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I found this out a couple of days back. If you missed the daily NPR news update and have only access to a phone at the moment (ex: on the road), you can get the latest NPR hourly news update by calling 202-609-7549.
Related websites:
- www.npr.org/services/mobile/mobilewebandmobilevoice.html
- www.npr.org/services/mobile/blackberry.html
Note: This is NOT a toll free number and long distance charges / your mobile minutes will apply. I usually call this number on weekends or between 9 PM to 7 AM (so that I do not use my daytime minutes).
Bill (David Carradine) of the "Kill Bill" movie series died today at the Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel in central Bangkok, Thailand. He was in Bangkok to shoot his latest movie - "Stretch". He was 72.
David Carradine as Bill in "Kill Bill 2". Courtesy: Yahoo! Movies
From the New York Times:
"David Carradine, an enigmatic actor who never outran the identity he earned in "Kung Fu," the 1970s Chinese-western television series that made him an unlikely cult hero -- even though he also starred as Woody Guthrie in Hal Ashby's 1976 film biography "Bound for Glory" and, more than a quarter-century later, played the title character, a cunning assassin who becomes a murder target, in Quentin Tarantino's twin thrillers, "Kill Bill" Volumes I and II -- was found dead on Thursday in a hotel room in Bangkok, where he was filming a new movie. He was 72."
I have compiled a list of the first 50 domain names which are related to Manipur, or are owned by Manipuris. The emphasis here is on WHEN the domain name was registered. Hence, the list is ordered by domain registration date and not by relevance of content. This is a work in progress. So, there are not 50 domain names yet :). If you wish to add an entry to this list, please post a comment to this blog entry or email me at bobby AT maisnam.com.
View the most current version of this list in HTML | Excel | PDF | Text. If you cannot access Google Docs, you can view the Text version here.
First 50 Manipur related Domain Names (Last updated: 6/2/2009)
Rank Date Registered Domain Name Notes 1 2000-01-04 e-pao.net Manipur News Portal 2 2000-05-04 manipuronline.com Manipur Portal 3 2000-05-15 coremanipur.org CORE Manipur - NGO Organization 4 2000-07-09 kanglaonline.com Manipur News Portal 5 2000-11-13 bobbymaisnam.com Bobby Maisnam's website 6 2001-06-11 brajeshwar.com Brajeshwar Oinam's blog 7 2001-09-10 sanaleibak.com Sachi Sharma's website 8 2002-10-07 elangbam.com Elangbam Family website 9 2002-11-05 chorusimphal.com Ratan Thiyam's Chorus Repertory Theatre 10 2003-01-03 ema-europe.org European Manipuri Association (EMA) 11 2003-03-30 haobam.com Martin Haobam's website 12 2003-07-13 oinam.com Owned by Brajeshwar 13 2003-08-11 thesangaiexpress.com Sangai Express newspaper 14 2003-08-18 maisnam.com Owned by Bobby maisnam 15 2003-09-18 imphal.net Redirects to manipur.org 16 2004-08-29 manipur.org Info about Manipur 17 2005-01-10 radiomanipur.org Streaming audio of Manipuri Radio programs 18 2005-04-16 ifp.co.in Imphal Free Press newspaper 19 2005-07-06 dhaniweb.com Dhani Computers Imphal 20 2006-02-04 e-paolive.net E-Pao.net's media website 21 2006-03-12 meyamgi.com Dynamic AJAX based Manipur phonebook 22 2006-07-21 namaonline.org North American Manipuri Association (NAMA) 23 2006-08-23 duranthiyam.com Duran Thiyam's website 24 2006-10-31 ocricket.com Owned by Brajeshwar 25 2007-03-31 manipurpolice.org Manipur Police official website 26 2007-04-17 linux-manipur.org Linux Manipur 27 2007-05-22 huirem.com Owned by Brajeshwar 28 2007-05-22 nongmaithem.com Owned by Brajeshwar 29 2007-06-02 chabungbam.com Chabungbam's blog 30 2007-07-16 sekmai.com Owned by Brajeshwar 31 2007-10-22 manipurpage.com Manipur Portal 32 2007-10-22 manipurpage.com Manipur Portal 33 2007-11-08 tongbram.com Anthony Tongbram's blog 34 2008-01-18 northeasterner.in NE India articles 35 2008-04-05 poknapham.in Poknapham Manipuri newspaper 36 2008-08-16 istvimphal.com ISTV Cable TV Network 37 2008-09-12 msadmanipur.com Manipur Students' Association Delhi (MSAD) 38 2009-04-18 manipurcomments.com Collective blog by Manipuris
You can import your waypoints from the Garmin 650 GPS using Google Earth.
[1] Connect your Garmin 650 GPS to your computer via the USB cable
[2] Turn on your Garmin 650 GPS
[3] Go to Tools > GPS in Google Earth
[4] Click on "Garmin"
[5] Click the "Import" button
Detailed instructions: http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_gps.html#import
Waypoints current.gpx file
Note: The waypoints are stored in a current.gpx file. The location is F:\Garmin\gpx\current.gpx. In this case, the GPS shows up on my computer as the "F" drive. It is an XML file and you can read it using Notepad/Wordpad or drag/drop into Google Earth.
GPS coordinates in Google Maps
If you know want to send a GPS coordinate link in Google Maps by email, you can use the following syntax.
- http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.89767,-77.03655
In this case, 38.89767 is the longitude and -77.03655 is the latitude. This is similar to entering 38.89767,-77.03655 in Google Maps.
If you have a Dell computer, you can order 1 (one) copy of your Windows and Driver CDs using the following form.
[1] Dell "Request Backup Discs" form
https://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form
[2] Reinstall Options
The different reinstall options (System Restore, PC Restore, Manual Restore) are available here:
http://tinyurl.com/restore-reinstall-windows
[3] PC Restore
Note that most newer Dell computers come with feature called "Dell PC Restore". You can restore the original configuration of your computer from an unmounted partition on the hard drive. Do not forget to BACK UP all your data before you use this option. Details below:
http://tinyurl.com/yph34j
I started getting blue screens on my Dell XPS M1330 yesterday. I spent half a day trying to restore and repair my Windows installation. But I was not able to fix the problem. I could not use the "Dell PC Restore" option because I had not backed up my data yet. I finally fixed the problem by inserting the Windows Vista disc and then choosing the "Repair" option (instead of the "Install" option). That fixed my problems. I then quickly backed up all my important data.
Today (May 29, 2009 at 11:35 PM Eastern) is the last show of Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno". As announced earlier in 2004, Conan O'Brien will take over the "Tonight Show", and the Tonight Show will be renamed "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien". Jay will start a new primetime show (at 10 PM Eastern) tentatively titled "The Jay Leno Show". The "Tonight Show" has been running since 1954. Jay started as the 4th host in 1992 and Conan will be the 5th. Aptly, Conan will be the final guest on Jay's last Tonight Show.
The last (May 29, 2009) "Tonight" show:
- Watch directly on www.hulu.com
"That O'Brien was to be Leno's final "Tonight Show" guest, crowning a week that focused on longtime friends, including Leno's first guest, Billy Crystal; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had announced his candidacy on the show and whom Leno has imitated broadly and often; and Gibson, whose ongoing divorce and pregnant girlfriend gave Leno a last Hugh Grant moment: "Can I ask you, what happened?"
Perhaps it is just the performer's fear that every gig is potentially the last, but Leno -- who didn't take a sick day from his show until this April and who, to the displeasure of the Writers Guild of America, wrote his own monologues when "The Tonight Show" returned to the air during last year's writers strike -- is not about to relax. He'll be onstage tonight in Atlantic City, N.J., with June dates in Las Vegas and Rancho Mirage. And there is a new show to make."
Related Links:
- CNN article
- LA Times article
- Ent Weekly Slide Show
- http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/
- http://www.thetonightshowwithconanobrien.com/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Show
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tonight_Show_with_Conan_O%27Brien
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Leno
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_O%27Brien
To scroll left and right on the Blackberry 8703e, press ALT and the scroll key at the same time. Stop pressing the ALT key when want to scroll up and down.
Note: Not able to scroll left and right would drive me crazy. Couple of months back, I found out the ALT method. Today, I was talking to some other Blackberry users and they did not know about the ALT method. So, I decided to post this to share with others. If this is useful to you, then my time was well spent :)
Image courtesy: Blackberry 8703e Getting Started Guide. www.blackberry.com
More info:
- http://forums.crackberry.com/f34/scroll-left-right-2528/
- http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/device-detail.jsp?navId=H0,C63,P204
Here is a list of Enterprise Car Rental coupons:
List last updated: 5/31/2009
Free Upgrade
* www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?cust=ESUP9YX - Coupon Code: ESUP9YX - Expires 7/31/2009
15% OFF
* http://www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?cust=ESM29RP - Coupon Code: ESM29RP - Expires 6/15/2009
If the coupons above do not work, check out: www.retailmenot.com/view/enterprise.com
Enterprise has very few airline/hotel partners. This is the only one I know of:
1000 Choice Hotels Points
- www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?cust=CPRWDS - Coupon Code: CPRWDS - No expiry date.
Alternate link: www.enterprise.com/choice
Expired Coupons:
- www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?cust=ESUP9RX - Coupon Code: ESUP9RX - Expires 3/31/2009
- www.enterprise.com/car_rental/deeplinkmap.do?cust=CHPWNT - Coupon Code: CHPWNT - Expires 3/26/2009 | Choice Hotels page
I love Firefox. But there are a couple of quirks about it which drive me crazy. One of them is not being able to sort your bookmarks easily, especially in the toolbar, which I use a lot.
I searched a bit and this appears to be the best option at this point:
- Install the "SortPlaces" add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9275
Note: Since this is an experimental add-on, it requires you to sign up and login to download the add-on. Also see www.andyhalford.com/sortplaces/ to learn more about this add-on.
I just tried and this works great. After installing the add-on, it appears as a "Sort Bookmarks" button under the Bookmarks tab..
There also seems to be a way to sort the bookmarks through the Bookmarks Manager. I have not tried it yet. But if you would like to try it out, check out the link below.
- http://mozilla.gunnars.net/firefox_bookmarks_tutorial.html
Sign up for StanaCard and get up to $10 bonus: http://www.stanacard.com/?ref=329173
I recently came to know about StanaCard. The idea is awesome, seriously. It allows you to call international numbers which are mapped to a US number. You can map multiple US numbers to call multiple international numbers. I have been using RelianceIndiaCall for some time. In RelianceIndiaCall, you can set it up such that you dial the access number and then dial a shortcut key. So, if you program the access number as a speed dial on your phone, you have to press 2 keys to call. But that is still two steps. In StanaCard, you can dial an international number in just one step. Things could not be simpler than that!
I signed up for StanaCard through a friend's referral. I signed up for $10 (the max initial charge), and I got $10 bonus and my friend got $10 too.
You can sign up for StanaCard by clicking the link below. You will get your initial charge ($5 or $10) as a bonus. So, if your initial charge is $10, you will get $20 of talk time.
Sign up for StanaCard and get up to $10 bonus: http://www.stanacard.com/?ref=329173
Please note that signing up using the link above will also provide me a referral bonus equal to your initial charge amount :). However, if you wish to sign up without providing me a referral bonus, you can go directly to the StanaCard website by typing www.stanacard.com into your browser. Once you sign up, you can refer your friends through the website or by sending them a link (like the one above) and earn referral bonuses.
I tried today and it works great. Call quality was good and the rates are great - 4.47 cents per minute to cell phones in India. However, they do note on their website that these lower rates are valid only till March 31, 2009. So, my guess is that they will increase their rates after March 21, 2009.
2/4/2009: The Roku Netflix Digital Video Player is a $99 device which can be used to stream movies directly from Netflix to your TV. Netflix has 12,000+ movies available for watching online, or stream via Roku. I have tried the Netflix online streaming of movies and it works great. The only drawback is that the collection of movies available online is limited and there are not a lot of new releases. But I feel it is still a good deal because it has a flat fee ($8.99 per month for 1 DVD by mail and unlimited movies online) for unlimited online movies and does not have a per movie fee like Amazon Unbox and Blockbuster Online.
www.roku.com/netflixplayer/
www.netflix.com/NetflixReadyDevices
"Streams Netflix Watch Now titles to your TV; affordable $100 price tag; unlimited viewing with no additional charge beyond standard ($8.95 or higher) monthly Netflix fee; PC-free movie watching; simple setup; includes built-in wired and 802.11g Wi-Fi networking; works with all TVs; upgradeable firmware allows for new features, interface improvements, and bug fixes."
Courtesy: CNET
Today's fortune:
"It always pays to be generous to others. Kindness, compassion, empathy have always been your strength. There is no harm in giving that side an expression, people are not so competitive to not appreciate a kind gesture. Keep up the good work!"
Courtesy: astrology.rediff.com
Yahoo! Domains recently hiked their domain name renewal prices to $34.95. I had one domain name with them. And once I got the renewal notice email with the increased price, I decided to transfer my domain name to GoDaddy, my regular registrar. Domain name renewals currently cost $9.99 at GoDaddy. Yahoo! Domains sent me the renewal email notice 1 month in advance and I was able to transfer the domain in about 3 days without any issues.
Here is what happened next. A couple of days back (11/24), Yahoo! Domains charged me $34.95 for domain renewal fees even though I had already transferred my domain name on 10/29. So, they basically charged me for a service that they were not providing!
So, I tried to email customer service through their website and it turns out that I need to call them instead. In case anybody needs to call them in the future with this same issue, the number for Small Business Domains is 1-800-318-0870. Make sure you have your domain name, Yahoo! username, date of birth, credit card number handy, since they will use it for verification. Anyways, the customer service representative was pretty nice and she promptly cancelled my account and refunded the $34.95 charge. It turns out that Yahoo! would still charge me for the domain name renewal even after I had transferred it, if I did not proactively cancel the account.
Bottom line - don't forget to cancel your Yahoo! Domains account even though you have already transferred your domain name to another registrar!
The question remains - why did Yahoo! hike its Domain name fees? The general opinion going around is that, with Yahoo! not doing very well these days, they are planning to get out of the domain name business. In fact, Yahoo! itself is not a domain name registrar. Their domain names are managed by Melbourne IT, which I believe also manages domains for Microsoft Office Live.
Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! Be safe and eat well :)
Related Links:
http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/06/27/yahoo-hikes-domains.html
http://www.godaddy.com/
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/
http://www.melbourneit.com.au/
08/08/08 - The Beijing Summer 2008 Olympics officially start today. In addition to that, 17,000 couples in Beijing got married today. Great day to get married and to remember, indeed.
"Couples said they were moved by national pride, but also by the Chinese enthusiasm for numerology. The Games began on Aug. 8, 2008, and the series of eights -- eight sounding like the word for "fortune" -- is irresistibly propitious."
I knew that Citibank credit cards provide the "Virtual Account Number" option (also called "Controlled Payment Number" or "One-Time-Use Credit Card"). But I never used this feature previously. I tried out this feature today and was pleasantly surprised.
Image Courtesy: Citibank
Virtual Account Numbers are credit card numbers which are generated on the fly and can be used for online transactions. This is very helpful if you do not want to reveal your actual credit card number for online transactions. I always assumed that these numbers are one-time use only. But with the Citibank Virtual Account Numbers, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that you can set up the numbers to be multiple use and also specify limits and expiration dates (up to 12 months in the future). Bank of America credit cards also have this feature but I have not used it.
The "Virtual Account Number" is a great feature for credit card companies who constantly aspire to be "first in wallet".
Update (7/2/2008): Bank of America's one-time-use credit card feature is called ShopSafe.
Related Links:
- Citibank Virtual Account Numbers FAQs
- Controlled Payment Number - Wikipedia
- Orbiscom - the company which developed the technology
An insightful article and a good read. Highlights the ever widening gap between the growing Indian upper middle class and the poor who live next door.
Image Courtesy: NY Times
"These enclaves have emerged on the outskirts of prospering, overburdened cities, from this frontier town next to the capital to the edges of seam-splitting Bangalore. They allow their residents to buy their way out of the hardships that afflict vast multitudes in this country of more than one billion. And they reflect the desires of India's small but growing ranks of wealthy professionals, giving them Western amenities along with Indian indulgences: an army of maids and chauffeurs live in a vast shantytown across the street."
Read the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/world/asia/09gated.html
- Virgle - Google Main Page | Hoax page | Google Blog
- GDay - Google Australia | Hoax page
- Custom Time - Gmail | Hoax page
To protect a folder in Unix/Linux using .htaccess and .htpasswd, use the following steps:
[1] Go to folder you wish to protect and create a file called .htaccess with the following info:
AuthUserFile /home/your_username/.htpasswd
AuthGroupFile /dev/null
AuthName "Restricted Area"
AuthType Basic<Limit GET POST PUT>
require user admin
</Limit>
[2] Go to the location for your .htpasswd file (typically should be in your home area outside of the public_html folder). If the .htpasswd file does not exist, create it using the following syntax. Enter the password when asked for.
> cd /home/your_username/
> htpasswd -c .htpasswd admin
[3] Make sure your .htpasswd file is readable from the web - chmod it to 644.
> chmod 644 .htpasswd
[4] If additional users need to be allowed access to the same folder,
[4.1] add the users to the .htaccess file (edit the file mentioned in step 1):
require user admin user2 user3
[4.2] add the users to the .htpasswd file (update the file mentioned in step 3). Note that the "-c" option in step 3 is not used here. The "-c" is only used when creating the .htaccess file:
> htpasswd .htpasswd user2
> htpasswd .htpasswd user3
An excellent and easy tutorial is at: http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/tutorials/user.html. A cached copy is here.
I heard this word a couple of days back and I was wondering what it is. So, I finally googled for it. It means "interchangeable".
Definition in Finance:
Interchangeable. The term is often used to apply to financial instruments which are identical in specifications. For example, options and futures contracts are highly fungible, since they are highly standardized arrangements. On the other hand, forwards and swaps are not, since they are customized arrangements. Instruments that are highly fungible tend to be very liquid, and so transaction costs tend to be low.
www.investorwords.com/2132/fungible.html
Definition in the Oil Industry:
Literally means "interchangeable in trade." Commonly used to denote products which are suitable for transmission by pipeline. Ethanol is not considered fungible in this sense, in that it would absorb any water accumulating in pockets in a pipeline.
www.ethanol-gec.org/clean/cf13.htm
Related links:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fungibility
- www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=define:fungible
I noticed today that Excel does not allow more than 15 digits in a cell. If you a type a number with more than 15 digits into an excel cell, the digits after the first 15 get replaced by zeroes. I had a hard time trying to figure out how to fix this. You can make the cell accept more than 15 digits by:
[1] pre-formatting the cells as text fields BEFORE pasting the values
or
[2] by start the number with an apostrophe i.e. '
From Microsoft Knowledge Base 269370:
"CAUSE
Excel follows the IEEE 754 specification on how to store and calculate floating-point numbers. Excel therefore stores only 15 significant digits in a number, and changes digits after the fifteenth place to zeroes.WORKAROUND
To work around this behavior, format the cell as text. The cell can then display up to 1,024 characters."
Related Links:
- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/269370
- http://www.mrexcel.com/archive/Formatting/20648.html
