They have setup a wiki for the Tsnuami help effort. A wiki is a website where any visitor of the website can change its contents (with or without registering). You end up having millions of editors and lots of content. Their blog is getting messy with the content. Changing to the wiki was a good choice. I had used a wiki when I played a MMRPG (short form for massively multiplayer role playing game) called "Tale in the desert". It worked out perfectly for the gamers for sharing information (apart from the official gaming site). Tsunami bloggers, hope the wiki works out for you. They must give you guys a some kind of international award for your effort. I vote!
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Tsunami_Help
Friday, December 31, 2004
Tsunami Help Bloggers
The bloggers at Tsunamihelp.blogspot.com are doing a great job in the disaster recovery co-ordination. BBC has taken notice in this article.
Good job guys...You are making a difference.
Good job guys...You are making a difference.
Finally legal
After six years of waiting, we finally got our green card approvals today. We are permanent residents of the United States. It is a happy day!
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Boy Wonders
At times you hear about them on TV, and they amaze you with their intellect. Here are two of such kids that I admire and respect, one of whom has sadly passed away.
Mattie Stepanek: 13 year old Poet and peacemaker, Mattie wrote poems about peace and hope. His poems got published in a book called "Heartsongs". I admire him for his strength and will to live the life to its fullest. I watched his interviews by Larry King with awe. He could talk about so many things. But he still was regular kid who liked Disney Land and traveling. Sadly, he passed away on the morning of June 22, 2004. He had so much potential.
Here is one of his poems.
For our World
By Mattie J.T. Stepanek
We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.
September 12, 2001
© Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek
Gregory Smith: Gregory is a 15 year old second year graduate at University of Virginia, a PhD in Mathematics. He started the International Youth Advocates. He says,
"You see, I have a vision. At a time when people are insecure about the future when hatred turns against the innocent. wouldn't it restore hope if children took it upon themselves to help other children. children bridging cultural, political and religious divides coming together in peace, speaking with one voice for freedom and justice and working for a future without fear and suffering. Children who have not learned to hate. Children who feel a connection with their world. Children who can define the ideal world where all have opportunity and then believe that it can happen. For the sake of all of us, we must make this happen. - Greg Smith"
Mattie Stepanek: 13 year old Poet and peacemaker, Mattie wrote poems about peace and hope. His poems got published in a book called "Heartsongs". I admire him for his strength and will to live the life to its fullest. I watched his interviews by Larry King with awe. He could talk about so many things. But he still was regular kid who liked Disney Land and traveling. Sadly, he passed away on the morning of June 22, 2004. He had so much potential.
Here is one of his poems.
For our World
By Mattie J.T. Stepanek
We need to stop.
Just stop.
Stop for a moment
Before anybody
Says or does anything
That may hurt anyone else.
We need to be silent.
Just silent.
Silent for a moment
Before we forever lose
The blessing of songs
That grow in our hearts.
We need to notice.
Just notice.
Notice for a moment
Before the future slips away
Into ashes and dust of humility.
Stop, be silent, and notice
In so many ways, we are the same.
Our differences are unique treasures.
We have, we are, a mosaic of gifts
To nurture, to offer, to accept.
We need to be.
Just be.
Be for a moment Kind and gentle, innocent and trusting,
Like children and lambs,
Never judging or vengeful
Like the judging and vengeful.
And now, let us pray,
Differently, yet together,
Before there is no earth, no life,
No chance for peace.
September 12, 2001
© Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek
Gregory Smith: Gregory is a 15 year old second year graduate at University of Virginia, a PhD in Mathematics. He started the International Youth Advocates. He says,
"You see, I have a vision. At a time when people are insecure about the future when hatred turns against the innocent. wouldn't it restore hope if children took it upon themselves to help other children. children bridging cultural, political and religious divides coming together in peace, speaking with one voice for freedom and justice and working for a future without fear and suffering. Children who have not learned to hate. Children who feel a connection with their world. Children who can define the ideal world where all have opportunity and then believe that it can happen. For the sake of all of us, we must make this happen. - Greg Smith"
Roshan's effort
I saw 14 year old Roshan on TV talking to CNN this morning. He has started a website to collect donations to help Srilankan Tsunami victims. An effort by a young boy is worth mentioning. Here is his site,
HELP TSUNAMI VICTIMS OF SRI LANKA!!
You can contact him at (240)694-8889. If you live in Maryland, you can drop donations at,
14539 Cutstone Way
Silver Spring, Maryland, 20905
Checks can be mailed in favor of "HELP SRILANKA - A/C # 003925531431".
HELP TSUNAMI VICTIMS OF SRI LANKA!!
You can contact him at (240)694-8889. If you live in Maryland, you can drop donations at,
14539 Cutstone Way
Silver Spring, Maryland, 20905
Checks can be mailed in favor of "HELP SRILANKA - A/C # 003925531431".
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
DSL is up again
My home DSL is up again this evening. Big relief since I am off the next 4 days. I desperately need internet to get through them.
Humble Humidifier
Our kid is a month and half old now. Until recently, He had been having stuffy nose and breathing problems. On a friend's (Thanks Ravi) advise, I got home a humidifier (cold air one). His breathing has gotten better now and this stuff really works.
I recently purchased a nifty wall clock (for under $10) at Walmart that had a thermometer and a hygrometer. Now I can monitor the humidity level, turn the humidifier on/off based on it.
I recently purchased a nifty wall clock (for under $10) at Walmart that had a thermometer and a hygrometer. Now I can monitor the humidity level, turn the humidifier on/off based on it.
How earthquakes and tsunamis happen?
BBC has two must-read articles about how earthquakes and tsunamis happen,
1) How Earthquakes happen?
2) Asia earthquake explained
1) How Earthquakes happen?
2) Asia earthquake explained
Home DSL is down
DSL at my home went down yesterday. I am writing this at the office. Tried all the things the ISP would normally suggest. Shutdown the computer, turn off the DSL modem and bring them up. Doesn't work.
I checked Verizon (local ISP) website for a contact number. There, I stumbled on this nifty little tool they have in the customer support section. It was called "Test my Verizon Online DSL line". You enter a telephone number and it runs a line test on your telephone number. It's pretty good and it said the result was failed.
I called up Verizon after that. The rep said this was a state-wide issue. It is getting addressed and they can give no time estimate. They think the weather had something do with it. It has been raining since yesterday.
Now I have to look out for free internet as temporary arrangement until the DSL is fixed. Hope Juno and Netzero are still around giving free internet. I previously had Bigzoo, but they are going out-of-shop from January. Do you have any suggestions for free internet (except AOL ...I hate them just for the junk CDs they send)?
I checked Verizon (local ISP) website for a contact number. There, I stumbled on this nifty little tool they have in the customer support section. It was called "Test my Verizon Online DSL line". You enter a telephone number and it runs a line test on your telephone number. It's pretty good and it said the result was failed.
I called up Verizon after that. The rep said this was a state-wide issue. It is getting addressed and they can give no time estimate. They think the weather had something do with it. It has been raining since yesterday.
Now I have to look out for free internet as temporary arrangement until the DSL is fixed. Hope Juno and Netzero are still around giving free internet. I previously had Bigzoo, but they are going out-of-shop from January. Do you have any suggestions for free internet (except AOL ...I hate them just for the junk CDs they send)?
Monday, December 27, 2004
Eyewitness Story
Source: BBC
Eyewitness: Panic in Patong
Thousands of people have been e-mailing the BBC News website about horrific experiences as sea surges hit their homes and holiday retreats.
Troy Husum, a 28-year-old Canadian, was on holiday in Phuket, Thailand. He spoke of the devastation as the waves hit the town of Patong and how survivors are coping.
"I felt the quake first at about 0915.
I went out on my balcony in the hotel where I was staying - it was a beautifully calm day - and talked to others on their balconies. The quake felt very slight so we thought little of it.
About 45 minutes later, I noticed that water had receded from Patong Bay. We'd never seen it before and we could hear people on the beach talking about it. You could even see fish flopping around on the beach, which was unusual.
I noticed small kids and tourists walking to where the water had receded, curious as to why the water had gone.
Then I saw it - I noticed people craning their necks and looking out on the horizon. You could see a wall of water about three or four stories high.
I felt like I was watching a movie, it was completely surreal.
It wasn't moving very quickly, it took between four and five minutes until I saw it hit and in that time slowly people started to realise what was happening.
Most disturbing was I saw people literally disappear when the water hit... people were literally swept away
People were saying 'Oh God, what is that?' I thought I was dreaming.
After a few seconds the wave hit and smashed against the beach.
It was incredible, it actually bent the trees, washed everything away - at least 1,000 beach umbrellas were swept along as all the water surged through.
There is a line of cars where people park by the beach and hundreds of bikes, I saw them all picked up like toys and moved along.
Most disturbing was I saw people literally disappear when the water hit.
I saw a lot running, but there were people snoozing on the beach, I saw small children hit. People were literally swept away.
A lot of injuries occurred from people being hit by debris from cars, from bikes.
Running for safety
I thought I should get some pictures because I was staying on the fourth floor of my hotel, but other people on the balconies said we had to get on the roof.
I grabbed my equipment and ran outside into the hall. People were screaming "Go! Go!" I ran up the stairs and saw the water coming.
It flowed up to the third floor, you could see it in the stairwell, some people were completely wet.
We watched the chaos from the roof. The water had already started to recede as we got there.
The hardest part for survivors was actually when water receded - the undercurrent sucked people back into the ocean.
Bodies
The most frightening part was not the wave - it was the panic that ensued.
They are still pulling people out of the debris, one was a small Thai girl - she must have been there all night but she was still alive
There were car accidents, people were trying to escape as everyone was positive another wave was coming.
People - mainly local Thais - went up the roads to the mountain and slept up there for safety.
Within an hour I went back to the beach. I saw bodies. The rescue crews were panicking and there was not much control.
Bodies were pulled from the debris - most had clearly drowned. I also saw a number of fractures - one tourist had a very badly broken arm.
You could constantly hear helicopters - they flew up to about one kilometre out to sea to try to rescue people.
Last night most hotels allowed tourists to sleep for free in their lobbies or by the pool and there was still a lot of fear and misinformation about other waves.
Aftermath
This morning the cleanup started. All the foreigners are in disbelief, there are two or three feet of sand in all these devastated restaurants.
There are piles and piles of rubble deep inland - it looks like a bomb has gone off.
Some bars I went to the night before on the beach are completely gone,. All of the palm trees were flatted or removed. How is water capable of doing that?
They are carting out hundreds of cars and bikes and the streets are still covered with sand.
They really should have cordoned off the streets. There has been a little looting, some last night and today. I saw guys with televisions and computers.
There are people staggering around with injuries, I saw a girl with bandage on her head. Today there have also been sirens which have now died down.
They are still pulling people out of the debris. One was a small Thai girl - she must have been there all night but she was still alive."
Eyewitness: Panic in Patong
Thousands of people have been e-mailing the BBC News website about horrific experiences as sea surges hit their homes and holiday retreats.
Troy Husum, a 28-year-old Canadian, was on holiday in Phuket, Thailand. He spoke of the devastation as the waves hit the town of Patong and how survivors are coping.
"I felt the quake first at about 0915.
I went out on my balcony in the hotel where I was staying - it was a beautifully calm day - and talked to others on their balconies. The quake felt very slight so we thought little of it.
About 45 minutes later, I noticed that water had receded from Patong Bay. We'd never seen it before and we could hear people on the beach talking about it. You could even see fish flopping around on the beach, which was unusual.
I noticed small kids and tourists walking to where the water had receded, curious as to why the water had gone.
Then I saw it - I noticed people craning their necks and looking out on the horizon. You could see a wall of water about three or four stories high.
I felt like I was watching a movie, it was completely surreal.
It wasn't moving very quickly, it took between four and five minutes until I saw it hit and in that time slowly people started to realise what was happening.
Most disturbing was I saw people literally disappear when the water hit... people were literally swept away
People were saying 'Oh God, what is that?' I thought I was dreaming.
After a few seconds the wave hit and smashed against the beach.
It was incredible, it actually bent the trees, washed everything away - at least 1,000 beach umbrellas were swept along as all the water surged through.
There is a line of cars where people park by the beach and hundreds of bikes, I saw them all picked up like toys and moved along.
Most disturbing was I saw people literally disappear when the water hit.
I saw a lot running, but there were people snoozing on the beach, I saw small children hit. People were literally swept away.
A lot of injuries occurred from people being hit by debris from cars, from bikes.
Running for safety
I thought I should get some pictures because I was staying on the fourth floor of my hotel, but other people on the balconies said we had to get on the roof.
I grabbed my equipment and ran outside into the hall. People were screaming "Go! Go!" I ran up the stairs and saw the water coming.
It flowed up to the third floor, you could see it in the stairwell, some people were completely wet.
We watched the chaos from the roof. The water had already started to recede as we got there.
The hardest part for survivors was actually when water receded - the undercurrent sucked people back into the ocean.
Bodies
The most frightening part was not the wave - it was the panic that ensued.
They are still pulling people out of the debris, one was a small Thai girl - she must have been there all night but she was still alive
There were car accidents, people were trying to escape as everyone was positive another wave was coming.
People - mainly local Thais - went up the roads to the mountain and slept up there for safety.
Within an hour I went back to the beach. I saw bodies. The rescue crews were panicking and there was not much control.
Bodies were pulled from the debris - most had clearly drowned. I also saw a number of fractures - one tourist had a very badly broken arm.
You could constantly hear helicopters - they flew up to about one kilometre out to sea to try to rescue people.
Last night most hotels allowed tourists to sleep for free in their lobbies or by the pool and there was still a lot of fear and misinformation about other waves.
Aftermath
This morning the cleanup started. All the foreigners are in disbelief, there are two or three feet of sand in all these devastated restaurants.
There are piles and piles of rubble deep inland - it looks like a bomb has gone off.
Some bars I went to the night before on the beach are completely gone,. All of the palm trees were flatted or removed. How is water capable of doing that?
They are carting out hundreds of cars and bikes and the streets are still covered with sand.
They really should have cordoned off the streets. There has been a little looting, some last night and today. I saw guys with televisions and computers.
There are people staggering around with injuries, I saw a girl with bandage on her head. Today there have also been sirens which have now died down.
They are still pulling people out of the debris. One was a small Thai girl - she must have been there all night but she was still alive."
Sunday, December 26, 2004
What I dislike about American TV?
The whole world is waking up to the earth quake story. BBC is as usual on the story on the internet and on TV. The American channels don't really care. No breaking news of any sort. Not CNN, CBS, NBC...I am not aware of what they are playing on CNN WORLD. What we get is the USA version. Still why wouldn't the USA version play this news? I think the sheer scale of this disaster warrants a breaking news story. I checked CNN out last night, they were playing the current news story, why some people have lost bags in US AIRWAYS. Timewarner and Adelphia (the local cable providers) are not customer-friendly. If you need to get CNN WORLD, You will have to get digital cable, get a bunch of useless channels and pay about $100/month. The basic set only costs $12/month. What will it take to get CNN WORLD in the basic set?
Is this Media playing its way or is it the people? I am going to list what CNN USA is currently playing in pacific time (whenever I get a chance).
12/25 6:15 PM: Earthquake and Tsunami strikes
12/26 7:15 AM: Inside Politics
12/26 7:35 AM: Inside Politics: Winners and Losers of 2004
12/26 8:15 AM: CNN Sunday: President heading for Texas
12/26 8:16 AM: CNN Sunday: Elections in Ukraine
12/26 8:20 AM: CNN Sunday: The Year in the news.
12/26 8:20 AM: CNN Sunday: Secret Santa.
12/26 7:00 PM: CNN USA verision is finally reporting about the earthquake and tsunami. It took them a whole 24 hours and 11000 dead people before they would actually take notice.
12/26 8:00 PM: Good God. CNN USA verison finally switched to broadcasting CNN WORLD and is covering the disaster.
Updates:
12/26 7:30 AM: NBC 4 morning news did give an update of the quake. Duration of the story was 30 secs.
PS: I have toned down a lot of words I would normally use. Can CNN sue me for being a critic? I have no idea. Anyways, since I am a immigrant here, better safe than sorry. Can I say "CNN (USA Version) sucks!"?
Is this Media playing its way or is it the people? I am going to list what CNN USA is currently playing in pacific time (whenever I get a chance).
12/25 6:15 PM: Earthquake and Tsunami strikes
12/26 7:15 AM: Inside Politics
12/26 7:35 AM: Inside Politics: Winners and Losers of 2004
12/26 8:15 AM: CNN Sunday: President heading for Texas
12/26 8:16 AM: CNN Sunday: Elections in Ukraine
12/26 8:20 AM: CNN Sunday: The Year in the news.
12/26 8:20 AM: CNN Sunday: Secret Santa.
12/26 7:00 PM: CNN USA verision is finally reporting about the earthquake and tsunami. It took them a whole 24 hours and 11000 dead people before they would actually take notice.
12/26 8:00 PM: Good God. CNN USA verison finally switched to broadcasting CNN WORLD and is covering the disaster.
Updates:
12/26 7:30 AM: NBC 4 morning news did give an update of the quake. Duration of the story was 30 secs.
PS: I have toned down a lot of words I would normally use. Can CNN sue me for being a critic? I have no idea. Anyways, since I am a immigrant here, better safe than sorry. Can I say "CNN (USA Version) sucks!"?
Earthquakes in South East Asia
It looks really bad. It might take a few days before the toll of the quakes is known.
BBC: Asia reels from tides and tremors
They say this is 5th biggest earthquake of the century.
I pray for the all the affected. May God be with you.
BBC: Asia reels from tides and tremors
They say this is 5th biggest earthquake of the century.
I pray for the all the affected. May God be with you.
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Shivana Anand
Shivana is the sweet little girl of friends of mine, Anand and Priya. Irvine World News has written an article about her and it was published today. She deserves all the attention. She amazes me with the all the stuff she can remember. When I call them up, She picks up the phone and says "Hello...This is Shivana...How are you?". She sings well too. She is just 2 years old.
Here is a excerpt from the article,
Live & learn
Shivana Anand can count to 100 and name all 50 states. And she’s 2 years old.
STORY, PHOTOS BY NAOMI ULICI IRVINE WORLD NEWS
Shivana Anand of Irvine knows her ABCs, just like any other toddler. She loves stickers and rivals the Energizer Bunny in energy.
But this dark-haired 2-year-old is unique.
She can count to 100 and name all 50 states, their capitals and the president. Add to that all the colors, shapes like hexagons and trapeziums, fruits, vegetables, a dozen or more animals and she can identify them.
.......
I would like to post the pictures from the article, but I am not sure about copyright issues. Please check the link to the article instead.
Here is a excerpt from the article,
Live & learn
Shivana Anand can count to 100 and name all 50 states. And she’s 2 years old.
STORY, PHOTOS BY NAOMI ULICI IRVINE WORLD NEWS
Shivana Anand of Irvine knows her ABCs, just like any other toddler. She loves stickers and rivals the Energizer Bunny in energy.
But this dark-haired 2-year-old is unique.
She can count to 100 and name all 50 states, their capitals and the president. Add to that all the colors, shapes like hexagons and trapeziums, fruits, vegetables, a dozen or more animals and she can identify them.
.......
I would like to post the pictures from the article, but I am not sure about copyright issues. Please check the link to the article instead.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
My new Digic
Got myself a 5 megapixel Canon A95 digital camera from Dell.com. It arrived day-before yesterday. Got a deal from a Deals2Buy link, 15% off and a $30 coupon. My other option was a Sony DSC-V1. My friend advised not to go with Sony since it uses proprietary accessories. Also, I did not like the flip-flash, right where the left hand would rest. They have corrected this in DSC-W1.
Canon got a good review from CNet. I wanted a camera that gives quality pictures, smaller is size and was not pricey.
I got some accessories for it.
1. Dazzle Hi-Speed Universal 8-in-1 USB Digital Media Reader/Writer (from dell.com). Cool gadget. Creates a drive in Windows Explorer. You can read and write files into the CompactFlash card just like using a floppy drive. It is easier than connecting the camera directly to the computer.
2. Lexar 512MB CompactFlash Card (from buy.com). Camera came with a Canon 32MB card. I still need the bigger one to store more images.
3. Panasonic BQ-830 Battery Charger (from Cotsco Store). A95 runs on AA batteries. Made sense to buy a charger and use rechargeable AAs. Canon's charger is pricey.
4. Centrios Executive Camera Bag (From Circuit City Store).
The camera was put to good use yesterday on our kid's first visit to a temple (Venkateswara Temple at Malibu). Here is a snap that was taken yesterday,
Malibu Temple
When I was ready to post my pictures to the web, I found the size of the images was too big. It took like ages to upload one picture to Yahoo Album. Then I googled around to find how I can batch compress all the pictures. I found this interesting article about it. That helped me find this cool tool called EasyThumbnails. It asked for a folder that had the pictures and converted all of the pictures in it to a smaller size and put them in another folder. That's is all I asked for. And it is free.
Canon got a good review from CNet. I wanted a camera that gives quality pictures, smaller is size and was not pricey.
I got some accessories for it.
1. Dazzle Hi-Speed Universal 8-in-1 USB Digital Media Reader/Writer (from dell.com). Cool gadget. Creates a drive in Windows Explorer. You can read and write files into the CompactFlash card just like using a floppy drive. It is easier than connecting the camera directly to the computer.
2. Lexar 512MB CompactFlash Card (from buy.com). Camera came with a Canon 32MB card. I still need the bigger one to store more images.
3. Panasonic BQ-830 Battery Charger (from Cotsco Store). A95 runs on AA batteries. Made sense to buy a charger and use rechargeable AAs. Canon's charger is pricey.
4. Centrios Executive Camera Bag (From Circuit City Store).
The camera was put to good use yesterday on our kid's first visit to a temple (Venkateswara Temple at Malibu). Here is a snap that was taken yesterday,
Malibu Temple
When I was ready to post my pictures to the web, I found the size of the images was too big. It took like ages to upload one picture to Yahoo Album. Then I googled around to find how I can batch compress all the pictures. I found this interesting article about it. That helped me find this cool tool called EasyThumbnails. It asked for a folder that had the pictures and converted all of the pictures in it to a smaller size and put them in another folder. That's is all I asked for. And it is free.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Is my computer secure (enough)?
Spy wares, Viruses, Hackers, Adware, Tracking cookies....the list is endless. Don't these people have better jobs?
All the above scare me...a little tech savvy guy ;). This question always bugs me...You would like everyone to get on the internet wagon...but how does one have a pleasant experience with all the above mentioned? This one is hard to explain to my mother, who wants get on to the internet to e-mail a few words to her son, without the windows or the internet going down. She is just learning to use the computer. I want to tell her, "It's not your fault". It amazes me that she can do e-mail and Yahoo chat (w/webcam) these days (all by herself, without any external help).
Here is what I did on my home computer.
1. Non-administrative user: I created a "guest" user that I use while I am browsing. When I need to install any programs, I use the Administrator logon.
2. Firewall: I got one from ZoneAlarm. It is pretty good and it auto updates. Free for personal use.
3. Anti-virus: I would like to use McAfee. But they want a yearly subscription for the Auto updates. I used them for 1 year. And I switched to AVG. I have to do a manual update. They frequently update the virus data files. Free for personal use.
4. WinPatrol: I got this from here. This one is a little puppy on my taskbar that watches changes in my registry and browsers. Free for personal use.
5. Adaware: I run this once in a while to check for spyware. Free for personal use.
6. FireFox: I use FireFox. Internet Explorer is so widely used, spywares generally target it. I use it for another reason that I explained in a previous post.
Now let me ask you, Is my computer secure (enough)? (:confused:)
All the above scare me...a little tech savvy guy ;). This question always bugs me...You would like everyone to get on the internet wagon...but how does one have a pleasant experience with all the above mentioned? This one is hard to explain to my mother, who wants get on to the internet to e-mail a few words to her son, without the windows or the internet going down. She is just learning to use the computer. I want to tell her, "It's not your fault". It amazes me that she can do e-mail and Yahoo chat (w/webcam) these days (all by herself, without any external help).
Here is what I did on my home computer.
1. Non-administrative user: I created a "guest" user that I use while I am browsing. When I need to install any programs, I use the Administrator logon.
2. Firewall: I got one from ZoneAlarm. It is pretty good and it auto updates. Free for personal use.
3. Anti-virus: I would like to use McAfee. But they want a yearly subscription for the Auto updates. I used them for 1 year. And I switched to AVG. I have to do a manual update. They frequently update the virus data files. Free for personal use.
4. WinPatrol: I got this from here. This one is a little puppy on my taskbar that watches changes in my registry and browsers. Free for personal use.
5. Adaware: I run this once in a while to check for spyware. Free for personal use.
6. FireFox: I use FireFox. Internet Explorer is so widely used, spywares generally target it. I use it for another reason that I explained in a previous post.
Now let me ask you, Is my computer secure (enough)? (:confused:)
Bargain Hunting
If you live in United States and you love bargain prices, here are two sites you need to visit,
Deals2buy
DealCatcher
Deals2buy
DealCatcher
Back again
My blog title is back again to its original title (back when it started), "Ganesh Blog". Simple is good.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Title change
It was time to change my blog title. The old one was as it says "ordinary". I am not sure how long I will keep the current one. Right now it stays...naming my kid was easier than this. :)
Monday, December 06, 2004
Indian journalist bloggers
I have compiled a list of Indian journalist blogs. Please suggest if someone is not on this list.
- Alaphia Zoyab - Reporter's diary - NDTV, Chennai (via Kiruba)
- Anita Bora - Just a little something - Rediff, Bangalore (via Anita)
- Anita Rodricks - winning it (via Chindu)
- Anthony D'Costa - DantoNews (via Blogger)
- Aruna Srinivasan - The waves - Freelance Journalist (via Anita)
- Chindu Sreedharan - Indian in England - Rediff (via Anthony)
- Dilip D'Souza - Death ends fun - Rediff, Mumbai
- Feroze Ahmed - my1000words - Photo Blog - Bangalore (via Ramya)
- George Koshy - GEORGE KOSHY - CNN IBN, Mumbai (via Anonymous)
- Govindraj Ethiraj - Dateline Bombay - A Reporter's Tales - Journalist, Mumbai (via Anonymous)
- Joshua Newton - Reportage - Freelance Journalist (via Anita)
- Karthik Subramanian - The Miracle of Being Second Best - The Hindu, Chennai
- Krishnamurthy Keerthivasan - Hitback - Sports Journalist (via Ramya)
- Krishnanath - Permanent Revolution - Activist and political columnist (via Anonymous)
- Lakshmi - Getting on the blogwagon (via Ramya)
- Pranay Gupte - Pranay Gupte Blog - Global-Affairs Columnist and Senior Writer, The Straits Times, Singapore (via Pranay)
- Rahul Pandita - Sanity Sucks - Freelance journalist and writer, Delhi (via Anonymous)
- Rajesh Sundaram - Rajesh Sundaram - Journalist, New Delhi (via Alaphia)
- Ramnath NS - coffee house - Economic Times (via Anand)
- Ramya Kannan - In Search - The Hindu, Chennai
- Sandhya Nankani - A Literary Safari - Writer, New York (via Seshu)
- Savitha Karthik - keep the scoreboard ticking - New Indian Express, Chennai (via Kiruba and Nirenjan)
- Seshu Badrinath - Tiffinbox - Indian-American Photojournalist (via Saheli)
- Shailaja Neelakantan - delhibelly - Freelance journalist, New Delhi (via Seshu)
- Shankar Narayanan - bdrive - Indian Express (via Kiruba)
- Shivam Vij - National Highway - Tehelka, Delhi (via Anonymous)
- Shyam - Meticulously Underthought -- New Delhi (via Anita)
- Siddarth Varadarajan - Reality, one bite at a time - Deputy Editor, The Hindu (via Aalaphia)
- Subhash Rai - Of a speck, for a speck, from a speck. - Frontline, Chennai - (via Vijay)
- Sudhish Kamath - Suderman v/s Sudhish Kamath - The Hindu, Chennai
- Tamizhpenn - On being Tamizh and a Penn - The Hindu, Chennai (via Tamizhpenn)
- Vani Doraisamy - Meanwhile.... - Journalist, Chennai (via Kiruba)
- Venkatesh H R - cosmicdebris - CNN IBN, Delhi (via Alaphia)
- Vijayendra Mohanty - Mypajama.com - Mumbai - Asian College of Journalism student (via About)
Last updated: August 12, 2008 (Added George Koshy)
Links to Indian journalist bloggers by Ganesh Krishnamurthy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Did you notice?
Yahoo Mail (the free account) offers 250MB of space now. I was thinking it was 100MB until just now. Thanks Yahoo!
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
World Toilet Summit
How about that? Around two hundred delegates from around the world are meeting in China to discuss the forgotten human right, the humble water closet.
Toilet summit opens in Beijing
I can clearly remember how my high school toilet (Nirmala High School, Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh) smelt. There used to be a row of ten...always stinky. That is probably why I would have visited the loos there once or twice in 12 long years. Learnt the art of holding off. :) It has been 15 years since I left Masula (as they call it in my home town, Chennai), I hope they had made the necessary changes...Again I hope....not sure. It was a Christian Mission School. I think they were cash-strapped or whatever the reason may be...but we kids did not deserve that. I have no other complaints about the school. I was glad to have studied at that school. And glad to have such good teachers and Sisters (as we call them). Except for the toilet. Parents should probably check the toilets before the pick up the school. I am not sure how many parents do that.
Again...I am not finger pointing one school. I am sure this is just one among many schools in India or the world who think the loo is just something they can ignore and the kid's hygiene is none of their problem. Kids spend 60% of their day at the school. They deserve better! Parents....Are you listening?
Many of you I am sure would have similar experiences. Feel free to post yours :).
Thought I would write that. It is a taboo subject. More people should talking about this human right. I am now !!!
Toilet summit opens in Beijing
I can clearly remember how my high school toilet (Nirmala High School, Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh) smelt. There used to be a row of ten...always stinky. That is probably why I would have visited the loos there once or twice in 12 long years. Learnt the art of holding off. :) It has been 15 years since I left Masula (as they call it in my home town, Chennai), I hope they had made the necessary changes...Again I hope....not sure. It was a Christian Mission School. I think they were cash-strapped or whatever the reason may be...but we kids did not deserve that. I have no other complaints about the school. I was glad to have studied at that school. And glad to have such good teachers and Sisters (as we call them). Except for the toilet. Parents should probably check the toilets before the pick up the school. I am not sure how many parents do that.
Again...I am not finger pointing one school. I am sure this is just one among many schools in India or the world who think the loo is just something they can ignore and the kid's hygiene is none of their problem. Kids spend 60% of their day at the school. They deserve better! Parents....Are you listening?
Many of you I am sure would have similar experiences. Feel free to post yours :).
Thought I would write that. It is a taboo subject. More people should talking about this human right. I am now !!!
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Friday, October 22, 2004
India Call Center Video
Someone sent me this video excerpt from a Conan O'Brien Show. It was really funny. It is a 13 MB file. You can find it here (via),
Call Center Video
Call Center Video
Thursday, October 21, 2004
I Yahoo
Yesterday I was reading Apercevoir's article about the birthday reminders and blue noses. :)
I suggested she use Yahoo for it. That got me into writing this post.
At Yahoo, I get a bunch of services under one roof and a single sign-on. Bill Thomson at BBC had an interesting article about this yesterday. I agree with him. I subscribe to so many websites on the internet that I have store to all the website accounts and passwords in a file. Being at Yahoo, I can avoid at least a few. For example, the ever annoying birthdayalarm. Did you ever get a birthday request from them? If yes, you know what I mean.
Here all the Yahoo services I use regularly,
1. Yahoo! Mail : Of course!. I have like 5 e-mail ids. :)
2. Yahoo! Groups: My school and ex-office-mate groups are hosted here.
3. Yahoo! Bookmarks: I store all my favorite website links on internet and available everywhere. Browser links are only available on the computer.
4. Yahoo! Calendar: I am not busy enough yet to use a calendar. But I use the events tab for storing birthdays, wedding anniversaries and other important events. And I get reminded about them.
5. Yahoo! Photos: I create personal photo albums that I send back to my family.
6. Yahoo! Briefcase: I backup my files over here incase my computer should crash.
7. Yahoo! Geocities: My personal websites are over here.
8. Yahoo! Addressbook: My personal address book available for lookup anywhere.
They have many more services that I never or rarely use.
One stop shop. Why would I go anywhere else?
Thanks Yahoo for keeping it free. Hopefully for ever. :)
I suggested she use Yahoo for it. That got me into writing this post.
At Yahoo, I get a bunch of services under one roof and a single sign-on. Bill Thomson at BBC had an interesting article about this yesterday. I agree with him. I subscribe to so many websites on the internet that I have store to all the website accounts and passwords in a file. Being at Yahoo, I can avoid at least a few. For example, the ever annoying birthdayalarm. Did you ever get a birthday request from them? If yes, you know what I mean.
Here all the Yahoo services I use regularly,
1. Yahoo! Mail : Of course!. I have like 5 e-mail ids. :)
2. Yahoo! Groups: My school and ex-office-mate groups are hosted here.
3. Yahoo! Bookmarks: I store all my favorite website links on internet and available everywhere. Browser links are only available on the computer.
4. Yahoo! Calendar: I am not busy enough yet to use a calendar. But I use the events tab for storing birthdays, wedding anniversaries and other important events. And I get reminded about them.
5. Yahoo! Photos: I create personal photo albums that I send back to my family.
6. Yahoo! Briefcase: I backup my files over here incase my computer should crash.
7. Yahoo! Geocities: My personal websites are over here.
8. Yahoo! Addressbook: My personal address book available for lookup anywhere.
They have many more services that I never or rarely use.
One stop shop. Why would I go anywhere else?
Thanks Yahoo for keeping it free. Hopefully for ever. :)
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Automatic Blog Checking
I tried to keep the title simple. Technically it is called "RSS/Atom Feed Aggregation". It sounds complicated, but it is a very simple concept. Please read on.
If you had asked me what RSS/Atom was about 2 weeks back, I would have had no idea. But now, I can say RSS is the best thing that happened to blogging world.
Without getting into too much detail, RSS helps me in checking changes in other blogs very quickly. Instead of visiting every single blog site (that interests me) and checking whether they had created any new posts, I use a Feed Aggregator to automatically do that for me.
I use a feed aggregator called Sage that comes as an extension in FireFox browser (both of them are free downloads). It turned out to be pretty simple to setup.
1. I installed FireFox.
2. I installed the Sage extension.
3. Restarted FireFox and started Tools - Sage.
Sage comes with sleek tool (a button) called "Discover Feeds". When you visit a blog, Sage can automatically discover the RSS feed and give you ability to add the site to your list. You can also manually add a feed by using "Manage Feed List" option.
Try it and you will discover more features. If you have any questions, add a comment, would be glad to answer them.
All this had made me a FireFox fan and so the link below :).
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Teakada found me
I don't know how Hemant found my page...Would like to ask him? But, Yay! someone read my blog. :) He had linked me on the TN Ad article. Thanks Hemant.
TN Ad on WSJ
The other day my boss brought a WSJ newspaper that had something good to say about Tamil Nadu. I was impressed to see WSJ doing such an article on my state. After some reading it turned out it was a government ad that got published. 'Amma' is bringing new business in. It is a good read. You can find it here (Needs Acrobat reader).
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Jeanne
As I watch CNN this morning, I just got to feel for the Floridians. They are facing their fourth storm in 6 weeks. Now it is "Jeanne" that just made land fall. Did you know the names come from the National Hurricane Center? They have got the names covered until 2009. Interesting? Huh? :)
Saturday, September 25, 2004
India at UN
I think it makes perfect sense to make India a permanent member at the UN. As usual, Pakistan does not support us. They are okay with China being one, but not India. I think it is a great idea for India, Brazil, Japan and Germany to jointly bid for the membership. It is about time for a change in the UN. With the world in such a sorry state, the largest democracy in the world could play a greater role in world affairs.
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