991/92 to 2000/01
BC Lara West Indies 155 16 6000 169 43.16 1990/91 to 1999/00
DM Jones Australia 157 26 6000 145 45.80 1983/84 to 1993/94
G Kirsten South Africa 160 16 6000 188* 41.66 1993/94 to 2001/02

ODIs - Fastest to 7000 Career Runs

Team I NO Runs HS Av
SC Ganguly India 174 15 7000 183 44.02 1991/92 to 2001/02
BC Lara West Indies 183 18 7000 169 42.42 1990/91 to 2000/01
DL Haynes West Indies 187 24 7000 152* 42.94 1977/78 to 1991/92
JH Kallis South Africa 188 36 7000 139 46.05 1995/96 to 2004
SR Tendulkar India 189 18 7000 143 40.93 1989/90 to 1998

ODIs - Fastest to 8000 Career Runs:

Team I NO Runs HS Av
SC Ganguly India 200 16 8000 183 43.47 1991/92 to 2002/03
SR Tendulkar India 210 22 8000 143 42.55 1989/90 to 1999
BC Lara West Indies 211 22 8000 169 42.32 1990/91 to 2002/03
Saeed Anwar Pakistan 218 18 8000 194 40.00 1988/89 to 2000/01
DL Haynes West Indies 219 29 8000 152* 42.10 1977/78 to 1992/93

ODIs - Fastest to 9000 Career Runs

Team I NO Runs HS Av
SC Ganguly India 228 20 9000 183 43.26 1991/92 to 2003/04
SR Tendulkar India 235 23 9000 186* 42.45 1989/90 to 1999/00
BC Lara West Indies 239 27 9000 169 42.45 1990/91 to 2004/05
Inzamam-ul-Haq Pakistan 273 39 9000 137* 38.46 1991/92 to 2003

ODIs - Fastest to 10000 Career Runs

Team I NO Runs HS Av
SR Tendulkar India 259 23 10000 186* 42.37 1989/90 to 2000/01
SC Ganguly India 263 21 10000 183 41.32 1991/92 to 2005
Inzamam-ul-Haq Pakistan 299 43 10000 137* 39.06 1991/92 to 2004
ST Jayasuriya Sri Lanka 328 16 10000 189 32.05 1989/90 to 2005

Mittal faces Judgement Day

2006-04-15T23:27:00.000+05:30

U.K. Faces Of The Week, April 10-13, 2006: "Mittal faces judgment day"

Urban Legend :(

2006-04-14T19:32:00.000+05:30

Sadly the last post is an urban legend, though it remains a nice read.

Urban Legend abt Einstein

Interesting story about Einstein

2006-04-11T20:15:00.000+05:30

The following is an interesting story about a genius. I would like to know if that is authentic. Google search shows it occurs in many blogs, but cant find something authentic enough like wiki to vouch for it -

An atheist professor of philosophy speaks to his class on the problem science has with God, The Almighty.He asks one of his new students to stand and.....
Prof: So you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Prof: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Prof: Is God all-powerful?
Student : Yes.
Prof: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn't. How is this God good then? Hmm?
(Student is silent.)
Prof: You can't answer, can you? Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student :Yes.
Prof: Is Satan good?
Student : No.
Prof: Where does Satan come from?
Student : From...God...
Prof: That's right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student :Yes.
Prof: Evil is everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student : Yes.
Prof: So who created evil?
(Student does not answer.)
Prof: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don't they?
Student :Yes, sir.
Prof: So, who created them?
(Student has no answer.)
Prof: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son...Have you ever seen God?
Student : No, sir.
Prof: Tell us if you have ever heard your God?

Student : No, sir.
Prof: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelled your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Prof: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student : Yes.
Prof: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your GOD doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.
Prof: Yes. Faith. And that is the problem science has.
Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?
Prof: Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as cold?
Prof: Yes.
Student : No sir. There isn't.
(The lecture theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events.)
Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don't have
anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it. (There is pin-drop silence in the lecture theatre.)
Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as
darkness?

Prof: Yes. What is night if there isn't darkness?
Student : You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing liight.... But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?
Prof: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.
Prof: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor.
Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Prof: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir? (The Professor shakes his head with a smile, beginning to realize
where the argument is going.)
Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going
endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?
(The class is in uproar.)
Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the
Professor's
brain?
(The class breaks out into laughter.)
Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's
brain, felt it, touched or smelled it?.....No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?
(The room is silent. The professor stares at the student, his face
unfathomable.)
Prof: I guess you'll have to take them on faith, son.
Student : That is it, sir.. The link between man & god is FAITH. That is all that keeps things moving & alive.

That young man was ALBERT EINSTEIN.....

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

2006-03-10T23:18:00.000+05:30

That's it! Today was the last day of me in our good old Y -14 office in Sector - V. From next monday, "another place, another time"!!!!

Good bye Y - 14. So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Is it possible in India?

2006-03-02T22:46:00.001+05:30

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, India now has an online interface for the public to lodge their complaints! Dont know how much it works, but whats the point in trying? e-age might just pierce the heart of corruption and let the voice of the common man reach where it should!
Hey, I am just being positive. Even I know this is India, but whats the harm?

http://darpg-grievance.nic.in/

http://darpg.nic.in/

http://pgportal.gov.in/

you may say I am a dreamer,
but I am not the only one.

maktub!!!

2006-02-16T10:18:00.000+05:30

Recently, I found Paulo Coelho's newsletter. "The Alchemist" was a book I could never forget, so went through it and must say, its a must read, at least for noted philosophers like my old friend Bogu and Choru and their disciples like me.
http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html
Go on, read it!

A Mail from a frustrated victim of chain mails

2006-01-31T22:17:00.000+05:30

Thought of forwarding this mail to each and everyone I know, but the decided against it and grabbed a chance of awakening my good-old blog! ;)

*A Mail from a frustrated victim of chain mails*:

I wanted to thank all my friends and family who have forwarded chain
letters to me in 2003 & 2004.

Because of your kindness:

* I stopped drinking Coca Cola after I found out that it's good for
removing toilet stains.

* I stopped going to the movies for fear of sitting on a needle
infected with AIDS.

* I smell like a wet dog since I stopped using deodorants because they
cause cancer.

* I don't leave my car in the parking lot or any other place and
sometimes I even have to walk about 7 blocks for fear that someone will drug
me with a perfume sample and try to rob me.

* I also stopped answering the phone for fear that they may ask me to
dial a stupid number and then I get a phone bill from hell with calls to
Uganda, Singapore and Tokyo.

* I also stopped drinking anything out of a can for fear that I will
get sick from the rat feces and urine.

* When I go to parties, I don't look at any girl, no matter how hot
she is, for fear that she will take me to a hotel, drug me then take my
kidneys and leave me taking nap in a bathtub full of ice.

* I also donated all my savings to the Amy Bruce account. A sick girl
that was about to die in the hospital about 7,000 times. (Funny that girl,
she's been 7 since 1993...)

* I went bankrupt from bounced checks that I made expecting the
$15,000 that Microsoft and AOL were supposed to send me when I participated
in their special e-mail program would arrive soon.

* My free Nokia phone never arrived and neither did the free passes
for a paid vacation to Disneyland.

* Still open to help some from Bulgaria who wants to use my account to
transfer his uncle property of some hundred millions $.

* Made some Hundred wishes before forwarding t hose Ganesh
Vandana,Tirupathi Balaji pics etc.. now most of those 'Wishes' are already
married (to someone else)

IMPORTANT NOTE:

If you do not send this e-mail to at least 1246 people in the next 10
seconds, a bird will ... on your head today at 6:30pm.

Happy New Year!!

2006-01-01T00:00:00.000+05:30

Wish a grand new year to everyone..............
Happy New Year!!!

Orkut and My Relationship Status

2005-12-23T21:01:00.000+05:30

There has been much confusion over the last few days about my relationship status in www.orkut.com . Basically what happened is I changed my relationship status to "Single" to "Committed" due to some good things that happened to me this year. That's where this story starts! One fine morning, as I start up my computer and get ready for another day's fight with variables and functions, I get bewildering scraps and mails from friends, all asking when did I got married and demanding why they weren't informed! Little did they know that I myself wasn't informed that I have become"Single, Married"!!!
Yes, you read it right. Orkut has decided me to be a trend setter and allotted to me more than one-values from a drop-down list!! In their opinion, my relationship status is "Single, Married"!
So here's my message to all my bewildered friends, ITS A BUG! And a humorous one at that, no doubts!! Hey Google-ians, if any of you are reading this, please look into the code and rescue me ;)

So, bottomline is I am not "Single, Married" afterall!

Ethan Hunt is back!

2005-12-17T10:31:00.000+05:30

ETHAN HUNT IS BACK!

http://www.missionimpossible.com/

When C++ Coders get pissed off!

2005-12-17T10:20:00.000+05:30

When C++ coders get pissed off, they create something like this -

Stroustrup's fictional interview

Its hillarious!

Underarm bowling becomes underhand deals : now in Team Selection

2005-12-15T22:17:00.000+05:30

Sign the petition We oppose the exclusion of Ganguly from the Indian cricket team .

Well, i got nothing more to say. Words are useless, everyone knows some people have gone trash and started using Indian cricket like their tissue papers. Shame on them, but frankly, I don't even feel like screwing them with choicest words ...... hell thay ain't worth it.

Still, if you want to read something well-written on this in the Indian blogosphere, go to Deepak-da's blog - here

Just sign the petition. But nothing will happen anyway.

Don't forget, this is India.

World Cup groups

2005-12-11T10:35:00.000+05:30

The World cup grouping are here, and once again, good teams get the death groups! Argentina and Holland in the same group...both my top favourites. Czech Republic and Italy also have been placed in the same group, while Brazil, Germany are placed in cakewalk-ish groups(not underestimating the teams in their groups though!). Among my favourites, Spain has managed a rather easy group.

Hoping both Argentina and Holland qualifies for the second round(and more).

Groups Schedule

Matches Schedule

Sala Main to Saab Ban gaya!

2005-12-11T10:15:00.000+05:30

Tribute to my Hero

2005-12-11T00:22:00.000+05:30

From the age of 6, I have been following his batting and been inspired by his sheer genius. He is not just a cricketing hero, but a champion who has inspired a generation - a deserving cult-figure. Hats Off, Boss!

SACHIN TENDULKAR ROCKS!

Another good guy killed for corruption

2005-12-11T00:09:00.000+05:30

After Satyandra Dubey, another one - Manjunath. Killed as a reward for being honest.
Mera Bharat Mahaan!

In the long run, we are all dead, I know. But, for heaven's sake, he was just 27. Murdered. Brutally. In cold blood. For something so abstract, so derided, so demeaned as "Values"...

Read the full story at Outlook

Obscure as Hell!!!!

2005-12-10T00:24:00.000+05:30

The following is a C code. Can you guess the output?

If not, try a C-compiler. You'll love it!!!

#include
main(int t,char _,char *a)
{
return!0main(-86, 0, a+1 )+a)):1,t<_?main(t+1, _, a ):3,main ( -94, -27+t, a )&&t ==
2 ?_<13 ?main ( 2, _+1, "%s %d %d\n" ):9:16:t<0?t<-72?main(_,
t,"@n'+,#'/*{}w+/w#cdnr/+,{}r/*de}+,/*{*+,/w{%+,/w#q#n+,/#{l,+,/n{n+,/+#n+,/#;#q#n+,/+k#;*+,/'r :'d*'3,}{w+K w'K:'+}e#';dq#'l q#'+d'K#!/+k#;q#'r}eKK#}w'r}eKK{nl]'/#;#q#n'){)#}w'){){nl]'/+#n';d}rw' i;# ){nl]!/n{n#'; r{#w'r nc{nl]'/#{l,+'K {rw' iK{;[{nl]'/w#q#\ n'wk nw'
iwk{KK{nl]!/w{%'l##w#' i; :{nl]'/*{q#'ld;r'}{nlwb!/*de}'c ;;{nl'-{}rw]'/+,}##'*}#nc,',#nw]'/+kd'+e}+;#'rdq#w! nr'/ ') }+}{rl#'{n' ')# }'+}##(!!/") :t<-50?_==*a
?putchar(a[31]):main(-65,_,a+1):main((*a == '/')+t,_,a+1 ):0

Good bye to the Prince of Football

2005-12-02T14:30:00.000+05:30

"George Best will get a standing ovation from the Old Trafford crowd for one last time on Saturday when Manchester United take on Portsmouth, hours after the former United great is laid to rest in his native Belfast. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric, a personal friend of Best's, will both arrive at the early evening match after flying back from the funeral in Northern Ireland, where up to half a million people are expected to turn out in honour of the province's greatest ever player."

-- Good bye, the Vincent Van Gogh of Football! Rest in peace! Your glory will remain forever.

Longest URL and longest list!!

2005-12-01T21:56:00.000+05:30

http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com

Interesting stuff!!! Check it out Junta!

Quentin Tarantino is a genius

2005-12-01T21:41:00.000+05:30

Anyone who could write and direct stuff like has to be a genius. Will watch out all his movies. Simply unforgettable.

There's a passage I got memorized.

Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the
righteous man is beset on all sides
by the inequities of the selfish
and the tyranny of evil men.
Blessed is he who, in the name of
charity and good will, shepherds
the weak throu gh the valley of the
darkness. For he is truly his
brother's keeper and the finder of
lost children.
And I will strike down upon thee
with great vengeance and furious
anger those who attempt to poison
and destroy my brothers. And you
will know I am the Lord when I lay
my vengeance upon you." I been
sayin' that shit for years. And if
you ever heard it, it meant your
ass. I never really questioned
what it meant. I thought it was
just a cold-blooded thing to say to
a motherfucker 'fore you popped a
cap in his ass. But I saw some
shit this mornin' made me think
twice. Now I'm thinkin', it could
mean you're the evil man. And I'm
the righteous man. And Mr. .45
here, he's the shepherd protecting
my righteous ass in the valley of
darkness. Or is could by you're
the righteous man and I'm the
shepherd and it's the world that's
evil and selfish. I'd like that.
But that shit ain't the truth. The
truth is you're the weak. And I'm
the tyranny of evil men. But I'm
tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to be
a shepherd.

Great Stuff, awesome!

Our "professional" cricket coach!

2005-11-27T10:46:00.000+05:30

Hi! Here's a video link of our "professional" cricket coach. Just click on it!

Sadly, he didn't have the nerves to do it to the opponent! Instead, he choosed the local cricket fans! Three cheers for the "brave old" man, ain't this is for what we pay him a kings ransom?
Read it in his own words

We did have a man who could show it to our opponents, in their own grounds, after winning. Alas, that was a different day, that was a different time.

Sony BMG going Spyware!

2005-11-23T09:49:00.000+05:30

Just when we thought it's nasty cheap providers who issue spyware, down comes a biggie!!! Sony BMG is in bigtime spyware scandal! Man, our machines are in perennial danger!

Sony in Spyware Scandal

Microsoft rescues!

Bad, bad news for Sony product lovers :(

For the ones who cant install Chat Clients in Office PC

2005-11-22T11:32:00.000+05:30

Try Meebo -
http://www3.meebo.com/

Can connect to Yahoo/Googletalk/ICQ/MSN and what else god knows. My experience is it works cool in broadband, havent tried at home.(I tried it, though I CAN install Yahoo msgr in Office :) )

Tremendous Business People!

2005-11-22T00:20:00.000+05:30

It is said that keeping ur eyes open can be good for business. How? Read this to know! Hats off to this guys wisdom!

"Kiyoshi Nishikawa established the Tokyo company in 1971 as a signmaker and parking lot equipment supplier. He noticed that he was selling an awful lot of No Parking signs, as more cars flowed onto Japan's crowded roads. So 14 years ago he switched gears, taking up the business of managing parking lots. "

Read the full story

30 GB Mail Account+ 200 MB Attachment

2005-11-18T08:19:00.000+05:30

Go here for a 30 GB email ID!
For those on a broadband connection, who needs a hard disk?

http://ummat1.com/30GIGA/30gigs-account-regi.html

Kingdom of Heaven

2005-11-15T22:00:00.000+05:30

Saw the movie. Since I always fall for crafted dialogues, here are a few good ones:
"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Be brave and upright that God may love thee. Speak the truth even if it leads to your death. Safeguard the helpless. That is your oath. "

" A king may move a man, a father may claim a son. But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thus" or that "virtue was not convinient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that."

Speed Up Mozilla Firefox

2005-11-07T15:17:00.000+05:30

From my favourite forums!

1.Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages MUCH faster now!

Find more at http://www.coolwarez.xpt.net/

Gmail Rocks!

2005-11-06T23:21:00.000+05:30

For gmail enthusiasts, check out this!

http://gmailtips.com/

Speling erors!!!

2005-10-21T21:54:00.000+05:30

(This was mailed by Amit Da of Mensa to us)

In the Kolkata Metro, INCODA TV runs the monitors that have
programs and ads, and also scrolling news superimposed on
the programs.

In the text news, one recent news item was that --

QUOTE
CBSE to go spft on speling erors, ICSE to folow suit.
UNQUOTE

Metro Railway Leading by example? ;)

To Prantik ..... recursion

2005-10-16T00:04:00.000+05:30

My dear brother Prantik has toiled hard to understand and explain recursion in his blog:
http://www.prantikbhattacharyya.blogspot.com/

Here's my shot at recursion(though neither me nor my dear friend Joydeep Chakraborty never really got what the heck was recursion!!! ;) )......................

Online Personality Test

2005-10-15T21:55:00.000+05:30

Found some good personality tests from some good old friends......try them!

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

http://www.briantracyassessments.com/assessment.asp

Which band should you be in?

2005-10-15T16:48:00.000+05:30

Which Band Should You Be In? by couplandesque
Your Name
Band Name	Pink Floyd
Role	Guitarist
Trademark	iconoclasted
Love Interest	grass

A Tribute to the Magnificent Seven

2005-10-10T22:31:00.000+05:30

Here's a tribute to the magnificent Seven that ruled JU CSE 2005.
We called ourselves the BaWaL group.
May the spirit of true bawal live on forever.
Chulbuli Chulbuli Dhum Dharakka
HU HA HU HA
Hamchupamu
Hambakatimba
Horr bor bor bor bor bor!

The Magnificent Seven

We are(from left).....................

Syamantak aka Gambu/Gambat/Mar Load/(!)Mukto Purush
myself, aka Laltu/Guns
Dhiman(slanted) aka Budu/Badani/Badu/(any khisti will do for him)
Aritra aka Gola
Vijit aka bi*hi/vk/vijitkhanna vijitkhanna
Debamitro(slanted) aka Boggu/Kisses
and last, but not the least,
Joydeep aka Chhoru/Roses

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are.....................................
And Nothing Else Matters!

194	Saeed Anwar	Pakistan v India at Chennai, Independence Cup, 1996/97 [ 1209 ]
189*	IVA Richards	West Indies v England at Manchester, Texaco Trophy, 1984 [ 264 ]
189	ST Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka v India at Sharjah, Champions Trophy, 2000/01 [ 1652 ]
188*	G Kirsten	South Africa v United Arab Emirates at Rawalpindi, World Cup, 1995/96 [ 1049 ]
186*	SR Tendulkar	India v New Zealand at Hyderabad, 2nd ODI, 1999/00 [ 1523 ]
183*	MS Dhoni	India v Sri Lanka at Jaipur, 3rd ODI, 2005/06 [ 2290 ]
183	SC Ganguly	India v Sri Lanka at Taunton, World Cup, 1999 [1463 ]
181	IVA Richards	West Indies v Sri Lanka at Karachi, World Cup, 1987/88 [ 457 ]
175*	N Kapil Dev	India v Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wells, World Cup, 1983 [ 216 ]