Volvo Ocean Race in India; Kochi to host the celebrated race

Volvo Ocean Race – the biggest yacht race in the world and one of the largest sporting event across the world- sails its way for the first time on Indian shores. An ultimate mix of world class sporting competition and on the edge adventure, Volvo Ocean Race is a unique blend of onshore glamour with offshore drama and endurance. The eight yachts will challenge the vociferous tides and dock at India’s coast Kochi, the first Asian port, from the 3rd to the 13th of December, before starting leg three to Sentosa Island in Singapore. The Cochin Port Trust, which will be responsible for organizing the stopover, with the full backing of the Kerala Tourism Department.

QUICK FACTS

Stop-over Ports:
Alicante, Cape Town, Kochi, Singapore, Qingdao, Rio De Janeiro, Boston, Galway, Marstrand, Stockholm, St. Petersburg

Team for 2008-09:
Ericsson Racing Team 1, Ericsson Racing Team 2, Puma Ocean Race, Telefonica Blue, Telefonica Black, Team Russia, Green Dragon Team, Dutch team Delta Lloyd with sail number NED-1

Special edition cars:
XC90, XC70 and V70 with more exclusive design and marine aura enhanced by the Ocean Blue livery in combination with exterior details in chrome.
(Also available in Electric Silver)

Reach:
Attracts about 1.8 billion TV viewers, making it one of the world’s prime sports event

Extreme conditions
Crews experience life in its extreme form- no fresh food, temperature variations from -5 to +40 degrees Celsius, sleep deprivation and everything that you can imagine in extreme

Facebook community
Volvo Ocean Race is catching up the momentum in India with an exclusive online community – Volvo Ocean Race, Life at the extreme!
www.facebook.com

Commenting on the announcement, Mr. Paul de Voijs, Managing Director, Volvo Car India said, “It has always been part of Volvo’s vision to take the race to different and wider audiences and we are delighted that India has become part of that vision. Including Kochi as one of the stopovers further reinforces Volvo’s commitment to the Indian market. India has hundreds of millions of enthusiastic sports fans and we know they will enjoy this challenging and spectacular race, with its passion, teamwork, adventure and excitement.”

“The Volvo Ocean Race reflects the values that our customers look for when they choose a car. It’s all about an active lifestyle, adventure and passion – in short its living life at the extreme,”
Mr. de Voijs further added.

The new Volvo Ocean Race car edition encompasses three models: the Volvo V70, Volvo XC70 and Volvo XC90 in ocean blue and electric colors.

It is the first time that India is hosting such a prestigious sailing event and Cochin will be the only port of call in India. The seven yachts participating in the race will arrive in Cochin in December 2008 and will stay for 10 days, before starting leg three to Sentosa Island in Singapore. A race village covering 2.5 acres of land will be set up near the BTP berth at Willingdon Island.

The 2008-09 expedition will be the 10th run of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on the 4th October, the race will span some 39,000 nautical miles, halting at 11 ports over a period of nine months. For the first time in the event’s history, the race will look at visiting new ports along a new route that include ports in the middle-east, India and Asia.
The race is an exceptional test of sailing prowess which takes competitors across some of the most treacherous waters in the world. For ocean racing sailors, the Volvo Ocean Race represents the pinnacle of achievement. The world’s top offshore sailors and the sport’s rising stares team up for a wild ride around the planet, racing in the roughest oceans and most dangerous weather nature has to offer.

Why it's time for India's Sourav Ganguly to retire from Test cricket

Sourav Ganguly boasts a Test win record of 50-plus, an enviable ODI record, and credit for making Team India a team, not just a bunch of 15 players, 10 of whom were unknown faces. And with Test victories against all cricketing nations, he deserves unlimited praise.
A year ago he was thrown out in disgrace and coming back was difficult since the chairman of selectors had almost closed the doors by saying the board were looking for the future (whatever that means). But when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Our men fought back and Ganguly has stood out on almost on every tour abroad.
Of late there has been one issue, the absence of Yuvraj Singh from the Test side. The only person he can replace is Ganguly. No other batsman is dispensable and when a guy like Yuvraj is warming the bench, you can’t afford to lose a single opportunity in the middle. Yuvraj is the man in supreme form at the moment and for the first time in his career he is doing justice to his immense talent.
Ganguly is playing well but Yuvraj has to get the nod for the simple reason that he adds more utility to the team. Don’t get me wrong, with all due respect to Dada, I would definitely not have said this if Yuvraj could replace anyone else in the team. Dada is the epitome of success and he should go leaving a legacy.
Unfortunately this seldom happens in India. Here, even greats like Kapil Dev were shown the door in disgrace because they did not retire at the time they should have. The likes of Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid should have a send-off to match their iconic status. Ganguly should call it a day because now he is playing well. A senior journalist said once that for a cricketer to understand that he had enjoyed a great career will be when people ask him why he retired. That’s all I am asking Dada to do.

The Financial Crisis (in 400 words)

Financial crises have occurred for centuries, ranging from the tulip craze to the South Sea Bubble to, more recently, the Asian Financial Crisis. Many great banks have failed over the centuries, and although their loss seems staggering at the time, the consequences are very fleeting.
Today's crisis is large to Wall Street, and to the secretary of the treasury, who comes from Wall Street. Main Street, however, is not doing as badly.

Easy money always triggers the beginning of a financial cycle. The Federal Reserve deserves some blame in this instance for making the party too wild. Fraud is common in the mania phase of a financial cycle, but not the primary problem.
Whether a financial crisis turns into a severe recession or depression depends on how the crisis affects everyday businesses across the country. In the classic financial panic, speculators are unable to pay their debts. Then the lenders to the speculators are unable to repay their debts. Like a virus, the problem spreads from the sick to the healthy.
Today the Federal Reserve stands ready as the lender of last resort to help banks that are fundamentally sound but temporarily unable to continue with business as usual. The Fed has extended that umbrella to shelter some non-bank financial institutions. The result is that families and businesses with good credit histories and adequate income are still able to borrow. If they were suddenly cut off from the credit to which they were accustomed, spending would drop sharply, followed by declining production and employment. That is unlikely to happen in this crisis, but keep your fingers crossed.
What should everyday people do about this crisis? Sit tight. This is no time to be dumping stocks or bonds or closing bank accounts.
What should the government's role be? The Federal Reserve's easy money helped get the crisis going. Piling on were politicians trying to increase homeownership, even among buyers by thosewithout the resources or habits to support a mortgage. Adding to the problem were community activists insisting that banks weaken credit standards for poor people. Removing these stimulus factors will pretty much solve the problem for the next couple of decades.
At some time in the future, however, another financial crisis will form. Investors will become speculators, optimism will run rampant, lending standards will crater, and we'll start another cycle. Then the economy will recover and life will go on as normal.

Kidnap, take a nap

Don’t watch it. Its as simple as that. Kidnap fails to break your afternoon nap. Frankly speaking I expected too much from the movie and too little from Imran Khan. I was proved wrong on both accounts.
The movie is all about an orphan (Imran) taking his revenge on a billionaire (Sanjay Dutt) for a small (?) mistake he did that ruined his life. Vikrant Raina (Dutt) is a business tycoon (net worth 51.7 billion dollors ) who lives in US. He is very arrogant, self centric and egoist. One reason why he and his wife Mallika (played by Vidya Malvade) do not get along and lead a separate life. However their daughter Sonia (Minissha Lamba) doesn’t approve her mother’s stoic approach to her married life. She fights and rebels, wanting to meet her father. Instead she chooses to wear a bikini and go swimming in the sea, where she is kidnapped by our boy wonder Imran Khan. Hammered, battered and hardened by realities of life, Imran is a guy who is determined to take revenge on Sonia’s father Vikrant. So he calls up her residence and Declares he would not talk to any one but Vikrant Raina. There begins the cat and mouse chase with Vikrant almost every time dancing on the tunes of our hero.
Frankly speaking, the movie could have been much better. There was so much to delve deep inside the childhood trauma-problematic marriage-teenage daughter’s kidnap plot. However Sanjay Gadhvi (the mis-director) only manages to delve deeper inside Minissha’s cleavage. One thing I failed to understand, How on earth she manages to wear all the hot clothes and sing a song when being abducted? Gosh… Mr. Gadhvi, Dhoom was much better.
The film has been literally man-handled. Not only the plot, the casting, editing, even the performances are not up to the mark. Minissha Lamba has managed to get into a good shape after lot of hardships and she exhibits her assets pretty generously. However she was also supposed to act, which apparently she forgot. Sanjay Dutt is good but not too good to carry the film over his shoulders. Imran really surprised me. After the exuberance of the boyish charm in Jaane Tu, he tries his level best to get into the ugly mould. Considering its only his second film, I can excuse him. There is nothing to talk about others. The casting is horribly wrong. I mean Vidya Malvade, a model herself (and good looking too) as mother? Excuse us sir, this is too much.
Over all I would give one and half stars to the movie (purely on Minissha’s figure and Imran’s honest attempt to portray a baddie). But if you ask me, go and watch Mamamia or Flashbacks of a fool. They are better (much better)

How To Set Up Your Own WampServer

There once was a great cat, named the WAMPUS cat. However, this article is not about that cat. This article is about a server. A great majority of websites are run by a trio of services - Apache, MySQL and PHP. Apache is the web server, which handles browser requests and sends the information across the internet to your browser. PHP is the programming language that many sites are written in - this creates dynamic content which in turn is sent to Apache, which sends the data to your browser. And finally, MySQL is the database which stores the information for programs. PHP is used to access this database.

It is a tried and tested trio which works phenomenally well. Usually to gain access to this trifecta, you need to purchase hosting, and this hosting is usually run in a far away datacenter running on a Linux server. However, not many people know that it is available locally, and for Windows as well. You can use these services for running your own applications, and also for locally testing software you are writing, before uploading code to a production server.

WAMP stands for Windows Apache, MySQL and PHP. Compare this to LAMP, which is Apache, MySQL and PHP on Linux.

There are several ways to get these services running locally. Each service, by itself, has Windows installers. That being said - once the programs are installed, you need to know how to configure the services. That may not be simple unless you happen to be a system administrator.
We are going to focus on WampServer. In my experience, using WampServer is the fastest way to get up and running. Wikipedia has a nice list of all Wamp servers.

Step 1
Download the latest WampServer. As of the writing of this article, it includes Apache 2.2, PHP 5.2 and MySQL 5.0.

Step 2
Run the installer. It will warn you to uninstall WAMP5 1.x if you have installed that already. You can use the defaults and it should install without problem.

Step 3
Start the services. You will see a small icon in your taskbar. Left click on it (right clicking does not display the right menu) and select “go online”. The icon will then make a little animation, and your services will be online. You can view your homepage by going to http://localhost/.
Thats it! Wamp is now running. You are ready to install your application, or start learning some PHP! The public website directory is ‘c:\wamp\www\‘.
Any directory you create in this directory, shows up as a ‘project’ on the main index page.

Advanced Settings

PHP Customization
Depending on which type of program you want to install onto your server, you may require additional extensions that are not loaded by default. There are a whole variety of PHP extensions you can load that come built in, but disabled. Left-click on the Wamp menu, go to PHP->PHP Extensions and click off the extension you would like to reload.
You can also edit the configuration file, php.ini through the menu. Edit anything you need, and save this file. The most common edit is the memory_size, but there are many options you can tweak to your liking.

After making any changes to php, make sure you reload apache. I’ve learned the hard way that changes aren’t automatically pushed to the server, until it is reloaded.

Apache Customization
For you advanced tinkerers out there, you can tweak the apache configuration files to your heart’s content. Make sure after making any changes, to reload apache.

MySQL Customization
Depending on your project, you may need to create a database in MySQL. This can be done through phpMyAdmin, which is handily included within the WAMPServer install. By default they include no password on the root MySQL user, which is not the best thing for security reasons. I would recommend changing this password. phpMyAdmin can be reached via the Wamp Menu, or via the url http://localhost/phpmyadmin/


In Summary:
Don’t let the fun stop there. Install a blog and start experimenting with PHP and templates. Run your own Wiki. Run your own music server. The howtos on how to install some neat programs are coming in some future articles.

One of the greatest things about running a home apache server, is that you can use it in combination with a VPN (Hamachi) to access your server anywhere in the world, securely. You can even change your setup to host pages to the outside world, if you so desire.
There is no limit to what you can do! OK, maybe it won’t cook you breakfast in the morning - not yet anyway!
Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or need help with the install!

Change the maximum upload size with PHP

Depending on how you host your website (or application) there are different ways to change the PHP settings. In particular, the most asked about problem, changing the maximum upload size.
There are 3 settings PHP uses that limit your uploading ability:
post_max_sizeThis is the combined maximum size of all files sent on the form. If you have 2 file fields on your form, the total filzesize of the 2 files must not exceed the post_max_size value.
upload_max_filesizeThis is the filesize limit of each individual file.
memory_limitPHP scripts have a memory limit, and generally speaking this can prevent some uploads from working. The limit should be set at a reasonable level, of course you won’t need 20mb for a simple ‘hello world’ script. Try slowly increasing this value if you find that uploads still aren’t working.
If you host your site remotely, you should check their documentation on how to change the PHP configuration settings. But if you’re not so inclined, and prefer a trial and error approach, here’s a summary of things to try:
Change php.ini directly
If you host your site on a server that you have access to, you can change your php.ini file directly. This is the easiest approach. Your php.ini file should exist in the PHP installation directory. Open it in your favourite text editor and search for these lines and change them:
memory_limit = 8Mpost_max_size = 8Mupload_max_filesize = 2M
You may need to restart apache for the changes to take effect.
Changes to .htaccess
.htaccess files only apply to Apache webservers. They are files that append and change certain values that apache uses and they are placed in the root folder (and all folders beneath will use those settings). If apache uses PHP as a Module, then you can add values to the .htaccess file:php_flag file_uploads On
php_value memory_limit 8M
php_value post_max_size 8M
php_value upload_max_filesize 2M

Download this code: .htaccess.txt
If you try this approach, and your webserver displays a 500 interal server error, then PHP is not runing as a module and apache didn’t like the php_value entries. You will need to remove your changes.
Upload a php.ini file
This generally works if the changes to .htaccess method doesn’t. Some web hosts that use apache, also use PHP as a CGI. Then also, most times, this allows changes to the PHP configuration using a custom php.ini file that you can upload. You don’t want to include every setting available to PHP in your file. Only include the ones you want to change, and don’t forget the heading [PHP]:[PHP]
; Whether to allow HTTP file uploads.
file_uploads = On
; Maximum amount of memory a script may consume (8MB)
memory_limit = 8M
; Maximum size of POST data that PHP will accept.
post_max_size = 8M
; Maximum allowed size for uploaded files.
upload_max_filesize = 2M
Download this code: php.ini
Still not working
In the event these techniques didn’t work for you, check with your host’s documentation.


Chinchu Narayan

Dealing with the maximum upload size of ASP.NET

A lot of sites allow people to upload a file like pictures, word documents, ... or even videos. ASP.NET provides an easy way to do this(1).
What not everyone seems to know that ASP.NET only allows, by default to upload 4Mb of formdata to the server. Endusers can get frustrated when they try to upload their large sized document or video and see, after wasting bandwidth and time, that they don't succeed. This leaves your endusers with a bad taste in their mouth about your application and most likely they won't return or go to the competition.
However, as with many things in ASP.NET, this can be easily adjusted. Open up the web.config file of your current application and check the line, or add it in case it isn't already in the config file, (2). This has an attribute maxRequestLength that you can set. The number represents the amount of kilobytes that the total form can transfer to the server. Setting this to a higher number than the default 4098 allows you, the developer, to let endusers upload larger sized files.

Chinchu Narayan

Rock on - A movie that stands apart

Of late, Bollywood is churning out one different movie followed by the next; each one choosing consciously not to tread the beaten path of commercial cinema and at the same time having enough meat to get noticed by critics and masses alike receiving rave reviews and getting the deserved attention. It is a good time to be following Bollywood.
Looking back, Taare Zameen Par started the trend. Aamir, Sarkar Raj, Shaurya, Mumbai Meri Jaan, A Wednesday and Rock on – all of these movies are linked by the fact their heart is in the right place. Not ingratiating, not looking to impress, having a good story, backed by impressive direction, staying out of stereotyped song and dance sequences, they have went on to show that Hindi cinema can indeed rise above the ordinary flock and speak on issues that are contemporary and have resonating relevance world over.
Rock on – It had huge expectations and it has manged to live up to it. Its audience is the predominantly the youth who dreams big, has reasonably achievable aspirations, but gets lost somewhere. Lack of right support, ego altercations, a little hesitancy, failure to compromise at the right moment, other things assuming a more grave priority – the movie links all these beads and weaves together a beautiful thread.
Supported ably by Shankar, Ehsan and Loy, the lyrics are simple, innovative and speak to the young audience like never before. Javed Akhtar has surpassed himself. Just sample these:
Yeh Tumhari Meri Baathein, Hamesha Yuhin Chalti RaheYeh Hamari Mulakate, Hamesha Yuhin Chalti RaheBeete Yuhin Apne Saare Din RaatBaaton Se Nikalti Rahe Nayi Baat
Tum Ho To Raahen Bhi Hai, Tum Nahin To Rasthey KahanTum Ho To Yahan Sab Hi Hai, Tum Nahin To Kaun YahanTum Ho To Hai Har Ek Pal Meharbaan Yeh JahaanJo Tum Ho To Hawa Mein Bhi Mohabbat Ka Rang HaiJo Tum Na Ho To Phir Koi Na Josh Na Umang Hai Tum Mile To Mili Yeh Zindagi
Meri Laundry Ka Ek Bill, Ek Aadhi Padi Novel… Ta Ra Ta Ta Ta ….Ta Ra Ta Ta Ta…Ek Ladki Ka Phone Number, Mere Kaam Ka Ek Paper… Ta Ra Ta Ta Ta ….Ta Ra Ta Ta Ta…Mere Taash Se Heart Ka King, Mera Ek Chandi Ka RingPichhle Saat Dino Mein Maine KhoyaKabhi Khud Pe Hansa Main Aur Kabhi Khud Pe Roya
Dil Karta Hai Sadkon Par Zor Se GaoonSab Apne Apne Ghar Ki Khidki KholenPhir Main Aise Josheelay Geet SunaoonMere Geeton Ko Sunke Sab Ye BolenRock On… Hai Ye Waqt Ka Ishaara Rock On… Har Lamha PukaaraRock On….Yuhin Dekhta Hai Kya TuRock On….Zindagi Millegi Na Dobaara…
Aasma Hai Neela Kyun, Paani Geela Geela KyunGol Kyun Hai Zameen, Silk Mein Hai Narmi KyunAag Mein Hai Garmi Kyun, Do Aur Do Paanch Kyun Nahi Pedd Ho Gaye Kum Kyun, Teen Hain Ye Mausam KyunChaand Do Kyun Nahi, Duniya Mein Hai Jung KyunBehta Laal Rang Kyun, Sarhaden Hain Kyun Har KahinSocha Hai... Yeh Tumne Kya KabhiSocha Hai... Ki Hain Yeh Kya SabhiSocha Nahi To Socho Abhi…..
If these don’t strike a chord with the youth, nothing ever can.
Caught in the middle of careers struggling to take off, a reunion gives an opportunity for four friends to come together again, bury their egos, give their lost aspirations another chance at redemption and proclaim to the world that the spark they nourished as youth is alive and kicking.
The movie ends on a note of practical optimism and inspiration. It is an effort that deserves the highest praise.

‘Bomb blasts are now doing what riots used to’

The recent series of bomb blasts that have rocked India—a series which has become a proverbial dark tunnel where no end is in sight—denote a new pattern.
Till now communal riots were engineered by communal forces and the fascist part of the Indian state machinery to polarize society. This trend reached its apogee in the Gujarat 2002 riots.
The communal forces both inside and outside the Indian State machinery learnt some important lessons from Gujarat; chiefly that in this time and space, in the 21st century, it is very difficult to get away with organized pogroms. Ultimately you have to pay a political price which the political party did in the 2004 elections.
The communal forces then conjured a new phenomenon: why not start engineering bombs first in Hindu dominated areas, and then in Muslim areas?
The trend began with the July 2006 Bombay serial train blasts in “Gujarati Hindu dominated” first-class compartments of the Bombay local train service; soon there were blasts in Muslim areas of Malegaon and Hyderbad.
In 2008, with elections just around the corner in April-May 2009, and the some political parties getting relegated to the third position in electoral calculations in the post-nuclear deal vote phase, the bomb blast phenomenon has become endemic.
From July 2008 at the time of writing this piece here have been several blasts—in the past week, blasts have occurred almost daily.

One thing is clear: it is not that bomb blasts are being engineered to create communal riots. That (communal riots following bomb blasts) simply has not happened. The new mantra seems to be of bomb blasts replacing communal riots. This means that if in the past riots were engineered to create communal polarization the same kind of polarization is being sought to be created by engineering bomb blasts.
So the pattern: four blasts in a Hindu dominated area; then one or two in a Muslim dominated area. So Malegaon and Modesa after Bangalore, Ahmedabad and the two blasts in Delhi.
This is a foreign pattern for even Indian communal forces; this trend has been seen in areas where Mossad and CIA operate; a similar/exact phenomenon was seen in Lebanon where Beirut, a beautiful and cosmopolitan Asiatic city was turned into an arena of sectarian Muslim-Christian conflict with bomb blasts being engineered every day in respective Muslim-Christian areas, something which now even Hollywood films (see Spy Game) admit as a CIA ploy to destroy Lebanon.
The post-American invasion Iraq situation too sees a similar thing—of sectarian Shia-Sunni violence being generated by the bomb blast phenomenon, engineered by the CIA, private US mercenary firms like Blackwater and the US forces.
A third region is Pakistan where too blasts take place respectively, in Shia or Sunni, Sindhi or Mohajir, NWFP or Punjabi or Baluchi areas alternately and with regularity. Here the western game is clear: America and Israel have been working for decades to dismember Pakistan and control its nuclear arsenal.
India was spared of this ordeal till 1991 as Prime Ministers like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, and even Rajiv Gandhi, did not allow Mossad-CIA penetration.
Before liberalization during Narsimha Rao’s regime, Indian passport holders could not travel to two places: Israel and South Africa. India was at the forefront of the International crusade against apartheid and the denial of a homeland for Palestinians.
Why is it that after liberalization, which was initiated soon after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, India recognized Israel and established diplomatic relations, and then the Babri Masjid demolition incident occurred?
So three things are related: liberalization of the Indian economy, the change in Indian foreign policy from an anti-imperialist, pro-Third World position to a pro-American, pro-Israel stance, and the increasing persecution of Muslims, in an institutionalized form.
See that these three developments occur side by side, and now in 2008 we see India being turned into another Lebanon.

Today being anti-Muslim is tantamount to being anti-national.
What India needs today are not just protests. We need a special prevention of atrocities against minorities Act, something which makes refusal of housing and flats to minorities, refusal by a police officer to register a FIR by minorities, or to act in their protection, failure of a district magistrate or a senior superintendent of the police to prevent a riot or a bomb blast, the picking up of Muslims and other minorities without a formal charge, the very idea of detention of Muslim youths after blasts, or encounter killings, the calling of Muslms by the name Laandiya or Katua, a stringent crime with due punishment.
India already has a prevention of violence/atrocities against Scheduled castes act; it is a crime to call a Dalit a chamar; or not to register his or hers FIR. Why can’t a similar act, be enacted for the minorities?
In India the so-called war against terror, against SIMI or the Indian Mujahideen is a fictitious, bogus war. The recent bomb blasts were engineered by security forces, and foreign agencies and some parties in Indiabjp.
The real war is against Muslim/minority persecution, the appropriate response to Batla House type fake encounter killing, and the extension of civil liberties guaranteed in the Indian constitution.
See the history of nations:
In America and Europe mere constitutional guarantees were not enough. Specific new laws had to be enacted from time to time to abolish slavery, protect minorities, and end persecution, segregation and racism.
America passed through its civil rights moment in the 1960s. India has to confront its own civil rights moment now. There is a simple message to Indian liberals. Either support the demand for a special civil rights act for minorities or perish. For, soon the fascist forces persecuting Muslims will turn against you.
If there is a civil war in India on this issue, so be the case; in any case with direct American intervention in Pakistan, conflict between America and India is very near. Liberals do not understand this but the Indian army does. So there is bound to be a double civil war in India. One against foreign intervention in the Indian sub-continent and the other against anti-national fascist forces.

Glorious moment...

Well Done Bindra...

India wins a Gold after 25 years and the first in an individual event. I was absolutely thrilled to see Bindra receiving the Gold, and I had goose bumps when India’s National Anthem began playing. What a moment! My congratulations to Bindra for his achievement. He has done India proud and given us all a moment to celebrate.

I would recommend to everyone to do a google search on Indian Hockey at the Olympics. You will be amazed to read the reports of India’s achievements in the game. Absolutely fascinating. We were leagues ahead for decades, don’t know what happened after that.

At this time I cannot help but remember the reaction of certain people across the country when India had lost a cricket match/tournament and people began attacking the homes of various players. How easily we forget that our sportspersons are trying their best. They too want to win. They are the ones who have worked day and night and are certainly more upset than we the supporters are. At that time instead of standing by them in their moment of loss and dejection we attack them. And I put a large part of the blame on a number of TV News channels at times like this, who only fan tempers and in fact glorify this kind of hooliganism.

But back to Bindra.

Well done, and thank you for bringing us glory and joy.

Love.

Chinchu Narayan.

I, Me , Myself as a Blogger

I have today opened my Blog to find many of reactions and inputs. Frankly i had never expected this. But now that i have , i am committed to respond to them. There are several that need a personal answer because of the nature of their queries or comments. I am going to start doing that as i work on my cabin, in between breaks.
For now as my first communication, i wish for a little patience for me to get used to this facility and its flow of operation. And as soon as that is done, i shall be on the job.
This is therefore a general communication, but i will get down to personal responses in a while. Bear with me.

To those that have complimented my family and me, my career - a very sincere thank you.

The Blog shall therefore give all of us an opportunity to interact as freely as possible and not have to wait for, or be guided by, another medium, which may not be as easily approachable as this Blog.
In conclusion, for the moment i wish to thank once again all those that came on and apologize for not given them my personal attention. I shall in time.
And one last matter.
Many that have written in, have expressed surprise that i being in an exalted position have considered to talk , metaphorically, to the ‘FRIENDS.

My love and my regards to all the readers for entering my heart and providing me an opportunity to enter yours..

Chinchu Narayan

Chill pill and Bill...Bill

The way u see it ....the way u hear it ...make u feel it.

I am presently doing my work with INCP on a very elaborate background.Doing a transformation of media files to flash. And i have just returned after witnessing an incredible show "Jaane Tu", Oh..what can i say..such a magnificient experience. The songs, the dance, the colors just so uplifting and joyous.There was an entire spirit of participation from the viewers.

For now this is it. But i shall go through all the messages and make points to respond next.

Good night and may you remain always with the Almighty’s blessings..

Chinchu Narayan

Easy steps for upgrading Dupal

Step1: Take a backup of your project both source and database.
Step2: Log on as administrator or super user(the user with user ID 1).
Step3: Put the site in “Off-line” mode.
Step4: Ensure to disable all custom, contributed modules and themes.
Step5: Switch to a core theme(Garland is recommended).
Step6: Remove all of the old files and directories from the Project installation directory.
Step7: Download and unpack the new Drupal files and directories into the Project installation directory.
Step8: Copy the archived “files” and “sites” directories to the Project installation directory.
Step9: Change the config file and make sure it has the latest and correct information.
Step10: Re-enable contributed modules.
Step11: Run update.php by visiting http://www.yoursite.com/update.php
(In this step all the database tables will be created for the new Project installation.
Step12: Change the site to “On-line” mode so your visitors can browse it.
Step13: Sit back and Enjoy!

for more details please visit http://drupal.org/upgrade

Contribution to the world of Virtualization

There is a wide range of products in the market for implementing virtualization .The contribution of Microsoft to the world of Virtualization is VirtualPC.It shows a high-end competition with VMWARE. Using virtualization to run multiple operating systems on a single physical computer was once mainly the domain of ubergeeks and IT administrators, but these days there’s much more widespread interest in the technology, whether as a means to test a planned software deployment, kick the tires on a new OS, or just to continue using an application designed for a now obsolete operating system.

Virtualization’s increase in popularity is in part due to Microsoft’s decision several years ago to offer its Virtual PC 2004 software for free. Some users soon found that there was a catch, however, because VPC 2004 didn’t work particularly well with Windows Vista, whether as the guest (virtualized) operating system or as the host OS running natively on the system.

With the new Virtual PC 2007, Vista-related issues are no more (at least technical ones - more on that in a moment). While VPC 2007 doesn’t address all of VPC 2004’s limitations - nor for that matter does it offer the same level of features as virtualization products like Parallels Workstation or VMware Workstation - it does handle the basics well. And like its predecessor, VPC 2007 is available free of charge, which for many will be reason enough to try it.

OsCommerce and its benefits

osCommerce is the most comprehensive and popular open source Shopping Cart system in existence.

It has a very large list of features and the most versatile shopping cart solution and offers customization choices for the on-line storefront owners depending on their need at a very affordable price. If you are looking for an e-shop, you should consider osCommerce.

It is an Open Source solution released under the GNU General Public License.It is a complete online store which contains both a catalog frontend and an administration tool backend.

Requirements:

osCommerce requires any PHP 4.1+ enabled web server running on Linux, Solaris, BSD, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows environments.

Features:

osCommerce is a good, full-featured cart that uses php and MySQL.

It supports credit-card processors and shipping services.

A large number of add-on modules are available and many more in development.

It supports Customer login and shopping history, order status, shipping information, multiple shipping addresses, product rating and reviews, best sellers, payment processing and tax calculation.

Extensible Content Fields Native to Drupal

With Drupal 7, the core now includes content type extensibility. Now the admin can define and enable content types and custom fields. I think this adds great flexibility to the the framework. Please find the following link to read more..

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/web-cms/drupal-7-cms-to-add-content-type-extensibility-for-dummies-004878.php

iGallery for DRUPAL 6

iGallery for drupal6 has been released.We can create both video as well as image gallery with this new module.Along with that they provide options for categorizing each gallery.Steps for integrating igallery module are:

1.Download iGallery module and copy it into your modules folder.Enable the module.

2.Goto iGallery settings to administer iGallery module.

3.We can create a new iGallery content type through create content.This content type created will act as a new gallery.

4. Select the gallery type.Radio button will help us to do this.If we select image it will work as image gallery.If we select video as type it will work as video gallery.We can upload different content types to video gallery like wmv,mov ,mpeg and some others.

5.For showing image galleries, plugins like greybox and lightbox are also available.

For more details visit http://drupal.org/project/gallery .

Image Transparency in CSS

Image Transparency

Here is one example showing image Transparency in css

Html file

AABBCE


MRP.Rs. 11,000/-


More Details

Style.css file

#global { margin:auto; }

.image {position:relative; width:800px; height:555px; margin-left:10px; float:left;margin-left:20px; background:#000;}

.text {position:absolute; top:0; right:0; padding: 0px; width:800px; height:555px; background:#fff; margin-top:386px;}

.text {filter: alpha(opacity=50); filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.Alpha(opacity=80); -moz-opacity: 0.50; opacity:0.5; }

.words {position:absolute; top:0; right:0; padding: 0px; width:800px; height:555px; background:#fff; margin-top:386px; background:transparent; }

.words p {font-family:”Arial”; font-size:10px; margin:0px; padding:0px; color:#7b7a61; padding-left:10px; padding-top:5px;}

.words a { color:#4da3c6;}