14 Haziran 2012 Perşembe

Article of the Week - Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi

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Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (2 August 1834, Colmar, Haut-Rhin – 4 October 1904) was a French sculptor who is best known for designing the Statue of Liberty.

The work for which Bartholdi is most famous is Liberty Enlightening the World, better known as the Statue of Liberty.

The plan of Bartholdi having been approved, more than 1,000,000 francs were raised by subscription throughout France for the building of the statue. In 1879, Bartholdi was awarded design patent U.S. Patent D11,023 for the Statue of Liberty. This patent covered the sale of small copies of the statue. Proceeds from the sale of the statues helped raise money to build the full statue. On 4 July 1880, the statue was formally delivered to the American minister in Paris, the event being celebrated by a great banquet.

Before starting his commission, Bartholdi had travelled to the United States and personally selected New York Harbor as the site for the statue. The United States set apart Bedlow's Island as a site for the monument, and funds were collected throughout the United States for the building of the pedestal, about $300,000 being raised. In October 1886, the structure was presented to the nation as the joint gift of the French and American people.

The statue is 151 feet and 1 inch high, and the top of the torch is at an elevation of 305 feet 1 inch from mean low-water mark. It was the largest work of its kind that had ever been completed up to that time. It was rumored in France that the face of the Statue of Liberty was modeled after Bartholdi's mother; and the body after his wife, Jean Emilie.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi"

Quiz YOU Gently!

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It was a whopping night of quizzin' again at the Ale House in Grafton, with a dozen team getting involved during ALL NIGHT HAPPY HOUR.

And following an interesting music clips bonus round, featuring a questionable Celine song it was Oh Ryan, we know Celine Dion is on your "Bubble Bath and Candles" playlist that took the biggest laugh and best team name prize in the end...


And finally, the stalwarts from the FusterCLUX pulled out a win, notching up a massive 48 points...


QM Ryan jumped in the picture, as Maddie had a matching "QUIZ ME GENTLY" t-shirt on! Definitely worthy of a sneaky photo! They also move up the league table with that score too!


And Quizmaster also welcomed in newcomers from I would rather win green beer than a green jacket, who obviously have their priorities straight...


We hope to see them back soon!

More quizzin' next Thursday at 7pm, although quiz night is moving to Tuesday in July! More details on that soon!

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

Thursday May 31st, 2012 scores:

  1. 48 FusterCLUX
  2. 47 This Just In....
  3. 44 I'm Ryan, who will save my privates?
  4. 44 Log Jammin'
  5. 43 Clay Aiken Liechtensteined my alphorn
  6. 42 I would rather win green beer than a green jacket
  7. 41 If you change it to Tuesdays, we'll eat your face like this is Miami
  8. 41 I did not have sex with that slave!!
  9. 40 Oh Ryan, we know Celine Dion is on your "Bubble Bath and Candles" playlist
  10. 39 Liechtenstein my penis, Ms. Jackson
  11. 30 Husker Power
  12. 22 Team One

Article of the Week - Dustin Hoffman

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Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters.

He first drew critical praise for the play Eh?, for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakthrough movie role as the good-looking but troubled Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967).

In 1996, The Graduate was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Initially, the film was placed at #7 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list in 1998. However, when AFI revised the list in 2007, the film was moved to #17.

Adjusted for inflation, the film is #21 on the list of highest-grossing films in the United States and Canada.

Since then Hoffman's career has largely been focused on cinema, with only sporadic returns to television and the stage. Some of his most notable films are Papillon, Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Lenny, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, and Wag the Dog.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Dustin Hoffman"

The final win... that's my boy!

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It was pretty much a packed house upstairs at the Ale House this Thursday night. And as well as the usual moolah for first, second and best team name, we were also giving away swag (hats and t-shirts) from the highly-anticipated Adam Sandler movie That's My Boy...

But best name and $10 on the night went to regulars Stay away from Laura's Bush without a Trojan horse...


And second spot, while a close affair, went to the five-some of  #YOLO @ Laura's Bush...


$20 bar tab for them.

And the "That's My Boy" swag was a first come, first serve affair. If you want it come grab it, and one lass from Quattro Cervasa got her hands on some...


Yep, more free stuff....

 
She loves free stuff!!

And the lads from Trick Question - Jay-Z's boat was going to Ryan's Mom's house got some too...


Yep, those sweet hats feature a bottle opener on the visor!! BOOM ToWn.

And finally it was written in the stars as Quizmaster stalwarts Cloberalla beats you up, who does she beat up? You announced they are "moving away" and it was their last edition of quizzin' in the night...


Yep, in true fairytale fashion they recorded victory at the final hurdle! We wish them all the best in future, and something tells us they'll be back some time soon!

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

Thursday June 7th, 2012 scores:

  1. 43 Cloberalla beats you up, who does she beat up? You
  2. 42 #YOLO @ Laura's Bush
  3. 41 I host trivia to get money to fill my viagra prescription
  4. 41 FUSTER CLUX
  5. 40 The Rural Jurors
  6. 39 Well hung jury
  7. 38 Trick Question - Jay-Z's boat was going to Ryan's Mom's house
  8. 37 Erin Marks is teacher of the year!
  9. 37 Use Trojan.... no woman, no cry
  10. 36 Stay away from Laura's Bush without a Trojan horse
  11. 36 Hi I'm Ryan and I pity the fool that moves the quiz to Tuesdays
  12. 35 Euro right, we love futbol
  13. 34 You've been Rick Rolled Bitches
  14. 31 Quattro Cervasa
  15. 24 R Kelly: If I don't win I'll piss on you

Article of the Week - Anne Frank

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Annelies "Anne" Marie Frank (12 June 1929 – early March 1945) was one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Her diary has been the basis for several plays and films. Born in the city of Frankfurt am Main in Weimar Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Born a German national, Frank lost her citizenship in 1941 when Nazi Germany passed the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws. She gained international fame posthumously after her diary was published. It documents her experiences hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.

The Frank family moved from Germany to Amsterdam in 1933, the year the Nazis gained control over Germany. By the beginning of 1940, they were trapped in Amsterdam by the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the family went into hiding in the hidden rooms of Anne's father, Otto Frank's, office building. After two years, the group was betrayed and transported to concentration camps. Anne Frank and her sister, Margot, were eventually transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they both died of typhus in March 1945.

Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that Anne's diary had been saved, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl. It has since been translated into many languages. The diary, which was given to Anne on her 13th birthday, chronicles her life from 12 June 1942 until 1 August 1944.

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

13 Mayıs 2012 Pazar

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
  1. C Suresh
  2. Nandita B
  3. Cute Parents
  1. Samritha Pillai
  1. Joshi Daniel
  1. Rajkumar
  2. Sangeeta Reghu
  3. Ashok
  4. Sumitra
  5. Nona's Pensive
  6. Abhishek Mandloi
  7. Nabanita Dhar
  8. Ranjith
  9. Anupam Patra
  10. 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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know or listen to those who knowWith 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.

  1. 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

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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?