FUNIN PAGE: March 2008

27 March 2008

Future Hindi Movies - Some Titles

Java wale job le jayenge
Hum Disconnect Ho Gaye Sanam,
Meri hardisk tumhare paas hai
Aao chat kare
Hum Hai Programmer Oracle key
Programmer no 1
Mera naam developer
Badalate platforms
Kuch kuch download hota hai
Kahani Keyboard ki
Hum aapke memory mein rahate hain
Har kohi jo hack ho gah
Do(2) processor baarah(12) terminal
Mera code chal gaya
Har Din jo mail Karega
Khel Virus ka
Aur Logout Ho Gaye
Virus Aur Antivirus
Yeh Raste Hain internet kay
Network Ke Ush Paar
Debugging koi Khel nahi
Jis Desh mein Bill(gates) rahata Hai
Client ek numbari, PROGRAMMER Dus Nambari
Onlinepan
Login karo sajana
Naukar PC ka
Firewall (Border)
Net bin
Meri debugging
Restart to hona hi tha
Tera Mera Program
Partition (Deewar)
Rehna Hai Tehre Inbox Main
1942 - A Bug Story
Kabhi Connect, Kabhi Disconnect
Raju ban gaya MCSE..!
Kaho Na Virus Hai

LYCHEE

It is a fruit of Litchi chineasis, a tree of the family Sapindaceae. The handsome tree develops a compact crown of bright-green foliage. The leaves are compound, composed of 2 to 4 pairs of elliptic to lanceolate leaflets 2 or 3 inches long. The flowers, small and inconspicuous, are borne in loose diverse terminal clusters or panicles sometimes 30 centimetres (12 inches) in length. The fruits which are produced in clusters are oval to round, strawberry red in colour and about 25 millimetres in diameter. The brittle outer covering encloses white, translucent watery flesh and one large seed. The flavour is subacid. The fruit is eaten fresh, canned or dried. It is usually available in summer months. It subsides pitta. It is mild laxative. The fruit is given in acute constipation. It keeps the body cool and calm. It prevents sun-stroke and heat-stroke.
Benefit and uses of Lichi
Lichi to relieve coughing and to have a beneficial effect on gastralgia, tumors and enlargements of the glands.
It is crushed seeds are used to alleviate pain and for intestinal problems. A tea from the lichi peel is taken to control diarrhea. Root, flower and bark extracts are taken as a treatment for sore throat. The roots show anti-cancer activity.
Lichi fruit increase body fluids needed for good health. Fruit also contains about 0.7% protein, 0.3% fat, 0.7% minerals (particularly calcium and phosphorus) and is a reasonable source of vitamins C (64 mg/100 g pulp), A, B1 and B2.
The lichi fruit increase your energy.

Ashwarya Rai Bachchan is Exquisite

What she is known for: Aishwarya Rai won the Miss World title in 1994 and made her film debut three years later with Mani Ratnam's Iruvar. Her first critical and commercial success however came only in 1999 with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. This was followed by Devdas. She has to her credit Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and English films. She also made it to the list of the World's 100 most influential people by the Time Magazine, and in 2003 made it to the cover of the international publication. She has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and has also been featured on Oprah's Women Across The Globe. Today considered to be a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, Ash made it to Madame Tussauds in October 2004. It was then itself that her first international film, Bride & Prejudice hit the theatres. Today, Ash is the most popular Indian actress, and having got married into the Bachchan family has only strengthened her 'brand name'. The actress is also currently shooting for the Pink Panther series in Boston. Some other films that got her critical acclaim are: Taal, Kandukondain Kandukondain, Chokher Bali, The Mistress of Spices, Dhoom 2, Guru, Provoked

20 March 2008

Health Tips!!

Answer the phone by LEFT ear
Do not drink coffee TWICE a day.
Do not take pills with COOL water.
Do not have HUGE meals after 5pm.Reduce the amount of OILY food you consume.
Drink more WATER in the morning, less at night.
Keep your distance from hand phone CHARGERS.Do not use headphones/earphone for LONG period of time.
Best sleeping time is from 10pm at night to 6am in the morning.
Do not lie down immediately after taking medicine before sleeping.
When battery is down to the LAST grid/bar, do not answer the phone as the radiation is 1000 times.

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--Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Einstein

Guide for installing and configuring Raid!!

With the advent of onboard raid controllers becoming more mainstream, I thought a guide for installing and configuring raid might be helpful. First a short discussion on what raid can do for you and what it will not do for you.

First and foremost, raid is NOT a backup solution. While Raid-1, Raid-01, or Raid-5 offer some degree of backup in regard to a hardware failure, it does nothing if you get a virus, bad driver install, etc. What raid can do for you is to offer either some performance increase [generally around 35-40%] in regard to disk read/writes OR some protection for a failed hard disk.

If you think you would like to try running raid, the first thing to decide is what type of raid you want. The options here are as follows.

Raid-0.
Raid-0 offers only a performance increase; there is NO redundancy in regard to hardware. A failure of one drive will result in the loss of ALL data on the array. Again backups cannot be stressed enough. Raid-0 does have the advantage that you do not loose disk space. If you use two drives of 120gig, you have an array of 240gig. The advantage here is performance only.

Raid-1.
Raid-1 offers the advantage of recovery in the advent of a disk failure. If one drive of a Raid-1 array fails, you replace the failed drive and restart. Enter the raid bios and rebuild the array. Use of Raid-1 will result in no performance increase AND the loss of ½ of your disk space. If you use the same two 120gig drives in Raid-1, you end up with an array of 120gig. Note there can be a slight decrease in disk performance since everything must be written twice.

Raid-5.
Raid-5 offers the advantage of both speed increase and the ability to recover from a single drive failure. With Raid-5, you will loose some of your disk space. With three 120gig drives, you have a 240gig array. Raid-5 is not generally as fast as Raid-0 however loss of one drive does not result in complete data loss. There are other variants of Raid however those are the most popular so that is what I will deal with here. Note many onboard type controllers only support Raid-0, Raid-1, or sometimes Raid-01. Often if you want Raid-5 you must buy a real raid card. If you have not ordered your motherboard yet, now would be a good time to do a little research and see if the board you are considering will support the type of Raid you want to run.With that out of the way, we can continue with setting up our array. Again I always recommend using drives of the same size, speed, and cache size.

Step 1 Connect your drives to the controller. If you have an older ide type raid controller, each drive should be jumpered as master on its own ide channel. As an example you connect your first drive to ide1 on your controller and your second drive to ide2 on your controller. Set jumpers as master on both drives. Connect power to the drives.If you have sata type drives, you simply connect the drives to the controller and connect power. The only jumper on a sata drive is for speed limiting. If your controller only supports sata1 and you have sata2 drives, then you should set the speed limit jumper.

Step2 If you have an onboard type controller ie it came on your motherboard, you must set the controller mode to raid. This is done in the system [not raid] bios. As each bios is different you must read your manual as to how to set the controller mode. Note if you are using a real raid card such as a promise, highpoint, adaptec, etc. You do not need to set the mode.

Step3 Select your drives. Restart your system and enter the raid [not system] bios. To enter the raid bios you will hit a key combo. Popular key combos are Ctrl>I for intel, Crtl>H for highpoint, Crtl>F for promise. Again read your manual. Once in the Raid bios you will see your drives. Select to create an array. Next is what type of array; Raid-0, Raid-1, etc. Note this is often called stripe or mirror; again read the manual. Next step you will add drives to the array. Generally this is just highlight each drive you want to add and hit enter. Once done with that task you will create the array.

Step4. Make the array bootable. Most raid bios default to this however highpoint does not do this. You must select the array and select the option to make bootable. Restart the system and enter the system bios [not the raid bios] make sure your array or your add-in card is listed as the boot drive / device. While in the bios set the CD as the first boot device. Save settings and exit.

Step5 Partition and format the array. Now we are ready to install an operating system. Insert your win2k, xp, or vista cd/dvd in the drive and restart. Note for win2k or xp, you MUST have the Raid driver on a floppy disk. If you are installing vista, there is a very good chance vista will have drivers for your controller. I know it has promise and intel drivers; I have not installed it on any other raid controllers. During the first part of setup for win2k or xp you will have to hit the F6 key to load the driver. Note often a motherboard will come with either a driver floppy OR your support CD has an option to make a driver disk. Real Raid cards come with a driver floppy. Once you load the driver, you will see your Raid array displayed on the “Where to install menu page” You will need to create one or more partitions and format with ntfs.

Since many new systems are built without a floppy drive, here are two alternate methods of coping with the need to load the raid drivers.

First method.If your current install of windows is working fine without problems, you can clone it to your Raid array. To do this connect the drives and create the array as previously. Leave your current drive [with operating system and apps, etc] connected for now. Make sure you have the Raid controller installed and showing that it is operating correctly in device manager. Now boot your system with your cloning app. I use and recommend Acronis True Image for this task. Choose the source [old drive] and destination [new raid array] During this part Acronis will give you the option to retain your current partition size, to keep the same percentage, or it will allow you to resize the partitions. Note this must be in expert or manual mode to do this. Once you are sure of partition sizes, etc, complete the clone process. Now shutdown and disconnect your old drive. Note you can just pull the power connector from the drive. VERY IMPORTANT do not reboot with the old drive and the array connect; this WILL result in drive letter problems. Restart the system and make sure it will boot, drive letters are correct, etc. Once you are sure all is well, you can shutdown and reconnect your old drive; windows will assign the next available drive letter to the old drive. Note if the old drive was ide, many motherboards will default to that drive as the boot drive. Before you let windows boot with the old drive connected, enter the bios and make sure the Raid array is listed as the boot drive.

Second method.This option requires you to make a slipstreamed windows install disk with the raid drivers integrated into the install disk. There are various apps to choose from to accomplish this task. The only one I have used for this is Nlite. It does work well however you must have .NET installed to use Nlite. Slipstreaming is a whole guide on its own so if you want to use this method, you need to do some reading on your own. FWIW I have made custom install disks with win2k or xp for nvidia, promise, and highpoint controllers. This method works very well.

Once the raid driver is loaded during setup, it is no different than loading windows on any drive.You now have a raid array and either increased disk performance or increased hardware redundancy.
Congratulations!!!!!

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--Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Einstein

The reason we use Linux!!!!

We tell people we use Linux because it's secure or because it's free, because it's customizable, because it's free (the other meaning), because it has excellent community support...But all of that is just marketing bullshit. We tell that to non-Linuxers because they wouldn't understand the real reason. And when we say those false reasons enough, we might even start to believe them ourselves.But deep underneath, the real reason remains.We use Linux because it's fun!It's fun to tinker with your system. It's fun to change all the settings, break the system, then have to go to recovery mode to repair it. It's fun to have over a hundred distros to choose from. It's fun to use the command line.Let me say that again. It's fun to use the command line.No wonder non-Linuxers wouldn't understand.The point with us Linux fans is - we use Linux for its own sake. Sure, we like to get work done. Sure, we like to be secure from viruses. Sure, we like to save money. But those are only the side-effects. What we really like is playing with the system, poking around, and discovering completely pointless yet fascinating facts about the OS.There are three main reasons Linux is so much fun:

1. Linux gives you complete control: Ever tried stopping a process in Windows and the OS wouldn't let you? Ever tried deleting a file - and you couldn't? Even though you had admin rights?Linux lets you do anything. That's the great benefit of usually logging in as user. If you login as the root, the OS assumes you know what you're doing. Once you become root, everything is allowed.

2. Linux isn't widely used: This is a paradox. We often complain Linux isn't more widely used. But that's one of the reasons we use it. It gives us a feeling of being a special clique. Like we're better than "those ignorant masses".If Linux becomes widely used, we'll probably switch to something else. Or at least develop an obscure distro that only we will use. Because, let's face it, we want to feel special.

3. Linux is free : We can get the source code for all our applications. If we want to know how a certain part of the OS works, we can. This lets us tweak and play with our systems. And we absolutely love tweaking our system.Of course we can't tell non-Linuxers we use Linux because it's fun - they'd stick us into a mental asylum quicker than you can say "antidisestablishmentarianism". So we'll keep telling them the false yet plausible reasons for using Linux. But deep inside, we'll know the real reason we use Linux.

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--Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Einstein

What every programmer should know about memory

If you are interested in becoming a system software engineer, then these are the information topics about memory you need to know and understand that should be in your own (human) memory cache when you are writing system software. Designing, and implementing system software of any kind is all about resolving the issues of which memory is just one you will need to consider.The hope is that by understanding these articles you will be able to put the lessons to good use in creating new generations of software engineered with memory foresight in mind.
Here are all of the links to each part of the article:
Memory Part 1. Introduction.
Memory Part 2. CPU caches.
Memory Part 3. Virtual Memory.
Memory Part 4. NUMA support.
Memory Part 5. What programmers can do - cache optimization.
Memory Part 6. What programmers can do - multi-threaded optimizations.
Memory Part 7. Memory performance tools.
Memory Part 8. Future technologies.
Memory Part 9. Appendices and bibliography.
-- Anil

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Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Einstein

MICROSOFT FACTS!!!!

FACT -1
Nobody can create a FOLDER anywhere on the computer which can be named as "CON" . This is something pretty cool...and unbelievable . At Microsoft the whole Team, couldn't answer why thishappened !, TRY IT NOW ,IT WILL NOT CREATE " CON " FOLDER

FACT -2
For those of you using Windows, do the following:

1.) Open an empty notepad file

2.) Type "Bush hid the facts" (without the quotes)

3.) Save it as whatever you want.

4.) Close it, and re-open it.is it just a really weird bug?

Confused?????

FACT -3

This is something pretty cool and neat...andunbelievable. .. At Microsoft the whole Team,including Bill Gates, couldn't answer why this happened!It was discovered by a Brazilian. Try it outyourself...Open Microsoft Word and type=rand (200, 99)And then press ENTER

Katrina Kaif

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About Katrina Kaif:

Katrina Kaif is half British and half Indian.
Indian supermodel
Has 6 sisters and 1 brother.
She refuses to speak about her personal life in the media.
She doesn't do ramp shows anymore.
She was chosen as the face of the year for the Lakme India Fashion Week (2005).
Her favorite Indian designers are Rina Dhaka, Tarun Tahiliani, Rocky S.
Her favorite international designers are Armani, Miu Miu, Prada, Versace.
Favorite actor is Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Favorite actresses are Kajol and Madhuri Dixit.
Favorite cricketer is Irfan Pathan.
Favorite Indian food is dahi and rice.
Favorite movies are Umrao Jaan (1981), Casablanca (1942), and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Prefers acting over modeling.

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Date of Birth:16 July 1984, London, England, UK
Nickname:Kat
Height5' 8½" (1.74 m)
Mini Biography
Born on July 16, 1984 Katrina Kaif is one of eight siblings, all girls, from a mother who is a Caucasian of British Nationality, and a father who was formerly from Kashmir, India, but who has since acquired British citizenship.Katrina grew up in Hawaii, but was brought up in London, UK. She started modeling accidentally when she was in Hawaii at the tender age of 14, when she was approached for a jewelery campaign. Thereafter she continued modeling in London.Continuing to model was the reason she got her break in a Bollywood movie "Boom" offered by none other than film-maker Kaizad Gustad.She was flooded with modeling assignments the minute she set her foot on Indian soil, especially with her innocent expressive face, hour-glass figure, and drop-dead gorgeous looks.Professionally she started off as a model with photographer Atul Kasbekar, and upon being accepted, she received offers from LG, Cola, Fevicol, Lakme, & Veet. It was the Lakme commercial that got her noticed. She retained Matrix as her Manager to accept work on her behalf and at the price she deserved.Moving to different culture and country was not much of a culture shock for her, as she states that no matter where you come from, the bottom line is that everyone wants to be loved, respected, and cared for.Unlike other artistes from foreign lands, Katrina did not experience any difficulties in getting a visa nor of getting it extended in India.Although linguistically challenged, Katrina puts on a bold face and states that other Bollywood artistes like Sridevi, who did not know Hindi, did get offers from Bollywood film-makers, and she is no different. She is taking Hindi and dancing lessons to fit in with the Bollywood culture. She likes to display a picture of her learning Kathak dancing where she used to dance 7 hours a day non-stop.Despite of her soft gorgeous looks, she is not easily intimidated, but admits that she is very emotional, almost an incurable romantic, wears comfortable non-revealing clothes when at home, hates to do her hair, and above all dislikes make-up. Admitting to being lonely in the beginning, but now has several nice friends who she can hang out with.Although her first movie "Boom" was panned by the critics and shunned by the audiences, two other Telegu movies "Malliswari" and "Pidugu" did get her noticed. She grossed Rs.70 lakhs for Malliswari - making her top the list of the highest paid actresses during a South Indian movie debut.Not done with South Indian movies, she has been signed in a Tamil movie "Bheema" opposite National Award Winner Vikram.She has received decent reviews for her part in "Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya", as well as a brief appearance in "Sarrkar".Katrina has now made Bombay her base, and doesn't mind singing and dancing around trees while she's at it, and is determined to make it big in Bollywood.

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Beginning Stage of her filmi carrier and modeling:

Born on July 16, 1984 Katrina Kaif is one of eight siblings, all girls, from a mother who is a Caucasian of British Nationality, and her father who was from India, Kashmir, but who has since acquired British citizenship. Early days of Childhood of this beautiful lady spend in Hawaii but later kaif family moved to London, UK. Her first modeling assignment was of Jewellery ... she was just 14 years of age at her first modeling shoot.

Katrina Kaif was launched by Kaizad Gustad in Boom movie which was based on Under World and Modeling World, Boom was flop and she did not get the perfect launch in Bollywood. In Boom other star cast was Padmalakshmi (Ex Wife of famous novelist Salman Rushdie), Madhu Sapre (Controversial model for nude photo with Milind Somen), Amitabh Bachchan, Gulshan Grover and Jackie Shroff. Due to her innocence face and mixture of Asian look with British she was immditaely flooded with modeling assignments when she came first time in India. Professionally she started off as a model with photographer Atul Kasbekar, and upon being accepted, she received offers from LG, Cola, Fevicol, Lakme, & Veet. It was the Lakme commercial that got her noticed. She retained Matrix as her Manager to accept work on her behalf and at the price she deserved.

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FunnTrivia:

Is half British and half Indian.
Indian supermodel
Has 6 sisters and 1 brother.
Was born in Hong Kong and then moved to Hawaii till she was about 14, then she moved to London. Presently, she lives in Mumbai.
Unlike other artistes from foreign lands, Katrina did not experience any difficulties in getting a visa nor of getting it extended in India.
She was discovered at age 14 as a model for a jewelry campaign.
When moving to India, she worked for photographer Atul Kasbekar and did commercials for Fevicol, Lakme and Veet among others.
She is very particular about her clothes which she wears a bold outfit on screen or for ads, but she feels more comfortable in not-so-revealing clothes in personal life. And the one thing she hates is make up.
She refuses to speak about her personal life in the media.
Besides walking the ramp for several top designers and being on magazine covers, Katrina has also been the stunning face of Estelle jewelery, Lakme, Pantene, Veet, Kodak cameras, L'Oreal, Samsung, LG etc.
She doesn't do ramp shows anymore.
She was chosen as the face of the year for the Lakme India Fashion Week (2005).
Her favorite Indian designers are Rina Dhaka, Tarun Tahiliani, Rocky S.
Her favorite international designers are Armani, Miu Miu, Prada, Versace.
Favorite Indian food is dahi and rice.

Favorite actor is Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan. Favorite actresses are Kajol and Madhuri Dixit. Favorite cricketer is Irfan Pathan.
Favorite movies are Umrao Jaan (1981), Casablanca (1942), and Gone with the Wind (1939).
Favorite perfume is Gucci Rush.
Prefers acting over modeling.

She enjoys modeling, acting, dancing, playing chess, watching movies, painting, resting, cooking, going to spas, going to the gym, meeting new people, and getting together with friends.

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Personal Quotes:

"It's not my style to either wear minimum clothes, to strip or to even be comfortable with a sex-symbol label. I just want to do good work instead of sporting such meaningless tags. Sex sells, but to a small extent, not always. And this is what filmmakers have to accept. The exposure has to be relevant to the film and its characters and not forced for the sake of titillation. On the contrary, some of the greatest Indian films have been devoid of all these sexual trappings. I know my comfort zone in today's Indian culture and society."
Her thoughts on Bollywood accepting her, being an outsider British girl, into Indian cinema: "I have no complaints. I think I'm especially lucky. As you said, I've come from outside and I'm not even anywhere closely connected. But I have absolutely no problem here. People have been more than welcoming, even before I was ready. There was a time when I felt that I need to take time to understand more about the industry, the workings of it. I was doing my modeling, which I really wanted to do at the time. So that's why even my entry into films was later than people expected."
"I've been very blessed, I think, or what do you call it... mmm... lucky to get at this stage what I have. It's not like I've come from acting school and done work at an academy or something. I feel I've been given a very huge chance and opportunity."

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Kareena Kapoor

KAREENA KAPOOR:

Kareena Kapoor ... her first scene in Refugee (2000) when she wash her face ... boy her first appearance in that movie stolen so many hearts of young guys ... one of my friend was keep telling us at least for 15 days "Kareena is coming on his dream ... " so you can imagine about her appearance and that's why she got award as the best debut actress for Refugee (2000). Even Taran Adarsh from indiaFM wrote, "Kareena Kapoor has a magnetic personality, which will make the viewer fall in love with her instantly. On a scale of 10, Kareena's performance deserves 9 marks, dialogue delivery 8 and overall personality 10. What surprises you is the ease with which she emotes the most difficult of scenes, that too against experienced performers. There's no denying the fact that she is a natural performer.

Childhood and Early Life
Due to family tradition, her father wanted her to get married early and settle down, thus avoiding acting, which was considered a taboo for Kapoor women. This led to irreconcilable differences between her parents, and resulted in her mother leaving the house along with Kapoor and her sister. She was raised by her mother, who, with difficulty, worked several jobs to support the family, until her sister got into films in 1991.
Kapoor did her schooling at Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai, and later Welham Girls Boarding School in Dehradun. After studying commerce at Mithibai College, Vile Parle for two years, she took a three-month summer course in microcomputers at Harvard. She developed an interest in law, thus enrolled at the Government's Law College in Churchgate. After completing one year there, she returned to her initial plan to become an actor, and began training under Kishor Namit Kapoor, the founder of Kapoor Acting Lab

Birth Date - September21, 1980
Height - 5'5"
Father & Mother - Randhir Kapoor & Babita KapoorSister - Karishma KapoorFavorite Films - Awaara, Sangam,Bobby, Kal Aaj Aur Kal.Favorite Actor - Raj KapoorFavorite Actress - Nargis, of course, after BabitaFavorite Color - Black and RedFavorite Song - "Rahe na rahe hum mehaka karenge..."First Crush - My 4th std. Desk partner while i was in SchoolStrengths - My mom & sisterWeakeness - My sister and food
Debut Movie - Refugee (Starring Abhishek Bachchan)

Filmfare Awards
2001 Filmfare Best Debut Award, Refugee2004 Filmfare Special Performance Award, Chameli2005 Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance, Dev2007 Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance, Omkara2008 Filmfare Best Actress Awards, Jab We Met

Film Career

She perform every kind of role so well, so beautifully and do perfect justice for their character ... character can be of a prostitute Chameli (2004) ... may be a character of rural based girl with touch of urban in Omkara (2006) as Dolly or a bubbly and fun loving girl Geet Dhillon in Jab we met (2006). Her dialogue in Jab we met ... "main apni favorite hu" is now common among young and teen age girls of India ... her bad period as an Actress was 2002 - 03 ... during this period her six films were not successful ... two were under top ranked banner ... Yash Raj (Mujhse Dosti Laroge) and other one was Rajshri Production (Main Prem ki Diwani Hoon)

Kareena Kapoor in various character and awesome perfomance

Personal Life
Kareena admire the talent and ability of Shahid and on one of her interview she said "I have seen Shahid from his first film to Jab We Met and I can say that there is a marked difference. According to me he is a bundle of talent waiting to explode. I have that much of faith in him as an actor.
Kareena and Shahid were the perfect couple in bollywood ... and still their well wishers want they get back together ... but this wish come to an end when Saif confirmed on October 18, 2007, during Manish Malhotra's grand finale show at the Lakme Fashion Week, "Yes, we are not exactly shouting from the rooftops but yes, clearly we are together. And we are happy together!"

14 March 2008

Hero Honda Karizma: Always Ahead, Always GAME!!!

General information
Model:	Hero Honda Karizma R
Year:	2008
Category:	Sport R

Engine and transmission
Displacement:	223.00 ccm (13.61 cubic inches)
Engine type:	Single cylinder
Stroke:	4
Power:	17.00 HP (12.4 kW)) @ 8000 RPM
Torque:	18.40 Nm (1.9 kgf-m or 13.6 ft.lbs) @ 6000 RPM
Max EPM:	7500
Fuel system:	Carburettor
Fuel control:	OHC
Starter:	Electric & kick
Cooling system:	Air
Gearbox:	5-speed
Transmission type final drive:	Chain
Physical measures
Dry weight:	150.0 kg (330.7 pounds)
Overall height:	1,160 mm (45.7 inches)
Overall length:	2,125 mm (83.7 inches)
Overall width:	755 mm (29.7 inches)
Ground clearance:	150 mm (5.9 inches)
Wheelbase:	1,355 mm (53.3 inches)
Chassis and dimensions
Front tyre dimensions:	2.75-18 - 42 P
Rear tyre dimensions:	100/90-18 - 56 P
Front brakes:	Single disc
Front brakes diameter:	276 mm (10.9 inches)
Rear brakes:	Expanding brake (drum brake)
Rear brakes diameter:	130 mm (5.1 inches)
Exhaust system:	Single Stainless Steel Pipe
Speed and acceleration
Top speed:	125.0 km/h (77.7 mph)
0-100 km/h (0-62 mph):	14.200 seconds
Power/weight ratio:	0.1133 HP/kg
Other specifications
Fuel capacity:	15.00 litres (3.96 gallons)
Reserve fuel capacity:	2.00 litres (0.53 gallons)
Fuel consumption pr. 10 km (6.2 miles):	2.40 litres (0.63 gallons)
Color options:	pearl compose red,myth gold metalic,silver,turquoise blue,candy blazing red,black, moon yellow

Introduction:

With the 223cc, 17.76bhp, 18.35Nm Karizma, Hero Honda has once again wrested the title of king of the performance hill (it helped create with its CBZ some four years ago) from the Bajaj Pulsar 220 which held it convincingly for over a year and a half.The bike which is not only quicker and faster than its competition but also handles, steers and brakes like no other bike in the country - today.

There I was flat out on the Bangalore - Mysore highway, in a very good frame of mind after testing the Karizma and heading back to base. The new 223cc bike from Hero Honda had impressed me truly , not beccause it had clocked the quickest acceleration and roll-on times plus also recorded the fastest speed for a present day production motorcycle but because the bike was in too mellow a state of tune and therefore had tremendous potential to perform even quicker and faster!

With this thought paramount in my mind and the bike really zinging that day in the fourth and fifth cogs for much of the 120km run, I guess it was all going too much to my head as I came upon an open stretch of road with a slight uphill section curving to the left. What I saw was no traffic when all of a sudden a cyclist with a large trunk crawled out of the woodwork and suddenly decided to do his variation on the twirl perfected by John Travolta in Grease but right in my intended flight path. While it looked pleasing and aesthetic in the film, it was anything but so on the road. While Travolta and team delighted the audience, here the audience suddenly had his heart in his mouth. The one bit which is obviously a sore point (of just a few such) on the new Hero Honda was proved no end and I am referring to the inadequacy of the horn because I am sure the cyclist never heard it and in the whirl of those few seconds it didn't ring a bell in my ears as well!

But in case you are thinking about a stunning crash scene as in Grease there was no such thing. The superb dynamic balance of the Karizma with its highly pleasing weight distribution and suspension geometry came to my rescue as did the fantastic 276mm dia disc brake up front (courtesy a new player in the motorcycle brake market - Tata Yutaxa). A slight squeeze on the front brake lever, a rapid downshift to third from fifth, a blip on the throttle and the gyrating bicyclist was passed with metres to spare and thankfully no contact. For a moment I thought it was all going to end in tears but when I had got my breath back and was motoring sedately (if cruising at 110kmph can be called that on our roads), I once again began to appreciate what a fantastic bike Hero Honda had produced. In fact by the time I had ended doing the test the Karizma had done enough to wipe out the memories of the CBZ which had promised much but had failed to deliver, and it further emphasised that it was the best bike ever made by Hero Honda but with tremendous potential yet lurking to be unleashed should the competition cook up some goodies on similar lines.

It is a different way to start a road test report but then this is a different bike in itself and unlike any from Hero Honda.With the Karizma, I think that they finally have made a bike which has the potential to silence doubters like yours truly but here again they have failed because instead of silencing they have everyone of our performance driven staffers yelling out in glee! Sometimes 'even when you win you lose' sort of syndrome (works the other way round as well) but better for Hero Honda to be saddled with such than nothing at all.

Genesis!
The need to do a Karizma!
The CBZ was the very first bold move by the leader in Indian motocyles to offer a performance offering. On its own, the CBZ was a standout and even today in the aesthetic sense and when ergonomics are taken into account, nothing comes close to it. Sadly its weaknesses in power delivery, harsh engine straining at its top end and a slight handling imbalance when at full chat were shown up when first the Fiero from TVS came up and impressed with it engine and fluid power delivery and then the Bajaj Pulsar came and zapped all to show what all round performance was all about.

Mind you the Pulsar was yet just 220cc and Hero Honda knew that it had to make a bike appeal to those who lusted after the Pulsar but wanted more. Also the Pulsar being much too single minded in its focus - that of being a super streetfighter - there was always the opportunity of someone coming up with a proper conventional sportsbike. Hero Honda had been given the basic Honda building block of a strong bottom end which could employ cylinder blocks varying in capacity from 133cc right up to 223cc and this modular unit was already used by the company to come up first with the CBZ and then with the Ambition. The frame was similarly versatile for being used all across this displacement spectrum and using these and understanding where customer preference was headed, the Honda boffins alongwith the marketing men from Hero Honda came up with the Karizma. I have always maintained that a good quarter-litre bike could be the best useable machine in the Indian perspective and maybe this thought was also prevalent in the minds of the Hero Honda team when they were developing the Karizma. As it has turned out, the bike is still 27cc shy of the 250cc mark but it is a good step towards getting there.

Style & Build
Game attempt to be modern but solidly put together.
The first things which dominate the senses once you lock eyes on the Karizma are its front end and the overall mass of the bike. The front fairing is a piece of art when viewed from certain angles and looks real rakish and sporty, being a scaled down rendering of the unit adorning the VFR800, right down to the design and cut of the headlamp. But if you even deviate a bit to any other side from its most pleasing angle, the ungainliness creeps in thanks to the side panels on which I frankly thought not much was done. The fixed fairing's meshing with the tank is blemishless but it is the style which has got jumbled for it just doesn't comes across harmoniously. This is one of the biggest let downs of the Karizma for as you move from the tank backwards, the style accents are there in the traditionally pleasing Honda sports bike fashion.

The tank with its sculpted knee recesses adds to the great biker feel as does the super saddle which makes the straddling posture so very inviting. Certain elements of the side panels running right to the tail of the bike look like they have been seen before (on the Ambition if you please) but Hero Honda has excelled in using different paint shades and finishes on the plastic and metal parts to contrast and gell well to accentuate the mechanical as aesthetically as possible. The finish on the engine (head, barrel and crankcase covers), the pseudo plastic cover denoting a mock-frame rail meging into the side panel, the black powder coated exhaust pipe running into the de-rigeur large diameter end can, the black-finished springs (on the shock absorbers) and also the mag wheels do take care of the aesthetic end of the bike in a big way.
The front headlamp is a great job and Hero Honda brings modern day superbike style to India with it. The instrument panel with its three dial layout (large speedo in the centre flanked by the rev counter on the left and the digital read-out roundel on the right) is well conceived and treated but what spoils the visual appeal is the lack of shrouding at the top yoke area, daylight streaming through there. This detail should have been shrouded and maybe Hero Honda will take us up on this positively.

Performance:
The Karizma comes across as the quickest and the fastest Indian-built production motorcycle i've have ever tested (the Yamaha Drag Star which goes on sale in India later in the year is a CBU and doesn't therefore count here). What is praiseworthy is that this is a bike which has been built singlehandedly to perform but with good manners and pleasing power delivery rather than being a firebreather of a motor. The higher cubic capacity always helps and this it has done but the engine's new found willingness to rev clean and sharply whenever the rider twists the throttle reveals a whole new direction for a Hero Honda engine.

The engine has a great new zeal to spin away in a strong linear manner with torque making it haul away from rest - a very important factor considering its 150kg kerb weight. With our man Aspi in the hot seat during the performance tests and data acquisition, the Karizma just sizzled away to the top of the performance hill, edging out the present incumbent - the Pusar 220 - from its perch.

In the acceleration tests, the 220 Pulsar with its kerb weight (148 kg) gets off the line quicker and is ahead uptill the 50kmph mark but from there on the Karizma ups the pace, gets into its thurst mode and opens up a gap which keeps on getting larger and larger. The Karizma took 4.7 seconds to go from standstill to 60kmph and in the crucial 0-100kmph run she took 14.5 seconds. Comparative times for the Pulsar 220 were 4.8 seconds and 16.5 seconds respectively. In the standing quarter mile acceleration run, the Karizma once again showed who is the new king of the hill, recording an 18.83 second time with a 109.95kmph terminal speed.

In all these runs, what was manifest about the Hero Honda was its strong consistent thrust, not seeming to run out of steam even with our repeated acceleration cycles and also not losing its edge in tune. This, for me was, more than the obviously high performance the bike delivers, a stand-out detail especially since I was so hooked up on the CBZ but which disappointed with its lack of consistent performance. Even in the roll-ons the Karizma continues it rule-all sweep and in the top speed department we have to give credit to Hero Honda for sticking its neck out and claiming a 125kmph because the Karizma in our dual direction top speed run recorded 125.6kmph! It doesn't get closer than this and the only area in which we couldn't match up to the manufacturer's claims was in the zero to 60kmph time of 3.8seconds. Till the time we develop a 60kg tester (or see anyone from our lot resorting to an impossible weight loss programme) to be as good and effective as our 90kg genius Aspi we do not see anyone from our end coming close to Hero Honda's claim in this performance test. But then the Karizma has performacne all across its spectrum and in every respect it comes out on top, stops all discussion doesn't it?

Rinspeed creates underwater scuba car

In The Spy Who Loved Me, James Bond takes his sports car underwater making it a scuba car, swaps his wheels for fins and fires a missile that knocks a pursuing helicopter out of the sky.

Roger Moore's feats as the iconic British spy may be difficult to match, but a Swiss company says it has created a vehicle that really can turn into a submarine - though without the firearms.

The concept scuba car developer Rinspeed calls its "sQuba" the first real submersible car. Unlike military vehicles, which can only drive slowly on a lakebed, Rinspeed says its car can provide a stable "flight" at a depth of 10 metres.

"For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly underwater," says Frank Rinderknecht, Rinspeed's 52-year-old CEO and a professed Bond fan. "Now we have made this dream come true."

Passengers will be able to keep breathing underwater through an integrated tank of compressed air similar to what is used in scuba diving. But they will get wet.

Importance of having Breakfast

Breakfast can help prevent strokes, heart attack and sudden death. Advice on not to skip breakfast!

Healthy living
For those who always skip breakfast, you should stop that habit now! You've heard many times that "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Now, recent research confirms that one of the worst practices you can develop may be avoiding breakfast.

Why?
Because the frequency of heart attack, sudden death, and stroke peaks between 6:00a.m. and noon, with the highest incidence being
between 8: 00a.m. and 10:00a.m.What mechanism within the body could account for this significant jump in sudden death in the early
morning hours?

We may have an Answer.

Platelet, tiny elements in the blood that keep us from bleeding to Death if we get a cut, can clump together inside our arteries due to
cholesterol or laque buildup in the artery lining. It is in the morning hours that platelets become the most activated and tend to form these internal blood clots at the greatest frequency.

However, eating even a very light breakfast prevents the morning platelet activation that is associated with heart attacks and strokes. Studies performed at Memorial University in St.Johns, Newfoundland found that eating a light, very low-fat breakfast was critical in modifying the morning platelet activation. Subjects in the study consumed either low-fat or fat-free yogurt, orange juice, fruit, and a source of protein coming from yogurt or fat-free milk. So if you skip breakfast, it's important that you change this practice immediately in light of this research. Develop a simple plan to eat cereal, such as oatmeal or Bran Flakes, along with six ounces of grape juice or orange juice, and perhaps a piece of fruit. This simple plan will keep your platelets from sticking together, keep blood clots from forming, and perhaps head off a potential Heart Attack or stroke. So never ever skip breakfast .

Momo Recipe

The Dough
First of all, make the dough. If you want to make momo dough for four people, use about 3 cups of flour and 3/4 cups of water. (You don't have to be very exact about these measurements--Tibetans never are!) Mix the flour and water very well by hand and keep adding water until you make a pretty smooth ball of dough. Then knead the dough very well until the dough is flexible. Now leave your dough in the pot with the lid on while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. You should not let the dough dry out, or it will be hard to work with.

The Filling
We make momo's with either meat or vegetables. In Tibet, they often use yak meat, but here in the US, we usually use beef, or just vegetables for our vegetarian friends.

For vegetable momo filling:
Chop all the following ingredients into very, very small pieces: Two onions Two inches fresh ginger Two or three cloves of garlic A bunch of cilantro One pound of cabbage *One pound of tofu *One quarter pound of dark brown mushrooms (I buy them dried from Asian markets) Two tablespoons of soy sauce One teaspoon of chicken, beef or vegetable bouillon *don't use these if you are making meat momo's

For meat momo filling, add:
One pound of ground beef: This beef replaces the mushrooms and tofu in the vegetable recipe. If you have enough time, you can use unground beef and chop the meat into very small pieces.

For both kinds of momo's, put all of the ingredients in a pot or big bowl, then add a teaspoon of bouillon and two tablespoons of soy sauce. Mix everything together very well. (If you are making meat momo's with ground beef, you may need to use your hands to mix it up.)

Shaping the Momo's
When your dough and filling are both ready, it is time for the tricky part of making the dumpling shapes. For this, place the dough on a chopping board and use a rolling pin to roll it out quite thinly. It should not be so thin that you can see through it when you pick it up, nor should it be quite as thick as a floppy disk for a computer. Somewhere between those two should work out. After you have rolled out the dough, you will need to cut it into little circles for each momo. The easiest way to do this is turn a small cup or glass upside down to cut out circles about the size of the palm of your hand. That way, you don't have to worry about making good circles of dough because each one will be the same size and shape.

Of course, you can also make the circles by the more traditional, and more difficult, way of pinching off a small ball of dough and rolling each ball in your palms until you have a smooth ball of dough. Then, you can use a rolling pin to flatten out the dough into a circle, making the edges more thin than the middle. This is much harder to do, and takes more time, though many Tibetans still use this method.

Now that you have a small, flat, circular piece of dough, you are ready to add the filling and make the momo shapes. There are many, many different choices for momo shapes, and I will teach you two of the most common, the basic round momo, and the half-moon shapes. (Of these two, the half-moon shape is easier.)

For the Round Momo:
For both shapes, you will need to put one circle of dough in your left hand, and add a tablespoonful of filling in the center of the dough. With your right hand, begin to pinch the edge of the dough together. (See photo) You don't need to pinch much dough in the first pinch -- just enough to make a small fold between your thumb and forefinger. Now you will have a little piece of dough pinched together, and you should continue pinching around the circle little by little, keeping your thumb in place, and continuing along the edge of the circle with your forefinger, grabbing the next little piece of dough, and folding and pinching it down into the original fold/pinch being held by your thumb. Basically you will be pinching the whole edge of the circle into one spot. Continue folding and pinching all around the edge of the circle until you come back around to where you started and then close the hole with a final pinch. Make sure you close the hole on top of the momo. That way you don't lose the juicy part of the momo.

For the Half-Moon Momo (as shown in the photo above):
The half-moon momo is very pretty. For this style, you begin the same as with the round momo style, holding the flat circular dough in your left hand and putting a tablespoon of filling in the middle of the dough. Then you have to fold your circle of dough in half, covering over the filling. Now press together the two edges of the half circle so that there is no open edge in your half circle, and the filling is completely enclosed in the dough. You will now have the basic half-moon shape, and you can make your momo pretty by pinching and folding along the curved edge of the half circle. Start at one tip of the half-moon, and fold over a very small piece of dough, pinching it down. Continue folding and pinching from the starting point, moving along the edge until you reach the other tip of the half-moon. You can experiment with different folds and pinches to find the way that is easiest and nicest for you.

As you are making your momo's, you will need to have a non-stick surface and a damp cloth or lid handy to keep the momo's you've made from drying out while you're finishing the others. You can lay the momo's in the lightly-greased steamer and keep the lid on them, or you can lay them on wax paper and cover them with the damp cloth.

Finally, you should boil water in a large steamer. (Tibetans often use a double decker steamer, to make many momo's at one time.) Oil the steamer surface lightly before putting the momo's in, so they won't stick to the metal, then place as many as you can without touching each other. Add the momo's after the water is already boiling. Steam the momo's for 10 minutes, then serve them hot, with soy sauce or hot sauce of your choice to dip them in. At home, I use soy sauce and the spicy version of Patak's Hot Lime Relish, which I get in Indian stores, or the Asian section of supermarkets. If you can get it, Tibetan hot sauce is very good. Be careful when you take the first bite of the hot momo's since the juice is very, very hot, and can burn you easily.

Momo's are very good for your social life. When we are making momo's, we chat and have a lot of fun. And they taste great!

EFFECTS OF COLD WATER

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A serious note about heart attacks - You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive.
A cardiologist says if everyone who reads this message sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we'll save at least one life. Read this & Send the link to a friend. It could save a life. So, please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends you care about.

27 March 2008

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