Tobbaco, Gutka, Cigarettes, Alcohol- Why can't be all ban it once n for all.

Gutka eats away Mumbai youth's tongue

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Gutka-eats-away-Mumbai-youths-tongue/articleshow/5389821.cms

I was reading this article that tell that the mumbai youth is in trouble because of excessive use of Gutka, tobacco. After reading all this I felt sad and sorry for all the people who are into a habit of consuming

tobacco, alcohol, etc.

Something comes to my mind: Why can't we just ban all these things, close down all the factories.

Someone will immediately say Hey you can't do that simple because Millions of people will be affected and jobless.

Also someone says "What happened to freedom?". Someone also says that the govt is getting so much on revenue that is needed to make road, railways and other essential infrastructure.

It may seem at the first glance that this is an insane thing to be done.

But now my question is that Why can't a govt make Drugs such as Brown Sugar, Opium etc. legal. They also have the same effect as the others have. The only difference is that its fast as compared to smoking. But it can also generate revenue of the govt, it can also create jobs and then the govt. can give more options and freedom to its citizens. Now they have one more thing on the menu, you may choose to consume Opium.

Most of us will not agree to this. Can you tell me why ?

Coming back to the question of banning tobacco, alcohol, I fell we will do better if we compare both the aspects. One the one hand we have Jobs, Revenue and so called freedom. On the other hand we have better health, better environment, less expenses because not you do not buy them, less medical expenses, less violence. So what do you think about it ?

I do not buy the argument that a loss of revenue will be huge. We have an example of Gujarat which is a dry state meaning the liquor is not sold opening. ( i know there will be always some sort of smuggling). And Gujarat is one of the best state revenue wise. I admit this may be a weak example but if we compare the pros and cons down the line we can see the benefits of banning tobacco, alcohol, etc.

I am sure you will agree that there are somethings that can not be calculated in monetary terms, e.g. how would you determine the benefit of a man beating his wife after drinking because he has lost his senses versus a man not beating with wife. On a person committing a small crime such as shoplifting or pocket picking or big crimes like theft, kidnapping or even killing for getting money for his bad habit versus a person not doing at least for these bad habits.

A common sense thinking says that the crime with surely reduce, the heath problem related to tobacco and alcohol will minimize.

I admit that a major overhaul will be required to dilute the effect of banning these things. Such as govt. might have to open new avenue to provide jobs, plan some other ways of revenue etc.

Do not forget to comment about how do you feel about it, even a word will be an appreciation.

Thanks for reading

Remembering Gandhi: Time of India Home Page

Remembering Gandhi: This was the post on 2^nd October 2, 2009. This is the day of Gandhi Jayanti .

While seeing the home page of timesofindia.com, I can across this Photos Section. I felt so bad, and so guilt. As you can see just adjacent to the great leader’s photo and the lust pic.

I feel sorry for the editor. I am sure this is not what Gandhi ji wanted and of couse many of us.

This is how my H1B extension going on

1. 09/24/2009 sometime noon: My employer calls and say that I have got a query.
2. 
   
3. 09/27/2009 07:25 PM: I should not have this call. Called some1 I know from my previous project. He is leaving India for good. because of some H1B complication in extension. One of the main reason is that the Client is not giving him the client letter.
4. My wifes mold if offffffffffffff and so is mine.
5. 09/27/2009 07:41 PM: Called one of my friend, and told him the events. He suggested to relax.
6. 09/28/2009 around 8 AM: Mailed employer to talk to the attorney asap and send the answer to the query today itself.
7. 09/28/2009 12:46 PM: Called attorney, voice mail. Leaf him a V mail.
8. 09/28/2009 12:56 PM: Tried to call my employer but voice mail. Leaf him a V mail.
9. 09/28/2009 1:54 PM: Received call from my employer that he is going to send the doc via FedEx today.
10. 
    
11. 
    

No Internet no work no life

I am writing this offline. For those who don’t know the internet jargon very much, not working on the internet is working offline.

After reaching the office today, I realized that my network was not working. I tried to restart my PC 2 times, because they say that the simplest way is to restart the PC when something goes wrong. Anyway I went to my manager cubical to know if they he is also experiencing the same problem, he was not there. I went to my super manager, she was not there. I went to my Lead cubical, he was not there. I went to my other team member, he was not there. So finally I talk to some other employee working on the same floor. She was also experiencing the same issue.

I said that we can’t do anything without going online, even if the computers were working. She agreed. She instantly said terrorist can just disable the internet and everything comes down. I was taken aback, one is not suppose to talk abt them leave alone is soft voice. I said yes, I read somewhere that these are electronic bombs that can hamper grids, electric wires and electronics equipments. She said yeah. Then she said banks wont work, nor credit card transactions. Then we discussed that how crippled our life is without internet. We can’t do any coding (of course), make reports. There should be some manual was

I saw everyone going here and there, because there is nothing to be done offline.

Computers, internet, mobile phones and other things have made a permanent place in our life. We can’t just think of doing something else without them.

Well by the way, I am writing this offline!

Go Green or Perish, leave difference apart and lets work together for a better world

The world is facing a greater threat, the threat larger in many folds than the nuclear war. And this threat is Global warming. The Global Warming has many side effects and has ripple effects like endangering sea animals and fishes, change of pattern of rain and this drought and floods. We are in a urgent need to change the way we live and eat. Because of us there is a severe shortage of water. Even before we heard of all this at least 2 Billion people or 1 out 6 people did not have the access to the safe drinking water. And we all know that the water is the essence of life.

I wish I were a president of USA, or France or India and the people of the world can listen when I am talking. Still I am writing this because it’s the only way I can spread what I am thinking and wanted to tell the world. I wish Barack Obama read this and release where we are heading and where actually we all wanted to go. I believe if we call take baby steps we can make a difference. But if comes from top then we can make more progress collectively in less time, because as I said we are already late and there is not much time left.

Utopia

I am thinking all the nuclear countries including North Korea, USA, India, Pakistan, China etc show sit on a table and agree to disarm their all nuclear weapons with the very moment. And all should start working to reduce the global warming and pulling down the increased temperature. All the nation tops scientist can work together to make perfect (90% if not 100%) renewable energy sources. They should work in tandem to exchange ideas that can benefit other countries.

We have to do a lot of work

• Reduce dependency of fossil fuels like coal, oil
• Ban not Reduce the use of plastic and try to convert existing plastic to something good, something which do not pollute the Mother Nature.
• Make more n more energy efficient appliances
• Generating more renewable energy like Solar, Hydro, Solar Thermal, Geo Thermal, Bio Diesel, tidal/wave, Bio Gas.
• Subsidizing Green technologies including Auto running to very low or zero emission, CFL bulbs, hybrid buses.
• Developing good and cheap public transport.

If you are thinking that is just too ambitious then just wait for 50-70 more yrs and we will see the earth coming so an standstill. We can have larger conflicts not only between countries but also between states/provinces because of the scarcity of water.

I will end this article with some quotes.

We have done enough talking( that’s what I am doing right now), its time to act now.

Better late than never

Please let me know what to do feel about this article. I am sure the language may not be a good one because I am not a professional writer.

How to install ISRO's Bhuvan, The new tool to Map India and rival to Google Earth

This is the Home Page of ISRO Bhuvan:

http://bhuvan2.nrsc.gov.in/Bhuvan/WebClient/PresentationLayer/WebClient/index.aspx

[I thought it would be something like isro.gov/bhuvan or some small url]

1. Go to this URL to register: http://bhuvan2.nrsc.gov.in/Bhuvan/WebClient/PresentationLayer/WebClient/usr_reg.asp

2. Download the exe plugin from here:

http://bhuvan2.nrsc.gov.in/Bhuvan/WebClient/PresentationLayer/WebClient/BhuvanSetup.exe

This software tool has been make by

Skyline Software Systems, Inc.
4506 Daly Drive, Suite 100
Chantilly, VA 20151 USA

and of course this is an Indian company. I guess the picture has been provided by ISRO are from Indian satellites but the software piece is "foreign".

To start DO NOT launch the desktop icon which says: TerraExplorer, instead log in into the site with the username and password with what you registered. After the successful login you should see the tool working.

On the left hand side there are many places/option to set, You can set District to see the District boundaries. I tried to search Jawahar Nagar, Jaipur. But it returned with an error, shown at the end of this article.

I did not liked:

1. Not an fully Indian, tool (TeraExplorer) made by Skyline, USA.

2. Slow and a very poor GUI. The Indian website is also not good.. If you look as the registration page the GUI look as if some just know to create a simple HTML page has made it. ALL the fields are compulsory and asking Organization, Designation , Address and Purpose of Browsing BHUVAN. I do not understand the purpose of these fields. What should one enter in "Purpose of Browsing BHUVAN": Fun/ exploring.

Anyways, I just entered asdasdas, and this is we all do when stupid question are asked.

3. The website is damn slow, in the beginning you will realise that the maps are blur. But wait for 2-3 minutes and it will make terrain clear.

4. There are many bugs, I just ran into an error after working for 10-15 minutes.

5. Some watermark:

Conclusion:

A very good and bold step by ISRO. But the tool is half cooked. I guess the company did not employed any GUI engineer. Also some of the text is hardly viewable.

TED talks about his invention which is a very simple bottle for safe drinking water.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/lifesaver-water-purifier-makes-ted-audience-say-eeeeew.php

Blocking kontera.com -The double line advertisement

I read all my Indian news on Times Of India

I am not against displaying ads on the website, because I know most of the revenue comes from it. But I am against forcing people visit the website to see the ads.

Some of the examples are flash ads, heavily blinking ad saying that you are 99,999,999 visitor of the website.

Today I decided to block the kontera.com ads. These are shown in an India Times article with double line under a keyword and it points to something totally unrelated and annoying.

Actually, what I used is already know and proven. It just need some patience and some work.

I am referring to the HOSTS file. I am not giving the significance of this file as this as been described

at many places. You can see the wonderful small file capablities here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_file#Internet_resources_blocking.

I added the following entry to my HOSTS file and it worked.

0.0.0.0 kona.kontera.com

kona.kontera.com: This url brings the JS file that is responsible of the advertisement.

However, I am not sure why this do not works if I use

http://kona.kontera.com or http://kona.kontera.com/.

Notice I am just appending http:// or "/" in the end.

Also, I did experimentation with *.kontera.com, that too did not worked.

But 0.0.0.0 kona.kontera.com worked and now I have no more ads of kontera.com (until the time they don't change the JS location :D )

Roads made out of Plastic. 6 out of 5 stars. and its proved

http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/16/stories/2006081620460400.htm

http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/may/02karna.htm

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/239-plastic-roads

New Vision: turning around the desert state of India; Rajasthan and other places of world

Hello All

Let me start with something which is very well know these days and this is the problem of

1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Energy

and the solution is simple but required commitments from govt., people and from you and me of course.

1. Rain water harvesting
2. Solar panel
3. Bio Diesel (Jatropha, Algae)

Water:

The state of Rajasthan gets very less rainfall. and therefore there is an acute shortage of water almost all time of the year.

I was reading and watching a news piece on NDTV where they were telling about a community in Mumbai where the wise people was done water harvesting and thus saving some water for their hay days.

Rain water harvesting is such a easy techniques where 4 major things are required.

1. A Roof top to collect water: We already have this, so need to make an investment here. We might need some cleaning.
2. Pipes: to divert the rain water from the roof tops. Generally this is also in place. We will have to do some alterations so that now the pipe channels the water to the tank and not to the streets.
3. Tank/Container: The bigger the better. Tank can be underground, or we have built a concrete tank on the surface. I am not comfortable having a plastic tank because of the obvious reasons.
4. Filters: There will be placed before the water enters into the tank. We can have a simple net mesh, with pebbles, sand and other things available in the market. It depends, if the water so collect is to be used for drinking then more care can be taken. A home remedy is the alum (and http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080716192228AArQ6Dn) stone, This was used by our grand parents for cleaning the water.


Electricity:

http://labl.teriin.org/index.php

Energy:
1. Bio-Diesel

India Election 2009 - What are the predictions ...

The voting is over and the time for the guess work has began. Diff ppl have their own opinion.

I am compiling some of the source, so that we can see who's guess work was the best.

Times of India (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4526849.cms)

UPA : 198 (Congress: 154 + Others: 44)
NDA: 183 (BJP: 142 + Others: 41)
Left: 38
BSP: 27
SP: 23

IBN Live (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/in-dead-heat-upa-and-nda-keep-contest-alive/92554-37.html)
Cong+: 185 to 205 seats
BJP+: 165 to 185 seats
Third Front: 110 to 130 seats
Fourth Front: 25 to 35 seats
Others: 20 to 30 seats

NDTV (http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/upa_leads_the_race_nda_plays_catch-up.php)
Cong+: 216
BJP+:177
Third Front: 100
Left: 35

Creating drinkable water using Saline/Ocean/Sea water

India is a country with less drinkable water and the lazy, uncommitted govt, municipal and govt official makes it worse.

Lately, i was reading an article on timesofindia.com, which says No right to be in office if you can't solve water crisis: SC to govt.

And I think its right. If a govt cant fulfill the basic rights of a citizen it has no business to be in power.

Anyhow, I can write pages and pages on this. My objective to write this article is; How easily we can convert the abundant saline water to drinkable water. Many Indian states have unlimited access to ocean water from Gujrat in the west till West Bengal in the east. I live in Rajasthan and I guess we can pump the water from ocean via Gujrat. Narendra Modi will be more than happy to allow that.

So there are many ways of converting saline water to portable or drinking water. Here are some:

1. Distilation: If we remember the simple experiment that we did in our 9-10 th science lab. Boiling salt water with emit vapors and that these vapors are converted into water. This water is 100% drinkable. The steam leaves behind the impurities and salt. This is the general idea.

a. We can pump water directly from ocean/sea. using simple filter we can filter out the dirt, impurities, solid waste like plastic, paper etc. The filter can be of simple plastic or a charcoal-sand filter. We can have multi point filter so that the water does not clogs. Also we need to clean these filter often.


b. The water so pumped is feed into the boilers. The water boils in these large vessels and the vapors can be collect to get the drinkable water. As far as I know, we need not add anything to it like iodine etc.


Of course we need to have multiple arrays of large vessels in order to have continuous water supply.


isn't that simple ?

2. Reverse Osmosis: This method is a little complex one. A special kind of membrane know as emipermeable membranes is used. This a special type of filter that allow water molecules to pass but not other large molecules likes the molecules and ions (e.g. sodium and chloride ions in salt water).This company Water Makers is specialist in making drinkable water using ocean water by Reverse Osmosis method. Water Makers is a US based company, but I am sure we have many Indian companies doing the same thing.



Now we have another challenge: How to get the power or electricity for doing all this.


Hopefully and believe me this can be done using renewable energy. Yes there are many choices to choice from.



1.Wave powered machines: We can harness the waves and can create turbines generating electricity.

2. Since these project are most likes to be present near the coastal region, the wind power is abundant. You guessed right; we can have wind mills that produce electricity.

3. Solar power: Again a IQ. Since these project will be generally used in the dry areas, there should be abundant sunshine. This is good for solar panels.

We can employ one or a combination of these techniques.

In this way we will not ONLY get drinkable water but the Green way. So let me call this one Green Water.


A step forward: We can even use waste water from kitchen, urine water etc. I know this will not sound OK for many people. But just in case .....

Let me finish this with a simple note.


I like many Indian are very passionate about India. I really want to bring IT and technology to the common man living in a remote village of India. There is no use of modernization if we can't improve the living condition of the poor and real India.

I want to do it. If you are reading this and want to make a difference, do let me know.



References:

1. http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2001-02/983131856.Ot.r.html

2. http://www.watermakers.com

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis

Demanding due from previous employer

I have mailed to my previous employer asking him for the dues.
Like my bench salary and my security money.

I am still waiting for him to reply. It has been 4-5 business days. If I do not get any reply in 2 days then i will again mail him, this time making CC to some of him employee how are working in the office.

Because, many a times he has give a lousy excuse of not mailing that the mail went into spam. As if it depends on the the email client whether to send an email in Inbox or in spam.

Lets see what response I get. I will keep blogging for the updates.

This time I am determined that I will complain to DOL, for those who don't know here is the WH4 form. filling this form launches a formal complain to the DOL ( Department Of Labor)

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/forms/fts_wh4.htm

Some tips for H1B.

Most of the consultant companiws you will find will be Desi. If know nothing then this may come as a surprise: if you are thinking that you will have a good treatment because you an Indian... forget it. This is america, expect the worse to happen.

In fact you will find the Goras to be very friend-full and they understand most of our problems.

I am all writing this because we (I and my Wife) had some the very bitter incidences. I am sure there are ppl around who really had a good time in USA and working on H1B. But I was not that fortunate.

I would say that part are my own mistakes. Mistakes like "Believing them blindly", Not getting things in writing, etc.

So my fellow friends, do bear this in mind that;

Always and always get everything is writing. And ask them if there are any "hidden *s" conditions applications things. Like in my case, my employer made a verbal promise that they will give me salary on bench, but they never did and when I protested they gave me this * (Star). "Since the economy of USA is not good, we will not be able to pay you." I was taken back, they never told me this hidden clause.

well, I did not got Air Fare too. When I was in India they told be that they will refund this in 3 months.

When I asked them, after 3 months, to refund my air fare then they told me 3 months FROM the day I got my project. hmmm Ok... so i asked them after 3 months of my project they said they will refund will the next pay stub. Btw, it never came. And in the last, and the BEST.

After all this they said, "Now we have changed the rule, we will be giving the Airfare after 1 year of your project."

For those who done know:

1. Giving money for your own H1B is unlawful. I came to know this only after 1-2 months after landing in USA.

2. I am not sure about the Airfare, I guess this is the responsibility of the employer too.

After reading this everyone whats to know the name of my employer right... Well I am not sure If i write him name.. but let me tell you, the Consultant Comapany is located in Edison, New Jersey (NJ). and It has got a couple of awards like NJBIA and NJBIZ.

If you are from Immigration or from Labor department and reading this then please be informed that most of us are ignorant of the laws of H1B. Yes this is our mistake that we do not do research and we trust our employer of what they verbally say and commit.

.NET Validation Controls: a quick look again.

You can call this my ignorance or something else. After working in .NET for over 3 years, today I cleared a doubt that

1. If we are using the .Net Validation controls then do I need to code for the server side also.
2. What happens if the browser JavaScript is disabled?

These were some of the question of which I did not know the answer. After one of my friends (Kumar) asked me, I gave it a shot.

I am writing the conclusion of my experiment below.

1. The .NET validation controls are good for both Client side validation and as well as for the Server side validations. It means that no special code is required to do validation on the server side.
2. If the EnableClientScript is False, then the validations occurs Server side, automatically. (No need for any code.)
3. If the JavaScript is disabled in the browser, then the validation controls will behave as if the EnableClientScript is False i.e. the Server side validations are done, automatically again no need for any code.

So, if the EnableClientScript is False or the JavaScript is disable in the browser the server side validation

Now, the important thing to remember is that in the code-behind, we should always sandwich the code between if (Page.IsValid) i.e.

if (Page.IsValid)

{

//Code here, e.g. Call the Data Access Layer Method here.

}

With the above code, if the Server side validation occours and if it fails then the code will NOT execute. But if we do not put the Page.IsValid thing, then it will should the Validation Error Message and it will execute the code as well!!

Please let me know, if I am missing something or if you want me to add something.