What is Absinthe?

Had a great Christmas party at Anand's beach house. As usual. Amazing. More on that later. Right now, read on about Absinthe. Finally, it is legal in the US. Hear, hear!!!

Absinthe is legal in the United States for the first time since 1912, the year it was banned in America. Eight years later, Prohibition levied the same fate on all spirits, but while beer, wine, and liquor made a triumphant comeback -- expanding into an industry that can cozily encompass both a Courvoisier XO and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon -- absinthe languished in exile for nearly a century, a casualty of bad publicity, special-interest lobbies and mythology. That allowed absinthe to become something of an urban legend, something to talk about in whispers, with wide eyes. Much is said about absinthe; very little of that is true.

Link at Salon.com via Neatorama

[absinthe]

Jesus says...

Link from Nothing to do with Arbroath

[humor]

Largest spitting cobra found - new species

My love affair with cobras continue. The cobras are my all time favorite reptiles. I have always been fascinated with them from childhood. I am sure the stories my dad narrated to me as a child helped a lot. He used to talk about my granddad's encounters with the cobras over the years. It so happens that my granddad used to be a small game hunter and so I used to love his adventure stories.

So when I read about the new African species of spitting cobras, I was quite interested.

The newly anointed Ashe's spitting cobra, or large brown spitting cobra (Naja ashei), can reach lengths of more than 9 feet (274 centimeters) and is believed to deliver more venom with a single bite than any other cobra on the planet.

The aggressive reptile was previously identified as a brown-colored variant of the black-necked spitting cobra, though researchers had long suspected that it merited its own species. Now blood and tissue analysis have confirmed this theory to be true.

The snake dwells in the dry lowlands of north and east Kenya, as well as in Uganda and Ethiopia.

Of course, King Cobra is the longest of all venomous snakes with lengths up to 18.5 ft (5.7 m), but it is not part of the cobra family.

Read more at National Geographic. And more pictures here.

Update: A beautiful article on the large brown spitting cobra can be found at Saving Snakes blog at Wild Life Direct.

[cobra]
[spitting cobra]
[snake]

My daemon is a tiger

[daemon]

Teacher in teen sex case arrested again

TAMPA, Fla. --

A former teacher serving house arrest for having sex with a 14-year-old student was arrested on charges of violating her probation, state records show.

According to a Department of Corrections report, Debra Lafave discussed her personal life and other subjects with a teenage waitress at a restaurant where both worked. One of the terms of her probation was that she was not allowed to have unsupervised contact with minors without permission.

Read more here.

[arrested]

Smorty - Make money the smart way

I am a proud member of Smorty now.

What is Smorty you may ask? Smorty is a service connecting advertisers with bloggers. Advertisers can pay bloggers to write opinion posts with links back to the advertisers site.

Tired of blogging and not get paid to blog? You can now get paid for blogging with Smorty. Do you think you do not get the right blog advertising? You can now join Smorty for smart and practical advertising on blogs. He he… and you can blog for money. Isn’t that just great. I mean, what more do you want? You get paid for what you love doing most - blogging.

Join the wagon and you get paid for blogging through Smorty.

I know there are plenty of services right now on the Internet to get paid to blog. The best part of Smorty I liked was you can pick your own campaigns and get paid for blogging the topics you choose. And they pay weekly. Wow. That’s neat. I would like to see a weekly money flow for me to get motivated. I like that.

The advantage for advertisers is they post their advertisements and they get reviews written for them by bloggers who already get good traffic to their blogs. That’s an easy way for blog advertising for advertisers.

Life insurance Advantage

Applying for a life insurance these days is a big pain for most people. The reason being there are too many insurance companies and dealers in the market and it is always a challenge to find out which company / dealer will suit your specific requirements. So how do you go about ensuring that you and your family are covered for life? It's quite simple really. Open your browser and connect to the Advantage Life Insurance website (need an internet connection, of course).

The one thing I liked about this site is that you can choose between the best and lowest insurance deals using their pre-existing database. And then there are so many different policies you could choose from. For example, term, whole life, for smokers, mortgage, etc. And all this can be done online from the comfort of your own home.

The site promises to get you the best rates and hence you could potentially Save Money on Insurance. You could also get instant quotes using their Insurance Quoting Services.

The site looks decent. However, I would have been happier if the links given for different policies and types are also present in the front page when discussing the policies. I am sure there is an explanation for it. But that is something I look for in a website. If I like reading some point and would like to go to that particular page I would like the link to be right there in the paragraph I am reading.

Other than that, it is a great site to find out what insurance plan suits you best. And hey, how about Cheap Smoker Insurance Rates? I am sure that is enticing for smokers. So choose between any number if insurance plans and Save Money on Insurance Premium.

[insurance]

Online casinos

From time immemorial gambling has been one of the best forms of entertainment. The excitement of rolling the dice or playing your cards right was always captured the minds of millions of people around the world. With the advent of the World Wide Web the opportunities have become countless for the gambler. However, a person can be quite bewildered by the array of online gambling sites available at the moment. So which site would suit you is always a big question.

Here comes pro360.com to your rescue. They give you the opening you are looking for in filtering through the almost 3000 online casinos available on the net. The best part is that you can go through detailed reviews of the casinos with respect to such factors as the game experience, trust score and bonuses offered by each casino. Pro360.com also has a list of top 50 online casinos with detailed reviews for all of them and ratings that will help you decide which ones suit you.

There are so many online casino games such as online poker, craps, slots, roulette, blackjack (also known as 21), etc. You may be confused which is the one for you. And when you choose one you may wonder which is the best online casino for your kind of game preference. No problems at all, pro360.com is just the site for you to choose the right online casino.

You can directly check out the different online casino games available to you by clicking on the tabs on top of the site. Some casino games featured are baccarat, bingo, backgammon, video poker, etc.

The right side bar even offers tips for beginners, tips for online gambling, more reviews, and recommendations of online casinos with respect to bigger bonuses, etc.

Shopping Cart Software - US

There are plenty of freewares available these days for getting your own shopping cart software. But are they “safe” and “trustworthy” and really “secure”? Now that is something you pay for, right? Especially security. So when I heard about Ashop Commerce, I was delighted. Hoping to give it a try soon.

Ashop Commerce is a world-class provider of shopping cart software among other things who cater toward small to medium sized businesses that are looking to build or simply start their online division of business.

They have been around for four years developing shopping cart software and thats always a good thing. Good software comes with some good experience since functionality and usability always increases when there are more builds.

Ashop Commerce shopping cart is a turn-key ecommerce solution. With no software to install, you can build and manage an online store / shopping cart from any computer anywhere in the world. They even help you to accept credit cards online, enable a complete real-time shipping solution and rise to the top of the search engines.

Some Unique Selling Points (USPs) for their ecommerce software

- No plug-ins or programming required
- Complete operational storefront
- Web based store administration
- Free tech support (phone, email, online chat)
- No graphic design skills required
- No HTML knowledge required
- Free ecommerce software user manual, tutorial movies and knowledgebase
- Free tools and tips for Search Engine Optimization

I should play the trumpet

You Should Play the Trumpet

You are a natural leader. You have a very dominant and strong personality. Working with others suits you. As long as you're in charge, that is!You are aggressive and strong in your approach to most things. You feel like no one is as competent as you are, and you rarely make mistakes. The limelight is where you feel most comfortable - and you'll take risks to get some extra attention. You definitely would bring your own flavor to any music you were a part of. Even if it means being a little loud and obnoxious. Your dominant personality characteristic: you're a showoff Your secondary personality characteristic: you like to be in charge of other people

What Musical Instrument Should You Play?

Shopping cart software - Ashop Commerce

I’ve always wanted to start an online shopping mart. The one thing that stopped me from doing so was how to organize ecommerce software. There are many freeware available these days. But are they “safe” and “trustworthy” and really “secure”? Now that is something you pay for, right? Especially security. So when I heard about Ashop Commerce, I was delighted.

Ashop Commerce is a world-class provider of shopping cart software among other things who cater toward small to medium sized businesses that are looking to build or simply start their online division of business.

They have been around for four years developing shopping cart software and thats always a good thing. Good software comes with some good experience since functionality and usability always increases when there are more builds.

Ashop commerce shopping cart software is a turn-key ecommerce solution. With no software to install, you can build and manage an online store / shopping cart from any computer anywhere in the world. They even help you to accept credit cards online, enable a complete real-time shipping solution and rise to the top of the search engines.

Some Unique Selling Points (USPs) for their ecommerce software
- No plug-ins or programming required
- Complete operational storefront
- Web based store administration
- Free tech support (phone, email, online chat)
- No graphic design skills required
- No HTML knowledge required
- Free ecommerce software user manual, tutorial movies and knowledgebase
- Free tools and tips for Search Engine Optimization

Jesus on a motorcycle

I want one. Really! Jesus on a motorcycle is just way too (no more words).

More here.

If anyone's religious sentiments are hurt, I am truly sorry, but I can't help it. This is too funny and awesome.

Meaning of XXX

Did you know that XXX actually meant the amount of alcohol in alcoholic drinks? Indians are aware of it, I guess. Read more at Neatorama, which has a small article on some common abbrevation origins like British pound etc.

Soul of Seoul 1

This is a short story of our trip to Korea. This is but part 1.

So we were at Incheon airport, South Korea. Everybody else is out through immigration. Now its time for yours truly to get visa stamped. So I go to the counter and give my passport and boarding ticket to the lady. She looks at me up and down. And i am looking practically devilish with a four day's growth of stubble (it was almost a beard) on my face. She sees the passport. Back to my face. And this being my very first trip abroad. What a dumb thing to do, huh? So she asks me a couple of questions of why, what, when and where. And then, horror of all horrors, I am sent to this 'special room' without my visa getting stamped.

I go there and see a lot of people sitting around. And there one more lady asks for the invitation letter. Of course, I don't have it. But luckily I have my laptop with me which has a copy of the invitation sent to me. So I open the laptop and show the letter to the lady there (immigration officer?). And then pro actively I give the name of our Business partner's name and number to her and explain how important it is for me to be in Seoul for the next few days.

I was told to sit in one of the numerous chairs there. She keeps speaking Korean to this guy and that guy here and there. I don't understand anything. As I was sitting there I saw so many people being brought here for the same reason as I was. That was funny. Hehehehe. All I knew was that they cannot reject my visa on my birthday. I know how illogical that sounds. But that was what running through my mind anyway. I casually walk towards the door and see both Senthil and Anoop looking at me from afar with serious eyes. I wave and smile with what I assumed was a confident smile (I hope).

And then this female is speaking to someone on the phone. I heard one word that was meaningful to me and that was the name of the company we were visiting. So I assumed she was speaking to someone to verify the company. Anyway, after half an hour or so she stamped something and asked me to come with her. I open the passport and find that YES, I am finally in Seoul.

So we take all our bags and go out where I find Mr. Kim running towards me and shouting my name. That was just wonderful. Only then we come to know that it was he who the lady was speaking to on the phone.

That was a one hell of an entry into a foreign land on my very first abroad trip. Unforgettable!!!

Next - Antics in the plane

Moving on

At last I have moved on...for good.

My blog is Here .

Off to party

After a week of inactivity and server issues I am back.

My company is taking our team and another team for a team outing tomorrow. Will say more when I return.

Armageddon

Have you ever wondered if Armageddon is near? No more wondering. I give you the ultimate truth, and proof that we are in our last years.

Click Here

Repent you sinners, or be ready to face the wrath of our Lord God, the Everlasting Father.

Armageddon

Elevator Fiasco

First, Gayathri posted about access to office problem. I had a good laugh and its safe (I think) to say, at her expense.

I Never Ever thought it could happen to me.

Well, I was engrossed in my own thoughts and feeling so sad that it was Monday and there I was walking towards the elevator. One part of me was saying, "its only office dude, you are not walking towards deathrow". I got into the elevator and got out first along with another middle-aged guy.

I was shocked to see the whole floor in shambles. I thought maybe they were arranging stuff or whatever. A sudden thought made me look at the floor number. I was on the first floor when mine was at 2nd floor. Ok no issues I thought and went back to the elevators and punched in the upward button. What? The buttons were not working!!!

Oh shit!!! No amount of pressure and haggling got the buttons to work. So I thought I will take the stairs. And what do you know? Anwin was on a roll. The goddamned staircase was friggin' locked. For God's sakes, it was bloody locked.

I went nuts trying to figure out what to do. I noticed this freight elevator and felt a weight off my back. And as usual the Anwin luck was on full force. IT DID NOT BLOODY WORK EITHER. There were other people (all of them were workers, carpenters and the like) who were waiting for the freight elevator too. Someone went to call the security guys to start the freight elevator.

And then, an idea struck me. I called Pal asking him if he was in office. No luck. I call Ammu, her number was not reachable. Tried calling Santhosh, not reachable again. What else to do? I called Srini, my manager, and told him that I was stuck in the first floor. He called Santhosh at office and advised him to come to first floor to pick me up (you see, since the first floor was not yet done yet, the elevator does not stop at 1st floor. And on the first occasion, it stopped at 1st floor, I had to get out and get stuck. Basically, you can come to first floor from any other floor but you can't use the same elevator from first floor. Except for the freight elevator).

Anyway, just when Santhosh was going to pick me up the freight elevator worked and I got back to my correct floor.

Gallery - example

Got a cool script from the net. Ok, not the script but the tips with some examples. And I tried my luck with it. Have finished 80% and there are lots of errors which I will take care of alter. But until then, take a look at it at the Miss World Gallery

Yes, very soon. My own bloody awesome photo gallery.

Courtesy: Link

Short Story - Again

Well, Naveen tagged me to write a short story. Wel,, I thought I will go for a 55 word one.

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Dream

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The sunlight was too bright. It hurt my eye. Tried to get up, was held down. Found a dainty hand across my body. I twisted around to look at the face of the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life. She looked like an angel. I went back to sleep. I didn't want to break the dream.