Friday, March 16, 2007

# Indian online community: Sulekha.com

Welcome to Sulekha.com, the biggest and most popular member-generated community and social/professional networking hub integrating social media and local commerce services. Millions of Indians express, interact and transact through Sulekha’s portfolio of highly popular, complementary services in 25 cities in India and worldwide...... ...... ....More

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Feeling tired? 6 tips for more energy

By Joy Bauer

TODAY nutritionist

Updated: 10:35 a.m. CT March 14, 2007

If you can’t get out of bed in the am, fall asleep at your desk in the afternoon, have trouble keeping up with your kids or find yourself dragging through the day, the following SIX strategies can help increase your energy level! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17598214/

SAJA/AAJA NEWSMAKER EVENT + MOVIE SCREENING

Journalists interested in Taiwan and/or international affairs are invited to a special reception hosted by Ambassador Andrew Hsia, Director-General of The Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in New York (bio below)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007
6:30-8:30 pm; followed by a movie screening of "Splendid Float" (2004 Golden Horse Award winner for the Best Taiwanese Film and opening film at 2005 Asian American Film Festival (details below).

Location: Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, 1 East 42nd St., between Fifth and Madison Aves.

This is a unique opportunity to meet a leading international diplomat and ask questions about recent developments in Taiwan and the region. Drinks and Chinese food will be served. In addition, there will be an optional screening of the award-winning Taiwanese movie, "Splendid Float" (details below). When you RSVP, please indicate whether you will be staying for the movie, too.

RSVP REQUIRED: Please fill in the one-minute form

Journalists and journalism students are welcome to bring one guest each.

Last year, SAJA & AAJA hosted a similar event with the Sri Lankan ambassador
and plan to work on other countries as well. Suggestions and contacts for
others welcome - please write to saja@columbia.edu

ABOUT AMBASSADOR HSIA
Ambassador Andrew Li-Yan Hsia
Director-General
Taipei Economic And Cultural Office in New York

Place of Birth: Taipei, Taiwan
Family: Married to Lisa Cheng with two children

Education:
1985-1988 Research Studies, Queen Mary College, London England
1981 LL.M., University College, London, England
1980 M. Litt., International Law, New College, Oxford, England
1976 MA, Graduate School of Diplomacy, National Cheng Chi
University, Taipei
1972 LL.B., Fu-Jen Catholic University, Taipei

Career:
2001- Director General, Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in New York

1998-2001 Director-General; Department of International Organizations, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Senior Official

1996-1998 Deputy Representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office,
Canada (Ottawa)

1994-1996 Director of Secretariat, Taipei Economic and Cultural
Representative Office, U.S.A.(Washington, D. C.)

1989-1994 English Interpreter to the Prime Ministers, Taipei, Taiwan

1992-1994 Deputy Director, Dept. of Information and Cultural Affairs, Ministry
of foreign Affairs (MOFA), Taipei, Taiwan

1990-1992 Special Assistant to the Political Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MOFA), Taipei, Taiwan

1989-1990 Chief, Administrative Section, Coordination Council for North
American Affairs, MOFA, Taipei, Taiwan

1982-1985 Specialist, Dept. of North American Affairs, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs (MOFA), Taipei, Taiwan

Honors:
1976 Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Scholarship
1985 Recipient of the Social Science Scholarship
1999 Recipient of Sun Yun-Suan Fellowship

o o o o o o

ABOUT THE MOVIE:
Splendid Float 2004 Fiction color 74min
Roy (James Chen) leads a double life. By day, he's a
Taoist priest in Taipei, mostly busy performing
funerary rites. By night he's Rose, one of four drag
queens who tour the towns and villages of northern
Taiwan, putting on lip-synch shows on the back of
their gaudily lit truck. After a show in Keelung, Rose
meets the macho young fisherman Sunny; they make love
and start thinking about finding a way to live
together. But then Roy is called to summon Sunny's
soul home from the sea; his lover has drowned in an
accident ... It's both sad and funny, weighty and
frivolous, absurd and romantic.

About the Director
Zero CHOU, born in Keelung, Taiwan in 1969. Creatively
and productively as she is, her works are both poetic
and philosophically provocative that .amazingly make
the content and the form an excellent combination..
She has been valued .the most talented documentary
director in the recent years of Taiwan., who has
often won the prizes in various film festivals.

A Conversation with Mira Nair, director of "The Namesake"

Mira Nair has been doing a lot of events around her highly-acclaimed new movie, but SAJA has asked her to a quieter event for us on Friday night. All are welcome. No charge. She does have to leave at 7:15, so please be on time. We will also be raffling copies a coffee-table movie about the book as well as its soundtrack - we'll get Mira to sign them.

Please note a second newsmaker event next week below this event, with the Taiwan ambassador. Pass onto your friends in NYC.

South Asian Journalists Association, New York Chapter presents:

A Conversation with Mira Nair, director of "The Namesake," playing in NYC and five other cities now - opening across the country over the next two weeks.

Friday, March 16, 2007 5:45-7:15 pm
Columbia Journalism School
116th St & Broadway, room 607B
Subway: #1 to 116th St/Columbia University
Ask for J-school when you enter the main campus

5:45-6:15: Networking
6:15-7:15: A conversation with Mira Nair, moderated by Aseem Chhabra + your Q&A
No charge. No RSVP required.

See SAJAforum.org coverage of "The Namesake"
Opening weekend box office numbers

Review Roundup

SAJAers Cover the Movie

Screenings later that night - perhaps a group can head downtown after...
Paris Theatre,4 West 58th Street
7:50pm | 10:20pm

AMC Theatres Empire 25,234 West 42nd Street
8:35pm | 11:35pm

Angelika Film Center,18 W. Houston Street
9:35pm | 10:20pm | 12:15am

THE NAMESAKE is the story of the Ganguli family whose move from Calcutta to New York evokes a lifelong balancing act to meld to a new world without forgetting the old. Though parents Ashoke and Ashima (Irrfan Khan, Tabu) long for the family and culture that enveloped them in India, they take great pride in the opportunities their sacrifices have afforded their children. Paradoxically, their son Gogol (Kal Penn) is torn between finding his own unique identity without losing his heritage. Even Gogol's name represents the family's journey into the unknown. Helmed by the Academy Award(r)-nominated Mira Nair, THE NAMESAKE is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri.

"A spellbinding exploration of love and belonging" - Elle

"Thoroughly engaging, terrifically moving" - Premiere

"A glory on a huge colorful canvas" - Wall Street Journal

*** Official Selection - Toronto International Film Festival ***

*** Official Selection - Telluride Film Festival ***

*** Official Selection - Dubai Film Festival ***

*** Official Selection - London Film Festival ***

Powerball Drawing Info 15 Mar 2007

06:52:50 -0500

04 27 30 39 44 Powerball 18
Powerplay 2

The estimated Grand Prize was:
$161,400,000 ($77,700,000 cash).
There was no Grand Prize Winner.

The next Powerball drawing will
be on Saturday, March 17th, 2007
with an estimated Grand Prize of
$183,000,000 ($88,200,000 cash).

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Religion and U.S. Grand Strategy by Michael Vlahos - The Globalist > > Global Society

By Michael Vlahos

How did the U.S. invasion of Iraq become its "liberation?" How did a war designed to save the world from Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" become a war to save the Iraqi people? And looking ahead, how has the liberation of oppressed people everywhere — at times and places of our own choosing, whether they want to be liberated or not — become a core American mission? Michael Vlahos explains.

http://theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=3230

Tanzania gives investors key concessions

Story by WASHINGTON AKUMU in Arusha

Publication Date: 3/13/2007

Tanzania yesterday rolled out the red carpet for investors, with President Jakaya Kikwete unveiling a raft of sweeteners for foreign capital.

They include cutting the number of licences required by new businesses, new land ownership laws and fresh regulations to govern the relationship between workers and the owners of capital.... more

Iraq: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/index/Iraq

Teacher of the Year makes science real

New Hampshire's Carolyn Kelley uses 'the new three-Rs approach' to education: rigor, relevance, and relationship.

By Stacy A. Teicher | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

N.H. Teacher of the Year: Carolyn Kelley of the Seacoast School of Technology in Exeter.
MELANIE STETSON FREEMAN – STAFF

EXETER, N.H. - The only time Carolyn Kelley sits in her chair during this class is the minute it takes to set up the interactive whiteboard that's linked to her computer. On her desk sits the classic science room décor: a blankly staring skull. But that's it for bored looks. Once Ms. Kelley takes her place in front of the 15 high school sophomores seated at tables in a "U" formation, there's no lack of liveliness in the faces looking back. ........ more

Big lighting firm leads move to phase out incandescent bulb

A coalition led by Royal Philips Electronics is twisting the dimmer on Thomas Edison's famous invention.

By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Aiming to slow global warming through energy efficiency, a coalition led by the world's largest lighting manufacturer is planning to phase out energy-wasting incandescent light bulbs in the United States by 2016............... More

PAK: Editorial on current situation

Omar R. Quraishi, op-ed pages editor at Pakistan's "The News," asked me to circulate this. His e-mail: omarq@cyber.net.pk The News March 13, 2007 Editorial All the makings of a police state The events since Friday make extremely depressing reading for anyone remotely concerned about the state of the nation. The continued virtual house arrest of the suspended chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, is a black spot on this government that will be difficult -- one would say, almost impossible -- to erase from public memory. As if the humiliation of Justice Chaudhry being summoned to Army House and being asked to explain to the president (wearing army fatigues) the allegations contained in a now-controversial letter was not enough, one now learns that since Friday the suspended chief justice of Pakistan and his family have had their telephone lines disconnected, their mobile phones taken away and have been prohibited from watching television or reading newspapers. According to several reports, most quoting Justice Chaudhry's family members, the house of the suspended chief justice is swarming with officials of the intelligence agencies and no one is allowed to enter the premises, though retired air force chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan did manage to argue and walk past the guards and meet Justice Chaudhry. In doing all of this, the government has clearly overstepped its authority. Justice Chaudhry, if Article 209 has been followed and read properly, has had a reference filed against him for misconduct and abuse of office. However, preventing him from meeting people and restricting his and his family's movement, and not letting him establish contact with anyone outside his residence gives the impression as if the government considers him a dangerous criminal who is a clear and present danger to society. What the government has been doing since Friday is only going to exacerbate the crisis and lower its credibility -- already quite low -- in the eyes of (it can be safely said) most Pakistanis because they will think that if this can happen to a chief justice of the Supreme Court then ordinary citizens might just as well forget about receiving their constitutionally guaranteed right to due process and a fair hearing. By denying the suspended chief justice the right to move around freely, to meet whoever he wishes or even to talk to the media, the government is in violation of the Constitution, and specifically of the constitutional process by which a member of the Supreme Court is to be removed from office. Surely, the president, the prime minister, members of the federal cabinet and even the brother judges of Justice Chaudhry would agree that his is a case of convicting without even being given a fair hearing. Surely, it can be seen that Article 209 does not authorise the president, or anyone for that matter, with the power to restrict the physical movement of a judge against whom a reference has been filed and to bar him from using any link to the outside world. A lot of damage has already been done by this full frontal assault on the judiciary of the country. Of course, no one should defend a judge, no matter how august he may be, if he indulges in conduct unbecoming of his office and misuses his official powers. But allegations should not be equated with proof and conviction -- something that the government's actions suggest is the case -- and the method and process outlined in the Constitution need to be followed. This constitutional method does not have any provision for physically restricting a judge under investigation from moving about freely and stripping away his officially entitled privileges -- the latter can be done only after the investigation has been carried out and a recommendation for removal made by the Supreme Judicial Council and acted upon by the president. Even in that eventuality, the action should not be seen as high-handed and vindictive -- which seems to be the case now, despite the fact that the charges against Justice Chaudhry remain mere allegations. As has been reported widely, on the day of his suspe nsion following the filing of the presidential reference, Justice Chaudhry was stopped from entering the premises of the Supreme Court building and escorted to his house by a senior police official. Even now, with a reference filed against him but none of the charges proved, the suspended chief justice should be free to visit his office if he so wishes because there is nothing in the Constitution that prevents any judge of the Supreme or High Courts, and against whom a reference has been filed with the Supreme Judicial Council, from attending his office. There is one other point as well: ministers should not consider the people of this country to be bumpkins who cannot see what is going on. When told that Air Marshal Asghar Khan had met Justice Chaudhry who told him that he (Justice Chaudhry) had no access to the phone, TV or newspapers, one member of the federal cabinet expressed surprise and then went on to say that this itself was proof that the chief justice was free to meet people. Surely, the hordes of journalists, politicians and well-wishers standing outside the gates of Justice Chaudhry's official residence and denied entry by the security staff posted there speak of an entirely contrary situation, one that really puts official claims that he is free to meet anyone to shame. The government needs to extricate itself from this ugly situation before it spirals out of control. Any delay in repairing the damage can only convince most Pakistanis that they live in a country that has all the makings of a police state. Also, equally importantly, the government needs to understand that for the sake of its own credibility this farce needs to come to an end.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Tips for improving your handwriting

By Dyas A. Lawson

You’ve decided you want to improve your handwriting and you’re probably hoping a fountain pen will do the trick -- maybe a friend told you it would. Maybe you’re just adventurous and you want to try your hand at calligraphy (or you might, once your handwriting improves). Good for you! more........

BRILLIANT MAGAZINE

Brilliant!

Timecave: Email Scheduling and Reminders

http://www.timecave.com/timecave/about.jsp

Email Alibi - delayed email service

Email Alibi.

March 13, 2007.

Home

Email Alibi User Terms.

Please use this service in a nicely manner. Most people understand what is meant with proper use by using common sense. Apply common sense when using this service.

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Send illegal material
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All actions done on this service is logged. In any case of improper use of this service this information will be used to track down the people responsible and it will be given to third parties such as ISPs or law enforcement agencies.

All messages sent from this service will be readable by the Google advertising bot. Nobody else outside EmailAlibi.com will be able to read your messages unless they get the exact URL. The URLs for your messages are only given to you, either through browsing or sent to your email account. If you are on a public terminal it is a good practice to clear the URL history in the browser to prevent others from seeing your messages. The URL for deleting your queued messages is only sent to your email, this makes it impossible to delete queued messages for others than the ones that have access to read your email account.

All email addresses entered will be treated with the highest confidentiality. These will never be given or sold to anyone. Therefore you will never get any spam as a result of using this service. The exception is that email addresses will be viewable by Google advertising bot when it is reading a page. The Google advertising bot never store anything in the Google search, so pages will not be viewable through Google for the public. The Google advertising bot is not the same bot that do indexing for the Google web search engine. Your email address is SAFE.

http://emailalibi.com/terms.php

WORKSHOP: Sree class on "Figuring Out Blogs & Whatever's Next" on March 22 in Downtown Manhattan

My next public workshop, on March 22 at MediaBistro. Please share with
anyone who might interested.

Figuring Out Blogs, Podcasting, Wikis, and Whatever's Next
A three-hour workshop taught by Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia Journalism School professor and WNBC-TV's Tech Reporter
DETAILS: http://www.mediabistro.com/courses/cache/crs2500.asp

WHEN
Thursday, March 22, 2007
6:30-9:30 pm

WHERE
mediabistro.com
494 Broadway (Spring & Broome),New York, NY 10012
We're located in the Soho section of Manhattan, on the east side of Broadway just north of Broome Street. Nearest subways are B/D/F/Q at Broadway/Lafayette, 6 at Spring, or N/R/Q/W at Canal.

Course Details
There is much confusion about blogs, bloggers and blogging. Is this the end of journalism as we know it? Or is it just another small step in the evolution of media? Are any worth following? You will get answers to these and other questions at this workshop. You will go home with plenty of useful ideas from this fun, informative, fast-paced seminar.

In this seminar, you will learn about:

* Blog basics
* The best blogs for and by media professionals
* Blogs that are changing America and the world
* How to read blogs without drowning in too much info
* How to create a blog and raise your Google rankings
* Why journalists should and should not be blogging
* What to expect next: photoblogging, videoblogging, tagging, podcasting, wikis, RSS, XML

PRICE
$65 ($50 for Avant Guild members)

LIMITED SEATING: Sign up in advance:
http://www.mediabistro.com/courses/cache/crs2500.asp

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR:
Sree Sreenivasan is a leading technology expert and WNBC-TV's tech reporter. He is also Dean of Students at Columbia University's journalism school, where he runs the new media program. His tech reports can be seen on Thursday morning at 6:40 am and Monday evenings at 5:50 pm on Channel 4 (he previously spent six years as WABC's Tech Guru). His work explaining technology has appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone and Popular Science (where he's a member of the "Geek Chorus"). He is co-founder of SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, a group of 1,000+ journalists across the US and Canada. In March 2004, Newsweek magazine named him one of the 20 most influential South Asians in the nation. More on his work at http://www.sree.net

See video of his WNBC appearances here, along with his latest tips:

http://www.wnbc.com/technology

-30-

Monday, March 12, 2007

CRIME: Three from India Indicted for Online Brokerage Scheme

CRIME: Three From India Indicted for Online Brokerage Intrusion Scheme
http://www.sajaforum.org/2007/03/crime_three_fro.html

Two men in Chennai and one Indian who lives in Malaysia have been indicted in what the Justice Department is calling a "hack, pump and dump" scheme of breaking into the accounts of online brokers. From the press release (in full below):

"A federal grand jury in Omaha, Neb., has indicted three individuals on charges of conspiracy, fraud and aggravated identity theft stemming from a high-tech, international fraud scheme designed to hijack online brokerage accounts for profit, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Joe W. Stecher for the District of Nebraska, FBI Executive Assistant Director for Criminal Investigations Michael A. Mason, and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox announced today."

"The 23-count indictment, returned in January 2007 and unsealed today, charges Jaisankar Marimuthu, 32, a resident of Chennai, India, and Chockalingam Ramanathan, 33, a resident of Chennai, India, each with one count of conspiracy, eight counts of computer fraud, six counts of wire fraud, two counts of securities fraud, and six counts of aggravated identity theft as part of this "hack, pump and dump" scheme. The indictment also charges Thirugnanam Ramanathan, 34, a native of India and resident of Malaysia, with one count of conspiracy, two counts of computer fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft."

This is the first time that anyone's been arrested overseas for an "online brokerage intrusion scheme" in the U.S.

"As part of this ongoing investigation, at least 60 customers and nine brokerage firms in the United States and elsewhere have been identified as victims, with one of the brokerage firms reporting more than $2 million in losses."

Sunday, March 11, 2007

VIDEO: Boy Genius and US State Capitals

Earlier today, Kiran Khalid sent around a note that said: "If you do nothing else today, watch this. Really, it's both endearing and remarkable." She was talking about the video below, which shows a kid named Madhava, who looks about four, naming the capitals of the 50 U.S. states. His father, speaking in Tamil, names the states and the boy rattles off the capitals. My wife, shoulder-surfing as I watched the clip, says "that's so cute... and brilliant." He nails them all. The clip has been played almost 900,000 times (891,053 as of March 10 at 11:59 pm; there are also more than 3,400 comments and 49 video responses - be sure to read through/watch some of them. It's a fascinating/scary discussion). Anyone know anything more about this kid? Has anyone done any stories on him? Boy Genius and U.S. State Capitals

Powerball numbers for 03/10/2007 are:

14 18 34 42 43 Powerball 32
Powerplay 5

The estimated Grand Prize was: $142,300,000 ($68,600,000 cash).
There was no Grand Prize Winner.

The next Powerball drawing will be on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 with an estimated Grand Prize of $165,000,000 ($79,500,000 cash).

The Turntables That Transform Vinyl - The New York Times

By ANNE EISENBERG (NYT); Money and Business/Financial Desk

Late Edition - Final, Section 3, Page 5, Column 1, 1159 words

LONG-PLAYING records are gathering dust in the homes of many music lovers, who hope to hear their contents one day on a CD player or iPod. Now, an updated version of another audio relic, the phonographic turntable, may provide a fairly inexpensive way to do that. Two new consumer ...

More......

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