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Monday, March 31, 2008

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Olympic torch re-lit in Beijing

The Olympic torch has been re-lit at a lavish ceremony in Beijing, after arriving aboard a flight from Athens.

image

Chinese President Hu Jintao took part in the event at Tiananmen Square to welcome the torch to the city, which hosts of the 2008 Olympics in August.

Tight security was put in place at the square, amid concerns of possible anti-government protests.

Last week protesters opposed to China's actions in Tibet clashed with police at the lighting ceremony in Greece.

On Tuesday, the torch goes to Almaty in Kazakhstan, its next stop on a tour of 20 countries before returning for the opening of the Beijing games on 8 August.

See map of Olympic torch relay route

Square closed

Hundreds of schoolchildren turned out at Beijing airport, waving flags as the Air China plane arrived.

Students and workers sang the Olympic slogan "One World, One Dream" and waved pom-poms.

Security was tight in the centre of Beijing, with one underground station near Tiananmen Square closed, and the square closed off to vehicles.

'Timeless symbol'

Sunday's formal handover was held in the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, where the first modern Olympics took place in 1896.

The Chinese and Greek flags were marched in by Greek athletes to the strains of a band, before a circle of white-clad actresses dressed as ancient priestesses surrounded a podium as the torch was brought in.

Minos Kyriakou, president of the Hellenic Olympic Committee, passed the flame to chief Beijing organizer Liu Qi.

"The Olympic flame is the timeless symbol which stirs admiration, pride and faith [in] the Olympic ideals and values," said Mr Kyriakou.

"I hope the world community welcomes the flame and honours it".

Mr Liu pointed out that the summit of Mount Everest was on the torch's destination list, "testifying to the great strength of the Olympic movement in marking the progress of human civilisation".

The protesters tried to unfurl a banner which said "Stop genocide in Tibet", but failed to enter the stadium or disrupt the solemn ceremony.

At least six people were arrested.

Police had warned they would confiscate all banners, signs or objects that might be thrown.

OLYMPIC TORCH ROUTE

Olympic torch relay route

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Olympic torch re-lit in Beijing

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Official Gmail Blog: Newest Gmail features now available for Google Apps users

Official Gmail Blog: Newest Gmail features now available for Google Apps users

NDTV.com: Indians in New York urge US to boycott Olympics

Sunday, March 30, 2008 (New York)

The Indian American Intellectuals Forum has urged the United States to boycott the coming Olympics to send a ''clear and strong'' message to Beijing that Washington would not tolerate suppression of and brutalities against peace-loving Tibetans.

''This will be a minimal symbolic gesture of our solidarity with the Tibetan people,'' said the Forum President Narain Kataria in a letter to President George Bush on Saturday.

Kataria said that in 2002, US Congress had passed the Tibetan Policy Act that calls for the preservation of culture and identity of Tibetans living in exile and in Tibet.

''Under that act, it is the sacred duty of United States to protect the non-violent Tibetans from the brutal wrath of Chinese army,'' he stressed.

Pointing to ''reign of terror and repression'' let loose by the ''world's largest military dictatorship on ''hapless non violent'' Tibetans, Kataria said ever since China forcibly occupied the nation, there have been many reports of ''widespread mistreatment of civilians, torture of detainees and political prisoners.''

''There is a string of serious and severe violations of human rights,'' he said.
Tibet, the letter said, is overwhelmingly of the Buddhist faith. As Buddha was born in India, Buddhism is like a sister religion to the Hinduism.

''Hindu people in India even believe Lord Buddha to be an incarnation of Hindu God Vishnu. There is a symbiotic relationship between Hindus and Buddhists and hence, the Hindu people are very concerned about the miserable plight of Tibetan civilians at the hands of Chinese army,'' he added.

Stating that there is precedent, Kataria recalled the boycott of Moscow Olympics in 1980 after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

NDTV.com: Indians in New York urge US to boycott Olympics

Iraqi Blogger Reporting The Latest Fights! (Unbelievable!)

Fuck the big cold-hearted media! THIS is how you really report a story. This Iraqi blogger is right in the middle of everything and constantly updating his Blog. He describes the fights, how the U.S. army is responding and what the local people think. Plus he's connecting all The latest happenings in a way you won't hear from CNN, BBC and Fox!

read more | digg story

Friday, March 28, 2008

NDTV.com: Arrested SIMI chief planned terror strikes

Arrested SIMI chief Safdar Nagori had called a meeting in Indore to finalise plans for major terror strikes across the country, police sources have said.
Another SIMI activist Ehtesham has told the police that Nagori held a series of meetings to plan the strikes.
He also organised training camps in Madhya Pradesh to raise a local terror force.
Nagori's plan was to set up a completely indigenous jehadi outfit trained in the use of explosives and sophisticated arms.
He also wanted to create a force of fidayeens or suicide bombers.
Ehtesham, who was caught after the Mumbai train blasts, has also revealed that Nagori played a key role in the Malegaon and Mumbai train blasts.
With the Indore arrests, the police have managed to catch almost all major SIMI chiefs.
An ATS team Mumbai left for Madhya Pradesh on Thursday night to ask for his custody to probe his role in the blasts.
The Karnataka police have said that Nagori, Shibli and Adnan were involved in the foiled Hubli terror attack plot.

NDTV.com: Arrested SIMI chief planned terror strikes

Japanese Man Crosses Pacific with Wave-Powered Boat

Forget sails, this guy is using wave-power to cross the ocean in a custom-made boat. The boat is powered by two fins that raise and lower with the tide, which drive the propellers. On board energy is provided by solar panels and the boat is primarily made out of recycled aluminum.

read more | digg story

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Two-yr-old trapped in 45-ft borewell for 20 hrs

New Delhi: On Tuesday evening, a two-year-old girl, fell in a 45-foot borewell at Tehra village in Agra. Vandana fell inside the borewell, which had been left uncovered, while playing. Villagers complained to the administration and the authorities who started rescue operations on Tuesday night.

read more | digg story

I’m not against Windows; Unix just works better

I’m biased in favor of Unix and against Windows - everybody knows that except me; my perception is that I like things that work and Unix works better.

read more | digg story

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Turn Your PC into a DVD Ripping Monster

Once upon a time, the four to eight gigabyte footprint of a DVD on your hard drive was prohibitively large. But since the price of a gigabyte has plummeted, ripping your entire DVD collection to your computer is not just possible, it's prudent, and it's easy. Let's take a look at the best ways to back up and play any DVD rip on your home computer

read more | digg story

Monday, March 24, 2008

Holi

Holi, festival of colours celebrated all over India is loosing its magnificence in metropolitan cities because of busy life and non-interactivity between peoples. Everyone get him /her jailed inside home and watch TV or play games on computers or surf internet but don’t come out and celebrate while the villages celebrates the holi with great passion although some accidents happens but it doesn’t reduce the passion of peoples living in Indian villages for Holi. Even our popular TV channels doesn’t shows much about it except DD National.

I hope that people will come out of their busy life and interact with each others and celebrate festivals with great passion.


Happy Holi to all of You!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Cleaning of River Yamuna

yamuna yamuna pollution yamuna river

The Yamuna sometimes called Jamuna or Jumna is a major river in northern India having total length of approximately 1,370 kilometers. Its source is at Yamunotri and it flows through the states of Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and finally merges into River Ganga at Allahabad. Mathura, Agra and Delhi are the major cities lying on the banks of this river. In 1970-80’s Yamuna was the lifeline of Delhi has now became the most polluted water resource of the country. Increasing pollution of the Yamuna has now become an international issue and a cause of concern for environmentalists. Big industries, Factories, Peoples living in colonies, slums and rural areas everyone pollute this holy river. 18 drains of city falls into the river as it covers distance of 22 km in Delhi. City dumps its 3,296 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage in the river. A few years back when the pollution level of Yamuna increased alarmingly, the Delhi government woke up. A number of projects were launched by the government to clean the Yamuna, but till date nothing has happened. Yamnua Action Plan has not given desired results because it is not in accordance with the Master Plan for Delhi-2021. Last Year Delhi Govt. entered into agreement with Engineers India Limited to clean Yamuna. Delhi Jal Board (DJB) proposed laying down sewers along the three major drains — Najafgarh, Supplementary and Shahadra drains and also make 15 sewage treatment plants functional to prevent the waste from going into this holy river. Recently DJB accepts before the court that some lapses are have gone in past regarding cleaning of river and we all knows that most sewage treatment plants are malfunctioning or don’t have sufficient maintenance and manpower due to corruption and lack of administration. Delhi Govt said that it will be not able to clean the Yamuna before 2012 or upto 2010 Commonwealth Games but government had not considered to work 24 x 7 x 365 to clean the river. If cleaning work goes 24 x 7 x 365 the Holy River will be definitely clean before 2010.

In 1960 the famous Thames river of London was also got polluted but the river had been cleaned with excellent clean up model and now the river is a very important part of London’s beauty. We hope that the same will goes for Yamuna before 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The most important question is that can clean up drive become successful without the contribution of Delhites? In our country, India we all assumes that it is duty of government to do everything. If government agencies failed to do something, should not we take our own initiative and put our efforts to complete the project. It is almost impossible to make the Yamuna clean, till Delhites wake up. It is the prime duty of Delhites to help the government to save Yamuna. Only then Yamuna clean up drive can achieve its goal.

'Obviously, there is need for greater involvement of citizens' groups and volunteers

All over the world, there was a fresh reawakening about the state of rivers.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Badarpur Flyover



Badarpur flyover project has been mooted five years ago to de-congest National Highway – 2 (Mathura Road) at Badarpur Crossing. It is an important gateway to Delhi city and a link between Delhi, Faridabad, Mathura and Agra. Too much encroachments and traffic increase the chaos. Many attempts have been done to remove encroachments from the main crossing to increase space for traffic but to no avail because of political interference, corruption and lack of administration.

Approximately 100000 (one lakh) vehicles daily ply on this road and 45 to 50 minutes is the waiting time and goes up in night due to commercial traffic on highway. Approximately 500000 (five lacs) peoples use this road daily basis and 45 minutes wastage means 500000 x 45 = 22500000 minutes mean 3,75,000 hours are wasted. If we calculate on monetary scale than 375000 * 300 (average income for one hour) = Rs. 11,25,00,000/- are wasted on daily basis. If we multiply its from 1825 days i.e 5 (five) years the figure will be Rs. 2,05,31,25,00,000/- is wasted from our national income. In last five years the cost of construction had gone tremendously high which is clear loss to Ex-Chequer’s and also affected the nation’s prosperity. Apart from financial losses the traffic chaos on the road increase pollution heavily and also affects health of commuters.

Many of the industrial associations of Faridabad is saying that cheap land in city attracts many industrial ventures but traffic bottleneck on the approach roads stops businessmen’s and Corporate Sector to starts their project in city.

To deal with all these problems the concept of six lane flyover had been mooted which again did not visualized because of procedural and political compulsions. Flyover will start from BTPC and ends at Sec-37 Faridabad. To construct flyover first of all slip and services roads had to be constructed on both side of border by their respective state governments. National Highway Authority of India will borne the cost of flyover while state governments are responsible for ancillary works.

Now the issue had been raised in parliament also so some news are flashed that work on the flyover is expected to begin by July 2008.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Microsoft to Buy Web Ad Analysis Company

Microsoft Corp. plans to buy Rapt Inc., plugging a hole in its suite of tools for Web publishers and advertisers, the software giant said Friday.

read more | digg story

Writing mails in Microsoft Outlook

Forgot to mention subject, while writing an official mail??????

Don’t worry……… just follow the simple steps mentioned below and see the result.

Here are the below steps

1. Open your outlook

2. Press Alt+F11. This opens the Visual Basic editor

3. On the Left Pane, one can see "Microsoft Outlook Objects", expand this. Now one can see the "ThisOutLookSession".

4. Click on "ThisOutLookSession".

5. Copy and Paste the following code in the right pane.(Code Pane)

Private Sub Application_ItemSend(ByVal Item As Object, Cancel As Boolean)

Dim stvSubject As String

stvSubject = Item.Subject

If Len(stvSubject) = 0 Then

Prompt$ = "Subject is not Specified. Are you sure you want to send the Mail?"

If MsgBox(Prompt$, vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbMsgBoxSetForeground, "Check for Subject") = vbNo Then

Cancel = True

End If

End If

End Sub

Save this and now close the VB Code editor and take a breath. From now on, this macro will prompt you each time u send a mail without the Subject…

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Hillary Clinton V/s Barack Obama

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both are fighting the election for becoming Next USA President. They are two major players for this election. If Hillary Clinton wins she will be the First Women President of USA. A close fight is going between these two. I am just thinking that how the selection of new president will affect India and USA (America) relations. Although USA economy is feeling heat of slow down while Indian economy is emerging one and here it worth mentioning that America is not in dictating position like in last decade while on the other side Indian Government is also not able to finalise the nuclear deal (123 deal) with US due to its own constraints and the scenario for India will definitely different after Presidency election in America.

But I am sure that both countries will go long way for betterment and development of this World.


Let's wait and watch.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Blogging Resources - The M&M Online Blog: Build Technorati Rank and Increase Your Traffic

Blogging Resources - The M&M Online Blog: Build Technorati Rank and Increase Your Traffic: "e to your technorati favorites"

Sachin Tendulkar (The Little Master)


Sachin Tendulkar the known Little Master, an icon of world cricket and synonym of batting. He had created so many records and brings laurels to the Indian Cricket. I think no other cricket player will be able the reach the heights achieved by Tendulkar. When he started his carrier, he is the youngest player in Indian team and still playing and I hope he will play the next world cup also. So much of cricket is inside him and that never ends. Tendulkar is not only a senior player of the team now but a mature person also. The way he handled the Australia tour shows his coolness and he also guide fresher / younger player in teams.

I think he will win the next World Cup for India.

If you agree please comment.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Create Your Own Cross-Platform Backup Server

Turning a spare computer into a backup server is often the best way to make sure backups gets done. But most methods require either a good deal of command-line learning or serve only one OS. Not with Restore, a free, open-source backup system that can install or run from a live CD, work with any OS and operate through a simple browser interface

read more | digg story

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Oracle Username & Password

You must have always wondered why the username / password in Oracle is Scott/Tiger....

Who is this Scott ? Here is the answer to your query.... ....

scott

Bruce Scott was one of the first employees at Oracle (then Software Development Laboratories). He co-founded Gupta Technology (now known as Centura Software) in 1984 with Umang Gupta, and later became CEO and founder of PointBase, Inc.

Bruce was co-author and co-architect of Oracle V1, V2 and V3. The SCOTT schema (EMP and DEPT tables), with password TIGER, was created by him. Tiger was the name of his cat.


Scott has led the drive to develop new data management architectures that capitalize on emerging computing paradigms - following the migration from mainframes to mini-computers; from personal computers to servers; and from servers to personal systems and devices. After co-founding Oracle in 1977 and helping that company revolutionize the database market, Scott went on to co-found Gupta Technology in 1984 with Umang Gupta. Serving as Vice President of Database and Connectivity Research and Development, he provided the company with database technology leadership for more than ten years. While at Gupta, he invented SQLBase, the first commercially available PC-oriented client/server database and the patented software development design paradigm for SQL Windows.


>>>From Gupta, Scott founded PointBase, bringing to market a platform-independent technology that enabled applications to manage, synchronize, and extend data across networks of servers, desktops, laptops, and mobile/wireless devices. As president and chief executive officer, he led the company's efforts in developing Java-based application-embedded databases for enterprise mobility applications.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

National Animal (Tiger)


From last few years our National Animal Tiger had been illegally killed on large scale by poachers for its skin, skull and bones. There are only 1,500 tigers (approx. figure) in India's reserves and jungles—down from about 3,600 just few years ago and an estimated hundred thousand a century ago, according to the government. Experts say tigers are killed for their pelts and body parts to make supply for Chinese traditional medicine market is a very big reason in the sharp decline of wild tigers in last few years. Trade of tiger’s body parts, skull, skin etc. is banned under the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. One of the famous sanctuary ‘Sariska’ now do not have any Tiger as per the reports. Poaching had reached a level that Prime Minister himself has to intervene and initiated a mission to protect Tigers. A tiger's function in the scheme of things is to help maintain the balance in nature and if we do not take action to save the endangered species of Tigers immediately we will lost important part of our natural cycle. Awareness to save the tigers is very low among common peoples and urbanization must be done in a manner so that it does not affect the natural habitat of any species.

More information about tigers :

http://projecttiger.nic.in/

http://www.5tigers.org

http://www.kidsfortigers.org

http://www.sanctuaryasia.com/projecttiger/index.php

http://www.indianwildlifeportal.com/project-tiger/index.html

http://www.indianwildlifeinfo.com/tiger-tours.html

http://www.tigerfdn.com

http://www.cites.org

http://www.wwf.org

http://www.wcs.org

http://www.tigerlink.org

Send me your views about same.