Windows Media Photo ~OR~ JPEG ?

Microsoft has come up with it's own new still image format called Windows Media Photo. The file extension for a Windows Media Photo file is WDP.


According to their Windows Media Photo specification document Windows Media Photo offers image quality comparable to JPEG-2000 with computational and memory performance more closely comparable to JPEG. Windows Media Photo delivers a lossy compressed image of better perceptive quality than JPEG at less than half the file size. The same compression algorithm can also deliver mathematically lossless compressed images that are typically 2.5 times smaller than the original uncompressed data.
The use of new algorithms are also claimed to reduce the visibility of 'objectionable spatial artifacts' (those mosquito JPEG artifacts). Windows Media Photo supports a wide range of image formats including both fixed and floating point numerical representations , various color spaces, metadata and even transparency. This new format will be supported in Windows Vista when it arrives and will be made available for Windows XP, there has been no word yet of support for the format in any hardware devices.

For more information on Windows Media Photo, click here or else on the windows image above.

(Excerpts drawn from: microsoft.com)

Nervous Tic Motion - by Andrew Bird

Chicago singer/songwriter/violinist Andrew Bird's stage performance video. He has distinctive style of his own mixing gypsy, folk and rock elements into his music/album. I like this tune & melody.

"The Da Vinci Code" - A fiction or fact?

Once again (Last time i had posted about it on May, 22nd 2006) , I'm posting about The Da Vinci Code on my blog. Last week-end i saw the movie and i got the soft copy of "The Da Vinci Code" novel written by "Dan Brown" . I found this novel is much more interesting than the movie. "The Da Vinci Code" is a novel which is tells about the conspiracy hatched by the catholic church to cover up the true story of Jesus.

Excerpt from the "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown

........"This code," Sophie explained in rapid French, "is simplistic to the point of absurdity. Jacques Saunière must have known we would see through it immediately." She pulled a scrap of paper from her sweater pocket and handed it to Fache. "Here is the decryption."
Fache looked at the card.

                    1-1-2-3-5-8-13-21 

"This is it?" he snapped. "All you did was put the numbers in increasing order!"
Sophie actually had the nerve to give a satisfied smile. "Exactly."
Fache's tone lowered to a guttural rumble. "Agent Neveu, I have no idea where the hell you're going with this, but I suggest you get there fast." He shot an anxious glance at Langdon, who stood nearby with the phone pressed to his ear, apparently still listening to his phone message from the U.S. Embassy. From Langdon's ashen expression, Fache sensed the news was bad.
"Captain," Sophie said, her tone dangerously defiant, "the sequence of numbers you have in your hand happens to be one of the most famous mathematical progressions in history."........


............"Bewildered, Langdon looked at the image. The close-up photo revealed the glowing message on the parquet floor. The final line hit Langdon like a kick in the gut.

                    13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5
             O, Draconian devil!
              Oh, lame saint!         

P.S. Find Robert Langdon" ...........

............."Langdon looked up at Sophie, locking eyes with her now. "Your grandfather's meaning was right in front of us all along, and he left us more than enough clues to see it."
Without another word, Langdon pulled a pen from his jacket pocket and rearranged the letters in each line.

                 O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!

was a perfect anagram of...

                   Leonardo da Vinci! The Mona Lisa!

"...........


......"Nobody could deny the enormous good the modern Church did in today's troubled world, and yet the Church had a deceitful and violent history. Their brutal crusade to "reeducate" the pagan and feminine-worshipping religions spanned three centuries, employing methods as inspired as they were horrific.
The Catholic Inquisition published the book that arguably could be called the most blood-soaked publication in human history. Malleus Maleficarum—or The Witches' Hammer—indoctrinated the world to "the dangers of freethinking women" and instructed the clergy how to locate, torture, and destroy them. Those deemed "witches" by the Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gatherers, and any women "suspiciously attuned to the natural world." Midwives also were killed for their heretical practice of using medical knowledge to ease the pain of childbirth—a suffering, the Church claimed, that was God's rightful punishment for Eve's partaking of the Apple of Knowledge, thus giving birth to the idea of Original Sin. During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women".......



......."Sophie read the words.

         Many have made a trade of delusions
      and false miracles, deceiving the stupid multitude.
     —LEONARDO DA VINCI 

"Here's another," Teabing said, pointing to a different quote.

        Blinding ignorance does mislead us.
     O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!
     —LEONARDO DA VINCI 

Sophie felt a little chill. "Da Vinci is talking about the Bible?" ".......


............"Teabing cleared his throat and declared, "The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven."
"I beg your pardon?"
"The Bible is a product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.""...........

..........."Jesus Christ was a historical figure of staggering influence, perhaps the most enigmatic and inspirational leader the world has ever seen. As the prophesied Messiah, Jesus toppled kings, inspired millions, and founded new philosophies. As a descendant of the lines of King Solomon and King David, Jesus possessed a rightful claim to the throne of the King of the Jews."..........


...............""The twist is this," Teabing said, talking faster now. "Because Constantine upgraded Jesus' status almost four centuries after Jesus' death, thousands of documents already existed chronicling His life as a mortal man. To rewrite the history books, Constantine knew he would need a bold stroke.
From this sprang the most profound moment in Christian history." Teabing paused, eyeing Sophie. "Constantine commissioned and financed a new Bible, which omitted those gospels that spoke of Christ's human traits and embellished those gospels that made Him godlike. The earlier gospels were outlawed, gathered up, and burned.""...........

..........""some of the gospels that Constantine attempted to eradicate managed to survive. The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1950s hidden in a cave near Qumran in the Judean desert. And, of course, the Coptic Scrolls in 1945 at Nag Hammadi. In addition to telling the true Grail story, these documents speak of Christ's ministry in very human terms. Of course, the Vatican, in keeping with their tradition of misinformation, tried very hard to suppress the release of these scrolls. And why wouldn't they? The scrolls highlight glaring historical discrepancies and fabrications, clearly confirming that the modern Bible was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda—to promote the divinity of the man Jesus Christ and use His influence to solidify their own power base."".........

............Sophie moved closer to the image. The woman to Jesus' right was young and pious-looking, with a demure face, beautiful red hair, and hands folded quietly. This is the woman who singlehandedly could crumble the Church?

"Who is she?" Sophie asked.

"That, my dear," Teabing replied, "is Mary Magdalene."

Sophie turned. "The prostitute?"

Teabing drew a short breath, as if the word had injured him personally. "Magdalene was no such thing. That unfortunate misconception is the legacy of a smear campaign launched by the early Church. The Church needed to defame Mary Magdalene in order to cover up her dangerous secret—her role as the Holy Grail. .............


.........."Teabing clarified, "the early Church needed to convince the world that the mortal prophet Jesus was a divine being. Therefore, any gospels that described earthly aspects of Jesus' life had to be omitted from the Bible. Unfortunately for the early editors, one particularly troubling earthly theme kept recurring in the gospels. Mary Magdalene." He paused. "More specifically, her marriage to Jesus Christ.""..........

.........."Because Jesus was a Jew," Langdon said, taking over while Teabing searched for his book, "and the social decorum during that time virtually forbid a Jewish man to be unmarried. According to Jewish custom, celibacy was condemned, and the obligation for a Jewish father was to find a suitable wife for his son. If Jesus were not married, at least one of the Bible's gospels would have mentioned it and offered some explanation for His unnatural state of bachelorhood."...........

.........."The Gospel of Philip is always a good place to start." Sophie read the passage:

        And the companion of the Saviour is Mary Magdalene.
      Christ loved her more than all the disciples and used
      to kiss her often on her mouth. The rest of the disciples
      were offended by it and expressed disapproval.
      They said to him, "Why do you love her more than all of us?"

The words surprised Sophie, and yet they hardly seemed conclusive. "It says nothing of marriage."...........


............"My dear child, it was not Mary Magdalene's royal blood that concerned the Church so much as it was her consorting with Christ, who also had royal blood. As you know, the Book of Matthew tells us that Jesus was of the House of David. A descendant of King Solomon—King of the Jews. By marrying into the powerful House of Benjamin, Jesus fused two royal bloodlines, creating a potent political union with the potential of making a legitimate claim to the throne and restoring the line of kings as it was under Solomon."...........



Interesting isn't it? Read it, i hope you'll love it.

(Excerpts drawn from:"The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown)

Turmeric -- A wonder medicinal spice

Turmeric is the dried rhizome of a herbaceous plant, besides imparting a yellow colour and a characteristic flavor to food, it has a long history of use in Indian Ayurvedic medicines. It is the most popular spice as a beauty aid. The spice is sometimes called 'Indian Saffron', as its shares the deep yellow orange color of the saffron.


A member of ginger family, the root of the turmeric plant in its dried form is used as spice. It’s mildly aromatic with a pungent bittersweet flavor. Turmeric is used as a condiment, textile and culinary dye.

Benefits of Turmeric

• Purifies the blood
• Aids in digestion of protein.
• It’s an antidote against poison.
• Promotes proper metabolism in the body, correcting both, excess and deficiencies.
• It is used for fever, stomach upset, infection, arthritis, dysentery, jaundice and other liver problems.
• Turmeric paste prevents and cures pigmentation, maintains pH factor and makes skin glowing.
• Indians put the spice on their Band-Aids as a disinfectant & sprinkle the powder on wounds to help them heal faster.
• It’s also used to treat chest congestion, menstrual discomforts and many more ailments.
• Considered a cleansing herb for the whole body, it gives energy and grants prosperity.
• Many People in India (also in Nepal, Bhutan & some other East Asian countries) gargle with turmeric when they have laryngitis and rub it on the skin to cure cuts and psoriasis.
• They swallow it to treat bronchitis and chronic diseases such as diabetes.
• Indian brides and grooms apply turmeric and milk to their skin before marriage, to look more beautiful.
• This is used as one of the important ingredient spices in Indian foods and curries for flavor, colour and preserve.
• Turmeric also has potent antioxidant properties and may even lower cholesterol.
• It is widely believed that it helps in curing many diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, arthritis and various cancers.
  

Some Links related to turmeric:
Turmeric
Benefits of Turmeric
Turmeric Tea
Turmeric trauma for cancer
Turmeric an Indian discovery, says US patent office
From the spice rack to the lab counter



(Excerpts drawn from: financianexpress.com, ebook.idotbiz.com,vegetarian.about.com,webindia123.com,magicvalley.com,indiaparenting.com,indiatogether.org)

FC ==> FreeCommander

freeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows. Here you can find all the necessary functions to manage your data stock. You can take freeCommander anywhere - just copy the installation directory on a CD, USB-Stick or even a floppy disk - and you can even work with this program on a foreign computer.

Main features in freeCommander:

• Dual-panel technology - horizontal and vertical
• Optional tree view for each panel
• Built in file viewer to view files in hex, binary, text or image format
• File viewer inside archives too
• Built in archive handling: ZIP (read, write), CAB (read, write), RAR (read)
• Nested archive handling
• Easy access to system folders, control panel, desktop and start menu
• Copy, move, delete, rename files and folders
• Wipe files
• Create and verify MD5 checksums
• File splitting
• File properties and context menu
• Calculation of folder size
• Folder comparison / synchronization
• Modification of file date and attributes
• Folder / program favorites
• File searching (inside archive too)
• File filters for display
• DOS command line
• Multiple language support

For More Details click here.
I just downloaded it and it's really koooool..
Wanna Download :) .
(Excerpts drawn from: www.freecommander.com)

TIME: Outsourcing Your Heart

Elective surgery in India? Medical tourism is booming, and U.S. companies trying to contain health-care costs are starting to take notice.

(Picture:Technicians draw blood samples, for testing, from Wayne Steinard in his room at the Max Devki Devi Heart & Vascular Institute prior to his angiography. Wayne Steinard, a US citizen, has come to India for medical treatment of a heart condition.)

Whiplash was just the first agony that Kevin Miller, 45, suffered in a car accident last July. The second was sticker shock. The self-employed and uninsured chiropractor from Eunice, La., learned that it would cost $90,000 to get the herniated disk in his neck repaired. So, over the objections of his doctors, he turned to the Internet and made an appointment with Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok, the marble-floored mecca of the medical trade that--with its liveried bellhops, fountains and restaurants--resembles a grand hotel more than a clinic. There a U.S.-trained surgeon fixed Miller's injured disk for less than $10,000. "I wouldn't hesitate to come back for another procedure," says Miller, who was recovering last week at the Westin Grande in Bangkok.
As word has spread about the high-quality care and cut-rate surgery available in such countries as India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, a growing stream of uninsured and underinsured Americans are boarding planes not for the typical face-lift or tummy tuck but for discount hip replacements and sophisticated heart surgeries. Bumrungrad alone, according to CEO Curtis Schroeder, saw its stream of American patients climb to 55,000 last year, a 30% rise. Three-quarters of them flew in from the U.S.; 83% came for noncosmetic treatments. Meanwhile, India's trade in international patients is increasing at the same rate.
The calculus behind this interest isn't complicated. Many major employers in the U.S. are self-insured, which means they pick up the tab for much of their employees' medical care. That's why three major corporations that collectively cover 240,000 lives asked Dr. Arnold Milstein, national healthcare "thought leader" at the consultancy Mercer Health & Benefits, to assess the best places to outsource elective surgeries. Procedures in Thailand and Malaysia, he found, cost only 20% to 25% as much as comparable ones in the U.S.; top-notch Indian hospitals sell such services at an even steeper discount.

Mini-med plans are increasingly popular with contract and hourly workers, who are more likely than most other workers to be uninsured. But these plans are controversial because the buyers often think they cover more than they actually do. UGP's plans at best cap reimbursement for surgery at $3,000 and hospital stays at $1,000 a day. That would barely cover an afternoon in a U.S. hospital. But in Thailand, says Jonathan Edelheit, UGP's vice president of sales and marketing, a heart bypass that would cost its U.S. customers $56,000 could be had for $8,000.

Companies with traditional plans are also taking the initiative. Blue Ridge Paper, which makes the DairyPak brand of packaging, was carved out of the forest-products firm Champion International when its employees bought a few factories that were scheduled to close. But health-care costs are hurting the company. So a Blue Ridge team plans to visit hospitals in India to assess their quality of care. If it gives the green light, Blue Ridge will begin promoting the option to its 2,000 workers.

Employees who opt for India would get to take along a family member, says Darrell Douglas, vice president of human resources, and the whole experience, including a recuperative stay at a hotel, would be covered. IndUShealth, a medical tourism start-up in Raleigh, N.C., will make all arrangements and coordinate care between U.S. and Indian providers. The sweetener: the company will share with these intrepid employees up to 25% of savings garnered from the outsourcing.

Wayne Steinard, 59, a general contractor from Winter Haven, Fla., is one of those U.S. patients "who fall through the cracks" of the health-care system, as he says. Steinard landed in New Delhi last week with his daughter Beth Keigans to get a clogged artery cleared and a stent installed. Steinard, too rich for Medicaid and too poor for insurance, certainly didn't have the $60,000 he would have had to pay back home. So he contacted PlanetHospital, a Malibu, Calif., medical-tourism agency, and learned he could get it done for about a tenth as much at Max Healthcare's Devki Devi Heart & Vascular Institute.

Things have not gone as Steinard expected. When surgeon Pradeep Chandra scanned Steinard's angiogram last week, he found the artery 90% blocked. "A stent is out of the question," he told Keigans. "Your father is going to need a double bypass, and he needs it immediately." The blood drained from Keigans' face. While she loved their plush hospital suite and the staff had been superb, this was all happening too far from home. Steinard, though, was blunt about his choices. It's either this, he said, or a fatal heart attack back home. The surgery last week was successful; the hospital's bill: $6,650.

"I'm not sure I'd ever want to come back to Delhi," says Keigans, "but I'll be telling everyone I know to come here if they need surgery. It's not just the price. They've made everything so easy for us."

Time.com has complete story. Read it completely on its website.

(Source: time.com)

Why do IT projects fail?

Why do IT projects fail? I found this good article on economictimes website.

How to Drink More Water Everyday

There are a variety of reasons to drink plenty of water each day. Adequate water intake prevents dehydration, cleans out the body, and promotes healing processes. Substituting water for beverages high in calories can also help control weight. Follow the steps below to make sure you're getting enough of this most basic necessity.

Steps:

1. Determine how much water you need. You've probably heard the "8 X 8" rule--drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day--but the amount of water a person needs varies depending on his or her weight and activity level. A better way to determine your recommended water intake is to divide your weight (in pounds) by two. The resulting number is the number of ounces of water you need each day. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs., strive to drink 75 ounces of water daily. Metric people should divide their weight in kilos by 30 - so somebody weighing 70kg is going to need 2.3 litres per day.
2. Measure your daily intake of water. Do this for a few days. If you find that you're drinking less than the recommended quantity, try some of the following tips.
3. Make it a habit to drink a sip of water between every bite while you're eating, but make sure this doesn't upset your stomach. If it does, reduce your fluid intake during meals to a level that you're physically comfortable with.
4. Carry water with you everywhere you go in a bottle or other container. Before long, you'll find yourself reaching for it without a second thought.
5. Keep a glass or cup of water next to you whenever you'll be sitting down for a long time, such as when you're at your desk at work. Drink from it regularly as you're working.
6. Try wearing a digital watch that beeps at the beginning of each hour. Use that as a reminder to pour yourself a glass of water. Vow to drink that water before the next beep. If you drink only one small (6 ounce) cup per hour, you'll have consumed 48 ounces by the end of an 8-hour workday.
7. Get a water purification system. Purified water tastes very good and may help make drinking water more appealing to you. Be aware, though, that as you grow accustomed to purified water, you may find that tap water leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
   

Tips:

• Except in very rare cases, it is not necessary to buy expensive bottled water. Companies that sell water have a financial interest in convincing you that tap water is undesirable. However, if you choose to drink tap water, please be aware of the pollutants and additional chemicals that exist in many tap water sources. Some studies have linked the long-term accumulation of these chemicals in your body to chronic health problems. A simple water filtration system or boiling of the water will help reduce these risks.
• Instead of that Coke, try a glass of water. It may not be as tasty, but it's a lot better for you than drinking almost ten teaspoons of white sugar. It's also considerably cheaper, especially if you drink tap water.
• If you really can't stand the taste of your water, try adding a tiny bit of fruit juice or a squeeze of lemon or lime--just enough to slightly change the taste. Refrigerating your water may also help make it more palatable.
• For a feeling of accomplishment, fill two 32-ounce water bottles (or one big 64-ounce bottle, as in the full "8x8" amount) in the morning and make sure you have consumed the contents of both by the end of the day.
• The body needs to burn calories to maintain itself at its critical operating temperature of 98.6 degrees. If you drink eight to ten glasses of ice-cold water everyday, the body will burn excess calories in order to raise the temperature to 98.6! If you drink eight glasses--64 ounces--of ice-cold water every day, your body will have to burn about 70 calories per day to warm that water to body temperature. To lose 1 pound, you need to burn around 3,500 calories
• Drinking a full glass of water first thing in the morning helps wake the body up. So kick-start your day with water!
• Water helps you look good. By flushing out toxins and impurities, water can make your skin clearer, smoother and younger looking.
• Drinking water helps you control hunger. Drink a large glass of ice water just before meals. The cold causes your stomach to shrink somewhat, which will make you feel full more rapidly.
• Whether drinking tap or bottled water, do some research on the source. In some places, such as Philadelphia, the tap water actually contains the same electrolytes that are in Gatorade. On the other hand it's also possible that your bottled water may be from a different source than its name suggests. If the bottle says 'Municipal Water Supply' or something to that effect, then the company has simply bottled tap water, and you're probably wasting your money.
• If you find out you have lead plumbing, and water is abundant in your area, let the water run for about thirty seconds before filling your glass. This can reduce the amount of lead--and the bad taste that accompanies it--in the water you drink. If you live in an area with a shortage of water, however, this is probably not a good option.
• To convert the units of measurement in this article to metric units, you can use Google Calculator
• Some people believe that you should drink water only 20 minutes before a meal, not during or immediately after eating. The theory is that your digestive juices need to remain undiluted in order to properly break down your food for proper nutrient uptake.
• Every time you walk past a water fountain, take a sip or two.
• Gradually increase your daily intake of water by starting with, for example, 1L. Keep a 1L bottle of water in the fridge and aim to have it finished by the end of the day. Increase this amount every day.
• Aim to finish a glass of water with every meal.
• Vow to drink only water for a month. Once your body becomes accustomed to it, it will be hard not to drink enough water. Also, by the end of the month water starts to taste delicious...no lie!
• To get the needed 8 oz. glasses of water, say 8, put 8 hair ties or rubber bands on your right hand to represent each glass of water you need. When you drink one of the glasses, switch one rubber band to your left hand. Your goal is to get 8 hair ties on your left hand before the day is up!
• If you don't like the taste of water try hot water. It's a different taste and it feels good on your throat!
• Try drinking cold water out of a glass instead of a plastic or paper cup. The glass will retain the cold better than other materials and will keep your water crisp and fresh-tasting longer.

Warnings:

• Increasing your water intake may cause you to have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. To avoid this, you may want to stop drinking water a few hours before bedtime.
• While adequate water is essential to health, it is possible to drink too much water or any other beverage, and there has been considerable scientific debate surrounding how much water a person really needs per day. Drinking excessive amounts of water can cause serious health problems for some people.
• People with some heart conditions, high blood pressure or swelling of the lower legs (edema) need to avoid excess water. If you have a history of kidney problems, especially if you have had a transplant, consult your doctor before increasing your fluid intakes.
• You shouldn't drink too much water while eating as it waters down your stomach acid and can cause digestion problems.
• If you live in a place with a lot of heat (e.g., the desert), you will have to drink extra water.

(Excerpts drawn from : www.wikihow.com)

The Evolution of Dance

Comedian Mr.Judson Laipply dances to clips of music from the 60's to the 2000's :-) .

An Inconvenient Woman

She witnessed the resurrection, then vanished, leaving popes and painters and now 'The Da Vinci Code' to tell her story. In search of the real Mary Magdalene.

(picture: 'The Life of the Virgin,' a 15th century painting, depicts Mary Magdalene, right, weeping below Jesus' bound body)

She was with him to the end, and beyond. As Jesus hangs in agony on the cross, his life ebbing, Mary Magdalene is there, beside his mother, Mary, watching. The Passion has been tumultuous and frightening, and crucifixion is slow, but still she stays. Finally the hour comes. "It is finished," Jesus says, and bows his head. His body is bound in linen, carried to a garden, buried in a tomb. .........

.........."Do not touch me," Jesus says, distancing himself from her, "for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Her words to the disciples are simple and few, yet transform the world: "I have seen the Lord." ........

Jonathan Darman (of Newsweek) writes in detail. Read it on msnbc website.

If you are intersted more on this story/history(PS: i donno what exactly is truth, no offence to anybody), you can read "The Faces of Mary Magdalene"


(Excerpts drawn from msnbc.msn.com)

Flash: 10 ways, "information"

I came across this cool stuff while browsing.

wow.. it's really good.. just check it :)
Flash: 10 ways, "information"

Nintendo Wii E3 Video 01

SKYPE OUT is free for Canada and US

Yes!!!
Skype out is now free for Canada and US.
You can make calls to any landline and mobile phones in Canada & US free of cost. :)

If you’re in the US or Canada, you can use SkypeOut to call any landline or mobile number in both the USA and Canada for free.

But If you’re in the US or Canada and calling any other country, OR if you’re in any other country and calling landline or mobile numbers in the US or Canada, the standard SkypeOut rates apply.

Skype-to-Skype calls continue to be globally free, so no changes there.


PS: Both the caller and the number called must be in either the US or Canada.

Creative Tea commercial

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code, it's really sending waves across the world. Is it really controversial? what it has really?

The Da Vinci Code Mystery Revealed!
Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code brims with mysteries: Did Jesus have a girlfriend? And did they have a daughter, whose descendants live today? Is the Priory of Sion an ancient covenant whose Grand Masters, including Leonardo Da Vinci and Isaac Newton, have sworn to protect this royal blood line? Is Opus Dei, the conservative Catholic sect Brown paints in such lurid colors, really that awful? Can a fictional thriller that is nothing more or less than (as one Biblical scholar called it) “a great plane read” be taken seriously as an ecclesiastical exposé?

But no mystery, at least among film critics, is greater than this one: When are we gonna see the movie?

The Hollywood version of Brown’s blockbuster has a solid pedigree: director Ron Howard, screenwriter Akiva Goldsman and star Tom Hanks, all Oscar winners. Any movie with that celebrated a roster usually demands early exposure to the upper-middle media: Vanity Fair, perhaps, or one of the major newsmagazines. But not even the undercover nerds at Ain’t It Cool News got a peek. (AICN’s big scoop, a year or so ago, was that the role of Silas, the murderous albino, might go to ... Jim Carrey! Paul Bettany got it.)

PS: read complete story on Time Magazine's online edition.

DavinciFacts
See the Trailer of the movie below.




Links related to The Da Vinci Code,
The Official Site
Da Vinci Code author in lawsuit
Bishops want to withhold release
Ban Da Vinci Code: Muslims
Should Da Vinci Code be banned?
Coverage

One more addition( 18th May,2006 )
'Da Vinci Code': The Mystery of the Missing Screenings




(Excerpts drwn from www.rediff.com, www.time.blogs.com, www.time.com, www.nytimes.com, www.youtube.com, www.sonypictures.com, www.davincifacts.com)

Islam - a religion of peace?

SAND ART ---- Really AMAZING!!!

IBN News: Indian girl is Editor-in-Chief at 16

A teenage Indian student has been named Editor-in-Chief of the online edition of Tattler, the newspaper brought out by the Bethesda Chevy Chase High School (BCC) in Bethesda Maryland.

Srimathi Sridhar, a junior at BCC, one of the top ranking high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland in the United States, was a staff writer for the school newspaper.

Read more details on IBNLive.com

The Next American Idol

Gizmodo Recommendation: Computer Desk-Bed

For city dwellers tight on space and students in dorms, the Computer Bed combines a computer desk with a bed. A stylish wooden desk by that folds down to reveal a hidden twin sized bed.

Although the bed is useful and practical, it doesn’t look very sturdy. Even with the new “metal bed frame” and “wooden slate foundation”, a well-fed fellow would probably be too much for the joints and come collapsing down all his equipment.

Available now for $2079.

The Computer Bed [Euro FlyingBeds via Sagags]

Read it on Gizmodo.com

Gizmodo Recommendation: Shocking Lie Detector

Mike says: Hide this Shocking Lie Detector from your wife, or the next time she asks you where you were until 2am, that “I was working late Honey” is going to cost you all the feeling in your fingers.

As she feeds you some easy calibration questions—what are our children’s names—you’ll be wishing this device didn’t strap your hand tightly to prevent any last second fidgets. Good luck gentlemen.

Read it on Gizmodo.com

''LOVE'' IS GREAT !!!

Discovery Channel - Study: Royal Executions Followed Pattern

"A study of British royal executions has determined that the killings followed consistent patterns that correspond to Charles Darwin's "survival of the fittest" theory. The study helps to explain why so many British royals killed family members, particularly over a 200-year period called The Cousins' Wars that spanned the 14th to the 16th centuries." Read the complete story on Discovery channel website .


(Excerpts drwn from Discovery.com)

A look at how young people in Iran feel about their hardline president.

A look at how young people in Iran feel about their hardline president. check out this video on the Current TV website.

US Immigration

The immigration debate blows up when the Pilgrims protest limitations to their rights in America.


Missed the State of the Union? Supernews to the rescue. Here's Current TV's animated recap of the president's rad new agenda.



At a White House press conference, an eyewitness to The Hunting Accident steps forward.


Illegal Immigrants

BBC E-mail: Russian racism 'out of control'

The report into violent racism shows that at least 28 people were killed and 366 were assaulted in 2005.
The Amnesty report, entitled "Russian Federation: Violent racism out of control", includes examples of police and prosecutors routinely classifying murders and serious assaults by skinhead extremists as lesser crimes of "hooliganism"

Cases highlighted in the Amnesty report include the killing of nine-year-old Tajik girl Khursheda Sultonov.

Another victim was Vu Anh Tuan, a 20-year-old Vietnamese student, stabbed to death in October 2004 by a gang of 18 skinheads near a metro station in St Petersburg.

** Russian racism 'out of control' **
Racist killings in Russia are "out of control", says a report by human rights watchdog Amnesty International.

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India Ad - British Airways

know about MS Windows OS

DO you know about this?

Will Windows work continuously for more than 49.7 days?

Here is a bit of information, which may surprise you all. Windows crashes
automatically if you don't switch off the machine for 49.7 Days. Microsoft
accepts this. Do you know why?

In Windows the Virtual Machine Manager (here after referred as VMM) is
responsible for creation, execution, monitoring and termination of virtual
machines. This VMM, which is a 32 bit, protected mode operating system
entity, provides a number of system services at chip level. One of these
services is "Get_System_Time". This particular service loads the EAX
register with the time in milliseconds since Windows started on that
machine. This service is accurate to 1 ms. EAX is a 32 bit register in Intel
386 Processor onwards.

So the maximum number of milliseconds it can hold is
(232)-1 = 4294967295 milliseconds = 4294967.295 seconds = 71582.79 minutes =
1193 hours = 49.7 days.
So after 49.7 days the EAX resets to zero. Most of the Drivers use this Time
Service to keep track of the Timeout of various services they provide. So
after 49.7 days the drivers cannot use the Get_System_Time function of VMM
and they crash taking the OS along with.

Vande Mataram

National Song of India - Vande Mataram. An Inspiring video of - sung by Lata Mangeshkar, in beautiful voice.

Vande Mataram at Second in The Worlds top Ten -BBC

Mp3 of the original Vande Mataram from the Movie Anand Math

The song was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1876.

"Vande Mataram" was the national cry for freedom from British oppression during the freedom movement. Large rallies, fermenting initially in West Bengal, in the major metropolis of Calcutta (Kolkata), would work themselves up into a patriotic fever by shouting the slogan "Vande Mataram," or "Hail to the Mother(land)!" The British, fearful of the potential danger of an incited Indian populace, at one point banned the utterance of the motto in public forums and jailed many freedom fighters for disobeying the proscription. To this day, "Vande Mataram" is seen as a national mantra describing the love of patriots for the country of India.





The following is a translation of the song by Sri Aurobindo:

Mother, I bow to thee!
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
bright with orchard gleams,
Cool with thy winds of delight,
Green fields waving Mother of might,
Mother free.

Glory of moonlight dreams,
Over thy branches and lordly streams,
Clad in thy blossoming trees,
Mother, giver of ease
Laughing low and sweet!
Mother I kiss thy feet,
Speaker sweet and low!
Mother, to thee I bow.

Who hath said thou art weak in thy lands
When the sword flesh out in the seventy million hands
And seventy million voices roar
Thy dreadful name from shore to shore?
With many strengths who art mighty and stored,
To thee I call Mother and Lord!
Though who savest, arise and save!
To her I cry who ever her foeman drove
Back from plain and Sea
And shook herself free.

Thou art wisdom, thou art law,
Thou art heart, our soul, our breath
Though art love divine, the awe
In our hearts that conquers death.
Thine the strength that nervs the arm,
Thine the beauty, thine the charm.
Every image made divine
In our temples is but thine.

Thou art Durga, Lady and Queen,
With her hands that strike and her
swords of sheen,
Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned,
And the Muse a hundred-toned,
Pure and perfect without peer,
Mother lend thine ear,
Rich with thy hurrying streams,
Bright with thy orchard gleems,
Dark of hue O candid-fair

In thy soul, with jewelled hair
And thy glorious smile divine,
Loveliest of all earthly lands,
Showering wealth from well-stored hands!
Mother, mother mine!
Mother sweet, I bow to thee,
Mother great and free!