Women in Art

Watch this interesting video clip depicting 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art!

Will “Bharat Ki Shaan” Turn into the Real Idol this Time?

The last episode of Indian Idol 3 saw the “Wild Card” entry contestants giving a really tough competition to each other as they all gave their best performance, in a do or die situation!

In all there were seven contestants chosen out of the eighteen that were eliminated during the piano rounds. All the judges had a tough time selecting the six contestants that were to go ahead into the fight for the entry into the gala rounds. The judges, after much deliberation, chose not six but seven contestants, as Alisha and probably Annu Mallik insisted on Suhit Gosain to be brought in too! This has come as a big surprise to many people, as there were other much better singers out there who could have been given a chance, other than Suhit.

Here, we need to pause and think: until now the judges kept harping on the fact that the ‘Audience’ was not voting according to talent and using their emotional quotient instead! But, on the contrary, I personally feel that here in this particular case it is the judges who are voting with their hearts instead of using their brains and concentrating on “just singing” talent! Suhit Gosain is definitely not a deserving candidate, and I really hope that the people now don’t allow him to go into the final round as it would then be a real tragedy for the other much better singers out there!

All the other six contestants gave a really fantastic and mind blowing performance, keeping aside Amit Paul, who forgot his lines in between! But, nevertheless, he has true potential and a very good voice too! So, who among them, are going to be the two lucky contestants to be chosen by the public and the Judges to go into the final round?

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see! The gala rounds are going to be even better. All the contestants are good singers (better than the earlier two Indian Idol contestants) so it’s a real tough call. We are hoping that we manage to find the real “Bharat ki Shaan” in the Indian Idol 3 this time! So, guys and gals out there, vote for the best voice and candidate! My personal bet is on Ankita Mishra, a good performer and singer, who is a complete package that India is really looking for!!!

What's in a name?

Guess where all these famous names of the IT industry came from. Read on to find out.

Adobe - came from name of the river Adobe Creek that ran behind the house of founder John Warnock. 

Apache - It got its name because its founders got started by applying patches to code written for NCSA's httpd daemon. The result was 'A PAtCHy' server -- thus, the name Apache 

Apple Computers - favorite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't suggest a better name by 5 o'clock. 

CISCO - its not an acronym but the short for San Francisco. 

Google - the name started as a jokey boast about the amount of information the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by 1 followed by 100 zeros. After founders, Stanford grad students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google' 

Hotmail - Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via the web from a computer anywhere in the world. When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending in 'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included the letters "html" - the programming language used to write web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective upper casing. 

HP - Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett. 

Intel - Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics. 

Lotus (Notes) - Mitch Kapor got the name for his company from 'The Lotus Position' or 'Padmasana'. Kapor used to be a teacher of Transcendental Meditation (by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi). 

Microsoft - coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on. 

Motorola - Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his company started manufacturing radios for cars. The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola. 

ORACLE - Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The code name for the project was called Oracle (acronym for: One Real Asshole Called Larry Ellison)

Red Hat - Company founder Marc Ewing was given the Cornell lacrosse team cap (with red and white stripes) while at college by his grandfather. He lost it and had to search for it desperately. The manual of the beta version of Red Hat Linux had an appeal to readers to return his Red Hat if found by anyone ! 

SAP - "Systems, Applications, Products in Data Processing", formed by 4 ex-IBM employees who used to work in the 'Systems/Applications/Projects" 

SUN - founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN is the acronym for Stanford University Network. 

Xerox - The inventor, Chestor Carlson, named his product trying to say 'dry' (as it was dry copying, markedly different from the then prevailing wet copying). The Greek root 'xer' means dry. 

Yahoo! - the word was invented by Jonathan Swift and used in his book 'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a person who is repulsive in appearance and action and is barely human. Yahoo! founders Jerry Yang and David Filo selected the name because they considered themselves yahoos

I Need Blood Today!

It’s “World Blood Donor Day” today so let’s get down to saving a few lives today! Are you aware that the annual demand for blood is 6 million units per year and only about 3 million units get collected? Or did you know that only 5% of the eligible population volunteers to donate? Did you know that scarcity of blood alone is responsible for the highest mortality rate of victims of accidents or burns, or of patients undergoing heart or organ transplant surgeries, or receiving treatment for cancer, hemophilia and similar afflictions?

Many people, it has been found, are afraid to donate blood! Some of them hesitate simply due to fear of the needle and some due to fear of contracting fearful diseases (HIV/Hepatitis) and yet others who fear that it will make them weaker! And there are still majorities who do not donate because they just can’t be bothered. The only time that blood donation becomes a priority for an individual is when he /she is faced with an ‘emergency’ and blood is the only thing that can save a dear one’s life.

Donating blood can save lives. One pint of blood that you donate can save four lives! Isn’t that “good returns”? Blood donation needs only 25 minutes of your time and has no effect on the pocket! It can be safely donated every 90 days and each unit you donate is replaced by your body within 24 hrs to a week! (Only healthy individuals need to consider this)!

India is calling: Where are you? Donate Blood Today. Save lives

Cute Tattoo Designs for Women and Current Trends in Women's Tattoos!

The whole field of tattoos for women is growing at a tremendous rate. If you think back even 20 years ago tattoos for women were not all that popular and most of the women getting them were keeping them covered up. However times have definitely changed and tattoo designs have really advanced at a tremendous rate. Today's tattoo have more brilliant colors and are a far cry from your grandfathers Hawaiian girl tattoo on his forearm. 

It used to be that women would get an occasional rose or name tattoos on their breast or some well hidden spot. However with current fashion trends there are tons of cute tattoo designs for women out there are women are now getting tattoos at an amazing rate.

Women's tattoo designs and placement have also changed with this new growth. No longer are women getting simple tattoos that they keep well hidden. Women are now getting cute tattoo designs done and placing them in more visible places. 

Some of the most popular items to get tattoos of are: 

1. Shooting Star Tattoos

2. Butterfly Tattoos

3. Unicorn Tattoos

4. Angel Tattoos

5. Fairy Tattoos

6. Dragonfly tattoos

7. Flower design tattoos 

The most popular places for women to get tattoos done are: 

1. lower back tattoo (especially popular recently with the whole hip hugger jeans)

2. ankle tattoos

3. front side of the hips (again hip hugger jeans have made this more popular)

4. butt cheek left or right

5. Belly button area 

Another thing that this trend of women getting tattoos is that women often seek out custom tattoo designs. They don't go to the local parlor and just by a tattoo flash design that is on display there. Women seem to spend a great deal more time contemplating the tattoos that they want done and tend to have more requirements about what they want. Therefore women tend to get custom tattoo designs. This allows them to get the exact look and feel they want and a custom designed tattoo is also fit to the location on the persons body so that it fits well.

On World Environment Day: Only 8 Years Left To Help SAVE The World.

June 5, 2007 is celebrated as World Environment Day. This was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment. Another resolution, adopted by the General Assembly the same day, led to the creation of UNEP.

The theme that’s been chosen for Environment Day 2007 is “Climate Change.” The world, as it is today, is facing the mother of all time constraints and we are left with just 8 Years before a planetary catastrophe will overtake the earth because of global warming. According to a study done by the scientists of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change, the year 2015 has been set as the deadline for such an eventuality. Therefore, we need to quickly find a solution to save the world.

An Oscar winning movie by Al Gore, “An Inconvenient Truth” made a beginning towards this end by revealing the disturbing truths behind Global warming . Bollywood is also now taking up the cause very strongly, by celebrities vowing to put in their contributions in every little way that they can. Mr. Amitabh Bachchan has also said, according to the media reports that we need to take proactive steps in order to bring about climatic changes that may save the world from harmful effects of global warming. We can all make a difference by doing our bit. The questions that need to be answered here are:

1.What's the number one thing you are doing to help tackle climate change?

2.What one extra thing could you do to help tackle climate change?

3.What's stopping you?

Here are a few examples of what one can do to contribute towards this cause:

1.Conserve electricity and water by switching off the lights, fans or any other electrical or electronic devices etc. when not in use. And use water as sparingly as possible without excessive spillage or wastage. Close all taps tightly when not in use.

2.Recycle whatever you can. Proper management of garbage disposal can be very helpful towards this end.

3.Conserve Fuel in whichever way you can. Use public transport or carpool system to save fuel. Reduce the number of vehicles in use.

4.Plant trees and contribute towards adding greenery to your locality or neighborhood.

5.Spread awareness on this day by taking out street rallies, bicycles parades, green concerts, essay and poster competitions in schools, tree planting, recycling efforts, clean-up campaigns and much more. In many countries, this annual event is used to enhance political attention and action.

On this World Environment Day, let us examine the state of our environment. Let us consider carefully the actions which each of us must take, and then address ourselves to our common task of preserving all life on earth in a mood of sober resolution and quiet confidence.