Good Bye 2008

Can't believe that another year is coming to an end... good bye 2008 and looking forward for a fabulous 2009. Happy new year to all...

The biggest news maker this year i would say was 'global warming' almost all the news papers / channels spoke about it atleast .. giving us evidence of the same. There was skeptics who did not believe that it was our CO2 that was doing that damage... Telegraph's Christopher believes the same...here is the article

Last Updated: 1:51PM GMT 30 Dec 2008

As Christopher Booker says in his review of 2008, temperatures have been dropping in a wholly unpredicted way over the past year. Last winter, the northern hemisphere saw its greatest snow cover since 1966, which in the northern US states and Canada was dubbed the "winter from hell". This winter looks set to be even worse.

The earth was hotter 1,000 years ago

Evidence from all over the world indicates that the earth was hotter 1,000 years ago than it is today. Research shows that temperatures were higher in what is known as the Mediaeval Warming period than they were in the 1990s. The earth's surface temperature is not at record levels

According to Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies analysis of surface air temperature measurements, the meteorological December 2007 to November 2008 was the coolest year since 2000. Their data has also shown that the hottest decade of the 20th century was not the 1990s but the 1930s.

Ice is not disappearing

Arctic website Crysophere Today reported that Arctic ice volume was 500,000 sq km greater than this time last year. Additionally, Antarctic sea-ice this year reached its highest level since satellite records began in 1979. Polar bear numbers are also at record levels.

Himalayan glaciers A report by the UN Environment Program this year claimed that the cause of melting glaciers in the Himalayas was not global warming but the local warming effect of a vast "atmospheric brown cloud" over that region, made up of soot particles from Asia's dramatically increased burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.

Temperatures are still dropping

Nasa satellite readings on global temperatures from the University of Alabama show that August was the fourth month this year when temperatures fell below their 30-year average, ie since satellite records began. November 2008 in the USA was only the 39th warmest since records began 113 years ago.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/4029837/Global-warming-Reasons-why-it-might-not-actually-exist.html

ensuring a safe netherland

ET

i have been reading about probes doing rounds and finding ideal zone for extra terrestrial life. Now what is this ideal zone or the so -called comfort zone.

1. The temperature is just right

2. Oxygen is optimum

3. Water is present and a few other things.

Now i would believe that, these are the conditions for earth like creatures to exist, but why are scientist bent upon looking at these places for ET????

Their make might as well be completely different and they may not need oxygen but something else to survive.... they may not need sunlight or i do not know.... these probes which cost so much could probably be used to find an alternative home for humans but not as a means to find ET's

Am sure people at places like NASA have thought about this long back... but for some reason we keep getting news like this one

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/12/titanmethane.html

all said lets invest more on our dear earth... and make it a better place to live

Flying car or a drivable airplane

As the article says, its a giant step closer to reality

Dhakshin chitra

Amazing pics from boston.com

Some amazing pics from boston.com go through them all

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This day that age!

Sept. 16: It's an auspicious day in the history of Steve Jobs. It's the day he quit Apple and the day he returned. Jobs resigned as chairman of Apple Computer on Sept. 16, 1985, after losing a boardroom battle for control of the company with then-CEO John Sculley. Jobs had co-founded Apple seven years earlier with his hacker friend Steve Wozniak. A pair of teenagers, the two Steves had little idea how to grow the hot company at the dawn of the soon-to-be-giant PC industry. Jobs helped recruit Sculley from Pepsi-Cola, where Sculley had shown a genius for lifestyle advertising. The pair ran Apple as co-CEOs but fell out and took their differences to the board. Though a visionary, the board decided Jobs was too volatile for the lead role. So he quit. On the same day he resigned, Jobs submitted incorporation papers to the California secretary of state for the name of his new company, NeXT Computer. NeXT was Jobs' revenge. Jobs founded NeXT with the express purpose of running Apple into the ground. NeXT would develop computers that were far better than anything Apple could offer, and Apple would soon be out of business. NeXT never did put Apple out of business, and for the next 10 years just barely survived itself. It did, however, produce a fantastic operating system, NeXTStep, which many praised as ahead of its time. In December 1996, Apple bought NeXT for $400 million. It wanted NeXTStep to form the basis of a new, modern operating system, one that didn’t crash every time Netscape Navigator was launched. Jobs came on board as an informal adviser to then-CEO Gil Amelio. But within months, the board fired Amelio after Apple suffered one of the biggest quarterly losses in Silicon Valley history. Jobs was initially reluctant to take a role at Apple. His other company, Pixar, had just released its first movie, Toy Story, to great acclaim. But he soon found himself putting in more time at Apple, working hard to whip it into shape. On Sept. 16, 1997, Apple announced that Jobs had officially been named interim CEO, or -- as the company cleverly put it -- iCEO. Source

There are good and honest men!

Wednesday i had been to the pertol bunk to fill in petrol, after doing that i was waiting to fill air! Just then a guy came to me and said -" sir your car scratches i remove, please try", i was a bit skeptical i said no. Then while waiting i saw him go and ask all the people; i said to myself let me give it a try

I went and parked in one spot and called that guy, he happily came and i showed him one scratch in driver door.... he took out some liquid and sponge, applied the liquid and started rubbing! Doing so he showed me the sponge and said " sir see you car color no only scratch go", he was not from TN i figured he was from north and so asked him he said he was from bihar. A few rubs and the scratch was gone! I was happy coz the hyundai people said that they had to match the color all that and gave me big number to remove that scratch.

The guy din stop there he said he will remove any stains inside as well, i thought let me try that as well, so i showed him inside of the left door and opened it for him. He saw the seat cover also had little stains without asking he applied the liquid, mine being a beige semi leather seat cover, that area became dark and i was furious coz i never asked him to fix the seat, he apologized and said once it dries the seat cover will become normal again

I said enough of his work, and had to buy something in the store in the bunk itself, i grabbed whatever i wanted and while coming back to car i thought, i should pay that guy for what he did, and either way i was greedy to show him the inside and clean. I took out 20 and went to him, he said with praying hands " sirji meri galthi aapki seat cover kharab ho gayee, mere paas paisa hota tho apko seat cover dhetha, please mereko paisa math do" [My fault sir i ruined your seat cover, if i had the money i would have got you another cover], i said thats ok you atleast take this for the work you did and showed him 10.

The guy was adamant and he din take the money, by the time i reached home that stain started drying by itself and today i cant even see it.

There are good hearted people still in this world!!!!

Chennai rain

It doesnt rain much in chennai, atleast not as much mumbai. Yesterday it rained heavily, actually for 15 mins i guess, i was driving to work. The biggest problem is the traffic slows down and eventually becomes bumper to bumper!

1. Two wheelers in chennai are innovative in this situation, they some how get onto to the curb / side walk. The first pic to your left is one such biker. He is taking the short vehicle free path, he is one the curb. Pedestrians have no place whatsoever.

2. This three wheelers brakes failed and bangs on the tempo behind it, this looks like a normal scene as the tempo driver just honked few times.

operating system - market share

Just 8% ... thats interesting, i am sure that apple is planning to improve its strategies, lets see if snow leopard does the trick, but if rumors are to be believed then, SL will run only on intel dumping its beloved PPC. Source - http://marketshare.hitslink.com/

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More than 40 percent of Australia....

omg... more than 40% is untouched by humans, thats size of india for you! crazy isn it?

Grasshopper

I caught this one at home... few hours before i shot this i was actually searching for grasshopper pics on FLICKR and lo! i found this little one sitting at my home :)

iHologram

iHologram - iPhone application from David OReilly on Vimeo. http://www.vimeo.com/1496857

iTunes to have a rival

Ex Apple employee now in Dell plans to hit back and hit big against Apple. Here is the excerpt from the article.

Apple looks nearly invincible in the market, but this in itself may be its most serious vulnerability. Today, record labels grumble about Apple's tight grip on their business, and many consumers are frustrated because the iPod works only with iTunes, at a time when there are many ways to get digital content. Imagine if you could download a song from Amazon.com and send it to the mobile phone of a friend or the car stereo of someone who has satellite radio. By creating one über-market, Dell and its partners hope to persuade consumers to try new devices and services. "Apple wants to lock you in," says Robert Enderle, a consultant who has been briefed by Dell. "Dell wants to lock you in to choice."

Though i am a very big fan of Mac books but for some reason i have not liked iPOD. I wouldn't agree that iTunes has a very big hold. It might be to an extent true in US and i would say only to an extent. Either way who cares about iPod... yeah i agree that it is awesome but ..whatever.

Here is the complete story and lets wait till september..

kathipara layout when completed

This is how it should look once completed, i am not sure if this will completely regulate all the traffic.. Source is wikimapia

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MP3 Players To Be Searched At Customs For Pirated Music?

Well this is not a very good news for many... see the source here

Man lying on mount road

This video i shot while returning from work. You can see a man lying on the road, with passers looking at him.... .



and then is this budget rent a car in chennai....?

MIT developing super-realistic image system

David Chandler, MIT News Office August 7, 2008 By producing "6-D" images, an MIT professor and colleagues are creating unusually realistic pictures that not only have a full three-dimensional appearance, but also respond to their environment, producing natural shadows and highlights depending on the direction and intensity of the illumination around them. Read more

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Excellent video

Tho' i couldnt comprehend this completely, i would suggest every indian to watch this video!

human paper weight

Today morning on my way to work, i saw this guy sitting on top of a pile of garbage. He was not sitting on a road side garbage pile but was sitting on the truck that was carrying city's garbage. Why would i call him a human paper weight? hmm.. usually the trucks cover the garbage with a net and this guy was sitting on the net like a paper weight, i cant but pity him. It stinks when you are about 20 - 30 yards from the truck... imagine this guy sitting on it itself.

hulu

Guys in US you all can enjoy what is supposedly the best high quality video streaming site that is available... for people like me outside the US the site does'nt seem to work.  This is just a screen shot from the site... so guys check this site out

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Flock rock!

This is my post from integrated from flock browser.... guys try this browser out!

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Apple gets better

yeah! you are rite... we have been getting lots of news about the new Mac book pro and Mac book that might not even use intel but as usual we will not know what is in store till the steve comes on stage!

But look at this! this is something people have always wanted "color changing cases" now thats freaky read this article about the patent that apple has filed

Haddows road

I shot this video from terrace of my office building! Look at the chaos at lunch time.

Eagerly waiting to see the joker

Warner Bros' The Dark Knight continues to power drive the North American box office and grossed a whopping $23.1 million Friday from 4,366 theaters. That's down only 66% from its record-smashing debut a week ago. With an expected $78 million weekend, down only 50% from the best-ever Fri-Sat-Sun, the Christian Bale-Heath Ledger actioner directed by Chris Nolan is also well on its way to making $300M in just 10 days, the fastest ever (beating Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest which did it is 16 days). All anybody can do at the studios is keep repeating the word, "Amazing". And it is. There are even whispers starting whether Dark Knight can beat the incredible worldwide numbers posted by the all-time $1.8 billion benchmark of Titanic. "It can be the first movie that has a real shot," one rival studio bigwig told me cautiously. Because not only do people like the movie, but it's getting incredible repeat business. Even occasional moviegoers are curious to see what all the fuss is about.

I would like to see this beat titanic!

Source

MAC vs PC vs UBUNTU

This picture courtesy sums it all...

Keep in mind

No! this post is not intended for the readers but its more for myself but these three points i feel are very important

1. Don't try to change anyone neither expect them to change for you, let them be the way they are

2. No Ego! - please

3. Fight for your cause! but accept what you get, life is too good to spend it being upset.



Each one of the above points were told by three different people... thanks to you all

Nokia navigator

I got my navigator phone 2 months back and the phone works just fine in chennai, guides me to all the places in chennai, but yesterday i found a small glitch ... The phone completely avoids taking the sardar patel road and shows all possible ways to avoid it. I dont know what is the problem. Has anyone experienced the same problem.

this reminds me of memento

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button from HD Trailers on Vimeo.

Chennai City traffic Police - Doing a good job!

I have been feeling this for sometime. Chennai city traffic police have been doing an excellent job. I dont think any other state or city police are doing so much for traffic regulation. They are at almost all the places, important junctions on holidays and late hours alike.

I took this picture yesterday afternoon (sunday) at kathipara junction, thanks to saturdays rain, this Traffic police is standing in ankle deep murky water regulating traffic. I am not sure anyone else would do this. Hats off and i do salute your hard work and effort.

My humble request please do not curse these people, i do understand there might be few black sheeps but then they are in every industry! Learn to respect them

Dasavathaaram Review

Found this awesome podcast about the movie which explains few theories in the movie... please listen to it if you din understand. Thanks to sudharshan who has done this podcast

Four long years

Happy birthday to my blog - its four years old now and this is 200th post. BTW i have another blog comerme.blogspot.com with two team members, its about food and restaurants around the world. Please let me know if you want to join as a member and start posting.

Eye Phone

This is not just another iPHONE competitor. As the site describes - " If you see something interesting while out walking for instance, you take a photograph with your mobile phone, select the item of interest with the cursor and in real time preprocessed information on the object selected is sent to your mobile phone. "

Uses a technique called "angle sensing", this technique actually identifies the angle of the shot taken. Ofcourse this will take time to reach india. Read on

Curb the evil!

After the april 2007 virginia tech incident, this is not what i expected. Now i really feel that, this is an issue. Read on

Mobile phone more dangerous than smoking

Though there were articles which speculated the harmful effects of the radiation from a mobile phone, there was no conclusive evidence of its relation with health disorders. This study now shows that it is definitely a concern and also that, next decade will be a proof of it.
Read the story here...

Picture perfect

I guess some amount of editing has been done but yet the this is a masterpiece!!! kudos to the photographer

Pigeon

I had to clean the pigeon mess inside the home... doing so i found a baby pigeon and pigeon egg! Now i did some reading and found that, eggs take 18 days to hatch and i have no clue if it is still alive..and the baby pigeon doesnt eat anything. Anyone has any idea how to feed the baby or what it eats?

Antioxidants Myth?

Now not again! another survey and this one converts a long thought belief to be a mere myth. Read on, i am kind of confused now.... are surveys any means concluding anything?

High beam - chennaite's

This is to all the chennai drivers using high beam at night. It is really irritating and it is unsafe for the vehicles coming in the opposite direction. Please use the head light to see the road and not on face of the driver in the opposite direction. Humble request please do not use unless and until high beam is needed. Chennai police should take this seriously..

The map says it all

Now i am all the more curious check this link out

Lifebuoy latest music direct lift off

Watched this ad in the TV, I knew it was a complete copy. Google for "'m Shipping up to Boston".... i just love the music...and btw this music is played in THE DEPARTED as well...

Citycat

For the uninitiated this is going to be the first Air-Powered Car, and guess what tata motors is planning it. First news that came out washe Air Car will likely never hit American shores, especially considering its all-glue construction. But that doesn’t mean the major automakers can write it off as a bizarre Indian experiment — MDI has signed deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

A recent news suggests that "Air-Powered Car Coming to U.S. in 2009 to 2010 at Sub-$18,000, Could Hit 1000-Mile Range" tata i guess is striking the right cord this time, i remember TATA's entry into UK market which was not at al successful. Hoping that this concept will be a hit soon. Either we should be able to see Citycats in the last quarter of 2008. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Steve not again

I have always wondered what is it with apple's secret releases, of all the products released so far, i can think of iPhone and leopard for which the dates were announced. Rest either u see them on the site or its in some news that the product is already out. I definitely don't understand the marketing behind the whole thing. For instance i got my mac book september first week, 5 days after i got it, Macbooks were shipped with iLife 08 and i din have clue coz i would have waited another 5 days... if i were to upgrade i will have to shell out $79 for the newer version.

I like everything about apple, but not the secret releases... i cant honestly comprehend the tactics behind this. I can understand the impact is big when the speculation is almost nil, but i hate when i get affected. Anyways my vote is for u steve anyday...

The latest news... 1G Shuffle is just $49 go grab if u are planning for one

Never ever sleep with water tap open...

Morning 6 30:

Ding dong... ding dong....ding dong.. {sleepily i knew that it was paper boy, he is the only one who likes to play with calling bell} usually i dont get to the door, but today morning i had to, as i had to pay him. I get down from my bed splaaaash.... before i could realise i was in a haste to go open the door, but the bedroom floor was filled with water. Anyone with camera could have shot a jonty rodes in action.. i got up all drenched and went to the door... ( hall, bedroom, kitchen and another bedroom had atleast 1 cm of water... my addidas, sketchers all floating)..

paper boy : sir enna sir achu?

me : onnum illa... yevolo achu?

pb: 200 sir... yen sir veedu fulla thani... (dai naan enomo inge kulicha maari paakra)

me : therila ...

pb: paathu sir

7 30 :

1 hour and still going... trying to wipe the water out but in vein.. finally gave up cleaing at 7 45...with a bad back ache

. I opened the valve in the night, we get water only 30 mins everyday, so was lazy to wake up at 6 and open, so i opened it in the night itself, i do this usually but somehow i wake up at 615 or so and close, today i overslept a bit and ... rest is history :(

I am back

I am not sure how many of my good ol readers still visit my blog, i had given myself a decent break from blogging. I am back again ( would love to put that billa music for this punch... lol over scene). Was trying to reason out as to why i was out of blogging world... i dont know why!!!

I want break myself free out of this stupid routine life.. no workouts, no games (well since i returned back i dont have my old pals in chennai except for one).. when i am idle i am really idle and when busy.... anyways no more excuse, should do things worthwhile.

btw chk this out.... lol

Top 10 Valentine's Day Gadget Gifts for Gals

Err what? gadgets girls?? do they have anything in common..

Read this ...

Well was wondering why on earth am i reading all these articles once again Feb 14 is going to be just another day for me... trying to be emotional lol... anyways to all those deserving couples...wishing u deserving valentines day.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

I just read the specs, everything just looks fabulous, but it runs on windows. No i am not complaining too much about it. My take is that windows on mobile has not been too successful and by the way why is everyone trying to compete with iPhone, doing that you guys are promoting iPhone... anyways the phone is packed with features

check this site here...

Pirivom... Santhipom...

As usual i was late by 15 mins {last weeks billa i was late by 35 mins : -(}, gv had come down from blore and wanted to see a movie, reading the review i thought this was best of the lot. The movie started of well but then somewhere in between, it got too sentimental or emotional ...whatever!!!

We guys went all the way to mayajaal to watch this one... may be it was not worth going all the way to mayajaal, me and gv left the theater before the movie got over and visited our college (will write about that in the next post). The movie isn targeted for youngsters it more a house wife weepy weepy kind of a story. I dont want to comment too much, but would just say, if you like the soaps in sun or jaya tv, you might like this as well.

[+] - I don't know and as i said i dont want to comment on the -ves

wat's wrong with blogger

There is some problem with the blogspot, or this is happening to me alone... It doesn't recognize line breaks anymore, and if i give my own line break i see two lines when published... this could be effect of 3rd party templates i was using long back, but thats been ages. All my recent past posts look weird... apologies for that

Taare zameen par....

i am just speechless... master piece! absolute master piece!!!!

wow!

This is the phone which i had wanted for a long time. GPS enabled but by none other than the big GARMIN itself. Take a sneek peek at the phone, first resemblance is iPhone but who cares. I am kind of worried if its going to be AT&T again, those people are going to be expensive and i would even imagine they charge for the GPS usage. Lets wait and watch what happens when this is launched. http://gizmodo.com/350894/garmin-goes-beyond-portable-navi-with-nvifone

Three signs of how i feel now

Source yahoo- "Awful," "dreary," and "miserable" are adjectives that many people use to describe their jobs at one time or another. Dissatisfaction on the job is common and often temporary. But not many people take time to analyze what makes a job miserable, and how to fix it. Fortunately Patrick Lencioni has done much of that work in his book "The Three Signs of a Miserable Job." Job Misery Is Universal The author notes that a "miserable" job differs from a "bad" job, as one person's dream job may not appeal to another worker. A miserable job, however, has some universal traits. "A miserable job makes a person cynical and frustrated and demoralized when they go home at night," Lencioni says. "It drains them of their energy, their enthusiasm, and self-esteem. Miserable jobs can be found in every industry and at every level." Lencioni blames much of the problem on managers, who are a key factor in the job satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) of their employees. A recent Yahoo! HotJobs survey points to a similar conclusion: 43% of workers said discontent with their boss was the main reason they planned to look for a new job in 2008. The Three Signs Lencioni identifies the three signs of job misery as anonymity, irrelevance, and "immeasurement." Anonymity: Employees feel anonymous when their manager has little interest in them as people with unique lives, aspirations, and interests. Irrelevance: This condition occurs when workers cannot see how their job makes a difference. "Every employee needs to know that the work they do impacts someone's life -- a customer, a coworker, even a supervisor -- in one way or another." Immeasurement: This term describes the inability of employees to assess for themselves their contributions or success. As a result they often rely on the opinions of others -- usually the manager -- to measure their success. Three Remedies for Job Misery For workers who may be experiencing the signs of job misery, Lencioni recommends three steps to improve the boss-employee dynamic and enhance job satisfaction. 1. Assess your manager. Is the boss interested in and capable of addressing the three factors mentioned above? "Most managers really do want to improve, in spite of the fact that they may seem disinterested or too busy," Lencioni says. 2. Help your manager understand what you need. This could mean reviewing with your manager what the key measurements for success are for your job. Lencioni also suggests asking your boss, "Can you help me understand why this work I'm doing makes a difference to someone?" 3. Act more like the manager you want. "Employees who take a greater interest in the lives of their managers are bound to infect them with the same kind of human interest they seek," the author says. Or find ways to let your manager know how his or her performance makes a positive difference for you. Be Realistic Richard Phillips, founder of Career Advantage Solutions, agrees that "managing up" is a good way to improve job satisfaction, but he cautions employees to be realistic in their expectations. "Managers are not mind readers," he says. "Take the responsibility to communicate upon yourself, and remember there has to be an ongoing dialogue, or change is unlikely to happen."