I am disappointed with HP

Bought a HP Pavilion laptop a couple of years ago and as the first year warranty got over, this notebook started giving problems.
1. The battery used to get too hot and the system started getting shutdown.
2. I called HP and they told me the system was out of warranty but upgraded the BIOS and asked me to run some Power routines. Neither of the two helped.
3. Just to send the laptop for them to look at would cost me $100 plus whatever fix they do.
4. I opened the section close to the fan and found a lot of dirt/lint which might have been blocking the free flow of air. I cleaned it and the system seemed okay, for a while.
5. It boots and immediately shutsdown if I login.
6. Sometimes just keeping the system running without logging-in shuts it down.
7. The system only boots in the Safemode.
8. Even if the system comes up sometimes, it shuts down in just a few seconds of Symantec virus checker, if run.
9. It boots up right If I remove the power cord and run the system just on the battery power.
10. Looks like something related to the power controller, not sure if MB has a problem.

Overall, my experience with HP has been very frustrating. The so called "cheap" laptops do not turn out cheap anyhow. I have seen a little pricey IBM Thinkpads running for years even if they were dropped on the floor. I only thought HP sucked in the Unix server market but they do in the laptops too. Not sure someone from HP ever reads my blogs and only if they had genuine desire to help its customers.

Is Edwards running for Vice President?

My prophecy... Edwards is seems readying himself to endorse Hillary at some point and rather being a strong Vice President candidate of Clinton's.
BTW, the best answer from Democratic debateBy Sen. Obama: Most of us on the stage can accept to live on minimum wage because they have plenty.

India elects its first female President

First of all congratulations to Dr. Pratibha Patil for being the first female President of India. I would have liked to see Dr. Kalam re-elected but I guess he was not a Congress' loyalist. Good for him, he has better things to do. There is also a rumor of Dr. Ansari, an ex-Foreign Service officer, an Ambassador and a Padma Shree awardee to be nominated for Vice President. All accomplished and qualified nominations. The twist to all these is, in recent times Hindu Males have miserably failed in Indian Politics. There is no credible face appearing from the Indian National Congress, Anyone left from BJP is more or less look and sound fanatic or stupid. Left front has never had any credible central figure (God forbid if they produce one) and we would not want to go back to the regional politics of early 90's. The failure of Atal as a Prime Minister (Yes thats true - What happened in Gujarat was a national shame) has had long term affects on the local Indian politics and is going to be a trend for many years to come. But its good in many aspects too. Patriarchal hindu society has not been very successful in recent history. It has failed to address dowry and casteism - the two biggest evils facing the present Hindu society. Even some of the religious heads have turned out to be corrupt. Its an old Indian saying if the family fails, let the Mother lead the house.

The July'4th conversation

...With someone [A]

A: So you don't have to go to work today?
Me: No its off because of July'4th
A: Its US' Independence day, right?
Me: Yep
A: So are you planning to do anything today?
Me: I dunno. May be go to Cape May, a tourist town.
A: So how old is American Democracy?
Me: I guess more than 250 years old.
A: Vow! India is like a baccha (kid).
A: Who was Martin Luther King?
Me: He lead the Civil Rights Movement here. African Americans didn't 
have voting rights till 1965. Read his books he is very respected.
A: So were they Migrants?
Me: Yeah, but not like me on a Visa. They were American citizens.
A: Huh? They were American citizens and had no voting rights?
Me: Yep.
A: Then really America got its independence in 1965 right?
Me: Huh?

** I had no answer **

Two weeks later I have started to think thats what matters right? To continuously re-invent yourself? Getting independence every now and then? A free flowing water never smells bad.

10 thingy about Me

[Have been tagged so have to disclose 10]:
1. I love dark Red, Navy blue and Military Green colors.
2. I have started working thrice on products which I thought were great ideas. Never completed them and later found highly publicized products being launched by bigger companies. I found, its something to do with common problems.
3. I don't like thin and skinny models.
4. I love Dogs (except Pit Bulls) and thought to get one twice in last 10 years.
5. I hate arrogant people.
6. I am an impulsive shopper. Love to go to Garage Sales and Flea markets.
7. Simple little things move me. Would not care about the house but a well made table lamp.
8. Greencard is one issue that touches my aching nerve.
9. I was a very sharp Chess Player in my childhood. Now, I am scared to look at it.
10. I avoid taking any written exams.

The bus this close...

was dangerous.... I had to shoot!

Google Cookies - U care?

The Google cookies' will now be deleted after two years of the visit instead of year 2039 as was set before. Do you care? If Privacy is an issue, you can always go and selectively delete all the cookies of Google from the browser. And what does a cookie do anyway? It can only keep track of your Googlization and nothing else. And what if the cookie expires after two years? Are you not planning to visit the site(s) with in the two years of the first surf? And even if you don't, the cookie (A text entry) is not going to collect your "private" data and send it to the Google. Why to perceive a cookie as an "evil" empire? Are we inherently fearful or what? The evil empire would know what my surfing habits are... Big deal! Doesn't your local grocer know what you buy?

Met Elisabeth Von Trapp today..

Went to a Symphony Orchestra today and saw Elisabeth Von Trapp sing. Met her later and got her autograph. I think everyone remembers Maria Von Trapp and Sound of Music, don't we all? Elisabeth is her grand daughter and sang songs like "My Favorite things", "Kaiulani" and "All I ask of you" a duet with Michael Hope. A powerful voice and a lovely evening.

Godfather in Gorakhpuri

Not for my English friends. WTH, its not for all of my Indian friends either. The story is in a local dialect we call Gorakhpuri or simplified bhojpuri. Here it goes:

एक थो एकदम्मे बड़ा माइकल कहिके गुंडा रहल. एकदम्मे टॉप का गुंडा. बहुते पैसा, पॉवर बंगला गाड़ी रहल उहके पास. खुदा सब दिहले राहिलें पर ऊ एक बिटवा चाहत रहा. बिटिया रहिल पर ओकरे मन में ई खटका हमेशा रहत रहा की ई सब जमीन जैदाद के समल्हिये? बिटिया एक दम्मे बौड़म. कुछ जानत वानत नहीं रही दुनिया दरी के बारे माँ, बस एक लोफ़र टाइप के लर्कवे से मुहब्बत करत रही. पर उकरे दुश्मंवे सार चुप थोड़े ही रहले. ऊ पूरा परिवार निकलत रहा पूजा पाठ करिके, फिर ऊ गोली ऊ बारूद चला की का बतैयें. मैकलवा तो झुक के बच गईल, बिटिया के मालूमे नहीं चला की का होवत रहा, बस गोली लाग गई और ऊ तो वहीँ ढेर. ओकरे बाद माइकल ऐसन रोवा की का कहें. बाकी मंनैवे भाग लीहन, ई उधर ऊ उधर. ऊ लरकावा भी गोली निकार दौड़े लगा पर सब भाग गइलें गाड़ियाँ से एइल रहलें. एकरा पूरे खन्दन्वेइ सार गोली बारूद गुंडा गर्दी में रहलें. ओहका बाप भी बहुते टॉप का बदमाश रहा. बुढ़ा गैएइल रहा फिर भी सार बतावत रहा बिटवा के की का करत चाही का नाही. ऊ तो शुर्वात्ते में कट-पीस बेचत रहा गली गली. और ऐसन भइल एक दिन की एक मोहल्ला में रहत रहा भाई करके, ऊ हफ्ता वाफ्ता वसूलत रहा सबसे. ई बेचत रहा कपड़ा की इहके मिलल ऊ और पुछलस काहें पैसा वैसा नाही भिजवात रहा टाइम पे. पर ई तो एक दम्मे गरम मिजाज. पैसा वैसा बाद माँ ई तो ओकरे ही गोली दाग दिहिस. फिर का? सब बड़े भैयी बड़े भाई हो गैयिलें. एक्कै अंतर रहा ईहमे और उहके बपवा माँ, बपवा सार मानत रहा भाई, दोस्त. लइकवा त सबके मर दर्लस। न भैयी देख्लाल न बंधू, जेके मन से उतर्लस बस ठोंक दिहिस. यी पाप कहाँ जाई भैया? सब उहके बिटिया के मिलल.

Voice in Opera

I liked two features in the Opera browser, first the way selective history can be removed. Not sure, why Mozilla or IE has not done it yet. The second was its' Voice enabled browsing. I am a little disappointed when I try to enable the voice. It keeps asking me to download the binaries. Even after the download and install, the browser keeps asking to redownload when the feature is enabled in the perference. How stupid can a browser be? The other problem is how the Java is handled. I have JDK1.5 and any applet is never shown. I am sure there are resolutions to these issues but because I have so many other options, Mozilla, Safari and IE7 I have no reason to put my time on Opera to fix these issues. So I am almost ready to uninstall it and free up about 20MB of space.

Why Mitt Romney has a chance?

I do not have a voting right here so I can be an independent non-prejudiced eyes. I started as and still a big fan of Obama. But lately I have been analyzing why among this group, Mitt Romney has a much better chance.
For Obama I think he is peaking at the wrong time. I don't think he can secure a good support among the traditional southern votes. When it will matter, Obama - A great thinker, a visionary and an assertive and no-dirty politician will easily be looked as just one strong African American leader. Would be bad, but..
If Hillary wants to get serious she has to get out of Bill's shadows. Bill's mentioning "My Wife" in Iowa for Hillary did not help either. Its true, but for her to be the President, he has to be her Husband.
John Edwards is not even the strongest Dem candidate. I don't think he is going too far.
McCain and Guilliani suffer from the same deficiency. They are looked at from a very narrow perspective. Their position on Economy, international policy and other domestic issues are not clear. Even though their position on security is well known and strong.
If there was any hope of Al Gore running, his son has today killed it.

Now, why does republicans still have a strong case? Simple... Because the Terrorism is not dead. What happened in Glasgow will reverberate in this elections. The incident proves that there are still elements who want to hurt us in anyways possible. The democrats are still far behind in giving a strong solution to this problem. When it comes to the security, speculations and hope does not help. Pulling out of Iraq does not guarantee anything. US presence in that region does. The position of Mitt Romney on various issues are very clear. His recent popularity also reflects the same. So, if me being a judge of America got talent, I will choose Romney and Obama to go to the next round. And let the public decide.

Paris to Libby

[From Bollywood Movie Deewar]
Paris Hilton: I have mansions, luxury cars, Thick bank balance, Papparatzis. What do you have?
Libby: I have George Bush!

-> See who goes to Jail?

Tony Blair had proposed in the Toilet

"Tony Blair proposed to Cherie while she was on her knees cleaning a toilet, she has revealed in a BBC One documentary." ...Read More. Bad boy Tony you should have cleaned yourself. Either way, how romantic!