Saktishree

What is the difference between BE and B.Tech or ME and M.Tech

2011-11-27T11:28:00.000+05:30

A quite Sunday; and a post on education. Literally boring, isn’t it? It so happened with a small talk. A telecon with my lil’ sister.

I was talking with my younger sister in the morning and got a hiccup when she asked me about the difference between B.E and B.Tech. Thank God, my brain was working that time and wasn’t sleepy (which generally happens to this 250gm substance in the lazy Sunday morning) and I could utter the basic difference.

Later on I thought of typing few lines about it. Hope it may prove worth reading for some naïve.

A common question among engineering students and usually a question of argument between friends is what is the difference between B.Tech (Bachelor of Technology) and BE (Bachelor of Engineering), which is better or have better scope. Similarly for M.Tech too, what is the difference between M.Tech and ME. I will try to present a reasonable and valid difference between these two.

First please note that there is NO DIFFERENCE between these degrees in terms of value and scope. BE and B.Tech have similar scope and future and on the same time ME and M.Tech have same scope future.

Now let’s dig the question little deep. If BE and B.Tech or ME and M.Tech have same value and scope why the names are different.

Right after independence of India we have two types of universities, one that offers degrees in many fields like Sciences, Arts, Education and Engineering too, and the second set of universities (were named as institutes) offer only degrees in engineering. Universities those offer other degrees along with engineering named their engineering degree as BE (Bachelor of Engineering) and Institute constituted for only Engineering studies named their degree as B.Tech (Bachelor of Technology).

Now as AICTE approve courses most of the courses are same and identical for BE and B.Tech. The universities those offering BE when started new courses named them to B.Tech too.

No degree, BE or B.Tech and ME or M.Tech is superior other others in terms of theory or experiment. BE and B.Tech or ME and M.Tech are same. Both of them are same and have similar scope and future. If there is some notification for BE, B.Tech’s are also eligible to apply and vise versa.

Hope I am not confusing. If you have better explanation, please feel free to leave tour comments.

Steve Jobs’ Stanford speech: Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

2011-10-09T16:58:00.001+05:30

Steve Jobs' commencement address at Stanford University in 2005 is one of his most quoted speeches. It has been described as 'life-changing' and 'career-transforming'. Here's an edited excerpt:

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? 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. 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. 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 4,000 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 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. 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.

My Third Story is About Death

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. 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. This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog - created by a fellow named Stewart Brand - which was one of the bibles of my generation. 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.

...but the journey was stalled on Oct 6, 2011. Steve is no more. But till the time man has an appetite for apple, he will be remembered. The least I can offer as a tribute, this article was written and postedvia iPhone.

Love you Steve

Always hungry for more

2011-09-11T23:42:00.002+05:30

After his successful campaign for the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare is now targeting electoral reform to curb corruption. While politicians were his main target, few realised that it was the bureaucrats who had enabled the politicians to abuse the system. The war on corruption needs drastic

administrative reforms to curb the enormous power of the petty babus. The good intentions of prime ministers, the commitment of good officers and the draconian powers of emergencies and ordinances can all be sand-papered to death by these millions.
According to 2007 data, India today has about 5,600 IAS officers who, with about 80,000 category 1 officers, are supposed to manage some 18 million babus. For the common man, the government is the tehsildar, thanedar, patwari, dealing assistant and inspector - officials who have few compunctions about fully exploiting the opportunities provided by their positions.

There is no Indian who has not witnessed the tyranny of these 'chhota babus'. The village patwari does not work only to earn a small government salary. The fate of valuable properties, inheritances and taxes are often decided by his little notings. Thus, laws may be passed, rules issued in gazettes but all of it might become ineffectual in his hands. No order can be signed by a senior administrative officer unless the file has been prepared and put up by the clerks in the concerned section. A typical file has to move slowly from a dealing assistant to a section officer, divisional clerk, deputy secretary, under secretary, joint secretary, secretary to a minister and then back down that ladder before orders can be issued. A file may need 50 or more clearances so it is not surprising that applicants must have agents to speed their files through the labyrinth.

Any police thana will show a wide variance between the high principles of our constitution and the ground reality. Postings at sensitive police thanas are routinely auctioned. Court clerks can ensure that legal cases are indefinitely delayed by missing witnesses, misplaced documents and other technical hitches. The petty bureaucrats hold the country to ransom. The electoral officers who manage the electoral process are also petty babus only too willing to favour officials or politicians who benefit them most.
Officials are insulated from the consequences of their inaction, incompetence, dishonesty and rudeness by the certainty that they cannot be sacked. They are highly accountable for their smallest action, but not for inaction or delay. Placing an order for a rupee higher than the lowest quoted tender would invite departmental inquiries, public accounts committee investigations and even questions in Parliament. But if procedure is followed, no one is accountable even though it might involve months of delay and crores of additional expense.
And while there is public outrage at corruption in 'high places', there seems to be a complacent acceptance of the petty corruption of petty bureaucrats.
Senior bureaucrats from the ranks of the IAS, IFS or IPS often harbour a high level of idealism and integrity. But over a period of time, many realise the futility of trying to buck the system and recognise the limitations of their authority over their subordinates. Most officers lose the initiative and get caught in the trappings of their authority.
Politicians are a major element in corruption. No politician is content to merely conform to his constitutional position. In fact, the appeal of politics lies in its ability to interfere in executive functions, often with the help of these petty babus. The much vaunted British system of checks and balances has been streamlined for efficiency in Britain and Singapore but thrives in India.
If we are to break free of the web of corruption, we must drastically reduce the number of rules, along with number of gatekeepers needed to manage them. Computers in government departments will anyway enable us to allow quick and effective approvals with minimal human intervention. It would be cheaper to let babus draw their salaries and stay at home than allow them to block India's progress and growth.

Murad Ali Baig is a Delhi-based writer. The views expressed by the author are personal.
Source: Hindustan Times
Link: http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/columnsothers/Always-hungry-for-more/Article1-740563.aspx

Bollywood and Plagiarism: Bollywood movies find its lost brother in Hollywood

2011-03-12T14:19:00.003+05:30

“Copying is an art to sell the shoe twice to the same customer.” I don’t know who said this line. May be me.

Hollywood movies play the role of a guide for some movie makers in Bollywood. Not only the tune of the music, bit by bit, but the scripts and screenplay of most Bollywood movies are copied from Hollywood movies. Directors like Sanjay Gupta and Vikram Bhatt are called DVD directors.

But I must say, there have been smart Bollywood movies like Aradhna(1969), Sholay(1975) Raaz(2000), Baazigar(1993), Munnabhai MBBS(2003), Rang De Basanti(2006) and Race(2008), which portrays more authenticity than the original score. Whereas, some Bollywood movies copy Hollywood movies scene by scene.

Here is a list of Bollywood movies lifted, inspired or copied from Hollywood films.

Hindi Title	Year	English Title	Year
Aradhana	1969	To Each His Own	1946
Abhimaan	1973	A Star Is Born	1954
Khotey Sikkay	1973	The Magnificent Seven	1960
Dharmatma	1975	The Godfather	1972
Rafoo Chakkar	1975	Some Like It Hot	1959
Sholay	1975	The Magnificent Seven	1960
Karz	1980	The Reincarnation of Peter Proud	1975
The Burning Train	1980	Shinkansen Daibakuha	1975
Shaukeen	1981	Boys' Night Out	1962
Satte Pe Satta	1982	Seven Brides For Seven Brothers	1954
Ek Ruka Hua Faisla	1986	12 Angry Men	1957
Khoon Bhari Maang	1988	Return to Eden	1983
Tezaab	1988	Streets of fire	1984
Agneepath	1990	Scarface	1983
Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin	1991	It Happened One Night	1934
Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar	1992	Breaking Away	1979
Chamatkar	1992	Blackbeard's Ghost	1968
Ek Ladka Ek Ladki	1992	Overboard	1987
Baazigar	1993	A Kiss Before Dying	1991
Khal-Naaikaa	1993	The Hand That Rocks The Cradle	1992
Yeh Dillagi	1994	Sabrina	1954
Main Khiladi Tu Anari	1994	The Hard Way	1991
Akele Hum Akele Tum	1995	Kramer vs. Kramer	1979
Yaraana	1995	Sleeping with the Enemy	1991
Criminal	1995	The Fugitive	1993
Rangeela	1995	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton	2004
Daraar & Agni Sakshi	1996	Sleeping with the Enemy	1991
Papi Gudia	1996	Child's Play	1988
Deewana Mastana	1997	What About Bob?	1991
Judwaa	1997	Twin Dragons	1992
Chor machaye shor	1997	Blue Streak	1999
Chachi 420	1998	Mrs. Doubtfire	1993
Ghulam	1998	On the Waterfront	1954
Pyar To Hona Hi Tha	1998	French Kiss	1995
Dushman	1998	Eye for an Eye	1996
Sangharsh	1999	The Silence of the Lambs	1991
Mohabbatein	2000	Dead Poets Society	1989
Josh	2000	West Side Story	1961
Bichhoo	2000	Leon: The Professional	1994
Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega	2000	While You Were Sleeping	1995
Dhaai Akshar Prem Ke	2000	A Walk in the Clouds	1995
Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye	2000	The Wedding Singer	1998
Ajnabee	2001	Consenting Adults	1992
Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya	2001	Fatal Attraction	1987
Kyo Kii...Main Jhuth Nahin Bolta	2001	Liar Liar	1997
Kasoor	2001	Jagged Edge	1985
Awara Paagal Deewana	2002	The Whole Nine Yards	2000
Humraaz	2002	A Perfect Murder	1998
Kaante	2002	Reservoir Dogs	1992
Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin	2002	Analyze This	1999
Chor Machaaye Shor	2002	Blue Streak	1999
Baadshah	1999	Nick Of Time The Mask Rush Hour Mr. Nice Guy	1995 1994 1998 1997
Fareb	2005	Unlawful Entry	1992
Sauda	2005	Indecent Proposal	1993
Hum Hain Kamaal Ke		See No Evil, Hear No Evil	1989
Deewangee	2002	Primal Fear	1996
Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai	2002	My Best Friend's Wedding	1997
Ek Chhoti Si Love Story	2002	A Short Film About Love	1998
Raaz	2002	What Lies Beneath	2000
Footpath 2003	2003	State of Grace	1990
3 Deewarein	2003	The Shawshank Redemption	1994
Inteha	2003	Fear	1996
Dhoom	2003	The Fast and the Furious, Ocean's Eleven	2001
Jism	2003	Body Heat	1981
Koi Mil Gaya	2003	2003 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	1982
Kucch To Hai	2003	I Know What You Did Last Summer	1997
Qayamat: City Under Threat	2003	The Rock	1996
Saaya	2003	Dragonfly	2002
Aetbaar	2004	Fear	1996
Plan	2004	Suicide Kings	1997
Hum Tum	2004	When Harry Met Sally	1989
Munnabhai MBBS	2003	Patch Adams	1998
Murder	2004	Unfaithful	2002
Musafir	2004	U-Turn	1997
Phir Milenge	2004	Philadelphia	1993
Salaam Namaste	2004	Nine Months	1995
Paap	2004	The Witness	1969
Aitraaz	2004	Disclosure	1994
Deewane Huye Pagal	2005	There's Something About Mary	1998
Ek Ajnabee	2005	Man on Fire	2004
Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena	2005	Confidence	2003
Garam Masala	2005	Boeing Boeing	1965
Kyun Ki	2005	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest	1975
Sarkar	2005	The Godfather	1972
Bunty Aur Babli	2005	Bonnie & Clyde	1967
Black	2005	The Miracle Worker	1962
Main Aisa Hi Hoon	2005	I am Sam	2001
Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya?	2005	Cactus Flower	1969
Naina	2005	The Eye	2002
Zeher	2005	Out of Time	2003
Humko Deewana Kar Gaye	2006	Notting Hill	1999
Zinda	2006	Oldboy (Korean)	2003
Bas Ek Pal	2006	Carne Trémula	1997
Rang De Basanti:	2006	All My Sons Jesus of Montreal	1948 1989
Naksha	2006	The Rundown	2003
Phir Hera Pheri	2006	Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels	1998
Alag	2006	Powder	1995
I See You	2006	Just Like Heaven	2005
Tathastu	2006	John Q	2002
Malamaal Weekly	2006	Waking Ned	1998
Aap Ki Khatir	2006	The Wedding Date	2003
Taxi No. 9211	2006	Changing Lanes	2002
The Killer	2006	Collateral	2004
Ek Ajnabee	2006	Man On Fire	2004
Krrish	2006	Paycheck	2003
Nishabd	2007	Lolita	1962
Awarapan	2007	A Bittersweet Life	2005
Chak De India	2007	Miracle	2004
Dhamaal	2007	It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.	1963
Bheja Fry	2007	Diner de cons	1998
Naqaab	2007	Dot the I	2003
Speed	2007	Cellular	2004
Salaam-e-Ishq	2007	Love Actually	2003
Ta Ra Rum Pum	2007	Days of Thunder	1990
Life In A... Metro	2007	The Apartment	1960
Fool n Final	2007	Snatch	2000
Heyy Babyy	2007	Three Men and a Baby	1987
Partner	2007	Hitch	2005
The Train	2007	Derailed	2005
Manorama Six Feet Under	2007	Chinatown	1974
Welcome	2007	Mickey Blue Eyes	1999
Race 2008	2008	Goodbye Lover	1998
U me aur hum	2008	The notebook A Moment To Remember (korean)	2004 2004
Ugly Aur Pagli	2008	My Sassy Girl	2001
Singh Is Kinng	2008	Miracles	1989
Shaurya 2008	2008	A Few Good Men	1992
God Tussi Great Ho	2008	Bruce Almighty	2003
Dostana	2008	I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry	2007
Dasvidaniya	2008	Bucket list	2007
Ghajini	2008	Memento	2000
Yuvvraaj	2008	Rain Man	1988
Dil Bole Hadippa	2009	She's the Man	2006

You may send me the name of the Hindi movies with its Hollywood counterpart.

Thanks for your time.

DCM Convocation - 14th Aug 2006

2011-02-26T20:01:00.001+05:30

This is the convocation video of Dhruva College of Management, 2006. I was accidentally honored with 2 Gold Medal and one Trophy.

2011: Growth in Telecommunication and impact on Society

2011-02-04T13:57:00.003+05:30

Telecommunication can be defined as the transmission of information, over significant distances, for the purpose of assimilation and understanding. Whether it’s a rural area devoid of basic facilities or an urban area with all sophistication at the finger tips, its impact on social, cultural and economic horizons of the society is immense.

Economic impact:

The evolution of e-commerce and the subsequent ease of transactions led to a completely new experience in banking, online retail and customer servicing. For example, the success of Amazon, Walmart and eBay has led to a revolution in the world of online retail. It is projected that in the next two years, more than 50% of the global population will have access to such transactions.

At the same time, in rural areas, telecommunication provides maximum benefits to local vendors in terms of matching their product prices with distant wholesalers. The effect of telecommunication has even been felt on agriculture, and it is now easy for farmers to receive expert advice and tips through call centres. Rural hospitals are now better connected through tele-medicine facilities, and life expectancy has improved due to better medical care obtained through such facilities.

As always, the advent of advanced telecommunication methods brought along its unavoidable perils in the form of several online frauds and crimes starting from credit cards to bank accounts, identity theft to leakage of sensitive information.

Socio-Cultural impact:

Telecommunication has played a significant role in modifying social relationships. The transformation of social media from telegram to telephone to SMS to MMS has seen a significant transformation in the form of social networking and is set to witness robust growth. Introduction of 3G and 4G cellular networks in various countries will further fuel the social transformation to grow into new levels.

Telecommunication plays the central role in cultural conglomeration and allows access to global music, art forms and news. Distribution of information is nowadays instant, and people can choose from different sources. It can’t be denied that advanced telecommunications have empowered the global population with more choices in every field of daily life. Globalization has set the platform for such interactions on a large scale and growth in the field of telecommunication is set to further accelerate the process.

However, the negative impact cannot be overlooked. The passing years have seen a phenomenal growth in pornography and terrorism with the help of advanced telecommunication methodologies, and crime agencies across the globe will be entitled to use effective countermeasures.

Article written by Saktishree and Edited by Sayantan Paul

Gmail: Free E-mail hosting for new web domain

2010-12-19T14:26:00.003+05:30

Hello World,

This is not for the amature, but for the naive who want to host their E-mail after creating a new web domain for their organization or for personal use. Gmail offers free hosting service for e-mails and has many very good properties. For this domain, http://saktishree.in/, I was on a search for a good mail serving service which will not cost too many and will work better. After alot of research I found that Google (gmail) is offering to handle your mails for domain name holders. This is the link, www.google.com/a, by which you can apply for google to host your mails and google will also offer you the properties of stardart users have (like chat, docs and talk etc.).

I am using it and it is working perfect. Thank you Google.

Wikileaks: wait n watch

2010-12-10T16:43:00.006+05:30

Julian Assange arrested for sexual exploit…rubbish, isn’t it? Officially, the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has nothing to do with his publishing classified details exposing the US and other governments. But for the people who have seen the other side of the govt are not ready to digest it. There is overwhelming public opinion that he is being persecuted for letting the world know the truth about the darker side of state power.

Recently concluded opinion poll on Times of India website reveals that 94% of the people believe that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being victimized for exposing the US. However few of the readers view differently mentioning the world is just not ready for truths of such magnitude.

Let’s keep the sentiment aside for a moment and think about the impact of the leaked cables on Wikileaks. In my view there is nothing useful for the public as a target. It only reveals the relationship of US diplomats with other governments and diplomacy is not the open book to be read in public, and the confidentiality of government communications is the lifeblood of diplomatic comfort. If the confidential facts revealed in public then it may only help the terrorists and put in danger the lives of persons helping or working with US government.

Is the whole exercise is less about free speech or openness? Is this about big ego and personal vendetta against US government? Let the time to decide.

Wait n watch.

Wikileaks and different avatar of the US

2010-12-09T16:46:00.000+05:30

WIkileaks*, a band of computer whizkids and journalists, evaded the dark territory of diplomatic archieves of US and others on 28^th Nov 2010 by publishing 251,287 leaked United States embassy cables. The US having no place to shade its face makes sure that the knives are out and the whole armory of the dirty tricks department is in full display. Though few people believe on the fact that the confidentiality of government communications is the lifeblood of diplomatic comfort, still I believe freedom of speech knows no comfort to cushion on.

Here is a short guide to how the US, and some of its allies, are trying to join the two lips of freedom by crushing Wikileaks and its editor in chief, Julian Assange. Don’t be surprised, a group of hackers, named ‘Anonymous’ have already buckled up to stand as a fance to help Wikileaks.

Steps by the US authorities:

Attack on host: stop the website:-

Server and domain owners hosting Wikileaks bombarded with ‘Distributed-Denial-Of-Service’ attacks, that is, artificially generating a traffic overload on their servers to crash them
Congressional staffers and leaders in govt reportedly called up these companies and threatened them

Attack on funding: unplug paypal and master card money transfer:-

PayPal, an online money transfer service reportedly arm-twisted into stopping receipt & delivery of donations to Wikileaks
Another report says that MasterCard too decided to stop dealing with Wikileaks.
Swiss govt told to freeze the accounts of Wikileaks.

Drag into legal cases

US launches criminal investigation against Julian Assange
Sweden has been allegedly pressurized into opening up a criminal case on the basis of an obscure law drawing on an alleged incident of ‘condom breaking during intercourse’. An international arrest warrant was issued for this ‘crime
Interpol issued a ‘Red Corner’ notice for the same ‘crime’

Disinformation & threat blitz

All govt employees prohibited from viewing leaked documents
Viewing these documents in public libraries banned
Several universities told to tell their students that they won’t get jobs in the govt if they comment on leak
Leaders, army officials, and other public figures threaten dire consequences and even call for Assange’s assassination

Action by ‘Anonymous’:

Creating multiple host: Anonymous is helping to create hundreds of mirror sites for WikiLeaks, allowing users to continue to access the website’s content via a different server. Till now more than 1300 mirror sites available for wikileaks.
Attack on Money transfer portals: Anonymous ‘hacktivists’ attacked Master card, Visa, PayPal and Amazon and stopped the online payment for about 6 hours on 8^th Dec 2010.

Yesterday a spokesman for Anonymous, calling himself ‘Coldblood’, a 22-year-old computer programmer based in London, said: ‘Websites that are bowing down to government pressure have become targets.

‘As an organisation we have always taken a strong stance on censorship and freedom of expression on the internet and come out against those who seek to destroy it by any means. ‘We feel that WikiLeaks has become more than just about leaking of documents, it has become a war ground, the people versus the government. ‘The idea is not to wipe them off but to give the companies a wake-up call.’

In a further communique online, Anonymous warned: ‘We will fire at anything or anyone that tries to censor WikiLeaks, including multibillion-dollar companies such as PayPal.’

Time will only be the witness to the chaos whether power will seal the lips of the freedom or people will start questioning the red-tapism of federal government.

Wait n watch.

*WikiLeaks is an international new media non-profit organization that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous news sources and leaks. Its website, launched in 2006, is run by The Sunshine Press.

Zero Tax Companies and Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT)

2010-06-07T18:43:00.003+05:30

The concept of minimum alternative tax (MAT) and zero tax companies (ZTC) arise due to two different accounting provisions that are available in India. In Indian scenario, a company is taxable or liable to pay tax on the income computed in accordance with the provisions of the income tax Act, but the profit and loss account of the company is prepared as per provisions of the Companies Act.

This provided loop holes to few companies who try to get away without paying a single penny as income tax. Before 1997-98, there were many large number of companies who had book profits as per their profit and loss account but were not paying any tax because income computed as per provisions of the income tax act was either nil or negative or insignificant. In such case, although the companies were showing book profits and declaring dividends to the shareholders, they were not paying any income tax. These companies are popularly known as Zero Tax companies.

In order to bring such companies under the income tax act net, section 115JA was introduced w.e.f assessment year 1997-98.

According to this section, if the taxable income of a company computed under this Act, in respect of previous year 1996-97 and onwards is less than 30 % of its book profits, the total income of such company is chargeable to tax for the relevant previous year shall be deemed to an amount equal to 30 % of such book profits.

A new tax credit scheme is introduced by which MAT paid can be carried forward for set-off against regular tax payable during the subsequent five year period subject to certain conditions, as under:-

When a company pays tax under MAT, the tax credit earned by it shall be an amount which is the difference between the amount payable under MAT and the regular tax. Regular tax in this case means the tax payable on the basis of normal computation of total income of the company.
MAT credit will be allowed carry forward facility for a period of five assessment years immediately succeeding the assessment year in which MAT is paid.
Unabsorbed MAT credit will be allowed to be accumulated subject to the five year carry forward limit.
In the assessment year when regular tax becomes payable, the difference between the regular tax and the tax computed under MAT for that year will be set off against the MAT credit available.
The credit allowed will not bear any interest.

How To Introduce Yourself : Interviews

2010-05-29T20:35:00.002+05:30

The most common question in any interview is to tell about you. Unlikely in the general conversations, all those who are going for an interview, have to keep few things in mind. Some tips to try:

Tips:

In a formal interview FIVE major aspects have to be covered while making self introduction such as, Name, Place, Qualification, Family Background and Hobbies

Name: The person has to be clear in throat while voicing out the first word. Then after a greetings sentence \ phrase, one has to introduce himself \ herself.

Examples:

Statement	Comment
Part-I: Good Morning/Good after noon/Good evening/Hello! Part-II: My name is ---------. / I am -------.	Right
Part-I: Good Morning/Good after noon/Good evening/Hello! Part-II: I'd like to introduce myself. I'm------------ .	Right
My self---------	Wrong
Good night, my name is ------	Wrong

Note: Never ever utter “Good Night” while making \ starting the conversation

Place: While speaking about place origin, I hope there should not be any confusion. Few examples are …

I am from -------./

My home town is ---------------./

I am a native of--------------.

Qualification:

I have graduated from. /

I have completed my ------------- from---------.

Family Background:

Examples:

Statement	Comment
There are -------- members in my family. / I have a family of --------	Right
There are five members in my family, including me.	Wrong

Hobbies:

My hobbies are----------/

My interests are--------/

I like to -------------

IMPORTANT: DON’T FORGET TO HAVE A SMILE ON YOUR FACE

Please post your opinion about the post. If you have any new idea on this topic, feel free to contact. Please read the post related to introducing yourself in general occasions.

How To Introduce Yourself : General Occasions

2010-05-29T20:28:00.003+05:30

Hi friends,
This is an attempt to find out the best ways to get introduces yourself in many occasions. This article consists of three parts, i.e. General Occasions, Interviews and Informal.
While introductions come easy to the extrovert, the introvert will go as far as feeling anxiety when surrounded by people whom they do not know. Some tips to try:

Steps:

Eye Contact: Look people straight in the eyes - eye contact is important because it shows that you care and also shows self confidence. Begin with "I'd like to introduce myself" so that you have the other person's attention when you say your name.
Smile: It is important to keep a nice, bright smile (and fresh breathe too). Your smile is your icebreaker; it draws people to you because you will look like a happy, stable person.
Handshake: A firm handshake, once again, demonstrates your self confidence, but be sure you don't break the other person's arm or hand (try squeezing slightly with your fingers and not your thumb). Just a squeeze and control hand shake, you will definitely gain your confidence.
Full name: Say your full name and immediately ask for theirs - then repeat their name while saying - "it's a pleasure to meet you John" or "nice to meet you Jane" - repeating the person's name will help you remember their name and again, will also show you care. Have a Great Conversation. Make sure you introduce with both first and last names.
Nickname: Giving a Nickname is absolutely ok, but never appropriate to say your name is your nickname. It is an awkward joke if you consider it a joke. Always give notice it's a nickname, i.e. "My name's Mike, but they call me 'The Situation'." Or "my name is Nicole, but they call me "Snooki"
More: You may tell a little bit of your background in order to start your conversation.
Focus: In your conversation, do not forget to talk on topics in which the other person is interested in.

Tips:

Never criticize.
Tell your positives but don't tell your negatives unless they ask.
Keep a napkin or tissue nearby to avoid shaking with a sweaty hand.
Keep your focus on the person you are meeting - give them the respect you would like to receive.
Keep a positive attitude.

Avoid:

Avoid eating anything that might stick to your teeth
Take small bites of appetizers so that you never get caught with a mouthful.
Don't speak when your mouth is filled with food.

Please post your opinion about the post. If you have any new idea on this topic, feel free to contact. Please read the post related to introducing yourself in interviews.

How to add "Tweet This" links to your Blogger Template (with short URLs)

2010-05-02T14:49:00.003+05:30

Twitter has become one of the most popular ever syndication and networking tools for bloggers. Here's a way to add a "Tweet This" link to our Blogger templates, and a method of automatically shortening the URL of our blog posts.

Click here to follow the main article.

Impact Of Price On Brand Image

2010-04-18T20:40:00.009+05:30

Market behaves with respect to the consumers’ knowledge and sensibility. But still most of us have been led to believe that high pricing enhances brand image and conversely low pricing affects brand image. This is the reason why marketers fear to be the lowest priced brand in a category or do frequent revisions of price, in their efforts to increase brand image. Does the fear of the marketers have any strong analytical reason behind it or it’s just an intuition?

To get a clear picture on the said fear about brand [1], brand image and pricing implications, I googled about the exact business definition of ‘brand image’ which implies ‘brand image’ as an impression in the consumers' mind of a brand’s total personality (real and imaginary qualities and shortcomings). Brand image is developed over time through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme, and is authenticated through the consumers' direct experience. After searching for almost an hour I was in more confused state than before. Some studies say that pricing strategy has an adverse affect on well established brand image while some other studies point the opposite theory.

Let’s analyze the fact in general perspective. In my point of view when a customer intentionally purchases a product of a certain brand, he \ she actually purchases a two things, a generic product and an imaginary benefit( you cab say add-on) made by conscious and continuous marketing effort. In customers’ point of view, the image of the brand is not the price at which it sells rather it’s the value which it pretends to be or the value the product would offer.

Hence Brand Image = Generic Product + Value by Marketing effort

Taking the customers’ choice as base, we can say, any brand building attempt should aim at creating a value around the product for which the customer will be attracted. The more successful the company is in creating value around the product in customers’ mind, the more price the product can fetch. This implies price as a function of value creation around the product by marketing activities.

Hence Brand Price = Generic Price + Value Perceived\Created

If we perceive the above statement as true, then the typical brand promotion doesn’t directly promote the price, rather it communicates the value the product would offer at the said price. If the customer finds the price of the brand matching the perceived value, then he \ she would buy the product at the said price and the brand image is created as targeted or remain intact. And in most of the cases pricing is done looking at the cost and margin, market competition and target customer segment along with products brand image. The perception of high priced brands have a better brand image is not always true as inexpensive brands like coke, pepsi and Wallmart (Selling products at low price) are having a very high brand value.

But still the question remains the same for a marketer of an already established brand while dealing with price off. It’s for sure that the easy thing for a marketer to sell is a brand than a product because for a brand, the image is already created and the customers have perceived a value of the brand for the price. At this time, the marketers don’t want to take risk in terms of price, as if anything goes wrong in communicating the perceived value through marketing communication, then the established brand image will be the one to suffer and it will take long time to recover the image.

In my view for an established brand to go for a price off strategy, three major factors like (i) product category, (ii) price segment and (iii) brand status have to be analyzed with respect to the current market situation.

i. Product Category: First, the marketer has to determine its product category before taking any risk in terms of price.

o E.g. In my view if the brand is in consumer durable, then there’s not much risk of its brand image for a price drop or a sales promotion.

ii. Price Segment: Next, the marketer has to consider the price segment the product is in. If it’s in a premium segment and not targeted for mass then a price drop towards economy class may evoke questions in existing customers and there will be a loyalty shift and brand image will hamper.

o Special Case: But if the product is in high end technology category, then the price drop can be justified with advancement of technology (e.g. price drop of iPhone from US$500 to US$99 in a year).

iii. Current Brand Status: The marketer has to consider the current competitive brand status and the brand equity it has in the market. If the brand is a strong market leader with high brand equity then a price off will not hamper the brand image in a great way.

From the above discussion, one thing may be concluded that pricing may not have direct implication on brand image but for a brand to go for a price change, several market factors have to be analyzed carefully

[1] Brand: A distinctive symbol or name or both intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them form those of others”. To be simple the term ‘brand’ is nothing but a seller's /maker’s promise to deliver a specific set of values (features, benefits and services) consistent to the buyers

Nathuram Godse Speech at Trial

2009-11-22T12:00:00.004+05:30

In the early hours of a cold November morning in 1948, two prisoners were escorted from the death row in Ambala prison. Clutching a map of undivided India in one hand and the bhagwa dhwaj (saffron flag) in another, 38-year-old Nathuram Godse and 37-year-old Narayan Apte walked to the gallows chanting in unison a Sanskrit invocation to the motherland. Godse died instantly, but Apte's end was more painful -- he had to be hanged a second time. A few hours later, their bodies were cremated outside the prison walls. Immediately afterwards, the whole area was ploughed and planted with grass so that no one could identify the spot and build a shrine.

Fifty years later, there is no public shrine in Ambala honouring the assassins of Mahatma Gandhi. In history textbooks, Godse is perfunctorily dismissed as Gandhi's killer and Apte's reputation as the brain behind the murder has been forgotten. For generations of post-Independence Indians, they mean nothing and signify even less. Yet, the ghost of Godse refuses to go away.

This is an attempt to let you know about what is Nathuram Godse’s version of saying on killing Gandhi. Following is the text of the speech given by Nathuram Godse during his trial.

Before you read this speech by Nathuram Godse, one request is don’t take it personally. There may be Gandhiji admirers but this is Nathuram Godse's speech, views and reasons (It’s not my creation).

Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone. I openly joined anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession. I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other.

I have read the speeches and writings of Dadabhai Nairoji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and' Russia. Moreover I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well being of all India, one fifth of human race. This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan, my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.

Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji's influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence, which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact there is nothing new or original in them. They are implicit in every constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life from day to day. In fact, honour, duty and love of one's own kith and kin and country might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata], Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny in India. It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history's towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical, as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen forever for the freedom they brought to them.

The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very well in South Africa to uphold the rights and well being of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way. Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and everything; he was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it. The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma's infallibility. 'A Satyagrahi can never fail' was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is.

Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible. Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at his feet to do with, as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster.

Gandhi's pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India. It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect; it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and crossbreed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma's sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India. His blind followers, of course, supported him and the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.

From August 1946 onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League members right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi's infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork.

The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947. Lord Mountbatten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but Mountbatten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls 'freedom' and 'peaceful transfer of power'. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called 'freedom won by them with sacrifice' - whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country - which we consider a deity of worship - my mind was filled with direful anger.

One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan, there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi.

Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah's iron will and proved to be powerless.

Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan. People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building. After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30th January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House.

I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack and ruin and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason I fired those fatal shots.

I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy, which was unfairly favourable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi. I have to say with great regret that Prime Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi's persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims.

I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism leveled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value thereof some day in future.

-NATHURAM GODSE

Speech of Swami Vivekananda at Chicago in 1893

2009-10-22T11:25:00.002+05:30

WELCOME ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 11, 1893

Sisters and Brothers of America,

It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.

My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: “As the different streams having there sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.”

The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

CONCLUDING ADDRESS - Chicago, Sept 27, 1893

The World's Parliament of Religions has become an accomplished fact, and the merciful Father has helped those who labored to bring it into existence, and crowned with success their most unselfish labor.

My thanks to those noble souls whose large hearts and love of truth first dreamed this wonderful dream and then realized it. My thanks to the shower of liberal sentiments that has overflowed this platform. My thanks to this enlightened audience for their uniform kindness to me and for their appreciation of every thought that tends to smooth the friction of religions. A few jarring notes were heard from time to time in this harmony. My special thanks to them, for they have, by their striking contrast, made general harmony the sweeter.

Much has been said of the common ground of religious unity. I am not going just now to venture my own theory. But if any one here hopes that this unity will come by the triumph of any one of the religions and the destruction of the others, to him I say, "Brother, yours is an impossible hope." Do I wish that the Christian would become Hindu? God forbid. Do I wish that the Hindu or Buddhist would become Christian? God forbid.

The seed is put in the ground, and earth and air and water are placed around it. Does the seed become the earth, or the air, or the water? No. It becomes a plant. It develops after the law of its own growth, assimilates the air, the earth, and the water, converts them into plant substance, and grows into a plant.

Similar is the case with religion. The Christian is not to become a Hindu or a Buddhist, nor a Hindu or a Buddhist to become a Christian. But each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.

If the Parliament of Religions has shown anything to the world, it is this: It has proved to the world that holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character. In the face of this evidence, if anybody dreams of the exclusive survival of his own religion and the destruction of the others, I pity him from the bottom of my heart, and point out to him that upon the banner of every religion will soon be written in spite of resistance: "Help and not fight," "Assimilation and not Destruction," "Harmony and Peace and not Dissension."

Indian Flag: A Roller Coaster

2009-04-08T23:31:00.009+05:30

The story relating to the different stages and landmarks in the evolution of our national flag is indeed inspiring:

1906: Three colors: Saffron with eight stars across, white with Vande Mataram and green with moon to right and sun to left. This flag was proposed by some Indians in England and France who thought of an 'Indian National Flag'. Not recognized in India.

1916: Two colors: Red and green, with five red and four green stripes. Emblem of Great Bear. Union Jack at top left. In vogue during 'Home rule days'.

1921: Three colors: White, green and red, with Charkha across all colors. Sponsored by Mahatma Gandhi at the Bezwada Session of the Indian National Congress (this flag was informally used at all sessions of the Congress till 1931, though not officially accepted/adopted by the Congress).

March, 1931: One colour: Saffron with Charkha at top left. This flag was proposed by a committee appointed by Working Committee after Karachi Congress. This flag was not approved by Working Committee.

August, 1931:Three colors: Saffron, white and green, Charkha in blue color in middle across white strip. Length and breadth in proportion of 3:2. Proposed by Congress Working Committee. Form of Flag suggested by Mahatma Gandhi retained with slight changes in order of colors and position of Chakra. Accepted by AICC officially in Bombay in August 1931.

August 15, 1947: The present tricolor National Flag was adopted.

Why BHARAT is INDIA in English?

2009-03-06T17:12:00.007+05:30

It was almost 9.30pm. I was surfing channels in the idiot box to get something interesting. I got a sms. My colleague (whom I always refer as a kid for her enthusiasm) asked me, 'why BHARAT is INDIA in English? I sat back for a moment as I had no concrete answer for that. From the very childhood I thought as British people ruled us they might have given the name. I started rethinking…….then if they have to give a name then why they chose 'India' as the name? Is there any specific reason behind it? Is there anything worth knowing? This prompted me to google few articles and reports on the current blog.

Browsing through the time line, we can find out so many early civilizations like Persian civilization, Indus valley civilization, Harappa civilization etc. The entire Indus civilization denote to the culture that had developed along its valleys of the seven rivers named Indus, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, Jhelum, Beas and the now extinct River Saraswati and the area it covered used to be called Sapta Sindhu i.e. the land of seven rivers (Sindhu means river in Sanskrit).

The Mughals (from Persian civilization) invaded and conquered this valley and kept the name 'INDUS' to identify their conquered region. About 2500 years ago, when the Greeks first reached the river plains of Punjab, they borrowed the name of the region from the Persians and simply modified it to Indos. Indos later morphed into Indus in Latin by which name the river is still known in the West. The Romans began to call the whole land mass after this river and thus the name India came to stay which has been the form used by Europeans over the ages.

The English term is from Greek Indía (Ἰνδία) [About 2500 years ago, when the Greeks first reached the river plains of Punjab, they borrowed the name of the region from the Persians and simply modified it to Indos], via Latin India [Indos later morphed into Indus in Latin by which name the river is still known in the West].

Iindía in Byzantine (Koine Greek) ethnography denotes the region beyond the Indus (Ἰνδός) river, since Herodotus (5th century BC) ἡἸνδική χώρη "Indian land", Ἰνδός "an Indian", from Avestan Hinduš (referring to Sindh, and listed as a conquered territory by Darius I in the Persepolis terrace inscription). The name is derived ultimately from Sindhu, the Sanskrit name of the river, but also meaning "river" generically. Latin India is used by Lucian (2nd century).

The name India was known in Anglo-Saxon, and was used in King Alfred's translation of Orosius. In Middle English, the name was, under French influence, replaced by Ynde or Inde, which entered Early Modern English as Indie. The name India then came back to English usage from the 17th century onwards, and may be due to the influence of Latin, or Spanish or Portuguese.

I hope this will help the readers a bit to get a fair overview of the origin of the word INDIA. Please post your views so that I can tell my colleague about the dilemma of India alias Bharat

References:

1. http://satyameva-jayate.org/2006/05/27/hindu-india-and-bharat-word-origins/

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_India

3. http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/ThewordIndianintheEnglishlanguage.htm

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India

5. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_origin_of_the_word_%27India%27

Hare n Tortoise : Story with a Twist

2008-11-15T14:55:00.005+05:30

The Story we all know:

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster. They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.

He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The hare woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.

The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.

The Story Continues:

But then recently, someone told me a more interesting version of this story. It continues. The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the tortoise could have beaten him. So he challenged the tortoise to another race (doesn't it happen in the boxing world all time...Ali vs. Frazier for instance?). The tortoise agreed.

This time, the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story?

Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. If you have two people in your organization, one slow, methodical and reliable, and the other fast and still reliable at what he does, the fast and reliable chap will consistently climb the organizational ladder faster than the slow, methodical chap. It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable.

But the story doesn't end here

The tortoise did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted.

He thought for a while, and then challenged the hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The hare agreed. They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river.

The hare sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the tortoise trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story? First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency. In an organization, if you are a good speaker, make sure you create opportunities to give presentations that enable the senior management to notice you.

If your strength is analysis, make sure you do some sort of research, make a report and send it upstairs. Working to your strengths will not only get you noticed, but will also create opportunities for growth and advancement. The story still hasn't ended.

The hare and the tortoise, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better.

So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the hare carried the tortoise till the riverbank. There, the tortoise took over and swam across with the hare on his back. On the opposite bank, the hare again carried the tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier. The moral of the story?

It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and Harness each other’s core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.

Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership. There are more lessons to be learnt from this story.

Note that neither the hare nor the tortoise gave up after failures. The hare decided to work harder and put in more effort after his failure. The tortoise changed his strategy because he was already working as hard as he could. In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both.

The hare and the tortoise also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better.

Plese leave your comments if you like this.....

Facts to Know

2008-11-03T20:33:00.004+05:30

Coca-Cola was originally green.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men!!
You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.

o Spades - King David

o Clubs - Alexander the Great

o Hearts - Charlemagne

o Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? Ans. - All invented by women.
Question - This is the only food that doesn't spoil. What is this? Ans. - Honey
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
A snail can sleep for three years.
All polar bears are left handed.
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

Date Rape

2008-09-29T12:54:00.010+05:30

Hi Friends. Today I am going to discus about a drug which is common now a days to exploit girls.

Are you getting what I am going to tell ??? Have you seen the Indian Hindi movie "Sunday" ? The concept is based on this drug. Yes, the drug "DATE RAPE DRUGS" .

Read the Story First

A Woman at a night club (in Mumbai) was taken by 5 men, who according to hospital source and police reports, gang raped her before dumping her at a bus stand near Bandra (west). Unable to remember the events of the evening, tests later confirmed the repeat rapes along with traces of ROHYPNOL in her blood. Rohypnol, date rape drug is an essentially a small sterilization pill. The drug is now being used by rapists at parties to rape AND sterilize their victims. All they have to do is drop it into the girl's drink. The girl can't remember a thing the next morning, of all that had taken place the night before. Rohypnol, which dissolves in drinks just as easily, is such that the victim doesn't conceive from the rape and the rapist needn't worry about having a paternity test identifying him months later.

The Drug's affects ARE NOT TEMPORARY - they are PERMANENT.

Any female that takes it WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONCEIVE

The weasels can get this drug from anyone who is in the vet school or any university It's that easy, and Rohypnol is about to break out big on campuses everywhere. Believe it or not, there are even sites on the Internet telling people how to use it.

Girls, be careful when you're out and don't leave your drink unattended. (Added - Buy your own drinks, ensure bottles or cans received are unopened or sealed; don't even taste someone else's drink)

There has already been a report in Singapore of girls drink been Spiked by Rohypnol. Please make the effort to forward this to everyone you know

For guys - Pls inform all your female friends and relatives, remember you also have sisters

! Better you Read and aware others !

What are date rape drugs?

These are drugs that are sometimes used to assist a sexual assault. Sexual assault is any type of sexual activity that a person does not agree to. It can include inappropriate touching, vaginal penetration, sexual intercourse, rape, and attempted rape. Because of the effects of these drugs, victims may be physically helpless, unable to refuse sex, and can't remember what happened. The drugs often have no color, smell, or taste and are easily added to flavored drinks without the victim's knowledge. There are at least three date rape drugs:

GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid)
Rohypnol (flunitrazepam)
Ketamine (ketamine hydrochloride)

Although we use the term "date rape," most experts prefer the term "drug-facilitated sexual assault." These drugs have been used to help people commit other crimes, like robbery and physical assault, and have been used on both men and women.

What do the drugs look like?

GHB has a few forms: a liquid with no odor or color, white powder, and pill.
Rohypnol is a pill and dissolves in liquids. New pills turn blue when added to liquids. However, the old pills, with no color, are still available.
Ketamine is a white powder.

What effects do these drugs have on the body?

The drugs can affect you quickly. The length of time that the effects last varies. It depends on how much of the drug is taken and if the drug is mixed with other substances, like alcohol. Alcohol can worsen the drug's effects and can cause more health problems. Also, one drug — GHB — can be made by people in their homes, so you don't know what's in it.

GHB

GHB can cause these problems:

relaxation
drowsiness
dizziness
nausea
problems seeing
unconsciousness (black out)
seizures
can't remember what happened while drugged
problems breathing
tremors
sweating
vomiting
slow heart rate
dream-like feeling
coma
death

Rohypnol

Rohypnol can cause these problems:

can't remember what happened while drugged
lower blood pressure
sleepiness
muscle relaxation or loss of muscle control
drunk feeling
nausea
problems talking
difficulty with motor movements
loss of consciousness
confusion
problems seeing
dizziness
confusion
stomach problems

Ketamine

Ketamine can cause these problems:

hallucinations
lost sense of time and identity
distorted perceptions of sight and sound
feeling out of control
impaired motor function
problems breathing
convulsions
vomiting
out of body experiences
memory problems
dream-like feeling
numbness
loss of coordination
aggressive or violent behavior
slurred speech

Are these drugs legal?

Some of these drugs are legal, but that doesn't mean they're not going to hurt you. Even if they're legal, you should not use them unless your health care provider prescribes them.

Rohypnol is NOT legal in the U.S. It is legal in Europe and Mexico and prescribed for sleep problems and as an anesthetic (medicine given during surgery so you don't feel pain). It is brought into the U.S. illegally.
Ketamine is legal in the U.S. for use as an anesthetic for humans and animals. It is mostly used on animals. Veterinary clinics are robbed for their Ketamine supply.
GHB was recently made legal in the U.S to treat problems from narcolepsy (a sleep problem).

Is alcohol a date rape drug?

While GHB, rohypnol, and ketamine are considered "date rape drugs," there are other drugs that affect judgment and behavior, and can put a person at risk for unwanted or risky sexual activity. Alcohol is one of those drugs. When a person is drinking alcohol:

It's harder to think clearly and evaluate a potentially dangerous situation.
It's harder to resist sexual or physical assault.
Drinking too much alcohol can also cause black-outs and memory loss.

But remember: even if a victim of sexual assault drank alcohol, she is NOT at fault for being assaulted.

How can I protect myself from being a victim?

Don't accept drinks from other people.
Open containers yourself.
Keep your drink with you at all times, even when you go to the bathroom.
Don't share drinks.
Don't drink from punch bowls or other large, common, open containers. They may already have drugs in them.
Don't drink anything that tastes or smells strange. Sometimes, GHB tastes salty.
Have a non-drinking friend with you to make sure nothing happens.

If you think that you have been drugged and raped:

Go to the police station or hospital right away.
Get a urine (pee) test as soon as possible. The drugs leave your system quickly. Rohypnol leaves your body 72 hours after you take it. GHB leaves the body in 12 hours.
Don't urinate before getting help.
Don't douche, bathe, or change clothes before getting help. These things may give evidence of the rape.

For more information please to click on the following links

Link - 1 Link - 2 Link - 3 Link - 4

Sensitive Index (SENSEX)

2008-08-20T19:36:00.008+05:30

Sensitive Index....Are you getting ?

SENSEX....???

I am damn sure you have got it now. Yes, you are right....the heart beat of Indian Stock Exchange. Lets explore some basic facts about SENSEX alias Sensitive Index.

SENSEX is a basket of 30 constituent stocks representing a sample of large, liquid and representative companies. It was first compiled in 1986.The base year of SENSEX is 1978-79 and the base value is 100.

The Index was initially calculated based on the "Full Market Capitalization" methodology but was shifted to the free-float methodology with effect from September 1, 2003. The "Free-float Market Capitalization" methodology of index construction is regarded as an industry best practice globally.

SENSEX Calculation Methodology

SENSEX is calculated using the "Free-float Market Capitalization" methodology. As per this methodology, the level of index at any point of time reflects the Free-float market value of 30 component stocks relative to a base period. The market capitalization of a company is determined by multiplying the price of its stock by the number of shares issued by the company. This market capitalization is further multiplied by the free-float factor to determine the free-float market capitalization.

Free-float Methodology

Free-float Methodology refers to an index construction methodology that takes into consideration only the free-float market capitalization of a company for the purpose of index calculation and assigning weight to stocks in Index. Free-float market capitalization is defined as that proportion of total shares issued by the company that are readily available for trading in the market. It generally excludes promoters' holding, government holding, strategic holding and other locked-in shares that will not come to the market for trading in the normal course. In other words, the market capitalization of each company in a Free-float index is reduced to the extent of its readily available shares in the market.

Major advantages of Free-float Methodology

· A Free-float index reflects the market trends more rationally as it takes into consideration only those shares that are available for trading in the market.

· Free-float Methodology improves index flexibility in terms of including any stock from the universe of listed stocks. This improves market coverage and sector coverage of the index. For example, under a Full-market capitalization methodology, companies with large market capitalization and low free-float cannot generally be included in the Index because they tend to distort the index by having an undue influence on the index movement. However, under the Free-float Methodology, since only the free-float market capitalization of each company is considered for index calculation, it becomes possible to include such closely held companies in the index while at the same time preventing their undue influence on the index movement.

· Globally, the Free-float Methodology of index construction is considered to be an industry best practice and all major index providers like MSCI, FTSE, S&P and STOXX have adopted the same.

Definition of Free-float

Share holdings held by investors that would not, in the normal course come into the open market for trading are treated as 'Controlling/ Strategic Holdings' and hence not included in free-float. In specific, the following categories of holding are generally excluded from the definition of Free-float:

Holdings by founders/directors/ acquirers which has control element
Holdings by persons/ bodies with "Controlling Interest"
Government holding as promoter/acquirer
Holdings through the FDI Route
Strategic stakes by private corporate bodies/ individuals
Equity held by associate/group companies (cross-holdings)
Equity held by Employee Welfare Trusts
Locked-in shares and shares which would not be sold in the open market in normal course.

Determining Free-float factors of companies

BSE has designed a Free-float format, which is filled and submitted by all index companies on a quarterly basis with the Exchange. The Exchange determines the Free-float factor for each company based on the detailed information submitted by the companies in the prescribed format. Free-float factor is a multiple with which the total market capitalization of a company is adjusted to arrive at the Free-float market capitalization. Once the Free-float of a company is determined, it is rounded-off to the higher multiple of 5 and each company is categorized into one of the 20 bands given below. A Free-float factor of say 0.55 means that only 55% of the market capitalization of the company will be considered for index calculation.

Free-float Bands

>0 – 5%	0.05	>50 – 55%	0.55
>5 – 10%	0.10	>55 – 60%	0.60
>10 – 15%	0.15	>60 – 65%	0.65
>15 – 20%	0.20	>65 – 70%	0.70
>20 – 25%	0.25	>70 – 75%	0.75
>25 – 30%	0.30	>75 – 80%	0.80
>30 – 35%	0.35	>80 – 85%	0.85
>35 – 40%	0.40	>85 – 90%	0.90
>40 – 45%	0.45	>90 – 95%	0.95

Calculation of Index at Closure

The closing SENSEX on any trading day is computed taking the weighted average of all the trades on SENSEX constituents in the last 30 minutes of trading session. If a SENSEX constituent has not traded in the last 30 minutes, the last traded price is taken for computation of the Index closure. If a SENSEX constituent has not traded at all in a day, then its last day's closing price is taken for computation of Index closure. The use of Index Closure Algorithm prevents any intentional manipulation of the closing index value.

Adjustment for Bonus, Rights and Newly issued Capital

The arithmetic calculation involved in calculating SENSEX is simple, but problem arises when one of the component stocks pays a bonus or issues rights shares. If no adjustments were made, a discontinuity would arise between the current value of the index and its previous value despite the non-occurrence of any economic activity of substance. At the Index Cell of the Exchange, the base value is adjusted, which is used to alter market capitalization of the component stocks to arrive at the SENSEX value.

· Adjustments for Rights Issues:

When a company, included in the compilation of the index, issues right shares, the free-float market capitalisation of that company is increased by the number of additional shares issued based on the theoretical (ex-right) price. An offsetting or proportionate adjustment is then made to the Base Market Capitalisation (see 'Base Market Capitalisation Adjustment' below).

· Adjustments for Bonus Issue:

When a company, included in the compilation of the index, issues bonus shares, the market capitalisation of that company does not undergo any change. Therefore, there is no change in the Base Market Capitalisation, only the 'number of shares' in the formula is updated.

· Other Issues:

Base Market Capitalisation Adjustment is required when new shares are issued by way of conversion of debentures, mergers, spin-offs etc. or when equity is reduced by way of buy-back of shares, corporate restructuring etc.

Base Market Capitalisation Adjustment:

The formula for adjusting the Base Market Capitalisation is as follows:

				New Mkt Cap
New Base Mkt Capitalisation	=	Old Base Mkt Capitalisation	x	--------------------
				Old Mkt Cap

To illustrate, suppose a company issues right shares which increases the market capitalisation of the shares of that company by say, Rs.100 crores. The existing Base Market Capitalisation (Old Base Market Capitalisation), say, is Rs.2450 crores and the aggregate market capitalisation of all the shares included in the index before the right issue is made is, say Rs.4781 crores. The "New Base Market Capitalisation " will then be:

2450 x (4781+100)
--------------------------	=	Rs.2501.24 crores
4781

This figure of 2501.24 will be used as the Base Market Capitalisation for calculating the index number from then onwards till the next base change becomes necessary.

SENSEX - Scrip selection criteria

The general guidelines for selection of constituents in SENSEX are as follows:

Listed History:

The scrip should have a listing history of at least 3 months at BSE. Exception may be considered if full market capitalisation of a newly listed company ranks among top 10 in the list of BSE universe. In case, a company is listed on account of merger/ demerger/ amalgamation, minimum listing history would not be required.

Trading Frequency:

The scrip should have been traded on each and every trading day in the last three months. Exceptions can be made for extreme reasons like scrip suspension etc.

Final Rank:

The scrip should figure in the top 100 companies listed by final rank. The final rank is arrived at by assigning 75% weightage to the rank on the basis of three-month average full market capitalisation and 25% weightage to the liquidity rank based on three-month average daily turnover & three-month average impact cost.

Market Capitalization Weightage:

The weightage of each scrip in SENSEX based on three-month average free-float market capitalisation should be at least 0.5% of the Index.

Industry Representation:

Scrip selection would generally take into account a balanced representation of the listed companies in the universe of BSE.

Track Record:

In the opinion of the Committee, the company should have an acceptable track record.

Please feel free to leave a comment to make it better

ORKUT is Banned, you fool......

2007-11-11T20:21:00.000+05:30

Orkut is banned you fool, The administrators didn't write this program guess who did?? MUHAHAHA!! with title ORKUT IS BANNED. I hope some of you have seen this message on your system while opening ORKUT. It also attcks MOZILLA with a message " I DO NOT HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE... with title as "USE INTERNET EXPLORER U DOPE"..........Got it what I am talking about ? I Hope you hit the bulls eye. Don’t PANIC, this is due to a worm which is very decent , which does not destroy your files or damage your computer.

Few days back my sister asked me about this on phone and I just told to update the anti virus and some bla bla as I was in different city. But when I saw her laptop, I thought it is a virus and tried to find the solution in GOOGLE. But to my surprise when I typed ORKUT in google search it automatically closed. I had to search the solution through a proxy(via Google) and got the top notch and removed for that time. That day I thought its gone but I was wrong. It returned the next time but I had already left from that place. She once again called me and I told something to avoid my ignorance. But today.... enough is enough... It came to my system when I copied a file from a pen drive though I have the latest anti virus. I searched for the exact solution from net and here I am posting the solution which I think you can use if you need for.

This is happening due to a Worm: w32.USB which is spreading through Pen,USB,Thump disk etc

It shows messages like

" I DON'T HATE MOZILLA BUT USE IE OR ELSE...."
" Orkut is banned you fool, The administrators didnt write this program guess who did?? MUHAHAHA!!" with title ORKUT IS BANNED

This affects the following

ORKUT
MOZILLA
YOUTUBE

You can follow the steps to Remove:

1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL and go to the processes tab

2. Look for svchost.exe under the image name. There will be many but look for the ones which have your username under the username

3. Press DEL to kill these files. It will give you a warning, Press Yes

4. Repeat for more svchost.exe files with your user name and repeat. Do not kill svchost.exe with system, local service or network service!

5. Now open My Computer

6. In the address bar, type C:\heap41a and press enter. It is a hidden folder, and is not visible by default.

7. Delete all the files here (

9. Now go to Start --> Run and type Regedit

10. Go to the menu Edit --> Find

11. Type "heap41a" here and press enter. You will get something like this "[winlogon] C:\heap41a\svchost.exe C:\heap(some number)\std.txt"

12. Select that and Press DEL. It will ask "Are you sure you wanna delete this value", click Yes

13. Now close the registry editor.

Now the virus is gone. But be sure to delete the autorun.inf file and any folder whose name ends with .exe in the pen drive.

I love this worm as it does not do anything except blocking ORKUT, MOZILLA and YOUTUBE.

NOTE: As its very new and not so harmful ,the latest anti virus is not able to detect this.

See the following links to know more:

http://www.freewebs.com/mgsujith/worm/remove.html

Please feel free to post a comment if you like this or you want to give some easy solution for this.

No one born in between 2nd and 14th of September 1752

2007-07-24T14:57:00.003+05:30

Do you know that no one born in between 2nd and 14th Sep 1752. Is it ???

YES, I am not joking.

Actually the so called 11 days does not exist in the calender. Those are called as GHOST DATES (I think this title is good). Want to know more. read this

A calendar has been used over the centuries in nearly every civilization. Its purpose is to provide a method of measuring time and to allow man to record and calculate dates and events. The calendar has changed dramatically over the years, and family historians who research colonial records will soon realize that even as recently as 1750, the calendar was different. A basic knowledge of the 1752 calendar change during the colonial period of American history will help with family history research.

The Julian Calendar

To better understand the 1752 calendar change (see the above calendar of 1752 and mark the September month), it is beneficial to review the history of major calendars that led up to it, starting with the Romans. Following the advice of his astronomer and mathematician, Julius Caesar established a calendar in 45 B.C. This calendar is known as the Julian or Old Style (O.S.) calendar. It and had three common years containing 365 days, and one year (leap year) containing 366 days (every fourth year). This twelve-month calendar, based on a solar (tropical) year, served for many years in perpetual cycle.

Under this calendar, the first day of the year was March 25th (often known as Lady Day, Annunciation Day, or Feast of the Annunciation), and the last day of the year was March 24th. March was considered the first month.

Examples of the Julian Calendar

7ber VIIber September 7th month
8ber VIIIber October 8th month
9ber IXber November 9th month
10ber Xber December 10th month

Under the Julian calendar, four of the months were written ending in "ber."

The Gregorian calendar

During the Middle Ages, astronomers and mathematicians observed that the calendar year was not completely accurate with matching solar years. Errors in the Julian calendar were noted by church officials and scholars because church holidays did not occur in their appropriate seasons.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII (1502–85), who was pope from 1572 to 1585, and his astronomer and mathematician created a new, reformed calendar known as the Gregorian or New Style (N.S.) calendar. It was adopted first in Roman Catholic countries. Protestant countries adopted the calendar during the eighteenth century.

In order to make the calendar adjustment in 1582, ten days were eliminated from October. Thus 4 October 1582 was followed by 15 October 1582.

England and its American colonies did not adopt the reformed Gregorian calendar until 1752. Scotland adopted it earlier, celebrating the New Year on 1 January 1600 and subsequently on January 1st of each year. Interestingly, Alaska did not change from the Julian calendar to the New Style Gregorian calendar until 1867 because, up to that point, it was part of Russia.

In order to make the calendar adjustment, eleven days were dropped from the month of September 1752. An eleven-day adjustment in 1752 was needed because one more day had been lost since the calendar was changed in 1582. The year 1751 began on 25 March and ended on 31 December 1751. The first day of the year was now January 1st and the last day was December 31st—the calendar we use today. Thus, 2 September 1752 was followed by 14 September 1752. In this way, the Julian calendar added one day between 1582 and 1752.

Summary of the 1752 Calendar Change

31 December 1750 was followed by 1 January 1750
24 March 1750 was followed by 25 March 1751
31 December 1751 was followed by 1 January 1752
2 September 1752 was followed by 14 September 1752
31 December 1752 was followed by 1 January 1753

Note that the 1752 calendar change occurred in a series of steps.

Just imagine your eighteenth-century ancestors going to bed on Wednesday, September 2nd and waking up on Thursday, September 14th. What would have been September 3rd was actually September 14th in the year 1752. They lost those eleven days from their lives. September 1752 had only nineteen days.

Other countries adopted the Gregorian calendar at different times. The standard reference source for a discussion of the 1752 calendar change is Handbook of Dates for Students of English History. It includes a list of rulers of England, Saints’ days and festivals used in dating, legal chronology, the Roman calendar, and other calendar details. A chart showing dates of changes from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in countries outside the British Empire is shown in Know Your Ancestors: A Guide to Genealogical Research.

Paid Holiday

All employees are paid for the full month of Sep 1752 though the month was of 19 days. These 11 days were called as paid holidays and the term 'PAID HOLIDAYS' came into existence.

Double Dating

Double dating was used in Great Britain, colonial British America, and British possessions to clarify dates occurring between 1 January and 24 March on years between 1582 and 1752. In the ecclesiastical or legal calendar, March 25th was recognized as the first day of the year and was not double dated.

Researchers of colonial American ancestors will often see double dating in older records. Double dates were identified with a slash mark (/) representing the Old and New Style calendars, e.g., 1690/1691. Even before 1752 in colonial America, some educated clerks knew of the calendar change in Europe and used double dating to distinguish between the calendars. This was especially true in civil records, but less so in church registers. Researchers will often see this type of double dating in New England town records, court records, church records, and wills, or on colonial gravestones or cemetery transcriptions. The system of double dating ended in 1752 in the American colonies with the adoption of the Gregorian calendar.

Double Dating Examples in Colonial Records

15 January 1690 or 15 January 1691
15 February 1745 or 15 February 1746
1 March 1749 or 1 March 1750
15 March 1700 or 15 March 1701

Quaker Dating

After 1752, Quakers adjusted to the calendar change by calling January the first month (N.S. calendar), February the second month, December the twelfth month, and so forth. However, even with the calendar change, dates will undoubtedly appear a little complicated for researchers.

Quakers almost exclusively used numbers for months. In some cases, researchers will find the number and name of the month, such as "4th month called June" or "the 10th day of the 10th month called December 1690." Any date in March was considered the first month. And Sunday was the first day of the week, Monday the second day, and so forth.

Quakers also wrote numbers in their meeting records, such as "3rd month" instead of May (an example before 1752). Saying July (Julius), after Julius Caesar, or August, after the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, was considered too pagan or worldly.

An example of an early Quaker date might be: 2/10/1720 (with 2 being the second month). This date should be interpreted as 10 April 1720. For examples of Quaker dating practices, see the article by Gordon L. Remington, "Quaker Preparation for the 1752 Calendar Change," National Genealogical Society Quarterly 87 (June 1999): 146-150.

Some thing Interesting

2007-07-21T16:15:00.000+05:30

Coca-Cola was originally green.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men!!
You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
It is impossible to lick your elbow.
People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents great king from history.

Spades - King David
Clubs - Alexander the Great
Hearts - Charlemagne
Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

If a statue of a person in the park on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common? Ans. - All invented by women.
Question - This is the only food that doesn't spoil. What is this? Ans. - Honey
A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
A snail can sleep for three years.
All polar bears are left handed.
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
Shakespeare invented the word 'assassination' and 'bump'.
Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
Most lipstick contains fish scales.
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

Collected by:
Saktishree

2007-05-18T14:34:00.001+05:30

Definition

Generally speaking, advertising is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. Whereas marketing aims to identify markets that will purchase a product (business) or support an idea and then facilitate that purchase, advertising is the paid communication by which information about the product or idea is transmitted to potential consumers.

History

Advertisements painted on the side of buildings were common in the early-20th century U.S. This instance, now faded from lack of upkeep, is an example of a ghost ad.

In ancient times the most common form of advertising was 'word of mouth'. However, commercial messages and election campaign displays were found in the ruins of Pompeii. Egyptians used papyrus to create sales messages and wall posters. Lost-and-found advertising on papyrus was common in Greece and Rome. As printing developed in the 15th and 16th century, advertising expanded to include handbills. In the 17th century advertisements started to appear in weekly newspapers in England.

These early print ads were used mainly to promote books (which were increasingly affordable) and medicines (which were increasingly sought after as disease ravaged Europe). Quack ads became a problem, which ushered in regulation of advertising content.

As the economy was expanding during the 19th century, the need for advertising grew at the same pace. In America, the classified ad became popular, filling pages of newspapers with small print messages promoting all kinds of goods. The success of this advertising format led to the growth of mail-order advertising. In 1843 the first advertising agency was established by Volney Palmer in Philadelphia. At first the agencies were just brokers for ad space in newspapers, but by the 20th century, advertising agencies started to take over responsibility for the content as well.

The 1960's saw advertising transform into a modern, more scientific approach in which creativity was allowed to shine, producing unexpected messages that made advertisements interesting to read. The Volkswagen ad campaign featuring such headlines as "Think Small" and "Lemon" ushered in the era of modern advertising by promoting a "position" or "unique selling proposition" designed to associate each brand with a specific idea in the reader or viewer's mind.

Today, advertising is evolving even further, with "guerrilla" promotions that involve unusual approaches such as staged encounters in public places, giveaways of products such as cars that are covered with brand messages, and interactive advertising where the viewer can respond to become part of the advertising message.

Media

One crude but effective advertising method is to pay someone to stand on a corner and wave a sign all day. Transit advertising is combined with experiential marketing using pedapods in Australia

Commercial advertising media can include billboards (outdoor advertising), street furniture components, printed flyers, radio, cinema and television ads, web banners, web popups, skywriting, bus stop benches, magazines, newspapers, town criers, sides of buses, taxicab doors and roof mounts, musical stage shows, subway platforms and trains, elastic bands on disposable diapers, stickers on apples in supermarkets, the opening section of streaming audio and video, and the backs of event tickets and supermarket receipts. Any place an "identified" sponsor pays to deliver their message through a medium is advertising.

Covert advertising embedded in other entertainment media is known as product placement. A more recent version of this is advertising in film, by having a main character use an item or other of a definate brand - an example is in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character owns a computer with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo.

The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format and this is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. The annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as much for its commercial advertisements as for the game itself, and the average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has reached $2.3 million (as of 2004).

Increasingly, other mediums such as those discussed below are overtaking television due to a shift towards consumer's usage of the Internet as well as devices such as TiVo.

Advertising on the World Wide Web is a recent phenomenon. Prices of Web-based advertising space are dependent on the "relevance" of the surrounding web content and the traffic that the website receives.

E-mail advertising is another recent phenomenon. Unsolicited bulk E-mail advertising is known as "spam".

Some companies have proposed to place messages or corporate logos on the side of booster rockets and the International Space Station. Controversy exists on the effectiveness of subliminal advertising (see mind control), and the pervasiveness of mass messages (see propaganda).

Unpaid advertising (also called word of mouth advertising), can provide good exposure at minimal cost. Personal recommendations ("bring a friend", "sell it by zealot"), spreading buzz, or achieving the feat of equating a brand with a common noun ("Xerox" = "photocopier", "Kleenex" = "tissue" , "Scotch Tape" = "Clear Tape", " iPod" = "MP3 Player" ) -- these must provide the stuff of fantasy to the holder of an advertising budget.

The most common method for measuring the impact of mass media advertising is the use of the rating point (rp) or the more accurate target rating point (trp). These two measures refer to the percentage of the universe of the existing base of audience members that can be reached by the use of each media outlet in a particular moment in time. The difference between the two is that the rating point refers to the percentage to the entire universe while the target rating point refers to the percentage to a particular segment or target. This becomes very useful when focusing advertising efforts on a particular group of people. For example, think of an advertising campaign targeting a female audience aged 25 to 45. While the overall rating of a TV show might be well over 10 rating points it might very well happen that the same show in the same moment of time is generating only 2.5 trps (being the target: women 25-45). This would mean that while the show has a large universe of viewers it is not necessarily reaching a large universe of women in the ages of 25 to 45 making it a less desirable location to place an ad for an advertiser looking for this particular demographic.

Objectives

Whereas marketing aims to identify markets that will purchase a product (business) or support an idea and then facilitate that purchase, advertising is the paid communication by which information about the product or idea is transmitted to potential consumers.

In general, advertising is used to convey availability of a "product" (which can be a physical product, a service, or an idea) and to provide information regarding the product. This can stimulate demand for the product, one of the main objectives of advertising. More specifically, there are three generic objectives of advertisements : communicate information about a particular product, service, or brand (including announcing the existence of the product, where to purchase it, and how to use it), persuade people to buy the product, and keep the organization in the public eye (called institutional advertising). Most advertising blends elements of all three objectives. Typically new products are supported with informative and persuasive ads, while mature products use institutional and persuasive ads (sometimes called reminder ads). Advertising frequently uses persuasive appeals, both logical and emotional (that is, it is a form of propaganda), sometimes even to the exclusion of any product information. More specific objectives include increases in short or long term sales, market share, awareness, product trial, mind share, brand name recall, product use information, positioning or repositioning, and organizational image improvement.

Examples of the ideas, informative or otherwise, that advertising tries to communicate are product details, benefits and brand information. Advertising usually seeks to find a unique selling proposition (USP) of any product and communicate that to the user. This may take the form of a unique product feature or a perceived benefit. In the face of increased competition within the market due to growing numbers of substitutes there is more branding occurring in advertising. This branding attributes a certain personality or reputation to a brand, termed brand equity, which is distinctive from its competition. Generally, brand equity is a measure of the volume and homogeneity of, as well as positive and negative characteristics of, individual and cultural ideas associated with the product.

Co-op advertising is money offered by manufacturers or distributors to assist retailers in advertising certain merchandise lines.

Effective advertising will stimulate demand for a product and build brand equity and brand franchise. When enough brand equity is created that the brand has the ability to draw buyers (even without further advertising), it is said to have brand franchise. The ultimate brand franchise is when the brand is so prevalent in people's mind (called mind share), that it is used to describe the whole category of products. This phenomena is sometimes known as "hyper branding." Kleenex, for example, can distinguish itself as a type of tissue or a label for a category of products. That is, it is frequently used as a generic term. One of the most successful firms to have achieved a dominant brand franchise is Hoover, whose name was for a very long time synonymous with vacuum cleaner (and Dyson has subsequently managed to achieve similar status, having moved into the Hoover market with a more sophisticated model of vacuum cleaner). The strength of a brand franchise can be established to a greater or lesser degrees in various markets. In Texas, for example, it is common to hear people refer to any soft drink as a Coke, regardless of whether it is actually produced by Coca-Cola or not (more accurate terms would be 'cola' or 'soda').

A legal risk of the dominant brand franchise is that the name can become so widely accepted that it becomes a generic term, and loses trademark protection. Examples include "escalator", "aspirin" and "mimeograph".

Political uses

The control of advertising translates into the control of money and power. Thus, it can and has been used for political purposes. The American culture wars between fundamentalist religious organizations on one hand, and organizations supporting the freedom of homosexual expression on the other, are one example. In spring of 2005, the American Family Association threatened a boycott of Ford products to protest Ford's perceived support of "the homosexual agenda and homosexual marriage." Later in the year Ford announced it was curtailing ads in a number of major gay publications, an action it claimed to be determined not by cultural but by economic factors. That statement was contradicted by the AFA, which claimed it had a "good faith agreement" that Ford would cease such ads. Soon afterwards, as a result of a strong upcry from the gay community, Ford backtracked and announced it would continue ads in gay publications, in response to which the AFA denounced Ford for backing out of the agreement and renewed threats of a boycott.

Impact

The impact of advertising has been a matter of considerable debate and many different claims have been made in different contexts. During debates about the banning of cigarette adervertising, a common claim from cigarette manufacturers was that cigarette advertising does not encourage people to smoke who would not otherwise. The (eventually successful) opponents of advertising, on the other hand, claim that advertising does in fact increase consumption.

According to many sources, the past experience and state of mind of the person subjected to advertising may determine the impact that advertising has. Children under the age of four may be unable to distinguish advertising from other television programs, whilst the ability to determine the truthfulness of the message may not be developed until the age of eight^ .

Techniques

Advertisers use several recognizable techniques in order to better convince the public to buy a product and shape the public's attitude towards their product. These may include:

· Repetition: Some advertisers concentrate on making sure their product is widely recognized. To that end, they simply attempt to make the name remembered through repetition.

· Bandwagon: By implying that the product is widely used, advertisers hope to convince potential buyers to "get on the bandwagon."

· Testimonials: Advertisers often attempt to promote the superior quality of their product through the testimony of ordinary users, experts, or both. "Three out of four dentists recommend..." This approach often involves an appeal to authority.

· Pressure: By attempting to make people choose quickly and without long consideration, some advertisers hope to make rapid sales: "Buy now, before they're all gone!"

· Appeal to emotion: Various techniques relating to manipulating emotion are used to get people to buy a product. Apart from artistic expression intended to provoke an emotional reaction (which are usually for associative purposes, or to relax or excite the viewer), three common argumentative appeals to emotion in product advertising are wishful thinking, appeal to flattery, and appeal to ridicule. Appeals to pity are often used by charitable organizations and appeals to fear are often used in public service messages and products, such as alarm systems or anti-bacterial spray, which claim protection from an outside source. Emotional appeals are becoming increasingly popular in the health industry, with large companies like 24 Hour Fitness becoming increasingly adept at utilizing a potential customers' fear to sell memberships; selling not necessarily the actual gym, but the dream of a new body. Finally, appeals to spite are often used in advertising aimed at younger demographics.

· Association: Advertisers often attempt to associate their product with desirable imagery to make it seem equally desirable. The use of attractive models, a practice known as sex in advertising, picturesque landscapes and other alluring images is common. Also used are "buzzwords" with desired associations. On a large scale, this is called branding.

· Advertising slogans: These can employ a variety of techniques; even a short phrase can have extremely heavy-handed technique.

· Controversy, as in the Benetton publicity campaign.

· Guerrilla advertising: Advertising by association. Done in such a way so the target audience does not know that they have been advertised to, but their impression of the product is increased (or decreased) if that is the intent of the advertiser. The focus is to promote the products or services in a way that revolves around ingenuity rather than finances in order to make a large impact, while spending as little money as possible.

· Subliminal messages: It was feared that some advertisements would present hidden messages, for example through brief flashed messages or the soundtrack that would have a hypnotic effect on viewers ('Must buy car. Must buy car.') The notion that techniques of hypnosis are used by advertisers is now generally discredited, though subliminal sexual messages are supposedly present in a variety of messages, ranging from car models with SX prefixes to suggestive positioning of objects in magazine ads and billboards.

During the 1990s, advertisers have increasingly employed the device of irony. Aware that today's media-savvy viewers are familiar with -- and thus cynical about -- the traditional methods listed above, advertisers have turned to poking fun at those very methods. This "wink-wink" approach is intended to tell viewers, "We know that YOU know we're trying to sell you something, so bear with us and let's have fun." The ultimate goal of such advertising is to convey a sense of trust and confidence with viewers, by essentially saying, "We respect your intelligence, and you should respect us because we're not trying to fool you." Common television examples include most beer advertising and the commercials of the Geico insurance company.

Public service advertising

The same advertising techniques used to promote commercial goods and services can be used to inform, educate and motivate the public about non-commercial issues, such as AIDS, political ideology, energy conservation, religious recruitment, and deforestation.

Advertising, in its non-commercial guise, is a powerful educational tool capable of reaching and motivating large audiences. "Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest - it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes." - Attributed to Howard Gossage by David Ogilvy

Public service advertising, non-commercial advertising, public interest advertising, cause marketing, and social marketing are different terms for (or aspects of) the use of sophisticated advertising and marketing communications techniques (generally associated with commercial enterprise) on behalf of non-commercial, public interest issues and initiatives.

In the United States, the granting of television and radio licenses by the FCC is contingent upon the station broadcasting a certain amount of public service advertising.

Public service advertising reached its height during World Wars I and II under the direction of several U.S. government agencies.

Social impact

Regulation

There have been increasing efforts to protect the public interest by regulating the content and the reach of advertising. Some examples are the ban on television tobacco advertising imposed in the USA, and the total ban on advertising to children under twelve imposed by the Swedish government in 1991. Though that regulation continues in effect for broadcasts originating within the country, it has been weakened by the European Court of Justice, which has found that Sweden was obliged to accept whatever programming was targeted at it from neighboring countries or via satellite.

In Europe and elsewhere there is a vigorous debate on whether and how much advertising to children should be regulated. This debate was exacerbated by a report released by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in February 2004 which suggested that food advertising targeting children was an important factor in the epidemic of childhood obesity raging across the United States.

In many countries - namely New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, and many European countries- the advertising industry operates a system of self-regulation. Advertisers, advertising agencies and the media agree on a code of advertising standards that they attempt to uphold. The general aim of such codes is to ensure that any advertising is 'legal, decent, honest and truthful'. Some self-regulatory organisations are funded by the industry, but remain independent, with the intent of upholding the standards or codes (like the ASA in the UK).

Critiques of the medium

As advertising and marketing efforts become increasingly ubiquitous in modern Western societies, the industry has come under criticism of groups such as AdBusters via culture jamming which criticizes the media and consumerism using advertising's own techniques. The industry is accused of being one of the engines powering a convoluted economic mass production system which promotes consumption. Some advertising campaigns have also been criticized as inadvertently or even intentionally promoting sexism, racism, and ageism. Such criticisms have raised questions about whether this medium is creating or reflecting cultural trends. At very least, advertising often reinforces stereotypes by drawing on recognizable "types" in order to tell stories in a single image or 30 second time frame. Recognizing the social impact of advertising, MediaWatch, a non-profit women's organization, works to educate consumers about how they can register their concerns with advertisers and regulators. It has developed educational materials for use in schools. The award-winning book, Made You Look - How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know, by former MediaWatch president Shari Graydon, provides context for these issues for young readers.

Public interest groups and free thinkers are increasingly suggesting that access to the mental space targeted by advertisers should be taxed, in that at the present moment that space is being freely taken advantage of by advertisers with no compensation paid to the members of the public who are thus being intruded upon. This kind of tax would be a Pigovian tax in that it would act to reduce what is now increasingly seen as a public nuisance. Efforts to that end are gathering momentum, with Arkansas and Maine considering bills to implement such taxation. Florida enacted such a tax in 1987 but was forced to repeal it after six months, as a result of a concerted effort by national commercial interests, which withdrew planned conventions, causing major losses to the tourism industry, and cancelled advertising, causing a loss of 12 million dollars to the broadcast industry alone.

Public perception of the medium

Over the years, the public perception of advertising has become very negative. It is seen as a medium that inherently promotes a lie, based on the purpose of the advertisement - to encourage the target audience to submit to a cause or a belief, and act on it to the advertising party's benefit and consequently the target's disadvantage. They are either perceived as directly lying (stating opinions or untruths directly as facts), lying by omission (usually terms or conditions unfavorable to the customer) or portraying a product or service in a light that does not reflect reality. It is this increased awareness of the intention of advertising, as well as advertising regulations that have increased the challenges that marketers face.

Future

With the dawn of the Internet have come many new advertising opportunities. Popup, Flash, banner, and email advertisements (the last often being a form of spam) abound. Recently, the advertising community has attempted to make the adverts themselves desirable to the public. In one example, Cadillac chose to advertise in the movie 'The Matrix Reloaded', which as a result contained many scenes in which Cadillac cars were used.

Each year, greater sums are paid to obtain a commercial spot during the Super Bowl. Companies attempt to make these commercials sufficiently entertaining that members of the public will actually want to watch them.

Particularly since the rise of "entertaining" advertising, some people may like an advert enough that they wish to watch it later or show a friend. In general, the advertising community has not yet made this easy, although some have used the Internet to widely distribute their adverts to anyone wishing to see or hear them.

Article collected by:

Saktishree

Saktishree

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