You tell me ......................

A college student took up a course in Wildlife Zoology. After one week theprofessor gave the class a test. He passed out a sheet of paper divided intosquares. In each square was a carefully drawn picture of some bird's legs.No bodies, no feet, just legs !!

The test asked each student to identify the birds from their legs.The student sat and stared at the test and got more and more angry. Finallyhe stumped up to the front of the classroom and threw the test on theteacher's desk.'This is the worst test I have ever taken.'The teacher looked up and said, 'Young man, you have flunked this test.Whats your name?' The student pulled up his pant-legs and showed theprofessor his legs and replied

You tell me ......................

Airtel Wifi Router having WLAN issues

Airtel service for Broadband is a fairly good service in terms of customer service, data transfer and downtime. I am a satisfied customer since last 3 years.

Its on Saturday morning, my WLAN suddendly stopped working. I am having a Beetel 450 BX I Wifi Router on rental from Airtel itself. From looking at the default settings within the modem, I knew it was not a configuration issue but somehow the router was bricked.

Calling the Airtel exective, he said he will try an Firmware update or else he will replace it. Firmware update did resolve the issue. It turned out that Airtel is doing firmware update remotely for all the beteel ADSL modems and in process of the mass update they updated all the wireless routers as well with the same firmware as the ADSL modem and hence the WLAN function stopped working.

So if you run into the issue where your wireless stops suddenly then

1. If connecting a cable and acessing the Internet works.
2. If the WLAN Led is glowing or not. If its not glowing its pretty much the firmware update issue or existing firmware has to be updated.

Management and Employee relations

Wire Art .. This is amazing

11Yr old fixes the computer which that ID Ten Error

Read somewhere in Web, just wanted to share. J ………..

“I was having trouble with my computer. So I called Eric, the 11 year old next door, whose bedroom looks like Mission Control and asked him to come over.
Eric clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem.


As he was walking away, I called after him, 'So, what was wrong? He replied, 'It was an ID ten T error.'

I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, 'An, ID ten T error? What's that? In case I need to fix it again.'

Eric grinned.... 'Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?' 'No,' I replied. 'Write it down,' he said, 'and I think you'll figure it out.'

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So I wrote down: I D 1 0 T === J “

या! दहशतवाद्यांनो, तुमचे स्वागत आहे.

या! दहशतवाद्यांनो, तुमचे स्वागत आहे.
सव्वाशे कोटींच्या या देशाची सतत वाढती लोकसंख्या कमी करण्यासाठीच जणू तुम्ही अभियान उघडले असावे -
असा संशय येण्याइतक्या नियमितपणे सुरू असलेले तुमचे बॉम्बस्फोट बघितले कि मन थक्क होते.
तुमच्या कर्तृत्वाला आमच्या देशात पूर्ण वाव आहे.
लक्षात ठेवा ... इथे लोकशाही आहे.

त्यामुळे तुम्हाला पोटा सारख्या कायद्याखाली पकडले तर 'विशिष्ट' समाजाची मने दुखावतील
याची इथल्या राज्यकर्त्यांना बालंबाल खात्री आहे.
त्यामुळेच पोटयाचा सोटा कधीचाच म्यान करून आमच्या देशाचे कर्तृत्वसंपन्न गृहमंत्री
तुमच्या कारवायांवर बारीक लक्ष ठेवून आहेत.

अर्थातच त्यांचे लक्ष तुमच्यावर आहे. तुम्ही त्यांचे 'लक्ष्य' नव्हे!
त्यांचे लक्ष्य आहे ती मतपेटी आणि मुख्य म्हणजे त्यात पडणारी 'कथित' एक गठ्ठा मते!
सारांश काय, तर तुम्हाला घाबरण्याच काहीही कारण नाही.
या आणि निरपराध माणसांचे अगदी खुशाल बळी घ्या !
कस यायचं या देशात हा काय प्रश्न झाला?

बांगलादेशातून लाखो बांगलादेशी नागरिक इथे येतात, त्यांच्या सारखेच तुम्हीही या!
नेपाळातूनही तुम्ही सहजपणे बे-रोकटोक येऊ शकता.
ना कोणी पासपोर्ट विचारतील, ना कोणी व्हिसा !
हे विश्वचि माझे घर या आमच्याकडच्या संतवचनाचा अर्थ 'हे घर त्यांचेही विश्व' असा सुद्धा लावता येऊ शकतो.

समझौता एक्सप्रेस, मैत्री एक्सप्रेस, गळ्यात-गळा पॅसेंजर अशा अनेक गाडया इथे येतात.
एकदा का या भारतमातेच्या कडेखांद्यावर तुम्ही बसलात कि तुम्हाला कोणी रोकणार नाही.
कुठेही जा, कशीही झोपडी उभारा, रेशनकार्ड काढा, मतदार यादीत नाव नोंदवा,
आणि हे सर्व जमवत जमवत अस काही बस्तान बसवा कि तुम्हाला विरोध करण्याची कोणाची हिंमत होऊ नये !
सुप्रिम कोर्टाने आय.एम.डी.टी. कायदा रद्द करून बांगलादेशी नागरिकांच्या हकालपट्टीचा मार्ग मोकळा केलाय खरा,
पण कोण माईचा लाल तुम्हाला हाकलून देईल?

मायबाप मनमोहनसिंगांनी विलक्षण हुशारीने सुप्रिम कोर्टाचा आदेशच हाकलून लावला. तेव्हा सुखनैव रहा.
आता तर काय, रामविलास पासवान यांनी तुम्हाला चांदीच्या तबकातून नागरिकत्व देण्याचीच शिफारस केली आहे.
केवढे हे औदार्य! किती पराकोटीची तत्व निष्ठा! तेव्हा अजिबात संकोच करू नका.
या आणि निरपराध माणसांचे अगदी खुशाल बळी घ्या!

या भारतवर्षात मानवाधिकारांच्या रक्षणासाठी कटिबद्ध झालेले कित्येक महान विचारवंत आहेत.
ते तुम्हाला अगदी हवं ते देतील. अगदी रोज इच्छाभोजन सुद्धा घालतील.
तुमच्या कारवायांचा सुगावा लागल्यामुळे 'विशिष्ट' वस्तीत कोंबिंग ऑपरेशन सुरू आहे असा नुसता फोन करा...

बघा मानवाधिकारवाल्यांची फौज तुमच्या मदतीला धावून येते कि नाही!
मुंबई पोलिसांना आणि इथल्या ए.टी.एस.ला मानवाधिकार कशाशी खातात हे तरी कळतं का?
त्यांनी तुम्हाला हात लावलाच तर मिडियातले मित्र देखिल तत्परतेने धावून येतील.

खूपच बोअर झाल्यानंतर निखळ मनोरंजनासाठी तुम्ही 'बॉम्बस्फोट-बॉम्बस्फोट' खेळता
आणि या नतद्रष्टांच्या पोटात दुखतं!
खरं तर त्यांनी तुमच्या प्रतिभेचं, धाडसाचं, कल्पकतेचं कौतुक नको का करायला?
केवढी तुमची विविधतापूर्ण शैली !

कधी रेल्वेत तर कधी रूग्णालयात, कधी कचरा-कुंडीत तर कधी स्कूटरमध्ये...
शिवाय त्यात एक भौगोलिक समानतेचं सूत्रही आहेच.
कर्नाटक असो वा काश्मिर, गुजरात असो वा गुवाहाटी... तुमचा खेळ सर्वत्र सुरूच!

आमचे गृहराज्यमंत्री श्री. प्रकाश जयस्वाल म्हणाले ते खरंच आहे
एवढया मोठया देशात इतक्या मोठया लोकसंख्येला वाचविण्याच्या कामात पोलिस पुरे पडणार तरी कसे?
तेव्हा पोलिस अपुरे आहेत, शस्त्रास्त्रे बोथट आहेत, कायदे शेळपट आहेत
आणि मुख्य म्हणजे निरपराध माणसांच्या मृत्यूबद्दल हळहळ व्यक्त केली,
नुकसान भरपाई जाहीर केली कि दहशतवादाचा विषय इथे तेवढया पुरता संपतो.
तेव्हा खुशाल या... निरपराध माणसांचे जीव घ्या !

या देशात एक बरे आहे. इतरांच्या मानवाधिकारांचे रक्षण करण्याची जबाबदारी असलेल्यांना -
म्हणजेच पोलिसांना - इथे फारसे मानवाधिकार वगैरे नसतात.

MASUM - Objectives

This is my second post on MASUM and I wanted to write about the objective and intiatives of MASUM in details.

Intervention against Family Violence

Any act of violence against a woman, whether at home or outside, is never an isolated incident. It is a weapon that is used by the powerful against those who are powerless. Immediate support is provided to women in distress by our para-legal workers called Saathis, at community level using strategies like counselling, imparting knowledge of the law to women, motivating women to form support groups and pressure groups at village level as well as by influencing decision-makers in the village to act on behalf of the distressed women.

The counselling center Samvaad (dialogue) located at Saswad reaches out to women who are victims of violence, abuse and exploitation. Emotional support and legal aid services are provided by trained social workers and a visiting lawyer from Pune.

MASUM has also worked with other organisations at the policy making level to help draft and enforce the law against domestic violence.

Health Programme - Our health workers at the village based women's health centers use self-help techniques to enable women to understand their own bodies and to participate in the process of diagnoses and treatment. An essential part of the health program is also to provide literacy to the rural women about their own bodies. The health workers at the centers conduct whole-body, speculum and bimanual examinations as well as breast examinations for detection of reproductive tract infections and other gynaecological problems at village level. Pap-smears are collected for prevention or early detection of cervical cancer.

The health workers treat women with traditional herbal medicines available in the neighbourhood, allopathic drugs under generic names, accu-pressure techniques, dietary alternatives and exercises.

MASUM's health program is not an alternative to the Government health program. Every person has the right to receive primary health care and it's the State's obligation to fulfill this right. Making people aware of this right is a part of MASUM's programs.

Training and capacity building - MASUM has started several capacity building initiatives with the objective of empowering women and other marginalized groups with useful skills and elevating their confidence.

Tailoring classes : Economic independence, self-reliance and confidence in oneself is a proven means of women's empowerment. MASUM conducts tailoring classes in various villages to teach young girls a useful skill. In addition to tailoring, the girls also learn physical exercises, self-defense techniques, health information, women's issues, rights of women and related laws etc.

Mobile Computer Van : This project, which started in May 2008, was envisaged with the objective of bridging the technological gap between urban and rural areas. A mobile van with 10 computer systems visits four villages in the Purandar Block to impart computer training to adolescent girls especially those from marginalized groups. We also aim to extend the services to school students in the form of computer aided education and to farmers to help them build a communication link with agricultural training institutes.

Human Rights Training Programmes : Over the past 20 years MASUM has developed as a credible training resource in areas of women's health care, gender sensitization and mainstreaming of gender issues, violence against women, human rights, reproductive and sexual rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR).
MASUM has functioned as the training unit for the Maharashtra Women and Health Programme (MAH - WAH). MASUM in partnership with IWRAW – Asia Pacific has conducted intensive training programmes for NGOs in Maharashtra as well as from other states of India on the CEDAW. MASUM is part of a group – Beyond the Circle which comprises of individuals, representatives of NGOs and academic institutions committed to advancing ESC rights in the Indian Context. MASUM's Institute of Training in Rights-based Activism (MITRA) was started in October 2003 as a program to build capacities of NGOs in Maharashtra working on diverse issues (women's issues, children's issues, health, HIV-AIDS, micro-credit, rural development) in urban, rural as well as tribal areas, by training participants from within these organisations in the rights based perspective and framework. This initiative was further extended to train activists from NGOs at the National level.

In addition to the above resource persons from MASUM have been regularly training other NGOs as well as government organisations on gender issues, women's health, micro-credit etc., Capacity building of rural NGOs on above issues is an ongoing activity of MASUM.

Publications : MASUM has produced and published several flip books, training manuals, booklets, reports and books on issues related to health, domestic violence and human rights to empower grass-roots level development workers with skills and knowledge required to bring about a noticable change in the field.

Micro-credit Programme – Streedhan Vikas Prakalp (women’s resource development program) Women’s self-help savings groups have been working since 1991 in 8 villages of Parner Block and 18 villages of Purandhar to enable poor women to build their resources. About 5000 women members save a small amount every month and access easy and low interest loans without any collateral in their time of need.

Children's Programmes - The current heirarchical framework in which our society operates today is a result of years of socialization. To break this mould that disempowers women, dalits and other marginalised communities, MASUM works with groups of children in order to create an environment conducive to the development of harmonious relationships based on gender-equality, non-violence, religious and cross-cultural tolerance and values of democracy. We work with groups of children divided into two age gropus. The Raan Pakhre (free wild birds) group is for children from 6years to 14 and Bharari (taking flight) group works with adolescents. This is also a space where children can come and discuss issues close to their hearts, share ideas, opinions as well as their problems. These children are encouraged to raise certain issues to the village level with the support of MASUM activists.

MASUM activists visit several schools to impart the same values to school students as well.

Our pre-school teachers conduct Balwadis (pre-school education) in the interior and highly neglected tribal areas in Parner Block in order to facilitate enrollement of children from these marginalized communities into mainstream schools.

Democracy Festival - MASUM stands for women's rights, democracy, equality, secularism and diversity. MASUM opposes fundamentalism. Every year Lokshahi Utsav, an idea that evolved in MASUM, is observed in Pune in which over 25 civil society organizations along with the citizens of Pune come together to celebrate the spirit of democracy. The celebrations are held from 26th Jan to 30th Jan during which several concerts, lectures, discussions etc. are organised.

Campaigns
MASUM is engaged in several campaigns and initiatives at the local, State and National level to promote basic human rights and the values that the organisation upholds.

MASUM - NGO

MASUM is an NGO and I was associated with this NGO while I was in Pune. For the Exemplary work which this NGO does, I was bound to write about it on my Blog. If this interest you or you wish to get associated for an NGO, feel free to contact MASUM's office and there are many needful people who would require you help, case and assistance.


1. Name of the organisation : Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM)

2. Registration : Registered with Charity Commissioner, Pune region.
Registration Number - E/ 1284 / (Pune)

About MASUM

MASUM is a non-profit organization working in the rural areas of Purandar (Pune District) and Parner (Ahmednagar District) Blocks of Maharashtra with the oppressed, marginalised and minority groups with an emphasis on their participation in all activities and programmes. It aims at creating awareness about various forms of exploitation and abuse faced by the underprivileged and the minority groups in the community and help them organize themselves to deal with such violations. MASUM is a development group with a feminist perspective and a democratic approach. MASUM works mainly on the issues of Health, Domestic Violence, Women's Resource Development and Self-Employment, and Capacity building with rights approach.

MASUM's objectives :

· To make women self reliant and conscious of their human and constitutional rights and to put pressure on the state for fulfilling its obligation towards its people.

· To nurture women's physical and emotional health.

· To provide vocational training and credit facilities to women for self-employment.

· To create a sustainable and humane mode of development through people's active involvement in rural Maharashtra.

· To create a progressive space in society for all it's deprived people, and to specifically resist casteism, sexism, religious chauvinism and homophobia.

· To work towards the elimination of discrimination, inequality, intolerance and violence - both, within and outside the home.

· To work towards the creation of a society based on equality, freedom, democracy, diversity and peace.


MASUM is headed by a board of trustees including Ms. Nirmala Sathe (chairperson), Dr.Ramesh Awasthi, Ms. Manisha Gupte, Mr. Anwar Rajan and Ms. Anita Borkar.

The organization has a staff strength of about 65 people - rural and urban. As a policy MASUM gives priority to employing people from minority and marginalized groups.

Contact Persons : Dr. Ramesh Awasthi (Trustee and Co-Convener) - 09960807276
Ms. Manisha Gupte (Trustee and Co-Convener) - 09890870120

Contact details :

B1-41 Kubera Vihar,
Hadapsar Gadital,
Pune – 411028,
Maharashtra.


Tel – 91-20-26995625
91-20-26995633


SASWAD OFFICE

Mahalsakant Society,
Kodit Naka,
Saswad,
Purandar Taluka,
Pune District,
Maharashtra
India

Tel:- 02115-22969/33 (917-22969 from Pune City)


MALSHIRAS REGISTERED OFFICE

At Post Malshiras, (Bhuleshwar),
Purandar Taluka,
Pune District,
Maharashtra
India

Tel:- 02115-262167 (917-262167 from Pune City)

RALEGAN OFFICE

Gramin Mahiti Kendra(MASUM),
At Post Ralegan Sidhi,
Parner Taluka,
Ahmednagar District,
Maharashtra
India.

Tel:- 02488-40-221



Email : masumfp@vsnl.com
masum.puneindia@gmail.com

Website : http://www.masum-india.org/

What are Stem Cells?

A really informative article...

http://www.lifecellinternational.com/power-of-stem-cells-and-cord-blood/what-are-stem-cells

What are Stem Cells?

Stem cells are the primal cells of the body. The different cell types within the body are all derived from such cells- and hence the name. Stem cells are undifferentiated, "blank" cells that do not yet have a specific function. Characteristically, stem cells have a high capacity for self-renewal. This feature permits their continuous culture under laboratory conditions.
Stem cells have the unique ability to differentiate into a variety of cells.

When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential to either remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function - such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell or a nerve cell.

Given the right environment, stem cells can give rise to a number of tissues that constitute the different organs. Also serving as a kind of repair system for the body, stem cells can divide repeatedly and then differentiate and replenish cells within the body. These unique characteristics are the reason why stem cells are considered a breakthrough in regenerative medicine. They have the potential for providing cells and tissues to treat various debilitating, life-threatening diseases.

Stem cells can be derived from various sources such as the bone marrow, embryos obtained by in vitro fertilization, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood.
There are three broad categories of stem cells, which can be derived from various sources such as the bone marrow, embryonic tissue, amniotic fluid and umbilical cord blood.


Why is Cord Blood so Valuable? Cord blood is the blood left over in the umbilical cord and placenta after the birth of a baby. This blood has been found to be an extremely rich source of stem cells. These stem cells can now be used as an alternative to embryonic, bone marrow and other stem cell types. There are no ethical controversies surrounding stem cells derived from the umbilical cord as the umbilical cord and placenta are usually discarded after birth.

Your baby's cord blood is a valuable source of stem cells that could be used to treat many life-threatening diseases and medical conditions. The value and benefits of umbilical cord blood stem cells are great as stem cells have saved many lives so far, and medical researchers are exploring new uses for umbilical cord blood stem cells in treating diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Banking your baby's cord blood means that should a need arise, your child will have a source of stem cells that is an exact match, with almost no risk of rejection.

Diseases Treated with Stem Cell Therapy Across the world, stem cell transplants have been used since the 1960s to treat a variety of diseases such as:
Acute Leukemia
Chronic Leukemia
Histiocytic Disorders
Inherited Erythrocyte Abnormalities
Inherited Immune System Disorders
Inherited Metabolic Disorders
Inherited Platelet Abnormalities
Lymphoproliferative Disorders
Myelodysplastic Syndromes
Myeloproliferative Disorders
Other Inherited Disorders
Other Malignancies
Phagocyte Disorders
Plasma Cell Disorders
Stem Cell Disorders

Future Stem Cell Applications
Research is currently on for the following diseases

Moon and the Happy Smiley

Today, on 1st of December, the Moon turned into a smiley and want to post this picture if you'all missed the celestial phenomena.

The brighter star in the Pic is Venus and the other one is Jupiter.


Some more information at
http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_december_2008.phtml

smiley

Hats off to our soldiers!! What a soldier is...

This is a very very touching article I came across ... Hats off to our soldiers.


1/2 boy 1/2 man
The average age of the military man is 19 years.

He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears, not old enough to buy a beer, but old enough to die for his country. He never really
cared much for work and he would rather wax his own car than wash his father's, but he has never collected unemployment either.

He's a recent High School graduate; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old jalopy, and has a
steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away.

He listens to rock and roll or hip -hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer.

He is 10 or 15 pounds lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him,
but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark.
He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.

He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

He can march until he is told to stop,or stop until he is told to march.


He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity.

He is self-sufficient.

He has two sets of fatigues: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.

He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

If you're thirsty, he'll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He'll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.

He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all.

He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.

He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.

He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to 'square-away' those
around him who haven't bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking.

In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy.

He is the Fighting Man that has kept this country free

He has asked nothing in return, except
our friendship and understanding.
Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

And now we even have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so.

As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot. . ..

A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets.
Prayer wheel for our military... please don't break it Please send this on after a short prayer.
Prayer Wheel
'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.
Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.'
When you receive this, please stop for a moment and say a prayer for our ground troops , sailors , and airmen , in all frontiers

There is nothing attached...

This can be very powerful...
Of all the gifts you could give a Soldier, Sailor, Coastguardsman, Marine, or Airman, prayer is the very best one.
I can't break this one, sorry.
Pass it on to everyone and pray for the Indian Soldier.He will always do you proud.

Hotel Review - Pizza Hut - Kammanahalli

A laid back saturday afternoon was a perfect day to feast on a good Pizza. So instead of ordering it home we decided to visit the nearest

Pizza Hut

. Just left from Kamanahalli signal on outer ring service road, its very close by to our place, but the broken road for about 200 mts is a dissapointment.

Stepping in the place, the ambience was like any normal Pizza hut restraunt. But a warm greeting from the waiter who began serving our table, made us remark the difference in this place. The service is extra ordinary. The serving staff actually knows how to take care of the customers / guests. The pizzas are served almost at every corner but definitely the pleasant and positive experience made us write this review.

For anyone staying around outer ring road, this is a much recommended place. For ambience we would love to give 8/10, for service we would say 11/10 yeah a +1, food as usual deserves a 8 or 9.

Mumbai terror attack - What happens next

The whole nation watches, glued to television sets every minute, mourning, feeling sad, feeling angry, there is anguish but everyone knows the future of this incident. Its mumbai, it will be back on its feet in no time is the feeling around. Is it ok to have this feeling? What happens next? Probably the attack which is linked to pakistan, will be condemed by all politicians and the various countries and then the most dreadful of all thing, everyone will forget.

It took solid over a decade for India to punish the terrorists of the 93 blast, so what about now. There will be reports filed, and in another 2 days, media will start reporting the usual stuff on Rakhi Sawant and Himesh Reshmiya and the topic of the biggest terror attack on India goes to the back burner.

So who all gained in this terrorizing event.
--> Yes ofcourse, Pakistan, they got to smirk on making India miserable.

-->Politicians, LK Advani didn't spare commenting that the PM's speech was useless. Everyone wanted camera coverage. MR. Munde couldn't get enough that he walked straight to the nariman house location; for what? Visiblity and votes. No one spared a single minute or chance to earn some votes.

-->For the england team it was very fortunate that they were saved off a 7-0 washout series in One dayers as they have a good alibi of security.

I really loved what shobha de said in her interview. This is no time to sit quite and relax. We have to go behind the terrorist aggressively. Just see what the US did to taliban and Iraq for revening 9/11 and that too without any solid proof. So what about the 9/11 here in our own Mumbai. Who is going to revenge for this?

The government should come out strong and restore the faith in the people that if someone dares to attack us again, we will not think twice for shedding blood of the victims.

Condolences to all innocent people and their families who became the unfortunate targets of this terror attack and Salute to all the martyrs

Comics to enjoy

US Dollar Almighty

I recently found this article which explains this question in a easy way…thought it may be of interest to some of you in this group…

US Dollar Almighty
(Posted recently by Malaysian Author Mr. Syed Akbar Ali in his blog.)

Just to excite your interest (keep you from yawning) 'US Dollar Almighty' I will talk about the following:
i. Why is the US Dollar such an international currency, why is it so widely used and what is its future role?

To be widely accepted and to be successful, any currency must be perceived to represent value.In the beginning gold and silver were used as currencies. Whether they were used as currency or not, gold and silver carried their own value.
In the beginning (say in India in 6th century BC) gold and silver coins did not have 'token' values or face values. The weight of the coin was widely known, but there was no mention of how much 'money' it represented. So the monetary value of the coin could vary.
Later coins started having token values or face values higher than the amount of metal inside them, just like paper currencies today. This became 'fiat' money.But the more basic question is why gold ? Well the simple answer to that is because gold does not rust. You can burn it, melt it, blow it up or whatever but you can always put it back together again as a piece of gold and it would still be gold. Plus the fact that it is rare. You must dig up mountains to obtain gold.
There are other metals which are more expensive than gold and are also rarer - like uranium. But I think if we carried uranium coins in our pocket, we would start glowing quite embarrasingly. Gold has withstood the test of time.


In short, human beings need something that is dependable, something that will not disappear, something that is unchanging, something that is valuable. This is why human beings have given such high value to gold. This is a simple but very important point, please remember this because we will revisit this point when we come to see why the US Dollar is so succesful as an international currency. And plus the fact that gold is also rare - it became a perfect store of value and a medium of exchange, both rolled into one. You could store your wealth in the form of gold bars and gold jewellery in all shapes and sizes. Or you could use gold coins as money, a medium of exchange.



OK, not to bore you any longer. In my humble opinion, this is also exactly why the US Dollar, is perceived to have value, by almost the whole world. The US Dollar (also called 'greenback') is actually printed on cotton. The US Dollar represents a country, the United States of America (a country with 306 million people now?) which is perceived to be dependable, unchanging, has great 'economic' value and will not disappear anytime in the foreseeable future. Let me say something about the gold standard, the famous Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 and such. I really dont know what it all means. It has stopped functioning since 1971. The world has moved on quite well since then. During World War 2, even before the Bretton Woods agreement, the British Pound was pegged to the US Dollar and vice versa. In 1944, at the height of WW2, the Brits and the US met at a golf club in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and agreed that their currencies, plus that of their wartinme allies, should have a fixed exchange rate. How would they achieve this? They would each hold gold in their central banks to back up their currencies. But this was not enough. Also at that time, the IMF and the IDRB (Int'l Bank for construction and Development - at that time mostly for orang putih sahaja because half the world was the British Empire and the other half was the French, Dutch, American and German empire) had also come into being. So they agreed that if any of the Bretton Woods countries had foreign exchange reserve problems, the IMF would extend emergency loans to that country.

Based on this agreement, and the safety net provided by the IMF and the IDRB, their exchange rates were kept stable - within a difference of 1% fluctuation only. But there were other more ridiculous aspects of Bretton Woods. Only the US Dollar could be converted into gold, the price of gold had to be maintained at a certain level and stuff. Quite impossible. Since 1865 (end of American Civil War), the US remains the most viable and robust nation on the surface of the earth. The fact that the US also has aircraft carriers, nuclear bombs and such are secondary. The US Dollar became a global currency even without these weapons of war. Compared to the US, as late as 1962, France was close to becoming a military dictatorship (the rebel 'colons' almost overthrew General DeGaulle). Around that time France also had to introduce a new currency, the 'new' French Franc. Spain was ruled by the dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco from 1947 until 1975. Germany was divided and under constant threat of war until 1989. These are not exactly the conditions that build great confidence in your currency's international stature.Then just six years ago, in 2002 the Western European currencies disappeared and were replaced by the Euro, which was officially introduced in 1999. The Euro was physically launched in 2002 at parity with the US Dollar. But the Euro has now surpassed the US Dollar at 1.36:1. Why? Simply because the Euro zone (15 countries altogether?) is now the largest economic grouping in the world, with a combined GDP that exceeds the USD12.0 Trillion of the US.The Euro is not yet as popular as the US Dollar but it is geting there.


The US Dollar derives a lot of strength from the fact that many people around the world are reassured that as a country America is quite unshakeable and for the foreseeable future it will remain a rich, powerful and stable country. You can rely on the fact that when we wake up tomorrow America will still be around. This simply means that whether they like it or not, whether they agree or not, whether they are aware or not, people around the world still place their trust in the United States of America.

The point is, not only oil is priced in US Dollars but even the currencies of countries are valued in US Dollars. And the trade in foreign currencies is many times larger than the trade in oil. How many times larger? The trade in foreign Currencies is estimated to be USD2.0 Trillion PER DAY!! And most of this Forex trade is done in US Dollars. So that is how 'Almighty' the US Dollar is. Global oil trade is only a fraction of the currency trade. Then gold is also traded in US Dollars. But the greatest demand for US Dollars is between countries that export goods. Usually when a country exports goods, it wants payment in its own currency. When we export palm oil to Pakistan, we want to be paid in Ringgit, not in Pakistani Rupees. Therefore Pakistani importers must 'buy' our Ringgit (using their Rupees) and then give us the Ringgit in exchange for the palm oil. So technically the more we export, the more the demand for our Ringgit - hence our Ringgit will increase in value (or strengthen). But this is not always the case. Sometimes exporters do not want to be paid in the currencies of their home countries. For example in the 80sand 90s (and maybe even now) Indonesian exporters frequently wanted to be paid in US Dollars for their exports - not in their own Indonesian rupiahs. This is because their currency was suffering uncertainty -meaning fluctuation in value on a daily basis, instability etc.Or their country may be suffering increasing rates of inflation which may make their Rupiah earnings become smaller. So they want to bepaid in US Dollars which they will later convert to Rupiahs at a more opportune time. If their currency deteriorates further, they will exchange the US Dollars and get even more Rupiahs. So the US Dollar is going to be around for a while. The main reason is because America is a stable, rich, very progressive, extremely creative and productive country. And they are a democracy which values freedom. This is the underlying strength of the US Dollar. This is why the US Dollar is still Almighty. Just for your information, in the last week, despite the financial crisis, the US Dollar has strengthened against almost all world currencies except the Japanese Yen.

Thailand tiger temple - Interesting and astonishing

Thailand tiger temple

Tiger Temple is the place where you can meet some friendly tigers… or that’s what they say.
http://www.tigertemplethailand.com/tours_tiger_temple_thailand.html

Ripleys believe it or not!

Got this rare picture in email. Believe it or not!

Did u get the catch?

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If you look from the bottom to the top you would notice that the picture is morphed. There are around 7-8 lines which shows the manipulation job

The Mobile Store – Fooling around people for HTC Phones.

The mobile store have been advertising about HTC phones as some very discounted prices, and in reality they do not have a single piece forget to sell not even for display in any store in any city in India. They advertised the price of HTC TYTN II or HTC 4550 at 24999 along with some offers. I happened to book the phone in one of the stores and they committed that they will arrange the phone in next 2 days. 2 days became 12 and they one of their sales rep gave me a sorry call stating that the phone is not available. It was highly frustrating and someone who booked a HTC phone or was waiting on the commitment that the stock would be available next week (Which never came) would know.

According to me, very unprofessional way of doing business, I should say by Mobile Store. If they didn’t have a single phone in stock, there was no need to put false pricing and then mislead customer’s causing unnecessary disappointment. They could have upfront told customer and removed the phone from their website as available. As per them the company was not producing enough stock, so how come its available in the market at other stores. So no need to spoil the brand of HTC by giving false alibi.

I hope this blog reaches the mobile store and HTC management that how much the brand image has been tampered and is getting tampered day by day.

SARDAR DETECTIVE

SARDAR DETECTIVE




A policeman was testing 3 Singh brothers who were training to become
detectives.


To test their skills in recognizing a suspect, he shows the
first Singh a picture for 5 seconds and then hides it. "This is your
suspect, how would you recognize him?"


The first Singh answers, "That's
easy, we'll catch him fast because he only has one eye!" The policeman
says, "Well...uh.. .that's because the picture I showed is his side
profile."



Slightly flustered by this ridiculous response, he flashes the picture for
5 seconds at the second Singh and asks him, "This is your suspect, how
would
you recognize him?"



The second Singh smiles and says, "Ha! He'd be too easy
to catch because he only has one ear!" The policeman angrily responds,


"What's the matter with you two? Of course only one eye and one ear are
showing because it's a picture of his side profile! Is that the best answer
you can come up with?"



Extremely frustrated at this point, he shows the picture to the third Singh
and in a very testy voice asks, "This is your suspect, how would you
recognize him?



He quickly adds, "Think hard before giving me a stupid answer." The Singh
looks at the picture intently for a moment and says, "The suspect wears
contact lenses." The policeman is surprised and speechless because he
really doesn't know himself if the suspect wears contacts or not.

"Well, that's an interesting answer. Wait here for a few minutes while I check his file and I'll get back to you on that." He leaves the room and goes to his office,


checks the suspect's file in his computer, and comes back with a beaming
smile on his face.



"Wow! I can't believe it. It's TRUE! The suspect does in fact wear contact
lenses. Good work! How were you able to make such an astute observation? "



"That's easy," the Singh replied. "He can't wear regular glasses because he
only has one eye and one ear."

Now this is funny... Laugh your heart out

Bomb and Sardar
2 sardaron ko 2 bomb mile,
1st Sardar: chal police ko de k aate hain.
2 sardar: agar koi bomb raaste me phat gaya to?
1st sardar: jhoot bol denge ki 1 hi mila tha


Doctor And Sardar
Sardar 2 doctr: Mujhe 1 problem hai
DR: Kya?
Sardar: Baat karte waqt aadmi dikhai nahi deta
Dr: aisa kab hota hai?
Sardar: Phone karte waqt


Sardar and Home
Man: Sardar jee aap ko garmi lagti hai to kya karte ho?
Sardar: AC k paas ja k baith jata hun
Man: Agar phir bhi garmi lage to?
Sardar: To A/C on kar leta hun


Sardar and pray
A sardar prays daily for 2 hours,
"He Vahe Guru meri lottery lagade."
After 11 years Vahe Guru angrily appeared & said,"Khoti de puttar 1 vari ticket to le le"


The real Sardar
Ek sardar ki chatri me hole tha,
kisine pucha, umbrella me hole kyun?
Sardar bola, Oye barish ruk jayegi to pata kaise chalega


Sardar and Hitler
Hitler says,
"There is no word like IMPOSSIBLE in my dictionary"
Sardar says: Ab bolne se kya faayda? "Jub kharidi thi tab hi check karna tha na"


Sardar and Computer
Sardar: Yar mujhe 1 hathora or keel chahiye computer k lye.
Sales man: Magar computer me inka kya kaam?
Sardar: Oye yaar mujhe computer me windows lagani hai.


Two Sardards
1st sardar: oye agar neend na aaye to kya kia jaaye?
2nd Sardar: Neend ka intizar karne se achha hai ki banda soo hi jaye
1 sardar rail ki patri per so gaya .
1 aadmi ne kaha kya kar rahe ho? Train aayegi to mar jaoge!
Sardar: Mere uper se jahaaz guzar gaya to kuch nahi hua, train kya cheez hai?


Sardar and Police
Police: Tumhe kal subah 5 baje phaasi di jayegi.
Sardar: Ha Ha Ha Ha!
Police: Kyon hasn rahe ho?
Sardar: Main to uthta hi subha 9 baje hun.


Sardar and Practical
In bio practical:
Examiner: Tell me the name of this bird by seeing its legs only?
Sardar: I don't know.
Examiner: You r failed, what's your name?
Sardar: See my legs & tell my name

Call of the CUPID

Now this is what is called as the contact of the CUPID......

Management - Employee rating relationship. Think out of the Box

I read this recently and thought of sharing the same with you........ Hope it makes some sense…


Every company has a performance appraisal system in place to measure the effectiveness of its employees.
Employees are normally rated in most of the companies in the above categories. Apart from the above non performance category is also there, which is not depicted here ) . Needless to say everyone wants to be rated Outstanding.
What is the yard stick and how do you measure these aspects?
• Employee "A" in a company walked up to his manager and asked what my job is for the day?
• The manager took "A" to the bank of a river and asked him to cross the river and reach the other side of the bank.

• "A" completed this task successfully and reported back to the manager about the completion of the task assigned. The manager smiled and said "GOOD JOB"


Next day Employee "B" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task as above to this person also.
• The Employee "B' before starting the task saw Employee "C" struggling in the river to reach the other side of the bank. He realized "C" has the same task.
• Now "B" not only crossed the river but also helped "C" to cross the river.
• "B" reported back to the manager and the manager smiled and said "VERY GOOD JOB"


The following day Employee "Q" reported to the same manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again.

• Employee "Q" before starting the work did some home work and realized "A", "B" & "C" all has done this task before. He met them and understood how they performed.
• He realized that there is a need for a guide and training for doing this task.
• He sat first and wrote down the procedure for crossing the river, he documented the common mistakes people made, and tricks to do the task efficiently and effortlessly.
• Using the methodology he had written down he crossed the river and reported back to the manager along with documented procedure and training material.
• The manger said "Q" you have done an "EXCELLENT JOB".


The following day Employee "O' reported to the manager and asked him the job for the day. The manager assigned the same task again.

"O" studied the procedure written down by "Q" and sat and thought about the whole task.
He realized company is spending lot of money in getting this task completed. He decided not to cross the river, but sat and designed and implemented a bridge across the river and went back to his manager and said, "You no longer need to assign this task to any one".
The manager smiled and said "Outstanding job 'O'. I am very proud of you."

What is the difference between A, B, Q & O????????
Many a times in life we get tasks to be done at home, at office, at play….,
Most of us end up doing what is expected out of us. Do we feel happy? Most probably yes. We would be often disappointed when the recognition is not meeting our expectation.

Let us compare ourselves with "B". Helping some one else the problem often improves our own skills. There is an old proverb (I do not know the author) "learn to teach and teach to learn". From a company point of view "B" has demonstrated much better skills than "A" since one more task for the company is completed.

"Q" created knowledge base for the team. More often than not, we do the task assigned to us without checking history. Learning from other's mistake is the best way to improve efficiency. This knowledge creation for the team is of immense help. Re-usability reduces cost there by increases productivity of the team. "Q" demonstrated good "team-player" skills,

Now to the outstanding person, "O" made the task irrelevant; he created a Permanent Asset to the team.
If you notice B, Q and O all have demonstrated "team performance" over an above individual performance; also they have demonstrated a very invaluable characteristic known as "INITIATIVE".

Initiative pays of every where whether at work or at personal life.
If you put initiative you will succeed. Initiative is a continual process and it never ends. This is because this year's achievement is next year's task. You cannot use the same success story every year.
The story provides an instance of performance, where as measurement needs to be spread across at least 6-12 months. Consequently performance should be consistent and evenly spread.
Out-of-Box thinkers are always premium and that is what every one constantly looks out for. Initiative, Out-of-Box thinking and commitment are the stepping stone to success.
Initiative should be life long.

Think of out of the box.

Review - Little Italy

Everyone passing by 100 ft road in bangalore, must have noticed Little Italy. We happen to visit it this weekend and having a pleasant experience wanted to jott down about it in our blog.

Firstly, the Ambience.
We simply loved it. Very simple and elegant. We have the option to sit outside on the ground floor or else on the first floor there is a nice sitting. Since it was bit chilly on the day we decided to make ourselves comfortable on the first floor.

The service -
Very very decent service. We had absoultely no problems with the captains explaining us different items on menu, letting us know the quantity sufficient for two. And upon ordered the food was served in a jiffy. So very prompt that we didn't have any endless wait time, staring at other people munching :)
I would rate the service as 9/10.

The Food -
To begin with its a pure veg restruant. So green's the theme. I would say its was EXCELLENT. We just savoured every dish we ordered. Food served hot, well prepared and tasty. No complaints on any of the dishes we ordered.

So in startes, we went with a Spinach Salsa. A dish which is served as crispy toasted breads and a bowl full of molten cheese and spinach. It was awesome.
We went on and ordered a thin crust pizza with the maximum toppins and it felt like our tastebuds got rejunivated after eating pizza hut and dominoes all our lives. Seriously it was good.

From the menu we figured out Brown Rice as an option and instead of a pasta settled for a spicy dish of brown rice. Since the first two dishes were great, we were a bit confident that it won't be dissapointing. It was Good!

So overall the food again gets 9/10.

We ordered a couple of cocktails and in comparison to cocktails at TGIF, or 13th Floor, I wouldn't rate them as equal to food and service. So I highly recommend wine as a safer option, if you like it.

The most important factor. The Price.
On an average every dish would cost you around 200 - 250 in average. So if you do not want to indulge yourself in a drink or two, a dinner for two would cost you around 800-1000 bucks which is absoultely worth the cusine and the service.


Overall it was very plesant evening for us. We hope to visit it soon and then continue on this blog with more info on some other dishes. But highly recommended place.

Karnataka – Marriage Registration

Karnataka – Marriage Registration
It was on the 25th of June, we got our marriage registered and we sighed a breath of relief for getting over with this task. Me and my wife both belong to Maharashtra but I have been residing here in Bangalore for over 3 years now. Having accomplished this task I thought of sharing the experience for all those aspiring to procure their marriage registration certification. For those who are unaware “Marriage registration is made mandatory as per Law in India”
The first thing to note is that you have to find the registration office which maps to your locality. We stay in CV Raman Nagar and the registration office we visited was K R Puram office. So getting started with what all documents are required. Documents need to be photocopies which are submitted with the application.

1. First you need to fill up a form, which can be obtained at the registration office itself. It’s a simple form asking you to fill details like your fullname, fathers name, mothers name, your current residential address, name and details of you witnesses. There are 3 witnesses required.

2. Proof of address for both Bride and Bridegroom. This might be challenging for few people like us who don’t have a permanent residence in Bangalore. So here is the list of acceptable documents
a. Passport mentioning your current address.
b. Driving license
c. Electricity bill.
d. Telephone bill (Landline. We submitted Airtel bill so it is not mandatory that it has to be BSNL)
e. Gas connection proof.
f. Ration Card
g. Voters ID
h. A letter from your company HR.
i. Rent Agreement copy.
j. Bank statement showing your address.

Things to note:
Just the Rent agreement alone will not suffice and is not accepted. You will need to provide atleast 2 of the address proof documents in case you are submitting the Rent Agreement or Letter from your HR stating your current address. In our case we submitted a letter from HR along with Airtel Landline bill.

Another important point is that you would need address proof for both Bride and Bridegroom separately.

All the documents need to be in English, Hindi or Kannada.


3. Date of Birth proof for Bride and Bridegroom. The following documents will be acceptable.
a. Passport
b. Date of Birth Certificate
c. Driving license
d. School / College leaving certificate
e. Voters ID

4. Invitation card in original.
5. 5 Copies of 2B size photo. A 2B size photo means a joint photo of Bride and Bridegroom.

Procedure

Step 1:
Fill the form with details and get it verified with the clerk. There will be 2 copies of the form. Attach the photograph on both the forms and both of you should sign on the photographs. The clerk will cross check all the documents attached and then ask for signature of both Bride and Bridegroom on each and every document submitted. After the verification the clerk will stamp on the form.

Step 2:
Take the stamped form to the Marriage Registrar. He will again verify it and sign it.

Step 3:
Take the form to the operator who would enter the details in the registration database and give 3 copies of the certificate. Please ensure that all your spelling and details are correct and then sign a draft before printing the final certificate.

Step 4:
Take the printouts to the clerk. Paste the remaining 3 photos on the 3 certificates and submit it back to the clerk.

Step 5:
The clerk will acknowledge the receipt and you’ll have to sign in the register.

Step 6:
The clerk will then get the certificate stamped and signed from the Marriage Registrar.

Step 7:
Give a broad smile as the work is completed.

Additional details:
- First and foremost, both the Bride and Bridegroom must be present to complete the whole procedure.
- 3 witnesses signature is required. The witnesses need not be in blood relation (We requested a family who had come for their own work to sign for us). The witnesses just need to sign the form and no documents are required of the witnesses to be submitted.
- The whole procedure costed us 2 hrs of our time and 115 Rs. Official fees for registration.
- You need not hire an agent as it is fairly simple to get the work done. Agents typically approach you and may ask anywhere between 500 – 1500 Rs.
- You will receive 2 original copies of the marriage certificate.

I hope the above details help and in case you have doubts you can also mail me on kanumerouno@gmail.com and I’ll be glad to help.

Travelog - Coorg Kushalnagar golden temple dubare

It was the much needed break for all our team members and we decided to go on an overnight journey. Staying in Bangalore the choice wasn’t that difficult to make and everyone agreed to freeze on COORG. So we didn’t have much days in hand and since we were with families and a group of 16 multiple things had to be planned precisely including the venue, the transport, the food and many other miscellaneous things.

So we started our hunt for searching the best venue for us in Coorg. With lot of searching on the internet, visiting various blogs for reviews and other review sources, we narrowed down on 3 places, TATA – Plantation trails, Misty Woods and then finally we searched a fairly new place “Coorg County Resorts”. Coorg County Resorts gave us the flexibility of having as many separate cottages we needed while as in plantation trails has a limited of 5 Rooms. So if you are in a big group, specially families included then it might become a challenge.


So we made our booking in Coorg County Resorts, although couple of reviews we read on http://www.oktatabyebye.com/ were not that well. The reason was we were talking to the GM and he ensured that all what he commits would be done. The resort offered us multiple different types of cottages, so they have around 2 Palace Villas, some 5 Delux Villas, and few Standard Villas and about 10 Delux rooms.

We started off in the morning at around 7.30 although the plan was 6.30 and the delay is self explanatory. By around 10ish we have reached “Kamat’s” on Mysore road where we feasted on hot idlies, wadas and best was onion rava masala dosa. The tea was bit disappointing, but the coffee which I was having was nothing less than great.


Our next stop was Golden Temple – The Buddhist Monarchy. This was the most awesome Buddhist temple I ever saw. The humungous structure is completely gold plates and we were left awed when we saw the huge, around 15 – 18 feet idol, Lord Buddha and 2 other idols on either side of same size which looked like queens and they all were made in GOLD. The environment was nothing less than divine as there were atleast 500 monks reciting chants on the beats of the drums with such harmony and accuracy that made us stand still for moments we knew we will not forget.


Coming out of the temple wasn’t an easy task, but after clicking lot of memorable photos and shooting videos, and keeping the time schedule in mid we had to drag ourselves out. The temperament of ours soon changed as we entered the Tibetan market which is right opposite to the temple. Every one flooded on the feng shui shops and then we could hear nothing but bargaining. I got for myself few good mementos as a Chinese mask, feng shui bells, show pieces and yes Chopsticks which I have been searching for quite some time.


By around 3 we decided that we were on the threshold of messing up our own schedule and that the resort manager had called us to let know that the lunch has been made ready and they are waiting for our arrival. So our planned arrival time was 1.45 at the resort and we reached at 3.15, so we were on a right on spot. So our plan was to finish off lunch and reach madikeri, but that seemed a remote possibility after it started raining. So we decided to settle back in the resort and enjoy the greenery and solitude around.


So let me write about the resort.

http://www.coorgcountyresorts.com/

The resort is on the kushalnagar to madikeri road approximately 10 KM after kushalnagar and 20 KM before madikeri. There is lush greenery around and in the whole premises of the estate. Gardens are well maintained. There is a swimming pool, which is fairly big, but since it rained the day we reached there, we couldn’t enjoy it. The electricity is a constant problem in the entire town, but good that the resort has complete power back on generators to run the hot water geysers and AC’s. In terms of facilities there is a recreation room, which has few indoor games like Pool, Carrom Board, Chess and also a few fitness equipments mostly cardio. We struggled to play pool because one of the cue’s didn’t have a tip, but anyways who was playing seriously. Most of us enjoyed different games throughout the evening.

The rooms are of different types. The best one’s are the Villas and I was staying in the Palace villa which has amenities like AC, Fridge, TV etc. It was decent accommodation and had the look and feel of antique villa with complete wooden furniture. Since all the Villas are located in the vicinity of trees and plants, you have a very good feeling of enjoying nature. But the catch is that you do not have the liberty to keep the door or window open in the evening as you wouldn’t want to become a feast for the mosquitoes. We had to rely on the AC for the ventilation in the room. Overall it was ok and if I have to rate the place on scale of 10, I would rate it 7.5. There are other options as well like the standard villas and deluxe rooms. The furniture in all the rooms was almost similar.

In terms of service, the staff is very courteous but we had some challenges in response time to get some things done. So you can’t expect a 3 start service, but then you can get things done by talking to right people managing the place. In terms of Price the quoted price was around 6500 Rs for the Palace Villa, but for a group of 16 and since we needed atleast 8 cottages we worked out a deal with the resort. I bet you can do the same.


Next day we started off to Dubare, the elephant camp. An ahoy! We actually clicked snaps with elephants bathing in river. There was a small baby elephant who was stealing the show with its childish acts. Being adventure enthusiastic group nothing stopped us from booking a boat to do still water river rafting. We called the boat on the other side of the river and for the next hour 11 of us must have lost atleast 1000 calories and that was thrilling. A must to do experience.


On the way return we had our food at a small but very decent hotel called Kingsway inn which you will find opposite to top in town and just after SBI bank. The food was served amazingly fast and to our surprise it was way too good as compared to many places in Bangalore. I would recommend this place if you need to stop over for lunch.

The journey started back and people with all the adventure in rafting, travelling settled back in the bus and proceeded back to namma bengaluru.


I would love to write more about the size of the blog would go obese. So if you have any queries I would be more than happy to respond to them so you can freely bug me on kanumerouno@gmail.com

Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming

Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming

You can find more at: http://globalwarming-facts.info/ 1

Global Warming is a dramatically urgent and serious problem. We
don't need to wait for governments to find a solution for this
problem: each individual can bring an important help adopting a
more responsible lifestyle: starting from little, everyday things. It's
the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late.
Here is a list of 50 simple things that everyone can do in order to
fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some
of these ideas are at no cost, some other require a little effort or
investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middlelong
term!


Don’t forget to check out the original site from which this list was taken:
http://globalwarming-facts.info
Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming
You can find more at: http://globalwarming-facts.info/ 2


1. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb
(cfl)
CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300
pounds of carbon dioxide a year.


2. Install a programmable thermostat
Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at
night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your
energy bill.


3. Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and cooling. You
could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple
adjustment.


4. Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.


5. Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most energy
efficient products available.


6. Do not leave appliances on standby
Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3
hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby
mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.


7. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can
save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 50°C.


8. Move your fridge and freezer
Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they
were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room
where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an
extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.


9. Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly
Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic
defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their
predecessors.


10. Don't let heat escape from your house over a long period
When airing your house, open the windows for only a few minutes. If you leave a
small opening all day long, the energy needed to keep it warm inside during six
cold months (10ºC or less outside temperature) would result in almost 1 ton of CO2
emissions.




11. Replace your old single-glazed windows with double-glazing
This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through
windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer
wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon
gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost.


12. Get a home energy audit
Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is poorly
insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your energy bill and
1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy
specialist.


13. Cover your pots while cooking
Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better
are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!


14. Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting.
There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so
efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.


15. Take a shower instead of a bath
A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximise the energy
saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and
provide the same comfort.


16. Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low
flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your
clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year) instead of hot.


17. Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible
You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6
months out of the year.


18. Insulate and weatherize your home
Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home heating bill
and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and weather-stripping can
save another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy Efficient has more information on how
to better insulate your home.


19. Be sure you’re recycling at home
You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste
your household generates.


20. Recycle your organic waste
Around 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions through the methane is released by
decomposing bio-degradable waste. By recycling organic waste or composting it if
you have a garden, you can help eliminate this problem! Just make sure that you
compost it properly, so it decomposes with sufficient oxygen, otherwise your
compost will cause methane emissions and smell foul.


21. Buy intelligently
One bottle of 1.5l requires less energy and produces less waste than three bottles of
Top 50 Things To Do To Stop Global Warming
You can find more at: http://globalwarming-facts.info/ 4
0.5l. As well, buy recycled paper products: it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to
make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.


22. Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can
You will also cut down on waste production and energy use... another help against
global warming.


23. Reuse your shopping bag
When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of
accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and
methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.


24. Reduce waste
Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g.
during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box
instead of a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce new lunch
boxes.


25. Plant a tree
A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided
by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by 10 to 15%. The Arbor Day
Foundation has information on planting and provides trees you can plant with
membership.


26. Switch to green power
In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources
such as wind and solar. In some of these, you can even get refunds by government
if you choose to switch to a clean energy producer, and you can also earn money
by selling the energy you produce and don't use for yourself.


27. Buy locally grown and produced foods
The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your
plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your community.


28. Buy fresh foods instead of frozen
Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.


29. Seek out and support local farmers markets
They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you
by one fifth. Seek farmer’s markets in your area, and go for them.




30. Buy organic foods as much as possible
Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils
from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d
remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!
31. Eat less meat
Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the
greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to
produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.



32. Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking
mass transit wherever possible
Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of
carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.


33. Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates
Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide
emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free service connecting
north american commuters and travelers.


34. Don't leave an empty roof rack on your car
This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind
resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea.


35. Keep your car tuned up
Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When
just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon
dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.


36. Drive carefully and do not waste fuel
You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper
gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal
brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for
more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on
both fuel and car mantainance.


37. Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated
Proper tire inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon
of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every
increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!


38. When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle
You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3
miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon
with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel efficiency on FuelEconomy and on
GreenCars websites.


39. Try car sharing
Need a car but don’t want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations
provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance and
insurance. Many companies – such as Flexcar - offer low emission or hybrid cars too!
Also, see ZipCar.


40. Try telecommuting from home
Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive
every week. For more information, check out the Telework Coalition.


41. Fly less
Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by
even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also
offset your air travel carbon emissions by investingin renewable energy projects.


42. Encourage your school or business to reduce emissions
You can extend your positive influence on global warming well beyond your home
by actively encouraging other to take action.


43. Join the virtual march
The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to bring people
concerned about global warming together in one place. Add your voice to the
hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue.


44. Encourage the switch to renewable energy
Successfully combating global warming requires a national transition to renewable
energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These technologies are ready to
be deployed more widely but there are regulatory barriers impeding them. U.S.
citizens, take action to break down those barriers with Vote Solar.


45. Protect and conserve forest worldwide
Forests play a critial role in global warming: they store carbon. When forests are
burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the atmosphere -
deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
Conservation International has more information on saving forests from global
warming.


46. Consider the impact of your investments
If you invest your money, you should consider the impact that your investments and
savings will have on global warming. Check out SocialInvest and Ceres to can learn
more about how to ensure your money is being invested in companies, products
and projects that address issues related to climate change.


47. Make your city cool
Cities and states around the country have taken action to stop global warming by
passing innovative transportation and energy saving legislation. If you're in the U.S.,


join the cool cities list.
48. Tell Congress to act
The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would set a firm
limit on carbon dioxide emissions and then use free market incentives to lower
costs, promote efficiency and spur innovation. Tell your representative to support it.


49. Make sure your voice is heard!
Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government in order to
stop global warming and implement solutions and such a commitment won’t come
without a dramatic increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with teeth. Get the
facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project Vote Smart and The League
of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice is heard by voting!


50. Share this list!
Send this page via e-mail to your friends! Spread this list worldwide and help people
doing their part: the more people you will manage to enlighten, the greater YOUR
help to save the planet will be (but please take action on first person too)!


If you like, you are free to republish, adapt or translate the list and post it in
your blog, website or forum: we only ask you to give us credit with a link to
the original source.
Thank you.

Original source: http://globalwarming-facts.info/50-tips.html