Priceless - This 911 Letter

It Goes like this.
Dear Sir,

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself to you, well I am Dr.Mathins Young,I am attached to Genesis Pharma and Laboratory London I am looking for a dependable individual that I can trust, someone who is willing and honest enough to carry out this transaction, with diligent to the best of his/her ability. Basically, I normally travel to India to purchase a HERB Called RAVIVO SEED. The RAVIVO SEEDis one of the active herb use in manufacturing of anti HIV/AIDS drug.The herb contain 10 sachet in a packet.These products, are rare and in high demand here in Britain,it was introduce to our company by a Indian, Mr. Vinod Sharma, who gave me a sample for test on my last visit to Holland. I have searched to a conclusive point that this said product are specifically found in the South/East Coast of Asia in which we can purchase in a large amount for supply at an affordable price in India,China,Taiwan and Malaysia from a reputable dealer.

The  Genesis Pharma and laboratory have mandated to come over to Asia topurchase this HERB mentioned above. but the issue right now, is that, I need the correspondence of a reliable partner, who will stand as the distributor. The actual selling price from the dealers in India is Rs.45,000($950 USD)per packet and it is sold here in Britain at the rate of $1,900USD to Pharmaceutical companies/medical research institute. I don't want our marketing manager to go directly go to the dealer because the company has allocated $1,900USD per pack to purchase the product.

My appeal to you is for your assistance, to get the product from the dealers then re-sell to our company at the stipulated price as stated above. thereafter, the profit will be shared base on 60/40% percentage. With that i was hoping that a reliable person can assist me in supplying my marketing manager the product. The quantity demand from my company is 50 to 150 packets monthly. All I need from you is to be kind, honest, and trustworthy.

Your reply is of great important, all information needed is intact and all that matters now is your respond if you are interested.

Kindly, get back to me with Your Full Contact i.e. Company Name if any, Phone and Fax Number. If you can offer this services do reply me as soon as possible. Kindly send your reply through my alternative email address:
mathins_young@live.com

Sincerely,
Dr.Mathins Young

Twitter

I just discovered the joy of tweeting on my old Nokia 5130 with a cheap gprs connection !

2012: My Review

I watched 2012 yesterday. What Crap ! Here is the story in 7 stages

1. The Americans outsource Geological Services to India, and some Indian points out that the earth is doomed

2. Americans outsource contruction of the Arcs to the Chinese

3. They then sell the seats on the Arc to Rich Europeans and Middle Eastern Sheikhs

4. They screw up on the deadline date at least 3 times

5. Then they try to screw the rich blots by leaving them outside the ships inspite of having got the complete payment from them (akin to Insurance companies)

6. The rich fat slobs, politicians, and general vermin (literally) finally get onto the ship, set sail in the storm, and finally there is hope that they will repopulate the earth with more like them. What a way to selective mutation while the rest of the world drowns (Amen)

7. The lousy geologist makes out with the Prez's daughter; There's some cheap black comedy with a fat rich Russian who deserves to die and he does; Lousy Author's Wife has no choice but to get back with him (her other option dies)

Was Columbus Married ?

Was Columbus Married Had Columbus been married, he might have never discovered America... Because: Where r u going? With whom? To discover what? Why only u? What do I do, when u r not here? Can I come? Coming back when? Will you be back home to eat Dinner ? Most importantly: What will you get me ?

How to use ZiPhone

1. Connect the Apple Iphone to your PC
   


2. Open Itunes. Itunes will detect your iphone. Just cancel any of Itunes attempts to synchronize or download any firmware update (at least as of now)
   


3. 
   
   Open the Ziphone Application (www.ziphone.org). The icon that looks like a yellow Lock. It opens up a window that looks like this
   
   
   

   
   



4. Press the "Do it all" Button and relax. Don't get perturbed by the iPhone starting to display lots of white text messages in Black background. Your phone will get unlocked within 4 minutes.
   


5. 
   
   People have repeatedly asked me whether ZIPhone is safe. In Zibri's words "ZIPhone is yet to harm an Iphone". I completely agree. In fact, My iphone was on firmware 1.1.3. I had my Itunes accidentally upgrade it to 1.1.4 and lock it again. I just used ZIPhone and Unlocked it !!! Zibri Zindabad J
   
   
   

   
   

IPhone in Chennai

Here are the prices of various phonesin Chennai (Courtesy Univercell.in).

Since a decent camera multimedia phone costs anywhere upwards of Rs 15,000, the Iphone seems to be an extremely good buy.

HP -iPAQ hw6965 > Rs 24,000

Nokia N95 > Rs 25,000

Samsung Armani >Rs 26,000

That is, if it is bought directly from the US. Unlocking is made easy with http://www.ziphone.org/. I tried this miraculous software and it works like a charm. In fact I even upgraded my Phone firmware from v1.1.3, to v1.1.4, and when my phone got locked again, I used Ziphone again to unlock it. FAQs for Indians who want to have an iPhone

1. Iphone cannot read contacts from an Indian SIM Card. Export your addresses to Outlook and Sync it with the iPhone

2. Even after that IPhone does not have the intelligence to pick up your contacts and show them on the caller id unless the phone numbers start with +91 XXXX, or +1 (for US callers). The normal Indian phones are pretty intelligent on this

3. IPhone's word dictionary is no match for Nokia's and motorola's powerful autocomplete T9 dictionaries.

It is too late int he night for me and my boss wants me to send him some stuff I'm pending on. My next post will continue this topic with additional stories on my hunt for an IPhone in Chennai

Added Meebo

Added meebo to help my Blog fans chat with each other as they go thru my site :P

The Mad Driver (Joke)

There's a senior citizen driving on the highway. His wife calls him on his cell phone and in a worried voice says, "Herman, be careful! I just heard on the radio that there was a madman driving the wrong way on Route 280!"

Herman says, "I know, but there isn't just one, there are hundreds!"

MUSH VS LAWYERS

Future of Social Networks - A Parody

http://www.citipals.com/social_networks_mania

Self Motivation - Cut from Times of India -

Countdown to a Secret Event

The smartest Futurist on earth ?

http://spiritof.info/discovery/articles/cnnmoney/discovery.cnnmoney.story3.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil

Seems more controversial than a bunch of politicians to me :o)

Ballmer Peak (BlogSpam)

Couldn't resist reproducing this from http://xkcd.com/323/

7 Ways of handliing criticism

Nobody likes being criticised but, unfortunately it is a fact of life. To be able to respond to criticism with nobility and detachment is an important life skill, which few people have. If we respond to criticism without careful consideration, it can easily lead to unnecessary suffering.

1. What Can I Learn from Criticism?
Most criticism is probably based, at least in part, on some truths. Criticism may appear negative. But, through criticism we have the opportunity to learn and improve from their suggestions.

2. Respond to the suggestions not the tone of the criticism.
The problem is that people may make valuable critical suggestions. However, there tone and style of criticism means that we respond not to the suggestions but remember there confrontational manner. In this respect we need to separate the criticism from the style of criticism. Even if people speak in a tone of anger, we should try to detach their emotion from the useful suggestions which lie underneath.

3. Value criticism.
The problems is that quite often, we only value praise. When people speak kind words we feel happy. When people criticise we feel miserable. However, if we only received insincere praise and false flattery, how would we ever make progress? If we wish to improve and develop we should invite constructive criticism and appreciate their suggestions.

4. Don’t take it personally.
This is often the biggest problem which occurs with regard to criticism. If I criticise my Mother’s cooking, she feels personally offended. But, it is a mistake to identify ourselves with an apple pie. Somebody may find good reasons why our cooking is bad; but, this does not mean they are criticising ourselves. When people criticise us directly, we should feel they are not criticising our real self; but, just an unillumined aspect of ourselves. When we criticise others, we are perhaps criticising their pride or jealousy; but, the jealousy is a mere passing emotion, it is not the real person.

5. Ignore False Criticism.
Sometimes we are criticised with no justification. This is a painful experience. But, potentially we can deal with it more easily than criticism which is justified. One option is to remain aloof and ignore it completely. We should feel that false criticism is as insignificant as an ant trying to harm an elephant. If we remain silent and detached the criticism is given no energy. If we feel the necessity of fighting it - in a way, we give it more importance than it deserves. By remaining silent we maintain a dignity that others will come to respect.

6. Don’t Respond Immediately
It is best to wait a little before responding. If we respond with feelings of anger or injured pride we will soon regret it. If we wait patiently it can enable us to reflect in a calmer way.

7. Smile
Smiling, even a false smile, can helps us to relax more. It creates a more positive vibration and smoothes the situation. It will definitely help psychologically. Smiling will motivate the other person to moderate their approach.

Life is a mess

The necessity of a single man to eat outside food, is born out of a necessity than a regularity. More so for me, with my "good" cooking skills.

Although initially I used to get away with "decent" food, which to me meant pizza or an S-Class Restaurant. It takes wisdom under the bodhi tree at the end of a few months to realize the importance of frugality which then decides to re-align the definition of "decent". And with the new enlightened vision, you get to see hitherto unseen places to eat around you.

Once such selection is the R.R.I Mess. The mess is very similar to any mess you may have in your imagination. A house in the middle of nowehere in one of the crossings of the main road. A corridor that leads to a medium sized room, ideally stacked with long tables and chairs. No token-system. The owner sits outside the main hall, and that is probably to ensure that he has the right headcount, and the confidence that anyone going in has to come out some time (or day). A couple of large photos of gods with flowers around. The food starts with two chappatis, and curry. The plates are banana leaves. An unusual practice is for the servers to place a pinch of salt, and pickles first on the plate. I'm not very sure there do that but it happens with an eerie precision and regularity.

The rice comes in a bowl, and the rest of items are quickly laid out on the leaf. The service is quick silent, and efficent. The food costs onlt Rs15/-, so there is an assortment of gentlemen on every table. Yes. And there is a gentlemanly scramble for places to sit. People throw their hankies, towels to "reserve a palce while they go to wash their hands. Some daredevils and risk-takers, their mobile phones or watches (perhaps in the belief that the gods from the large pictures above are watching over).

The food is quintessentially south indian vegetarian with a Keralite Touch. Which is pleasing to my appetite. And the re-fuelling happens at a very fast pace. Only the rice and Papad are limited in quantity and need to be ordered extra if needed. But usually never, because the quantity is what I would call "ideal". More so for the bunch that comes here everyday. Once my table "partner" told me he came here every ewek from a place that was 25Kms away because he is now married (Apparently he used to hang out here when he was not).

The owner is a typical keralite (Combed Thick black oily hair, beard, checked full shirt and a dhoti). Genial guy, he sometimes gives "discounts" to regular customers (He waived Rs 5/- off once when I did not have change. And he was neveer to ask for it again). Once lunch is done, everyone is expected to gert up as soon as possible and stop loitering around the place to extend the courtesy to the waiting otheres.

Usually, the food ends with fennel seeds and a contented mind.....J

Zeitgeist: 2007 The Movie

Here is the movie - Kind of old, but new theory I would say.
The video editing is slick. The story boarding technique is typical where explosive and poignant images come up to shake the viewer, and make him/her mold-eable to a conclusion that is backed by sources. Unfortunately, the book-sources for Part I, II, and III include books that have been oft-quoted and heavily criticised (Acharya S, Gerald Massey anyone ?). Looking at it from the other side, this is a piece of brilliant storytelling, and an entirely believable concept. The problem being that "intellectuals" ask for imminent proof of open secrets (like who exactly benefits from the Oil war. BTW my next post would be a comparison of oil consumption in the US versus the rest of the world-believe the figures or not). And this may become one of the "Good Documentaries" that people watch and then forget over time.

Blend An IPhone

I've had it enough with IPhone hype. I'd rather like this now..J

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Paris La Economique

While returning from Barcelona, I got my Paris-Bengaluru return postponed for a day. I wanted to spend some time in Paris. It was the first time I decided to travel-around without company. Which turned out to be a rather memorable experience.

Now, I needed an Agenda. I chalked out Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Notre Dame, and Arc De Triumph. Got a map at the Barcelona Aitport. Figured that if I could somehow get a good deal at any place nearby, I would just dop my luggage and start touristing.

The tourist information counter at the Charles De Gaulle Airport was very good in pointing out a 60 Euro/night hotel in Paris, called the Au Palais De Chatillon. This hotel is at Raymond Poincare, which led to the Eiffel Tower (When I went back and told me colleagues about this they could'nt believe that there is actually a decent place that comes that economical. The Caldes Hotel in Spain had cost me 120 Euros per Night !).

The rooom was very small, on the 4th floor (The fact that the hotel did not have a lift, was a bit disconcerting, but probably okay). It was very neatly kept room with a tiny equally spotless pastel shaded shower-only bathroom.

I just strew my luggage and went out. The route I took is over here in Wayfaring. It is as below (I hope this looks good on Blog. I'm using this for the second time).

The Louvre Museum guys were on a strike because of this reason (I dont understand a single word of french, but could deduce this was something to do with pay rise - Is it not everytime ?).

Anyway, so the place had a free entry (No logic ?). The place is very ancient and a wonderful sight. Especially for those who remember "The Da Vinci Code" by heart. And I was not the only one. The Louvre inside was full of Tourists who were specifically looking for the Mona Lisa. In spite of the fact that I could see posters of the Mona Lisa with directions, every tourist was heard asking each other where it was.

The room with the Painting is a bit isolated and is also in soft light. Cameras with flashes are discouraged. But due to the scarcity of administration staff, it was turned into a "flashy" scenario. People amusingly just fell short of getting their pictures taken while they hugged the painting. It is only 2-D, so saved ! Nike - The winged goddess of victory was not. There were some Korean tourists who had their pics taken while they put their hand around the sculpture !

I safely could get a small video of Mona Lisa.

It was a long walk that I took along the river Seine. I would guarantee it is definitely worth a try if you are a fan of walking. Just follow my Wayfaring route

The night was well spent in a Hagen Daaz on the street overlooking the Arc De Triumph. Air France operates a car service that could actually pick me up quite close by and drop me at the Charles De Gaulle Airport. A day well spent.