Thursday, June 14, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
When the world closed its eyes, he opened his arms.
Where the world witnessed a hero "Paul Rusesabagina". As manager of the Belgian-owned Mille Collines, a luxury hotel in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, he knew when to slip a bottle of Scotch to corrupt colonels to keep them in his pocket.
Those street smarts became his salvation when Rwanda plummeted into genocide as a wave of ethnic violence ten years ago in an event that transformed the genial businessman into an unlikely hero.
As ethnic Hutus began killing their Tutsi neighbors, Rusesabagina—a Hutu married to a Tutsi woman—turned his hotel into an impromptu refugee camp for more than a thousand terrified Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Deserted by international peacekeepers, Rusesabagina began cashing in every favor he had ever earned, bribing the Rwandan Hutu soldiers and keeping the bloodthirsty militia (mostly) outside the gates during the hundred days of slaughter.
In the end, he survived along with his wife and three children, as did most of the refugees he sheltered.
Over the course of 100 days in 1994, almost 1 million people were killed . At great personal risk, Rusesabagina offered the Mille Collines Hotel to shelter 1,200 people from certain death.
“I’ve become a humanitarian and I never thought I would become one. And, as a humanitarian, I wanted to take this message on a wider scale, to raise awareness of what happened in my country so that the international community can help others who suffer now.”
- Paul Rusesabagina
More Links:
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Cobain-GONE TOO SOON
In 1991, the arrival of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" marked the beginning of a dramatic shift of popular rock music away from the dominant genres of the 1980s and toward grunge and alternative rock. Other hit songs written by Cobain include "Come as You Are", "Lithium", "In Bloom", "Heart-Shaped Box", "All Apologies", and "About a Girl".
During the last years of his life, Cobain struggled with drug addiction and the media pressures surrounding him and his wife Courtney Love. On April 8, 1994, Cobain was found dead in his home. His death was ruled a suicide by self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. Since then, the circumstances surrounding his death have fueled much analysis and debate.
More:
Kurt Cobain Lyrics
List of songs referencing Kurt Cobain
Declassified Police report
Life Story
Suicide Dispute
Cobain final weeks
I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
INSIDE RAW
Functions of R&AWCollection of information:
R&AW obtains information critical to Indian strategic interests. Both overt and covert means are adopted.
Classification of information: Data is sifted through, classified as appropriate, and filed with the assistance of the computer network in the 13-story bombproof building situated at Lodhi Road, New Delhi.
Aggressive intelligence: The primary mission of R&AW includes aggressive intelligence which is comprised of espionage, psychological warfare, subversion, sabotage, and promoting insurgency in enemy locations.
Counter intelligence: R&AW has a dedicated section which spies against enemy's intelligence collection oganizations. With unscrupulous enemy agencies abounding in Indian neighbourhood, this is the second most important function of R&AW. However due to failure of R&AW in containing high profile defections, major portions of Counter intelligence operations have been handed to IB.
Extensive Training:
- Technical jargon and classification of information are taught.
- Case studies of other agencies like CIA, KGB, Chinese Secret Agency and ISI are presented for study.
- The inductee is also taught that intelligence organisations do not identify who is friend and who is foe, the country's foreign policy does.Given firsthand experience of what it was to be out in the figurative cold, conducting clandestine operations.
- Instructed to avoid capture and, if caught, how to face interrogation.
- Learns the art of reconnoiter, making contacts, and, the numerous skills of operating an intelligence mission.
- Exhaustive training in the art of self-defense, an introduction to martial arts and the use of technical espionage devices.
- Drilled in various administrative disciplines so that he could take his place in the foreign missions without arousing suspicion.
- He is now ready to operate under the cover of an Embassy to gather information, set up his own network of informers, moles or operatives as the task may require.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
My Movie Collection:FIGHT CLUB
FIGHT CLUB is 100% Entertainment.
Its talks but virtual human realtion ship,street boxing,stress buster,psyche,Crime,self proclaimed leadership and finally it is of a real Entertainment.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
INDIA OUT OF WORLD CUP
Chasing a fairly competitive target of 255 in 50 overs after skipper Rahul Dravid chose to field first, the Indian team were bowled out for only 185 runs in 43.3 overs for their worst performance in the World cup since the 1979 tournament.
In the 1979 World Cup they had failed to win even one match.
And now their only chance of making it to the round of Super 8 is if (and that is a big if) Bermuda beat Bangladesh by a massive margin in the final group match on Sunday, which going by the spate of upsets in the tournament does not look impossible.
The big difference between the two teams was the attitude of the batsmen when the going was tough in the middle.
While the Lankan top order also failed but their middle and lower order rose to the occasion and put on 254/6 on the board in their allotted quota of 50 overs which in the end proved to be too much for the famed Indian batting line-up that had three batsmen with over 10,000 ODI runs.
Friday, March 23, 2007
My Movie Collection:TAXI DRIVER
Robert DeNiro's performance in Taxi Driver as Travis is one of the best I have ever seen. DeNiro does every pause, smirk, and stare in exactly the right time. He transformed a despicable and psychotic character into a lonely and desperate man, who the audience can relate and understand. His scenes talking to himself in the mirror is entertaining, at the same time, terrifying.
-Johnpaulz(IMDB.com)
The great aspect I like in this movie is the touching storyline about a mentally unstable youth(Robert De Niro) called by name Travis a taxi driver who as been noted for his disgusting and unruly behaviour.
Once on his way home he met a 12 year old gal (Jodi Foster) abducted and subjected to prostitution illegaly thus this incident makes travis to go violent towards pimps and thus he finds the way to rescue her.....as of climax everybody, including media makes Travis as a National figure for rescuing a gal from such scum and making Betsy brokenhearted.
If u get a chance dont miss it ,especially the scene with Betsy at the end is excellent.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
You can make a difference!
The more friends you tell, the bigger the difference you can make without spending a penny
just login into http://friends.unicefusa.org/
- Child Survival and Development
- Basic Education and Gender Equality (including girls' education]),
- Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse,
- HIV/AIDS and Policy advocacy,
- Partnerships for children’s rights.
When we work to end childhood hunger, we are giving our love to kids who need it so much they will never ask for it.-- Beau Bridges
Monday, March 19, 2007
Beslan Massacre
Nearly 30 hours into the siege, survivors say the terrorists were popping pills to stay awake, and they were starting to crack.
Day 2
On September 2, 2004, negotiations between Roshal and the hostage-takers proved unsuccessful, and they refused to allow food, water, and medicines to be taken in for the hostages or for the bodies of the dead to be removed from in front of the school.
On day two,many of the young children started to succumb to being denied food and water and being forced to stand up for long periods in the tightly packed and hot gym. Many fainted and the parents feared they would start to die. Occasionally, the terrorists took out some of the unconscious children, and poured water on their heads before returning them to the gym. Reportedly, some resorted to drinking their own urine and extracting water from plants. Later in the day, women and men also started to faint from fatigue and thirst. When the bombs started to go off, many of the surviving children were so fatigued they were barely able to flee from the carnage.
Day 3
In addition to the Special Forces, army and Interior Ministry troops engaged, there were Mi-24 Hind and Mi-8 Hip gunships, and at least one tank , as well as several BTR armoured personnel carriers.
The attack was followed by two or more large explosions, totally destroying the gym and setting much of the building on fire.
Shortly after September 3, 2004, Russian official sources stated that the attackers were part of an international group led by Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev and included a number of Arabs with contact to al-Qaeda.
“Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn”
-Robert Bruns
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Elvis is more icon than artist.
Elvis Presley may be the single most important figure in American 20th century popular music.
Dozens upon dozens of international smashes from the mid-'50s to the mid-'70s, as well as the steady sales of his catalog and reissues since his death in 1977, may make him the single highest-selling performer in history.
:::::::::::::::::EARLIER CHILDHOOD DAYS :::::::::::::::::::
Born to a poor Mississippi family in the heart of Depression, Elvis had moved to Memphis by his teens, After graduating from high school, he became a truck driver, rarely if ever singing in public. In mid-1954 A Music recording company by name "SUN" looked for a white singer with a black feel, teamed Presley with guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black. Almost by accident, apparently,"That's All Right Mama," that became Elvis' first single.In a newspaper interview Elvis himself was open about the close relationship to his mother. "She was the number-one girl in his life, and he was dedicating his career to her.
Elvis' five Sun singles pioneered the blend of R&B and C&W that would characterize rockabilly music. For quite a few scholars, they remain not only Elvis' best singles, but the best rock & roll ever recorded. Claiming that Elvis made blues acceptable for the white market is not the whole picture.Elvis' aspirations were too big to be limited to records and live appearances.
By late 1956, his first Hollywood movie, Love Me Tender.Presley's recording and movie careers were interrupted by his induction into the Army in early 1958. When he re-entered civilian life in 1960, his popularity, remarkably, was at just as high a level as when he left. While there were some quality efforts on Presley's early-'60s albums, his discography was soon dominated by forgettable soundtracks, mostly featuring material that was dispensable or ridiculous.
As Presley was a very popular star, the FBI had files on him of more than 600 pages.The FBI was interested in death threats made against the singer, the likelihood of Elvis being the victim of blackmail and particularly a "major extortion attempt" while he was in the Army inGermany.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #3 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
Friday, January 19, 2007
Steven Spielberg produced his first film at age 12
After working on a few TV shows and making his first feature film, Spielberg was given the opportunity to direct Jaws. The $8.6 million film proved incredibly successful, grossing $260 million. Two years later he was nominated for an Academy Award for directing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After Close Encounters, Spielberg hit a low point with the flop 1941, but soon rebounded with Raiders of the Lost Ark, a collaborative effort with Star Wars director George Lucas. He followed up the success of Raiders with 1982's E.T., also a blockbuster hit.
Directing the film adaptation of Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple in 1985 represented a departure for Spielberg; the film was seen as a direct response to criticism that he could only produce action and science fiction movies. The film received 11 Oscar nominations, but the nomination for Best Director was conspicuously absent. Nine years later, after directing such blockbusters as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Jurassic Park, he again attempted a serious subject: the Holocaust. Schindler's List, the story of Nazi Party member Oskar Schindler, who helped save hundreds of European Jews bound for concentration camps, won Spielberg his first Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture.
- While the films that Steven Spielberg directed have won numerous awards, no actor or actress has won an Academy Award for a performance given in one of his films, although several have been nominated. Spielberg had a cameo role as the Cook County assessor in the last minutes of the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.
- In 2005, Empire magazine ranked Spielberg number one on a list of the greatest film directors of all time.
FAN SITE : http://www.spielbergfilms.com/
- The Star Wars character Senator Grebleips was inspired by Steven Spielberg, hence his name is "spielberg" spelled backwards.
- In the 2006 edition of Forbes' "400 Richest People in America" Spielberg is the 80th richest American. His net worth is estimated at 2.9 billion dollars, an increase from $2.7 billion in 2005. He, and good friend George Lucas (net worth: $3.9 billion, up from 3.5 billion, current position 55) are the only filmmakers on the list.
Oracle CEO - College dropout
Despite an altered state at times, Ellison paved his road to riches smartly. Until 1977 he was a programmer at various computer companies. It was then that he and his friend Robert Miner started Software Development Laboratories, which later became Oracle. The 1980s were good years for the company, largely due to Ellison's extremely tough sales tactics. But it almost went bankrupt in 1990, as people found out that Oracle's salespeople had been reporting sales before they were really in.
After reinstating a clear policy of honesty, Ellison was able to bring Oracle back to the forefront of the business, but to this day his attitude is ruthlessly competitive. According to Time magazine, Ellison always uses very harsh language when discussing business. "He'll say, 'This is the quarter we put a knife in their chest,' or, 'The life will be choked out of them.'" Ellison's killer instinct clearly serves him well, as his company's market value is now greater than Time Warner's - but he doesn't want to stop there. His ultimate goal is to surpass Microsoft as the biggest and most recognized computer company in the world. According to Ellison, his motivation for such success is more theoretical than personal: "I'm more interested in beating Microsoft than I am in beating Bill Gates," he says. "I obsess on the personal computer and the industry, and I would love to see the age of proprietary computers end."