Christian denomination.. a complex world..

I must confess that, in spite of being a devoted christian, I have never fully understood the complex world of different christian denominations.. Todays googling led me to the Wikipedia for this topic.. Wiki has always been impressive, but I don't think you would get such a vast pool of info anywhere else, especially for topics like this..

There are numerous divisions and sub-divisions among the Christianity - some because of theological reasons and some due to other disputes..

On a gross level, the christian can be grouped into four.. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Protestant.

I, an Indian Orthodox member, comes under the Oriental Orthodox Group..

One part of christian theology is the christology. This tries to understand the Human v/s Divin nature of Jesus and the various points of view related to that. The Oriental Orthodox Church (thereby Indian Orthodox Church also) takes the position, Miaphysitism. And Catholicism is monotheistic.

Another fundamental defining theology is based on the Trinity aspect of God. Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant distinctions have differences on this as aspect, which was not that easy for me to understand.. May be because its time to sleep..

Cool site for Quotes..

Quotes / Sayings arranged based on category.. Looking for something funny, or romantic ?? Chances are that you will find one here..

http://www.coolnsmart.com/sweet_sayings/

Check different categories...

"Love is like playing the piano. First you must learn to play by the rules, then you must forget the rules and play from your heart"

"It is better to stay silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt"

"Having one child makes you a parent; having two makes you a referee." LOL.

Changing India - Change of attitudes

There are few India companies that are going global Like Tata, Reliance etc.. But I was seeing this interview with Baba Kalyani on CNN and I thought I heard something different..

They were discussing about the acquisition made by his company Bharat Forge, now worlds second largest in its field and the way it has emerged in the world arena. Baba Kalyani was saying that what it has achieved is not because of the cheap labour in India, although the perception about India is that its advantage is in making use of cheap labour to make low tech outputs. When he was asked if you are in the Hi tech field, there is no real cost advantage being in India because it cost the same as say in Germany. But his reply was that the difference is in the people (the engineers) who implement the technology and they are as competitive to counterparts in developed countries and the cost advantage because of that.

For me, personally, it was very refreshing to hear the whole interview because I was hearing something that I wanted to hear for sometime now! May be things are changing for good..

Click here to see the video of the interview..

Chain Mails.. Pls stop FW.ing !

I, like all the poeple out there, do get these mails asking to FW further for reasons like..

- if you FW, you will be paid by Microsoft for bla bla bla
- the deceased guy will get so much from AOL for every mail Fw.ed..
- you will have good fortune if you FW this.. ( an easy way to get into the good books of GOD )

Here is a sample one from Bill Gates.. :)

Hello Everyone,

And thank you for signing up for my Beta Email Tracking Application or (BETA) for short. My name is Bill Gates. Here at Microsoft we have just compiled an e-mail tracing program that tracks everyone to whom this message is forwarded to. It does this through an unique IP (Internet Protocol) address log book database...


I normally dont FW it further unless I am sure that it was genuine. But is it really possible to track how many times a particular mail has been forwarded? I was going to say NO. But a quick Googling proved me wrong.. It says even the mail ids will be revealed..

http://www.doctorebiz.com/ says..

E-Mail Wiretapping. A few lines of "invisible" JavaScript included in an HTML e-mail message could e-mail a copy of any forwards to the original e-mailer, along with the e-mail address it is being forwarded to.

OK. So it is trackable. but is there any truth in any of such mails.. I still think it is not.. So I would say, when u get next such mail, pls dont FW and if possible ask your friend to stop doing that.. may be you sending your and others email ID's to the wrong person.. and its a waste of time for all..

Read more.. a nice article "Toxic Excuses"

pls comment if you think otherwise..

German Driving..

Germans are proud of their cars, autobahn and the total system.. One cant blame though, bcoz they are the best..
I read this interesting article and thought of sharing it with you..

Read on..

Australian umpire Darrell Hair is banned.

I welcome that decision.. This move cannot correct the mistakes he has committed, but at least can prevent further and allow us to sympathise for his previous victims, if I may say so..

Victims, as I call them, are all from the subcontinent and that is why I call him a racist. to me, he was one..

A man of NO honour, wanted money to step down after the recent controversy began.. He was ready to take the blame provided he was given money.. pity him.. Now he has neither!

Read more..

Cricket gets its badly needed Hair-cut!

Fulda Maybach Exelero - a car, one of its kind

I was just browsing thru to get the latest of the so called "Innovation of the century", two-wheeled Segway. The idea was definitely impressive.. Now this gone into an anticlimax. There were some recalls after there were some serious bugs in it resulting in crashes, the famous one being the fall of President George Bush had from this. See a Commercial..

But then I bumped into this. The Fulda Maybach Exelero! an amasing car with an amasing background. So I thought of blogging abt this fav of mine.



This is the best car I ever have seen with my eyes live, when it was on display at the 2005 Frankfurt show. At that time, it just looked an amasing car, only to know later on while googling that there was something more to it.

The car was a custom made for the Tyre manufactures, Fulda. Fulda had developed a special tyre and they wanted a special car to test and show off their new arrival. So Fulda entrusted Maybach to build this. And that how this car was born.

We have a Tyre. Now we need a car to fit the tyre to.. Nice approach :) You cant complain though, as it resulted in such an amasing product..



Click here for the wallpapers..

Read the full story here..

Malayalam TV online

This is for the Malayalees..
Asianet streamed TV is available online.. good clarity and no disturbances..

Click the following link...
mms://wmlive.vitalstreamcdn.com/live_wmssdemo6_vitalstream_com_asianet

Or u can download the playlist to be used on winamp.. Click here and click Asianet.m3u

I prefer the Winamp over the Media Player because you can pause the video and it will resume from there when you play again.

Lokamengumulla ella Malayaalikalkum ee anpathan Kerala piraviude aashamsakal!!

Murphy's Law ..

We all have heard about Newton's first law.. But what about Murphy's Laws.. They are as true as the former..

Here are a few..

In nature, nothing is ever right. Therefore, if everything is going right ... something is wrong.

It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.

Never argue with a fool, people might not know the difference.

Click here for one such collection..

My Sudoku Solver - Next Version.

I am happy to share with you, my next Sudoku Solver - Beta2


In one of my previous posting, I told about the first Sudoku solver I had developed. Well, I could improve something and I think this is more helpful.

Unlike the original (beta), this new one (beta-2) do the solving in real logic. And is Interactive. I mean, the user can choose to explain the logic of each step. I think this will help the beginners very much. Also for others, it can come as handy if they are stuck at any position.

Click the above picture to go to the Downloading page..
or select Beta2 from http://www.esnips.com/web/Sudokusolverbeta/


Its was fun making this. I think its worth the sleep I lost over this, if atleast one person found it useful... Hope it does..

Its already early morning 4 'o clock.. I need to go to bed atleast now..

VOIP Options that I find useful. Cheap and Free calls!

I have used couple of VOIP sites and I found it useful. So I thought of sharing these with the feature to you all..

First of all I will list a few sites with similar options..

www.voipcheap.com
www.voipcheap.co.uk
www.voipbuster.com
www.freecall.com

This is especially useful if you are in Europe or US.

Minimum registration charge = 10 Euro.
This can be utilised for changed calls.

The intersting features..

1. Its absolutely FREE for so many Phones.. For eg, All the land line phones of almost all countries in Europe, All Mobile & All Land Line numbers in USA, China etc.. If you are a registered user, U can use it unlimited for all these free numbers.. YES, UNLIMITED & FREE! (free countries and call rates may differ between sites. Pls check individually for ur best option)

2. I have found that u may need a broadband connection with about 500 kbps min to have decent quality calls. But if you do not have that and you are in any of the 'Free Countries', you can use he 'Direct Call' option. In this option, your internet speed, rather the lack of it, will not affect the quality because will be calling from say your land line to another phone. There will a nominal charge (normally 5 cents) per call (not per min). So if ur from-number and to-number are free numbers, you have a charge of 5 cents for one call, no matter how long it is.

3. This can be useful for calling India and other Charged calls as well. Normally people go for the Calling Cards. These will give around 6 cents per minute. But My problem with these are the lack of consistancy. I mean, they say you have 30 minutes call credit to a certain number and after talking 5 min. your credit will be 20 minutes or less. So, even if this rate is slightly higher than the calling cards, I will get what I have to. There is 100% call record, and you get what you see!.

4. Using this you can call from PC, anywhere in the world to any free numbers unlimited if you are a registered user. (that means from India to UK, if there is good internet connection).

Each site allows you to have some free calls for testing purpose.
Test today!

Also there are VOIP Phones available. You can use any of these accounts and use that hardware instead of the PC. These VOIP-Phones does allow you to configure better so that even with very low internet speed, it functions good!

Valentino Rossi is all set to win the championship Again !

Valentino Rossy, "The Doctor", just finished second in an Incredible, a dramatic race at Portugal, the penultimate race of the Season of MotoGP.

I just like this guy.

He started the race from Pole, but behind in points (12 points) to Nicky Hayden of Honda in the Championship points. But during the race Nicky Hayden was taken out by his team mate.. Hayden was livid !! Then Rossy was leading the race.

But there is another twist.. at the last moment Tony Elias took the lead in the last lap. He has nothing to loose, but Rossy has everything at stake.. So you would expect Rossy to sit back and allow himself to get the second position.. That is where Rossy is different. He put everything on line and made a pass thru somewhat risky move. Rossy is leading in last corner.. But Tony had other plans. He, unbelievably made the pass after the corner.. Rossy tried all he could, but was a bit too little. 0.002 seconds to be precise.. what a race..

He still has the child like enthusiasm.. and of course the skills better than anyone..

He was not disappointed to loose the first, because he had given everything he had.. Hopefully he can pull it off at the last race as well.. One more crown.. Gooo Rossy...

Footnote: everybody wants Rossy these days.. He had tested for F1 and there was a rumour that he will switch to F1 soon.. don't know what is the current status. But there is another news. He will be racing in the RALLY this year end, in Nov at New Zealand. He will take part privately in his own name, and will use Subaru Car.. I am waiting to see how competitive he is out there..

Few puzzles for you..

1. A father and his son are involved in a car accident, as a result of which the son is rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. The surgeon looks at him and says "I can't operate on him, he's my son". Explain.

2. A man is replacing a wheel on his car, when he accidentally drops the four nuts used to hold the wheel on the car, and they fall into a deep drain, irretrievably lost. A passing girl offers him a solution which enables him to drive home. What is it?

3. Three switches outside a windowless room are connected to three light bulbs inside the room. How can you determine which switch is connected to which bulb if you may enter the room only once?

4. There are 70 balls of same size. 69 Balls are of same weight and one is heavier. There is a two tray weighing balance. (compare the weight of A & B). You can use the balance 4 times and you should identify the odd one.

5. You have been given two threads. Both the threads takes 20 minutes to burn thru. The burning rate may not be uniform. (that is, the time taken is not proportional to the length). You have a match box and you need to identify 5 mintes with the two threads. How would you do it?

You can leave ur answers as comments..

Noam Chomsky - the phenomenon..

I had heard bit and pieces about him.. Not that, now I know a lot more, but the videos I saw in youtube and further googling revealed so much.. He Tears off the Western Greed and Hypocrisy with such ease !!

His new book "Failed States" is a huge success..

Surprising is not what he says, but the categorical way in which he says, I thought I should have been seeing him more often in the media.. does that means its a planned exclusion.. I believe that is case.

He talks about all geopolitical issues..
A SHOULD WATCH VIDEO, which I am sure will make u search more on this..


CBC interview 1 of 2


CBC interview 2 of 2


BBC Interview 1 of 3


BBC Interview 2 of 3


BBC Interview 3 of 3

Click here for a collection of videos on youtube..

Click here for one of the audio file of another interview..
Click here for a collection of audios/videos..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky

I wish I could get a copy of his book..

Couple of Footnotes:
1. This is not his primary area of specialisation..
2. One thing I appreciate about the US and Europe is that the people like him can have freedom of criticising, which I don't think will be case in any of Muslim world.. for that matter I heard the news about this Journalist who criticised Russia was killed a week back..

YouTube is gobbled by Google.

I Love this.. Hope I will have the same opinion after one year also..


Google and YouTube are my favourites and the acquisition should be better for both.. or is it? May not be the case always, but they say Google will allow to retain the signature of youtube and thats welcoming sign.. Hope youtube will be more enjoyable in future..

If you have seen my video blog, most of those are from youtube. The YouTube was started couple of years back and became the darling of the net quickly.. YouTube now streams 100 million videos daily to an audience estimated at nearly 40 million a day.

Now Google will buy it for $1.65 billion. Most say its a defensive rather than an offensive measure, because it wanted to have a major hold in that sector and you tube was the biggest and most threatening of the lot..

Lets see..

INDIA: A Superpower in the Making?

We, Indians have been hearing this for some time now. Will India be or Can India become a superpower. A few say India can, under certain circumstances, if everything falls in the right place.. But, really, do u believe so..

I was reading this interesting article about this issue and found it interesting.

One of the thing it is discussing is the possibility of Indo-China Union, something like EU. Of course, there are still some issues, but that will be dwarfed by the possibilities. Together it will account for almost HALF of world population!! (Ref 5). It may be to early to discuss, but its an interesting prospect. The author discusses this under "A Turning Point in Relations With China?". The same is discussed in a Rediff article as well..

Another interesting thing I found is the parallel he found between the world future and what Bible says. It may be a vague comparison, but interesting, nonetheless.

As an Indian, I do not want to believe that this is just a software boom. Among my friends, who have tested their skills with their counterparts in Developed countries like US or Europe, most would agree that technically they are no inferior to any one, if not better. Of course there are things that are still lacking, but no shortage of skills and abilities.. Not only India has a huge market, but a good percentage of aspiring young generation.. I too believe that there is no reason why India cant become one of the prominent forces in the world in near future.

Try reading this in (Ref 4)..
"What Would An Asian Face on Globalization Look Like?

Rising Asia will continue to reshape globalization, giving it less of a “Made in the USA” character and more of an Asian look and feel. At the same time, Asia will alter the rules of the globalizing process. By having the fastest-growing consumer markets, more firms becoming world-class multinationals, and greater S&T stature, Asia looks set to displace Western countries as the focus for international economic dynamism—provided Asia’s rapid economic growth continues"

Related Links and further Readings:

(1)http://www.realtruth.org/
(2)http://im.rediff.com/news/2005/apr/09athale.htm
(3)http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jan/13guest.htm
(4)http://www.globalsecurity.org/.../nic_globaltrends2020_s1.htm
(5)http://www.globalsecurity.org/.../nic_globaltrends2020_s2.htm#page48

India's candidate for UN Secretary General

Mr. Shashi Tharoor, the current UN Under Secretary General for Communication and Public Information, is the candidate for the new UN Secretary General. Mr. Kofi Annan will finish his second term soon and we may know the successor by Sept end or beginning of Oct. Although its not a rule, by precedence, its the term for Asia and Shahi Tharoor is a strong candidate, although there is a Korean is equally strong.. It is said that, if you go by history, most likely the front runners will not be the one who will be selected, but a compromise candidate.. This boz of the veto power.. Even if one gets the majority, he can be vetoed out (if I understood it correctly).. So u never know!

Shashi Taroor, being an Indian and a Keralite (from my region), make me little curious to see the outcome, and hope he can make it..

Tharoor launches campaign from Africa

My next passon !

So it was a desire for some time now.. to play tennis.. Now it is getting realised..
I bought one Wilson n Code Racket.. This is not to become the the next star, not boz I dont want to but for obvious reasons :), but just for the sake of learning something u like..
Hopefully I will start this week..


I am bit excited.. Lets see how far it goes..

.

I created a Sudoku Solver..

I have created a Solver for Sudoku Puzzles.. It was exciting..


As you may have seen in one of my older post, I had started playing sudoku.. But then, in between I started thinking of making a solver in excel.. But that was all what I had got, just an interest.. Then i got a rough logic.. This weekend, I was thinking what to do! So I thought of giving it a try.. Same old destination.. Thanks to all those wonderful guys in Google Groups, I got the syntax for making functions.. The C/C++ fundamentals came handy as well.. One by one the pieces of the puzzle came together and less than 10 hours on the job, I got the first result.. That fealing is wonderfull..

So I have uploaded the file in the following location.. Check that out!
Its just the first cut..

http://www.esnips.com/web/Sudokusolverbeta

I had made an excel Electronic chart for Worldcup Football.
Along with it, this has been real fun creating & seeing the result, boz i never expected the result i got!!

.

My impression about Michael Schumacher as he ready to say good bye..

Michael Schumacher has announced that he will retire at the end of the season, another illustrious carrier is coming to an end..



He has been among the greatest, the sports has ever seen and arguably the best.. He has all the record books under his belt. The seven time (probably the eighth as well) world champion is anything one could wish for in a sports person.. or is he?

As much I have admired him for his skills, abilities and being able to be the best in the world, I never have been a fan of him.. I feel like, he was too professional in sports.. To me, he would do everything to win.. His controversies and not-so-famous tactics are something which I never could accept.. I know he is not the only one with that tag, but then I don’t have high regards for all such.. Its a tag I never want for myself..

He will be remembered for his achievemnts, skills and professionalism.
I wish him good luck..


BBC.CO.UK
What David Coulthard had to say..

Marion Jones Acquitted..

After few days of getting tested positive for using Banned substance, Marion Jones has suddenly got cleared, after her B Sample tested negative.. And retain the label, The fastest woman in the world.


C'mon.. What is this A Sample and B Sample.. I will tell you what it is.. These are some of the loop holes provided so that some of them can escape.. At least I see it that way..

How can this be true when both the samples are from the same person from the same time! That's where the game is..

Jacques Pruvost, a former doctor with the French athletics federation, said: "If the samples are small, you cannot find it (EPO) after a few weeks. "It's a game of the athletes, surrounded by lawyers, to ask for the counter-evaluation ('B' test) as late as possible."

Prior to 2003 the old blood and urine test was the method of test. Subsequently they introduced the Urine Only test which has so many flaws one of which is stated above.

In my opinion, this is not something the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is not aware, but rather they use this to protect some of the players. They knew that if they are going to be strict, they will loose so many of the athletes and that's not good the athletics on a commercial basis.. This is really a pathetic situation..

I would rather be happy to see either of the following situation to happen..

1. Keep the current list of Banned substances and enforce it without fail.. (need to take short term detrimental effects)..
2. Make some exceptions in the list considering the situation on the ground and be strict with the remaining substances so that the people who follow the rules will not be at a disadvantage (moral issues!)..

Having said that, But not this and not anyother thing will happen and would be pleased to allow some of those to get away with it.. Probably Marion Jones is one of those.. I dont know, but cant exclude that possibility either..

Anyhow this system is not fair to that minority who insist on not using performance enhancing drugs..

But its the majority that rules and they define the just, UNFORTUNATELY!

Click here to get the news.

Natasha Kampusch.. the Austrian girl..

You would already heard about the teenager from Austria, Natasha Kampusch..



Its truly a horrifying experience and I just wished to say good luck for her..

She had spent her teenage in captivity.. from the age of 10 to 18.. and most of it in a single room.. I just get bewildered by that thinking.. She was kidnapped while she was coming from school and held captive in a sealed garage at the house..

Let us wish and pray that she will be able to leave that behind, however hard that may be and be able to move ahead with her life.. Good Luck!

Read More:

Artificial Heart, AbioCor, is here!! but I wonder where are we going..

I think this is a milestone.. FDA Approves 1st fully Implantable Artificial Heart.



The AbioCor heart:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the first, totally implantable artificial heart, the AbioCor heart, for patients with advanced heart disease and too ill for a heart transplant.

It is a pure mechanical Heart being implanted into human body. The use of this new heart will be limited to people with severe heart failure who aren't eligible for a heart transplant and are unlikely to live more than a month. The trial was conducted on 14 men, all of whom eventually died. "The device extended survival for an average of 4.5 months, allowing the patients to spend valuable time with family and friends" said Dr. Bram Zuckerman, director of the FDA's Division of Cardiovascular Devices. "In two cases, lives were extended by 10 and 17 months, respectively. One patient was discharged from the hospital."

On July 2nd, 2001, Robert Tools became the first person to receive an AbioCor, artificial heart implant in a nationwide clinical trial in US. He survived for 151 days. Tom Christerson, the longest surviving recipient, lived for 512 days. He died on February 7, 2003 when the heart wore out!

The Device:

Abiomed Inc. Developed this device. This is one of the most complex and expensive devices in medical history.



Right Click here and save, to get a video on how it works

The device is a two-pound mechanical heart that replaces the patient's own heart, which is removed. In addition, there's a power transfer coil that powers the system across the skin (No Piercing of the skin to pass tubes or wires) and recharges the internal battery. This Wireless Power transfer is achieved with an energy transfer device called TET (transcutaneous energy transmission). There's also a controller and an internal battery, which are implanted in the patient's abdomen.

The controller monitors and controls the heart device, including its pumping rate. The internal battery allows the patient to be free from all external connections for up to one hour. The system also includes two external batteries that allow the patient to freely move around for up to two hours.

The AbioCor is made of titanium, plastic and Angioflex, a unique plastic. Unlike commercially available plastic that would crack if flexed that many times, Angioflex was developed to withstand beating 40 million times a year for twenty years.

Compared to your own 10-ounce, fist-sized heart, the softball-sized AbioCor is heavier. At two pounds it is only suitable for half of all men and a fifth of all women.

It is expected that "second-generation" device, AbioCor II, to be available for human clinical trials in about two years.

Click here to read more on this..



Related News:

Pigs Cloned for Heart Transplants.

Xenotransplantation may be closer to reality than you think. Once the stuff of science fiction, the process of transplanting organs from one species to another is now an emerging field.

Local researchers reported in the journal Science that they have cloned pigs that do not have a certain protein barcode. While the absence of these proteins may prevent the recipient's immune system from attacking the new organ, the organ may still be rejected.

More on Xenotransplantation:
uncaged.co.uk
wikipedia.org


Where are we going:

Of course, this is something to be appriciated. But I just wonder where this is going to.. A pure mechanical heart can replace ur natureal one.. true its not the same but still its a man made one! Next could be other organs..

Sometime back, I heard this in Discovery channel. In fighter aircrafts, the limiting factor for the progress in technology is none other than the Pilot inside it.. Isnt it strange.. Even with the best of Pressure Suits, man cannot handle beyond 8G's and will Blackout.. (Blackout - at High G's/acceleration, the oxygen supply to Brain gets reduced and feels like darkness) So in near future, we may see UAV fighter aircrafts.. Is it the first step of Machines taking over :) Even now we are dependant on machines, but the control is still with us.. I dont know when the MATRIX is going to happen.. but it may!

My first Custom Function in Excel..

The other day, I was trying to make an Excel for planning the tasks for about 5 people.. I havnt finished that yet, but in the process I got to explore something new in Excel and I thought I will share with you..



If you are Excel guru, this may be simple, but that was not the case for me!

I wanted to add N working days to a given date.. that means it should automatically account for the weekend days that come in between.. I searched the standard functions, and I couldnt find one. So i started making a custom function for the same, which i havent had a clue for. But thanks to the Internet and Google Group, I got the fundas of making one.. now the logic.. I got one and looked ok.. I posted that on the Google Group and was pointed out couple of bugs..

So this the out put.. It takes the Starting date, No of working days and (an optional) no of holidays in between.

--
Here is how it works..

A1: Sept 5, 2006
A2: 5
A3: 2

A4: =addworkdays(A1, A2) Result : Sep 11, 2006
A4: =addwrokdays(A1, A2, A3) Result : Sep 13, 2006
--

Here is the code..

if you may need it, copy the portion in Italics. In your excel, press Alt+F11, Insert->Module (if necessary), paste the code in Module and thats it..
Start using the function..


Function AddWorkDays(Date_St As Date, Work_Days As Integer, Optional Hol_days As Integer) As Date
Dim WeekDay_St, n_Weekends, n_Shift As Integer

'add Hol_days to Work_days
Work_Days = Work_Days + Hol_days

'Find the starting Week Day
WeekDay_St = WorksheetFunction.WeekDay(Date_St, 2)

'if sunday set as saturday
If (WeekDay_St = 7) Then
WeekDay_St = 6
End If

'Find the number of Weekends in between and calc no of days to add.
n_Weekends = WorksheetFunction.Ceiling((WeekDay_St + Work_Days - 1) / 5, 1) - 1
n_Shift = n_Weekends * 2 + Work_Days - 1

'Retun the final date
AddWorkDays = Date_St + n_Shift

End Function



Interestingly, thru Google Group, I came to know that there is a similar function in Excel already as WORKDAY. It is not part of the regular functions, but is included as an Add-Ins..

Tools-> Add-Ins and check the Analzsis Tool Pack. You may have to insert the CD. Not only this, but there are a whole lot of other functions as well. You can also add other Add-In.

So I created my Add-In. To do that, paste the code in a fresh workbook or File. Save as Excel Add-in (*.xla) to the Addins folder so that it gets loaded everytime.

But there are a few differences between my function (Addworkdays) and standard (Workday).. No, not only the name! :)

- WORKDAY may not function properly if the Start date is a weekend..
- WORKDAY needs dates as holidays and not numbers..

Although we all may curse Microsoft for the bad side of it, MS Excel is such a wonderful tool.. Its an Iceburg and most of us are satisfied with the TIP of it.. There will always be something to learn..

In the end, I chose to retain my function for my use boz of the differences..
And it was kind of satisfactory to find something new, evenif it is not Rocket science!

And if I can be of help related to this, pls let me know..

Click here to know more about Creating Custom Function..

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Lockheed Martin lands the coveted Contract from NASA..

Lockheed Martin lands the coveted Contract to build the successor of SPACE SHUTTLE.. a seven-year, $3.9 billion (upto $8 billion) contract to design, develop and build the ORION CREW EXPLORATION Vehicle.. This was contrary to exoectations of the most, boz the rival Boeing + Northrop Grumman had better track record in similar projects.

Orion may start the service between 2012 & 2014.. The Space Shuttle will retire in 2010.

The Orion program will provide a state-of-the-art human space flight system capable of safely transferring astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS), the Moon, Mars and other destinations beyond low earth orbit (LEO).

Together with the Earth Departure Stage (EDS), the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM), and the Ares rocket system, Orion is one of the elements of NASA's Project Constellation.

This Orion project is expected to incorporate the best of Apollo and Space Shuttle programs.. this may have more similarities to the Apollo.. its dubbed "Apollo on steroids".



The Orion Crew Module will use a combination of parachutes and airbags for the final descent to Earth, enabling the Orion CM to come down on land. Thus the more costly option of landing in sea is avoided(although splashdown will be retained as a backup option). Each CM is expected to be used for 10 flights and all but the Heat Shield will be reused.



Together with Ares Series Rockets, this will form the backbone of NASA in the next decade.

The first part of the contract is for two pathfinder spacecrafts: a manned Orion crew capsule and an unmanned variant that can be used to carry supplies and unpressurized cargo to the international space station.


Further Readings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crew_Exploration_Vehicle
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/index.html
http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/O/Orion_spacecraft.html

Funamental shift in Wiki policy..

Wikipedia is considering introducing a form of prior restraint on edits. Last November US politician John Seigenthaler took on Wikipedia over a false and defamatory biography of him that had been posted on the site.

Although, there has been certain controls introduced an year back, a "semi-protection" for pages which were being vandalised, this could be a fundamental change in the way it operates. Now there are suggestions that a new architecture of control will be introduced for Wikipedia as a whole, if it proves successful when it is applied to the German-language site next month, and this could have far wider implications.

Wikipedia is, and will continue to be, a work in progress, a best effort by thousands of people to create an accurate, impartial and useful repository of human knowledge.

Wiki has been a big success, and hope this will make it better..

Related Links:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5286458.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/17/technology/17wiki.h.....

Free Legal music download..

Ya.. thats true.. That is what the people behind this project is planning..



The site is http://www.spiralfrog.com

Now iTunes is charging $0.99 for a song.. Spiralfrog will be offering ad-supported legal downloads of audio and video content licensed from the catalogs of the world’s major and independent record labels. We have to wait and see how effective it will be when it is launched..

The SpiralFrog website will debut in December 2006.

Related Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5294842.stm

The beginning of the end of an Illustrious carrier

This is also a tribute to one of my favorite sports persons..

This year's US Open will be the last time Agassi will be in a court as a professional tennis player.. What a carrier he had.. Just amasing..



He has won eight Grand Slam singles titles and is one of only five players to have won all four Grand Slam singles events during his career. He is considered by many tennis fans to be one of the most complete and natural talents tennis has ever seen. That is a very special tag to have.. Agassi is the only player in the open era to have won every Grand Slam singles title, the Masters, the Davis Cup, and the Olympic Gold medal.





He, with poni tale, was Rebel in the court & "Image is everything" guy in his early carrier. He was married to Brook Shields from '97 to '99..

But then there was a transformation and that was the one that changed him to a legent. He got married to Steffi Graf. Once he even was got out of the first 100 players, but he worked hard on him game and came back strongly to win the hearts and minds of the people..

His father Mike Agassi is an Iranian and has represented Iran in boxing at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games before emigrating to the United States. His father directed him to Tennis very early in his childhood. When Andre was five years old, he was already practicing with pros such as Jimmy Connors and Roscoe Tanner. He turned professional at the age of 16. What a professional.

These are some of the aspects that made him a Legend.. But these are not all.

Unknown to many, he was a dropout of eigth-grade and he finished with correspondence classes. He has one of those fellows who gives back to the society thru charitable acts.. Charity and compassion as much a part of player's life as tennis.. And that is why he is special..

For me, as I said, he is one of my role models, in terms of his professionalism, dedication and love for what he did and his generosity as a human being.
The one and only Agassi..

Further Reading : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Agassi

This was interesting..

Its the Sudoku.

Having a got a good link the other day, I started trying to solve.

If you have not heard, which is unlikely, its a puzzle. Its a game that needs bit of logic and patience. Normal game is a 9x9 matrix which is sub-divided into nine 3x3 matrix. The objective is to fill the numbers 1-9 in each cell in such a way that each 3x3 matrix and each row / column will not have any repetetion. Generally the puzzle will be given insuch a way that there is a solution and only one solution which u can reach by logic and not by guessing.



I had already heard abt the game and knew the rules, but just a beginner. Created a login and started trying. I got a couple solved and got excited. And there is this puzzle which I was sure that it was having more than one solution. I took snapshot at each stage to proove to the providers that I have found this out. After a lot of painstaking work, I eneded up finding that I was wrong. I lost the sleep for nothing. :)) But it was fun..

This was the site where I was..
http://number-logic.com/

Interstingly this game has a long history but got popular in Europe recently thanks to the work of Wayne Gould (born 1945 in New Zealand) is a retired Hong Kong judge. He saw this game accidently in Japan and got addicted to it. He worked on it and developed a software for creating the puzzles. He ditributed it for free to the UK Newspapers and it caught up like that..


Further Reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku

did u hear!! Pluto is removed from the list of planets

Its a sad day.. They say Pluto is no longer in the list Planets... In fact I should have got half a point more in my 8 class exam.. I was right then :)

For now, membership will be restricted to the eight (not nine, any more)"classical" planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Why the fuss.. has pluto changed? no, the rule has...
As a matter of fact, until recently there were no clear definition of a planet.. But now we have!
Hence Pluto is out with a googly and so the little cameo innings of more than 75 years is over..

The new rules for a planet: "a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a ... nearly round shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit."

Instead, it will be reclassified in a new category of ex-planets or "dwarf planets" or in another astronomical term, a part of "Trans-Neptunian Objects" (TNOs). The number 1 item in TNOs.

After a tumultuous week of clashing over the essence of the cosmos, the International Astronomical Union stripped Pluto of the planetary status it has held since its discovery by Lowell Observatory astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh in 1930.

...Astronomical Union stripped Pluto.. Where pluto will go now for justice.. how it will prove that it didnt head-butt anyone or took steroid.. :)

See the fate of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft.. It had started a journey of 9.5 years to the last planet.. but when it reaches there, its no longer a planet!!! It has to be seen if NASA decides to redirect it to the new last planet...

Interestingly, this is not the first time this has happened. The asteroid Ceres was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted to the dwarf.

But on reflection, its a different feeling to know that the things which we believe fundamental may not be so tomorow.. Advances in technology made us believe that this was a planet and further advance showed us that it is not a plannet.. and what about tomorrow..




Referance & further reading:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/24/pluto.ap/index.html
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060825/NEWS05/608250411/-1/BUSINESS07


Footnote:

Thanks to the comment by Vinoo , I came to know about another twist that had happened. An initial proposal by the IAU was to increase the number from 9 to 12, with the additions of (1) earlier demoted Ceres, (2) the moon of Pluto, Charon and (3) the distant world known as 2003 UB313. But it ended up reducing one instead.. Thanks Vinoo..




More on this at..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5283956.stm

Whatz in n whatz out..

Here is a list of the COOLEST Sites.. may be u find something interesting..

http://www.time.com/time/2006/50coolest/index.html

of cource, u got at least a couple in your kitty..

I got a couple..
http://www.pandora.com/
http://9.yahoo.com/

Introduction..

I have started my blogging with my collection of videos..
http://special-videos.blogspot.com/

After some time, i felt the need for a more general one and thats why this page..

So here we go..