[15] Acronym that will make you laugh, such as "C.R.A.P"

I found these acronyms at different places and I thought I should share them with you. Sure they made me laugh so much. And, oh they are real. I hope you like them.

(1) CRAP
Committee to Resist Acronym Proliferation.

(2) GHOST
Graffiti Habitual Offenders Suppression Team.

(3) SWIFT ANSWER
Special Word Indexed Full-Text Alpha-Numeric Storage With Easy Retrieval (Longest true acronym in English...so far).

(4) POETS
Piss Off Early, Tomorrow's Saturday (British slang for "TGIF").

(5) SCAM
Southern California Auto Mart.

(6) CACA
Canadian Agricultural Chemicals Associations.

(7) BARRF
Bay Area Resources Recovery Facility.

(8) NAPS
National Alliance of Postal Supervisors.

(9) RUIN
Regional Urban Information Network

(10) FIB
Fisherman's Information Bureau (It was this big...really!).

(11) SLUTS
School of Librarianship Urban Transportation System.

(12) SAP
Society for American Philosophy.

(13) EATM
Exotic Animal Training Management.

(14) GORK
God Only Really Knows (How doctors refer to patients they can't diagnose).

(15) WUNY
Wait Until Next Year (Said after a losing season).

Hope you enjoyed it, if you know some other hilarious ones, please share!

Reap the benifits of having a Gmail ID!

The best thing about having a Gmail ID is unknown to a lot of people. You think that you know everything and all the benefits of having a Gmail id? I can bet you will be surprised to find you out that it is not true. Did you know that you could do these things?

Let’s say that your email address is ‘GeorgeBush@gmail.com’, basically everything sent to any of the following email addresses will be forwarded to your primary email.

• GeorgeBush@gmail.com
• GeorgeBush@googlemail.com
• G.eorgeBush@gmail.com
• Ge....orgeBush@gmail.com
• Geor..geBush@gmail.com
• Georg..eBush@gmail.com

Continue reading....

[Best] Blogger tips / tricks / hacks for newbie!

I am going to share a big secret for all the people who just joined the infamous blogspot.com. There are a lot of things you can't do it by yourself or it would take you a lot of time to figure it out by yourself. So here is a little HOWTO [in a great detail] to help you out. From here you will be able to do the followings:

1. You can remove the blogger bar (yes the search bar on the top).
2. Add a randomizer to show different quotes, graphics or html.
   
3. You can show the recent comments you have received/written.
   
4. You can format the style of your comments. Everything about them [almost]
5. Add inline adds.
   
6. Use feedburner.
   
7. Add additional pages (such as, adding links to older posts that you can customize.)
8. Use a real domain instead of blogger's default names.
   
9. Add Instant Messaging to your blogger blog.
   
10. Update your blog daily and have quality content.
    

International Laws; Laugh or get scared...but these are real!

You should remember these international laws as you might get into trouble if you are are a tourist/traveler. This would also help you if you are in a new country and about to make one of the following mistakes.

• In England, it's illegal to name your pet "Queen" or "Princess" without the Queen's permission.
  
• In Athens, Greece, driving on public roads while "unbathed" or poorly dressed can cost you your driver's license.
  
• If you aren't a member of the royal family in Japan, it's illegal for you to own a maroon car.
  
• If a man is wearing a hat in Cheshire, England, the law requires him to raise it when a funeral passes.
  
• In Equatorial Guinea, you can name your daughter anything you want - except "Monica".
  
• You can keep cows in sheds in the Northern Territories of Canada, and you can keep chickens in sheds. But you can't keep cows and chickens in the same shed (this is just plane weird to me).
  
• In India, women (but not men) are allowed to marry goats ( It sure sounds really bad to me)
• Old English law: if an object is smaller than a husband's little finger, he can beat his wife with it.
  
• In Canada, if a debt is higher than 25 cents, it's against the law for you to pay in pennies.
  
• In Vancouver, British Columbia, the speed limit for tricycles is 10 miles per hour.
  
• In Baluchistan, Pakistan, the law allows a man to "acquire" a wife by trading in his sister.
  
• Makes sense: in London, England, it's illegal to operate a motor vehicle while sitting in the back seat.
• In Australia, the pictures of convicted drunk drivers are published in newspapers with the caption, "He's drunk and in jail" (haha)
• Cigarettes are legal in Nicaragua; cigarette lighters aren't.
  
• My personal favorite: Boxing is illegal in China (too brutal); capital punishment isn't.

I hope that you had fun reading these. Please digg it if you like it as I am just new to digg.
Good Luck!

Ubuntu (Hardy) or OpenSuse-11.0? Make up your mind and let's end this once for all!

You want to know which is the best for you? You want to know what others think? You want to let people know which OS is better? You have come to the right place. Let everyone hear your voice and find out what others are thinking. This is going to help people like me and you. I have made up my choice and I want to know what you think. So just take a second to vote and please decide once for all!

The worst and the best movies of 2008 so far!

Iron Man vs Indian Jones! You can see which one is not worth your time and money! You can't chose which one you want to watch? I can save your day (as if you are going to listen to me :P), but anyway I am here to help. For some people, I would say, its not even worth reading this blog here as you will find out why I said so... Read on to find out.

Indian Jones and the kingdom of the Crystal Skull:
I can say that I am a die hard Indiana Jones fan and I grew up watching the first three films again and again. When I heard about the fourth movie (Crystal Skull), I was really excited but after watching the movie, all I could think is that, they should have let alone the idea of making a fourth movie as the trilogy ended so perfectly. However, I went to the movie with my great enthusiasm and I really really forced myself to like it, let alone love it but that was just impossible. This is primarily because of the poor script, which could have been written by a 10 year old who is bad at writing stories.

The action sequences in the Crystal Skull are staged and edited horribly. As far as I remember, there is just plenty of frantic energy, lots of noise but the sense of rediscovery is totally absent. I would say that this movie has ruiend the unprecedented blend of action and comedy that made the previous three movies so much fun. The adventurous ride ends with the trilogy which is totally lost in the Crystal Skull.

I found it really disappointing and I would like to call it a desecration of the franchise, a way to milk the cash-cow, which makes your eyes tired after watching the movie. 'Most' of the movie is swamped in a sea of stunts and CGI as the scenes and character relationships are just charmless. To me Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull is nothing more than a very minor chapter in the adventures of one of Hollywood's most beloved action heroes. Its a huge disappointment for those who waited patiently for his return.

This was the last thing I had expected from its great casts and directors. The film's greatest crime is that its not a fun film at all, as it keeps you busy thinking about how the story line doesn't fit together. I did not have a clue what was happening in the Crystal Skull almost throughout the movie. As I was getting my bearings towards the end of the movie, an alien spaceship took off, I almost whispered to the guy next to me "Please...make it stop!"

Iron Man:
After watching 'Iron Man' twice already, I can say that this is an exciting kick-off to the summer season. If the 1940s was the golden age of comic books, then we are now in the golden age of comic book movies.

Robert Downey, Jr., the leading man is the true revelation of the Iron Man, who may not be giving the greatest superhero performance ever, but in my eyes he certainly is one of the best actors to ever portray a superhero. This movie is politically smart, action packed and loads of fun. Its highly entertaining and well made movie, which can be in the same league as "Spider Man-2", "Superman Returns", "X-Men-2" and "Batman Begins". You might think that its hard to believe, but yes! it is that good.

Iron man is not only action packed but it is also laced with a story that has a good quality substance with wit and romance added to please the audience of all ages. Before I went to watch this movie, I did not have very high expectations, but after leaving the cinema hall I could see that this movie has made an erstwhile tin man look like an amazing superhero.

Director Jon Favreau's controlling visual effects in "Zathura" is not there anymore. You can see his new clunky prologue and escape sequence flawlessly placed together in the story containing smartness, humor and soul. Jon Favreau has turned a comic strip into an excellent engaging amalgam, which might have been just another Marvel strip.

The gadgetry used in the movie is absolutely dazzling, which matches with the exhilarating action with a pinch of scintillating comedy. The main thing which sets this movie apart from the rest of the superhero movies is that its is not bogged down with the repetitive superhero mantra; "with great power comes great responsibility."

In my opinion Iron Man has not only etched itself the mark of one of the best reviewed movies so far in 2008, but also one of the highest superhero movies of all time. With talented casts, interesting director and a wealth of plots from comics ready to be mined for future story-lines, this movie definitely leaves you wanting more.

So I would say, Get your popcorn ready! Iron Man is the perfect start to the summer movie season. This movie keeps you entertained till the end with its blending brains and geekiness in equal measures. I would like to conclude with a reminding note for everyone about to set their foot in the theaters, stay till the closing credits of the movie, the Iron Man song is just the right punch you need to get out of the theater if you are wanting more.

#Note: I am not getting paid to do this :P. This is my personal opinion and if you have any comments please don't keep it to yourself as its a huge debate topic among my friends at the moment. So let me know if I am wrong/right, your input would be highly appreciated.

Animal Superstitions [I]; you can choose to believe in them or maybe not!

Superstitions are always intriguing, even if you don't believe in them. When you hear a superstition and if you are part of it, then you do feel this weird thing about them, even if you don't choose to believe in them. Well, I just stumbled on to few of the very old ones relating to animals, collected by Edwin and Mona Radford in their book, Encyclopedia of Superstitions (Yeah there is an encyclopedia about it!)

1. A strange dog following you is good luck. A dog howling is a sure sign of death.
   
2. If a rooster crows near the door with his face towards it, it is a sure prediction of the arrival of a stranger.
3. Good luck will attend anyone upon whose face a spider falls from the ceiling.
4. If a cat sneezes, it is a sign of rain. If a cat sneezes three times, a cold will run through the family.
   
5. Living pigeons cut in half and applied to the feet of a man in fever will cure him (don't try this at home please).
   
6. To cure illness in a family was the patient and throw the water on a cat. Then drive the cat out of the doors, and it will take the illness with it.
   
7. If blind people are kind to ravens they will learn how to regain their sight.
   
8. If you find a hairy caterpillar you should throw it over your shoulder for good luck.
   
9. If a dog passes between a couple who are going to be married, much ill-luck will result to them.
   
10. Mice, minced, given to a sufferer, will cure measles.
    
11. Dried rat's tails will cure a cold.
    
12. If a white weasel crosses your path, it presages death or misfortune; but if one runs in front of you, you will be able to beat all your enemies.
    
13. If a cat sneezes near a bride, it means she will have good luck in her wedded life.
    
14. When mice swarm into a house hitherto free from them, a member of the household will die.
    
15. If the rooster crows at midnight, the Angel of Death is passing over the house.
    
16. If a man should kill a glowworm, it will endanger his lover affair, and may cause the death of his beloved.
    

I know that few of them sound really silly but some people still believe in a lot of superstitious beliefs. I hope that you had fun reading these. I found these interesting and thought I should share them with you.

Enjoy!

Buddha is dead but his wisdom lives on!

Sidhartha Gautama, known as the Buddha, or "Enlightened One," died in 480 B.C., but his wisdom lives on. Following are few of his words which enlighten a lot of people's world. I am fascinated by him and his ideas. I was going through a book where I found few of his words which really moved me. I thought that it would be good if I could share it with you all. So here it goes:

• "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
• "Nothing ever exists entirely alone; everything is in relation to everything else."
• "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."
• "Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."
• "Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace" (my favourite!).
• "Every human being is the author of his own disease."
• "In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true."
• "It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways."
• "We are what we think."
• "Let us be thankful!, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die. So, let us all be thankful."
• "There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not growing all the way, and not starting."
• "Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others."
• "Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
• "Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it."

I know there are a lot more but I couldn't just go on and on. I hope that you liked Buddha's wisdom words and hope that this brightens your day!

5 [most] imfamous tyrants before they were infamous.

You know great leaders make their choices early in life that pave the way for their illustrious careers. But what about the world's worst tyrants? Here's a look at the early lives of 5 rotten apples in the history barrel.

5. JOSEPH STALIN [1879 - 1953]


Place in History:

• Soviet ruler from 1924 to 1953.

• Fueled by a mad paranoia, Stalin is responsible for the murder and mass starvation of millions of soviet citizens. His forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture starved as many as 5 million people from 1932 to 1933. The political purges that followed from 1936 to 1938 may have killed as many as 7 million more.
• His diplomatic and military blunders leading up to WWII contributed mightily to the 20 million Soviet military and civilian casualties during the war.

Before he was infamous:

• Born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, young Josheph entered a Russian Orthodox seminary in 1984, but he was kicked out of it at the age of 20.
  
• He then went underground, became a Bolshevik revolutionary, and later adopted the pseudonum Stalin (which means 'Man of Steel').
  
• Between 1902-1913, 'the man of steel' was arrested and jailed seven times, and sent to Siberia twice.
  
• In 1917, he became the editor of "Pravda", the Communist Party newspaper. Stalin did not play a prominent role in the communist revolution of November 1917, but in 1922 he was elected general secretary of Communist Party, a post that became his power base.
  
• Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, but it wasn't until after six years of maneuvering against opponents that Stalin emerged as Lenin's unrivaled successor in 1930.
  

4. MAO TSE-TUNG [1893-1976]


Place in history:

• Leader of the Chinese Communist Party [1935] and the founder of the People's Republic of China, which he ruled from 1945 until his death in 1976.
  
• Under such disastrous programs as 'The Great Leap Forward [1958-1960] ' and 'The Cultural Revolution [1966-1976]', more than 30 million people starved to death or were murdered outright by Mao's government and its policies.
  

Before he was infamous:

• At the age of 13, this child of peasant farmers left home to get an education. He tried police school, soap-making school, law school, and economics before settling on becoming a teacher.
  
• He attended the University of Beijing, where he became a Marxist and in 1921, at the age of 27, a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party.
  
• In 1927 he alienated orthodox Marxists by arguing that peasants, not workers, would be the main force in the communist revolution.
  
• It was not until 1935, following the 6,000 mile "Long March" to escape the Chinese government's brutal campaign against the communists, that he emerged as the party's leader.
  

3. POL POT [1925-1998]

Place in history:

• Leader of the Cambodian 'Khmer Rogue' guerrilla movement, which seized control of the Cambodian government in 1975 and ruled the country until January 1979.
  
• On Pol Pot's orders the cities were emptied and the urban population forced out into the countryside to work on collective farms that became known as "killing fields." Nearly 1.7 million Cambodians [20% of the entire population] were starved, worked to death or murdered by the Khmer Rouge.
  

Before he became famous:

• Born Saloth Sar, Pol Pot lived in a Buddhist monastry for six years, and was a practicing monk.
  
• He worked briefly as a carpenter before moving to Paris at the age of 24 to study radio electronics as a full scholarship.
  
• While there he joined the French Communist Party. He later lost his scholarship and returned home in 1953, the same year that Cambodia won independence from France.
  
• Over the next decade Sar rose through the ranks of the Cambodian Communist Party (the Khmer Rouge), and in 1963 he became its head.
• In the mid 1970s he adopted the pseudonym, Pol Pot.
  

2. IDI AMIN DADA [ca. 1924-2003]

Place in history:

• Ugandan dictator from 1971 to 1979.
  
• In those years he expelled the entire Asian population of Uganda [more than 70,000 people] and is believed to have murdered as many as 400,000 people during the eight year reign of terror.
  
• In 1979 he invaded the neighboring country of Tanzania; when the invasion failed and the Tanzanians counterattacked he fled into exile.
  
• Eventually he settled in Saudi Arabia, where he died in August 2003.
  

Before he was infamous:

• Amin, a member of the small Kakwa tribe of northwestern Uganda, was born in 1925 and raised by his mother, a self-proclaimed sorceress.
  
• As a child he sold doughnuts (mandazi) in the streets.
  
• In 1943, he joined the King's African Rifles of the British colonial army and went on to serve in the Allied Forces' Burma campaign during World War II. After the war he became a boxer and was the heavyweight champion of Uganda for nine years (1951-1960).
  
• Amin continued his rise through the ranks of military and by the time Uganda became independent from England in 1962 he was one of only two African officers in the entire Ugandan armed forces.
  
• President Obote appointed him head of the army and navy in 1966; fiver years later Amin seized power in a coup and declared himself president for life.
  

1. ADOLF HITLER [1889-1945]



Place in history:

• Elected German Chancellor in 1933 and ruled Nazi Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945.
  
• The Nazis murdered an estimated 6 million Jews and other people it considered inferior, including Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, communists and homosexuals.
  
• Hitler also started World War II, which killed as many as 55 million people.
  

Before he was infamous:

• As a small boy, Hitler dreamed of becoming a priest, but by age 14 he'd lost his interest in religion.
  
• As a young man he enjoyed architecture and art and dreamed of becoming a great artist, but when he applied for admission to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, he was turned down (twice) for lack of talent.
  
• He bummed around Vienna until 1913, living off an orphan's pension and what little money he made from odd jobs like beating carpets, and from selling paintings and drawings of Viennese landmarks.
  
• When World War I broke out in 1914 he was living in Munich, where he volunteered for the Bavarian Army and was later awarded the Iron Cross.
  
• Germany lost the war in 1918; the following year Hitler joined the German Workers Party at a time when it had only about 25 members.
  
• He soon became its leader, and in 1920 the party changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (better known as the Nazis).

I went through many tyrants from the history, but I thought that these were the 5 tyrants who affected lives of millions of people. I sometimes wish that these people were not born, maybe our world would have been a better place to live today.

1 to 21 most interesting things/facts I thought you should know.

1. An average person swallows three spiders every year.
2. The carrot was purple in its ancient form, not orange.
3. Only female mosquitoes bite; they need the blood to nourish their eggs.
4. An average French person uses 2 soap bars each year.
5. Brasilia (the capital of Brazil) founded in 1960 is one of the newest cities in the world.
6. Women look at other women more than they look at men.
7. The district of Columbia has one lawyer for every 19 residents (wow!).
8. The blue whale's tongue weighs as much as an adult elephant.
9. Onions have no flowers, only a smell.
10. Only one-third of the Americans say they'd want their boss's job (its lonely at the top).
11. Doctors say that people who have pet fish fall asleep easier than people who don't.
12. The smallest mammal on Earth is the 'The bumblebee bat' (It weighs less than a penny).
13. In the U.S, the second most popular place to eat breakfast is: The Car.
14. The wild turkey is the only bird with a beard (haha!).
15. Poll result: 50% of all Oreo-eaters say they pull them apart before eating them.
16. Squirrels lose at least half the nuts they hide (They forget where they put them).
17. The average human body has about 100 millimeters of bowel gas at one time.
18. The Italian flag was designed by Napoleon Bonaparte.
19. The average take from a bank robbery is about $3,000 (Is it worth the risk?).
20. The world's most expensive spice: Spanish saffron (It can cost more than $2000 per pound).
21. A bloody wound on your body starts to clot in less than 10 seconds.

Please leave a comment or digg it if you like it!

My OpenSuse 11.0 experience. OpenSuse or Ubuntu? I have made my choice.

Dear readers,

I have been using Ubuntu since the 'Ubuntu Breezy' edition. I have few friends how are OpenSuse users. I was kind of excited about the release of the OpenSuse-11.0 and then I thought that I should give it a try. I read a lot about this new openSuse release being the 'Ubuntu Killer'. You might think that I will have a biased opinion about it but to tell you the truth, I don't think that openSuse-11.0 is up to that level.

During the installation, I was a bit impressed with its new installation method, which was pretty similar to the Ubuntu's installation. If you are an Ubuntu user then I would suggest that you should stick with Ubuntu as its still way better than openSuse when it comes to user friendliness.

I will make a list of the things which I didn't like about it.

1. The smoothness of ubuntu is still lacking in opensuse-11.0

2. On my Dell Latitude D600, the visual effects were not running as smooth as ubuntu.

3. I would agree that they tried to make the interface look better and more user friendly but it still doesn't come close to Ubuntu.

4. I didn't find much online support for the new release of openSuse-11.0

5. The start-up/loading time was at least 10 to 15 seconds more than Ubuntu.

6. I checked the system monitor and the programs were running slower in openSuse.

Anyway, I should better stop here because I don't want to criticize it so much because the openSuse team has worked so hard towards this new release and it wouldn't be fair to them. I would say that if you are using Ubuntu and you just want to give openSuse-11.0 a try then go ahead and check it with the live CD, but I wouldn't advise you to install it as an operating system. Please leave a comment if you think I am wrong.

Well, as for me, I am back to Ubuntu and I am more than happy with it. This was my personal opinion and I hope this helps.

All the best!

update:
I think few people got me wrong. Let me summarize it in a few words for you. I have used Ubuntu, Suse, Debian, Kubuntu, RedHat, Fedora... To be honest, I am just staying with Ubuntu, not because I am trying to be biased here but its just so darn better than other Linux OS regarding the usability/update/speed/Interface/online-help (very helpful) etc. I have worked as a Linux IT support person and I never got any complains about Ubuntu. Everyone was happ after I installed Ubuntu on their computer, and a lot of people just gave up on Suse and other OS and they found Ubuntu to be the most usable Linux OS.

Please don't try to pull my legs. I am just stating my opinion and I am just trying to save other Ubuntu users some time and effort.

If you think that openSuse-11.0 is the right thing for you then go ahead and use it. I do NOT have any problem with it and I am not trying to change your mind. I love Linux and I always will, in one form or another.

Thanks for the comments!

Beautiful Kansas sunset

At the moment, I am visiting the US and I got a chance to visit Medicine Lodge, Kansas. I mean don't get me wrong, Medicine Lodge is beautiful, but I was more inclined towards the beautiful sunset that evening. I took a lot of pictures of the sunset and I am sharing some with you. If you like to have a bigger size image of any of the pictures then you can go to my picasa web album and get a copy from there. If you want any picture in a bigger size then please write me and I will send it to you.

Hope that you like them!

Enjoy!


Please leave a comment or digg it if you like it!