Brown rice lowers risk of diabetes

NEW DELHI: A simple change in your diet can now lower your cholesterol level and protect you against cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome and breast and colon cancer.

Doctors, nutritionists and dieticians are now increasingly recommending brown rice as an excellent source of all-round nutrition. Experts say the difference between brown rice and the more popular white rice is not just the colour. White rice actually lacks the necessary quantities of over a dozen important nutrients, including vitamin E, thiamin, niacin, vitamin B1, B3, B6, folacin, potassium, magnesium and iron.

Rice goes through a number of procedures before it's ready for cooking. After harvesting, the seeds are run through a rice huller/husker for milling to remove the outer grain husks. What remains is brown rice. To create white rice, the inner husk is removed and the grain is polished. But this entire procedure actually destroys 67% of the rice's vitamin B3, 80% of its vitamin B1, 90% of its vitamin B6, half of its manganese, half of its phosphorus, 60% of the iron and all of its dietary fibre and essential fatty acids.

More... - Click Here

Source: Times of India

Happy Dusserra

Happy Dussera to you and your family.

Taken on 02 October 2008.
Source: photoyogi - http://flickr.com/photos/photoyogi (more fotos here)

Lalbagh - Flower Show 2008

Lalbagh - The Green Garden of Bangalore

Lalbagh has a variety of collection of plants, flowers, trees. This botanical garden is spread over ~230 acres and located in the heart of the city. It has over 1800 species of flora. A lake inside the garden attracts a variety of birds like kingfishers, bee-eaters and robins. Squirrels and other insects amongst bees are common.

This August 2008 in the eve of Independence day celebration, the 4th national flower show began at Lalbagh Botanical Garden in Bangalore started on 9th August 2008 to 17th August 2008. This Flower show will be organized every year for a fortnight. One during Republic Day and the second during Independence Day.

Don't miss the opportunity to watch the flowers collection from various parts of India.
Watch it - if you can!
Visit: http://www.lalbagh.org/

Global Imbalance by M.R Venkatesh, Economist

Globalization ~ Globalisation???



Worth watching this video!

Source: Google Video (Lecture by CA M.R. Venkatesh, Chennai Part of INDIA RE-DISCOVERED A Seminar on Global Economy By SWADESHI JAGARAN MANCH and VISION INDIA TRUST)

Taipet 101 Skyscrapper

Taipei Night Tour including the Taipei 101 Building Taipei comes alive at night and the city is a buzzing with activities. Start with a delicious Mongolian Barbeque dinner at a downtown restaurant, walked off afterwards at the exotic night market and a walk through Snake Alley. The last stop for the night is at the 101 Building, the tallest in the world.

Taipei 101 tower building used to be the world's tallest skyscraper since 2003 to 2007/7/20. The 508-meter structure has 101 floors and is situated at the center of Taipei's Xin-Yi area...

Picture Gallery by dan180 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dans180/sets/371883/

Tallest buildings in the World

*	Burj, Dubai (Currently Tallest)	101+	>512m	2007
*	Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan	101	509 m	2004
*	Petronas Tower, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	88	452 m	1998
*	Sears Tower, Chicago, USA	110	442 m	1974
*	Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China	88	421 m	1999
*	Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong, China	88	415 m	2003
*	Citic Plaza, Guangzhou, China	80	391 m	1996
*	Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China	69	384 m	1996
*	Empire State Building, New York, USA	102	381 m	1931
*	Central Plaza, Hong Kong, China	78	374 m	1992
*	Bank of China, Hong Kong, China	70	367 m	1989

Taipei 101 Website (English) - http://www.taipei-101.com.tw/en/Corp/company/abouttaipei101.asp

Taipei 101 is currently the world's tallest completed building on earth with its 509 m height. It is located in the East of Taipei (Xin-Yi district), the capital city of Taiwan. The tower consists of 101 stories above the ground. The top floor is at 439 m. The construction of Taipei 101 (Taipei International Financial Center previously) was started in 1999, and finished in 2004. The total cost was about 1,7 billion US dollars. This tower has the worlds fastest elevators (doubledecker) they can get as fast as 63 km / h. The indoor observation deck is on the 89th floor (382m). The total weight of Taipei 101 is 700,000 tonnes, which is such a mass that could possibly make an earthquake. The structure is capable to withstand the largest earthquakes. The 800 ton damper on the top of the tower can reduce up to 40% of the movements. The Taipei 101 Mall is a 6-story shopping mall inside the building. The former tallest building was the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur with 452 m height, it only held the record for 6 years (built in 1998). The upcoming world's tallest is going to be the Burj Dubai, which has already overtaken Taipei 101, but until its finished it is not official. Exact height is unknown, but Emaar, the constructor company said it is going to be over 800m. The current plans indicate Burj Dubai at 818m. Most probably it will be finished by 2009.

*On July 21, 2007, the Burj Dubai (located in the "New Downtown" of Dubai, United Arab Emirates) became the tallest building in the world at 512 meters (1,680 feet) tall. It is still under construction. When completed, it will be the tallest architectural structure (super skyscraper) in the world at more than 800 meters (2625 feet).

WaitListed E-Ticket booking on IRCTC (Indian Railways)

You may that now we can book waiting list ticket through IRCTC.

But once the chart is prepared and even then you are in waiting list, your ticket will automatically get cancelled.

And the amount will be credited back to your account.

So we cannot even travel in general compartment using waiting list ticket booked through IRCTC.

URL: http://www.irctc.co.in/WaitListed_E-ticket.html#

	* NEW FACILITIES IN WAITLISTED E-TICKET *
SCHEME FOR ISSUE OF WAITLISTED E-TICKET An additional facility of booking waitlist e-tickets is now available for all trains. The salient features are as under:- 1) Name of the passengers whose status is fully confirmed / fully RAC after chart preparation, their names shall appear in charts & they can undertake their journey. 2) Name of the passengers whose names are partly confirmed/partly waitlist or partly RAC/partly waitlist, their names shall appear in charts including the waitlist passengers. Cancellation of e-tickets by the customer/Agent through Internet is permitted only before chart preparation of the train.For any claims on e-tickets to be cancelled after the preparation of Reservation charts, the user has to send an email at the earliest possible time to etickets@irctc.co.in giving full details of the ticket and stating the claim,which would then be processed by IRCTC with the Railway administration offline and refunds as sanctioned by the Railway administration would be credited back to the user's account. 3) Names of the Passengers who are left out fully(all the passengers in the transaction) on waiting list after chart preparation,their names will be dropped and will not appear in charts. They are not allowed to board the train. If detected traveling in the train, they shall be treated as passenger traveling without ticket as per extant Railway Rules.Their cancellation shall be done by IRCTC after chart preparation and refund shall be arranged from Railways by IRCTC and credited to customer/Agent account electronically.

Bengaluru International Airport Vs Hyderabad International Airport (BIAL Vs RGIA)

29-May-08	Bengaluru International Airport Vs Hyderabad International Airport
Referring URL	http://blog.anent.in/
Airport	Bengaluru International Airport (BIAL)	Rajiv Gandhi International Aiport (GMR)
Location	Devenahalli, Bangalore, Karnataka, India	Shamshabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
Website	http://www.bengaluruairport.com/	http://www.hyderabad.aero/
Contact	Call: +91 80 2354 0000	Call: 1800 419 2008 (in India) 009140-44327300 (from outside India)
Status	6th day (Opened on 24 May 2006). (Note: Planned for 30 March 2008.)	66th day (Opened on 23 March 2006)
Runway	Direction: 09/27, Length: 13,517ft OR 4,120m, Surface: Asphalt Elevation: N/A, It can accommodate A380.	CAT I (Airport Ground Lighting) Direction: 09/27, Length: 13,976 ft OR 4,260m, Surface: Asphalt. Elevation: 2024 ft / 617 m smallest aircraft to Code-F aircraft (A380)
Infrastructure	International Standard Airport with Good infrastructure. Built on 4050 acres of land.	International Airport with Excellent infrastructure. Built on 5400 acres of land.
Aero Bridges	8 Aero bridges	12 Aero bridges
Parking Bay	Good number of Parking Bays are available but not usable in reality. Good for small aircraft, Tuff for bigger ones. A380 - really tuff :(	Parking Bays are designed very well thinking beyond. 42 Aircraft bays are available.
Check-in	Good. Total: 53	Good. >130
Kiosk Check-in	Good. Total: 18 self-check-in counters	Good.
Baggage Claim	One 'X-Ray scan center' is available for international baggage to be scanned after aircraft arrival. Passengers after quick immigration process, spend most of their time at airport here :(	Multiple X-Ray scanning for International baggage claim have put in and make life easier.
Security Check	Good	Good
Waiting area	Good	Good
Gates	~20 Gates	~40 Gates
Lounge/Food	As time goes, things will improve. It's decent	Decent!
Parking	2000 Cars parking facility available. Free Parking Facility: BIA offers first 10 minutes free complimentary parking facility for the convenience of the passengers, meters and greeters. The parking charges at Bengaluru International Airport are: Rs 40 for the first 2 hrs or part thereof, Rs 20 per subsequent hour or part thereof. Rs. 300 for over-night parking for the first 24 hours and Rs. 200 for every additional day. Parking Map: http://www.bengaluruairport.com/bial_docs/ docs/Parking_map.pdf	Complimentary Parking Facility: RGIA offers first 15 minutes free complimentary parking facility for the convenience of the passengers, meters and greeters The parking charges at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport are: * Economy Car Parking – Rs 70 for the first 2 hrs or part thereof, Rs 35 per subsequent hour or part thereof and a maximum of Rs 350 per 24hours for long-term parking. * Premium Car Parking – Rs 120 for the first 2 hrs or part thereof, Rs 60 per subsequent hour or part thereof and a maximum of Rs 600 per 24hours for long-term parking. * Motorcycles/ 2- Wheelers – Rs 15 for the first 2 hrs or part thereof, Rs 10 per subsequent hour or part thereof and a maximum of Rs 100 per 24hours for long-term parking. * Bus & Coaches – Rs 200 for the first 2 hrs or part thereof and Rs 100 per subsequent hour or part thereof.
Arrival & Departure	Arrival & Departure on the same floor (ground floor).Traffic clogging still an issue as seen in HAL Airport.	Great!: Departure (ground floor), Arrival on separate flyover (1st Floor)
Road	Bellary road highway to connect to city. ~40-50 kms to reach city. Messy during peak hours.	40km stretch to reach city (takes approx 30minutes) Road routes: NH7 / Srisailam Highway / Outer Ring Road / Inner Ring Road with elevated express way (under construction). Future plans: MMTS/MRTS
Car Rental	Pre-Paid Taxi Rentals: Hertz & Akbar Travels. Others: AVIS: CEL CABS: +91 80 6060 9090. AirLift Online: http://www.airliftonline.com/ (Innova A/C Cab). SMS AIRLIFT 54545 or Call 9845047788	AVIS: 040 – 6660 3712/ 13 or + 91 97045 00682/6747 Budget: 040 – 6660 3701 or +91 97032 20099/ 98 Hertz: 040 – 6660 3710 or +91 99639 98833
BUS/Airport Shuttle (Non Stop Service - P2P)	Vayu Vajra (BMTC) A/C Buses - Airport Shuttle Service (to 7 destinations on 9 routes) - frequency of 1 hour at a cost of Rs. 80-220. Suvarna (Non-AC) Buses: during peak hours (morning and evening) at a cost of Rs. 20-90. BMTC: Control Room: 080-2295 2522 / 2295 2422 Kempegowda Bus Stand: 080-2295 2311 / 2295 2314 Shivajinagar Bus Stand: 080-2295 2321 / 2295 2324	Aero Express: To Begumpet, Secunderabad, Charminar, Mehdipatnam, HITECH City (Fare: Rs. 100.)
Taxi	Radio Taxi: (Post-Paid Taxi) Fare: Rs 15 per km, Minimum Rs 30 which include the first 2 Km traveled. Waiting charges @ Rs 1 per minute. 25% night surcharge is applicable between 2300hrs to 0500hrs. Easy Cabs : +91 80 4343 4343 Meru Cabs: +91 80 4422 4422	Radio Taxi: Fare: Rs 15 per km, Minimum Rs 30 which include the first 2 Km traveled. Waiting charges @ Rs 1 per minute. 25% night surcharge is applicable between 2300hrs to 0500hrs. Easy Cabs : +91 40 43434343 Meru Cabs: +91 40 44224422 Dot Cabs: N/A
User Fee	Yes (Passenger has to pay)	No
Time to reach airport	Peak hours: ~2 hrs to airport, Non-peak hours: ~1.5 hrs to airport	Peak hours: ~45min to 1 hr to reach airport. Non-peak hours: ~30-45min to reach airport.
Current Issues (as on 29 May 2008)	Air Traffic Control (ATC) not functioning properly in the initial days, causes delay in landing and parking. ATC was down at times in the initial days but it is okay after 5th day (29 May 2008).	ATC working perfectly!
	Ground Control - very bad and there is no sync between ATC and Ground control team. Aircraft has to wait for longer time to get parked in one of the parking bay.	Good sync between ATC & Ground staff
	Aerobridge: distance between two aero bridge doesn't fit for parking two bigger aircrafts side by side, 1 & 3 aero bridge will be occupied, 2 will be unused.	-
	Website - not user friendly… :(	Airport Website is useful.
Useful links	Bangalore / Bengaluru	Hyderabad / Shamshabad
Wikipedia	Bangalore International Airport	Hyderabad International Airport
Transport Map	City Transport Map (Bangalore)	Hyderabad Route Map
Parking Map	Parking Map at Airport	N/A
Bus	BMTC Bus Chart	Aero Express
Yahoo Maps	http://in.maps.yahoo.com/	http://in.maps.yahoo.com/
Traffic (Live)	http://www.btis.in/live.htm	http://www.htis.in/live.htm
Directions	http://btis.in/directions.htm	http://www.htis.in/directions.htm
Gallery - Pictures	Photo Gallery	Photo Gallery
	Easy Guide (Airport)

An Indian boy speaks 13 languages (Amazing Lingo Kid)

How many language do you speak or you know.
Here is an amazing kid who can speak more than 13 languages for selling the peacock feather based handy fan.

In 2007

He can speak French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, Arabic, Israeli, Hindi, English and the list goes on...

In 2008

Kaalaippani - Tamil Movie *ing JJ, Vasundhara

Kaalaipani - Tamil Movie

JJ Srinivasa Kumar, a Sourashtrian from Madurai working as a Software Engineer turned Model & Actor.

He was introduced in 'SHE-16 - Tamil Pop Album' and later acted in a Tamil movie 'Kaalaipani'. Recently this movie's audio release and trailer has come out.


Watch the movie trailer now...

Kaalaipani (new)



Kaalaipani Movie Trailer

Kaalaippani Website
Kaalaippani Movie Blog

Know This Personality - K.R Balaji (Socio Techie)

Know This Personality

It gives me immense pleasure to introduce Mr. K.R.Balaji through this "Know our personality" series. He presently works for Sun Microsystems, Bangalore. He hardly needs an introduction since he was a pioneer to set up a center to impart Computer eduction in Madurai, TamilNadu - India. He had ventured into computer training with 4 of his friends in the name of Microbase Computers in Madurai. After that, he had worked in US for three years prior moving to Bangalore.

Apart from his professional expertise, he juggles his various interests ranging from reading books to social service by teaching school childrens in slums.. Being a active person, he also enjoys painting and exploring information through books/internet and his area of specialisation with respect to computers is GNU-Linux/Free Software Foundation.

His wide range of interests have enabled him author a book named "Ariviyal endraal enna?" (in Tamil). I've presented some snapshots of his book in this article. From them, you can infer the efforts he has taken to explain complex science concepts in a simple language. You can lift this book in any bookshops in major cities of Tamilnadu. The book is effectively paginated to illustrate the information with good reader relief and compfort reading.

Amidst people who complain about time shortage in their life, its really great to learn the effective time management of Mr. Balaji who has balanced his time for his profession, interests and his family as well.

I read this book which provides awareness about science in all basic aspects, mathematics, astronomy... Even my mother could go through this book and she can help grand children on educating them about science. I recommend this book to everyone especially people (mother, homemaker/house-wife, grand parents) at home who can teach their children.

Now this author has started his way to write another book...

SFC wishes Mr. Balaji on his future endeavours.

You can to contact Mr K.R. Balaji
Email: balaji.kutty@sun.com

Thanks: I would like to thank Mr. Balaji Kutty, my mother, sister and my dear friends who have helped me in writing this article in a readable format.

URL: http://sourashtra.in/node/706

Education in India goes Online

Education in India has grown and improved a lot. As a part of e-governance, education system and books are made available online on Internet.

Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
http://www.education.nic.in/

GOI Directory for Education:
http://goidirectory.nic.in/education.htm

CBSE - Central Board of Secondary Education
http://cbse.nic.in/

MHRD - Department of Higher Education
http://www.education.nic.in/Higedu.asp

Education Support in India
http://www.educationsupport.nic.in/

National Council of Education Research & Training
http://www.ncert.nic.in/index.htm (you can get online books and download books)

Online books at NCERT:
http://www.ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm

Tamil Nadu:
Now education is online everywhere... starting from Class I to Class 12.
http://www.textbooksonline.tn.nic.in/

Question Banks for Classes X, XI, XII
http://dge.tn.gov.in/

Engineering courses:
IIT Madras: IIT Course Videos on YouTube for E-learning
http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/

Over 20 Video courses in science & engineering of the IITs have been on free trial runs on YouTube: http://youtube.com/nptelhrd

You may also be interested for MIT Courseware
http://ocw.mit.edu/

Please feel free to add your comments...

Platform - Alternate driveway for two wheelers

In cities like Bangalore, two wheelers choose Platform as an alternate driveway during rush hours. This is highly dangerous to Pedestrians walking on the platform. Rather than Traffic Police caught these folks - people (two wheelers) should think before they get on to a platform as a travel route!

• Pedestrians should warn them and inform the traffic police.
• Working professionals do this mistake often, which is shame to the working community.

*** Start early to work and avoid driving on platforms ***

Find the picture taken at BTM 2nd stage, 29 Main Road towards BTM-Outer Ring Road

Use traffic solutions provided online, SMS, phone by BTIS and make your travel easier in the city.

Indian Railways - SUGGESTIONS AND GRIEVANCES

http://www.indianrail.gov.in/main.html(Any Problems or Suggestions regarding Internet Reservation of Railway Tickets [ http://www.irctc.co.in/ ] may be sent to care@irctc.co.in or contact them at New Delhi on phone number 011-23345500)

1. Suggestions relating to Indian Railways as a whole, and to policy issues, email to: Email: crb_rail_suggestions@rb.railnet.gov.in

2. For grievances pertaining to a particular Railway, send an e-mail to the concerned Railway.

• Central Railways (CR) - agm@cr.railnet.gov.in
• East Central Railways (ECR) - gm@ecr.railnet.gov.in
• Eastern Railways (ER) - agmerly@cal.vsnl.net.in
• North Central Railway (NCR) - gmncr@hotmail.com
• North Eastern Railways (NER) - agm@ner.railnet.gov.in
• North Frontier Railways (NFR) - agm@nfr.railnet.gov.in
• Northern Railways (NR) - nragm@nde.vsnl.net.in
• North Western Railways (NWR) - nwrjp@jpl.dot.net.in
• South Central Railways (SCR) - agm@scr.railnet.gov.in
• South Eastern Railways (SER) - gm@ser.railnet.gov.in
• Southern Railways (SR) - agm@sr.railnet.gov.in
• South Western Railways (SWR) - osd@swr.railnet.gov.in
• West Central Railways (WCR) - osd@wcr.railnet.gov.in
• Western Railways (WR) - agm@wr.railnet.gov.in

3. For suggestions relating to Web Site Improvements & problems,

http://www.trainenquiry.com/Feedback.aspx

Other Links:

http://www.indianrail.gov.in/

http://www.irctc.co.in/

http://www.trainenquiry.com/

Google Maps on mobile - My Location

Google has released version 2.0 of 'Google Maps for mobile', its innovative mobile mapping and local search application. My Location (beta) calculates a user's location by measuring the distance of the phone from nearby base stations. Unfortunately, it isn't as precise as using GPS, but it drains less battery life. Google is hoping to get within one-quarter to three miles of a user's location.

Google stated that they “use various algorithms to approximate your location relative to the cells nearest you. The accuracy of this information depends on how big an individual cell is. Thus, areas with a denser concentration of mobile towers allow for a more accurate My Location reading. Additionally, as our database of cell locations continues to improve, so too does the accuracy and coverage of the My Location feature.”

"My Location" technology is claimed to be faster than GPS; besides being able to cover the inside of buildings unlike GPS; and results in slower drainage of batteries vis-a-vis GPS

Users can access Google Maps for mobile with My Location through the following countries: U.S., U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India and many to continue.

Please refer the below Video to understand this concept,




Source: Google + Internet