Did you not read my..... ?

Learn More Languages?

A German, looking for directions in New York , walks up to a bus stop where two

 Americans are waiting.

"Entschuldigung sprechen Sie Deutsch?" he asks.

The two Americans just stare at him.

"Parlez-vous francais?" he says. 

The two continue to stare , so the German tries again" Parlate italiano?" 

No response.

"Hablan ustedes espaeno?? Still nothing.

Frustrated, the German guy leaves.The first American says,

 "you know, we should learn a foreign language."

"why should we? asks the other.

"he knew four languages, and it didn't do him any good."

Fossil

Picture of a fossil in a slab of marble produced in Oman.......

RSK

My Review : King's Speech

A human story of a member of the Royal family , struggling with stammering and his efforts to overcome it, in the backdrop of glory being thrust on him in the form of Kingship, this is an absorbing , small tale lucidly told....the occasional clipped accent humour, the skill and self-confidence of a self-taught doctor who cures the King ( he is Australian in the film and his not speaking with the Aussie accent is probably one of the minor faults of the film)  , the setting of royal homes, palaces, holiday mansions and the Westminster Abbey, the ( then) emerging world of new technology in the shape of live radio broadcasts : all in all, a good package....... The Hindi films ( mercifully not the current ones) have mostly treated stammering as a crude joke  to be laughed at ( in the process making life immensely difficult for those who battle with it in real life )...for those people and for many more who wish to battle with themselves on course to self-improvement, this one is a MUST SEE...... so, go out, experience it and come back with a glow on your face.....

RSK

Caution : If attacked......

Democracy

Democracy     At about the time the original 13 US states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinborough, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship." "The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:   From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.

Surprising Truth About.........

An excellent film....take some time off to look at it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

RSK

CricTrivia

Who is the only player to win the Man-of-the-Match award in a one-day international without scoring a run, taking a wicket or making a catch or stumping? 

The only man to achieve this rather unlikely feat was the tall West Indian fast bowler Cameron Cuffy, who was given the award for a tight spell of bowling in Harare in June 2001. Cuffy delivered his allocation of overs unchanged at the start of Zimbabwe's innings, finishing with figures of 10-2-20-0 (and didn't bat or take a catch). In West Indies' next match in this tri-series, he had figures of 10-3-20-1 against India - "Cuffy bowled his now-familiar single miserly spell," reported Wisden - but he didn't win the match award that time: it went to Sachin Tendulkar for a match-winning innings of 81 not out.

Statues in Dubai

Statues are not commonly seen in the Islamic Gulf.......here is a rare one in Dubai...in the background is the tallest building of the world, Burj Khalifa....

Understanding Women !

.........And thus, dear students, we have arrived at the basic formula for understanding women....

errrrr..........on second thoughts though, I  did see what could be a miscalculation about 12 lines down,

 half way in.............

 

Dangers of Facebook.....

"The information people give out on Facebook, when linked up with other information freely available on the internet, is an absolute ­goldmine for criminals," the Daily Mail quoted Michael Fraser, a reformed burglar who presents the BBC's 'Beat The Burglar' programme, as saying.
"One year, you might have a party and give out your address. A while later, you might tell everyone that it is your 30th birthday.
"So, if you've accepted me as a friend of a friend, I know your name, your address and your birth date.
"From that, I can go to 192.com and on there I can find out what you do for a living, how much your home is worth - and whether you're likely to be worth burgling.
"I might have already made up my mind because you've posted party pictures on Facebook and I can see what kind of valuables you have in the house - and which rooms they're in. Then you go and tell your Facebook friends how much you're looking forward to going on holiday next Tuesday.
"I can go on to Google Street View and see actual photographs of your home. I can see if you have a burglar alarm, or whether there are any bushes in the garden to hide in. And I can see all the alleyways I can escape down. And, of course, I know you won't be at home.
"Once you accept a stranger into your Facebook account, they can begin what we call social ­engineering - ­delicately asking questions to build up information about you,' said Jason Hart, ­senior vice ­president of ­CRYPTOCard Network Security.
"And that can cause havoc. Let's say they got your email address, then they could go to your email account pretending to be you and saying you have ­forgotten your password.

"Once they have that secret ­information, the email account will let them in. And once they are in there, they can find lots of sensitive information, such as your Amazon and eBay account history.
"They can then go to those sites pretending to be you and saying you have lost your passwords, and guess what happens then?
"Those sites send the passwords to your email account - the one that they have already conned their way into.
"Crooks who do this usually use the credit card details you have stored there to buy online gift vouchers that can be traded on the internet. It is a form of instant ­currency.
"Even worse, if you have a PayPal account and have credit in it, your so-called friend could clean it out.
"Effectively, they have become an electronic version of you, they can change all your passwords and begin stealing from you.

My Snaps : Dubai 2011

I went to Dubai recently after a long time...this time, mainly explored the Burj Khalifa and its surroundings... please take a look at the snaps ( the last two are from Muscat's festival)...... the pictures include one of a statue ( statues are a rare sight in the Islamic Gulf).....

RSK

https://picasaweb.google.com/ravikhot/DubaiFeb11?authkey=Gv1sRgCPvKmI-6vKvI5AE#

Who will win Cricket WC2011 ? Betting odds suggest........

World Cup 2011

India	3.60	Sri Lanka	5.00
South Africa	6.00	Australia	6.50
Pakistan	9.00	England	9.00
New Zealand	23.00	West Indies	23.00
Bangladesh	67.00	Zimbabwe	501.00
Ireland	751.00	Canada	5001.00
Kenya	5001.00	Holland	2001.00

Information Please..........

When I was  quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our  neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The  shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the  telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to  it. Then I discovered that  somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person. Her name  was "Information Please" and there was nothing she did not know.  Information Please could supply anyone's number and the correct time.  
     My personal experience with the  genie-in-a-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor.  Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with  a hammer, the pain was terrible, but there seemed no point in crying  because there was no one home to give sympathy. I walked  around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the  stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the parlor  and dragged it to the landing Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the  parlor and held it to my ear. "Information, please" I said into the  mouthpiece just above my head.
     A click or two  and a small clear voice spoke into my ear. "Information."
    "I hurt my finger..." I  wailed into the phone, the tears came readily enough now that I had an  audience.
     "Isn't your mother home?"  came the question.
     "Nobody's home but  me," I blubbered.     
      "Are you bleeding?" the voice  asked.
     "No," I replied. "I hit my  finger with the hammer and it hurts."
     "Can  you open the icebox?" she asked. I said I could.  
    "Then chip off a little bit of ice and  hold it to your finger," said the  voice.
    After that, I called  "Information Please" for everything. I asked her for help with my  geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my  math. She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught in the park just the  day before, would eat fruit and nuts.
      Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I called,  Information Please," and told her the sad story. She listened, and then  said things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was not consoled. I  asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy  to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a  cage?"
     She must have sensed my deep  concern, for she said quietly, "Wayne, always remember that there are  other worlds to sing in."
     Somehow I felt  better. Another day I was  on the telephone, "Information Please."
      "Information," said in the now familiar voice. "How do I spell fix?" I  asked.
    All this took place in a small  town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was nine years old, we moved across  the country to Boston . I missed my friend very much. "Information Please"  belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow never thought of  trying the shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall. As I grew  into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really  left me. Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would  recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how  patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a  little boy.
    A few years later, on  my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle . I had about a  half-hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with  my sister, who lived there now. Then, without thinking what I was doing, I  dialed my hometown Operator and said, "Information  Please."
     Miraculously, I heard the  small, clear voice I knew so well. "Information."
    I hadn't  planned this, but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to  spell fix?"
     There was a long pause. Then came  the soft spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by  now."
     I laughed, "So it's really you," I  said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that  time?"
     "I wonder," she said, "if you know how  much your call meant to me. I never had any children and I used to look  forward to your calls."
     I told her how  often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her  again when I came back to visit my sister.  
     "Please do", she said. "Just ask for  Sally."
    Three months later I was  back in Seattle . A different voice answered "Information." I asked for  Sally.
    "Are you a friend?" she  said.
    "Yes, a very old friend," I  answered.
    "I'm sorry to have to tell  you this," she said. "Sally had been working part-time the last few years  because she was sick. She died five weeks ago."  
     Before I could hang up she  said, "Wait a minute, did you say your name was Wayne ?"  
    "Yes." I  answered.
     "Well, Sally left a  message for you. She wrote it down in case you called. Let me read it to you."
      The note said, "Tell him there are other worlds to sing  in. He'll know what I  mean."
    I thanked her and hung up.  I knew what Sally meant  .................
 

Odd- shaped carrot.....

Resembles a human palm or a human face?

- RSK

China : Biggest Lender to USA

The world economic order is changing. China has just overtaken Japan to become the 2nd largest economy. USA probably has the highest debt............Hilarious cartoons on how China will own America some day............

Technology I grew up with !

This is the kind of technology I grew up with!!!

You Type, She speaks...

She will speak out whatever you type.   When you move the mouse around, her eyes follow the cursor.  When you write something in the left space and then click on 'Say it,' she speaks it! You can also change the person doing the talking and the language she speaks.   CLICK HERE

 

                                 

KR

Pyaasa : TIME rates as 5th Most Romantic Film

A relevant song today?

RSK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tH32hZxyfk

Azharuddin strangely says this !

Q: Why didn't Tendulkar succeed as a captain?

 You were in the same team, so you should know.....

A: I don't want to talk about him.There are

 some people I just don't want to talk about.

What is your mental age?

try this....it is fun...

 

This was put out by a medical research group.

http://www.freebrainagegames.com/

Stay Healthy and.....

...... keep the Doctor happy !

RSK

A peep into tomorrow......

Tomorrow is here......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cf7IL_eZ38

RSK

Upper-casing password can foolproof your e-mail account

In December, media firm Gawker urged subscribers to change  their passwords after its user database was hacked and more  than 1.3 million passwords were stolen. The company, which runs a series of irreverent blogs on media  and technology, warned that simple passwords could be  vulnerable to attacks by hackers' computers Simply upper-casing your password can minimise a hacker's  chance of finding out your account. A six-letter password in lower-case text takes a hacker's  computer just 10 minutes to crack. But make those letters upper-case and it takes 10 hours  for it to randomly work out your password. Add numbers and/or symbols to your password  and the hacker's computer has to work for 18 days. Despite widespread warning, 50 per cent of people  choose a common word or simple key combination  for their password, the Daily Mail reports. The most used passwords are 123456, password,  12345678, qwerty and abc123. However, the security conscious among you may  want to try this - choose a nine letter password that  includes numbers and/or symbols as this would take  a hacker's computer a staggering 44,530 years to break.

Indian musicians eye Grammy glory

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ravi S Khot <ravikhot@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Feb 11, 2011 at 5:48 PM
Subject: Indian musicians eye Grammy glory
To:

Indian musicians eye Grammy glory

By Salim RizviNew York

Vijay Iyer's album Historicity topped the US charts in 2009 (Photo: Lynne Harty)

Last year Bollywood music director AR Rahman triumphed in two categories for his soundtrack to the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.This time round two New York-based Indian-Americans - Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon and Vijay Iyer - are short-listed. ( here are links to their music : Chandrika- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Dm4z5qB1w and Vijay - http://www.google.com.om/search?q=Vijay+Iyer&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=ivnsulo&source=lnms&tbs=vid:1&ei=JztVTeqcOsjmrAeF2YWyBw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=3&ved=0CBYQ_AUoA  ::RSK)The selection committee of the prestigious Grammy music awards appears to be smitten by Indian music.

In addition, a Delhi-based tabla player, Sandeep Das (http://www.google.com.om/search?q=Sandeep+Das&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=ivnso&source=lnms&tbs=vid:1&ei=GT1VTfWEHcPWrQea5_DHBw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=3&ved=0CA4Q_AUoAg ) , has been nominated in the Classical Crossover category.

The Recording Academy presents Grammies annually to honour excellence in the music industry. The 53rd awards will be announced in Los Angeles on 13 February.

'Improvising'

Both Tandon - a Sanskrit chant vocalist - and Iyer - a jazz pianist and composer - use Indian music prominently in their works.

Tandon has been nominated in the Best Contemporary World Music Album category, for her latest album Soul Call, a collection of ancient Sanskrit chants.

Although Historicity topped the US charts in 2009, at first Iyer, 39, says he could not believe he had won the Grammy nomination.Iyer's album Historicity is nominated in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category. It features Marcus Gilmore on drums and Stephan Crump on bass.

"It was a surprise. I don't really know much about the award process," he said.

"I knew that my album was submitted to the committee, and that they have a long list of nominees. Really, it was just good that enough people knew who I was and that they could recognise my name among those thousands."

Vijay Iyer's first jazz album was released 15 years ago but his musical lessons began much earlier.

"I started taking violin lessons when I was three. Jazz happened gradually. I learnt piano by improvising over the course of my childhood. I started messing around with my sister's piano. And little by little it started happening," he says.

Iyer joined a piano group at high school in Rochester, New York and took jazz lessons.

But he still wasn't sure about music as a career and continued his higher studies, graduating from Yale University before completing a masters in physics at the University of California, Berkeley.

Throughout he kept on practising jazz and despite pressure from his parents to choose a professional career, he eventually chose music over science.

"My father was a chemist and both my parents wanted me to take up some stable career," Iyer says, recalling phases of struggle and uncertainty in his music over the years.

Looking back he says: "Now I would not like to wish jazz as a career on anyone."

But his family has come round and is excited about his Grammy nomination, he adds.

High flier

Chandrika Tandon lives in New York these days but is originally from the southern Indian city of Madras (Chennai). She is classically trained in both Carnatic and Hindustani styles.

Tandon juggles her singing with a high-flying career in business.For the album Majumdar combined traditional Indian sounds such as sarod, sitar and esraj with Western instruments such as the piano, electric bass and classical guitar.

For more than a decade she has worked in senior management at financial institutions all over the world, including the consultants McKinsey. She also serves on the board of New York University's Stern School of Business.

'Coming of age'

Unlike Tandon, Iyer was never formally trained in Indian music. He attended Carnatic music concerts in California and picked up Indian classical rhythms by ear.

His work combines a wide range of musical traditions, from Indian classical to contemporary hip-hop. He includes Indian classical music in his jazz as it is part of his heritage, he says.

"I was coming of age and making choices about how to be an artist in America," he says.

"I came to realise that my Indian heritage and identity do play a major role for me in figuring out who I was. And that expanded my horizons as an artist."

His latest album Tirtha features two Indian musicians, Prasanna and Nitin Mitta.

At the Grammies, Vijay Iyer is up against musicians like international Hall of Famer James Moody and the Clayton Brothers. Moody died a few days after the nominations were announced in December.

Chandrika Tandon will compete in her category with four others, including composer Bela Fleck.

Sugar : The damage it does

A longish film.....worth spending the time to see all of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
 

RSK

Confused Nation, India ?

• It's a confused nation we live in........

•  where a policeman kills a leopard that is actually attacking a villager, and instead of being felicitated he is booked for the crime of saving a human being! 

• A nation where Rice is Rs.40/- per kg and SIM Card is free.

• Where a pizza you have ordered reaches home faster than an ambulance or police, even if you were being murdered or having a heart attack!

• Where a car loan is charged at 5% but an education loan, so necessary for our youth is charged an interest of 12%!

• A nation where students with 45% get into elite institutions through the quota system and those with 90% are sent away because of merit.

• Where a millionaire buys a cricket team, spending crores instead of donating the money to any charity. Where two IPL teams were auctioned at 3300 crores, yet still a poor country where people starve for two square meals per day.

• A country where footwear is sold in AC showrooms, but the vegetables we eat, are sold on the footpath and very often next to garbage dumps!

• Where everybody wants to be famous, not by doing good for others, but by looting others and finally getting their names in the newspapers through some scam or other!

• It's a strange nation we live in, where assembly complex buildings get ready within a year while public bridges, flyovers and sea links take several years even to get off the drawing board and another decade to be completed.

• We are a nation where two brothers fight with each other for the nation's spoils, but the nation doesn't know that the two of them are cleverly looting the nation while we watch their mock battles.

• We have malls, and sky-rises, with slums forming their boundary wall.

• A country where men and women squat on railway tracks, with no where else to go while watching them from windows, are couples with three bathrooms and one for the guests. 

• A country where politicians who are supposed to serve the people accept money from the same people they are supposed to serve, then take a salary from the government for their services to the people!

• We are a nation where we talk in hushed whispers about the corruption in the country and then dig into our pockets to bribe a cop when we are caught cutting a red light.

• Think about it; we are a confused nation, aren't we?