You and the internet

So much has been said about the internet and its negative effects, mainly targeted towards endless surfing. Let’s cut the internet some slack and look at the positives. An interesting report on CNN presented Dr. Gary Smalls test reports. A professor at UCLA, he studied two groups of older adults and the MRI on them suggests that when the group that consists of the technologically advanced people, referring to web savvy individuals, the results recorded greater brain activity in this group in areas of complex reasoning and decision making.

What is a SpecMark?

SPEC stands for Systems Performance Evaluation Cooperation. Spec mark is the mean of a series of benchmark set by SPEC and is taken as the geometric mean. For calculation of the Spec mark, SPEC group uses floating point and integer values and hence benchmark calculation is the mean of these values. Spec mark has 6 integer as well as 14 floating point values. It is a geometric mean calculated on ten benchmark programs that are standardized by SPEC. the programs for SPEC benchmark are written in platform neutral language. The FORTRAN and the C codes are most commonly used ones, but they have been slightly elevated.  For use of the Spec marks, one needs to get the license from SPEC. This is a non-profit organization which aims at giving useful benchmarks for the computers. The activities can take the standard benchmark set and provided by SPEC. 

The use of Specmarks must be based on the policies set by SPEC. the benchmarks can be used in a different manner only with the permission of SPEC. they need to get the license from SPEC before going for the change in the use. People are not allowed to use specmarks in their products without the permission of SPEC. Spec marks have high value in evaluating the performance of the computer in the software industry.

Get to Pushkar

For everyone who didn’t go to Pushkar this year, its okay, go next year. I’ll tell you how to get there from Bombay because that’s usually from where I set foot, after starting out at Pune. For those travelling from Delhi or northern regions, the distance is even more manageable. You don’t want to travel to Pushkar just like that unless it’s for the cattle fair because the holy town of Pushkar wears a pretty deserted look at other times of the year and you’ll simply get roasted in the desert. Since this is for the budget traveller and women who get harassed, please plan your trips in the safest possible manner. This means your train departures and arrivals should be during the day because you don’t want to find yourself being bullied by strangers in the middle of the night. The RTDC hotels are brilliant but even the budget ones like Hotel Pushkar and Sarover become costly during the fair (mela) season so you can make reservations at RTDC Ajmer instead, it’s only 13 kms from Pushkar and you can travel by bus. The hotels to choose from are hotel Khadim, and Hotel Khidmat. I always choose hotel Khadim because it’s less than 3 kms from the station and the bus stop is just 2 blocks away and always populated.

 

The weight matters

How to get slim

The way I look at it, till a certain age women do everything they can too look good and stay in shape. The right diet, a good gym, low calorie food, and the likes. Recent studies say, apart from the fact that weight is related to your genetic structure; weight has a lot to do with how happy and content your married life is. Yes, that’s true and proven. So, as a husband, if you’re wondering why you’re wife appears more voluptuous than before, it could have a lot to do with you, and not wholly with what she is eating.

You have to check the site I’m talking about because discussions don’t get better. I really think this site has answers.

Pune to Bombay

This post is for travellers who wish to embark on a journey from Pune to Bombay and is in reference to getting to Pushkar, an ideal travel destination. Getting to Bombay from Pune is very easy so don’t worry. You don’t necessarily need prior reservations especially if you are travelling on a weekday.

The traffic volume is high on weekends so you may not get a confirmed train reservation but you’ll find a bus or cool cab very easily. If you’re a group of friends, getting a cool cab is a good option. It seats 4 passengers and will cost you less than rs.2000 at anytime, at least this year (2008). If you go to an agent to get tickets or reservation, they charge a lot more, especially if you’re a foreigner that’s because only foreigners ask for reservations through agents most times. Make your own reservations.

Use private cabs at your own risk and preferably when you’re a big travelling group or very desperate.

You can get a bus ticket with Volvo from next to the Pune railway station. This can be done at the Amir Petrol pump. Many times, the bus isn’t parked there so you’ll have to travel about a kilometre to the Maldhakka Chowk or next to the railway station to get on. The ticket will cost you Rs. 150 on weekdays and Rs.250 on weekends and will take you to Dadar. From Dadar take a taxi and get to the Bandra terminus. The taxi will charge you Rs 80. If they bully a little its okay, pay them Rs. 100 because the traffic there is congested, its killing.

If you take a train, a regular reservation costs below Rs. 100 and an air conditioned compartment seat costs below Rs 200. Don’t leave train reservations, especially A/c seats till the last minute. You can make your reservations sitting at home through the IRCTC website but I don’t know if foreigners can use it because they have certain banks enlisted, it’s a direct debit system and saves on a lot of time. You just need to get a printout and carry an Id.

You can obviously fly, even charter a flight but I’m not getting into that.

Just travel

Here’s something for the budget traveller in India. Trust me it’s cheap and real. The write-ups on this niche will be specifically targeted for women travellers in India but can be used as guidance by everyone if you’re not a sucker for fancy five star amenities. All my experiences are a result of trial and error that may not always work right so you may want to make adjustments.

These are methods I’ve been trying over the years so it’s not a bad deal. The idea behind all the content uploaded is to make travelling an easy option rather than run behind travel agents that charge commissions.

There are travel options that you can take care of and handle on your own even if you don’t understand the language at most places. That could pose a problem but it’s not a deterrent. We are not going to discuss expensive air travel deals either, so it’s all going to be about budget travelling and seeing the best there is to see.

Obama – trying for difference with tax havens

Obama’s presidentship has already become a discussion all over the world, mainly because of his policy to shut down the tax havens from offshore. He wants to put an end to the privacy of private banking, thereby sharing tax information between several countries.  

If the question is about his power to do this, it is clear that he is the president of USA, nothing more than that. He can never act as the policemen controlling the entire globe.  

The consequence of this act will be USA picking up several offshore centres randomly and will shut them down. When any new centre pops up, they will come again to shut them down. After the financial crisis and USD crisis, very few countries are likely to listen to the policies of USA hereafter.  

Obama will try to stop wires to and from the offshore tax centres. They will impose tax on those wires which are going to a tax haven.  

They will investigate and audit the money send and received in offshore bank account. They could cut the tourism to Caribbean offshore. There is no offshore banking in Caribbean to speak for the Americans.  

He wants to send faxes to the banks asking them to confiscate money from various accounts and wire it. This will be done without any court, trial or evidence.  

The countries affected will include Switzerland, Austria, Cypress etc and the extent to which they will be impacted depends on how much they submit. Since Panama is not a tourist centre, it will resist strongly. Ecuador and Guatemala also will manage to oppose Obama. 

What you can do in this situation is to withdraw your money as early as possible. Others could settle down in Central America. Guatemala offers a cheap living, while Panama could be expensive. But, you always have options in front of you.