He wanted you to know..

May 31  is very significant for the anti-smoking effort worldwide as it has been declared as the World No Tobacco Day by the WHO.

My Views::

Smoking as always been a major issue which now has become the most important of all.Kids at the age of 10-13 start smoking without even knowing that it can cost their life just for making an impression.Its become a trend in college students mainly in metros.But we can’t blame all kids.Kids who have grown up seeing their parents smoke often end up following them.Every eight seconds, someone dies from tobacco use. Around five million people around the world die of smoking every year.And now to all you smokers “What do you gain of smoking apart from killing yourself ,polluting the environment and last but not the least hurting your loved ones.”

Quote I liked the most ::

Cigarette: A fire at one end, a fool at the other, and a bit of tobacco in between.

Cigarettes are killers that travel in packs.

A very touching and a real story I came across.I would like you to go through it.It touched my heart and i think It would be an eye opener to you that smoking kills you but does it slowly.Not only kills the one who is involved but the family too….

Bryan Curtis started smoking at 13, never thinking that 20 years later it would kill him and leave a wife and children alone. In his last weeks, he set out with a message for young people.

[Photo: Curtis Family] Bryan Lee Curtis, then 33, holds son Bryan Jr., 2, in this March 29 photo. Curtis would die about two months later.

ST. PETERSBURG — Cigarette smoke hangs in the air in the room where Bryan Lee Curtis lies dying of lung cancer.His head, bald from chemotherapy, lolls on a pillow. The bones of his cheeks and shoulders protrude under taut skin. His eyes are open, but he can no longer respond to his mother or his wife, Bobbie, who married him in a makeshift ceremony in this room three weeks ago after doctors said there was no hope.In Bryan’s emaciated hands, Bobbie has propped a photograph taken just two months ago. It shows a muscular and seemingly healthy Bryan holding his 2-year-old son, Bryan Jr. In the picture, he is 33. He turned 34 on May 10.

A pack of cigarettes and a lighter sit on a table near Bryan’s bed in his mother’s living room. Even though tobacco caused the cancer now eating through his lungs and liver, Bryan smoked until a week ago, when it became impossible.

Across the room, a 20-year-old nephew crushes out a cigarette in a large glass ashtray where the butt joins a dozen others. Bobbie Curtis says she’ll try to stop after the funeral, but right now, it’s just too difficult. Same for Bryan’s mother, Louise Curtis.

“I just can’t do it now,” she says, although she hopes maybe she can after the funeral.

Bryan knew how hard it is to quit. But when he learned he would die because of his habit, he thought maybe he could persuade at least a few kids not to pick up that first cigarette. Maybe if they could see his sunken cheeks, how hard it was becoming to breathe, his shriveled body, it might scare them enough.So a man whose life was otherwise unremarkable set out in the last few weeks of his life with a mission.

* * *

Bryan started when he was just 13, building up to more than two packs a day. He talked about quitting from time to time, but never seriously tried.

Plenty of time for that, he figured. Older people got cancer. Not people in their 30s, not people who worked in construction, as a roofer, as a mechanic.

He had no health insurance. But he was more worried about his mother, 57, who had smoked since she was 25.

Louise Curtis grieves for a son who told her, a smoker for 32 years, to worry about herself, not him. [Times photo: V. Jane Windsor]

“He would say, “Mom, don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself. I’m healthy,’ ” Louise Curtis remembers. “You think this would happen later, when you’re 60 or 70 years old, not when you’re his age.”

He knew, only a few days after he went to the hospital on April 2 with severe abdominal pain, how wrong he had been. He had oat cell lung cancer that had spread to his liver. He probably had not had it long. Also called small cell lung cancer, it’s an aggressive killer that usually claims the lives of its victims within a few months.

While it seems unusual to the Curtis family, Dr. Jeffrey Paonessa, Bryan’s oncologist, said he is seeing more lung cancer in young adults.

“We’ve seen lung cancer earlier and earlier because people are starting to smoke earlier and earlier,” Paonessa said. Chemotherapy sometimes slows the process, but had little effect in Bryan’s case, he said.

Bryan also knew, a few days after the diagnosis, that he wanted somehow to try to save at least one kid from the same fate. He sat down and talked with Bryan Jr. and his 9-year-old daughter, Amber, who already had been caught once with a cigarette. But he wanted to do more. Somehow, he had to get his story out.

When he still had some strength to leave the house, kids would stare.

“They’d come up and look at him because he looked so strange,” Louise Curtis said. “He’d look at them and say, “This is what happens to you when you smoke.’

“The kids would say, “Oh, man. I can’t believe it,’ ” Louise Curtis said.

After the graveside service June 8, this friend and a handful of relatives light up. [Times photo: V. Jane Windsor]

In the last few weeks, Bryan’s mother has been the agent for his mission to accomplish some good with the tragedy. She has called newspapers and radio and television stations, seeking someone willing to tell her son’s story, willing to help give him the one thing he wanted before he died. Bryan never got to tell his story to the public. He spoke for the last time an hour before a visit from a Times reporter and photographer.

“I’m too skinny. I can’t fight anymore,” he whispered to his mother at 9 a.m. June 3. He died that day at 11:56 a.m., just nine weeks after the diagnosis.Bryan Lee Curtis Sr. was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Petersburg on June 8, a rare cloudy day that threatened rain.

At the funeral service at nearby Blount, Curry and Roel Funeral Home, Bryan’s casket was open and 50 friends and relatives could see the devastating effects of the cancer.Addiction is more powerful.As the graveside ritual ended, a handful of relatives backed away from the gathering, pulled out packs of cigarettes and lit up.

Yesterday after a long long time I planned to visit my city .My Mumbai.And so had a plan of going to the famous Elephanta caves.Never that I thought this would interest  me so much.Who would spoil a Sunday rock climbing,sailing in sea and going in caves at 12 in afternoon.But surely I bet when you achieve all these you will really feel satisfied.Now let me share some facts..

Elephanta Caves

The Elephanta island is located 10 km away from the Gateway of India at Mumbai. These caves house rock cut temples dating back to the 5th century CE.

The Elephanta island was so named by the Portuguese, after the statue of an elephant near the landing area of the island. These rock cut temples dedicated to Shiva Mahadeva are rich in sculptural content. Motorboats take passengers from Appollo Bunder near the Gateway of India.(behind which stands the recently attacked Taj Hotel)

How They were Constructed: This rock cut temples were created by carving out rock, and creating the columns, the internal spaces and the images. The entire temple is akin to a huge sculpture, through whose corridors and chambers one can walk. The entire complex was created through a process of rock removal. Some of the rock surfaces are highly finished while some are untreated bare rock.

The entire cave temple complex covers an area of about 60000 squrare feet and it consists  a main chamber and two lateral ones , courtyards and several subsidary shrines. Above the temple is the mass of natural rock.

There are three entrances to this temple. The ones on the east and the west marking the axis of the temple. A 20 pillared hall lines the axis, and on its western end is the cella in shich is enshrined a Shivalingam. The pillars consist of fluted columns standing on square bases, and are crowned with fluted cushion capitals.

The Shivalingam denotes the primeval energy of the Creator.It is believed that at the end of all creation, during the great deluge, all of the different aspects of God find a resting place in the Lingam; Bhrama is absorbed into the right, Vishnu to the left and Gayatri into the heart. The Shivalingam is also a representation of the infinite Cosmic Column of fire, whose origins, Vishnu and Bhrama were unable to trace. .

Legend has it that Parvati fashioned a Shivalingam with a fistful of sand at Kanchipuram and worshipped Shiva; this lingam is known as the Prithvilingam, denoting the primordial element earth. Shivalingams in several temples are swayambus, or that which appeared on their own, or that which is untouched by a chisel. On the other hand, there are temples where the Shivalingam is carved out of stone and installed. The highly polished Shivalingams of the Pallava period bear several stripes, as in the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram.

The Shivalingam is generally mounted on a circular or quadrangular receptacle called the Avudaiyar. This pedestal is designed so as to drain off the water offered during ablution ceremonies. In temples such as Kanchipuram, abhishekam is offered only to the pedestal and not to the Shivalingam made of sand. The bottom of the pedestal represents Bhrama, the octogonal middle represents Vishnu and the upper circular portion represents Shiva. The upper portion of the Shivalingam may be of various shapes, cylindrical, elliptical, umbrella shaped. Images may also be (rarely) carved on a Shivalingam.

Nandi, the bull is depicted facing the sanctum in all Saivite temples, symbolizing the human soul Jeevatma yearning for realizing its oneness with Paramatma, the ultimate reality.

Typically, the processional bronze images of Shiva are those of Somaskanda, Chandrasekhara, Bhikshatana and Nataraja. Although in most Shiva temples, the central shrine enshrining the Shivalingam is of the greatest importance, the Nataraja shrine is of greater importance at Chidambaram, the Somaskandar – Tyagarajar shrine is of greater significance at Tiruvarur.

I guess most of us wouldn’t be knowing these details.I just mentioned it  here in my blog because I want all my friends to be proud of our country and Its wonders.

Be proud of the country you are from.And Its always good to know your countries past and history.Never be ashamed of accepting what you dont’t know .Its Ok if you end up knowing nothing about the place you live in,but its even better when you understand it’s value later.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Chicken A La Carte is an inspiring short film by Ferdinand Dimadura, produced in 2005.

How fortunate most of us are, to have food served readily on our tables hot from the stove deliciously cooked by our mothers. And yet some of us have often taken the food for granted. We are so often reminded our elders to be grateful for the food served to them and yet we are guilty of taking our food for granted at time.

I thought  “Would finishing the food on the table made a difference to all the hungry people in the world?”

Certainly there is  a point . Finishing up all the food on the table would not make a difference to all the hungry people in the world and forcing all the food down would not be good for health too. What can we have done?

Then i thought that odering the amount we want wouls be an better option.Always take as much is your capcity.

In doing that, we do not waste food . I know, we still wouldn’t make a difference to all the hungry people in the world, but this is the first step. What’s next? Let us start from around us?

When I watched this short film, I have mixed feelings. One part of me feels for the children who have to go through hunger and the possibility of not knowing if where their next meal will come from. And yet at the same time I feel warmth and inspired by what the man did in the short film; bringing the left-overs to the children. The smiles on their faces are simply priceless. No words can describe the happiness.This world still has people who care.Care in a brutal way although.

There are approximately 25000 people around the world who die of hunger.They struggle to get even one time food when some of us waste ours ignoring there are hundreds ready to eat it.

So next time when ever you waste your food just remember of a poor child waiting for his one course of meal with tears in his eyes.

Let’s try to be Humane and kind to the needy and kind because only this can make you a human being.

STOP FOOD WASTAGE !!

IT’S OUR LUCK THAT WE ARE WELL FED,

THANK THE ALMIGHTY FOR IT.

AND PROMISE TO BE KIND TO ALL WHO ARE IN NEED.

Here is What I inferred from one of the most successful and innovative campaign .LEAD INDIA !!

The Lead India campaign was launched on January 1, 2007.It was created by the JWT team, led by Agnello Dias, national creative director, JWT.

The first phase of the campaign was a series of print ads titled India Poised, along with a commercial starring actor Amitabh Bachchan.They chose him as he too like a normal citizen of the country felt the love for the country after reading the article.

This single commercial was a great success and spread like forest fire.People started writing to the TOI to continue the campaign.Now this  started to take a shape of a revolution where young to old ,rich to poor all started showing their intrest.Then came the SECOND PHASE.

The second phase of the campaign, which started in August, revealed the Lead India initiative and asked the audience what they would ‘do’ if they were the leaders of the country,and if they were given an oppertunity to lead the country. A series of print ads titled Do were run in newspapers and  Shah Rukh Khan took the lead this time.

Third phase was different from the first two phases. While the first and the second phase created awareness and invited participants, the brief for the third phase was to find an blooming politician who could really bring the change . There were 8 eligible contestants in the END.Now the task was to find Who’s the NEXT

Then came a commercial that showed the ignorance of the people just like you and me who  are aware of the prevalent economic, political and social troubles, but nobody wants to do anything about it. People know the solution to the problems, but they prefer to complain rather than act.They prefer to wipe their hands off all the dirt around them.People like us who never bothered but never the less had a love for our country that was deep within us but was afraid to come out. This add did it all.

All credits to ::

Milind Dhaimade, ad filmmaker, Equinox Films, directed the film. The background song that runs throughout was written by Gulzar and set to music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

The add shows a tree that has fallen in the middle of the road in a crowded city. The fallen tree lead to a traffic jam, people in cars are honking and cursing each other, there is no policeman in sight. A boy sits in a bus watching the chaos. He is perplexed, not able to understand why people are making such a ruckus about a simple problem. So, he gets down and starts walking towards the tree.

It starts raining. On reaching the tree, the little boy starts pushing hard to remove it from the road. Everyone who are much older than him around are amazed by this simple act. The child’s initiative transforms into a revolution as all the people caught in the traffic jam join in to help him remove the tree. The line that appears at the end of the commercial says, ‘Seeking tomorrow’s leaders today. Lead India – the search is on.’

TOI  partnered with STAR One to launch the show of the same name, Lead India, on December 8. This show had 10 episodes.
. In the final stages of the show, the participants will propose a dream project,  a vision statement and convince the jury to grant Rs 50 lakh to have the project executed.

This is how A SIMPLE ADD THAT GOT TRANSFORMED INTO A NATION WIDE CAMPAIGN.

Remember the “Let a hundred roses bloom” of yore?
Why not in India?
The Lead India campaign is no doubt a welcome initiative. But why are we limiting ourselves to discover one leader for all of India? Is that possible, when our country is so huge with so many disparate elements, each of which presents problems which need solutions specially tailored for them.
When we are saluting all these young people, each of whom has attained excellence in the effort they are making within their social ambit, why not endorse their efforts with concrete support. Imagine the India ten years down the road with not one but eight or ten energetic young leaders working in their respective arenas and coordinating with each other.
Such efforts go out in concentric circles of development and we may just see such leaders emerge not just in eight or ten major cities, but also perhaps at each district level or even lower in a true spirit .

We aim to become the Perfct nation but I think more than the aim ITS the JOURNEY that counts,that would strengthen us ,unite us and make it the best country to live.

Blogging has be come a new trend of expressing yourself,showing your talent,sharing your ideas or a platform for discussions.Recently our college started a competition on blogging  .Check this out :: http://amritapuri.amrita.edu/summerofblogging/

I thought it was a great idea to to motivate students to write their own blogs.It not only an added advantage to your resume but its a way to bulid up your confidince.Personally I request all of you who are skilful writers and all of you who arnt like me to atleast give it a try.It will help you a lot.And if I can start then I guess anyone can do it.All it takes is to give up your laziness ,get up from your couch,switch off your Rock music thats been distrubing your neighbour and start doing something constructive.

JUST REMEMBER IT’S YOUR SAY,YOUR THOUGHT,YOUR OPINION use it in the best way you can through this wonderful medium.YOU CAN make a difference.

Happy Blogging

Look whose started making sense..With their Windows 7 on release MS is now ready to get back in our lives not with a flawed Os like vista but yes its the new gaming kid of the town !http:  Check out this video  //www.engadget.com/2009/06/01/microsofts-project-natal-demo-video-has-us-jumping-with-anticip/

One of Microsoft’s big Xbox 360 announcements at their E3 2009 press conference was the reveal of “Project Natal“, the code name for a new motion sensor based camera technology that Microsoft claims will turn the human body into a controller. Live demos of the early version of the tech showed people using the camera to play games that, for example, let humans simply mime the action of driving to control a racing game rather than using even a wireless controller.

Microsoft stated that when the technology is released the camera will work with all of the Xbox 360 consoles currently out there as well as all future Xbox 360 consoles. But since the camera is USB-based we at Big Download wondered if Microsoft had plans to bring “Project Natal” to the PC as well.

We got our sister site Joystiq to pose this question to Kudo Tsunoda, the leader of “Project Natal”, during a press lunch following the press conference. Tsunoda told Joystiq’s editor-in-chief Chris Grant, “Of course, this has many applications” but stopped short of confirming that the technology would be ported to the PC. It wasn’t a flat denial, however, and we wouldn’t be surprised to hear announcements in the future about a PC version of the technology. And admit it who won’t fall in love with a technology like this.

I never knew about 3G(so called third generation technology) until i came across my friend who was asking me about a 3G phone….

So for other people like me who didn’t know.Here is something i learned ….

A radio communications technology that will create a “bit pipe” for providing mobile access to internet-based services. It will enhance and extend mobility in many areas of our lives.

In the near future, mobility won’t be an add-on: it will become a fundamental aspect of many services. We’ll expect high-speed access to the internet, entertainment, information and electronic commerce (e-commerce) services wherever we are – not just at our desktop computers, home PCs or television sets.

3G services will add an invaluable mobile dimension to services that are already becoming an integral part of modern business life: Internet and Intranet access, video-conferencing, and interactive application sharing.

2G Wireless The technology of most current digital mobile phones Features includes: - Phone calls - Voice mail - Receive simple email messages Speed: 10kb/sec Time to download a 3min MP3 song: 31-41 min

2.5G Wireless The best technology now widely available Features includes: - Phone calls/fax - Voice mail -Send/receive large email messages - Web browsings - Navigation/maps - New updates Speed: 64-144kb/sec Time to download a 3min MP3 song: 6-9min

3G Wireless Combines a mobile phone, laptop PC and TV Features includes: - Phone calls/fax - Global roaming - Send/receive large email messages - High-speed Web Navigation/maps Videoconferencing - TV streaming - Electronic agenda meeting reminder. Speed: 144kb/sec-2mb/sec Time to download a 3min MP3 song: 11sec-1.5min

We are not just talking about “road warriors” who spend their entire lives travelling. It’s more a question of supporting new, flexible working practices where employees need access to a wide range of information and services via their corporate intranets, whether they are at their own desk or anywhere else.

Employees who spend some of their working at home. Accountants that carry out audits at client premises. On-site maintenance engineers who need access to detailed instruction manuals, mobile emergency services who need a video link with a hospital or doctor for specialised advice. These are a few situations where 3G will play a valuable role.

Key features of 3G systems are a high degree of commonality of design worldwide, compatibility of services, use of small pocket terminals with worldwide roaming capability, Internet and other multimedia applications, and a wide range of services and terminals.

3G System Capabilities

Capability to support circuit and packet data at high bit rates: • 144 kilobits/second or higher in high mobility (vehicular) traffic • 384 kilobits/second for pedestrian traffic • 2 Megabits/second or higher for indoor traffic

Interoperability and roaming

Common billing/user profiles: • Sharing of usage/rate information between service providers • Standardized call detail recording • Standardized user profiles

We’re likely to see 3G services enter our day -to-day lives in all sorts of new ways: for example, in shopping, especially Internet “mail order” (e-commerce), banking, or playing interactive computer games over the Net.

We’ll think nothing of sitting on a train and using a mobile palmtop with Internet browser to log into our bank accounts. While on-line we’ll be able to check our accounts, pay a few bills and click on a screen icon to immediately set up a video-conference to discuss our account with a bank clerk.

On vacation, we’ll be able to use our mobile palmtops to obtain local tour guides, make a last-minute reservation at a hotel, find and call the nearest taxi firm, and send video postcards. We’ll expect location-independent mobile access to a personalised set of services that matches the way we live and work.

Increasingly, machine-to-machine communications will also be enabled and enhanced with future mobile network technology. Domestic appliances will have built-in radio modems to provide remote control and diagnostics. Our refrigerators will have built-in sensors that detect which items need restocking and automatically send a reminder message to our Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). We could even get the refrigerator to send an order direct to our local store. Likewise, vending machines will be able to tell the warehouse when they need restocking.

3G Wireless (Definition) 3G stands for the third generation of wireless communication technology. It refers to pending improvements in wireless data and voice communications through any of a variety of proposed standards. The immediate goal is to raise transmission speeds from 9.5K to 2M bit/sec.

So i hope u guys got a clue about what is 3G …and how it’s going to make our lives simple..A path to simplification….N guess what thers a project on 4G thats going on too!!!!

Apple iPhone is 1 year old yesterday(29th June 2007 was the date of announcement) and has changed a lot during this time, with Apple releasing the new generation phone on June 11th this year.

It was one of the best gadgets from Apple which had 8GB and 16GB phones available mostly in the American and European countries, but still it was loved worldwide and is in demands still after an year of its release.But the new buyers would prefer to buy the 3G version of iPhone, which is the latest new generation gadget from Apple. And the prices being slashed to $199 for 8GB and $399 for 16GB phones which are a very reasonable prices for such geeky gadgets.
After a year, still Apple’s sales are expected to go to 15 million phones after the release of the new version. Congrats for the great success for Apple and Happy Anniversary.

Still there are problems for Indian buyers in getting the iphones directly, and they would have to wait till next year to see the local stores full of iPhones in India, so you better try getting them shipped through online stores which can ship to India, or you would miss this coolest gadgets for later!

I am not at all against WINDOWS nor I am promoting LINUX….

BUT couldn’t stop laughing when i tried this one out…

Here is the 1st one

1)Go to notepad in windows.

2)In simple plain text type the following -:

Bush hid the facts.

3)For those lazy typers just take advantage of Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V.And paste the above sentence.Do not press enter.

4)Save the file.

5) Now open it…

6)Funny what u see!!!! (works  on XP {dnt know about others})

This little Windows Notepad “trick” is often posted to online forums and blogs and also travels via email. When the phrase “Bush hid the facts” is typed into the Windows XP or Windows NT/2000 versions of Notepad as instructed above, the re-opened file displays an unreadable line of squares or Chinese style characters.

The first image below shows the text before closing the Notepad file. The second image shows the text as it is displayed after the file is re-opened:

Some of the more wide-eyed conspiracy theorists postulate that this result is a form of political commentary directed against US President Bush and was knowingly and deliberately programmed into Notepad by Microsoft.

Alas, the truth is far less compelling. It appears that a lot of other character strings in the pattern 4 letters, 3 letters, 3 letters and 5 letters will give the same result. For example, the phrase “Bill fed the goats” also displays the garbled text as shown below:

In fact, even a line of text such as “hhhh hhh hhh hhhhh” will elicit the same results.

But  For example, the phrase “Bush hid the truth” is displayed normally. “Fred led the brats”, “brad ate the trees” and other strings also escape the error.

It seems probable that a certain combination and/or frequency of letters in the character string cause Notepad to misinterpret the encoding of the file when it is re-opened. If the file is originally saved as “Unicode” rather than “ANSI” the text displays correctly. Older versions of Notepad such as those that came with Windows 95, 98 or ME do not include Unicode support so the error does not occur.

So, nothing weird here at all…except perhaps for the fact that someone, somewhere had nothing better to do than turn a simple software glitch into another lame conspiracy theory.

The second one is another bug which most of us might be knowing..

1)Create a new folder .

2) Try naming it as “con” or “prn”

3)Are you able to do it??

Why Can’t I create a folder named CON or PRN in windows XP?

4)It’s a bug u can’t.

This one is really small.But weird!!!

Very simple one not fixed yet…

It was found in Windows 7 build 7057.

1. Unlock the taskbar by right-click on the taskbar and uncheck “Lock the taskbar” option.

2. Now resize the taskbar and drag it to the maximum height. Now click on Startmenu and user picture will disappear from the startmenu:

3. That’s OK. Since there is not much space available on the screen, that’s why Windows doesn’t show the user picture. But now resize the taskbar again and set it to normal height.

Now the bug appears, Windows still doesn’t show the user picture in startmenu even though we have restored the taskbar height:

4. To restore the user picture, you’ll need to drag-n-drop the taskbar to left, right or top of the screen and then restore it back on bottom. Now user picture will start showing in startmenu:

Weird…