Visit Places - Drive, Fly or Swim
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Playing around on Google is fun. Playing with Google is double fun. People visit places, they drive, they fly, take the train. But what would you say if you're asked to swim? Amrita visited London recently (she's gotta blog with a detailed write up and 'more' snaps to prove that though) ; I thought hey - it would be a good idea to visit London - spend your vacation there. It would be a dream come true fomme.
So I open up the much reliable Gmaps and here's what I find ....
Pay attention to - Item #9 and you'd see what I mean. And then #10 asks me to take a "slight right". Pay toll and reach my destination "London" after traveling 3,722 mi in about 29 days 6 hours. I wonder, amongst other things, how they'd have calculated my swimming speed :P.
Labels: Boston, Fly, Google, London, Map, Swim, Travel, UK, US
Posted by Rajesh @ 7:27 PM; PERMALINK,
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Spot the 10 differences
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Just a quick comparison. Can you spot the 10 differences between these two video feeds? Let me give you a heads up. The first one is the actual Apple 1984 video while the second one is a spoof. Watch both, they're interesting in their own respect. I do recommend you put some thought into the second one ...
Labels: 1984, 2008, Apple, Clinton, election, Mac, Obama, US
Posted by Rajesh @ 7:29 PM; PERMALINK,
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Monopoly
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Read this article in TOI and thought of sharing it out here with you guys. Though we all know the after effects, I thought let me clarify some points here. Put some details that you might not have thought about - so here goes some analysis. Impact of the big IF looming over the sub-continent.
For starters, you'd know that last week was a happening week in the cricketing world. Two teams, India and Pakistan lost their group matches making life difficult for them. On tops, PAK coach Bob Woolmer passed away the very night their team lost to Ireland. What're the impacts -
- ESPN has bought telecast rights of ICC events for the next 8 years; For the recovery of more than 80 per cent of the $1.1 billion spent, ESPN is banking on the cricket craze in the Indian subcontinent.
- If India is knocked out in the group stages of the WC, not a single advertiser will henceforth have the courage to invest money in buying advertising slots early. And if advertising rates don’t hit the roof, chances are ESPN will be unable to recover even half the money invested.
- The bottomline: if India loses on March 23 to Sri Lanka, the ICC might even face its worst financial crisis in the long run.
- If India crashes out at group stage, advertisers’ interest in the tournament is certain to nosedive. Chances are some of the organizers might well drown themselves for fear of bankruptcy in the Caribbean sea. In fact, the World Cup faces the risk of being touted a financial disaster when it is hardly a week old.
- Some of the West Indian islands are likely to suffer huge losses if India fails to qualify. The tourism industry, which is the primary source of revenue in many of these islands, is banking on the fact that Indian supporters will make the World Cup a success.
- Of all the packages sold by official travel agents, Indian fans have bought 60 per cent of them. And if Dravid and his men lose to Sri Lanka, chances are more than 80 per cent of these fans will try and cancel trips.
Looks like the world's gonna end if the match on Friday doesn't turn out to be a +ve one for the men in blue. Why go through all this pain? Why not win against SL and end all these "question marks". Gauging from what happened last week, it doesn't look that simple, that easy.
Labels: BCCI, Caribbean, Cricket, Dravid, ICC, India, Pakistan, Srilanka, World-Cup
Posted by Rajesh @ 8:14 PM; PERMALINK,
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Superb Week (Sports)
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Was a superb week(end) as far as the sporting world's concerned. Close to 6 inches of snow Friday, saw my plans of going to watch '300' go down the drain. But thanks to F1 and thanks to Kimi Raikkonen Saturday evening I was all smiles.
One reason - India lost their WC opener against Bangladesh. It seriously cranked me up. I was following the scores on Cricinfo and saw the wickets tumble like crazy. The end result was quite evident as the men in Blue got their much needed wake up call. On the other hand Pakistan was kicked outta the WC after losing 2 matches in a row, yesterday was truly a celebration for the Irish.
Anyways I don't care much about these teams anyways (am more interested in the Fantasy League now), I'm rooting for SA or SL this time. All this seems to be a Deja Vu, I'd mentioned earlier that "I hope I don't see any surprises" ... and what a surprise it was!! Again I have to ask this - What's Sehwag doing there? Enjoying his stay??
Coming back to the F1 - finally Kimi got what he deserved. He was unstoppable right from lap 1 as he dominated the race and never looked back. I'm happy for him and happy that Ferrari would be able to retain their stature as the best team even after MS's departure. The new kid - Hamilton did a superb job as well. Let's wait and watch if Alonso would be able to retain his title this year...
One reason - India lost their WC opener against Bangladesh. It seriously cranked me up. I was following the scores on Cricinfo and saw the wickets tumble like crazy. The end result was quite evident as the men in Blue got their much needed wake up call. On the other hand Pakistan was kicked outta the WC after losing 2 matches in a row, yesterday was truly a celebration for the Irish.
Anyways I don't care much about these teams anyways (am more interested in the Fantasy League now), I'm rooting for SA or SL this time. All this seems to be a Deja Vu, I'd mentioned earlier that "I hope I don't see any surprises" ... and what a surprise it was!! Again I have to ask this - What's Sehwag doing there? Enjoying his stay??
Coming back to the F1 - finally Kimi got what he deserved. He was unstoppable right from lap 1 as he dominated the race and never looked back. I'm happy for him and happy that Ferrari would be able to retain their stature as the best team even after MS's departure. The new kid - Hamilton did a superb job as well. Let's wait and watch if Alonso would be able to retain his title this year...
Labels: Cricket, Dravid, F1, Formula One, India, Kimi, Racing, Raikkonen, Sehwag, Snow
Posted by Rajesh @ 11:49 AM; PERMALINK,
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Oh Brother, Where art Thou?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
With, people switching services left n right, creating havoc on the www world, trying to stamp their name out there, I thought let me sit back and relax. Gave a pat on my back today as I was able to end another procrastination of mine. Although, you might have guessed by now that I'm going crazy talking nonsense out here, let me help you out ... hit "Ctrl + End" on the browser - what do you see? "2006 Spooky Action At The Distance"? Check the "Currently Reading" section and you would see that I'm hooked onto "One Flew Over Cuckoo's Nest" - awesome book.
Before you start scratching your head and deem moi to be insane, imagine what you can achieve with 83 cents a month, which is ~ 2.5 cents a day ~ $10 a year. What you see here is what you can obtain; and by here I mean the address bar. One of the few things you can get done now-a-days with Google. Something else that obviously flows is this.
Lots to follow here (of course) and there and everywhere. Please update your feeds with this link.
Before you start scratching your head and deem moi to be insane, imagine what you can achieve with 83 cents a month, which is ~ 2.5 cents a day ~ $10 a year. What you see here is what you can obtain; and by here I mean the address bar. One of the few things you can get done now-a-days with Google. Something else that obviously flows is this.
Lots to follow here (of course) and there and everywhere. Please update your feeds with this link.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
- R.Frost
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
- R.Frost
Labels: Blog, Com, Domain, Google, Procrastinate
Posted by Rajesh @ 8:07 PM; PERMALINK,
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Change Clocks to Help Environment?
Saturday, March 10, 2007
I don't have a digital timepiece [thank god], I'd have to wind my analog watch, one hour ahead tonight/tomorrow morning - thanks to the DST which, as you all know, takes place 3 weeks earlier this year.
I've been reading about it and hearing about all the "patch" work going on now-a-days. While some claim that this could turn out to be a mini Y2K problem, I don't believe there should be an issue. Will have to wait 3 more weeks or so and keep an eye on the stats provided by hospitals, the airline industry, business week, IT industry etc... Here are some facts I was able to extract from the net -
Reuters -
Hope you have a nice Sat/Sun and be careful while Springing Forward :)
I've been reading about it and hearing about all the "patch" work going on now-a-days. While some claim that this could turn out to be a mini Y2K problem, I don't believe there should be an issue. Will have to wait 3 more weeks or so and keep an eye on the stats provided by hospitals, the airline industry, business week, IT industry etc... Here are some facts I was able to extract from the net -
Reuters -
- Softball teams, which gather on playing fields after work, will be able to start their seasons earlier, as will backyard barbecue enthusiasts.
- Candy manufacturers see brisker sales at Halloween as children will have an extra hour of daylight to go door-to-door begging for sweets during the late-October holiday.
- Some in law enforcement think evening crime rates could fall.
- Orthodox Jews, who wait until sunrise to say morning prayers, lobbied against the provision.
- Airliners complained it would throw their international schedules further out of sync with Europe, costing the industry millions of dollars.
- The energy savings would translate into a 10.8 million-metric-ton reduction in carbon emissions over the next 13 years. While 10.8 million metric tons of carbon emissions may sound like a lot, it pales in comparison to the 5.9 billion metric tons the United States emitted just in 2004 [DOE].
And here's what doctors suggest you start doing (I should have posted this a week before, but anyways) ...
- A few days before the time shift, start going to bed a little earlier each night – even 15 minutes earlier for three days can make a difference. In addition, set your alarm clock for 15 minutes earlier. [are you kidding me?]
- The Monday morning commute the day after DST starts is especially hard, and is associated with a spike in sleepy-driving crashes.
Hope you have a nice Sat/Sun and be careful while Springing Forward :)
Labels: April, Daylight, DST, Fall, March, November, Saving, Spring, US
Posted by Rajesh @ 8:02 PM; PERMALINK,
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Dear Wikipedia - I'm feeling lucky
Saturday, March 03, 2007
There's a new craze in town . Gone are the days you used to use 'Google' as an encyclopedia - search for anything and boom its right up there on top. Well, Google still have their feature called 'I'm feeling lucky' whereby any search is directed to the 1st search result.
New craze - to become part of the Wiki Project Wikify. Wikipedia prides itself on the fact that the articles are unbiased and that many eyes on any article will ensure the accuracy of the article. It didn't take me much time to get on with it and am now a Wiki user, just like millions of others out there. What do I do there? Believe me its a great place to practice your translation skills, go through the articles that need some attention, need modification, check for grammatical errors, add information that you are aware of (and you can defend by providing links) etc etc.. Its Fun!!!
Heard a joke the other day that Google's "I'm feeling lucky" button would soon be replaced with a "Wikipedia Result" Button ;) , for the very first hit for almost every search out there directs you to Wikipedia. Who knows, it could become true one day -
Snap - Digital Point
New craze - to become part of the Wiki Project Wikify. Wikipedia prides itself on the fact that the articles are unbiased and that many eyes on any article will ensure the accuracy of the article. It didn't take me much time to get on with it and am now a Wiki user, just like millions of others out there. What do I do there? Believe me its a great place to practice your translation skills, go through the articles that need some attention, need modification, check for grammatical errors, add information that you are aware of (and you can defend by providing links) etc etc.. Its Fun!!!
Heard a joke the other day that Google's "I'm feeling lucky" button would soon be replaced with a "Wikipedia Result" Button ;) , for the very first hit for almost every search out there directs you to Wikipedia. Who knows, it could become true one day -
Snap - Digital Point
Labels: Craze, Google, Lucky, Project, Search, Wiki, Wikipedia
Posted by Rajesh @ 6:22 PM; PERMALINK,
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