Versatile Blogger Award, THANK-YOU Note and Nominations

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I appreciate the gesture by Ravi Akula to bestow uponme the 'Versatile Blogger Award'. I would like to extend my sincere THANK YOUto Ravi for his kind gesture. As an extension to that I would like to say thatI find the blogosphere world very friendly, collaborative and filled withconstructive criticism. Being interested in 'applying technology', I cannot butthink why this model cannot be replicated in Academia-Industry connection :-)
As a part of the award nomination, I am supposed to follow certainrules:
1)Create a new post2)Thanks the lovely person who nominated you for the award3)Pass it on to your fellow bloggers4)State 7 random facts about you5)Claim and post the award pic
I would like to nominate the following bloggers (not in any order)for 'Versaite Blogger Award'. As a token of appreciation (for Ravi Akula's blog also), Iwould also like to state that these blogs have humored, awed, entertained,amazed, enlightened, thought-provoked, inspired, enhanced-knowledge and made mea better person. Look forward to more interesting reads in the future too !

1. Valady Hariharan

2. C Suresh
3. Nandita B
4. Cute Parents

5. Samritha Pillai

6. Joshi Daniel

7. Rajkumar
8. Sangeeta Reghu
9. Ashok
10. Sumitra
11. Nona's Pensive
12. Abhishek Mandloi
13. Nabanita Dhar
14. Ranjith
15. Anupam Patra
16. Amit Agarwal

Thanks to all of you and Congratulations ! 7 Random facts about me

1. I am an avid book reader; Flipkart and JustBooks are adding fuel to the fire. I am a collaborative guy and love sharing my knowledge and experience (especially bad ones so that people learn) with others.
2. Got my Masters from IIT Delhi in 90's. Currently, living in Bangalore. Would like to meet fellow Bangalore-bloggers (and others too) when possible.
3. Pretty interested in personal financial planning and financial markets. Currently, I am into teaching appropriate courses in this domain while pursuing Entrepreneurial dreams in Information Technology (IT) product space. Plan to launch my products in the second half of this year.
4. Am a seasoned IT Architect with passion to provide technical solutions to business problems.
5. Travelled to USA, Europe and a few countries in Asia but never drove in any of those countries (I have a driving license in India for the last 20 years). I dream about making a family trip to some of those countries and drive around this time !
6. I love animation movies and ICE AGE is my favorite. I enjoying watching this movie with any kids who visit our home.
7. While my family enjoys TV programs, I enjoy watching advertisements during the breaks. I believe creating anything from the scratch is incredibly challenging !

I would like to thank Ravi Akula once again foran opportunity to state all the above thoughts and facts. Now that the bar isset for versatility, should I sustain the same or be 'more versatile'? :-)

Telecom Sector - 3 : How is India using SMS ?

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With 23 telecom circles, 15 telecom operators and 900+ million mobilesubscribers, India is the 2nd largest telecom industry across the Globe (interms of subscribers). The profiles of the users consuming mobile services inrural and urban areas would be quite different. The type of mobile phones -basic, feature and smartphone - are also varying across the terrain of Indiafrom north to south and east to west. Irrespective of all these variations, onemode of communication which is widely used through mobiles is Short MessagingService (SMS) by most of the Indians. This simple service, which relies on theback-bone of Information Technology (IT), is used in a variety of ways.
An Entrepreneur would need to know about these possibilities to seehow to leverage SMS in his venture.

1. Web to Mobile through SMS : It is not necessary that one needs to send an SMS from mobile. We can send an SMS, that too free, from websites like Way2SMS. You just need to register with an Indian mobile number. You can add numbers to phone-book in this site and send messages to a group at-a-time as well. This site also offers the ability to get SMS alerts when a new mail is received in Gmail, Yahoo or MSN account. We just need to link Way2SMS and these mail accounts on their website for that. Apparently, there is an Android application as well, which can allow sending SMS for free across India. Just search for 'Free SMS India' in Google Play Store.

2. There are customer-facing IT applications across different verticals like Banking & Finance, E-Commerce and Retail. These systems need to be up and running all the time as down-time for even a few minutes could cause heavy losses. SMS can be leveraged for a variety of causes in this context, like:
• A mission critical server just went down?
• Particular flight is delayed and the customers need to be informed?
• An e-commerce store has just crashed?
• An alert when a credit-card of a customer is swiped at an outlet?
• Notifications about policy changes, product updates and regular account details

3. TV Reality shows have become popular in India in the first decade of this millennium. An important aspect of the program is voting for the candidate by the viewers of the program in TV. This 'Engagement Marketing' solution relies on SMS. Indian Idol, Dance India Dance, Sa Re Ga Ma and Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) are some of the cases in point.

4. Subscriptions - Mobile users on-the-go can subscribe to information related to news, astrology, cricket, bollywood and the like by sending an activation SMS. Once subscribed, the user would receive the text information on the subscribed topic at the pre-defined frequency. The user need to remember the number (Shortcode) to which the subscription SMS has to be sent with a Keyword.

5. If one has to subscribe to specific type of content (say cricket scores or news), one needs to know the corresponding 'shortcode' and 'keyword'. It might be difficult to remember many such codes and words. The easiest option would be to us an SMS Browser. Insta SMS from Indiatimes is one such browser. This browser provides access to the same information as in subscriptions but through a convenient and familiar menu-driven native application on a featured phone; request to the server and response from the server are through SMS messages, which doesn't really matter to the end-user.

6. Mobile Marketing is one channel which has been used extensively by not just small and medium enterprises but also large enterprises. How would they send out bulk messages, when there is a special offer, a contest or launch of a new product / service? This is supported through bulk SMS dispatch provided by 3rd parties running SMS gateways. These gateways expose an API that can be used for marketing from our IT applications. These 3rd parties would in-turn integrate with the SMS gateways of telecom operators. Unfortunately, the database of mobile numbers of a particular market segment are obtained illegally in many cases. That is the reason the telecom regulatory body introduced 'Do Not Disturb' feature, which does not seem to work in true sense.

7. Mobile Ticketing - Bus Ticket booking and Train Ticket booking sites on the Internet have adopted m-tickets, which are basically tickets dispatched to passengers as SMS on their mobiles. Passengers can actually show these mobile tickets to board the transport vehicle. This paper-less boarding is applicable in case of private buses and Indian Railways. Though a similar SMS message is available for flight bookings, an additional step of collecting the physical boarding pass cannot be avoided at present.

8. When there are so many possibilities with SMS, there should be a way to create an open ecosystem to develop custom SMS applications. That is precisely being done by SMS GupShup and TxtWeb. SMS Gupshup enables group chat while allowing creation and joining of new or pre-defined groups. They also seem to support (though there are any applications developed recently) 3rd party SMS application development. TxtWeb, another SMS application ecosystem player, allows publishing of content to the mobile phones through text-based sites at the back-end. They simplified the development of such 3rd party text-based sites.

9. Amidst all these possibilities let's not forget about the regular way of sending an SMS - mobile-to-mobile or rather person-to-person. Sending international SMS messages through applications like Jaxtr (by Hotmail fame Sabeer Bhartia) are reducing the cost to communicate across the borders.

 Millions of SMS messages are created, shared with people, dispatchedfrom machines and processed by message brokers at 3rd parties or telecomoperators to make a difference to lives of people !
While some of the SMS services are free, some are charged at a veryhigh price. Check for the prices before using any of them. Even with so manyfree SMS services, Telecom Operators are earning about 5% of their revenuesthrough SMS ! With applications like 'WhatsApp', which allow sharing short textmessages without relying on SMS, we need to see how the SMS ecosystem developsgoing forward.
Isn't it amazing how a simple text messaging service is used forsuch a wide-ranging impact? Are you aware of any other SMS services?

Telecom Sector - 4 : Multi-media and Communications for Digital Consumer

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India has seen adoption of mobiles like no where else in globe inthe last decade. People from all walks of life and strata have adopted mobilephones for personal, professional and business purposes. The primary purpose ofa mobile phone was to have telephone conversations. With mobile phones on bothends, people have resorted to short messages (SMS) as it was costing less andin vogue during those times. Mobile phone becoming one of the items carried allthe time, people wanted more services than basic voice conversations and textmessages. The ecosystem has developed so quickly that a plethora of serviceswere released into the market in no time.
Ring-back tones : If I like apiece of music - filmy, pop, instrumental or vocal - or I capture a sound of myliking - wood cutting, baby giggling or someone snoring, I can keep that as atune for others to listen when they call me. This is a fun way of making otherslisten to what I like. We can also see it as a way to share our joy with othersthrough mobile communications. If I like someone else's ring-back tone, I caneven copy that by sending an SMS to a specific number.
Ring tones : If I like any ofthe above multimedia content and I feel I should enjoy it personally, then Ican set it as a ringtone on my mobile phone. I can even set a differentringtone for different callers with advanced phones. There were different typesof ringtones that evolved along with advancement in mobile phones - monophonic,polyphonic and now MP3. If one consciously listens to the ring tones in acrowded place like bus stand, railway station, busy market or airport lounge,once cannot but go crazy with the variety around !
Wall Papers : Withadvancements in technology, mobile phone screens have become larger andsupported color and multimedia capabilities. Belief, fondness and interest onvarious subjects - like bollywood, cricket, devotion, nature and politics -have always driven people to keep different wall-papers on their mobile phones.There was no dearth of this form of content in a largest movie producer country!
The above services need content development in different formats,massive storage on a centralized server for easy download and access to thiscontent through a communication channel. Handful of business models haveevolved around this domain. Telecom Operators have begun the trend and takenthe lead to provide end-to-end services. One can download these differentmultimedia content through SMS and Web Channels. 3rd Party content providershave come into existence. Companies providing IT infrastructure, which isrequired to host all the content, have evolved. One97and OnMobile are two such successfulcompanies in this context. Companies like Rediff have also hosted differentmultimedia content supporting different telecom operators.
Outbound calls : Bill amountcollection is an important task for any business and more so for capitalintensive companies like Telecom Operators. Cheque drop boxes, company operatedretail outlets, collections kiosks, online payments through credit / debitcards and banks have become a norm for all telecom operators. But still thereare revenue leakages and there is a need to remind subscribers about billpayments. Usually text messages would be sent as reminders, but lately telecomcompanies have adopted making outbound calls to subscriber phones with replayof recorded message as reminder.
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS): If a picture is worth thousand words, a video would be much better. Sendingshort clips of multimedia should have thus become a norm now. Though MMSservice was introduced long back to exchange such short multimedia clips, itdid not pick-up as it needs phones with similar capabilities and service oneither ends. This is super-ceded by 'Videos for work and play' model mentioneddown below.
Cameras, Pictures and Sharing: One of the key advancements in mobile phones was introduction of a camera.This has brought out photographer in every observer with a mobile phone. Peopleshoot photos for various reasons - passion for photography, to capture momentsduring various occasions and even to remember parking lots. With availabilityof free services on the Internet like Flickrand Picasa Web, it does not cost arupee to share the pictures with near and dear. With social networking siteslike Google+, Facebook and Twitter, it takes hardly any time to share thecherished moments with near and dear.
Songs on-the-go : Indiansbeing bollywood and regional movie lovers, listening to film songs is apassion. While different TV programs fulfill that purpose, the need to listento the songs on the go - in the kitchen, while in gym, during a pleasure orprofessional trip, while waiting for a friend and during evening walks - isincreasing. One can buysongs online in digital format from sites like Flipkartor listen to them for free from sites like Saavn.With increase in bandwidth availability from Phones, listening to streamingsongs from sites like Saavn and Gaana should be very easy and convenient. Songs arefree but I need to pay for the bandwidth usage. Again, without IT none of thesethings would have been possible !
Videos for work and play : Whowouldn't love to watch Videos? Sites like YouTube have made video upload orwatching so very commonplace. If I want to share a video with my friends,family or colleagues, I can create one and upload into repositories likeYoutube for everyone to watch. With mobile phones being omnipresent and dataconnectivity becoming affordable, people are uploading / watching such videoson the move. One can even watchIndian Films and TV shows on Youtube now !
Mobile phones are just end-points to consume various kinds ofcontent and services available on the Internet through the wireless networksprovided by telecom companies. The content and services provisioning at theback-end relies on the back-bone of Information Technology !
Are you consuming any more such multimedia services from yourmobile?

Internet is Fun : A Family Conversation

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Internet has dawned into the lives of people and made a remarkablepositive difference to one and all. With 2.2+ billion members on theInternet, many of the activities offline are available over the Internetfrom the ubiquitous mobile phone now. The generation which is born in theInternet world can hardly imagine how people used to get things done earlier,how they used to engage in social conversations, how they could wait for thingsto happen instead of making them happen, how they could buy products fromglobal brands, how they could travel easily and many more. The previousgeneration are joining the younger brigade to enjoy the new-found ways of doingthings over the Internet. Yes, Internet is Fun !
Here is a short conversation between Dad, Mom and Daughter of aFamily. Obviously, Daughter is an ardent fan of Internet on the mobile. Thecharacters are fictitious but all the Internet related aspects discussedthrough this conversation are very much true.

Dad	Your mom and self are going to Hyderabad next month. Can you go to the railway station and book tickets?
Daughter	Tell me the date and train in which you want to travel. I will book the tickets right now.
Dad	25th June by Rajdhani.
Daughter	Let me try with Paymate on my mobile. [ punches a few keys… ]
Dad	You can book tickets on mobile?
Daughter	Yeah. Here you go ! Tickets are available for that date and train. You want me to confirm?
Dad	WoW ! Yes.
Daughter	Done. I have given your mobile number. You will get a mobile ticket, which you can show in the train while boarding.
Dad	That's it ?
Daughter	Yeah ! Now let me check out Kiran's marriage photos.
Dad	Kiran… the one who got married last night?
Daughter	Yes.
Dad	How can his photos come out so early. They need to be printed and processed.
Daughter	Daah ! 30 of us friends attended his marriage. All of us had cameras in our phones. We snapped almost 200 pix and captured the moments. And they are all uploaded to Google+, Facebook and Flickr. Mom, you want to see the girl on my mobile?
Mom	Yes beta. Ah, she looks very pretty ! I wonder who brokered this marriage !
Daughter	He posted his profile on e-matrimony sites like Shaadi and Bharat Matrimony. He showed some pix to me as well on his mobile a while ago.
Mom	How can they marry someone without seeing them?
Daughter	Mom, they met through the matrimony sites, saw each others' photo, learnt about each others' family, spoke to each other on the phone, exchanged 50 e-mails and SMS on phone - Internet is Fun! I heard that when dad came to see you, 50 members came in one ambassador car and you could hardly see dad, forget about talking to him.
Mom	Yeah, there were no seats left to sit for our family in the hall and there were no sweets after they left the hall. BTW, the jewellery is looking awesome !
Daughter	He bought it from CaratLane, a new online jewellery store.
Mom	OMG ! I thought he got only the bride on the Internet.
Daughter	He bought his watch, footwear and t-shirts also on the Internet. BTW, he has got a special deal with 80% off on a spa treatment before marriage ! I guess he got most of them at Snapdeal. It's raining deals, deals and deals in India these days !
Mom	Oh ! I wonder if he buys at least inner wear in a physical shop !
Daughter	Mom, if he could buy jewellery online, why would he buy innerwear from a physical shop?
Mom	Hmm… anyway, where are they going for honeymoon?
Daughter	Maldives. Kiran booked a honeymoon package on MakeMyTrip - includes transport to airport, flight tickets, hotel accomodation, sight-seeing, blah blah...
Mom	Okay. How come your desk is so neat?? Where is your desktop computer?
Daughter	Ha Ha. I sold it on OLX site yesterday, from my mobile. Internet is Fun !
Dad	how are you going to work on your assignments now? You were talking about Google being your best friend.
Daughter	Now, everything is my mobile Dad. I can even search by using voice commands with my phone. Oh, again Mamata Banerjee is throwing tantrums and she's gone one step ahead and saying that there will be early Lok Sabha polls. Damn !
Dad	I am just watching that news on TV! How do you know that?
Daughter	I've got Live TV on my mobile - Internet is Fun !
Mom	Your dad has been watching this stupid news for the whole day. I am missing my favorite TV serials every other day.
Daughter	If you want, I can show you the latest TV serials from Youtube on my mobile.
Mom	See, my daughter is always there to help me.
Dad	Ask her to pay electricity bill first. Otherwise, she cannot charge her mobile and say 'Internet is Fun' from tomorrow.
Daughter	Dad, I paid it from…
Dad	From your mobile phone. I know. [ he is beginning to get upset that the next generation is able to do so many things just using a mobile, without moving an inch ]
Daughter	Yes.
Dad	Ok. Your mom and self are going for a movie this evening. Where ever you go in the morning, come back early in the evening today.
Daughter	Sure. If you want, I can book tickets for you using BookMyShow on my mobile - Internet is Fun !
Dad	I changed my mind. We shall go to a restaurant and have a romantic evening.
Daughter	Great ! Shall I book a table for you through Bookurtable ? If you still insist on going to a restaurant, I can check out on Zomato about reviews of nearby restaurants.
Dad	[ Grr…… ] Nope. We shall go to Kohli uncle's house and spend our evening there.
Daughter	I read a message from Kohli uncle on Facebook yesterday that he is going to watch IPL 5 match in Bangalore today ! BTW, it seems he booked the IPL tickets on the Internet. I don't want to go there all the way. I watch it live on my mobile over Internet. See, Internet is Fun !
Dad	[ temper is raising… ] Then, we shall go out to buy some groceries.
Daughter	Dad, you can buy groceries on the Internet now. Check out bigbasket, mygrahak and other such stores.
Dad	[ the stakes are increasing… ] We shall go to temple, get the blessings of God and return with prasad.
Daughter	If you want peace of mind, you can certainly visit the temple, but if you are keen on blessings and prasad, I can order that online.
Dad	[ give-up… ] Instead of doing all these fun things on the Internet, why don't you apply for a Job?
Daughter	Dad, I am working on a couple of freelancer jobs, which I got through Internet. I am not interested in a full-time job; I want to become an Entrepreneur. I need your help for that Dad. I would need about 10 Lakh Rupees as initial capital to start my own company.
Dad	[ sarcastic… ] Why don’t you ask for funding on the Internet?
Daughter	I did apply to a few Venture Capitalists by browsing their sites and sending e-mail. I did connect with a couple of them on LinkedIn, a professional networking site. In fact, I did all these things from my mobile. I am yet to hear from them. Oh, while we were talking I just placed an order for 100 shares of Financial Technologies through National Stock Exchange (NSE) - Internet is Fun !
Mom	Dearest, I don't feel like cooking today. Is it possible to order some food online?
Daughter	Tell me what you want Mom. This Genie is at your service on Mother's Day. Do you want South Indian, North Indian, Chinese, European or Thai?
Mom	[ Still Laughing… ] Get me a Pizza baby !
Daughter	Domino's - Done ! I got a good deal - buy one get one free ! Internet is Fun ! BTW, it is going to rain for the next three days. Weather application on my device has given a warning. If you want any fruits or vegetables, let's order on the Internet NOW !
Dad	Why do you keep saying 'Internet is Fun'? You guys are addicted to it and forget about the rest of the world.
Daughter	Dad, I say that 'Internet is Fun' because It allows me to do all the things which I want - work, learn, read, listen, watch, buy, sell, chat and talk - without leaving my house. Those verbs pretty much describe my life in a nutshell. Moreover, I can fulfill our wishes and yet stay close to you all ! Internet is Fun?
Dad, Mom	[ pause and silence for 3 seconds... ] Yes. Internet is Fun ! [ They all get into a huddle and cherish the moment… ]
Daughter	Super! Now, if you excuse me, I need to get back to my room and 'Hangout' with my friends on Google+.

This article fits well into the theme of my blog, but written morein the context of 'Internet is Fun' contest by Vodafone (http://vodafone.in/fun) and Indiblogger.

Google Alert - bus ticket

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News 1 new result for bus ticket

Ongoing war against touts New Straits Times "SPAD has consistently conducted operations to curb the activity of ticket touts at the Pudu Sentral and other bus terminals in city. We have special enforcement unit to monitor and prevent the activity of touts at areas near the Cahaya Suria building ... See all stories on this topic » New Straits Times

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We know those eyes anywhere! No Quiz on Feb 9th!

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It was yet another smashing night of pub quizzin' upstairs at the grafton division of the Milwaukee Ale House this past Thursday.

And with over 65 queeps on 16 teams in the house, there was plenty of competition for the night's three prizes, with Squad 666 making it two weeks in a row with a top place finish!

Second spot was reserved for Look at all of you jumping around like a bunch of child molesters in Chuck-E-Cheeses, who got a strange look from the ongoing quizzers for their team name...


But what queeps didn't realize is that their name was of course an Eastbound & Down reference....


Yeah, we couldn't find the exact quote but you get the point!

Elsewhere on the night, the lovely ladies (and one gent) from "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" were instructing the Quizmaster to read their name with a southern twang accent...


Looking hawt!!!

And finally, despite the Quizmaster's desire to award The Unemployed British Orthodontists with the best name accolade, it was by popular crowd vote We only knew it was Whitney Houston because of dem crack eyes that got the $10 prize...


There name was a reference to one of the night's picture questions...


Dem crack eyes: there's no way you can miss 'em!

Again, there will be no quiz at the Ale House this upcoming Thursday February 9th, as the bar is hosting a private party upstairs. We'll be back the following week, February 16th at 7pm, but if Grafton's quiz elite are feeling adventurous then stop by another Quizmaster location to get your quiz on next week!

Until next time Milwaukee, drink while you think...

Thursday February 2nd, 2012 scores:

1. 47 Squad 666
2. 45 Look at all of you jumping around like a bunch of child molesters in Chuck-E-Cheeses
3. 44 "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"
4. 44 Let me land on your moon in '69
5. 44 A clever interplay of sexual innuendo and vulgarity
6. 43 Clint Eastwood just put his Chichen into Betty Boop's Itza. That means penis in vagina
7. 41 This is the hardest question of all
8. 41 Just once we want the answer to be Azerbaijan
9. 40 Puff Daddy went Goofy with Hilary Clinton in 1969 in Mexico
10. 39 Random Answers
11. 38 We only knew it was Whitney Houston because of dem crack eyes
12. 37 The Unemployed British Orthodontists
13. 36 Titanic Swim Team
14. 36 My wife can't wrestle but you should see her box
15. 35 2 People at the Bar
16. 29 The Magic Kingdom is home of Goofy and Hilary Clinton's captain Morgan but Bronx Mowgli ate too many oranges and ended up in Mexico

Article of the Week - The Day the Music Died

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The Day the Music Died
The infamous 1959 plane crash killed
three rock & roll idols plus the pilot

On February 3, 1959, a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, killed three American rock and roll pioneers: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The day was later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean, in his song "American Pie". The plane crash has been called the first and greatest tragedy rock and roll has ever suffered.

The plane departed from the ramp and taxied to then-Runway 17 at around 12:55 AM Central Time on Tuesday, February 3. Contrary to popular belief, there was no blizzard at the time but a very light snowfall with winds out of the south at 20 knots, gusting to 30 knots and a cloud ceiling of 3,000 feet above the ground. The ceiling had dropped by 2,000ft in the previous hour. Though there were indications of deteriorating weather along the route, the weather briefings that Peterson received failed to relay the information.

Hubert Dwyer, owner of the plane and the flight service company, watched from a platform outside the tower and "saw the tail light of the aircraft gradually descend until out of sight", just after 1:00 AM. Peterson had earlier told Dwyer he would file a flight plan with Air Traffic Control by radio after takeoff. When Peterson did not call the tower personnel with his flight plan, Dwyer requested that they continue to attempt to establish radio contact, but all attempts were unsuccessful. By 3:30 AM, when Hector Airport in Fargo, North Dakota, had not heard from Peterson, Dwyer contacted authorities and reported the aircraft missing.

Around 9:15 AM, Dwyer took off in his own Cessna 180 to fly Peterson's intended route. Within minutes he spotted the wreckage less than 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of the airport, in a cornfield then belonging to Albert Juhl. The Bonanza was at a slight downward angle and banked heavily to the right when it struck the ground at around 170 miles per hour (270 km/h). The plane tumbled and skidded another 570 feet (170 m) across the frozen landscape before the crumpled wreckage came to rest against a wire fence at the edge of Juhl's property. The bodies of Holly and Valens lay near the plane, Richardson was thrown over the fence and into the cornfield of Juhl's neighbor Oscar Moffett, and Peterson's body remained entangled inside the plane's wreckage.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Day the Music Died"

Marry the Quizmaster? Only if you bring Fun Dip!

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It was yet again another bustlin' night of quizzin' at the Ale House, Grafton division, this Thursday evening. After a week off last time out, Grafton's trivia elite were out for blood (the quiz kind) this week, which turned out to be a very tough quiz indeed.

However, top of the table on the night were What's 6 inches and didn't get sucked on Valentine's Day? Whitney Houston's crack pipe!


We swear they are good people at heart, really!

Second place was more closely contested, as three teams ended up with a notable tally of 42 points. Following a sudden death showdown of the ages though, it was Grafton quiz stalwarts I thought it was pronounced "dumb ass!" that walked away with the $20 tab...


And they even brought the QM some fun dip...


Sounds like fun!

And finally, despite all the not-too-soon Whitney jokes, the best team name prize on the night went to I wish gay marriage was legal in Wisconsin so I could marry Quizmaster Ryan....



We though it might be them! And hey, look it's new Facebook friends Emily and Lexiee! :p

Anyway, the show rolls on Thursday, with the league finale in two weeks time!

Until next week Grafton, drink while you think...

Thursday February 16th, 2012 scores:

1. 44 What's 6 inches and didn't get sucked on Valentine's Day? Whitney Houston's crack pipe!
2. 42 I thought it was pronounced "dumb ass!"
3. 42 A bathtub is not a good place to take a nap Whitney.
4. 42 That joke about Whitney's crack eyes isn't so funny now, is it!
5. 41 I wish gay marriage was legal in Wisconsin so I could marry Quizmaster Ryan
6. 41 Squad 666
7. 40 Ray Charles was by Miss Stone's Magic Cube
8. 39 If you know #29, you're still a virgin
9. 36 Houston we have a problem
10. 35 Highland
11. 35 Forever Blowing Bubbles
12. 28 The mutants at table 9
13. 26 We'd cheat but it wouldn't help!

Article of the Week - The Beatles

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The Beatles
Seen arriving at JFK airport in 1964;
they made their first live TV performance
in the U.S. on The Ed Sullivan Show that week

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960, and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. The group's best-known lineup consisted of John Lennon (rhythm guitar, vocals), Paul McCartney (bass guitar, vocals), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums, vocals). Rooted in skiffle and 1950s rock and roll, the group later worked in many genres ranging from pop ballads to psychedelic rock, often incorporating classical and other elements in innovative ways. Their enormous popularity first emerged as "Beatlemania"; as their songwriting grew in sophistication by the late 1960s, they came to be perceived by many fans and cultural observers as an embodiment of the ideals shared by the era's sociocultural revolutions.

British Invasion
The Beatles left the United Kingdom on 7 February 1964, with an estimated four thousand fans gathered at Heathrow, waving and screaming as the aircraft took off. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" had sold 2.6 million copies in the US over the previous two weeks, but the group were still nervous about how they would be received. At New York's John F. Kennedy Airport they were greeted by another vociferous crowd, estimated at about three thousand people. They gave their first live US television performance two days later on The Ed Sullivan Show, watched by approximately 74 million viewers—over 40 percent of the American population.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Beatles"

Twinkie me ASAP! League finale this Thursday!

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Last Thursday night Quizmaster Ryan was still in NOLA following Mardi Gras and so in his place Quizmaster John took the reigns. Although he was expecting a normal evening of trivia and the beverages that coincide, he was instead introduced to a speakeasy for Grafton's most unsavory characters.

:p

Even with all of these hooligans and their shenanigans, QMJ was able to calm the masses, conduct the quiz, provide the winners with their prizes and make it out alive.

In the end, Tell Us About The Twinkie were not only #1 in in Trivia, but Grafton's #1 Twinkie fans!...


They topped the night's game with 46 clams!

Next up, twas the legends of Squad 666, second in trivia, but first in fun and manners!...


And finally, the queeps of Big Girls Don't Exercise took away the $10 tab...


We're sure the fellas played no part in this team name, but it was the best none the less!

And no worries folks, QM Ryan is back next week and it's also the league finale! Be sure to bring the big guns for it!

Until next time Grafton, drink while you think...

Thursday February 23rd, 2012 scores:

1. 46 Tell Us About The Twinkie
2. 44 Squad 666
3. 44 F*ck Waldo! Where's The Quizmaster
4. 44 Random Answers
5. 43 Ryan Braun Got Herpes From Pandora's Box
6. 43 Houston, We Have A Problem With Our Moon Unit
7. 42 Big Girls Don't Fit In The Car
8. 41 Is That A Fresh Louie's Demise, Or Braun's Urine, In Your Fridge
9. 39 Ryan Braun Gave Me Herpes
10. 39 This "Actor" SHould Have Gone To Africa And Died Of.......(Really?!?! Really team? haha - QM John) Who Is Nicholas Cage?
11. 38 Beauty & The Beast
12. 37 I'm Not Saying The Space Needle Is Phallic, But Pandora Would Like It In Her Box
13. 36 Big Girls Don't Exercise
14. 35 The "A" Team
15. 35 Once Daily Valtrex, Works For Me . . . How About You Ryan Braun?
16. 35 Houston . . . We Found Your Crack Pipe
17. 32 Ingenius
18. 32 Today I'm 49!!
19. 24 Michael Jackson Was In Jeopardy When He Put It In Pandora's Box

Article of the Week - The Invisible Man

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The Beatles
One of H. G. Wells' great works of science fiction

The Invisible Man is a science fiction novella by H.G. Wells published in 1897. Originally serialised in Pearson's Weekly in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The Invisible Man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who has devoted himself to research into optics and invents a way to change a body's refractive index to that of air so that it absorbs and reflects no light and thus becomes invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse the procedure. Instead, his plight becomes known. When he attempts to enlist the aid of former acquaintance, he is betrayed. So Griffin decides to murder his betrayer and begin a "Reign of Terror".

While its predecessors, The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, were written using first-person narrators, in The Invisible Man Wells adopts a third-person objective point of view.

Hollow Man, a 2000 film starring Kevin Bacon, and directed by Paul Verhoeven; this film spawned a 2006 direct-to-video sequel Hollow Man 2 starring Christian Slater as "Michael Griffin" and directed by Claudio Fah. Both were inspired by H.G. Wells' classic.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Invisible Man"

666: it's the magic number!

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Quizmaster Ryan was back in action this Thursday, beadless and raring to go from his absence (via a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras) last week.

And it was also the trivia league finale at the Ale House this week, meaning that five of the 14 teams in the house would be vying for a bar tab prize on the night.

And ultimately, the perennial trivial abilities of Squad 666 shone through on the night, as they were crowned league champs...


They were also the only ever-present team over the 8 week spell and notched up their first league championship title! We know they'll be back next week to start the defense of their title!

Elsewhere, the night's top prize of $45 went to What is the British word for Little Richard who got the prize via default...


Squad 666 finished above them on the night's standing, but Quizmaster doesn't give one team multiple prizes, so they were the happy recipients of top spot moolah in the end!

Second place was a close contest, as ultimately two teams tied on 47 points and went head-to-head in a sudden death showdown! The question asked the year in which the first basketball game was televised and You mom gave me a love bite's answer of 1955 was the closest (the answer being 1940), resulting in $20 of beer for them....


And by the way it's mum!

And finally the gong for best team name went to crowd favorite Rollie Fingers First, Mustache Rides Later, who were (as always) lovin' the mustard...


Let's just say they were very excited to win the $10 - that's about $1.11 per person! Good times!

The show rolls on next Thursday, with a fresh trivia league getting underway!! Be there!

Until next time Grafton, drink while you think...

Thursday March 1st, 2012 scores:

1. 54 Squad 666
2. 53 What is the British word for Little Richard
3. 47 You mom gave me a love bite
4. 47 Always been a fan of Davey Jones, especially since he bumped me into first place in my celebrity death pool
5. 40 Fuck Selena Gomez, Just Bieber is finally legal!
6. 40 Who do you trust, when you pee in a cup?
7. 40 The Cyclones
8. 39 Olympic gold to the 1st man to give Margaret Thatcher a love bit - not counting Dracula
9. 39 Rollie Fingers First, Mustache Rides Later
10. 39 Tatanka Fart
11. 38 You are right, if it was not for America, we would all be fucked!
12. 37 Kym's Klan
13. 32 Older but not wiser
14. 18 The Glory Holes

Article of the Week - Nobel Prize in Physics

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Nobel Prize in Physics
Was first awarded in 1901 to German
Wilhelm Röntgen for his discovery of X-Rays

The Nobel Prize in Physics (Swedish: Nobelpriset i fysik) is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a German, "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays (or x-rays)." This award is administered by the Nobel Foundation and widely regarded as the most prestigious award that a scientist can receive in physics. It is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

Alfred Nobel requested in his last will and testament that his money be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the "greatest benefit on mankind" in physics, chemistry, peace, physiology or medicine, and literature. Though Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written a little over a year before he died, and signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895. Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets, 31 million Swedish kronor (US$186 million in 2008), to establish and endow the five Nobel Prizes. Due to the level of skepticism surrounding the will it was not until April 26, 1897 that it was approved by the Storting (the Norwegian Parliament).

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Nobel Prize in Physics "