Good Feed Reader

In one of my earlier posts i mentioned about the idea of RSS feeds which help in getting all the latest news articles or blog posts from the various linked websites giving one the convenience to scan over the headlines first and if interested reading the complete article.
News feeds can be of two types something which can be locally to ones machine like outlook express for emails or like a web based service like yahoo or gmail. The advantage of having a web based RSS is it gives one the flexibility to access from any machine connected to the internet.
Recently I have started using Netvibes, a web based news feed. It is very easy to use. One can even link emails, calender, weather and a whole lot of things to it. It gives you the freedom to get all your favorite website feeds at one place. So you can scan through hundreds of news articles however only reading those which interest you. The tab feature helps to categorize ones feeds.
Another similar web based feeds reader is Pageflages. I haven't used it but seems to be quite similar to netvibes. If you know more about Pageflages or any other interesting feed reader do let me know.

187 Mumbai Stories

You must be wondering what the above title stands for ........ 187 Mumbai stories...... well 187 people lost their lives in the July 11th 2006 train bomb blasts in Mumbai. In order to bring the stories behind each and every person who died in the bomb blasts, Indian Express carried out a series called "187 Mumbai stories" in their Mumbai edition with one story per person per day.
Anyone humane felt the pain and anger about the tragic bomb blasts but for someone born and brought up in Mumbai the pain and anger was even more against the faceless enemy called "terrorist" who were responsible for the bomb blasts. I felt really sad too. I just didn't knew what to do. I was happy that all my family, friends and acquaintance were not injured or hurt in this terrible tragedy (except for a friend who was minorly injured).
But kudos to the team at Indian Express who covered the story behind each and every person. I started following their articles sometime in November onwards and made it a point to read them daily. These ordinary people had extraordinary lives. How the family is coping up the losses and trying to fill in the void was really very touching.
Today an editorial and list of all the stories was published in the Indian express online edition. I would request you to read couple of them and just understand the pain and suffering of the families and friends behind these 187 people.

New Year resolutions - a follow up

At the start of this year I mentioned about "goals" for this year. Here is a follow up.
1. Exercise regularly - I am happy to say that so far I have been very regular even though my work is keeping me busy. I have been able to go 5 times per week in the past 3 weeks with 3 days focussed on running and playing racketball ( though I have played racketball only 4-5 times so far) and the rest of the days focussed on some weight workout. Hope to keep up the good work.

2. Blog update - Thanks to strong advise and support from my friend Aditya and my sister Darshana. I have been updating my blog pretty regularly.

3. Eating more healthy food : Oh yes I have been able to do this one pretty well. Have included nuts and more fruits in my diet. However eating outside still needs to be brought down to one time per week yet. I working on that one.

4. Investment for the future : Making some efforts but still a lot needs to be done.

The other day a friend of mine mentioned something good about getting some new or good activity in our daily routine. If we are able to do some activity continously for 3 weeks (21 days) then automatically the activity will become part of the routine and our daily activities will be made around the new regular activity. So if you are planning to put in a new or good activity like going to the gym or doing some exercise try doing it for 21 days, with especially the first one week the most toughest but you are bound to make that activity regular. I too have to reach my target of 21 days to making my new activities in my routine.

Sealand Purchase Update

As mentioned in my earlier article about Sealand, the nation which The Pirate Bay were suppose to purchase to make it there HQ, to have a country free of all copyrights laws.
Well it seems the current owner is not interested in selling it to any one which would harm the interest of it neighbors England and country with on copyrights won't suit England or any other country. So even if The Pirate Bay are able to raise one billion dollars ( yes that is the estimated price of Sealand) they would have to look for other small countries.
There are couple of other nations like Ladonia, near the coast of Sweeden or Isla Montuosa, a 227 acre island near the coast of Panama.
To read more about the the not possible sale of Sealand or the other options for Pirate Bay follow the links
Sealand Sale
Possible locations for The Pirate Bay

Get citizenship of "Sealand" !!!!

Pirate Bay, world's largest Bit Torrent tracker would like to seek your donations to purchase a man made off shore installation "The Principality of Sealand" (or just Sealand) to provide a safe haven for high speed internet and where copyright laws don't exist.
Sounds very exciting and fun but where is "The Principality of Sealand", let's get to know some history of this place and something more about Pirate Bay.
"The Principality of Sealand", is a man-made off-shore installation located in the North Sea off the coast of Suffolk,England. Since 1967, the population of Sealand has been associates and family members of Paddy Roy Bates, a former radio broadcaster and former British Army Major. The population of the facility rarely exceeds ten, and its area is 5920 sq. ft.
Though Mr.Bates and his family claim rights to Sealand, it is disputed to be part of England mainland. Hence claiming Sealand a sovereignty has always been in disputed, it is not recognised by any country , yet it is sometimes cited^[1] in debates as an interesting case study of how various principles of international law can be applied to a territorial dispute (to read more about sealand follow this link Wiki).
On the other hand the other party involved in purchasing this piece of land is Pirate bay, which bills itself as the "the world's largest Bit torrent tracker" and operates from Sweeden. It is used for sharing music files, movies softwares and even Linux discs. But it has some dark history of being raided in May 2006. Though it is back, up and running (to read more about Pirate bay read the following link Wiki)
So when Sealand was offered for sale, Pirate bay lost no opportunity to purchase it. It is seeking donations from its users and in return one gets citizenship of the Sealand. So if you support such a cause or would like to seek "citizenship" of Sealand make a donation.
There forums available for the citizens to discuss about the laws governing the new pla

Telivision vs Radio

I belong to the generation which saw the boom of television. During my teenage years, television channels were booming due to the open market policy adopted by the Indian government. Upto the late 80's there were just 2 channels ( in urban areas while in rural India just one channel) with programs only televised only at limited times of the day. But once the open air policy was adapted there were just increasing number of channels for entertainment. So I was never got a chance to explore the idea of "listening" to radio. Since television fulfilled my both audio and visual requirement.
However in recent months I have been listening to radio quite often and enjoy it way more than television. I mostly listen to NPR (national public radio), a public radio service in the US. I generally listen to current affairs, discussions, sports and music recording of great orchestra pieces. It is a wonderful experience. Television is more about glamor and very distractive at times due to weird camera movements while radio is more like having an intelligent conversation where you are going to be the beneficiary . Radio also gives you the freedom to work at the same time listen to some interesting program.
The survival of radio over the years against the television proves the strong audience for radio. Satellite radio and audio podcasting the latest addition, to this medium give radio a new dimension and open new audience to this medium.

"Goals " for New Year

I have never believed in new year resolutions, since if we set out to resolute i.e firmly or determined to resolve something we tend to be unsuccessful. So it is better to define "goals" during the new year. The following are my goals for the coming year.
1. Exercise regularly
4-5 times going to the gym per week. 1st month focusing on getting regular, from 2nd month onwards getting a lean and fit body

2. Updating my blog atleast twice per week, if I am able to do more then better.

3. Eating more healthy food and reducing the number of time I eat outside to once per week.

4. Making investment for the future.

By putting up this list on my blog I will be more responsible towards meeting my goals.

Interesting post - Six webapps to help keep your New Year Resolutions