This is nice! When you are trying to increasing every possible way of speeding up your browsing speed, DNS servers are also a vital area to focus. I have so far used OpenDNS, but there had been few privacy concerns with them. Now with Google providing public DNS service I hope its going to be all good.

Make use of Google’s public DNS by setting primary / secondary DNS server IP’s to:

8.8.8.8

and

8.8.4.4

Good day! :)

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is bliss, taste it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.

- Mother Teresa

Starting off with ajax.net development for a project requirement. To wet the legs I stated off with a hello world application, and faced few issues. Thankfully the workarounds were easy and took very little time. This post is for reference purpose to others who may face the same problem.

Tools:

Windows XP SP3

MS Visual Studio .NET 2008

MS SQL 2008 Dev. Ed.

Game:

• Created an empty folder D:/Projects/Test/Ajax/Hello1
• Created virtual folders /AjaxTest –> D:/Projects/Test/Ajax/ and /AjaxTest/Hello1 –> D:/Projects/Test/Ajax/Hello1
• Opened VS, opened website /AjaxTest/Hello1
• Added new AJAX Web Form (Default.aspx)
• Went to design view and was presented with the following error on the design page:
• 
• Since it was reference error, I tried adding an empty Web Configuration file and reloaded the web form in design view and it solved the issue
• Added an update panel, a label and a button to the web form
• Added an event to the button click to display a message on the label
• Loaded the web form on the browser and was presented with the following exception:
• The path '/AjaxTest/Hello1/App_GlobalResources/' maps to a directory outside this application, which is not supported.
• Did some research online and found that adding a trailing slash to any virtual application home folder in the current web sites path causes this problem.
• Removed the trailing slash of AjaxTest virtual folder
• All is well now! :)

Happy coding!

If you are like me who like to work at the wee hours (just because sometimes you just get those cranky workarounds and logic just about that time ;) ) you may have noticed that the screen brightness of your laptop is too bright and painful. f.lux is a freeware application which when installed adjusts your monitor brightness and colour warmth according to the current time of the system.

Give it a go at http://www.stereopsis.com/flux/

A very pleasant song, has that surrealistic / neo-romantic feel about it.

This is so cool, if we could get a similar data made available for GCC my life would be so easier :D

[via] Geeks are Sexy

CodePlex - US Census Data for SQL Server 2008

“Project Description
This is a repository for US Census Data for SQL Server 2008 with spatial information. Some of the data that is and will be included will be for states, counties, cities, and zip codes. The project will be updated as the data is available in SQL Server 2008 format.

Please note that this tables contain geometry data types made for the "Flat Earth Model."

Data downloaded from http://www.census.gov and imported using the SQL Server 2008 Spatial Tools (http://www.sharpgis.net/page/SQL-Server-2008-Spatial-Tools.aspx) by Morten Nielsen

…

"

…”

US Census Data for SQL Server 2008 - State and County Table

“…

State Table
source code, 1785K, uploaded Today …

County Table
source code, 14132K, uploaded Sat …

Release Notes

The State and County Table are based on the 2000 Census Data and was normalized to the best of my knowledge. Please note that the the County table requires the State table. Both scripts contain the create and insert of the data.

The State geometry was derived by grouping all of the counties of each state using the User Defined Function found here: http://conceptdev.blogspot.com/2007/12/sql-server-2008-geometry-stunion.html

…”

US Census Data for SQL Server 2008 - Version 0.0.1.0

"...

State
source code, 1528K, uploaded Today - ...

County
source code, 7148K, uploaded Today -...

City
source code, 12258K, uploaded Today - ...

ZipCode
source code, 42531K, uploaded Today - ...
Release
Notes
Changes:
Added the ZipCode table
Modified all scripts
to include the spatial index
Compressed the files to a rar to make the files
smaller#

..."

A number of the podcasts I listen to have been covering SQL Server 2008’s spatial data type, so when I saw this I knew I had capture the data and mention it…

Update 4/20/2009 @ 7:15am:

There's now a City table/download (21860K) too... ;)

Update 4/20/2009 @ 4:20PM:
Added 0.0.1.0 block, which includes ZipCode data!

US Zip/City/County/State spatial data all ready for your SQL Server 2008… Just download, SQLCMD/import and go
Greg (noreply@blogger.com)
Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:18:00 GMT

on behalf of Volunteer In Dubai

10th April

Times Square Mall
Feline Friends Book Sale
Job: Selling books to the public in aid of Feline Friends. Morning and Evening Shifts Required.

Please email all your details to:

17th April 2009

Dubai Festival City
Job: supporting the wonderful pianist Mr. Johnny Miller (the guy who plays in Mercato) who is completing a 12 hour painothon in aid of Dubai Autism Centre. We need your help to hand out flyers on the day to inform the public of this wonderful appeal.

Please email all your details to:

Pretty neat :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTYiEkQYhWY

कुछ ऊँचे रिश्तों की खातिर
कुछ ज्यादा खुशियों की खातिर
कुछ ज्यादा पैसों की खातिर
कुछ हंसते लम्हों की खातिर,

मैं छोड़ चला था दुनिया को,
मैं छोड़ चला था उस आँचल को,
और घर के प्यारे आँगन को,
और बहन की हंसती आँखों को,
राखी से सजी उस थाली को,
और छोडा अपने यारों को,
गम में तडपते प्यारों को,
मुड के भी ना मैने देखा था,
दर्द भरी उन आँखों को,

जिस दुनिया को मैने पाया,
वो दुनिया नहीं एक धोखा था,
एक गरम हवा का छोंका था,
आया और आ कर चला गया,
फिर भी पैसा खूब कमाया,
और कुछ सम्मान भी पाया,
पर सच नहीं वो धोखा था,
जब आज जोड़ने मैं बैठा
देखा कुछ तो न पाया था,

जिस राखी को मैने तोडा,
जिस आँचल को मैने छोडा,
naa मिलेंगे वो राखी, आँचल,
मैं छोडूँ चाहे दुनिया को,
सब छोड़ चला था मैं जैसे,
उसमे तो कुछ तो मुझे दे दो,
मुझको तो "आप" से 'तुम' कर दो,
मैं छोड़ चला था दुनिया को,

'मुझको मेरी दुनिया दे दो'

-शांडिल्य

Thanks Shandily :)

Will provide a translation shortly.

From March 30th, Google has enabled its transliteration service for Indic languages to its Gmail users, if you have been waiting to compose emails in your native Indian languages (well, for now they support Hindi, Kannada,  Gmail is all game now .

Head over to your Gmail settings, and enable the transliteration service along with specifying your default preferred language and you are all set. By the way, if you are looking into transliterating some arbitrary text without sending it as an email, you can use the transliteration service available at http://www.google.com/transliterate/indic

I have been thinking of using this service for few things, lets see

Woke up very early today, and was going through a walk down the memory lane … came across this song sent to me by an old friend … such a beautiful song, great lyrics, nice choreography, smoothing music and rain yea rain! …  Whenever I see rain I remember the home days when me and bro used to pay no heed to mom’s warnings and get going out for enjoying the rain, really worth the cold and fever that follows for the next few days

miss you!

Parijatham – Unnai Kandena

By the way, an update to my Downloading YouTube videos as mp4 post, there is an easier way to do this. For any YouTube video that you would like to download just add “kick” to the YouTube.com part of the url, for example the above video is located at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Iz5_Xgw35A and so you can download this video by going to url http://kickyoutube.com/watch?v=4Iz5_Xgw35A and from the top after selecting your needed file format press “GO”.

Have a nice weekend :)

Effects : A+

Action : A+

Music : KickAss+ :)

Expectation : Very High :)

Love the trailer!!

Every sentence is a gem…

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

On behalf of Volunteer In Dubai

Dear All
“Reaching U” are organising an event at Jumeirah Beach Park on Saturday the 14th March from 2 – 6 and are looking for the support of both the business and citizen community.
This year HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has kindly offered her patronage and her presence for this event.
The aim of the reaching u Family Fun Day is a FREE day full of fun for children with Special Needs and main-stream children, to interact and to spread “awareness”; representing many nationalities of the UAE residents (Emirati as well as expatriate). The day is full of activities, including – DJ, Bouncy Castles, Obstacle Courses, Climbing Wall, Drumming, Art Work, Magic Shows, Theatrical Shows, Playing Games, Face & Henna Painting and many more...
If you wish to participate in the event we are looking for the following:
- Children’s Entertainers (Magicians – Clowns – Jugglers – Face Painters - etc)
- Corporate Sponsors (incl F & B)
- Volunteers to help on the day
- Photographers
- Families to come and participate!! (no need to email for that though just turn up on the day!!)
If you wish to get involved please send us an email on

Many thanks!
LOLA

It was long over due recognition :)

Best Original Song: A.R.Rahman for Jai…Ho

Best Original Score: A.R.Rahman

எல்லா புகழும் இறைவனுக்கே! (All the praises / credits to God)