Budget '06 Highlights..

*Excise duties on small cars reduced to 16%.

*No change in rates of personal income tax or corporate income tax.

*Duty on leather footware cut.

*Ninety-six per cent of the golden quadrilateral would be completed by June 2006 and the corridor would be completed by the end of 2008.

*Raised excise duty on cigarettes by five per cent :-((

*Fiscal deficit in 2006/07 likely to be 3.8 percent of GDP

*GDP growth likely to be 8.1 percent in 05/06

*Aims to raise power generation capacity by 15,000 megawatts by March 2007


Just in: Maruti cuts prices by 13-22k, and Hyundai by 23k for its Santro model..

Zipped!

ANNIVERSARIES

Until now I only knew about silver anniversary, golden anniversary, and diamond anniversary, and even that I was almost always confused...Here is a list that I came across... Any additions welcome...

1st - Paper Anniversary
2nd - Cotton Anniversary
3rd - Leather Anniversary
4th - Silk Anniversary
5th - Wood Anniversary
6th - Iron Anniversary
7th - Bronze Anniversary
8th - Electric Anniversary
9th - Ceramic Anniversary
10th - Tin Anniversary
11th - Steel Anniversary
12th - Linen Anniversary
13th - Lace Anniversary
14th - Ivory Anniversary
15th - Crystal Anniversary
20th - China (porcelain) Anniversary
25th - Silver Anniversary
30th - Pearl Anniversary
35th - Coral Anniversary
40th - Ruby Anniversary
45th - Sapphire Anniversary
50th - Golden Anniversary
55th - Emerald Anniversary
60th - Diamond Anniversary
75th - Platinum Anniversary
80th - Oak Anniversary

Beyond that...No Idea...Also no idea about the missing ones in the list....

Old PCs Can Be Useful....

Remembering You....

Australia Stunned by Dilshan!

Four brilliant run outs by Dilshan helped Sri Lanka win the first game of VB Series Finals today. Sri Lanka made 274/8 in their stipulated 50 overs with Sangakkara (Man of the Match) making 83 and captain Atapattu 53. In reply Australia were all out for 252, losing the match by 22 runs (a defeat in the finals after a long long time for Australia, I believe...)

48th Annual Grammy Awards

Irish rockers U2 scooped a staggering five awards at the Grammys last night. The stars won accolades for "Album of the Year" and "Best Rock Album" for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, Song of the Year and Best Rock Performance by a Group and Best Rock Song.


Prominent winners include:


Record of the year:
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

Album of the year:
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2

Song of the year:
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - U2

Best new artist:
John Legend

Best female pop vocal performance:
Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson

Best male pop vocal performance:
From the Bottom of My Heart - Stevie Wonder


A complete list is HERE

BSNL Announces OneIndia Tariff Plans...

OneIndia tariff plan by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd - Re 1 per minute for fixed line calls to anywhere in India - has finally been announced. The plan will become effective from March 1, 2006.

STD calls to anywhere in the country under OneIndia will be charged at Re 1. Rentals are likely to be hiked, which could range from Rs 300-500.

BSNL would offer a minimum tariff of 40 paise a minute for its mobile subscribers (post-paid) for calls on its network. For its post-paid mobile services, the corporation has proposed a rental of Rs 299 and the calls to other BSNL subscribers would be at the rate of 40 paise a minute. Calls to any other network across the country would attract a tariff of Re 1 a minute.

The pre-paid subscribers, on the other hand are being offered a package of Rs 799, which would include a talk time of Rs 550 for a validity period of 30 days. Under the package, calls made to BSNL subscribers would be at the rate of 60 paise a minute, while for other networks it would be at the rate of Re 1 a minute.

Need Your Help...

Can somebody tell me what is wrong with Moin Khan? Who is he and what does he think about himself? Nobody has played against any cricketing rules....READ THIS

Welcome Google!

Google officially announced the commencement of its operation in India today, opening its operations in Delhi and Mumbai.. READ MORE

Rudra Might Tame Kamasutra

Chennai-based company Sanrasoft has come out with their second version of the anti-virus technology RUDRA, which the company claims to identify the Kamasutra virus (which has affected about 6-7 lakhs computers worldwide) and remove it. The company reported that the beta version of this anti-virus technology would be avialable for free by mid-February.

Vexillology Suggestion!

The Pakistan cricket authorities have apologised to the Indian team for issuing tickets with the Tricolour printed upside-down. At the lobby in the team hotel, another giant Indian flag that was put up, was also upside down.

It was Sachin Tendulkar who had pointed out the goof-up to the management, which then sent a letter to the Pakistan Cricket Board pointing out the goof-up. The Pakistan board has sought an explanation from the company responsible for the printing of the tickets.

Well well...now let's walk back a little:

This January, the Indian Flag was displayed upside down and without Ashok Chakra during the full dress rehearsal in Udhampur on the eve of the Republic Day, which was removed immediately after somone pointed it out.

During April 2005, when Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf landed in India, the Indian flag on the special Pakistan International Airlines plane was also displayed upside down.

Indeed, some vexillography required!!

Sooryan Has Competitors!

Radio City and Radio Mirchi have won the bids to operate FM radio stations in Coimbatore in the last round of bidding for the South India Zone. Coimbatoreans can now have the much awaited choice when it comes to music. It was a sort of monopoly by Sooryan FM for the past few years with little or no competition from AIR FM.

These stations are expected to beam their waves around Jan 2007. Definitely with the increased competition, program quality too is expected to come up. Happy listening...

Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis Win First ODI

The first ODI in the current Indo-Pak series was won by Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis. Kudos to them!


Here is how they won:

Basically two teams start a match with the same resources - the number of overs they receive and number of wickets in hand.

If a match is shortened once it's started, so the resources are reduced.

For example, if the team which bats first had their innings interrupted, team two would often be set a larger run target to compensate.

But should the team second at the stumps be interrupted, their run target would often be reduced.

So Duckworth and Lewis came up with the equation which determines how much a run target should be altered.

Here's an example: Let's say that a team have lost five wickets after receiving 25 of their 50 overs when rain stops play.

At this point, using the table produced by the Duckworth-Lewis method, the team's remaining resources are valued at 42.2%.


If 15 overs are then lost because of the weather, the innings will be completed after only 10 more overs.

The D/L method says that, with 10 overs left and five wickets lost, the team has 26.1% of their resources left.

To compensate for the lost overs, we must calculate the resource % lost.

This works out to 42.2 - 26.1 = 16.1.

If the team had been chasing a total of 250 runs, their new target is calculated in the following way.

Resources available at the start = 100%
Resources lost = 16.1
Resources available after rain interruption = 83.9%

Then reduce team one's score in the following way. Multiply team one's runs scored by the recalculated resources divided by the resources available at the start.

That is: 250 x 83.9/100 = 209.75.

The target is then rounded to the nearest whole number, so the team batting second would be set a target of 210 to win.

Very Easy, Right?

Vital Statistics!

In ODI, till November 25, 2005:

2,2,2,39,19,11,2,67,93,9,12,3,6,2,4,47,19,16,74,18,78,82,11,18,37.

31,2,19,20,5,26,51,18,4,9,0,22,55,22,0,48,0,90,90,7,24,25,79,39,60.

The total of the first row is 673. The total of the second row is 746.

Ha ha! The first one is the total of last 25 ODI innings of Mr. Sachin. The second one is that of Mr. Ganguly.

Lets go through some other figures:
16,41,52,52,94,36,32,20,3,55,248,5,2,8,1,8,2,194.

16,101,2,1,12,12,21,88,71,40,57,9,5,45,77,73,144.

The total of the first(sachin's last 18 test innings) - 869 and that
of second(Ganguly's) - 774.

The stats include Sachin's 248 against "Giants" Bangladesh and Ganguly's 101 against novices Zimbabwe. If we take these two innings out then we have 621 and 673 respectively.

No statements made.... Make your own conclusions....

Found This Interesting...

This appeared in today's "The Hindu" supplement - Metroplus. I really found this very informative. Most of you might have read it in the morning, but for those who missed it...


Q: What is Kalahandi Syndrome?
It is starvation in spite of plenty. Kalahandi district in Orissa contributes about 40,000 tonnes of rice to the central food kitty, but small time farmers and landless agricultural labourers starve to death as they do not have the means to buy food.

Q: Which is the only South American country where the Euro can be spent?
French Guyana, which is politically a part of France

Q: Which recent Indian movie is inspired by the 1962 film Miracle Worker?
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Blackbased on the story of Hellen Keller.

Q: Why does a Kashmiri weaver sing as he works?
The designs for the carpets are embedded in intricate codes that have been set into lyrics.

The leader or ustaad sings as he weaves the carpet and the rest of his team follows.

Q: What is the "Paradoxical Frog"?
It is a frog that as a tadpole measures 10 inches but as it grows it gets smaller till it measures only three inches as an adult!

Q: What is the significance of "One horse, twelve perfect shawl goats (six males and six females) and three pairs of Cashmere shawls"?
This was the annual rent, decided by the Second Treaty of Amritsar in 1846, for the Kashmir Valley.

Q: Most bull fighting arenas have a statue or shrine that pays homage to a scientist. Who is he?
Alexander Fleming, whose discovery of Penicillin saved the lives of many injured matadors.

Q: Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, Ni Ni _ who, or what are they?
They are the Beijing Olympic Mascots that together mean, "Beijing welcomes you".

Q: Who are the Nooglers at the Google Inc.?
They are the new employees at the organisation.

Q: What was the factual error in Van Gogh's self-portrait?
Though he cut off his left ear with a razor following an altercation with Gauguin, in the self-portrait he is shown with the right ear bandaged.

(That is because he painted it while looking at a mirror!)


Courtesy: "The Hindu"

Indo-Pak ODI Series Schedule:

Well, let us have short-term memories of the test series, which Pak won 1-0 - a well-deserved win. Indians just didn't apply themselves. Or rather Pak's bowling was simply superb in both the innings. Going on to win from 39/6 on the first day is not a fluke. Anyway, congratulations to Pakistan, commiserations to India!

Let us now look into how India is going to reply in the ODIs:

1st ODI: Peshawar, Feb 6
2nd ODI:Rawalpindi, Feb 11
3rd ODI: Lahore, Feb 13 (D/N)
4th ODI: Multan, Feb 16 (D/N)
5th ODI: Karachi, Feb 19

Let's keep hopes alive.......

Shani Hits Chappel

It seems Chappel is in trouble again. This time around it is the comments he made regarding Shoib Akhtar's bowling action that has brought him trouble. PCB plans to investigate what has actually happened and it has also been brought to the notice of the match referee. Anyway, I too personally doubt his bowling action. I have always felt that towards the end when he releases the ball, it is much of a throwing action. Well more about the controversy HERE

Oscar Nominations - 2006.....

The nominations for the 78th Academy Awards were announced yesterday. The award ceremony will take place on March 5, 2006 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland. The following are some of the nominations:


Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Capote”
Terrence Howard in “Hustle & Flow”
Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain”
Joaquin Phoenix in “Walk the Line”
David Strathairn in “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
George Clooney in “Syriana”
Matt Dillon in “Crash”
Paul Giamatti in “Cinderella Man”
Jake Gyllenhaal in “Brokeback Mountain”
William Hurt in “A History of Violence”

Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Judi Dench in “Mrs. Henderson Presents”
Felicity Huffman in “Transamerica”
Keira Knightley in “Pride & Prejudice”
Charlize Theron in “North Country”
Reese Witherspoon in “Walk the Line”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams in “Junebug”
Catherine Keener in “Capote”
Frances McDormand in “North Country”
Rachel Weisz in “The Constant Gardener”
Michelle Williams in “Brokeback Mountain”

Achievement in directing:
Brokeback Mountain -- Ang Lee
Capote -- Bennett Miller
Crash -- Paul Haggis
Good Night, and Good Luck -- George Clooney
Munich -- Steven Spielberg

Best motion picture of the year:
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Munich


Get the complete list HERE