Its 40thAnniversary of Sesame Street and Google is obsessed with it.  Google is posting new doodle on its home page on this theme starting Nov 04, 2009. Although all doodles are not posted on every countries home page. Here are the 9 doodles posted.

Nov 04, 2009

Nov 05 ,2009

Nov 06, 2009 :

Nov 07, 2009 :

Edit: Nov 08, 2009 : Yet another interesting character from Sesame Street.

Dell India Ad Campaign . Welcome to your Studio:

There is a contest running for the same. 

Welcome to your Studio contest from Dell is about celebrating your creative self-expression. You are invited to participate in this contest under one or more of the following categories

1. Design – includes graphic designs, illustrations, sketches, drawings and paintings.
2. Photography – Subjects can include nature, travel, wildlife, landscapes, society or architecture. Please refrain from posting family photos.
3. Creative Writing – You can submit essays, poems, short stories or dramas/plays.

Enter contest here: http://www.welcometoyourstudio.co.in/index.php

I use VLC by videolan as it doesn’t require codecs. It has new freature of having volume controls, play speed..etc..in full screen mode. I have lost them for no reason(I think).

They disappeared once earlier and tried to get them looking through Tools > Preferences. no luck.

There are two solutions to it.

1) Tools > Preferences> Interface tab> under ‘Interface type’ select option: ‘Show a controller in fullscreen’

2)Manual Edit:

a) Goto location:

XP users: C:\Documents and Settings\[ur_username]\Application Data\vlc

Vista users: C:\Users\Raj\AppData\Roaming\vlc

 Note: IF you are not seeing application data, its because your folder options are not configured to show Hidden files. To correct this, go to Tools>Folder Options>View Tab>under Hide Hidden Files and Folders, choose Show Hidden Files & Folders. Hit Ok.
b) In the VLC Folder, locate the vlc-qt-interface file. Double-click it/ Open with Notepad.
c) Once you have the vlc-qt-interface opened, you’ll notice its a pretty small string of text for configuration settings

The whole thing looks like this:
—————————————————————————–
[General]
updatedate=@Variant(\xe%u\x99)

[MainWindow]
pl-dock-status=33590275
playlist-visible=0
adv-controls=2
backgroundSize=@Size(720 156)
geometry=@ByteArray(\x1\xd9\xd0\xcb\x1\x2\xa1\x1\x42\x5x\x3\xe\x2\xa5\x1j\x5t\x3\n)

[FullScreen]
pos=@Point(678 1016)

[Update]
geometry=@ByteArray(\x1\xd9\xd0\xcb\x1\x3&\x1`\x4Y\x2\xb7\x3*\x1\x88\x4U\x2\xb3)

————————————————-
4) Locate [FullScreen]
change the setting for pos=@Point(678 1016)
The first number represents the X value and second represents the y value.

For me (on a 1920 x 1020 resolution), pos=@Point(682 1012)
seemed to be near center.

It worked for me. I’m sure it works for you too. Original article is from VLC Forums. Read Here

I Swear

I Swear that this time I will stand up.
Not for what I believe in, but for what I don’t.
This time I will vote. Not for, but against.
Against my own helplessness.
Against my own laziness.
Against two words called Chalta hai.
Against short cut in queues.
Against cheating in exams.
Against kharcha Paani in offices.
Against powerless inquiry commissions
And powerful vote banks.
Against religion in politics.
And politics in religion.
Against illegal constructions.
And legal loopholes.
Against every cynic. Every non-believer.
Against the belief that nothing will change.
Against the feeling that my
vote cannot make a difference.
Against every excuse for not voting.
And I will do this without fear or shame.
Because only by voting against all that
is destroying our today, will I give my
children something to vote for tomorrow.

LEAD INDIA ‘09
Let’s make this vote count

Just watched The Reader (2008). Kate winslet surely did Oscar winning performance. The emotions between Kate and Kross were best potrayed. The romanctic scenes between Hanna Schmitz and david were well made. Emotions when on trial, the jail part where hanna learns reading are the best part of the movie. no wonder its rated as 7.8 on IMDB.

Read synopsis from RottenTomatoes:

Synopsis: Though THE READER may boast the typical pedigree of a Holocaust film–acclaimed actors, a literary source, and an Oscar-baiting end-of-the-year release date–this drama has a significant… Though THE READER may boast the typical pedigree of a Holocaust film–acclaimed actors, a literary source, and an Oscar-baiting end-of-the-year release date–this drama has a significant difference: it focuses on a perpetrator, rather than the victims. Kate Winslet takes on the hefty supporting role of Hanna Schmitz, a woman who has an affair with Michael Berg (German actor David Kross), a 15-year-old boy in 1950s Germany. They spend their brief romance alternately making love and focusing on literature, with Michael reading everything from Chekov to Homer to his lover. Soon, Hanna abruptly disappears, and Michael returns to his normal life. Almost a decade later, Michael is studying law, when he sees Hanna again; she is on trial for her crimes as an S.S. guard during the war. Michael is torn between a desire for justice and his knowledge of a secret that may save Hanna. THE READER makes full use of hindsight and historical perspective. Based on the bestselling novel by Bernhard Schlink, the story is framed by an older Michael (Ralph Fiennes) who deals with both his personal history and the collective past–and guilt–of the German people. This is a complex film that doesn’t give the audience any easy answers; Hanna is undoubtedly guilty of horrific crimes, but she is a multilayered character who is always fascinating and always human, thanks to the terrific performance of Winslet, who plays Hanna over four decades. Director Stephen Daldry earned an Oscar nomination for his work on another literary adaptation, THE HOURS, and he deserves more praise for this polished film.

 links: http://www.thereader-movie.com/

There were the days when Doordarshan was the ONLY channel and everyone used to glue to any program on air.  Today there are many channels for every aspect. Music, News, General, Spiritual, Movies, Shopping, Educational, Regional, National, International..the list goes on and on.

In Andhra.. we had ETV-Telugu and Gemini. then came Maa, Zee Telugu, Teja, ETV2, TV9, Saptagiri,  TV5, HMTV..and now TV1. Everyday I woke up at noon(due to my late night shift), mom and sis are glued to cookery shows. Idiotic names to same dishes, achors saying how lovely!!!!…how tasty!!!!….WOW!!!!!. looks silly to me. I tune into news channels..same news goes on every channel. you do not need to skip to any other. I do not understand why do we need so many channels to show the same news, same food, same music. I can understand if we have minimal # in every segment. 10 channels for same things is too much.  more over, BREAKING NEWS…BREAKING NEWS. news break at the same time. some channels. Star News, Aaj Tak  has a breaking news every other moment. what if Khali is in India…khali is out of his hotel room, he stepped into his car. who wants to know what he is doing. there are other things ppl are worried.

I can go on and on. let me stop my self because there are channels and…..there are NEW channels.

I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay;
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

-William Wordsworth

26/11/2008.  200 ppl dead. Over 300 injured. 60 hrs of firing. Many martrys..many more innocent..

An enite city..no no whole country was brought to halt just by 20 odd bastards/terrorists. I was shocked to see they way they have attacked. I watched the whole 60 hours of real drama. Shame on our political / beuracratic bull-shit. We need to change our system. We need to let these politicians understand that its time to act rather forget as its another small incident.

It took tens of foreigners to die for the world to understand what India is going through all these years. Now they realize the root of terrorism is in pak. Its too late.

I believe MY country is much better place and deserves much better position in the world.  MY country is not of filled terrorists/bastards. MY country is people who live in harmony even with a million differences. It’s where we celebrate, its where I live. Its INDIA.

Jai Hind.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening  – Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there’s some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Yes. I couldn’t believe myself when I read it on IBNLIVE. read it here.

One of the most successful captian of Indian cricket in both forms. I think he delayed his judgement. With a lot of humiliation, hatred, he should have annouinced his retirement long back. I hope to see him doing good in this IND vs AUS test series and also in next IPL season.