This windows logon sure to catch an eye

eh...water anyone???

For Avril Lavigne fans - More than 30 wallpapers in one collage HD wallpaper

click to enlarge

11 interesting ways to commit suicide

Note : This post has not been published with any intention of provoking people to commit suicide !

TATA nano to launch on March 23

NEW DELHI: Tata Motors on Thursday said it will launch Nano, touted as the world's cheapest family car, on March 23 in Mumbai and bookings will
start from April this year.

The car was unveiled at the auto expo in Delhi in January 2008 and a function on March 23 would mark the car's commercial launch.

"The cars will be on display at Tata Motors dealerships from the first week of April 2009. Bookings will commence from the second week of April 2009," the company said in a statement.

The company said that the booking process and other details of the Rs one lakh car would be announced on the day of launch.

"Tata Motors is making arrangements for the widest possible network to book the car, so that prospective customers can conveniently avail of booking facilities at their locations, across the length and breadth of India," the statement said.

The company had also displayed the Nano at the Geneva Motor Show last year and had triggered competition, including Nissan-Renault, to announce plans for building low-cost family cars. The economic crisis has, however, forced them to put the plans on hold.

8 oscars for Slumdog and 2 for A R Rahman

THE OSCAR WINNERS...

Best Direction: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Song: A R Rahman for ‘Jai Ho...’ (Slumdog Millionarie) ( Watch )

The Indian music maestro, Rahman wooed the audience with ‘O Saya’ and ‘Jai Ho...’ the nominated songs from ‘Slumdog...’, as the nominees for Best Original Song were being announced.

Best Original Score: A R Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire . “I have nothing but my mother and she is there with me. I thank her for making me coming all this way with her blessings,” said a proud Rahman.

Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Mixing: Ian Tapp, Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire. “This is just not a sound award, but a history being handed over,” said Indian receiver Pookutty.

Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire. “The cast and crew of the film told me so much about India and writing,” said a proud Beaufoy.

Best Documentary Short Subject: Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn for Milk.

Best Actressin a Leading Role: Kate Winslet for The Reader. Breathless Kate confessed experiencing the fainting feeling just like Penelope Cruz. She shouted onstage and waved at her father. She said, “I want to thank my family as they love me the way I am and lets me do what I want to.” By the time she finished her speech she was already in tears.

Best Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan)

Best Sound Editing: Richard King for The Dark Knight

Best Visual Effects: Eric Barba for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Documentary Feature Film: James Marsh for Man on Wire

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight . It was a special moment for actor’s family - mother Sally, father Kim and sister Kate who came to receive the trophy on Ledger’s behalf.

Best Live action short film: Jochen Alexander for Spielzeugland Toyland

Best Make-up: Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Costume Design: Michael O’Connor for The Duchess

Best Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Animated Short Film: Kunio Kato for La Maison En Petits Cubes

Best Animated Feature: Andrew Stanton for Wall-E

Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. “Has anyone fainted here, may be I will be the first one,” exclaimed Penelope immediately after receiving the award.

THE SHOW BEGINS...

Hilarious host Hugh Jackman opens the ceremony with a grand performance.

THE HOST...

Will Smith announced the awards for best visual effects, sound mixing and film editing categories.

Natalie Portman and Ben Stiller were the next to grace the stage to announce the award for best cinematography.

Sarah Jessica Parker clad in a shining silver off shoulder gown with Daniel Craig played the perfect host to a set of awards including best art direction, costume design and make-up.

Tina Fey and Steve Martin opened the awards ceremony announcing the first set of awards including best supporting actress, original screenplay and adapted screenplay.

Hilarious host Hugh Jackman opens the ceremony with a grand performance with actress Anne Hathaway.

Australian entertainer Hugh Jackman, stands tall as the first-time host to the ultra-glam evening. Though, he had hosted Broadway's Tony Awards three times in the past.

Robin Roberts welcomed the guests at the Red Carpet in a sensuous red gown designed by J Creww as she arrives for the 81st Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

RED CARPET

The much awaited and much anticipated, 81st Academy Awards will begin shortly with the Red Carpet already rolled out at the Kodak Theater.

Some of the stunning arrivals at the Red Carpet include teen idol Miley Cyrus, Aliciya Keys, actress Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie, Penelope Cruz, ‘Slumdog...’ star Freida Pinto, ‘The Wrestler’ star Marisa Tommei to name a few.

British director Danny Boyle shepherded the extended ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ family down the red carpet. The nine cast members, who played the three main characters in the rags-to-riches fairy tale were all on hand for the Oscars ceremony. The two youngest cast members, who still live in Mumbai's slums, were making their first trip outside India

After months of controversy and speculation, the wait will finally be over. With movies like Slumdog Millionaire , The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Reader leading the way in major categories, it's tough to predict who will take away the trophy. So do you think 2009 will be the year that ends India's dry run at the Oscars?

Confessions of an iPod Touch Artist

Mobile devices are no longer just for communication, entertainment and business: They can make art, too. Several different iTunes apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch allow users to edit photos, record music and now paint.

Last month, French artist and videographer David Lasnier began composing paintings with the Brushes app on his iPod Touch and uploading the artwork to Flickr. The paintings quickly garnered praise and links from commenters and bloggers.

"The small screen and the limited types of brushes limit the possibilities," says Lasnier, "But this generally boosts my creativity."

The Brushes app has its own Flickr group with a growing number of regular contributors, many of whom create elaborate, professional illustrations with the relatively simple program. A competing app called Colors has similar features, and the debate over which is the superior program rages on in each app's review section.

Scientists expect to create life in next 10 years

WASHINGTON - Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they’re getting closer.

Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years from someone in the now little-known field of “wet artificial life.”

“It’s going to be a big deal and everybody’s going to know about it,” said Mark Bedau, chief operating officer of ProtoLife of Venice, Italy, one of those in the race. “We’re talking about a technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental ways — in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict.”

That first cell of synthetic life — made from the basic chemicals in DNA — may not seem like much to non-scientists. For one thing, you’ll have to look in a microscope to see it.

“Creating protocells has the potential to shed new life on our place in the universe,” Bedau said. “This will remove one of the few fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe and our role.”

And several scientists believe man-made life forms will one day offer the potential for solving a variety of problems, from fighting diseases to locking up greenhouse gases to eating toxic waste.

Bedau figures there are three major hurdles to creating synthetic life:

• A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.
• A genetic system that controls the functions of the cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to environmental changes.
• A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and then changes it into energy.

One of the leaders in the field, Jack Szostak at Harvard Medical School, predicts that within the next six months, scientists will report evidence that the first step — creating a cell membrane — is “not a big problem.” Scientists are using fatty acids in that effort.

Szostak is also optimistic about the next step — getting nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to form a working genetic system.

His idea is that once the container is made, if scientists add nucleotides in the right proportions, then Darwinian evolution could simply take over.

“We aren’t smart enough to design things, we just let evolution do the hard work and then we figure out what happened,” Szostak said.

In Gainesville, Fla., Steve Benner, a biological chemist at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution is attacking that problem by going outside of natural genetics. Normal DNA consists of four bases — adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine (known as A,C,G,T) — molecules that spell out the genetic code in pairs. Benner is trying to add eight new bases to the genetic alphabet.

Did Google Earth find atlantis ?

Google is officially denying widespread Internet rumors that its Google Earth software located the mythical sunken city of Atlantis off the coast of Africa. Either that, or Google is totally trying to hide something. Since I always appreciate a nice juicy conspiracy theory, I'm going to go with the latter.

Is this Atlantis? Apparently not, according to those meanies at Google.

(Credit: Google Earth)

From what it sounds like, a British aeronautical engineer was playing around with the new Google Earth 5.0, which includes undersea data, and noticed something funny off the coast of Africa, about 600 miles west of the Canary Islands, that resembled a pattern of a street grid. According to the United Kingdom's Press Association, the pattern of streets equated to an area the size of Wales.

In case you've had more important things to read about for the past few thousand years, Atlantis was a legendary island city first mentioned by Plato, allegedly a hard-core naval power located somewhere near North Africa that disappeared when it sank into the ocean. Guess global warming was a problem back then, too.

Anyway, most people think that Plato made it up, kind of like how those guys in Georgia made up the story about shooting Bigfoot, but others just won't stop believin'.

So this guy is trawling the ocean floor with Google Earth--ah, if only we had that kind of free time on our hands--and was quick to announce his discovery. It looks like The Telegraph reported the story first, adding that the exact coordinates are 31 15'15.53N, 24 15'30.53W.

Recently, Google's mapping products have revealed everything from a creepy dude walking around with a sniper rifle to what appear to be U.S. drones in Pakistan.

But when it comes to Atlantis, Google totally had to rain on everyone's parade. "It's true that many amazing discoveries have been made in Google Earth, including a pristine forest in Mozambique that is home to previously unknown species and the remains of an ancient Roman villa," a statement from Google read. "In this case, however, what users are seeing is an artifact of the data collection process. Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data."

I smell a cover-up!

Racial discrimination

On a British Airways flight from Johannesburg a middle-aged, white South African
Lady found herself sitting next to a black man. She called the cabin crew attendant
over to complain about her seating. "What seems to be the problem Madam?" asked
the attendant. "Can't you see?" she said " You've sat me next to a kaffir. "I can't
possibly sit next to this disgusting human. Find me another seat!" "Please calm down
Madam." the stewardess replied. "The flight is very full today, but I'll tell you what
I'll do-I'll go and check to see if we have any seats available in club or first class."
The woman cocks a snooty look at the outraged black man beside her (not to mention
many of the surrounding passengers).
A few minutes later the stewardess returns with the good news, which she delivers
to the lady, who cannot help but look at the people around her with a smug and self
satisfied grin: "Madam, unfortunately, as I suspected, economy is full. I've spoken to
the cabin services director, and club is also full. However, we do have one seat in
first class." Before the lady has a chance to answer, the stewardess continues ... "It
is most extraordinary to make this kind of upgrade, however, and I have had to get
special permission from the captain. But, given the circumstances, the captain felt
that it was outrageous that someone be forced to sit next to such an obnoxious
person." With that, she turned to the black man sitting next to the woman, and said:
"So if you'd like to get your things, sir, I have 1st class seat ready for you..." At
which point, apparently the surrounding passengers stood and gave a standing ovation
while the black guy walked up to the front of the plane.

Funny signs and notices written at public places

Here are some signs and notices written in English that were discovered throughout
the world. You have to give the writers an 'E' for Effort.
.
In a Tokyo Hotel: Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person
to do such thing is please not to read notis.
In a Bucharest hotel lobby: The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time
we regret that you will be unbearable.
In a hotel in Athens: Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the
hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily.
In a Yugoslavian hotel: The flattening of underwear with pleasure is the job of the
chambermaid.
In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery: You are
welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artists,
and writers are buried daily except Thursday.
Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.
In a Bangkok dry cleaner's: Drop your trousers here for best results.
A sign posted in Germany's Black forest: It is strictly forbidden on our black forest
camping site that people
of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they
are married with each other for that purpose.
In a Zurich hotel: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite
sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.
In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: Teeth extracted by the latest
Methodists.
In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a
good time.
In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency: Take one of our horse-driven city tours - we
guarantee no miscarriages.
Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand: Would you like to ride on your own ass?
In a Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as
a man.
In a Tokyo bar: Special cocktails for the ladies with nuts.
In a Norwegian cocktail lounge: Ladies are requested not to have children in the bar.
In a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give
it to the guard on duty.
In the office of a Roman doctor: Specialist in women and other diseases.
In an Acapulco hotel: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.
From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner:
Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control
yourself.

Americanization!!!

u don't open a telephone conversation with a HELLO but with a "Hi"
The telephone is never "engaged", it's always "busy".
U don't "disconnect" a phone, U simply "hang-up".
U never "mess-up" things, U only "screw them up".
U never have a "residence" tel. no., U have a "home" no.
U don't stop at the "signals", but halt at the "lights".
U don't "accelerate", U "step on the gas".
Your tire never "punctures", U may have a "flat".
The trains have "coaches" or "boggies' no more but "carriages" or "boxes".
There R no "petrol pumps", but "gas stations".
"I don't know nothing", 2 negatives don't make a positive here.
U no longer meet a "wonderful" person, U meet a "cool" guy
U don't pull the switch down to light a bulb,rather flick it up.
There's no "Business Area" only "business districts", and no "districts" but
"counties".
No one stays "a stone's throw away", might"a few blocks away".
There's no "Town Side", it's "Down Town".
In hotel U no longer ask for "bill" and pay by "cheque", rather ask for "check" and
pay with (Dollar) "bill"s.
There R no "soft drinks", only "sodas".
Life's no longer "miserable" it "stinks".
U don't have a "great" time, U have a "ball".
U don't "sweat it out", U "work U'r butt off".
Never "post" a letter, always "mail" it and "glue" the stamps, don't "stick" them.
U no longer live in "flats" or "blocks", find an "apartment".
U don't stand in a "queue", you are in a "line".
U no longer "like" something, U "appreciate" it.
"#" is not "hash", it's "pound".
U R not "deaf", U have "impaired hearing".
U R not "lunatic", U are just "mentally challenged".
U R not "disgusting" U R "sick".
U can't get "surprised" U get "zapped".
U don't "schedule" a meeting, U "skejule" it.
U never "joke", U just "kid".
U never "increase" the pressure, U always "crank" it up.
U never ask for a pencil "rubber" U ask for an eraser. a rubber is a condom
U don't try to find a lift U find an elevator.
U no more ask for a route but for a "RAUT"
U don't ask somebody "How r u ?", U say "What's up dude?"
U never go to see a game U go to watch a game.
If U see "World" champions(or Series),read "USA"champions(or Series).
There's no "zero" but "o", no "Z" but "zee".
There's no FULL STOP after a statement, there's a PERIOD.
If someone gets angry at U, U get "flamed".
You don't say "How do you do", you say "How you doin"
In short U don't speak English, U speak American.
Well u dont' say life is boring u say LIFE SUCKS !!!!!

Who's a friend??

A Friend....
(A)ccepts you as you are
(B)elieves in "you"
(C)alls you just to say "HI"
(D)oesn't give up on you
(E)nvisions the whole of you (even the unfinished parts)
(F)orgives your mistakes
(G)ives unconditionally
(H)elps you
(I)nvites you over
(J)ust "be" with you
(K)eeps you close at heart
(L)oves you for who you are
(M)akes a difference in your life
(N)ever Judges
(O)ffers support
(P)icks you up
(Q)uiets your fears
(R)aises your spirits
(S)ays nice things about you
(T)ells you the truth when you need to hear it
(U)nderstands you
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(V)alues you
(W)alks beside you
(X)-plains things you don't understand
(Y)ells when you won't listen and
(Z)aps you back to reality

Its great to be an Indian

You may be aware of that after IT now India moving towards Biotechnology.
According to one research India will emerge as a super power in IT & Medical
research by 2025.
Q. Who is the Co-founder of Sun Microsystems? (The company which is sweeping the
Internet with its brainchild Java)
A. Vinod Khosla
Q. Who is the Creator of Pentium Chip? (Needs no introduction, 90% of the today's
computers run on it)
A. Vinod Dahm
Q. Who is the third richest person on the world?
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Azim Premji,
CEO, Wipro. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th position now.
Q. Who is the current president of AT&T Bell Labs? (AT & T Bell Labs is the creator
of C, C++, Unix to name a few)
A. Arun Netravalli
Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail? (Hotmail is world's No. 1 web based
email program)
A. Sabeer Bhatia
Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta
Q. Who is the Testing Director of Windows 2000?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika
We are known as the Indian Mafia (or Internet Mafia?).
We are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even faring better than
the whites and the natives. We are the success story in America.
Let the world know what we stand for.
!"There are 3.22 Million Indians in America.
!"38% of Doctors in America are Indians.
!"12% of Scientists in America are Indians.
!"36% of NASA employees are Indians.
!" 34% of MICROSOFT employees are Indians
!"28% of IBM employees are Indians
!"17% of INTEL employees are Indians
!"13% of XEROX employees are Indians.
Some of these facts may be known to you. These facts were recently published in a
German Magazine which deals with WORLD
HISTORY FACTS ABOUT INDIA.
A. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.
B. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.
C. The World's first university was established in Takshila in 700BC. More than
10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The
University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest
achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
D. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most
suitable language for computer software reported in Forbes magazine, July 1987.
E. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father
of medicine consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast
regaining its rightful place in our civilization.
F. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development,
India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the
early 17th Century.
G. The art of Navigation was born in the river Sindh 6000 years ago. The Very word
Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also
derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.
H. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds
of years before the astronomer Smart.; Time taken by earth to orbit the sun:
(5th century) 365.258756484 days.
I. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of
what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century
long before the European mathematicians.
J. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India; Quadratic equations were by
Sridharacharya in the 11th Century; The largest numbers the Greeks and the
Romans used were 106 (10 to the power of 6) whereas Hindus used numbers as big
as 1053(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during
the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number isTera 1012(10 to the
power of 12).
K. According to the Gemological Institute of America, up until 1896, India was the
only source for diamonds to the world.
L. USA based IEEE has proved what has been a century-old suspicion in the world
scientific community that the pioneer of Wireless communication was Prof.
Jagdeesh Bose and not Marconi.
M. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.
N. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called
'Sudarshana' was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta
Maurya's time.
O. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.
P. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his
time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs,
fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of
anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were
used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion,
metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.
Q. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago,
Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley(Indus Valley Civilization)
R. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.
QUOTES ABOUT INDIA
A. Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count,
without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.
B. Mark Twain said: India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human
speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand
mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most constructive materials in the
history of man are treasured up in India only.
C. French scholar Romain Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of earth
where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days
when man began the dream of existence, it is India.
D. Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered and
dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single
soldier across her border. All the above is just the TIP of the iceberg, the list
could be endless.

SOME ROMANTIC COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD

These are some of the romantic countries in the world.
H.O.L.L.A.N.D. - Hope Our Love Lasts And Never Dies.
I.T.A.L.Y. - I Trust And Love You.
L.I.B.Y.A. - Love Is Beautiful; You Also.
F.R.A.N.C.E. - Friendships Remain And Never Can End.
C.H.I.N.A. - Come Here.. I Need Affection.
B.U.R.M.A. - Between Us, Remember Me Always.
N.E.P.A.L. - Never Ever Part As Lovers.
I.N.D.I.A. - I Nearly Died In Adoration.
K.E.N.Y.A. - Keep Everything Nice, Yet Arousing.
C.A.N.A.D.A. - Cute And Naughty Action that Developed into Attraction.
K.O.R.E.A. - Keep Optimistic Regardless of Every Adversity.
E.G.Y.P.T. - Everything's Great, You Pretty Thing!
M.A.N.I.L.A. - May All Nights Inspire Love Always.
T.H.A.I.L.A.N.D - Totally Happy. Always In Love And Never Dull.