Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

I finished reading this book last Monday. Well, I really enjoyed reading the book and I got strange dreams of flying and finding strange things in the sky. So the thoughts were completely mingled. Since I have seen the movie,

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

I had been to the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie last Sunday(3rd July 2005). The movie was good, with Brad Pitt playing Mr. Smith and Angelina Jolie playing Mrs. Smith, who work as contract killers without each other knowing the other's involvement in this dangerous pursuit. When one day, they both find themselves after the same person and in turn they come to know of each other involvements in these killings. They are after each and other and in the end they are being chased as they are being asked to kill and they help each other to come out safe and kill people who are chasing them. This movie reminded me of After the Sunset, Pierce Brosnan's movie. Can be seen one time. A good entertainer.

Olympic Bid

Well, Olympic Bid for 2012 Summer Olympic games is on in Singapore. The participating countries are London, Paris, Spain, Russia and New York. So we will know the result to day which is 6 July 2005.

Alexander The Great

Visit this BBC link to know more about Alexander The Great

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

So I read this book before I go to sleep and in my dream I can see myself flying and imagining things. I can see Harry Potter and his friends. So maybe it is the influence of seeing Harry Potter's movies.

Was Christopher Columbus a Jew?

Yesterday I saw a programme on BBC about Columbus. In the programme, scientists were trying to prove Columbus' origin whether he is a Jew or Caucasian. So they concluded that Columbus is a Caucasian and they stored his DNA remains in a box, so that it can be used for future research.

100 Scientists who changed the world

I recently took a book titled "100 Scientists who changed the world" from our local library. Well, what would the world have been if not for these scientists who have discovered electricity and all modern equipments. Well, the cover page has the picture of Albert Einstein(It seems Einstein had lived in Geneva and there is museum about him there, came to know about this from the Swiss trip). This book is by Jon Balchin. To know more about this book,
click here
Coming soon in a theatre near you: Amitabh, Abhishek, Katrina Kaif and Tanisha(Kajol's sister) in Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar based on The Godfather. It is scheduled for release this week - June 29 2005

Harry Potter's New Book

JK Rowling has announced on her site that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released on July 16, 2005. You know what I started reading JK Rowling's Philosopher's stone yesterday night. I have seen a Harry Potter's movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. To know more about JK Rowling's stories click here
Coming soon in a theatre near you: Shahrukh, Rani and Amitabh in Amol Palekar's Paheli

Bunty aur Babli

So the latest movies I had seen are
  • Bunty aur Babli
  • After the sunset

  • and the latest books I read
  • Ruth Rendell's The Bridesmaid
  • What's your mood colour today?

    Well, I am not writing this article. It is written by Preeti Vasaikar in rediff. Want to know more about this read these articles.
    What's your mood colour today?
    Colour power: learn what's your colour

    Interested in Learing online for free

    Well, if you can buy materials from Barnes & Noble and then join the online classes. Well, I enrolled for French class and a class on Beauty. Interested in learning. Just register at Barnes & Noble.
    Barnes & Noble
    Click the B&N University Tab. Then register there. After you sign in you can browse through the courses available and start reading at your own pace. Try to complete the assignments as soon as possible.

    Want to know about the history of Legal time in Britain

    Read this article:
    History of legal time in Britain

    Summer time - Time to fly

    Its Summer time in UK and what do you see flying in the deep blue sky. It is not the white seagulls. It is indeed the beautiful coloured hot air baloons which majestically and graciously fly in the sky. It is a wonderful sight to watch the beautiful multi-coloured baloons flying high in the sky. Slowly they appear as if they are near your window and then off they go to someother place. They are in all bright colors, Yellow, red, blue etc etc. They fill the sky will the colours of the rainbow. Are you ready for your trip in the hot air baloon. What else you can see the place in a different perspective. They may look tiny in the sky. But really they are very very huge. Just imagine 10 people can easily fit into a medium sized baloon. Want to try one? Here is the website of one company who operate these balloons in Bristol Hotair ballooning and advice

    Place of the Day - Geneva


    Geneva, known as the Peace capital of the world hosts astounding number (around 195 ) of international buildings. The famous World Health Organisation, United Nations buildings etc to name a few. It is also known for its Lake Geneva also known as Lac Leman (in French). Since Geneva is close to French border, most of the people talk in French. Announcements and billboards are also in French. It is known for its wine yards and it is the third largest wine-growing canton in Switzerland. Lake Geneva is shaped like a sickle and is 72 kms long, upto 13 km wide near the middle and 310 metres deep. Two-thirds of this lake belongs to Swizterland and one third belongs to France. This lake is Western Europe's largest lake and the largest fresh water reservoir in Europe. So Cruises are common are on this lake. Geneva has an international airport and the city centre is located just 6 minutes from the airport. As soon as you are reaching Geneva, you can get a glimpse of Jet d'Eau from the air. This is visible from almost all places in Geneva. Such is the height of the fountain situated at the mouth of the harbour. I really admired the National monument of Geneva. More to come.

    Sudoku - Today is

    This Sudoku has been created using the Open Source Sudoku Software available under GNU public license in the following url
    Su Doku Solver
    Interested in winning a free 20 GB ipod ?? Click here www.freeipods.com

    Random Photo of the Day


    from the recent Swiss Trip
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    Rediff News

    Wordsmith - Word for the day

    Lake District?

    Have you ever heard about Lake District? If not read this about it in my article named
    Lake District

    What did I cook today?

    Well, I made mixed vegetable rice with many vegetables like carrot, tomato, potato, onion and runner beans.

    Su Doku - Again

    I have purchased a notebook(squared exercise book - maths notebook for small children) for me and for my husband to solve Su Doku and a microtip pencil with a eraser at the back. It is better than drawing the whole box in a notebook and solving. So I am going to solve a Su doku now and will tell how some simple steps which you can follows to solve Su Doku. So off I go. Do you there is going to be a Championship in UK. More details soon. I finished solving a difficult Su Doku in less than 20 minutes. Want to solve Su Doku, go to times website.

    Chal Mere Bhai

    Yesterday saw the movie Chal Mere Bhai starring Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan and Karishma Kapoor. I have seen this movie already. But that was a long time ago and so decided to see this movie again. This is a fullfledged comedy of two brothers who fall in love with the same girl and the girl ends up marrying Salman Khan. Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt play brothers in this movie and they are very close to each other. This movie is worth watching if you are looking for a humourous movie.
    Today I learnt that Sunil Dutt, Sanjay Dutt's father has passed away. So sad. He was a very good actor and also a great politician and they telecasted Mother India yesterday in B4U in memory of Sunil Dutt.

    Buntu aur Babli

    "Are you ready then sit down and let me tell you the story of Bunti and Babli. Let us see if they pass the test." Want to hear the song? Click here The story of this film is loosely based on Bonnie and Clyde, and stars Rani Mukherjee, Big B and Abhishek Bachchan. Watch the preview of Bunty aur Babli There are six songs in the film and in the above site you can hear clippings.
    • Dhadak Dhadak
    • Chup Chup ke
    • nach baliye
    • bunty aur babli
    • b n b
    • kajra re
    Know more about the movie click here

    Well, a new section about games and java applets

    I am starting new section on games and java applets so watch out.

    More German Lessons and Exercises soon

    Please wait for my German lessons and resources guide and you too can start learning German.

    Su Doku - Easy

    Today is the easy puzzle in times. I solved it in less then 10 minutes. It was very very easy solving, after spending hours on a difficult one. Want to try? Try here Easy Puzzle. It also has the answer posted. Try to solve the puzzle without seeing the answer. It is really really very very easy.

    Yahoo! Games - Diner Dash

    I normally do not play games. But when I saw yahoo games, I thought why not give a try. I played the addictive Diner dash. I was playing it for quite sometime and did not quite notice the time. And the game expired. I have to buy the game to play it. Really interesting game. It reminded me of the Operations Research, where we have to find an optimal way to solve a problem.
    A lady frustrated with her job, resigns her job and starts a restaurant. So she has to keep her customers happy. There are limited number of seats available. If any customer goes frustrated because of the waiting time, she loses money. So the aim of the game, is earn money by keeping your customers happy.
    What to give it a try. Here's the url. Yahoo Diner Dash

    Optical Illusion

    I was browsing when I landed on a site which contained Optical Illusions like moving snake. Just see this url to know more Optical Illusion So I was really interested in the subject and went to wikipedia to find out about Optical Illusion. So it directed me to a Cut the knot site which had applets which described various illusions. Try this site. It is really interesting.
    Few more optical illusions

    Chemistry - My main subject of study

    I have spent 7 years studying Chemistry, a fascinating subject whose worth I came to know after I finished my studies. So Chemistry is going to be a section in my website. Let me start with an introduction to Hydrocarbons.. So what are these hydrocarbons? Compounds with hydrogen and carbon in them. The simplest of hydrocarbons is Methane found in natural gas . CH4.

    Journey of life

    In the five part series of "Journey of life" in BBC, yesterday it was about stags ,puppies,fishes and parakeets. How the puppies born of the same parents could be different in the outward appearance? Indeed they were unique in the interior too. Some puppies were more resistant to some virus while someother puppy was to resistant to some other virus. The female Parakeets chose a mate who had a redder beak and it seems red beaked male parakeets are more resistant to diseases and hence the female always preferred the superior male. There was a stag fight for the female stag and the female stag chose the winner. The programme also featured symbiotic relationship between animals, where a tiny fish cleans the teeth of a larger fish, parasitic relationship of tape worms etc.
    Different fishes of the same species had individual preference for their mate. Accordingly they mated with particular males and this gene is passed on to their daughters and after many years this group forms a special species. It was quite interesting to note this. Evolution is really a fascinating subject. Note: I could see only bits and pieces of the programme as I was busy cooking.

    Advertisements

    I note that some advertisements are placed a class over others. Just today morning I watched the Persil ad, which said dirt is good and the ad was so well picturised and concept was too good. A little boy making breakfast for his mother(in the process all his dress is covered with jam and stuff), two little boys trying hard climbing a tree and the compound wall, to see the young woman sitting in her garden, a man out fishing sitting on the grass(in the process his pants get dirty) and he finally catches the fish and in the end of the ad, Persil - dirt is good. I really liked the ad.

    Am I becoming a Sudoku addict?

    Yesterday I spent solid one and half hours solving Sudoku puzzles. It is really addictive. If you just get some time to spare with nothing to do you can always find a Sudoku to keep yourselves engaged. So the bug has caught my husband too. He too spent one and half hours after coming from office in solving Sudoku puzzles. Sudoku - Engagingly Addictive.

    Chandramukhi - Rajinikanth and Jothika

    The story of the film Chandramukhi reminded me of a programme I saw in BBC about a woman suffering from multiple personalities. It was very sad to see the woman being attacked by one of her other personalities, sometimes the attack would be lethal like cutting a vein etc. So she is under pressure that anytime she could be attacked by her other personality.
    I wanted to present the story for you. But could not trace it out. I think that woman suffered from multiple (9) personalities, each personality had a different age ranging from age 5 to 18. The torture she suffered when she was a child is stated as one of the reasons for her disorder. When she takes the personality of a child she starts singing rhymes, her voice changes dramatically. She is living alone and sometimes her friend visits her. She is under medication.
    I was browsing and landed up on a news story in The Hillside Stranglers. It is indeed an interesting story where a person who is charged with killing of 14 victims fakes to have multiple personalities and he is trapped and he confesses that he just faked as having multiple personalities. He has seen the movie Sybil(about multiple personalities)

    Su Doku in Newsnight

    It seems the newspapers are selling more. Not because of any new news story. It is because of the addictive Su doku puzzle.
    Yesterday, in BBC Newsnight they had a short news story about Sudoku, the new Japanese puzzle. So Sudoku is really getting popular.

    Games - Su Doku?

    I was waiting for my train in the train station. I saw an young lady, sitting beside me curiously solving something. Just had a peek of what she was doing. She was trying to put numbers in a newspaper cutting and it had the Times newspaper name on the side.
    I was really interested in knowing what she was doing. So what did I do? After my work was over, I returned home and the first thing I had to do was search for online puzzles in Google.
    I was taken to various puzzles sites.
    Then I searched for Times Number Puzzle which lead me to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,18209,00.html. From this url, I learnt about a new game - Sudoku - a Japanese puzzle,
    So I learnt about this new number puzzle game - Su Doku. I began solving a simple easy puzzle and I could solve it soon.  But later I tried a puzzle with Fiendish rating and that was it, I spent hours solving the puzzle and I would like to warn you, this puzzle is really exciting and addictive.
    In http://www.sudoku.com , you have tips and tricks of how to solve a Su Doku puzzle. In this website, under the contest section, if you solve the puzzle, can have a free license to Sudoku program.
    Want to make you own Sudoku puzzle for your site click the url - http://www.pro.or.jp/~fuji/java/puzzle/numplace/makesudoku/sudoku01.html.en

    How did the Swiss Trip go?

    As you must be knowing, I had been planning for the Swiss trip for the past one and half months and had placed few articles about the places we were visiting in Switzerland. My expectation (from reading the reviews and my comments from friends living in UK) was really high. And Switzerland did not fail me. The people in Switzerland are very courteous Most of them greet strangers when they come across them in Streets and bus stands. I would like to make a special mention of our receptionist in Drei Konige (3* hotel we stayed in Lucerne) who was very very friendly. She always had a welcoming smile and she was very very helpful and kind. Few things that I would like to mention,

  • Excellent transportation system - All trains were punctual to the minute
  • Very very clean roads
  • Swiss is warmer than UK - First three days was sunny and on the fourth day it rained heavily and luckily we escaped the rain by a minute, just entered the railway station and it started pouring.
  • Surprised to see a Table fan in the hotel room and air conditioners in most of the houses
  • Courteous people - People try to help you out if they can.
  • We got Indian food even at places we never expect
  • We were near the Glacier(Jungfrau - Top of Europe) and the sun was shining brightly and I never felt cold (temperature was +5 degree Celsius). I thought since there was ice the temperature would have been certainly low (in the negative range)
  • Saw many many Indians and mostly Tamilians
  • Met a lady, who was in India in 1979 who complained about very poor transportation in India when she visited India
  • Did not feel like leaving Swiss.
  • Got a Swiss knife, cow-bell as Souvenirs (Remember the cow-bell in Dil wale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge)
  • Hotel Bollywood at the Jungfrau - Top of Europe
  • Indian food at Mt. Titlis
  • Most of the people were enjoying the sun - skating, or just walking under the sun or eating icecreams
  • Fountains on the roadside and parks for the visitors to drink water
  • Were really lost in the Zurich station (54 platforms)
  • It is difficult to go further North of Lucerne without knowing German.
  • National Monument in Geneva
  • Many people who live in Switzerland have not visited the famous tourist mountains (Jungfrau and Mt. Titlis) because of the high prices of cable cars and mountain rails
  • Travelled in solar powered rail in Geneva
  • Lovely country side, towered by the huge snow covered mountains on almost all sides.
  • Was surprised, when we went to Tourist office in Lausanne and asked about any tours running in Lausanne, she gave us a map and marked down the places to visit and most of the places could be covered by walking (no need for a tour or a guide)
  • Zurich and Bern were busy with trams coming from all sides to the centre of the city every couple of minutes.
  • Flower clock
  • Lake Geneva - 2/3rd is owned by Swiss and 1/3 by France


    Places visited
  • Day1: Bristol(UK) -> Amsterdam -> Geneva -> Lausanne -> St. Montreux -> Lausanne -> Lucerne
  • Day2: Lucerne -> Interlaken -> JungfrauJoch -Top of Europe -> Lucerne
  • Day3: Lucerne -> Engelberg -> Kleine Schleigg -> Mt. Titlis -> Kleine Schleigg -> Engelberg -> Lucerne -> Rapperswill(on the Voralpen scenic route) -> Zurich -> Lucerne
  • Day4: Lucerne -> Berne -> Geneva
  • Day5: Geneva -> Amsterdam -> Bristol
  • More to come.. I would be posting Swiss photographs shortly.. So watch out.. and more about the trip in detail.
    My husband has volunteered to write about the trip and I am anxiously waiting for the articles to post it for you.

    Technology - So what have I been doing lately?

    I had been off for an exciting Swiss trip. More photographs and review of places I visited to come.
    On the programming side, I want to use apache-lenya to publish my pages for my website, so that managing my site will be easy. So I just download the required files and working on it. If I am successful, I will give a tutorial for the same. How to use Lenya to publish your pages. So it depends on how it goes(Hope it goes good, so that you have a chance to implement lenya by yourself.). Wondering what Lenya is?
    Well Lenya is a Open source content management system, that you can use will little or no experience programming. It is completely based of XML. It is built on Cocoon framework. More tutorials to come on this.

    Web Design - Css Tutorials

    Whenever you want to change the look and feel of your website, you have to change in each and every file, if you are using just HTML. If your site is going to have more number of files, then changing in each and every file is going to be tedious. Also due to differences between tags and attributes of various browsers it becomes necessary that you use some external Cascading Stylesheets. Using CSS files, you just have to make changes in just the CSS file, and it is reflected in all the pages of the website. You will be referring to the stylesheet in all your pages. So if you make a change, you just have to upload the stylesheet and not all files of the website. So want to learn about CSS just go through this tutorials. Click here to go to the tutorial .

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