Jennifer and Olive...

I re-read this book for the umpteenth time and I still cried. Damn!! I love the character of the guy. For those who loved and cried with Love Story and haven't yet read its sequel, my advise would be - go ahead and do so asap. It's called Oliver's Story and it depicts how Oliver copes after Jen. There may not be many like Oliver (and I seriously hope there aren't) but still I definitly would respect another him with all my heart. :-)

PS. Read either of the books only if u have the capability to moisten your eyes while reading. Those of you who can't do so, the book may seem a bore.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit.....

This morning I somehow managed to land up on a site that showed numerous design templates for a site. Something struck me as I saw the page. The entire main text area was filled with a very familiar assortment of statements. Obviously, Lorem ipsum dolor sit..... .

This text seems Latin at the look of it. It actually is. It is very often used in design mock-ups as a filler and the best part is that it does not intend to mean anything at all. Its gibberish. The nonsensical nature of this text provides it the beauty that leads designers to grab this text with arms wide open while displaying their designs. Now, one may reason, why do designers not use some fancy text as content because at the end of the day all they want is the viewers attention. But this reasoning basically does not include the most important point. The designer wants the viewer to view the design and not get the viewer caught up on the ornate text. It simply shifts focus.

This text caught the limelight somewhere during the 1500s when a printer adapted Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum to develop a page of type samples. Since then, the Latin-like text has been the printing industry's standard for fake, or dummy, text. Before electronic publishing, graphic designers had to mock up layouts by drawing in squiggled lines to indicate text. The advent of self-adhesive sheets preprinted with "Lorem ipsum" gave a more realistic way to indicate where text would go on a page.

The modern "Lorem Ipsum" was first created for Aldus Corporation program 's first desktop publishing Aldus PageMaker in the mid-1980s for the Apple Macintosh. Art director Laura Perry adapted older forms of the lorem text from typography samples. The text was frequently used in PageMaker templates.

Placing a part of Cicero's De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum ...The highlighted text is the "Lorem Ipsum" text.

Sed ut perspiciatis, unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam eaque ipsa, quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt, explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem, quia voluptas sit, aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos, qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt, neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit, amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt, ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit, qui in ea voluptate velit esse, quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum, qui dolorem eum fugiat, quo voluptas nulla pariatur? [33] At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus, qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti, quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint, obcaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa, qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio, cumque nihil impedit, quo minus id, quod maxime placeat, facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet, ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat.

References:-
http://support.microsoft.com
http://graphicdesign.about.com
http://en.wikipedia.org

I hope this is not true...

Ok. If you have read my earlier posts, there is a mention of the movie - "The Happening". In the film, Mark Wahlberg asks his students for potential causes for the sudden wiping out of bees from earth. There were quite a few views that were put forth but I thought most of them had no scientific basis.
However, while surfing the net today, I found this article that spills some logic to the whole scenario. According to it, certain scientists claim that the reason for the decline in the number of bees is the harmful radiations that are emitted via the mobile handsets. Doesn't seem too relevant the first time you read it right? But try reading the entire article here to see if it makes sense.
As if that piece was not enough, I happened to be skimming through the forwarded mails in my inbox and found this link. See it to make fun and laugh but do think about the serious consequences. This seems crazy enough but if true, can be really scary. So, I thought I would try and do some research on the same lines.
My research started with the basics -I wanted to know how harmful was my handset. Did it have the potential to damage the tissues in my brain? Where there any workarounds because I don't think its a practical enough idea to just not use one. So I checked on a few sites and the specifications of my set as well. There were numerous bits of information that I gathered along and you can continue to read on to find those.

I begin from the beginning. I am assuming half of the people reading this post are not aware of what an SAR is. For the benefit of those who don't - SAR - "Refers to Specific Absorption Rate and indicates the amount of radiation that is absorbed by the head while using a mobile handset. A higher SAR depicts higher amount of radiation and vice versa".
For a more scientific definition - "An SAR value is a measure of the maximum energy absorbed by a unit of mass of exposed tissue of a person using a mobile phone, over a given time or more simply the power absorbed per unit mass. SAR values are usually expressed in units of watts per kilogram (W/kg) in either 1g or 10g of tissue."

Now that the definition is clear, the more obvious question would be what do we mean by a lesser SAR and does my cell phone have the lesser one? According to a new piece I read, Indian government shall soon force vendors in India to specify the SAR levels on handsets as is done in the West. But this does not solve the problem. I still don't know the acceptable levels.

So, the next safest option would be to try and compare the SAR levels amongst phones that are sold in the West (at least for self satisfaction). I see that my cell - a Nokia N73 displays an SAR of 0.92 W/kg.
Australia and US place the higher limit for SAR value as 1.6 W/kg while Europe requires it to be 2W/kg. There seems to be some sort of a deviation between my N73 and the European standard, but I guess all that this would signify would probably be that it'l just take a little longer for the radiations to affect the tissues of my head.
Anyway, a few work-arounds that could probably help -
1. Battery sheilders
2. Using a hands-free to keep the handset as far away from the head.
3. Using alternatives when possible (eg Internet/messaging...)

I am trying to be on the safer side, hence, thought of sharing all this. If anyone shuns this piece of information as bogus - thats ok. I would rather try and save my neurons... :-)

Thats me... :-)

Amazing song - Amazing lyrics... I loved the movie as well..

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

If I was a flower growing wild and free
All I'd want is you to be my sweet honey bee.
And if I was a tree growing tall and greeen
All I'd want is you to shade me and be my leaves

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a river in the mountains tall,
The rumble of your water would be my call.
If you were the winter, I know I'd be the snow
Just as long as you were with me, when the cold winds blow.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were a wink, I'd be a nod
If you were a seed, well I'd be a pod.
If you were the floor, I'd wanna be the rug
And if you were a kiss, I know I'd be a hug

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

If you were the wood, I'd be the fire.
If you were the love, I'd be the desire.
If you were a castle, I'd be your moat,
And if you were an ocean, I'd learn to float.

All I want is you, will you be my bride
Take me by the hand and stand by my side
All I want is you, will you stay with me?
Hold me in your arms and sway me like the sea.

"O re piya" this time...

Haah..my 6 minutes of fame this time was courtesy "O re Piya" and it was appreciated a lot as well. There were no hot and spicy events this time but the most memorable moment was when this instructor of mine, who met me after more than a year came straight to me and says "Hey Chaya..How are u doing? ".. I was amazed. Fancy remembering each and every of your students name when in effect you have more than 500 of them every month.(I could just be exaggerating the figures..) On top of it, consider the time elapsed.

Anyway..I could go on writing tonnes of words praising this guy but that would change the scope of this altogether. Back to the point. We did an Indo Jazz style that turned out pretty neat. The best part of the entire show was the dance in "sign language" dedicated to the VAF kids. That was awesome.

I advance to another level now. Lets hope this one turns out to be as interesting. (Fingers Crossed.). Shall keep updating.. :-)

It indeed is happening....

Saw this movie over the weekend - "The happening", and I have no words to describe how amazingly directed and scripted it is. (I wonder why then am I blogging!!!!)
For now, I don't think I would like to spoil interests of others by revealing the plot, but the impressive things about the movie can be listed (since I am so fond of lists.. ;-) ).
Listing those -
- Mind blowing depiction of the intensely gruesome scenes. ( I literally covered my eyes more than 7 times while watching the movie.)
- Element of humor brought in in the most cute manner via the mushy-mushy talks.
- Brilliant acting by everyone
- The small little details that need to be followed to understand the movie in totality.
- The hair style of the lead female actor (he he..its pretty similar to mine, thats why included this as well.. )

Well, those of you who like sci-fi wouldn't mind spending a couple of hundreds on this one. I sure enjoyed each and every minute of those 90 minutes..

PS. I did hear from a friend that it seemed to be stretched towards the end..but my argument would be.. "Its a 90 minute long movie, how much shorter do you expect it to be??? "