The Tour de France 2009 kicks of its 96th edition, covering roughly 3,500 kilometers over 21 days. But it not an ordinary tour as Lance Armstrong is back riding in his favorite event.

In terms of geographical boundaries, the tour will be passing through six countries this time around: Monaco, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland and Italy.

Another novelty is the communication between the riders and their team managers being banned in stages 10 and 13.

I am will be following this year’s event on the web, hoping against hope that it turns out dope free.

There was a girl
She was pretty but never thought so
Intelligent but never praised for
Kind and people used that
Everything about her made her so special
Always out of the crowd

One day, a guy approached her
He was not intelligent as she was
Not handsome that a girl would want him
All he sought was her love and care
Life time promise that she will
Share both happiness and sorrows

She needed some time to think
She was lost in her thoughts
Though she was aware of his kind hearted nature
And the person he is, there was something
Haunting her day and night

They both started speaking often
Met some day in a week
Shared their emotions
She boosted him little that he needed
To walk in a success path

The success and the companionship
Made him feel strong and
See the beauty of life
He was on cloud nine
Thinking of their lives together
And live happily ever after

Still she was uncertain
The inner beauty was masked by
The physical appearance
Any girl of her age would prefer
A handsome guy with looks
And style that makes her feel special

Another guy with great looks and talent
Met her and promised the better life
The dreams come true moment didn’t
Last for a while, he broke her heart
He found a girl prettier than this girl

All with broken heart and tears
Girl, didn’t speak a word for days
Forgot to smile and cheer
Avoided everyone and wished loneliness
Only tears and gloominess accompanied her

This guy, still mad for her
Was worried of her deeds
Went to her one fine day, asked for
A minute! Just hold her hands
Comforted with a smile and care

She embraced him, busted out of tears
The guy tried to make her smile
Made sure to let her know his lasting love
She dint speak a word, tears rolled on her cheeks
Without a gesture girl walked away

Days passed, months spun still there’s no
Sign of girl. All worried of her life
Guy visited her house with handful of flowers
Heart full of love and eyes full of dreams
But none at home; guy walked into the room

Saw his love. She was not moving
All pause! With flowers adorning her
She looked happy and was dressed like a bride
Guy walked slowly towards her
Without a word, tears rolled out

Girl was not real, all this time
He was looking at her photo frame
Shattered to see his love of life nailed on the wall
With garland! Walked to her mother
Asked if he can know the story

Girl was suffering from some medical condition and was
Fighting last days of her life
The saddest part, she was unaware
And got to know the day, just before
This guy approached to console her
Mother said the story

Guy cried and cried
Screamed to the sky and wept to the ocean
Mother said how much
The girl loved and wanted to share rest of her life
With him. Guy couldn’t digest the truth
Of girl’s demise and yelled n’ yelled

Guy not ready to share his love with
Any other girl; lived his rest of the life all alone
Made sure to get buried after his love of life
Now nothing remains! Except the unsaid love and
The long-lasting bond that they shared.

Many a times, we all think beauty is what matters when it comes to a life partner. If not everyone but at least the preference would be given to beauty. Because that is what is seen, the moment we see anyone.

Why beauty when you don’t have the true heart to love and wishful hands to embrace when you need. There are no limits for beauty. There is no one you can call – most beautiful lady / men.

Beautifulness won’t last forever. Everything on earth will undergo aging. As age passes, the beauty shades. The beauty you see today might not look the same tomorrow.

Though we think, we are the most beautiful – we are not sure what life ensures us tomorrow. Life promises not the beauty but the love.

Earth exists not for the beauty but for the love. When you look at someone, look with love filled eyes; the true eternal beauty of that person is seen. Appreciate the honesty and the kindness the person enclose.

Beauty dies not the beautiful thoughts. Beauty fades not the beautiful moments.

Life can be beautiful even with the person who is not beautiful. All you need is to realize how beautiful he/she makes your life with their companionship.

Once you are sure who the right person is for you, don’t give a thought for the external beauty. Eternal beauty is what that lasts forever and ever.

Make your life beautiful with the beauty that the person shares and not the beauty he/she shows.

Live life “Happily Ever after”

- RK

From Bhutan With Love ---- Whatever I was unable to achieve in Bangalore, I was able to do it at Bhutan. I am grateful to the Principal of Minjiwoong Lower Secondary School, Mr. Rajesh Rai; His Honorable Dasho OC, Royal Bhutan Army and the Dzonkhag (District) Education Officer, Samdrup Jongkhar to give me the opportunity to realize my dream.

As Connector ACF 591 I have been promoted now as the Climate Project Presenter to be happening this December at Royal Thimphu College at Thimphu by joint venture of the Australian Conservation Foundation, World Food Programme and UNICEF.

Do add in your valueable comments for the same. Thank You.

The Web Link:
http://connectors.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=13

By Arunava Das, Senior Secondary Contract Teacher, Royal Government of Bhutan

“The GODS Will Overcome” ---- FREE TIBET, One World, One Free “Roof of the World”

During my sojourn of the really small, yet fruitful stay of six months in Eastern Bhutan, which very well resembles the intricately woven live tale of the golden days of Tibet by Heinrich Harrer in his legendary book “Seven Years in Tibet”, I saw similarity of language, cast, creed, evenness of religious belief and practices and the relief of the country, to say both the countries, the amazing vastness of the Himalayas, the awe that these mountains create on its dumb-founded onlookers is worth it and I believe that as Bhutan, Tibet has every “right” to enjoy freedom at its best from the oppressive Chinese rule.

To my astonishment, I who hail from a country that has been under the British rule for over three hundred years till 1947 never saw or heard of any disfigurement or destruction of any of the national monuments of India and the Britons were kind enough to add some important infrastructure like bridges, roads, railways to India.

I was horrified and literally torn to pieces to learn that 99% of the 6000 sacred buildings have been razed to the ground by the barbarian bastards, Chinese invasion. It makes me realize that the Chinese, who are also Buddhists in their belief, are harming precious Buddhist texts and articles that should have been preserved rather than demolished by the demons. As a staunch supporter of Buddhism, I believe that these ancient relics are great sources of inspiration that one can gather about a religion, its ancient virtue and culture and some knowledge about Tibetan School of Medicine, all that were hitherto unknown to the world.

Through my readings of His Holiness The Dalai Lama (I generally read these books during my lonely times at nights in Minjiwoong as it’s a remote area with no room for electricity.) and many other Buddhist related books and ones own knowledge, I abide by the rule that it is the sin of the highest order to destroy one’s freedom to live. Freedom is a virtue that everyone enjoys from humans to wild animals and plants. Nobody likes to be oppressed or mistreated and humiliated on his land that belongs to him/her by birth. Some great Indian freedom fighter once famously remarked that “Swaraj is one’s birthright and one should leave no stone unturned to get it.” “Swa” means self and “raj” means right of freedom on one’s motherland.

The people who think that they have the right to dominate others, kill people (taking one’s life) are rather fools as “GODS” have the last say. “What Man proposes, God disposes!” If China proposes to take Tibet and part of Bhutan, God will one day have China dethroned because freedom of land and its people come first and I hope that the day is not far away. I hope a catastrophe may paralyze China forever that they may fail to come to the grips of their loss, the same loss that they have so far inflicted on a holy country like Tibet.

That is the point they will realize their mistake; and when they have done so, I pray to His Lordship Buddha and any other Gods for that matter that they lose their backbone forever to stand up again. This is my solemn request I keep as I like and would love to see Tibet free again. I know the people are strong enough to rebuild their treasures as only from ashes of destruction that new things come up.

I hereby, on the behalf of all my Indian colleagues at the Ministry of Education, Royal Government of Bhutan, take the solemn oath of standing by H.H. The Dalai Lama, Heinrich Harrer and the people of Tibet in their fight for freedom.

By Arunava Das, Senior Secondary Contract Teacher, Royal Government of Bhutan

Me with my Wangchuk House. We won the Boys Footbal Interhouse Championship. Me the Proud Coach



Our school and hostels


Thimphu getaway, taken on Phuentsholing - Thimphu Highway on way to Thimphu


Ministry of Education office, my employer....

The revolt has been put down, compromises has been made and the show goes on. The eight teams have agreed to participate in the 2010 Formula One World Championship until 2012 and eventually cut costs to the levels of the early 1990’s. In return, the FIA has agreed to impose no further regulations. The 2009 regulations as well as further regulations agreed prior to 29 April 2009 will be in force for 2010 and onwards.

The big cheer is that FIA President Max Mosley will not to stand for re-election in October this year.

Gentlemen, start your engines.

Kimberly Read & Marcia Purse commented on their blog Bipolar.About.com that according to the "facial feedback" hypothesis, the muscle movements of our face tell our brains that yes we are happy because we are smiling or confirm anger when our eyebrows draw together. I usually take tension soon when things are not done my way or if what I wanted to happened does not happen due to some reason. Same situation happened once and my husband asked me to smile. I said him at that moment, “I cannot give u a wholehearted smile now as I am tensed…” He said, “I asked u to smile, because when u smile, tension is released and u will be able to tackle a situation better…” I realized that what he said was so very true! Like an apple a day, keeps doctor away, a smile during such situations definitely helps to keep the tension away! So people lets learn to be happy and keep smiling :)

P.S: “He who smiles rather than rages is always the stronger” - Japanese proverb

Opened my Twitter account many months ago but din't tweet much then. But when I started to, I really could not make out the different phrases people used. So thought of sharing few commonly used twitter terms with you all.

Tweet

– This is the first and most important word. It’s a phrase used for a 140-character message sent to Twitter through a phone, the web, or any third-party applications. Tweets are public and can be read by anyone accessing the TwitterStream. (Tweets can be made public or private in the settings.)

@username

– replies/direction to a particular person in a conversation. If the @username begins the Tweet then it’s a “reply” and if the @username appears somewhere else then it’s a “mention”. These replies and mentions can be accessed from your Twitter account in the “replies” tab.

Follower

– If someone comes across your tweets and finds it interesting, he/she might want to get updates from you as and when you tweet, then he/she can follow you and become a “Follower”. It is also possible to “block” someone from following. A blocked account cannot “follow” your tweets but can easily see your public tweets in a search.

#topic

– signal that a message is about a particular topic or event. Oftentimes, that event is an online chat.

Favorite

– Remember “favorites” tab in your Twitter account? If you have bookmarked a tweet then it will be saved here.

DM or DT

– Short for Direct Message/Direct Tweet. Direct tweets are private and do not appear in the public timeline.

RT or Retweet

– It’s like forwarding an interesting mail to someone. But here you forward or “retweet” the tweet. Please make sure you give the original credit using the @username.

TwitterStream

– Is a continuous flow of tweets by everyone you follow or on a public timeline.

Twitterfeed

–RSS feed for any twitter account.

Tweetdeck

– where one can see replies and tag cloud

Twitter Lingo

Tweeple

– people who tweet and are regular tweeters

TweetUp

– This word is used for a real-world meeting of people who have been connected through Twitter.

Twitterati

– Welcome to the world of Celebrity Tweeple or Tweeters.

Twelepathy

– Just like Telepathy, a situation where one can predict what a tweeter is going to tweet before they even tweet it.

Twidium

– a twitter stadium. Ah no, this phrase is used when Tweeple are watching a game and twitting each play.

Tweskank

– is someone who twitters while on a date. Oh man.

Twexting

– text messaging a tweet to Twitter.

Twitphilia

– Is made up of two words, Twit (meaning Twitter ) and Philia (meaning Love), so the word denotes a person who has an obsession with Twitter.

Twitanoia

– Opposite to the above, used to denote someone with a strong disliking to everything Twitter.

Twitterverse

– Welcome to the Twitter universe.

There are hundreds of such words coined by so many tweeters till now. This is a just a small collection of top phrases. Do comment on any other top twitter word you think is important to add up.

If the rumors are true, Google is getting itself ready to launch a new search service which indexes and ranks content from many microblogging services including the best selling Twitter. Its high time since Google did this and this has been a challenge since these Microblogging services have very high real-time updates.

According to Google Operating System blogpost, Google's microblogging search service will sort the results by relevancy and it also be integrated with Google's web search engine: the keywords that are frequently used in recent posts will trigger a MicroBlogsearch universal search group.


There have been many browser addons and other third party services which gave results on the Google search page. But once this search engine is/if released will overtake all these minor search engines, many whom are dedicated only to twitter search (doesn't make sense coz Twitter itself has a very good dedicated search).

So keep yourself updated on this new search.

Day: Thursday

Date: June 4, 2009

Time: 6:30 PM IST

Well, late Saturday afternoon I got a SMS on my mobile phone. The SMS sent by TM – Winners, read like this…

Congratulation!!! You have won GBP-250,000.00, in 2009 (SHELL) INT’L Mobile Draw. Winning #3, To claim your prize Contact Mr. Mike via E-mail: spdc68@live.com

I was thinking for a minute. It sounded crazy. Shell was legitimate company. How did they get my number and why were they using live.com as their contact. Well something dint sound right. I knew it was some kind of spam. But am I the only one ?

Well coincidently, a local newspaper also wrote a similar story of a person in Bangalore, receiving similar message. As I read through the post, my initial thoughts were sealed. Yes, it was a spam message.

This kinda spam is described as mobile spamming, SMS spam, text spam, or SpaSMS also called commonly as m-spam. This is not something new, as I thought earlier, it started with the increase in popularity of mobile phones.

Some handy SMS spam-reduction techniques:

• Don’t give your cell phone numbers to unknown websites
• Don’t give number to Internet sites offering "free" ring tone downloads
• If you are using a Symbian OS, then there are software that can use some keyword/phone number filtering system to deliver only relevant messages
• If you don’t want to utilize the SMS service then you can call up your mobile service provider and stop the service.

Some telecommunications providers believe that SMS spam is going to be a huge challenge for them, since spamsters are using different means to send SMS spams.

Well today i stumbled upon a post on internet which i felt like sharing with everyone. Its eerie and its spooky, nonetheless its mind boggling. I don't believe in ghosts (till i see one myself.. hehe). Have retained much of the text with the images as i have found it. Go through it for some amazing stories guys.

1. "The Brown Lady" of Raynham Hall

This photo was taken in 1936 at Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England. This portraint of "The Brown Lady" is arguably the most famous and well-regarded ghost photograph ever taken. The ghost is thought to be that of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount of Raynham, residents of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England in the early 1700s. It was rumored that Dorothy, before her marriage to Charles, had been the mistress of Lord Wharton. Charles suspected Dorothy of infidelity. Although according to legal records she was buried in 1726, it was suspected that the funeral was a sham and that Charles had locked his wife away in a remote corner of the house until her death many years later.

2. His Favorite Chair

Remember how Archie Bunker liked his recliner so much that he never let anyone else sit in it? Well, ol' Archie doesn't have anything on Lord Combermere. After being ran over by a horse-drawn carriage he died in 1891. A photographer set up a camera with its shutter open for one hour in the manor's library while the entire staff was off at Lord Combermere's funeral, some four miles away. When the plate was developed, the startling image of what looks to be a man's head and arm sitting in the chair was immediately noticed. Many of the staff said that the image looked very much like the late lord, and it happened to be sitting in Combermere's favorite chair in the library.

3. Freddy Jackson's Comeback

Freddy Jackson was a mechanic in the Royal Air Force in World War I. Freddy Jackson's squadron served onboard the H.M.S. Daedalus. Freddy Jackson was killed in 1919 when an airplane propeller hit him. Two days later when the squadron assembled for a group photo, Freddy Jackson faithfully showed up, grinning behind the ear of a fellow comrade. Guess nobody bothered to tell Freddy Jackson that he was dead. His face was widely recognized in this photo by members of the squadron.

4. Stair Case Ghost of National Museum, Greenwich, England

Rev. Ralph Hardy, a retired clergyman from White Rock, British Columbia, took this now famous photograph in 1966. He intended merely to photograph the beautiful staircase in the Queen's House section of the National Museum in Greenwich, England. Upon development, however the photo revealed a shrouded figure climbing the stairs, seeming to hold the railing with both hands. Experts, including some from Kodak, who examined the original negative concluded that it had not been tampered with. Its been said that unexplained figures have been seen on occasion in the vicinity of the staircase, and unexplained footsteps have also been heard.

5. Darn Backseat Drivers!

In 1959 Mable Chinnery went to the cemetery to visit the grave of her mother, as any devoted daughter is apt to do. She took some photos of the gravesite and then turned and took this picture of her husband sitting alone in the car's passenger seat. The film was developed and this came out: somebody sitting in the backseat wearing glasses, clear as day. Mrs. Chinnery swore that the "backseat driver" was none other than her own mother... whose gravesite she was standing next to when she took the picture! Hmmmm... a live husband and a deceased mother-in-law looking over his shoulder.

6. What Do You Want On Your Tombstone?

Back in 1996 Ike Clanton took this photo of a friend wearing western duds, in the middle of Tombstone's Boothill Graveyard. They swear that nobody else was in sight when they made this picture. Furthermore, some time later they tried to restage this picture with someone standing at the spot where the "mystery man" appears in the background. Ike Clanton says that it was impossible to take such a picture and not show the rear person's legs. Clanton said he wasn't so sure about Tombstone being haunted, but this photo made a believer out of him. There's so much ghostly activity going on in the famous town that Clanton's set up a special section of his website dedicated to Tombstone's population of yesteryear. Well worth checking out, if nothing else than for the sense of history that this excellent website conveys.

7. Come On Baby, Light My Fire


On November 19th, 1995, Wem Town Hall in Shropshire, England was engulfed in flames and burned to the ground. As firefighters tried to stave off the inferno a town resident, Tony O'Rahilly, took pictures from across the street using a telephoto lens on his camera. There, rather clearly in one of the photos, is what looks very much to be a small girl standing in a doorway, with the brightness of the flames behind her. No one ever remembered there being a small girl present on scene, much less in that close a proximity to the fire. The photo and the original negative were turned over to a photo expert who decided that the picture was 100% authentic: "The negative is a straightforward piece of black-and-white work and shows no sign of having been tampered with." Okay, so what's a girl ghost doing in such a big fire? Well in 1677 a fire destroyed many of Wem’s wooden houses. The fire was said to have been caused by a 14-year old girl named Jane Churm, who had been careless with a candle. Churm died in the fire along with several others, and her ghost is said to still haunt the area. Whether there's such a thing as ghosts or not, it must be said: if this is just a trick, an illusion of smoke and fire that happened to be captured on film, it's a zillion-to-one coincidence that it just so happened to appear in the form of a girl who also died in a terrible fire at the same location. But hey, stranger things than that have happened in this world, right?

8. Ghost of Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, Chicago

This photo was taken during an investigation of Bachelor's Grove Cemetery near Chicago by the Ghost Research Society(GRS). On August 10, 1991 several memeber of the GRS were at the cemetery, a small abandoned garveyard on the edge of the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, near the suburb of Midlothian, Illinois. Reputed to be one of the most haunted cemeteries in the U.S., Bachelor's Grove has been the site of well over 100 different reports of strange phenomena, including apparitions, unexplained sights and sounds, and even glowing balls of light. When developed, this image emerged: what looks like a lonely looking young woman dressed in white sitting on a tombstone. Parts of her body her partially tranparent and the style of the dress seems to be out of date.

9. "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it..."

In 1924 James Courtney and Michael Meehan, two crewmen of the tanker S.S. Watertown, were accidentally killed by gas fumes while cleaning a cargo tank. The crew of the Watertown - on its way to the Panama Canal from New York City – buried the two sailors at sea off the Mexican coast. That was on December 4th. On December 5th the first mate reported that the faces of Courtney and Meehan were appearing in the water off the port side of the ship. Over the next several days every member of the crew witnessed the faces appear and disappear, including the ship's captain. When he reported this to his supervisors after docking in New Orleans it was suggested that he try to photograph the faces. Captain Keith Tracy bought a camera and the ship was soon underway again. Sure enough, the faces appeared, and Tracy took six pictures, then secured the camera in the ship's vault. The camera was not removed until it was taken to a commercial developer after docking in New York City. Five of the photos showed nothing unusual, but the sixth clearly showed what was said to be the faces of the two dead crewmen. No evidence of forgery or tampering of the film was ever discovered. The faces stopped appearing after a new crew was brought aboard the Watertown.

10. The Newby Church Monk

Reverend K.F. Lord took a picture of the altar at his church in North Yorkshire, England (why are the GOOD ghosts always found in England?) and this is what came out. The picture and the negative are said to have been thoroughly examined by photographic experts and they can't find any evidence that this was either a double exposure, or artificially altered. The "thing" is calculated to be standing nine feet tall, and no one's found any record of a monk that humongous ever being at Newby Church. Who is it? What is it? Trick of light or something else? Either way it's way too creepy to not mention on this list.

11. Ghost Child at Cemetery

A woman named Mrs. Andrews was visiting the grave of her daughter Joyce, who died at 17. Andrews saw nothing unusual when she took this photo of Joyce's gravemarker. When the film was developed, Mrs. Andrews was astonished to see the image of a small child sitting happily at her daughter's grave. The ghost child seem to be aware of Mrs. Andrews since he or she is looking directly into the camera. Is it possible a double exposure? Mrs. Andrews said there were no such children nearby when she took the photograh and moreover did not recognize the child at all. It was no one she would have taken photograh of. She remarked that she did not believe it was the ghost of her daughter as a child.

12. London's St. Botolph's Chruch Ghost

In 1982, photographer Chris Brackley took a photograph of the interior of London's St. Botolph's Chruch, but never expected what would appear on the film. High in the Church's loft, seen in the upper right hand corner of his photogarph, is a transparent form of what looks like a woman. According to Brackley, to his knowledge there were only three people in the church when this photograh was taken, and none of them were in that loft.

13. Church Minister Ghost

According to Brad Steiger's Real Ghosts, restless spirits and haunted places, where this photo was found, there was only one other photographer in the church beside the person who took this picture. Neither of them recalled seeing ghost or any flesh-and-blood person standing there who could account for this image. Because the figure is all in black, it has been theorized that the apparition could be that of the churuch minister.

14. Grandfather Ghost Standing Behind Grandmother

"The lady in the color photo is my granny," she says. "She lived on her own until age 94, when her mind started to weaken and had to be moved to an assisted living home for her own safety. At the end of the first week, there was a picnic for the residents and their families. My mother and sister attended. My sister took two pictures that day, and this is one of them. It was taken on Sunday, 8/17/97, and we think the man behind her is my grandpa who passed away on Sunday, 8/14/84. We did not notice the man in the picture until Christmas Day, 2000 (granny had since passed away), while browsing through some loose family photos at my parents' house. My sister thought it was such a nice picture of granny that she even made a copy for mom, but still, nobody noticed the man behind her for over three years! When I arrived at my parents' house that Christmas day, my sister handed me the picture and said, "Who do you think this man behind granny looks like?" It took a few seconds for it to sink in. I was absolutely speechless. The black and white photos show that it really looks like him."
I don't need what might be a ghost's photograph to attest to this truth: when you're in love with that one special someone, nothing will stop you from being with that person. But it's still pretty nice to get a tangible confirmation of that every once in awhile..

15. Railroad Crossing Ghost in San Antonio, Texas

A Strange legend surrounds a railroad crossing of San Antonio, Texas. The intersection of the roadway and railraod track, so the story goes, was the site of a tragic accidents in which several school-aged children were killed - but their ghosts linger at the spot and will push idled cars across the tracks, even though the path is uphill. Andy and Debi Chesney's daughter and some of her friends had recently been to the crossing to test the legend, and she took some photographs. Inexplicably, a strange, transparent figure turned up in one of the photos.

Pics courtesy: The World Wide Web

What if you wanted your own platform where you could communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, wikis, forums, mails and more?

What if that was on Google? We all love Google don’t we?

Official Google Blog recently announced a very interesting application. Created by two brothers, Lars and Jens – the much awaited social site “Google Wave” has been given an exclusive preview for developers.

Here's how it works: In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. They can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. It's concurrent rich-text editing, where you see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave. That means Google Wave is just as well suited for quick messages as for persistent content — it allows for both collaboration and communication. You can also use "playback" to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.

You can check out the 90 minutes presentation below:

As always with any new product, Google wants to give developers the API for developing sleek applications for it. Well that’s what they did with Google Gadgets, Maps and many other products. Google Wave API is now available here.

Some key technologies in Google Wave

Real-time collaboration - people on a wave edit rich media at the same time

Natural language tools - contextual suggestions and spelling correction.

Extending Google Wave - Embed waves in other sites or add live social gadgets

One can register for Google Wave by signing up for the release.

Proud To Say That Our National Bird is Peacock?

Check This Out -

The National Bird Of India Is Struggling For Survival. The Bird Is Shoved To Extinction.

I Searched Internet To Find The Number Of This Bird In Our Country. For My Surprise I Learnt That There Is No Current Census Conducted For Peacock.

I Did Not Go In Depth To Know The Causes of The Extinction As I Personally Encountered One Of The Worst Causes. Feathers!!!!!!!

Yes, It’s For Their Long Sexy Beautiful Attractive Feathers These Birds Are Killed.

Recently I Captured These Pictures While Traveling In Public Transport In The City.

Uhhh..

Daring People!

Who Take Action Against This?

Why Do They Sell? Is That Because People Buy It?
Then Stop Purchasing! Educate The Consequences!!

Let Our Next Generation See How Peacock Look Like. It’s Our National Bird!!

Paddy Donnelly has created some awesome web icons, well in Origami style. Check out a few below. You can also download them from his blog.

One can download these origami icons in transparent pngs, and the PSD and EPS files.

Web 2.0rigami [All files, PSD, EPS, transparent pngs]

Web 2.0rigami [Transparent Pngs]

Web 2.0rigami [PSD file]

Web 2.0rigami [EPS file]

Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh as the 26th state is largely a forested area dominated by tribals and blessed with rich mineral resources.

The Ministry of Finance, Government of India, the state government has decided to set up four 'Star Industrial Areas in the districts of Bilaspur, Raigarh, Rajnandgaon and Raipur.

Chhattisgarh is rich in minerals. It is endowed with rich deposits of coal, iron ore and bauxite. No wonder Chhattisgarh has integrated steel and aluminium factories. The state also has deposits of copper-ore, manganese ore, rock phosphate and limestone. Most of the mining activity is concentrated in the areas of Raipur (cement), Korba (coal), Durg (iron ore and dolomite) and Bastar (tin and corundum). Though mining holds a bright future for the state, a substantial portion of the regions identified with mineral resources are covered by forest areas and/or occupied by tribal communities, thereby making their extraction impossible.

Anyone reading the above mentioned facts would feel that the state is poised on the cusp of development.

Let’s do a reality check.

I came across a document on the web that labeled Chhattisgarh as “a rich state inhabited by poor people.” It boasts of a Per Capita Income of $ 264 which works out to 72 cents per day. The tribals’ eke out a living by selling forest products. However, even this occupation has been endangered as the government seeks to rehabilitate tribals away from the forests with an eye on the rich mineral deposits. The government has been acquiring land for industrial activities, saying that the ‘industrialization’ would benefit the tribals. I wonder how?

On the other hand, the tribals also have to contend with naxals on one side and the Salwa Judum on the other. They are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Reports of Naxals massacring the tribals are plenty and so are the reports that the state government backed civilian militia, the Salwa Judum who loot, murder, rape the tribals regularly with impunity. Ultimately, it works to the government’s advantage as the tribals flee their birthplaces to the neighboring states, thereby posing no threat to the land acquisitions.

The ordeal does not end there. The tribals who have flown the coop to other states are suspiciously looked upon as supporters of naxalites and are being denied basic amenities.

This is the real face of India. The government prefers to cater to mining and industrial lobby rather than the welfare of these dirt poor tribals in Chhattisgarh.

Ramachandra Guha portrays a more vivid picture in his article “A War in the Heart of India.”

After so many reports doing the rounds on the utility of the new search engine WolframAlfa, its time for some action from Microsoft too. Next week it would be releasing its brand new search engine, code named Kumo (or something) at the D: All Things Digital conference.

Kara Swisher of AllThingsDigital blogged about this tool way back in March this year. Wonder if this new technology is something to do with Cloud Computing, the new buzz word. If it does then it would be awesome. By the way Kumo means Cloud or Spider in Japanese.

Microsoft search head Satya Nadella had released a few example searches using Kumo. Check one below.

The latest buzz doing the rounds on Kumo, is on its name. Yeah, don’t you think Microsoft would like to keep the name of its new product a surprise ? No wonder people have started speculating on some new could-be names like Bing, Hook and Sift.

Whatever be the name, Microsoft is surely trying to put a point across Google and Yahoo that it has not given up yet. Nope NOT yet.

Pics courtesy: AllThingsD

I had written earlier about Congo being the most unsafe place in the world for women. Let me add children to the list too. Children are being looked upon as unnecessary burden. Families accuse their children of being witches and throw them out onto the streets. It is even worse if it is a girl child because once they are thrown out onto the streets; they are raped and forced into prostitution.

Earlier, families used to accuse older members of being witches and throw them out, when they no longer were useful. With non-existent economy and the civil war still ravaging, children are being viewed as un-necessary burden. Hence, witchcraft is used as an excuse to get rid of them.

Congo being one of the poorest nations in the world, has spawned corrupt Christian pastors who are making a quick buck by performing brutal and mentally scarring exorcisms. Please refer to this ABC News article that chronicles in details the horrific rituals, both in print and video.

According to UNICEF, 70 percent of the 20,000 street children in Kinshasa have been accused of being witches. Most of the families living in Congo have experienced, at one point of time either death, divorce, rape and sometimes all of them. Out of desperation and belief, when they turn to God for deliverance the corrupt pastors mislead them by accusing the children in their family as the root cause for their evils and that they are witches.

It is a costly deliverance too as the pastors’ charge anywhere between $50. It gets worse when families cannot afford the costly exorcism and they resort to beating, burning, starving and in the extreme cases – murder their children. The ordeal does not enc there for families who can afford such barbaric rituals. The children, who are exorcised, are often thrown out of the house as they appear to be tainted in the eyes of their family members.

The Congolese government is of the view that it is legal to accuse children as long as there is proof. All it takes for a child in Congo to be labeled as a witch is to have big eyes, black eyes or a bulging tummy.

I was wondering how much worse it could get. In the near future, will I be writing a blog post on cannibalism in Congo? If parents are desperate enough to throw their own children out on to streets, then the time wouldn’t be far away when we might hear about parents devouring their own children! Maybe I have watched too many horror movies.

Please visit the following links for more details on the horrific witchery that is ravaging Congo:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1130/p12s01-woaf.html
http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=7613395
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-01-30-congo-children_N.htm

A quick Google search would throw up many more horror stories.

TIA – This Is Africa, the cradle of our civilization. What went wrong?

What an evening it was, providing some of us a much needed break. We jostled and took turns to stand near the window facing the 80 Feet Road, watching the rain in all its fury (a full 45 minutes of it dumping around 45.6 mm of water) and the hapless motorists and pedestrians struggling in knee deep water.

We gleefully encouraged the hesitant car drivers to go ahead on a 20 meter stretch of road submerged in 3-4 feet of water. We started betting amongst ourselves on which car would die in the pool of water and which one would scrape through safely. We watched in awe as the BMTC bus drivers drove through the pool of water, reminding me of WRC races.

Opportunists were earning money by offering a hand to push the stalled cars to safety. Talk about good Samaritans!

The cyclists were the hapless of the lot, wading in the water with the cars and bikes ploughing ahead around them. Some of them, including the bikers had opted to use the footpaths which were wrought with danger as some of the stone slabs on the footpaths were missing. We were watching all this from the 3rd floor window and only thing missing was a packet of hot roasted peanuts.

Once the water had drained away, the road was left covered with sand and stones, making it quite a motor cross experience riding home.

Bangalore is already groaning while the monsoons are yet to come. As usual, the BBMP, despite their tall claims that Bangalore would be better prepared this monsoon; gave inexplicable excuses for the flooding that Bangalore had witnessed yesterday.

PS: I apologize for the low quality pictures as they were taken using a cell phone camera (2.0 MP) from a window on 3rd floor.

You know a very nice Muslim man, who always says hello to you on your morning walks...

BUT you've seen his wife wearing a burkha, and you don't understand why his religion promotes subjugation of women.

Your neighbour is a Hindu, a wonderful individual who says he believes in equality...

BUT you know he's a Brahmin and you wonder what he'd do if an 'untouchable' entered his house.

Dear friend,

My name is Beth, and I am a facilitator with Meta-Culture Dialogics (www.meta-culture.org).  Meta-Culture aims to build peaceable and sustainable communities by changing how people in conflict talk with each other.

I am writing to invite your participation in a very exciting project: 
Meta-Culture’s second

Inter-Religious Dialogue (IRD)

WHAT is the Meta-Culture IRD?

You may know the “very nice” Muslim and the “wonderful” Hindu neighbour, but you may never have felt comfortable asking them more difficult questions about their faith and how they practice it. The Meta-Culture Inter-Religious Dialogue will give you an opportunity to honestly and openly express your thoughts and feelings about difficult issues such as the Hindu caste system, how women are regarded in Islam, and religious fundamentalism.  We create a space where you can safely think about and question your stereotypes and assumptions, even the ones you aren’t aware of!  By participating in the Meta-Culture Inter-Relgious Dialogue, you will not only learn about other people’s religion, but also about your own.

While Meta-Culture’s professional facilitators will guide the Inter-Relgious Dialogue, the sessions will not have a preset agenda.  Participants' concerns and areas of interest shape the course of the discussion.  Through inquiry and deep listening, participants will deepen their understanding of each other's opinions and ideas about their own identity, the identity of “the other,” and their place in a multi-cultural India.

WHEN and WHERE is the IRD?

The IRD will take place over eight weeks, starting in late June and ending in early August. 

There will be FOUR 3-hour dialogue sessions, held on alternating weeks throughout the 8-week period.  The day and time of the dialogue sessions will be determined based on the participants’ availability.

All sessions will be held at Meta-Culture’s office in Frazer Town.

WHO are we looking for? 

Meta-Culture is looking for TEN individuals to participate in the upcoming Inter-Religious Dialogue.  We are looking for participants who:

·  Are HINDUS or MUSLIMS living in Bangalore.

·  Are between the ages of 30 and 65.

·  Identify strongly with the religious community they belong to.

·  Are practicing followers of their religion.

·  Have a fair amount of influence within their community (though are not necessarily official religious leaders).

·  Are open to learning about themselves and others.

·  Are able to make a complete time commitment for the entire duration of the dialogue process.

Interested individuals should be aware that:

·  The IRD will not focus on the theological differences between the Hindu and Muslim religions. 

·  The IRD is not a place for individuals from one religion to try to convince others that their religion is “right.”

·  Participants in the IRD will be expected to attend all four 3-hour dialogue sessions.

·  Participants in the IRD will be expected to participate in three ½ hour one-on-one interview sessions with a Meta-Culture staff person (before, mid-way through, and after the dialogue sessions) so that Meta-Culture can monitor and evaluate the process.

How can you get involved?

If you or someone you know is eligible for and interested in becoming a participant in the Meta-Culture Inter Religious Dialogue, please respond directly to this e-mail.  Please send us your:

·  Full name

·  Religious affiliation/community

·  E-mail address

·  Phone number

·  A brief statement about why you want to participate in the IRD

Expressing your interest in the IRD does not mean you will be selected to participate. Meta-Culture will review the e-mails we receive and select those individuals who we will consider for participation in the IRD.  If you are among the individuals we are considering, we will be in touch with you by phone to learn more about you and your interest in participating. We will then make our final selection of participants.  

We believe you will enjoy and benefit from the experience of participating in the Meta-Culture Inter-Religious Dialogue.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Winners don't do drugs... they take supplements!

Can you believe it? This was one of the slogans that turned up for FpsBrain on Google.

With the nation glued to the telly for the election results and reports of first swine flu case in India, I came across this piece of news – Performance enhancing supplements for gamers.

This company claims to have a magic formula for computer gamers that increases their concentration and reaction times. The company dissociates itself from any forms of doping, according to its website. However, they maintain that performance enhancement matters in every form of professional sport.

The company does not reveal the ingredients of its products.

Being a hardcore gamer myself a long time ago, I did not realize gaming has become such a professional sport that the players need supplements to keep up their concentration levels and improve their reaction times.

What next? Provide urine samples to the WADA before and after a tournament!

I do wish I could go back to the good old days when I stayed up all those nights playing games just for the fun of it. Pure passion was what drove me to spend all those sleepless nights playing computer games.

Image source: www.dailyclipart.net