Friday, September 29, 2006

Khosla Ka Ghosla mein Boman Irani!

Anupam Kher is a great actor and I have always liked him but Boman Irani seems out to beat him. All else remaining same, ;-) , Boman Irani Beats him hands down in laughter therapy scenes.

Khosla Ka Ghosla is the story of Mr KK Khosla's (Anupam) Struggle to get back his own plot of land from a land mafia(Mr Khurana-Boman) who grabbed it in cahoot with a slimy real estate agent, and the policemen in his pocket. That, the land was guarded by a Huge Jat didn't help Mr Khosla and his typical Middle Class grown-up sons either.

The elder son, who wanted to leave everything behind, mein yeh sab lafra mein parna nahin Chahta , and run away to a software company in Newyork teams up with his Visa Broker-Middleman, who had an old due to settle with Boman Irani. Very conviniently, the visa broker was a real estate broker who used to forge documents for Boman Irani a long before his downslide and Boman's upslide. So he sets up a perfect plan, with a theatre group(...enters Tara Sharma, looking quite wasted and tired, though still cute, but her acting and dialogue delivery had gone for a toss) to feed Boman his own Pill, and provides a lot of laughter on the way.

A movie worth a watch... Reminds me of the simple Hrishikeshda's Movies.... I had a god laugh.

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

It's mighty Lot easier to Accuse than Apologize!

Jeff Jarvis wrote a post on the aftermath of the POPE's Apology that the Pope Wimps Out. Some more people considered his stand to be not that of a great Man. Not standing by what he said. That he stood by (or didn't) what he said is a different matter altogether, but it takes a great man to be able to apologize, more so when it is for a greater reason than the obvious, and when he knew that his own people will disdain him for that . The pope didn't wimp out, and even if it seemed like he did, it was not for himself.

Just imagine what could have happened had he not wimped out. The Terrorist and Jihadis aren't known for their logic. And as the Danish row demonstrated, nor does a lot of people.

I feel that the pope averted a few hundred if not thousand deaths. One need not be so opinionated and brave as to put to the lives of others in danger. In doing so he sure did attracted a certain amount of disdain from his own folks, the same persons who would have accused him of genocide, had the violence erupted to a larger scale. Yes, there are a lot more Christians than Danish, which would only have meant that casualty would have also been more, on both sides.

On another note, Bangkok Pundit gives a blow by blow account of the Thailand Coup d etat from inside. Link out to him.

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

PVR to start no-frills Multiplexes

Ajay Bijli who gave Indians the first taste of Multiplexes with his PVR chains, and set off a mini-multiplex boom is set to set-off another boom. Another first to his name, NO-Frills Multiplexes.

PVR cinemas will start a no-frills chain in small cities, starting from Latur and Aurangabad, names PVR talkies. He will do away Cushy seats, Plasma display, Neon-lighting, and central air-conditioning. Oh, they won't be selling 50 bucks pop corns either...

All the best, Ajay!!!

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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Napster Considering a Sale!


Heard around the corner that Napster Inc. is considering selling the company or other possible ventures with a possible alliance with outsiders.[source].

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Microsoft Zune, Some Features!



Some Features of Zune:
The 30GB Zune (designed by Microsoft, manufactured by Toshiba) will use ad-hoc Wi-Fi for local communication with other Zune users.

The Zune will play back, at the least, MP3, unprotected AAC, and WMA audio files. No confirmation on other formats such as lossless, WAV, and Audible.


The round primary navigation pad is a five-way pad, not a Clickwheel-style controller.


Additional Zune features include on-the-go playlists; photo slide shows with music; song information on some FM stations; as you scroll through content, the first letter will appear just like on the Toshiba Gigabeat S and the new iPods.


The Zune's 3-inch screen will be QVGA (320x240) will shift to horizontal mode for videos and photos, and the controls will shift with it--just like on the Toshiba Gigabeat S. The software interface also borrows from the Portable Media Center interface.


No mention of Zune's potential integration with Live Anywhere. The Zune, like a few other current Windows Media devices, can be connected to an Xbox via USB, and its contents can be played back and controlled via the Xbox.

The Zune jukebox software will host the Zune Marketplace, where users will be able to purchase tracks (presumably WMA) and/or become a subscriber to Zune Pass. No details on pricing yet. It will support photos and video as well (looks like it's built on top of Windows Media Player).


The Zune will include a Journal window, which keeps track of flagged music (for later purchase) as well as songs swapped with other Zunesters. This Journal option will show up in the Zune software as well.

[via]

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Monday, September 18, 2006

Maruti 800 to take on TATA's 1 lakh Car


Maruti has at last come up with an answer to TATA motor's Ambitious 1 lakh car. What else other than maruti's old war horse, the Middle Class Indian's First CAR, the Maruti 800. Maruti will cut the price of Maruti 800 by 50-60 thousand to bring down the difference bewteen Maruti 800 and the TATA's invisible 1 lakh car by about 40 thousand. Considering that TATA is taking ages to come up with the car, and looking at the design or the lack of it in car that have come out of the TATA motor stables, Maruti 800 with this pricing should be a severe blow to the 1 lakh car. When I asked a Autorickshaw driver a few days, he said an Auto rickshaw costs upwards of 1 lakh. Hmmm..

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Sunday, September 17, 2006

Eye Popping Record for Eye Popping


Claudio Paulo Pinto is looking to break an eye-popping record. Literally. Pinto can pop his eyeballs out of their sockets at least 7 millimeters (0.3 inches), a national record for eye-popping according to RankBrasil, an organization modeled after the Guinness Book of World Records that lists Brazilian records.
[Image Courtesy and Source]

Interesting Blog, this.

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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Biggest Baby at 15 Pound given birth!

Connecticut Mom Marie Michel gave birth to a 14-pound, 13-ounce boy Tuesday at William W. Backus Hospital.

Backus officials said the newborn - Stephon Hendrix Louis-Jean - broke the 18-year record for the biggest baby ever born at the hospital by 1 pound, 13 ounces. He was nearly 23 inches long.
[source]

I was almost 10 pounds, and sucked my mom waif thin, my aunts keep reminding me. I take extra care of my mom now, of course.

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21 SEO Tips from Matt Cutts

SEO Egghead has compiled a list of 21 SEO tips that Matt Cutts had blogged in the past year.
It is a pretty Good list, and as every SEO would recommend, Link bait is the best way to build link and SEO your site, and this was a good Link bait :-)

Start with this,
1. http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/dashes-vs-underscores/
~Matt recommends using dashes over underscores to delimit words in urls.

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Grafitti Marketing and Bean Bags


If you are from Mumbai, or if you have been to Mumbai, chances are that you have seen the word bean bags, with a phone number beneath it, sprayed across flyover construction sites, culverts, Tin fench (those that enclose a road construction area).

Hats off to the person who started this Idea.
This is advertising at its best and a classic execution of Grafitti Marketing.

OK, I didn't invent the term Grafitti Marketing, and when I googled it, it threw up some interesting results. It talks about using Mural Paintings and using street art in outdoor advertising. But I felt that, what this Bean Bag traders have done is give Grafitti Marketing a new meaning.

Wait, the Grafitti above was photoshoped by me, since I didn't have a real picture of what I am talking. They won't splash a grafitti so carelessly across a public property. These people are quite careful. They don't usually deface public wall, and choose their board very carefully. Like a tin drum lying near a road construction visible to everyone, but not quite a public property, or a Tin enclosement which usually is a temporay wall. At worse, I have seen them splash the grafitti across culverts. So they are not doing anything that would attract legal hassles.

But they have created visibility. If i decided to buy Bean Bags, the first thing I would remember would be the grafitti, and won't forget to note down the number next time I pass a grafitti, and I will pass a few for sure. With road constructions happening everywhere, there is no paucity of Advertising space. Without as much as creating a brand, they have given the Target customers a very accessible contact point or perhaps a point of sale.

Reputed Business might sigh away from such a campaign, but If I were to start a business sometime soon, I know what to do.

Kudos to the Grafitti Marketeers!
Bean Bags are everywhere!

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Palm's 3G Treo 750v May lift Treo sales, in Europe

Reports Business week: months, but Palm's long-awaited European offensive in the arena of smartphones—pocket computers that double as a sophisticated cell phone—has finally kicked off in earnest. On Sept. 12, Palm (PALM), with British wireless partner Vodafone (VOD), unveiled the 3G Treo 750v smartphone. Like rivals such as Research in Motion (RIM), Motorola (MOT), and Nokia (NOK), Palm is moving aggressively to grab a bigger slice of a red-hot market—global sales of smartphones are expected to grow about 34% a year, reaching $54.6 billion by 2009.

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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Google's For-Profit Philantrophy!

The founders of Google, have set up a philanthropy, giving it seed money of about $1 billion and a mandate to tackle poverty, disease and global warming. But this is like no other philantropic ventures that we have seen. Not the mandate, but the scale and the way it will be operated. This will be a for-profit, tax paying organisation.

But unlike most charities, this one will be for-profit, allowing it to fund
start-up companies, form partnerships with venture capitalists and even lobby
Congress. It will also pay taxes. One of its maiden projects reflects the philanthropy’s nontraditional approach. According to people briefed on the program, the organization, called Google.org, plans to develop an ultra-fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid car engine that runs on ethanol, electricity and gasoline. The philanthropy is consulting with hybrid-engine scientists and automakers, and has arranged for the purchase of a small fleet of cars with plans to convert the engines so that
their gas mileage exceeds 100 miles per gallon. The goal of the project is to reduce dependence on oil while alleviating the effects of global warming.


Did I mention incentive? The urge and the drive to make is difference is a very good incentive, and it keeps many NGO's go, but such successes are usually driven by a one or two men(women included) self driven heroes. But at a scale such as this, monetary incentive becomes the best incentive to make it a success. Hats off to google.

1 Billion may not as massive as the Bill-melinda foundation's or Warren Buffet's funds, but it sure is big enough money, and it is different.

Google.org is drawing skeptics for both its structure and its ambitions. It is a slingshot compared with the artillery of charities established by older captains of industry. Its financing pales next to the tens of billions that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will have at its disposal, especially with the coming infusion of some $3 billion a year from Warren E. Buffett, the founder of Berkshire Hathaway.
But Google’s philanthropic work is coming early in the company’s lifetime. Microsoft was 25 years old before Bill Gates set up his foundation, which is a tax-exempt organization and separate from Microsoft.



By choosing for-profit status, Google will have to pay taxes if company shares are sold at a profit — or if corporate earnings are used — to finance Google.org. Any resulting venture that shows a profit will also have to pay taxes. Shareholders may not like the fact that the Google.org tax forms will not be made public, but kept private as part of the tax filings of the parent, Google Inc.
Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, believe for-profit status will greatly increase their philanthropy’s range and flexibility. It could, for example, form a company to sell the converted cars, finance that company in partnership with venture capitalists, and even hire a lobbyist to pressure Congress to pass legislation granting a tax credit to consumers who buy the cars.


Talking about different, the person whom Page and Brin have hired to run google.org is also quite a character.

The executive director whom Mr. Page and Mr. Brin have hired, Dr. Larry Brilliant, is every bit as iconoclastic as Google’s philanthropic arm. Dr. Brilliant, a 61-year-old physician and public health expert, has studied under a Hindu guru in a monastery at the foothills of the Himalayas and worked as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.
In one project, which Dr. Brilliant brought with him to the job, Google.org will try to develop a system to detect disease outbreaks early.
Dr. Brilliant likens the traditional structure of corporate foundations to a musician confined to playing only the high register on a piano. “Google.org can play on the entire keyboard,” Dr. Brilliant said in an interview. “It can start companies, build industries, pay consultants, lobby, give money to individuals and make a profit.”

While declining to comment on the car project specifically, Dr. Brilliant said he would hope to see such ventures make a profit. “But if they didn’t, we wouldn’t care,” he said. “We’re not doing it for the profit. And if we didn’t get our capital back, so what? The emphasis is on social returns, not economic returns.”


Dr. Brilliant said he had no desire to “reinvent the wheel” by working on projects others are already involved in. And although Google is a high-tech company, that does not mean that Google.org will be throwing around high-tech solutions.
“Why would we put Wi-Fi in a place where what they need is food and clean water?” he said.[Source Login ID required]

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

India Inc's Attrition Rate Benefiting Whom?

High attrition rates in the IT and BPO sector, even in the BFSI sector, in the India Inc. is common killjoy, for the managment, who have yet to get an offer. It is bleeding the industry, and corporate HR's wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares that the most unlikely people are leaving.

Attrition management has become a key challenge in HR management today. New incentives, both menetary and non-monetary, get devised every day.

But who is laughing all the way to the bank, other than the consultants, who have become stickier than credit card tele-callers, not that anybody is complaining. Oh! yes, recruiting firms are talking of increasing their headcount and such like. There even are ancillary industries, like risk management. "Risk management in recruitment!" I asked when I heard that my friend was a risk analyst with a recruitment firm. Yes, the wrong recruitment has become of the major risk to be mitigated at all cost. Hmm!!!

So Recruiting firms are booming with high attrition rates, but then it is obvious.
One very unlikely industry that is gaining heavily from this attrition thing is the Clinical Test Labs like SRL Ranbaxy.

SRL Ranbaxy have tied up with several corporates, and coupled with huge intakes, the frequent job change results in a very good turnover for clinical labs. The other day, I had gone to one SRL ranbaxy for a check-up. By the time I was done at 11 o'clock, there were about 90 entries in the register. I did a quick scan of the register by chatting up with the security. Out of 90, only about 20 had written "test" meaning they had come for personal check-up and the rest have written the names of various companies who had sent them for medical check-up. i am sure, some people who had come from companies had also written test. So it means almost 80% customers of this particular SRL Ranbaxy centre are corporate.

No wonder, the CEO of SRL Ranbaxy J. S. Puri said that he plans to achieve a target of a revenue of 500 crores by 2008 from the current 100 Crore.

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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Steve Irwin's Death claims Stingray's Lives


Crocodile Dundy Steve Irwin's Fans Seem to be taking out a Vendetta Againts all Sting Rays. 10 Stingrays have been found to have been Killed since the Death of Steve Irwin when a Stingway fatally injured Steve Irwin during one of Escapades, which went fatally wrong.

AP report: At least 10 stingrays have been killed since "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was fatally injured by one of the fish, an official said Tuesday, prompting a spokesman for the late TV star's animal charity to urge people not take revenge on the animals.

Irwin died last week after a stingray barb pierced his chest as he recorded a show off the Great Barrier Reef.

Stingray bodies since have been discovered on two beaches in Queensland state on Australia's eastern coast. Two were discovered Tuesday with their tails lopped off, state fisheries department official Wayne Sumpton said.[source]

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Venture Capital Has Arrived In India Finally!

Venture capital investment in India surged 400 percent, to $3.6 billion, during the first half of 2006, compared with the same period last year, according to the Asian Venture Capital Journal. Though China outpaced India with $5 billion of investment for the first half, India surpassed its northern neighbor in volume of deals, with 124 transactions. Sequoia's new India fund, which will focus on later-stage investments, just closed with investments of $400 million. Sequoia Capital India II, which was raised in 2005 by WestBridge, focuses on early-stage companies.

But most of the investsments seem to be late stage funding, and angel funding is yet to take off in a big way. Travel sites like Travelguru and Cleartrip had attracted early funding though.

At least seven U.S. venture firms are raising funds specifically to invest in India. The list includes such established players as Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Matrix Partners, which recently closed a $150 million fund. Other firms, such as Battery Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners, have struck sizable high-tech deals. Bessemer took the further step of setting up an office in India in 2004, and it will soon have company. According to Indian news reports, venture giant New Enterprise Associates is teaming up with New Path Ventures to raise a $105 million fund, reportedly called NEA IndoUS, to invest in India, with the firms jointly opening shop in Bangalore. Other major U.S. venture players exploring their options in India are the Mayfield Fund and Greylock Partners.

[source]
And people don't believe me when I say how exciting India is becoming.

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Will Brown Seaweed fight Obesity!

Reuters Reports
Studies in animals suggest that brown seaweed, also known as wakame -- commonly used to flavor Asian soups and salads, contains a compound that promotes weight loss. The compound, called fucoxanthin, also has anti-diabetes effects.

At the 232nd American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Francisco today, Dr. Kazuo Miyashita from Hokkaido University reported seeing significant reductions in fat tissue in rats and obese mice fed the edible seaweed carotenoid fucoxanthin.


Perhaps this is why Asians are seldom Obese. But does it have any effect on any other sizes?

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QuickPlay Media and AdMob Network gets series B and A funding respectively!

B) Quickplay Media, a Mobile content company gets a 12 Million Series B funding from general catalysts and JL Albright Ventures.


QuickPlay Media, a leading provider of mobile video and rich-media services, announced during the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment Conference, the completion of a $12 million Series B round of financing led by General Catalyst Partners with participation from existing investor, JL Albright Ventures. This new financing will support QuickPlay's continued expansion in the Americas and Europe, as well as marketing of its new mobile video products, Personal Entertainment Center and Personal Entertainment Server.[source]

And A) Admob, owner of a Mobile ad network recieves series-A funding from Sequoia capital.
AdMob, Inc., operator of a global online mobile ad network that generates over 250 million page views per month, announced today that it’s received Series A funding from Sequoia Capital. The company, formed in early 2006, will use the capital to support continued rapid growth, to expand sales and marketing efforts, and to accelerate the development of its Web-based products and services. AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui also announced that the company has added two investors to its board of directors — Jim Goetz of Sequoia Capital, and Maynard Webb, prominent Silicon Valley investor and former COO of eBay. [source]

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How did he get Electrocuted?

He was Vietnam's Electric Man, who became famous, with TV shows, where he would demonstrate his ability to resist electric Shock.
In a twist of fate, he got electrocuted while repairing a generator! Over confidence?

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Nigerian Widows Lose their Fortune, Actually!

I am sure they did sent out a lot of distress mails, but then who would have believed them. :-)

It is the shepherd's story, who shouted tiger for kicks, revisited.

We all have actually had our share for the Nigeriqan 419 scandal, and how many gullible souls actually fall for it..
"Dear Sir, I am Ngambe Butuba, lawyer of the erstwhile assasinated general Mutumbe who left a Billion dollar in unnamed Swiss account. I am looking for a partner.....and more innovative ones.

In a twist of fate, two Nigerian widows actually lost the $55m estate of one Timothy Olufemi Akanni came after it came to the attention of the authorities after his two widows rowed about who should inherit it.

BBC Reports,
Our correspondent says Mr Akanni, who was a Pentecostal Church pastor in Abuja, was eulogised at his death for being a patriotic and selfless Nigerian.

The posthumous discovery of his second wife and fortune has shocked many of his friends and family.

When the family became divided over the inheritance, the EFFC was informed of Mr Akanni's previously unknown wealth.

After months of investigation the EFFC discovered assets far greater in value than his total legitimate earnings in life.

Who would have believed it? I almost thought the BBC news was a more sophiscasted scam by some nigerian insider tsk tsk![via]

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Monday, September 11, 2006

Freescale Semiconductor In talks of Largest ever Tech Buyout

From Cnn Money:
Freescale Semiconductor is close to a deal to be taken private in a $16 billion leveraged buyout, which would be the largest ever in the nation's technology sector, according to a published report.

The New York Times reported that Freescale Semiconductor (Charts), a former unit of Motorola, was in talks late Sunday to be acquired by a consortium of investment firms. Those firms include Texas Pacific Group, Blackstone Group and Permira, according to the report. It is possible that the Carlyle Group and Bain Capital could also join the group, the paper said.

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Soapbox, Microsoft's Youtube

Mashable writes about microsoft's answer to Youtube, Soapbox, which is not live yet. It was developed under the codename Warhol, it says. Just a little later than AOL, Yahoo and Google,Microsoft will be launching Soapbox under the MSN brand - unlike Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Favorites, Windows Live Messenger and the dozens of other services that have adopted the Live branding, report Mashable .

Mashable's Verdict:
"MSN Soapbox will join AOL Video, Yahoo Video, Google Video and MySpace Video as a major player in this market, but my hunch is that it’ll be a me-too attempt. They’re incredibly late into this game, and the details we’re hearing don’t suggest any real innovation. Nonetheless, I’m sure they’ll integrate it with all their other properties - including the Windows desktop - to build the user base."

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Asahi's Beering Poring Robot Video

I have never been too fond of robots. I never wanted to study robotics like many of my friends either. Robots never interest me in short. Not the robots that play football, nor those that can clean satellites, except of course Google Bots. But when I saw a Robot Pouring Beer, my interest level fizzed... I would love to have this robot, man..needs to learn better though...




[Via]

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Second Life's User database Hacked

Every player of Second Life has been asked to change the password they use to enter the popular online world. But at least the database with user credit card details were not compromised, said Linden lab the craetors of second life[via]

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Sunday, September 10, 2006

DIY Nuke Detector-Start-Ups Fight Terror!

Ars Technica has an intersticle called Start Up and State secrets.
There's something overwhelmingly compelling about the symmetry inherent in the DIY nuke detector story: in an era when small, highly motivated, loosely connected groups of terrorists threaten our security by turning against us the cheap, plentiful fruits of our entrepreneurship and technological innovation (computers, mobile phones, the Internet, mass transit, international shipping, etc.), a group of scientists are taking that same bottom-up, ad hoc approach to countering the terrorist threat. Contrast the Sandia group's work to the high-dollar nuclear detectors described in the same article, detectors designed by big defense labs under government contract

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Saturday, September 09, 2006

Lucy Gao or Lucy Gaolia?


Lucy Gao a Citigroup Intern had her 5 minutes of fame, or defame, when she decided to ORGANIZE her 21st birthday in the literal sense.

We have heard of that Miser Lawyer, a high law firm lawfirm partner, who sent an email asking for Reimbursement of laundry bills, after a clerk spilled sauce on his trouser, and the email spread like wildfire.

In another case, a lover boy Joseph Dobbie expressed his love and asked Kate for a Coffee in a very romantic mail which also got circulated all over the net.

Lucy Gao didn't know about those stories perhaps when she sent out an immaculate email on how the guests should behave in her party to the last details.

Well, the email got circulated, and picked up by the newspaper(What a Silly gao).
LUCY GAO, wherever you are, call. No one is angry. We’re just all laughing
at you. She is a young — oh, is she young — intern at Citigroup who has
enlivened the dog days of August in the City.
Her stupid e-mail, detailing
the plans for her 21st birthday party last Friday, is doing the rounds of City
banks, with appropriately derisive comments. Lucy is something of a control
freak, and her friends are instructed to arrived in groups at properly staggered
15-minute intervals to ensure sufficient face time with the princess.
NI_MPU('middle');
They are given a strict script to adhere to on arrival.
“When asked, how can I help you Sir/Madam, you reply, I am here for Lucy’s
birthday party at the Rivoli Bar.” Dress smart — “the more upper-class you
dress, the less likely you shall be denied entry”.

And a Blog dedicated to Lucy Gao.(Photo courtesy Lucygao.blogspot.com )

The story has also been picked up by other famous bloggers like Loic lemeur and Dealbreaker.

The email is here,

Dear Friends,
Thank you for all your replies and I am glad all of you can come this Friday to celebrate my 21st with me. Please read ALL the following to ensure your entry into the Ritz.
Lucy's 21st Birthday Party at The Ritz Hotel London
Friday, 18th of August 9pm Champagne Reception 10pm Photo Shoots 10:30pm Blowing Candles
Mid-night Pangaea, Mayfair
I have arranged the Ritz to host a Champagne Reception with a selection of Ritz Champagne for all my guests, this will be on me so please come and indulge.
A specially made birthday cake has also been ordered and the Ritz waiters will kindly serve you each a generous slice with Ritz cutleries, etc...also on me.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENTRY: * When you arrive, take the Hotel entry on the opposite side of the Green Park tube station [Please refer to your arrival time at the end of this email] * When asked "how can I help you Sir/Madame?", you reply "I am here for Lucy's Birthday Party at the Rivoli Bar" * You will be escorted to the lounge area next to the Rivoli bar, where you will hopefully see a gorgeous group of ladies.
If you experience any issues getting in or getting to the Ritz, please call my mobile on 07782 205 450 and my PA Ms Gill will kindly deal with your queries between 8:30pm to 10pm.
STRICT DRESS CODE: Gentlemen: Jacket, shirt, and please also bring a tie (no jeans, trainers, flip-flops, polo-shirts) Ladies: skirt/top, cocktail dress (no denim, min-skirts, flip-flips, bad tastes) Advice 1: It goes without saying that the more upper-class you dress, the less likely you shall be denied entry. Advice 2: Photos will be taken between 10pm to 10:30pm, and these will be distributed once processed, therefore you may want to be well-groomed! ;)
Finally... I will be accepting cards and small gifts between 9pm to 11pm... hehehe
I very much look forward to seeing you all at the Ritz this Friday.
Lucy
ARRIVAL TIMES: [Please stick to these as best as you can, thank you] 9:00pm: Lucy, Sophie Sandner, Kajai, Mandeep, Preet, Sanami, Su, Lisa, Kate. 9:15pm: Phoebe, Sophie Seugnet, Theo, Dmitry, Ed, Nikolay, Paul, Nick, Harry. 9:30pm: Marco, Andrea, Jess, Ovi, Yuki, Olga, Kim, Marcelo, Ulyana, Krystal, Dan. 9:45pm: Sunita, Alan, JingJing, Emma. 10:00pm: Anthony, Rachel, Roger, Uli, Yogi, Gharzi
Lucy Gao

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Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Vidya Balan is even Lovelier

.......in Lage raho than in Parineeta.
When I saw Bidya Balan as Lolita in Parineeta, I was awestruck by her beauty and simplicity and eyes and the way she smiles. Not a jeweller by nature or profession, I don't know how to pick gems, and I thought she was good maybe because she looked like how the Lolita in that movie should have looked like. I wasn't sure if she would be good in any other role.

I hadn't seen any of the Television soaps with her either.
Her beauty was ...ummm ethereal... take-home category!!
But I still was unsure. Yet, I took photographs of her from my camera phone off the screen, since some moments were some awesome. I saw it quite a number of times...

Then I saw MunnaBhai Lage Raho.
A very very good movie indeed.
But let us not talk about the movie for a minute.
Let us talk about Bidya Balan.

She was no different, only she was even more beautiful.
I noticed something more...
Her Eyes...and that crystal Clear Voice. Was it because she played an RJ ( Radio Jockey) for Worldspace that they had to amplify her Voice, but she has an amazing voice.
And there was her eyes... you can only see her eyes..

And a very very cute set of Teeth.
Yes, she had lovely teeth.
Expect her to rule Bollywood for a many years to come....

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Sunday, September 03, 2006

Another Munnabhai VideoClip



Pal Pal har pal from MunnaBhai Lage Raho from Youtube.

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How to embed Youtube in Myspace and Other Blogs

Embedding Youtube in any blog editor is no rocket science. You can embed Youtube videos in any website. It is just that we are too lazy to see how it actually is done.

Yet, people keep asking, how to Put or embed Youtube Video in Myspace or Blogs. Myspace because, myspace users are more prone to embed Youtube, I guess.

For one, not everybody goes to Youtube to watch video clips.
And not every Blogger does that, and when they do see a video on some Blogs or a Myspace page, they think that it must be some tool or technique done by some tech savvy blogger, which infact is not so.

Youtube provides the code for embedding any video that you want to embed it on your blogger blog, wordpress blog, typepad blog or Myspace blog editor. You will see the text embed with a text field or rectangular box to the left of the video after you have searched and reached the page where you see the video on youtube. Click on the text box next to embed, and copy it using rightclick. Paste it into the Edit HTML or plain editor.

Only word of caution that they don't put up at Youtube. Always add the Embed code while in the plain text editor, or what we see as edit HTML in blogger. If you try to paste into a rich editor like compose mode in Blogger, it would give some problem.

Happy posting videos on your Blogs and Myspace.

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Myspace Layouts and Myspace Backgrounds.

I read this article, A new Model for gettinf rich Online, a few weeks back. It talked about Andrew Leyden of PodcastDirectory.com receives nearly a million hits and makes around $30,000 to $40,000. and then SeatGuru, who advises on which seats to book while travelling by plane according to your needs, sites gets 700,000 visitors a month and makes about $10,000 to $20,000 a month from Adsense alone.

Another adsense or e-earner of note in that article of course were the
Freeweblayouts owners,David Miles Jr. and Kato Leonard, two 20-year-olds from Louisville. They make $100,000 a month from a site that provides readymade web design templates for MySpace.com, or what they call Myspace layouts and backgrounds.

It is a Goldmine out there for savvy web designers, who can create Myspace layouts and templates using photoshop. I had once written about blogger template, and how savvy web designers can put up a few templates and earn some quick dollars. You get good pagerank, too since you get a back link each time some uses your theme or layout, and those are good back links.

With thousands of profiles added each day to Myspace, the demand for Myspace Layouts and backgrounds will only increase. Myspace hacks has compiled a list of sites which can be used as a resource for getting Myspace Layouts and Backgrounds like killerkiwi, myspacescripts, myspacegraphics, freeweblayouts, hotfreelayouts, pimpyourpro, freecodesource, skize, bigoo, myspacemodz, doobix, purelayouts, spacecadetz, myspace pimper, blogthings, whateverlife, mygirlyspace, freeflashtoys, memegen, blinkyou, myspace grill, umzo, spaceprofile.

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Saturday, September 02, 2006

Lage Raho Munnabhai MBBS



via Desi Music Videos

Trailer of Munnabhai MBBS - II. Munnabhai Lage Raho.
The movie got really nice reviews, Times of India gave a rating of 3 and a half, which is better than Good. Mumbai Mirror gave 4. I guess I will catch the early show ;-) and then write a review. Long I gave any movie review. Till then enjoy...

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Friday, September 01, 2006

Toilet Cam and Toilet paper for the rich!

One of the Classic Consumer research case study was when a Toilet Paper company was finding it ways to make people use more paper, since the market was becoming dormant. One innovative Marketer Put cameras in the Toilet to study the behaviour and usage pattern of Toilet paper Roll Users. What was revealed was that people liked to read News paper in the Toilet, but majority of the sample only read the comic Strips. Now if one were print comic strips on the toilet roll, the user would keep pulling out the Roll from the Toilet Paper Holder, and once out it would be used. Sales almost doubled just after the launch. Now, with the that story is already passe. What more innovations can one come up with to squeeze a little more out of Toilet paper users.

Serve the Super Rich. The rich and famous do not wipe their butts with dollar bills. Renova Toilet paper rolls has come up with premium toilet paper rolls for the rich and the famous. Renova toilet paper rolls come in four colors, are said to be soft and silky, and more importantly, cost enough to make you feel special. It's $13 to $20 for a three-pack. But do they come in Gold Studded Toilet Paper Holders?[via digg]

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Hello People! Happy Blog Day!








Hello All, A very Happy Blog Day to you all. One day too late? Well, old habits die hard!!

On This day you have link to 5 blogs from cultures different than yours.
Being from a small Unique Culture, I guess I have a culture different from most.

1. Abaniko from Philippines writes a Blog called The Shadow of Abaniko.

2. This Blog is from Our Neighbour, PakistanCloud Khizzy, a personal Blogger but such fun to Read... She has quite an engaging way of writing that you will love.

3. NaughtyCurry is a group of Fun Food Bloggers Rebelling against Blandness!

4. Want to have good laugh, Read the archives of this Blog.

5. The last one is Cruel Virgin. The title says it all!

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