Burger - only 4 years old

I saw this recently on Youtube. Its sounds crazy, but i find no reason to disbelieve it. I want to have one for myself, but then i dont frequent these places often. There was a time, when BurgerKing was part of a weekly affair, not anymore. I had my own experiments with these crappy food. These days, i wont say i dont eat them, but i surely dont enjoy them as much, and i think if i grab one about every month thats a great thing. I wish it was down to zero.

I was never a fan of McDonalds. But people who watch this, mustnt think that the other burger places are fully absolved. I am sure they probably use something similar. I tried to do some search on the internet for more news and evidence, didnt find too many, directly related ones, but there is plenty of bad news about these food. Anyway, this is only one more information we could use to argue against making this kind of food a stable diet.

Garbage babies

Midway is an atoll, in the Pacific ocean, in the middle of nowhere. I first came to know of this island, from WWII stories as pacific based used by both Japanese and US to fight the war. Today the island offers another global perspective. The video below is self explanatory.

One would think how can an action here affect something 2000 miles away. Well here is proof it does. We are all interconnected on this planet, in one way or another. We have an oppurtunity to save this earth we live.

If only we try.

Why Men shouldn't write advice columns

I received this in my email yesterday, and i thought this was funny and also required a bit of thought by either side. I cant vouch for the authenticity of this publication or its context of publication, it is nevertheless funny. And if this is real, well it very well could be, and this is the funnier or sad part.

Hunt 'em down

If you dont get it, you wont get it.

'Save the Women and Children ... and My Bonus Too'

This cartoon was chosen by Time Magazine as the Top 10 Political Cartoon. I really like the 'rat' part of the cartoon, a very apt representation.

3rd Largest Rocket Engine

Is this important ? Of the many agencies that the Indian government has created, ISRO has been continuously achieving successes, and this testing will be one more step in its 'giant leap for the desi humankind'.
From what little i know of what the ISRO does, it not only builds and launches rockets and sattelites, it actually has been taking a lot of initiatives to spread the use and application of space technology. I know first hand of how ISRO team interacts with users on the tele-medicine front.

I think it is important, in this day and age. Kudos to them, and hope they achieve more success. I'm personally looking forward to more launches from ISRO.

Drying your Laundry

Why should there so much fuss about where one dries their laundry? While the americans and the west are waking up to this, we in India are slowly adding electric driers to our home appliance list.

Klueless5

Just finished playing. This is my first 'live' experience, where i started playing as soon as it was announced on Nov 5th. I wish i had devoted more time (what the hell !!). Well, so did many others who played. But i lost 24hrs flying from Chennai to DC, and then when i realized that 30 was not the magic number, lethargy set in at 31, and i was doing about 1 or 2 levels a day. I also thought i missed the HOF (Hall of Fame), and so took it even more easier. But soon realized that the HOF will have 250+, and i think i may make it (yeah right, there are already 247 in there, right now!).

Anyway, i hope to post my experience and my version of the klues to the different levels soon. Not now, since the game is still running, and moderators are helping the million cattle attempting to cross the winning post. I consider myself lucky, as i believe i made it under 300, maybe even in the under 250-260 position. A little more dedication and maybe i could have gloated over my name in the list. There is always a next time.

One sour note though. Last year, after crossing 30, the gamekeepers made the players sweat a bit to solve an extra puzzle before allowing entry to the HOF. This year they added 8 more levels to the actual game. I think that idea was stupid. The game is tough, it requires, quite a bit of lateral thinking, yahoo and wiki searching, and more importantly, inherent ability to connect two or more disparate thought points. So, while there is no rule that say, only 30 levels etc, the last 4 had only 30. We the players have come to accept that as a standard now. So when you change these rules, people are going to be upset. If it were facebook or yahoo, they would be more appreciative of user feedback. Now, klueless is a game, am not sure how much of an impact this would make on game wardens.

But due credit is due to them. It still was a fantastic experience. Klues for Level 1-19 and Level 20-38.

Amar Chitra Katha

A few weeks back, i decided to make the leap and place an order. An order, i wanted to do since i was about 10 years old. To buy the entire collection of Amar Chitra Katha books. I have the whole set that is in circulation today, thats about 255 books.

There are a total of 439 ACK titles, of which only 255 are in print. The current complete set includes 248 Amar Chitra Katha titles and 7 special issues. I have copied the list from the ACK site, and presented them below:

Current Titles:
A Bag of Gold Coins, Abhimanyu, Adi Shankara, Ajatashatru, Akbar, Amar Singh Rathor, Amrapali, Anand Math, Ancestors of Rama, Andhaka, Angulimala, Aniruddha, Aruni and Uttanka, Ashoka, Ashwini Kumar, Ayyappan
Babasaheb Ambedkar, Bagha Jatin, Bahubali, Bajirao, Baladitya and Yashodharma, Banda Bahadur, Bappa Rawal, Basaveshwara, Battle of Wits, Beni Madho & Pir Ali, Bhagat Singh, Bheema and Hanuman, Bheeshma, Bikal the Terrible, Bimbisara, Birbal the Clever, Birbal the Genius, Birbal the Inimitable, Birbal the Just, Birbal the Wise, Birbal the Witty, Birbal to the Rescue, Buddha
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Chanakya, Chand Bibi, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Chandragupta Maurya, Chandrahasa, Chandralalat, Chokha Mela
Dasharatha, Dayananda, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Devi Choudhurani, Dhruva and Ashtavakra, Draupadi, Drona, Durgadas
Elephanta, Ellora Caves - The Glory of the Rashtrakootas
Fa-Hien, Friends and Foes: Animal Tales From The Mahabharata
Gandhari, Ganesha, Ganga, Garuda, Ghanshyamdas Birla, Ghatotkacha, Gopal and the Cowherd, Gopal the Jester, Guru Arjan, Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Nanak, Guru Tegh Bahadur
Hanuman, Hanuman to the Rescue, Harischandra, Harsha, Hitopadesha: Choice of Friends, Hitopadesha: How Friends are parted, Hiuen Tsang
Indra and Shachi, Indra and Shibi
J R D Tata, Jagadis Chandra Bose, Jagannatha of Puri, Jahangir, Jallianwala Bagh, Jamsetji Tata, Jataka Tales: Bird Stories, Jataka Tales: Deer Stories, Jataka Tales: Elephant Stories, Jataka Tales: Jackal Stories, Jataka Tales: Monkey Stories, Jataka Tales: Nandivishala, Jataka Tales: Stories of Courage, Jataka Tales: Stories of Wisdom, Jataka Tales: Tales of Misers, Jataka Tales: The Giant and the Dwarf, Jataka Tales: The Magic Chant, Jataka Tales: The Mouse Merchant, Jataka Tales: True Friends, Jawaharlal Nehru, Jayadratha, Jayaprakash Narayan, Jnaneshwar
Kabir, Kacha and Devayani, Kalidasa, Kalpana Chawla, Kannagi, Kapala Kundala, Karna, Karttikeya, Kesari the Flying Thief, King Kusha, King Shalivahana, Krishna, Krishna and Jarasandha, Krishna and Narakasura, Krishna and Rukmini, Krishna and Shishupala, Krishna and the False Vaasudeva, Krishnadeva Raya, Kumbhakarna, Kunwar Singh
Lachit Barphukan, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Lokamanya Tilak
Madhwacharya, Mahabharata, Mahavira, Mahiravana, Malavika, Mangal Pande, Megasthenes, Mirabai
Nachiketa and other stories, Nahusha, Nala Damayanti, Noor Jahan
Padmini, Panchatantra: Crows and Owls, Panchatantra: How the Jackel ate the Elephant, Panchatantra: The Brahmin and the Goat, Panchatantra: The Dullard and Other Stories, Panchatantra: The Greedy Mother-in-law, Panchatantra: The Jackal and the Wardrum, Panna and Hadi Rani, Paurava and Alexander, Prahlad, Prithviraj Chauhan
Rabindranath Tagore, Raja Bhoja, Raja Raja Chola, Ram Shastri, Rama, Raman of Tenali, Raman the Matchless Wit, Ramana Maharshi, Ramanuja, Rana Kumbha, Rana Pratap, Rana Sanga, Rani Abbakka, Rani Durgavati, Rani of Jhansi, Ranjit Singh, Rash Behari Bose, Ratnavali, Ravana Humbled
Sakshi Gopal, Samudra Gupta, Sati and Shiva, Savitri, Sea Route To India, Shah Jahan, Shakuntala, Shankar Dev, Sher Shah, Shiva Parvati, Shivaji, Shrenik - Jain Tales, Soordas, Sri Ramakrishna, Subhas Chandra Bose, Subramania Bharati, Sudama, Sultana Razia, Surya, Swami Chinmayananda
Tales from the Upanishads, Tales of Arjuna, Tales of Balarama, Tales of Durga, Tales of Maryada Rama, Tales of Narada, Tales of Sai Baba, Tales of Shiva, Tales of Shivaji, Tales of Vishnu, Tales of Yudhisthira, Tanaji, Tansen, The Acrobat and Other Buddhist Tales, The Adventures of Agad Datta, The Adventures of Baddu and Chhotu, The Celestial Necklace, The Churning of the Ocean, The Cowherd of Alawi, The Deadly Feast, The Fearless Boy and other Buddhist Tales, The Fool's Disciples, The Gita, The Golden Mongoose, The Hidden Treasure - A Jataka Tale, The Historic City of Delhi, The Learned Pandit, The Legend Of Lalitaditya, The Lord of Lanka, The Magic Grove, The Pandava Princes, The Pandavas in Hiding, The Pandit and the Milkmaid, The Priceless Gem, The Prince and The Magician, The Queen's Necklace, The Rani Of Kittur, The Sons of Rama, The Symantaka Gem, The Tiger and the Woodpecker, The Tiger-Eater, Tipu Sultan, Tripura, Tulsidas
Udayana, Uloopi, Urvashi
Vali, Vasantasena, Vasavadatta, Veer Hammir, Veer Savarkar, Velu Thampi, Vidyasagar, Vikramaditya, Vikramaditya's Throne, Vishwamitra, Vivekananda
Yayati
Zarathushtra,

Special Issues:
Mahatma Ghandhi, Valmiki's Ramayana, Dasha Avatar, Jesus Christ, Bhagawat - The Krishna Avatar, Mahabharata (Set Of 3 Books), Ram Charit Manas

wikipedia is history

At least to me. I was a fan, and probably will remain one, but i think this, free for all, concept is not really free for all, and is fraught with chaos and bias.

I recently encountered some difficulties in correcting a perception or bias of a story. I will go back and try again, but given my schedule i dont know if have the time to persist and fight all the dissenting views. Well it also means that the history i read is not exactly suiting my taste. So who is wrong? Wikipedia or me?

350 or bust !!

Didnt know a lot about 350. I started hearing about it recently, and came to know what it was all about. You can too....

Now that you know, what will you do to help?

Some religious snippets about India

India has the largest Hindu population in the world. Hindus form almost 80+% of the country's population. Hinduism is not the religion of the State (government). With around 930 million followers, Hindus would become the fourth largest country in the world, immediately after India !

India is home to more Muslims than only Indonesia, as per 2001 census. As per the most recent available statistics (pending the 2011 census) there are an estimated 165 million Muslims, but that puts India behind only Indonesia and Pakistan. That is more than the combined population of Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen; the middle-east arab nations.

India is home to over 26 million Christians. That is more than most countries in Europe, except the top 9 (including Russia). Christianity reached in India, with the arrival of St. Thomas in 52 AD.

India is also the lab for Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism;

Buddhism is probably the biggest religious export from India. There are about 250-500 million Buddhists, of which only about 12 million reside in India.
Jainism is one of the oldest religion, but there are only about 6 millions Jains in the world, with more than 80% living in India.
Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, the youngest with a large following of about 26 million, of which 22 million live in India.

India is home now to Zoroastrianism and houses the largest number of followers. India also has the largest followers of the Bahai faith, numbering about 2.2 million people.

more details...

Chandrayaan-I finds traces of water on moon

So we are able to trace water on the moon. But down here on our land and planet, we are still searching.

BJP - sinking ?

Capitalism and Socialism

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

One of pet peeves, stop dumping. Re-use, recycle, and refuse plastic and other products that cause waste.

If you havent already heard about one of the largest garbage dumps in the world, take a look at the animation below (thanks to GreenPeace).

Try the option 'The Journey of Trash', an animated presentation of how trash from the coast collects to form this great garbage patch, in the Pacific Ocean.

The making of the 'IQ Font'

Check out this video, which shows how a new font was created using the micro car from Toyota, called the IQ. I liked the font when i saw it, now i need to figure out how to weave that into documents etc., that i publish.
One problem at a time....

A solution ? Or more problems

I am quite confused with the priorities of the research scientists in the medical field - infertility, cloning, erectile disfunction, etc seem to be their top ticket items. Its not like these are the most important problems that the human beings are faced with. Well, men are, but the rest of humanity ?

And just when mother earth was finally winning the battle against its most destructive species...

Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

You can watch this and his other songs at Michael Jackson site.

Earth Clock

Is there a problem with these numbers ?

Twenty 20 World Cup - India is out

India is out of the T20 WorldCup !! Now what ?

MS Dhoni wears a worried look

See more

Going Green, is not always good ?

I read, i forget which magazine now, on board a flight yesterday, that 'corn used to fill a 25-gallon vehicle tank with ethanol one time would feed one person for an entire year'. A quick search on the web showed a bunch of sites that seem to carry this message, here is one - Coop America.

The question is how do we solve this problem? The only true way, seems to be in moderation of consumption. Switch off the engine and walk !! Well, are you ready to do that? Hold on, Am i ready to do that ?

dead meat

It is difficult not to look at this moment, with nothing other than a sense of happiness and relief. The death of Prabhakaran, much as many would consider a hero of the tamil cause, is a man wanted in India, for the assassination of a Prime Minister. His death, albeit by the Sri Lankan military, is still the desired outcome.

 

My Obituary

With his death, i believe people interested in the cause of the tamil people in Sri Lanka, can truly join together to help their cause.

Vodafone ZooZoo - Funniest one

These commercials caught my attentions (like a million other people), when it first started airing during the IPL cricket games. I have picked the one that i found the most funny. I liked the stupid and comical laugh from the zoozoo, as he trys to fool the croc. Well, then he gets a little busy to answer the phone. :)

So, explain this to me !!

This short news brief reported by AFP, was carried by a lot of news sites and papers. I read it first on the front page of the Economic Times, under their 'Suddenly Something' column, which is mainly some weird or funny news from around the world.

The whole news was rather weird, but the last line of the report made it even weirder, and left me dazzled at the brilliance of the whole initiative.

More than half of all male doctors in China smoke, but the government is now trying harder to get them to kick the habit in order to set an example for others, state media reported recently.

So here is my question, the point is to stop smoking or to encourage smoking? I am not sure if i should question the judgment of the Chinese government initiative or the the possible brilliance of the reporter who first caught the story. Something is wrong somewhere. No matter which, there is a lot of room for thinking.

News: No butts: China orders officials to smoke

Let your Vote Count

This is from advertisement created by Times of India's Lead India campaign to create awareness about the power of a vote.

Three out of two phases of the election to the create a new parliament and government to lead the country for next five years are over. The results so far are not encouraging. By results i mean, the percentage of votes cast, not who is elected. It does not mean we should lose hope. It just means we need to be more agressive about this message.

Taliban flogs girl, in Swat valley, Pakistan

This video is gruesome and disturbing. But i hope watching it only enrages your mind to protest and curb these deviant behaviour.



Pakistan is a funny country, in many ways similar to India and probably like most other countries in the world. This happening in Pakistan does not mean there is wholesome support for this practice, nor does it mean that people quietly accept this either.
Editorial in Dawn.

Taliban is not the face of Islam. But unless more muslims come out in protest, it will become one soon. The western and other media shows no compassion for taliban and does not do enough to highlight the difference between this group and the religion it supposedly preaches.

Nah No?

Would you buy a Nano ?

Image Source: tatamotors.com

Nah? ya No?

I am your king !!

Well, I didnt vote for you!
Take sometime to watch this funny scene from the movie - Monty Python and the holy grail.


This is one of my all time favorites. I have seen a few of the other Monty Python and TV comedy stuff. But i think this is one of their very best.

You know, there is something about the brits and their ability to tickle your funny bone. They usually dont have to do a thing, just say something in all seriousness.

Oscar for AR Rahman

AR Rahman wins two oscars to nite. I think its good tribute to a great musician. While i think he has created far greater compositions before and even after (the latest Delhi-6), this award is no small achievement.
Its takes on a bigger significance, given that it possibly connects the two largest film-making nations in the world, and probably will provide an exposure of our Indian filmistyle to the hollywood film makers. And the converse will help us in India appreciate a different kind of story telling.

Not what i was hoping for !!

I got this, thanks to my friend Ravi from facebook. I thought this was important. Even if i part of the group that believe, Obama delivered us from evil. I am still not sure if he is going to lead us in the right direction.




















I guess, when it comes to politics, they are all just about the same, with only a little differences here and there.

Slumdog Millionaire - run of a lifetime !!

First, its a nice movie.
Second, to all the desi lovers, what it is shows, is the truth, except for one or two disgusting scenes (even if it were the truth).
- the kid jumping into the shit hole (it was humorous nonetheless)
- people on the street watching as a man was on fire on the street (not ALL indians are heartless, specially when he is already far away from the mob).
Third, an Oscar & Golden Globe award, doesnt mean it is the best.
Fourth, its not any different from Deewar or some similar bollywood masala movie. Only thing missing was the punch line - "tere paas kya hai?", "mera paas computerji ke liye answers hai"
Last, why would i read out the question to my friend of a lifetime... when you know fully well that she like you probably never went to school. And if this was relevant to your life like the movie shows, i would re-write the phone-a-friend dialogue to "Hello! Hello!! Kaun? Lathika? How are you?........ Acha, what would your name be if you were the third musketeer, arthos, parthos aur ??"

Thanks. It was a nice movie. But just that. Lets not get carried away.

Change in White House

Within minutes or exactly at 12:01 pm on Jan 20th, the Obama team changed the web site at whitehouse.gov !! Take a look, from Change to WhiteHouse.

The earlier background read 'Change has come to White House'. They are promising a lot of stuff here.

Just hope that they keep their word and it looks and feels the same at the end of 2012. Till then, hope is what we got.