Firefox 3.5 Goes Live ...

Good news for Firefox lovers (I am one of those)!

After four beta versions and three release candidates, Firefox 3.5 has finally been released into the world as the latest version of the second most popular Web browser on the planet. The new version brings a private browsing mode, faster JavaScript performance, and support for emerging HTML 5 standards such as plug-in-free video and audio playing.



Users can download the new version of Firefox for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux in more than 70 languages from www.getfirefox.com.

The browser also includes new technology that will allow users to tell sites their location, which will let sites deliver relevant information, for example, about nearby eateries and businesses. The features uses Google Location Services, which obtains your whereabouts using a database of WiFi access points and other known IP addresses. JavaScript performance is more than twice as fast with the browser's new TraceMonkey engine.

Let's hope for the best!

Baba

"MJ" no more ...

Today morning I woke up and turned the TV on & to my surprise and shock the sad news of Michael Jackson's demise fell on my ears.

The world had lost a great artist. There have been times when he was accused of lot of things in his life but then this is the price any genius has to pay for being a 'genius'. No one can question his creativity as he always pushed the envelop of creativity. He revolutionized the music world with his great songs which will be there forever!




I have been a admirer of the 'King of Pop' since my childhood. The only thing that I will always regret is that I was never able to see his performance when he visited India and performed in Bombay. I couldn't go to the show cause I was not having enough resources and was studying then. Well ... I was destined not to see this great gift of God.

There have been questions raised like 'Is he the real King of Pop?', 'Will he be a greater person after his death?' and so on. To those people who are raising this question, I have only one thing to say, "God please forgive these people cause they really don't know what they are saying!"

The world never let Michael Jackson LIVE in peace when he was alive, I sincerely hope that people will let his soul rest in peace!

God bless his soul and may he rest in peace!

Baba

India & Swine Flu!

WHO has declared swine flu as a global panademic some days back. The challenges for a country like India are more tough than any other developed country for such kind of flu which can spread fast.

Phase 6 is WHO's highest alert level and means that a swine flu pandemic is under way but there is no need to panic as most cases are mild and require no treatment. No mutations have been detected in the virus to show it is getting more deadly, so the fear is that new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities, especially in poorer countries. And here comes our challenge ... how can India handle such panademic?

So you must have been hearing news on TV which says India has opened up new laboratories to test for the virus among suspected people. And you must have heard about people having the virus literally running out of the hospital in New Delhi! I have a question to ask to the person (and his family) who ran out of the hospital. What the .... he thinks of himself? Does he know the dire consequences and the threat he is to the public in general? Shouldn't he be punished after he is recovered? In my view, he should be punished for causing threat to the Indian people by literally being a human bomb. Why? Come on, we are a country of more than a billion people. The spread of such virus won't take days in a country like India & given the preparations of the Indian Government to handle this situation, we are more susceptible to being exposed to this deadly virus.

And what about a helpline being set up for this virus? Well there is one! As reported by a leading Indian daily newspaper, "While the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) authorities were quick to give a control room number to disseminate information on swine flu, they forgot to ensure that the staff manning the calls had adequate information about the deadly virus. A call to the number got a cheerful response of “NICD outbreak control room”, but little else. When asked about the flu, the official just provided the phone number of a doctor “who would have all the information”.

But if you still want to give it a try, give a call to the number 011 – 23921401 which is set up by NICD and you will realize what I meant! Also do try their website www.nicd.org. Am sure you will be as disappointed as I am this moment.

The screening of passengers is being done religiously at airports but having heard a news of an American passengers being able to make it through with his pistol on a domestic Indian flight, I have some doubts in the screening efficiency as well :(

I hope our new Health Minister is aware that we are a country of a Billion people & at a greater risk with this panademic!

Baba

My roots calling me ...

While browsing my memories yesterday, I came across this picture of my first school. This is the place where I started my early education. Beautiful it was ... a school with a view. Right behind the bus station of the village and on the outskirts. It's still the same. I took this picture in 2007 when I visited my village and it just took me back to those beautiful days of my life.



Yes! This is the place where I spent my childhood years studying the early things as an inhabitant of mother earth. There is no fence nor hedge around time that is gone. You can go back and have what you like of it, if you can remember. So I can close my eyes on my village as it is today, and it is gone, and I see it as it was when I was a boy.

Green it was, and possessed of the plenty of the Earth. In all Nasik district, there was none so beautiful (that's what me as a child used to think and I still think the same way today). Everything I ever learned as a small boy came from my father and I never found anything he ever told me to be wrong or worthless. The simple lessons he taught me are as sharp and clear in my mind as if I had heard them only yesterday. He is my hero and I owe my everything to him. I will be with him very soon and just the thought of it makes me very happy. He is and will always be my guiding star ... all my life!

The journey I started in my small village is still on. I am in search of my destiny. I believe Destiny is not a matter of chance, but choice, not something to wish, but to attain.

But I know one thing for sure, my roots are so strong that I want to go back to my village and try to make a difference in the lives of people there. My roots are always calling me ...

Baba