Another architectural wonder – The Burj, Dubai.

This building is said to be the tallest building in the world at a reported height of about 818 metres (2,684 feet). It is said to have been built at a total cost of about $1.5 billion and has about 160 floors. The building is to be finally opened today amidst the severe financial trouble that the UAE is seeing itself in due the burst of the property bubble.

Though there has been severe crisis in finding customers for properties these days, the builders of this huge tower claim that it is already 80% booked in a combination of residential and office units. Besides luxury apartments and offices, the Burj will be home to a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.

The building boasts the most stories and highest occupied floor of any building in the world, and ranks as the world’s tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota. Its observation deck — on floor 124 — also sets a record.

These kind of architectural wonders compels one to wonder about the technological advancements that we have made. But the big question is, if we are compromising human safety with these ambitious projects.

As a mute spectator I am unaware of the safety and security standards that these building follow, but as a layman, I wonder if these are enough, when you get to know that such building often get completed in a haste in order to meet timelines. The fact that the Burj is the tallest building in the world might not be a point debating, but whether it has kept in mind human safety is a question that only time will answer, or you can if you own a residential flat in the tower.

Technorati Tags: biggest building in the world, burj, burj dubai, highest building in the world, tallest buildings in the world

Just came back from another memorable trip to Kerala. The trip was oriented towards visits to a few temples and religious places. In the otherwise hectic schedule, we were able to take some time out to visit the Palaruvi waterfalls near Kollam. This is a tourist destination and is about 75 Kms South of Kollam District.

Some moments that we captured in our Fujifilm Finepix S9600 -

Kerala

Technorati Tags: Photographs, Travel

It seems the inquisitiveness towards the presence of aliens will never die for any human being. the latest in the addition was the “norway spiral light” as it is being called. It was some kind of a spiral light in the sky. Theories and inferences were many but the actual reason for this light is still unclear.

On Tuesday night, the Norway sky filled with a spiral rotating light that some residents said was as big as the moon. The light stops, then spins into a spiral at a quick pace, and lasted 10-12 minutes before disappearing. No one seems to have the answer as to what it is.

Some witnesses thought it was computer generated, some thought it was a fireball meteor, and others thought it was a missile from Russia (the Russian military strongly denies), and some said it could be a Bulava missile from a submarine.

Watch the video here.

Technorati Tags: norway light, norway spiral, norway spiral hoax, norway spiral video, norway ufo

My latest blog is a dream that I cherished. I was so fascinated by the world of Twitter that I had always wanted to write about it. Twitter was a wonder-website for me. I was one of the early sign-ups to Twitter and was wondering as to how will this new social marketing tool is going to beat the competition out of other tools like the Facebook and Orkut.

But defying all odds, Twitter rose like a colossus beating the competition out of everything and everyone. I was disappointed not to have used this to my benefit because I was always sitting on the fence, unable to decide if this phenomenon is going to work. So I preferred using a Facebook, or a Linked In instead of Twitter.

Nevertheless, today I am a part of Twitter and I am happy to be using it. My blog traffic has increased manifolds because of Twitter and I am able to make quite a few bucks from my mini-sites, thanks to Twitter. This was what prompted me to create a blog around Twitter.

Because Twitter had a user-friendly API in place, there were thousands of other applications that were being developed in and around Twitter. But, what these applications were and where was it available were questions that had few or, no answers. You either had to browse through the internet, or Google to find out a few of them, if they were lucky enough to be ranked. But a few other which were still very useful never found a place in Google. You would never find them until somebody referred them to you.

My blog at Tweetingtip, aimed at providing a storehouse of all such applications and their details so that anybody who was an ardent admirer of Twitter, like me could find it easily and make the most out of it.

Check out my blog at http://www.tweetingtip.com

Technorati Tags: tweeting tips

Wordpress is the best blogging platform that I have ever seen and used. I became a fan of Wordpress since the day I first used it to host my first blog at http://liveajoke.wordpress.com.

I fell in love with Wordpress, so much so that I immediately knew that this was a powerful tool that I could put to use to create a range of websites and blogs. Today I author about 8 different blogs that are powered by Wordpress and I also run numerous minisites on Wordpress.

But, is Wordpress that easy to install and maintain?

Good question! I have found that Wordpress is a pretty easy application to install and work on. These days hosting providers offer you an installation platform called as “Fantastico Installer”, which makes installation of such applications as easy as a click of a button.

But the difficult part in Wordpress is customization. Upgrading your blog installation, installing plugins, choosing themes, creating pages, maintaining your installation etc. are things that requires some time and a lot of expertise. People who are unaware of these things often mess up with their installation and their blog.

I found a solution to this problem with Wordpress Wizard 2.0. It is a coaching program that doesn’t have any recurring membership charges but only a one time payment of about $70.00. It comprises of a series of videos that not only coach you on installing and maintaining Wordpress blogs and websites, but also trains you on monetizing them and publicizing them.

In case you are a fan of Wordpress like me and want to learn everything about installing and maintaining a blogs and promoting it, then go ahead and check out this program here.

Technorati Tags: honest review wordpress wizard, wordpress wizard, wordpress wizard 2.0, wordpress wizard 2.0 honest review, wordpress wizard 2.0 review, wordpress wizard review

I was on my way back to home from office. I had never ever driven my car at anything above 60 KMPH and this is the speed at which I was driving that day also.

As I drove around a steep curve, I saw an interceptor in the way. I kept driving because I knew I was not overspeeding and you had to fear an interceptor only if you are over-speeding.

As I neared the interceptor, a police constable walked into the middle of the road and waved me to park the car to the road side. I was surprised. I parked my car and rolled my window down. I asked him what the problem was.

Pat came the reply, “Sir, you were over-speeding!”

I was shocked. I came out of the car and said, “But I was only driving at around 6- Kmph. How come is that over-speeding?”

He smiled and said, “Sir, the speed limit is 50 Kmph. So you were excess by 10 Kmph”. It shocked the hell out of me.

I said, “50 Kmph! Isn’t it better that I push my car instead of driving it?”

“That is entirely your decision, Sir”, said he.

“But, I normally drive at this speed and I have never been challaned”, I said.

His reply was instant. “Sir, today we are in a bad mood”.

He handed over a challan to me and fined me Rs. 400 for over-speeding.

Is it justified on the part of the law makers to keep a speed-limit of 50 Kmph, especially in broad highway? With automobiles thrusted with power and speed, is 50 Kpmh a logical limit?

It is here that the law itself prompts the general public to flout it. A sensible thought around law is required and the law of the 50s will no more stand valid in the current situation. Having said that I wonder if the government and the law-makers of today have time to amend these laws, for they are very busy with infighting for positions and saving as much as possible for their Swiss bank accounts. And general public like me will keep paying over-speeding challans, especially in days when the police is in a bad mood.

Technorati Tags: Improper laws

This is a previously unreleased footage of the incident that started the downfall of Michael Jackson. Jacko was so seriously injured in this accident that he just could not recover. Multiple surgeries in order to regain his appearance, followed by a spate of pain-killers destroyed a career that was at the peak when this incident happened.

Technorati Tags: hair on fire, michael jackson

Michael Jackson moonwalked into history a few days back and with him we lost one of the legend of the century. Whatever the conspiracy or, mystery surrounding his death, I know just one thing – my kids would not have an idol to worship when it comes to music.

I still cannot forget the days when I used to come back from school and would throw my bag onto the bed and switch on my tape-recorder to play the “Just beat it” hit of Jacko. His posters were all over in my room. Those were my early days into music. His foot movements and his pelvic thrusts were things that I would want to imitate but were hard to come by.

I would spend hours together trying to imitate his dance movements and when I feel that it is difficult, I would let go of it and try to imitate his voice. But I had the goal of doing something that Michael Jackson did. Such was his craze.

Through this blog of mine, I just wanted to pay a tribute to him.

Details about the Michael Jackson Funeral:

Date: July 7, 2009

Time: 10:00 am

Place: Staples Center

Tickets: Free

How to Get Tickets: Visit staplescenter.com to register today. A random drawing will be held later to decide who gets tickets.

Technorati Tags: michael jackson, tribute to Michael Jackson

It though seems that the world has not had enough – natural calamities, recession and now the Swine Flu epidemic. Is it all got to do something with we human and the way we treat the environment. That is a good question for a debate, let’s discuss on this some other time.

What your need to know about Swine Flu?

There are enough miscreants out there who would want to take advantage of any and everything that comes their way irrespective of, if it is supporting humanity or, not. So do not give heed to the rumors and scams out there on the internet. Get your facts clear.

You can visit the website for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and know the latest on Swine Flu.

From the Wikipedia:-

Swine influenza (also called swine flu, pigfluenza, hog flu, and pig flu) refers to influenza caused by those strains of influenza virus that usually infect pigs and are called swine influenza virus (SIV).Swine influenza is common in pigs in the midwestern United States (and occasionally in other states), Mexico, Canada, South America, Europe (including the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Italy), Kenya, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and other parts of eastern Asia.

Transmission of swine influenza virus from pigs to humans is not common. When transmitted, it does not always cause human influenza and often, the only sign of infection is the presence of antibodies which are only detectable by laboratory tests. When transmission results in influenza in a human, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine flu. However, only about fifty such transmissions have been recorded since the mid-20th Century, when identification of influenza subtypes became possible. (Importantly, eating pork does not pose a risk of infection.) Rarely, these strains of swine flu can pass from human to human. In humans, the symptoms of swine flu are similar to those of influenza and of influenza-like illness in general, namely chills, fever, sore throat, muscle pains, severe headache, coughing, weakness and general discomfort.

The 2009 flu outbreak in humans that is widely known as “swine flu” is due to an apparently virulent new strain of influenza A virus subtype H1N1 that was produced by reassortment from one strain of human influenza virus, one strain of avian influenza virus, and two separate strains of swine influenza. The origin of this new strain is unknown, and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) reports that this strain has not been isolated in pigs. It passes with apparent ease from human to human, an ability attributed to an as-yet unidentified mutation. This 2009 H1N1 strain causes the normal symptoms of influenza, such as fever, coughing and headache.

Symptoms of Swine Flu

The symptoms of Swine Flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. A significant number of people who have been infected with this virus also have reported diarrhea and vomiting. Also, like seasonal flu, severe illnesses and death has occurred as a result of illness associated with this virus.

How does Swine Flu spread?

Swine Flu spreads in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing by people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.

Preventing infection from Swine Flu

Follow basic hygiene to prevent from getting infected with Swine Flu.

• Wash your hands.
• Try to stay in good general health.
• Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.
• Try not to touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand cleaners are also effective.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.

Emergency Medical help

Emergency medical help might be required in the following cases.

In children emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
• Fever with a rash

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting

Technorati Tags: mexico swine flu, swine flu cdc, symptoms swine flu, the swine flu

An instant success story in Britain’s got talent – Susan Boyle is today the inspiration for thousands.

Watch the video.

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