Multiple instances of Gtalk / Google Talk

For windows users...

I use google apps for my email and can chat on gtalk using my company email address. But then I have been avoiding as google talk (gtalk) allows only one instance of gtalk and since I currently use gmail account for chat, I didn't wanted to lose or rather make it painful for others to add me again and also remember to IM me on company account...

So, did a bit of research on how to run multiple instances of a application and figured out the solution.

Here follow this if you have two or more accounts of gtalk...

If you installed google talk to the default location, you can easily create a shortcut to this setting.

1. Right-click on the desktop
2. Select New
3. Select Shortcut
4. Paste this into the text box: "c:\program files\Google\Google talk\googletalk.exe" /nomutex
5. Click Next
6. Name it whatever: BlueCornea Talk Multiple, etc. (:P)
7. Click OK until you are done.

That's it. Click on the shortcut you just created to start another instance.

Google power point presentation

So, here it is...

The all new Google PowerPoint replica on web and they call it Google Presentation. Do you use Gmail? ok I know, who doesn't, its a great application, when you receive a .ppt file as attachment, gmail displays a small link beside the attachment which says "view presentation", click on that and you can see your presentation on a browser - exactly the way microsoft power point slide show works. But it did not let us create or share a ppt online TILL NOW.

YES, Google released the all new, loaded with features, with inbuilt themes, loaded into Google Docs, BRANDED GOOGLE PRESENTATION ... you can share the ppt with others, no more downloading and not being able to view if you don't have MS office, more than one user can edit it at the same time... this is awesome and I am loving it.

The best part, you can send this link to 100's of them and start a presentation... now every one can simultaneously communicate as they view the ppt using the similar to gtalk application inbuilt into google docs. Isn't this just what we need.

My Wish List for Google Presentation:

1. Provide a API so that we can integrate the same into our websites.
2. Let us create themes, a place where we can create themes and link to the users to can use them.
3. As you have already integrated group chat, integrating a voice would be gerat.. so that we can talk while presenting the same.


Do you have a wish list for Google presentation!! add it to the comments and I will pass it on to Google Guys. :)

Do Not Disturbe in INDIA

I can't sit down for dinner without having my phone ring a half-dozen times with stupid junk calls. From personal loans to life insurance, holiday discounts to club registrations, if someone's trying to sell it via telemarketer, they seem to think I'm a good target. How can I stop these calls?


Here is the solution!! From September 1st 2007 gov of India has launched this new bill where you can register with the your Telecom Service Provider to stop getting unsolicited calls.

Links to Mobile and Telecom Companies - Do Not Call / Disturb Registration Forms. Register with your respective service provider.

Bharti Airtel
BPL Mobile
Hutch
Idea Cellular
MTNL Delhi
MTNL Mumbai
Reliance Mobile
Tata Indicom Mobile
Spice Telecom Punjab
Spice Telecom Karnataka
Aircel Chennai
Aircel - Tamilnadu

BSNL users can SMS or call the Call center to register with the NDNC Registry

* To register with the National Do Not Call registry, simply send a SMS from your Mobile phone to 53733 with content DNC ACT.
* Customer Care - Call 1500


And then, finally, you can enjoy your dinner. :-)

Project Management Training (PMP) in Bangalore & Hyderabad

Workshop Overview

PMAC is proud to launch "Advanced Project Management Course, based on the Third Edition of PMBOK (r) Guide (commonly referred to as PMBOK Guide - 2004 edition) and provides dual advantage:1) This best global program on Project Management develops and enhances Project Management Competence by helping participants understand and master "PM Best Practices" for managing their projects effectively and thereby adding more value to their respective organizations and advancing in their careers. 2) This program is designed to lead the participants to an internationally recognized Certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI (r)), USA. PMP (r) is a Certification commanding high repute world-wide and places you in good standing both as a Project Management Professional and career growth. Professionals possesing PMP Certification are preferred both by MNC CLIENTS and VENDOR ORGANIZTIONS. It evidences your solid grounding in Project Management Competence, and your enhanced capability to manage Projects Effectively! This Program meets the PMI requirement of 35 contact hours Project Management Education, which a PMP aspirant is required to obtain, prior to applying for the PMP (r) Certification examination. Being Registered Education Provider (R.E.P.) accredited with the PMI(r), PMAC is an organization of choice among the discerning Project Managers, Systems Analysts, Quality Professionals, Team Leads, and Senior Management of scores of renowned organizations.

Who Should Attend

The target audience for the Program: 1) Professionals interested in pursuing the Project Management Professional [PMP]certification examination conducted by the PMI (r)2) Professionals desiring to acquire knowledge and skills based on PM Best Practices

Workshop Contents

The course has been desinged to ensure learning of Project Management Fundamenatls, 9 Knowledge Areas, 5 PM Process Groups comprising of 44 PM Process Groups in comformance with PMI Latest Standards (PMBOK(R)-@2004).

Course fee:

Rs 15,000/- per participant, plus 12.24% service tax
Discounts: 10% for a group of two, 15% for a group of three, 20% for a group of four and above.
The charges include training delivered by the accomplished instructor, course materials, 35 PDUs certificate and lunch, tea-snacks for all 4 days.

Date: [Four Day PMP Workshop :13,14,15,16 Oct `2007]

BANGALORE

At Hotel Atria,1 Palace Road, BANGALORE
TIMINGS : 9.00 AM - 6.00 PM

HYDERABAD

At Hotel Tureeya Grand,Lane Opp Lifestyle ,Begumpet ,
TIMINGS : 9.00 AM-6.00 PM

Registration procedure:

CORPORATE/Individual NOMINATIONS

For Registrations Contact :
Pranava
Program Manager,PMAC Global REP PMI USA
0 9849043420
040-27730210
[pranavalatha] AT [gmail]
[pranava] AT [pmaci.com]
PMAC R.E.P. PMI USA launches
PMI USA-Approved Advanced Project Management Course
In conformance with Latest PMI Standards!
PMBOK 2004, third edition
"35 Contact Hours Program"

Please send confirmation mail with your full name, address and contact numbers to register for the course to

Mail # [pranavalatha] [AT] [gmail]
Contact # 0 9849043420.

A silent revolution in agriculture

THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS OWNED BY "The Hindu" - © Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

B.S. Satish Kumar

Bio-resources project shows positive results in the villages of Doddaballapur taluk

END OF TRYING TIMES: With farmers taking to innovative methods of farming, agriculture produce is fetching good price.


DODDABALLAPUR (Bangalore Rural District): Ambareesh, a young dry-land farmer from Bachahalli village of Doddaballapur taluk, was fed up with agriculture three years ago as it had become a non-profitable exercise for him. Frustrated by recurring plant diseases that frequently hit his arecanut plantation, he cut the trees down. He tried getting a job in Bangalore and as he had studied only till SSLC, he was ready to accept even a salary of Rs. 2,000.

But Ambareesh’s fortunes have now changed due to a silent revolution that is taking place in the rural area of Doddaballaur taluk. Now, he earns an annual income of Rs. 2.20 lakh from his farm itself. No, he did not take to hi-tech farming. All that he did was to practice sustainable agricultural methods, including organic farming, and diversifying his income generating activities.

To increase the fertility of soil he makes vermi compost. This valuable manure has pushed up his vegetable yields, which he augments by selling earthworms bred through vermi compost. He also practices apiculture, and earns extra money by selling drumstick and “honge” plants in his nursery. These diverse farm activities, though done in a small way, add up to a substantial sum.

Well, it is not just Ambareesh whose income has risen. Many farming families in 51 villages of Tubagere hobli in Doddaballpur taluk have been benefited by the Bio-Resources Complex Project that has been launched on a pilot basis in Tubagere hobli by the National Bio-Resources Development Board of the Union Government. The aim of the project is to increase the income of farmers by four times in five years starting from April 1, 2005, through reduction of the cost of cultivation and crop diversification. They hope it will put an end to the trend of farmers’ suicides and also the mass desertion of agriculture by farmers.

The highlight of the project that is being implemented by the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bangalore is that it is taken up only in five States in the country and in the southern region, Karnataka is the only one to try this initiative.

Project Coordinator K. Narayana Gowda told The Hindu that under the project, a bio-resources centre had been set up in Tubagere hobli to serve as a source of information on requirements of farmers. The project aimed at developing a cafeteria of technological packages, information and resource-based enterprises suitable for specific target groups. The intention is to instil confidence among farmers that it was possible to make a decent living through farming.

Dr. Narayana Gowda said that the Union Government, which recently reviewed the project, had declared that the implementation of the project was the best in Karnataka compared with other four States. He expressed the confidence that it would be possible to increase farmers’ income by five times by 2010.

A study by the project has shown that farmers in Doddaballpur taluk spend about Rs. 6 crore on transportation of their vegetables to Bangalore. Dr. Narayana Gowda said the project was trying to reduce this cost by setting up farmers’ associations for mass transportation and also entering into an agreement with buyers for on-the-spot procurement.

The project also trains farmers on bio-fuel, fish farming and rose cultivation in addition to training 3,000 women of self-help groups on the preparation of ragi malt during their free time to earn additional income.

As many as eight groups have been formed. These include groups of bio-fuel farmers, vegetable growers, ragi malt producers, fish farmers, jack fruit growers and organic farmers.

Google News now integrates videos

Now, in addition to articles and images from thousands of different publishers, Google News in the US, UK and Ireland integrates news video results with help from YouTube. Video partners include CBS, Reuters and others, and when available, clusters of news stories on the Google News page now feature embedded videos. http://news.google.com

Google files patent for mobile commerce

It would allow users to pay for goods via text message

Google Inc. has filed a patent that would allow users to pay for goods from vending machines and retailers -- as well as make larger payments -- via text message, or SMS (short message service) technology.

U.S. Patent 2007/0203836, called "Text message payment," was published last Thursday by Google engineer Ramy Dodin. The invention, dubbed Gpay in the supporting drawings, is described as "a computer-implemented method of effectuating a payment, comprising: receiving at a computer server system a text message from a payor containing a payment request comprising a payment amount sent by a payor device operating independently of the computer server system; debiting a payor account for an amount corresponding to the amount of the payment request; and crediting a payee account that is independent of the computer server system."

According to the drawings, users could use Gpay to make payments to various retailers, doctors or even their landscapers.

However, there are several companies, including two in the Philippines, that already offer such a service. Globe Telecom offers Globe GCash, a system that "enables any Globe or TM subscriber to send and receive money and make payments just through text/SMS." And Smart Communications Inc. offers Smartpadala, a cash remittance service via text.

It is unclear whether these two companies have filed patents for their technology in the U.S.

A Google spokesman said the patent filing doesn't necessarily mean Google plans to develop the technology described.

"We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with," a Google spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement. "Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don't. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications."

Source

StarOffice now in Google Pack

A free office productivity suite for creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations on the desktop, StarOffice, is now optional software within the Google Pack. And by using the Open Document Format, StarOffice is fully compatible with Google Docs & Spreadsheets so you can easily upload and share your work. http://pack.google.com

Embed Google Maps on your website or blog, much in the same way as embeddable YouTube videos

There's a new feature on Google Maps that enables you to easily embed an interactive map on your website or blog just by copying and pasting a snippet of HTML (much in the same way as embeddable YouTube videos work). On Google Maps, pull up the map you want to embed-- it can be a location, a business, a set of driving directions, search results, or a map you've created. Then copy the embed code by clicking "Link to
this page," and paste the code into your blog or website. You can create a map using the map-making tools in the My Maps tab and display it on your website using this embed feature. http://maps.google.com

Phone of the future!!! ???#@$

I found this AD which talks about the features of Apple iphone compared to Nokia N95... now should I say it is just Steve's marketing ability to make it so famous or is it the looks... as you know, ...guys they always fall for looks than what's inside...

Gmail: Behind the Scenes (Final Cut)

Google compilation of clips submitted by Gmail fans as part of Google's collaborative video project. Selected from over 1,100 clips from fans in more than 65 countries.

WTF?? Deer hunting with a bird!!

Google Talk Gadget adds Group Chat

There's something new on the Google Talk Gadget: when you're chatting with a friend on Google Talk, you can invite one or more friends to join the conversation by clicking the "Group Chat" button from any chat tab. Google says.. "This was a top user request, and we hope it will make chatting amongst your circle more useful and fun".

The man who created Windows

Contrary to popular belief, the omnipresent Windows operating system does not owe its existence to Bill Gates, Paul Allen or the development team at Microsoft. The man responsible for giving us Windows was actually a marketing expert called Rowland Hanson.

Work on the OS had started after Gates had seen a demo of Visi Corp's software called Vision, which featured a graphical user interface (GUI), at Comdex, in 1982, and had decided that Microsoft would also come out with a GUI based OS. Gates and the development team referred to it as 'Interface Manager' and the name struck, at least until Hanson was hired to develop a marketing campaign for the product. He was unimpressed by the rather geekish 'Interface Manager' and proposed that the product be named 'Windows', as the user saw a number of 'Windows' on the screen that contained the tools and files they needed to work with.

And the rest, as they love to say, is history. Had it not been for Hanson, 'IM' would have been an abbreviation for an operating system rather than for Instant messaging!

Google launches site search for businesses

The service lets businesses build customized search pages for their Web sites

Google Inc. today launched its Custom Search Business Edition, a fee-based service that lets businesses build search pages for their own Web sites.

The Custom Search Business Edition uses Google's free Custom Search Engine, which allows users to search within a specified group of Web sites.

The new service enables visitors to a company's Web site to search within that site on a customized search page, Google said. Businesses can customize the search page with their own logos and colors and can include Web sites and Web pages that are not contained on their sites. Google announced the service on its official Google blog.

"For a fee, the Business Edition enables customers to enjoy technical support (e-mail and/or phone), customization of search results using XML API, a tailored look and feel, optional Google branding -- and no ads next to the search results," Google said on its site.

For Web sites of up to 5,000 pages, the Custom Search Business Edition costs $100 per year. The fee for Web sites that have as many as 50,000 pages is $500 per year.

The service provides an option for businesses that want to bring Google's search technology into their organization without paying for more-expensive products. The company already sells the Google Search Appliance, starting at $30,000 for 500,000 documents, which indexes material in file servers, content management systems, databases and other sources. It also offers the Mini Search Appliance, starting at $1,995 for 50,000 documents.

Information from the IDG News Service and Computer world was included in this report.

Express yourself on Google Maps

You can now use Google Maps to write reviews for businesses. To get started, click on the 'Write a review' link at the top of the business details window. Whether you've discovered the best deli in your neighborhood or had fantastic service at a restaurant last weekend, share your reviews with everyone on Google Maps. http://maps.google.com

Apply for, International Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year (IYDEY) Award 2007

IYDEY & IYFEY AWARDS 2007

APPLY NOW!!

Click here for details http://www.britishcouncil.org/india-arts-culture-mainpage.htm

Things that affect business

"Every moment your business isn't being attended to your competitors are gaining an advantage."
- Drake Morton

This is so true. I have not been well for couple of days and could not get online, you know what happened - work got delayed, deadlines not met. This did not affect my business nor my clients, but things were a little messed up, I got them straight in a day but the guilt feeling that I was not able to deliver the work on time kept me thinking so much that I did not accept a new project from a new client... why? just to make sure the current customers are attended and until I come up with a strategy to attend my customers 24/7 irrespective of I get ill or go on a trip or what ever it is. Question is, how do I do it? So, basically if you don't attend your business even for a day you will lose business directly or indirectly...

--

Technical problems. Internet connection, I use BSNL, they are good but the problem is, when there is a problem no one knows how to fix it. You know how to but, they don't want to listen to you as they recently got trained and think they are the only people who can find a solution , but they don't know how. This kept me out of connection for more than 16 hours... 16hours sure is a problem for business ... I could not upload files , could not talk to the clients, could not send mails... What did I realize? have 2 internet connections, if possible have one more and let it be a wireless one... who will pay for all this, your customers... charge them an extra buck, they will not mind if you provide them better service and are accessible 24/7.

The Google Channel on YouTube

Much has been made of the 'YouTube' phenomenon, which has emerged
thanks to relatively inexpensive and easy to operate video cameras,
faster computers with more storage space (to hold all that footage)
and easy uploading. The creativity and fun factor are worth
celebrating -- but don't lose sight of online video's ability to show,
tell, teach, and share information quickly. Increasingly, businesses
are showcasing their products, promoting their initiatives and
exposing their employees via video. You may learn something or you may
dislike the marketing messages, but either way, better get used to it
- corporate use of popular online video channels is here to stay. In
Google's case, we've chosen to share quite a few talks by technology
gurus and popular authors, conversations with presidential candidates
(all of whom we've invited to visit our Mountain View campus), and
other presentations and product demonstrations -- and we're adding
more material all the time. Enjoy the view.
http://www.youtube.com/google

Google: NEW PRODUCTS & UPDATES

Search across all content with new universal search effort

In striving to give you the best results to your search queries, we've
found that the best information can take many different forms. For
this reason, we have taken the beginning steps towards a new universal
search effort that provides a more holistic search experience on
Google. Until recently, you could find the best results for your
searches within the separate and distinct Google properties (e.g.,
web, images, maps, videos, books) by clicking a link above the search
box. Using a universal search approach, Google technology searches
across all of the content sources, integrates, and then ranks the
results for the best answers. So depending on your search query, you
may see results from news, images, videos, local, or books integrated
with the web search results. We also introduced new contextual
navigational links so that you can click to see more results from a
suggested type of content. And we've added a new Google navigation bar
to the top of the page to provide easier navigation to Google's
products.
http://www.google.com

Sneak a peek with Street View

Street View gives you navigable 360-degree street-level imagery in
Google Maps for selected cities. You can see images for a spot and
take virtual walks along that street. So when you're trying to find
the perfect outdoor cafe for lunch with friends or want a glimpse of
the neighborhood you're considering moving to, use Google Maps to see
what the spot actually looks like, as if you were right there in
person. Currently Street View imagery is available for the San
Francisco Bay Area, New York City, Las Vegas, Miami, and Denver; and
we expect to launch this feature in many more cities soon. Click on
the "Street View" tab at the top of the Google Maps page or follow the
demo link in the left panel.
http://maps.google.com

Check out Google's latest search ideas

Google Experimental showcases our latest ideas for improving the
search experience - for example, viewing search results on a timeline
or a map, navigating results with keyboard shortcuts, or refining your
search with left-/right-hand navigation. Take a tour of these
experiments, and tell us what you think by clicking "Send Feedback"
from the page you're on.
http://www.google.com/experimental

New tools in Google Finance

Stay on top of your investments with recent upgrades to Google
Finance. View and download historical end-of-day prices for any US or
Canadian company; download the latest performance, returns and
transactions from your portfolio; stay on top of news from your
favorite companies using feed applications like Google Reader; view
events such as earnings calls and analyst meetings on company or
portfolio pages.
http://finance.google.com

Search across more books

In addition to the searching the full text of more than a million book
titles, you can now find information on even more books using Google
Book Search. Millions of metadata records have been added to the
index, which means you can find images of book covers, summaries and
references for even more titles in Google book results. We've also
added new information to the "About this book" page so that now, in
addition to basic information about the book like title and author,
you'll also see reviews and references to the book from web pages as
well as other books.
http://books.google.com

Find your next appointment on your phone

Google Calendar is now available for mobile devices. Just point your
phone's browser to calendar.google.com, and you'll immediately access
your day's agenda, complete with details like date, time, location,
description, and guest list.
http://calendar.google.com

POWER TIP on iGoogle

Create and send your own message on iGoogle

A new feature of iGoogle enables anyone to send and update personal
messages through gadgets on the iGoogle homepage. You can choose from
seven gadget types: Photo Album, Google Gram, The Daily Me, Free Form,
YouTube Channel, Personal List, and Countdown. Either send your
gadgets to selected friends and family, or share them with everyone on
the public directory of iGoogle gadgets.
Create your iGoogle gadget: http://www.google.com/ig/gmchoices
Create your iGoogle homepage: http://www.google.com/ig

500 years of imagining the woman

An excellent collection, 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art.

Director: eggman913

Surfaced before Microsoft surface !!!

In this demo, Jeff Han shows off (for the first time publicly) a high-resolution multi-touch computer screen that may herald the end of the point-and-click mouse. The demo, which drew spontaneous applause and audible gasps from the audience, begins with a simple lava lamp, then turns into a virtual photo-editing tabletop, where Han flicks photos across the screen as if they were paper snapshots. (The Apple iPhone, to be released a year later, also does multi-touch -- but only with two fingers.)

Here is his Video of an amazing technology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKh1Rv0PlOQ

Jeff Han is a research scientist for NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He demonstrates--for the first time publicly--his intuitive, "interface-free," touch-driven computer screen, which can be manipulated intuitively with the fingertips, and responds to varying levels of pressure.

A similar Technology developed by Microsoft, Microsoft Surface - www.microsoft.com/surface

Isn't it Awesome !!

An exercise in hacking

The concept of "infinity" is not like "ojofuffo". You know the meaning of infinity but you cannot comprehend it. But, you neither know the meaning of "ojofuffo", nor you can comprehend it. Whenever you assign a meaning to "ojofuffo", you relate it to an already existing concept, and it comes into the universe of existence. -- got this excerpt while googling ojofuffo to find its meaning.

A friend (Nithin) of mine sent me this link http://www.freestuffhotdeals.com/hacker/1.html,

Now thats puzzle page... goto that page and you will know what to do... don't read any further unless you wanna know the answers before hand.. that takes away the fun in cracking the puzzle..

Below are the answers to all the pages:

The first page gives all the hint you’ll ever need, and you have to be really dumb if you cant get to the next page. Just replace 1 with 2.

Page 2 has the word “two”, follow the pattern to go to the next level… replace 2 with three.

To get to page 4 just replace three with iv. Think that’s self explanatory, since iv is the roman numeral of the number four.

You’ll get the word ruof which is the number four spelled backwards. Since the next page you want to go to is 5, you have to type the word five in reverse as well, so type in evif to go to page 5.

You’re in page five and have this ffiivvee glaring at you. You just have to see the pattern; you want to get to page 6, double every letter and you’ll get ssiixx.

666666. No its not an evil sign or something. Just follow the pattern, no need to compute… just type in 7 seven times. 7777777

uranus is the seventh planet in the solar system, so you have to ask what the eighth planet is… and the only answer is neptune.

acht is number 8 in German language… so it’s telling us to give the number 9 in German which is neun, pronounced as noin.

sept, once again you just have to see the pattern, September is the ninth month and October is the tenth month but you have to just type in oct since the clue is abbreviated.

Next page will give you a 10th of spades playing card, the next level you’re aiming is 11, and if you’re talking about cards, there is no eleven, but there is jack.

Page 11 just shows you eLeVeN, so all you need to do is follow suit and type in the number twelve, but make sure you’re following the pattern, notice that the word eLeVeN has caps alternately, so you have to type in twelve in the same pattern… tWeLvE

144, now you have to do some math in here. 144 is the product of 12 x 12, since we want the page 13, you have to compute for 13 x 13 = 169

You’ll only get a black page on level 13, so you have the highlight the center and you’ll get the word number13, so level 14 means typing in number14, no space between number and 14.

catorce, is the number 14 in Spanish… so the number 15 is quince

James Buchanan, is the fifteenth president of the USA, and so it follows that the site is asking for the sixteenth president who is none other than Abraham Lincoln. just type in lincoln.

sedecim is number 16 in latin, and you know the rule… number 17 in Latin is septendecim

10001 is 17 in binary. You just have to find the conversion of the decimal number 18 into binary. The binary numeral system (base 2 numerals) represents numeric values using two symbols, and the only numbers you’ll be seeing are 0 and 1.

<-- this is the long way to compute.

Based on this computation/formula you will gather that the typical way to count numbers in binary is 1 2 4 8 16 32 64 and so on. You just have to put 1s and 0s in the sequence to add up to 18, another thing is you count it backwards. See the table below to get to the 10010 binary value of 18.

(Just remember that 1 has a value and 0 is null, so you’ll notice that only the numbers 2 and 16 are marked with 1… so 2+16 = 18)

argon is the 18th element in the periodic table of elements, and potassium is the 19th element. (Now, this one makes you remember your chemistry teacher and how you hated her when she asked you to memorized all the elements and its corresponding number in the table)

ojofuffo, now this fuckin word kept me stuck! How could this meaningless word would mean anything like 19 or be related to 20? I’ve tried different languages but no, anyways... googling helped a bit and there are 'n' number of sites which talk about this funny word... the answer is uxfouz. Ok what the heck! I can’t just accept that the answer is uxfouz, there has to be logic. Then when you see the logic you’ll realize that ojofuffo is not meaningless afterall. It’s a sequence wherein you replace an alphabet letter by shifting one letter forward. So b=a, c=b, d=c, and so on. So.... o= n, j= i, o= n, f=e, u=t, f=e, f=e, o=n, nineteen becomes ojofuffo and
t=u, w=x, e=f, n=o, t=u, y=z, twenty becomes uxfouz.

icosagon is the 20 sided polygon. Remember the rule of naming polygons with greek prefixes. Anyways, the 21 sided polygon is called icosihenagon.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, ... 10946. This is the famous fibonacci sequence (adding the last 2 digits to get the next number). 10946 is the 21st number in the sequence so you have to compute to get the 22nd number which is 17711. The formula is usually Fn = Fn-1 + Fn-2

Aoozy, Booyy, Cooxy, ... Vooey… look for the pattern, and you’ll see the answer. First letter in the word is capitalized and follow the normal sequence of the alphabet. Next letter to V in the alphabet is W, it is consistent that the 2nd and 3rd letters is o, so we now have Woo. The fourth letter is backwards, from z to a, hence from vooey, the next letter to e is d, and we have the word Wood. The last letter is always y, so the answer would be Woody.

And you’ll see this granny dancing..

Collection of links: free educational resources, for engineering, management and medicine.

1. Free video lectures and animations on all subjects Huge Collection. Text materials and videos on all Engineering and Medical Sciences.
2. Joint venture by IIT's and IISc
3. MIT Open Course Text materials, video lectures on all subjects
4. MIT world Video lectures
5. MIT lecture Browser browse video lectures on all topics
6. Online Course Materials you can find any course here, where ever it is.
7. WGBH Forum Network videos on all subjects
8. Vega Science Trust Physics Special
9. Micro Biology Video Library Biology
10. Animations Genetics, Biochemistry, Immunology, Physiology etc...
11. National Institutes of Health Medicine Special
12. Free Science Online
13. Free Science Videos and Education



Business, Management and Leadership
1. HBR Idea Cast Archive
2. Interviews with Great Entrepreneurs
3. HARVARD Working Knowledge
4. Stanford University Videos
5. Knowledge @ Wharton Business
6. Huge Collection of many other including the above all.

Other Useful Search Engines
1. Google Book Search Search the all books.
2. Google Code Search searches public source code
3. Google Scholar Search searches all the Scholar papers.
4. Educational Special Search Engine searches all sites for e-books, study materials, video lectures, animations

Others... EngineeringDegree.net

Picture this : Snowboard Video Trailer

Great trailer for a snowboard video by Mack Dawg Productions. The cinematography, lighting and editing is amazing.

Picture this

Pink Floyd | Time lyrics

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
Its good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.

What name can you come up with? BE CREATIVE

What could be the name of the company which sells ad space in restrooms ????

Please leave your creative comment!!

ITunes video, Apple TV 'dead ends,' claims researcher

Apple Inc.'s for-pay video download business on iTunes and its Apple TV set-top box are "dead ends," a researcher said today, because television and cable networks will quickly shift their creative products to free ad-supported streaming.

"The paid video download market in its current evolutionary state will go the way of the dodo," argued James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.

While TV and cable move to ad-backed media streaming "where they have control of ads and effective audience measurement," movie studios will throw their weight behind subscription models similar to Netflix Inc.'s mail-delivered DVD rental business, McQuivey said.

He made the prediction even as Forrester estimated that revenues from video downloads at iTunes, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Web site and other online outlets will nearly triple this year, from $98 million last year to $279 million. But because only a fraction of online consumers -- just 9% by Forrester's reckoning -- have paid to download a television program or movie, the market is driven by "media junkies" and not mainstream users.

"The people currently downloading are very unique," said McQuivey, citing statistics that claim today's downloaders watch three times more video clips than the average online American. "That need to feed a video habit isn't as strong for everyone else," he said.

Apple's strategy is unsound, said McQuivey, because its eight-week-old Apple TV has been made obsolete almost as soon as it made market. "A year and a half or two years ago, when Apple had to start development [of Apple TV], I bet they thought they would have two or three years to build this market slowly, just as they did with the iPod. What they didn't count on, what no one did, was the mass shift to broadcast-quality streaming. ABC's doing it now, and there are rumors that NBC will follow," he said.

Paying for video downloads and "renting" movies by downloading to a computer will turn out to be a short-term, transition-style business, McQuivey said. "The pay download market will stay around, but it will not continue to grow like it did this year," according to McQuivey.

To adjust to the new reality, Apple must rethink Apple TV, he said, and turn Version 2.0 into a broadband service provider, most likely of second-tier video sources. "Only with ad-supported content will Apple be able to compete with the power of free television and TV-quality Web streams in attracting the second million buyers," said McQuivey. "Beyond the faithful who want the Steve Jobs experience, Apple's closed system will have little appeal."

McQuivey suggested one route Apple might take: turning Apple TV into a set-top box that also offers back-catalog programming for a fee. "It could stream current shows, and then say, 'Would you like to order back episodes?'" said McQuivey.

Apple officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Source

Which domain name just sold for $9.5M?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

School girl calls a demolition company to demolish her school lol

Click Here to Play or Download the audio 1.5 MB

Irish school girl calls up a demolition company trying to strike of deal with them to blow of her school and she is faxing the location & names of all her teachers for the guys to be sure that teachers are inside when they blowup the school.. you should listen to this... ROFL...

An Inconvenient Truth

Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb. If the vast majority of the world's scientists are right, we have just ten years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tail-spin of epic destruction involving extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and killer heat waves beyond anything we have ever experienced.

If that sounds like a recipe for serious gloom and doom -- think again. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. That man is former Vice President Al Gore, who, in the wake of defeat in the 2000 election, re-set the course of his life to focus on a last-ditch, all-out effort to help save the planet from irrevocable change. In this eye-opening and poignant portrait of Gore and his "traveling global warming show," Gore also proves himself to be one of the most misunderstood characters in modern American public life. Here he is seen as never before in the media - funny, engaging, open and downright on fire about getting the surprisingly stirring truth about what he calls our "planetary emergency" out to ordinary citizens before it's too late.

With 2005, the worst storm season ever experienced in America just behind us, it seems we may be reaching a tipping point - and Gore pulls no punches in explaining the dire situation. Interspersed with the bracing facts and future predictions is the story of Gore's personal journey: from an idealistic college student who first saw a massive environmental crisis looming; to a young Senator facing a harrowing family tragedy that altered his perspective, to the man who almost became President but instead returned to the most important cause of his life - convinced that there is still time to make a difference.

With wit, smarts and hope, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ultimately brings home Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization.

Paramount Classics and Participant Productions present a film directed by Davis Guggenheim,
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Featuring Al Gore, the film is produced by Laurie David, Lawrence Bender and Scott Z. Burns. Jeff Skoll and Davis Guggenheim are the executive producers and the co-producer is Leslie Chilcott.

Google Analytics released new Interface

Google Analytics revealed it’s new UI, which will roll out over the next few weeks to all their 300.000+ customers.

New functionalities include:

Email and export reports: Schedule or send ad-hoc personalized report emails and export reports in PDF format.

• Custom Dashboard: No more digging through reports. Put all the information you need on a custom dashboard that you can email to others.
• Trend and Over-time Graph: Compare time periods and select date ranges without losing sight of long term trends.
• Contextual help tips: Context sensitive Help and Conversion University tips are available from every report

Tiger Attack : Kaziranga National Park

The forest department received a message early on May 19th about a large tiger which had killed two cows near Tamuli Pathar village, which is close to the boundary of the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in the north-eastern Assam state. By 10 am a joint team of the Assam forest department including the director of the park, Mr N. K. Vasu, the local administration, police and the army, and the Wildlife Trust of India(WTI)-managed Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) was combing the area with five elephants trying to locate the animal.

Range officer, Dharanidhar Bodo, Dr Chaudhary along with a guard were riding the elephant, Joymala, driven by Pegu. Bodo was carrying the darting gun. As the elephant moved towards the tigress, it did a mock charge. The guard fired two blanks to discourage her and she ran away into the next field, where the paddy was thick and hid there.
The team cautiously moved towards it and could get to almost 20 feet where she was growling away. Bodo could see her clearly and took a shot at it with the dart gun. The dart missed her and this enraged her so much that she charged and took a “flying” leap on to the elephant’s head. “I have not seen something as dramatic as this,” Vivek Menon, executive director WTI, who recently saw the footage, said. “I could never imagine that a tiger could so effortlessly leap from the ground on to an adult elephant’s head, which is at least 12 feet above the ground,” he said.
The footage showed that Pegu saw the tigress leaping and threw the metal ankush at it to defend himself. “The tigress saw the ankush coming, dodged it in mid-leap and took a swipe at Pegu without actually landing on the elephant, which had stepped back,” Menon said.
“It all happened in a few seconds and before we knew what both Bodo and the guard had fallen down,” Dr Choudhary narrated. What now happened was even more amazing. As the tigress landed on the ground Joymala quickly pinned her down with her left fore foot and tried to control it with its trunk. The tigress struggled under this weight for at least half a minute roaring, as other people in the vicinity shouted and fired shots in the air. In this commotion another attempt was made to dart it, but even this shot was off the mark. The tigress finally struggled loose and ran away.
“If it had not been for Joymala, both Bodo and the guard would have been badly injured or dead,” he said. Meanwhile, Joymala, which was trying to aggressively chase the tigress, was calmed by the CWRC veterinarian, who was holding on to the profusely bleeding mahout. “His fingers were hanging by few shreds of tissue and I tried to tourniquet the wounds,” he said.

The two sub-adult tigers had strayed out of the heavily wooded Agoratuli range of the KNP into the neighbouring Tamuli Pathar village close to the national highway. It was speculated that the mother could be nearby, but she could not be spotted.
KNP has one of the highest density of tigers among the protected areas in India , but are difficult to see due to the thick vegetation in this grassland dominated park.
The Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) is a joint venture of the Assam forest department and the Wildlife Trust of India, and is supported by its partner the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). This rescue and rehabilitation facility for animals of the region is a first of its kind facility in India has handled over 300 animals in the last two years including mega-herbivores like elephants, rhinos and wild buffaloes. These were the first tigers brought to the facility in two years of its existence.

Note : This post relies information from this source.

At last found this full video... but again not the part where joymala gets into action..

Seventymm - Rent movies online

I recently became a member of – Seventymm. You can rent movies online from their catalog of 10,000 titles. They deliver and pickup for free from your doorstep. The best part is that there are no late fees - you can keep the movies for as long as you want. It costs as low as Rs.199 per month.

Click here to check them out!

Here how it works... Check out the four-step process below,

Micro-financing in India

Have you read about 'Muhammad Yunus' and his idea of micro-financing? Though micro-financing has been there for ages... It is fascinating to know that he has 6.6 million borrowers of whom 97% are women, that's a huge number for someone who is into micro-financing. I started reading more about micro-financing and came across a article by an advertising agency which talks about 'Seventy Things to Watch in 2007' and interestingly of one them is 'Web-based Micro Financing'.. I googled around and found this website 'kiva.org' it is quite a successful business today. 'Web-based Micro Financing' is a wonderful idea.. I am curious to know how much would these micro-lenders earn, like what would be the percentage of profit...? and would you invest in such ventures to get good returns...? How much do you think the website owners(kiva.org) are making money..?

I think you just need 3 things to build a company like Kiva.. 1, Technical skill to build a website. 2, Build contacts with local micro-financiers 3, Most importantly you need to have financial (banking/micro-financing) background to understand and run this business or may be degree in finance. I can build such a website with in a week and build contacts with micro-financiers - So, if anyone wants to start something similar to kiva then I would be interested to become a partner but your business plan should interest me.. I see a great opportunity in micro-financing esp India .

Ferrari fanatics

Source



Jeremy Clarkson (in 1998) interviewing a modern-day Da Vinci - "There are few if any models in the world to rival the Ferrari 312PB built by Pierre Scerri of Avignon, France. This 1:3 scale marvel is the real thing in every sense, from its operating 12-cylinder engine to the exact scale operating Ferrari gauges which are calibrated precisely to indicate rpm, oil pressure, water temperature and oil temperature.

It took Pierre 15 years and more than 20,000 hours to build this car. He learned to make glass so he could make the exact pattern lens for the operating headlights. He learned to make rubber so he could mold his own tires. His computer mainframe design background with the French telecommunications system allowed him to duplicate the Ferrari electronics system in exact miniature. It also provided him with the understanding needed to make a 1/3 scale operating fuel injection system identical to that in the full-size Ferrari.

Perhaps the toughest aspect of the car was the gearbox, for which Ferrari supplied drawings. While Pierre had an understanding of the object to be built, he lacked the very expensive specialized equipment required to build high-tolerance gears and synchros. Colleti, the builder of the full-size car's gearbox ended up building the model's gearbox.

There is no sign of deviation from the real car in terms of replication. The spark plugs are miniatures, the radiators were hand-built to the exact same core design as the real ones. Even the water reservoir fill cap is a Fiat radiator cap made exactly the same way as the real one and pressure tested. The suspension is exact and the hydraulically controlled brakes from the brake pedal have quick-change brake pads just as on the real car.

If you were 1:3 scale, you would open the door of the car, get in, fasten your seat belt as on the full-size car, take you Ferrari key (engraved identically to the real key) and put it into the ignition.
You would flip the toggle switch for the fuel pumps, and with this you would hear the fuel-injection system come to life, powered by a real scale battery built by Pierre. A crew member would stick the hand-held scale starter into the rear transaxle housing and as the engine turned over you would flip the ignition toggle switch and the 12-cylinder engine would come to life with a sound you'd never forget.

This 12-cylinder engine just isn't any 12-cylinder engine, it is a 1:3 scale Ferrari 12-cylinder engine with the same beautiful sound. It took Pierre six months of running the engine on his own dynamometer to tune the header pipes so they would give off the same sound value as he had recorded from the engine of the real car. Once Pierre had the engine bolted together for the first time, it started on the very first try and, since then, has logged more than fifty hours of running time with no failures or refusals to start (It's probably more reliable than the real engine).

In short, this model car is so incredible that one has a very difficult time focusing on the fact that it is a model and not a full-size car. Pierre has begun work on a 1:3 scale Ferrari P4.

Pierre Scerri's terrific website here - http://mps-sportproto.com/en/index.php

He'll be in Toledo in the United States in April to collect an award for "Outstanding Metalworking Craftsman of the Year".

You can also order a limited-edition fully-functional 12-cylinder Ferrari 312PB engine from this site. No mention of price.

IPOD Video Converter MPEG 4

I have been searching for a IPOD video converter, a software which can convert all popular video formats (DVD/VCD, AVI, MPEG, WMV, RM, RMVB, DivX, ASF, VOB video files) to iPod video. I was tired of finding something which is not limited.. for which I don't have to pay anything basically a free one.. who want to pay another $100 for a software like that.. I am srue you would not want to buy it too.. and searching for something free and reliable else why would you be here... hehe.. anyways.. here I found something which I have been using for quite sometime.. and can say it is reliable.. and simply works... it is just what I have been looking for..

Here you can download it at download.com...

Btw, it is 1.4MB... Happy IPODING.. wooo.. I just came up with a new word.. IPODING hehe..

Hutch sucks!!

I know I know.. there are a countless number of posts complaining about Hutch Service.. yes, you are correct this is just another such post.. plus one to the countless number of hutch's frustrated customers.

Just got a call from Hutch billing department, its a third party* asking me to pay my bill. I told them that I have few uncleared issues with the technical department and I will not until they clear those, not at least this time... as in the past I have made the same complain and they did nothing about it. So, the agent is furious (I don't know why) and hangs the phone on me. Hmmm, I was speechless... and after 10mins I get a call from another agent.. and asks me to pay.. Here goes our conversation..

Agent: Hello sir.. I am calling from Hutch billing department.. you need to pay the bill.

Me: Oh, 10mins ago a agent called me and I told her why I am not paying it.

Agent: Why Sir?

Me: I told her, do you want me to repeat it. Can I speak to your team lead.

Agent: She waits for a 2secs and says she is the team lead.

Me: (Laugh) Don't lie.. you sound like a fresher... go to hell. (I hung up)

I was sure the agent was no team lead... may be a trainee.. agent sounded like that. After 30mins I get one more call.. this time from a Manager... here goes the conversation..

Me: Hello...

Manager: Hello Sir, I am Ramya calling from Hutch, manage platinum and gold customers.

[I am their platinum customer.. because I get a huge bill at the end of every month, isn't this ridiculous that they differentiate their customer on the basis of how much they pay. So, that means they provide least service to the person who pays less.. or don't really care about them.]

Me: Its the third call in the past hour.. What do you guys want?

Manager: Sir, please tell me what is the problem I will solve it.

Me: I already made a complaint.. check the records.. solve it and call me.

Manager: Sir, according to the records you have some network issue.

Me: Its not some network issue.. I specified what it is.

Manager: Yes Sir.. you have to call a number thrice to get through it.. as it gives a network busy message.

Me: Yes, there is one more issue.. please report me on that too..

Manager: Sir I just have the record of one issue. What is the second one.. can you please let me know.

[Me... surprised that they did not even record my complaint :( ]

Me: I spoke to Leena, team lead of customer service department.. I made sure she understands everything.. so, she will know it.. please put her on conference.

Manager: Sorry I cannot do that..

Me: ok, please speak to her and get back to me.

Manager: Tell me what is the issue.. I will solve it.

Me: I don't wanna repeat it.. talk to Leena and get back. Also, did you guys at least made a note who the 2 agents who called me in past hour and what did they speak..

Manager: Yes.

Me: Can you please tell them not to lie and hung upon on the customer.

Manager: Sorry, they are from a agency and I will report. What did they lie?

[Ok.. here comes.. thats when I know it was third party (a agency) who called me]

Me: You said you know what they spoke.. listen to the recorded call again.

btw, did you observe she stopped saying sir and please.. Not that I want someone to call me sir or request me but I just sensed that she is pissed of me...

Manager: I will get bye.. you have a great day..

hehe.. she said that.. and hung up before I said bye.. lol.. these people will never change..


I have been having Network problems from past few months and after n number of complaints they don't solve it.. and they send me some stupid sms asking me to download HOT AISH, HOT BIPS.. hehe.. they do.. seriously.. So, all I asked them was to solve these network issues and stop sending me those crazy sms as I am paying for the service... they cannot advertise for the service I am paying...

The team lead (Leena), whom I complained about this issue asked me to send a sms to some 4 digit number (I don't remember the number) with a keyword 'DND' and that would take 72 hours to update that. AND THAT WOULD COST ME Rs.3... lol... can you imagine.. you pay for the service.. they still send you crazy download sms without your permission and then when you ask them to stop sending those sms.. they ask you in turn spend Rs. 3 to stop those ads.

I googled a bit and found out that I am not the only one who go through such horrible service.

http://www.complaints.com/directory/2005/september/3/9.htm
http://www.complaints.com/directory/2006/october/23/54.htm

Yeeks.. check this... "Results 1 - 10 of about 195,000 for hutch sucks. (0.09 seconds) "

Oh.. btw.. by now you might be thinking why don't I cancel the service and go with some other provider..??? Listen.. I have this number from past 4 years and cannot really give a trouble to my clients asking them to update my contact just because I am have a issue with it.


**Third Party, most of the service providing companies which think that they cannot get money out of few frustrated customers outsource this service to another company whose work is just calling such customers and make them pay the bill.

How does an IPOD Click Wheel works?

The Click Wheel is a touch-sensitive ring that we use to navigate through all of iPod's menus and control all of its features. It provides two ways to input commands: by sliding finger around the wheel and by pressing buttons located under and in the middle of the wheel.

Under the plastic surface of the Click Wheel, there are four mechanical buttons (Menu, back, forward, play/pause), and there's one button in the center (select).

Click Wheel face

There are five buttons and five corresponding contacts on the motherboard. When we press, say, the right side of the wheel while you're listening to a song, the wheel pushes down the forward button. The underside of each rubber button is metal, so pressing it completes the corresponding circuit on the motherboard. The motherboard tells the processor this circuit is complete, and the processor tells the operating system to fast-forward through the song.

The Click Wheel's touch-sensitive function lets us move through lists, adjust volume and fast forward through a song by moving finger around the stationary wheel. It works a lot like a laptop touchpad. In fact, the company that supplied the Click Wheel for the 4G iPod was Synaptics, most widely known for making laptop touchpad’s. For the 5G, Apple created its own proprietary Click Wheel design based on the same capacitive sensing principle as the previous Synaptics-designed Click Wheel.

Under the plastic cover of the Click Wheel, there is a membrane embedded with metallic channels. Where the channels intersect, a positional address is created, like coordinates on a graph.

At its most basic, a capacitive-sensing system works like this: The system controller supplies an electrical current to the grid. The metal channels that form the grid are conductors -- they conduct electricity. When another conductor -- say, finger -- gets close to the grid, the current wants to flow to the finger to complete the circuit. But there's a piece of nonconductive plastic in the way -- the Click Wheel cover. So the charge builds up at the point of the grid that's closest to the finger. This build-up of an electrical charge between two conductors is called capacitance.
The closer the two conductors are without touching,
the greater the capacitance.

The "sensing" part of the system comes in with the controller. The Click Wheel controller (see above) is programmed to measure changes in capacitance. The greater the change in capacitance at any given point, the closer the finger must be to that point. When the controller detects a certain change in capacitance, it sends a signal to the microprocessor. As we move finger around the wheel, the charge build-up moves around the wheel with it. Every time the controller senses capacitance at a given point, it sends a signal. That's how the Click Wheel can detect speed of motion -- the faster we move our finger around the wheel, the more compacted the stream of signals it sends out. And as the microprocessor receives the signals, it performs the corresponding action -- increasing the volume, for instance. When the finger stops moving around the wheel, the controller stops detecting changes in capacitance and stops sending signals, and the microprocessor stops increasing the volume.

Nike

ST Mary's Hyderabad

Bhima's son Gadotkach like skeleton found

Bhimas son Gadotkach like skeleton found Hoax News....

Is it Real or Not? - Find out below after reading this Hoax News....

Recent exploration activity 1n the northern region of India uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size. This region of the indian desert is called the Empty Quarter.

See the photo and note the size of the two men standing in the picture in comparison to the size of the skeleton!!




A very small article on this was published in Times Of India- Mumbai edition on 22-Apr-2004.

The exploration team also found tablets vdth inscriptions that stated that our Gods of Indian mythologically ore, Brahma", had created people of phenomenal size the like of which He has not created since. They were very tall, big, and very powedul, such that they could put their arms around a tree trunk and uproot it.

They were created to bring order among us since we were always fighting with each other. One of he sons of Bhima of the Pandava brothers is also thought of to have been carrying these genes. Later these people, who were given all the power turned against all our Gods and transgressed beyond all boundaries set. As a result they were destroyed by God Shiva.

The Geo Exploration team believes these to be the remains of those people.

On September 16, 2000, Steve Westin was a guest at the site outside Hyde Park, New York, where the Paleontological Research Institution and the Cornell Department of Geological Sciences are excavating the skeleton of a mastodon.

The image first surfaced in October 2002 as an entry in a Phostoshop contest run by Worth1000.com. It was created by altering an actual photo of a Cornell University excavation of a mastodon skeleton.

A Murder or a Suicide ??? Real or just a forward ???

At the 1994 annual awards dinner given for Forensic Science, AAFS President Dr Don Harper Mills astounded his audience with the legal complications of a bizarre death.

On March 23 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a gunshot wound of the head caused by a shotgun. Investigation to that point had revealed that the decedent had jumped from the top of a ten story building with the intent to commit suicide. (He left a note indicating his despondency.) As he passed the 9th floor on the way down, his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast through a window, killing him instantly. Neither the shooter nor the decedent was aware that a safety net had been erected at the 8th floor level to protect some window washers, and that the decedent would not have been able to complete his intent to commit suicide because of this.

Ordinarily, a person who starts into motion the events with a suicide intent ultimately commits suicide even though the mechanism might be not what he intended. That he was shot on the way to certain death nine stories below probably would not change his mode of death from suicide to homicide, but the fact that his suicide intent would not have been achieved under any circumstance caused the medical examiner to feel that he had homicide on his hands.

Further investigation led to the discovery that the room on the 9th floor from whence the shotgun blast emanated was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. He was threatening her with the shotgun because of an interspousal spat and became so upset that he could not hold the shotgun straight. Therefore, when he pulled the trigger, he completely missed his wife, and the pellets went through the window, striking the decedent.

When one intends to kill subject A, but kills subject B in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject B. The old man was confronted with this conclusion, but both he and his wife were adamant in stating that neither knew that the shotgun was loaded. It was the longtime habit of the old man to threaten his wife with an unloaded shotgun. He had no intent to murder her; therefore, the killing of the decedent appeared then to be accident. That is, the gun had been accidentally loaded.

But further investigation turned up a witness that their son was seen loading the shotgun approximately six weeks prior to the fatal accident. That investigation showed that the mother (the old lady) had cut off her son's financial support, and her son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that the father would shoot his mother. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Further investigation revealed that the son became increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to get his mother murdered. This led him to jump off the ten story building on March 23, only to be killed by a shotgun blast through a 9th story window.

The medical examiner closed the case as a suicide.

Origins: This amazing tale appeared on the Internet in August 1994. Prized both for the entertaining logic problem it presents as well as the morally just surprise ending, even years later it remains a cyber-favorite and continues to be forwarded to ever-widening circles of netizens.

A story this good should be true. Alas, it's not. There never was a suicidal Ronald Opus, a feuding, shotgun-wielding older couple, or an increasingly confused medical examiner trying to get to the bottom of things. But there is some truth to it, for there is a Don Harper Mills, and he did tell this very story at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Here's how Mills explained his involvement with the story in a 1997 interview:
I made up the story in 1987 to present at the meeting, for entertainment and to illustrate how if you alter a few small facts you greatly alter the legal consequences. In 1994 someone copied it on to the Internet. I was told it had already garnered 200,000 enquiries on the Net. In the past two years I've had around 400 telephone calls about it - librarians, journalists, law students, even law professors wanting to incorporate it into text books.
It was hypothetical; just a story made up to illustrate a point. It's hard to imagine anyone at that 1987 meeting took it for anything
else.

How did a 1987 illustrative anecdote morph into 1994's believed-to-be-true story? We'll likely never know. How did Dr. Mills come to concoct such a tale? As he said in a 1997 interview, "Some of it I wrote out, and some of it I invented as I went along."

Ronald Opus never lived. And his death will never die.


Barbara "levity longevity" Mikkelson Sightings: This amusing hypothetical case showed up in the 16 January 1998 episode of the TV series Homicide and is also said to have been mentioned in an episode of the TV show Law & Order, but in the latter case District Attorney Ben Stone merely offered a hypothetical example of a man who jumped off the Empire State Building because he wanted a ham sandwich and was shot on the way down by someone who thought he was committing suicide. A 1998 episode of the Australian TV show Murder Call also featured this legend, and it pops up early in the 1999 film Magnolia.