Unnecessary Anniversary

The other day I came across an article on malapropism- Comical misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of similar sound. Reading the origin of the word was as interesting as the examples that followed. The word is related to Mrs. Malaprop, a comic character in an 18th century British comedy: The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan.


And I was reminded of this incident when my elder daughter was just five+. She wanted us to take her to a restaurant for dinner. “I want to go to the same restaurant we went that day.”
“Which restaurant do you want to go?” I queried.
She gave some vague description and I was not able to make out which one. Exasperated I asked, “Which day did we go there?”
“The one we went on your unnecessary day,” she promptly replied.
I was shell shocked, “You mean on our anniversary?” “It is pronounced as anni-ver-sa-ry not unnecessary.”
“Both are same, aren’t they?” she asked.
I stood speechless, while he roared with laughter.

Every anniversary we are reminded of her innocent confusion. Today she has developed good speaking skills, and she too laughs at the malapropism, “How could I say that?!”

World's Thinnest Laptop

Intel is soon launching its latest beauty; the world’s thinnest laptop. Ladies you may look at it as a fashion accessory. The dimensions of this supermodel are small but mind blowing.
The thickness barely 17.7mm and weighs just around 1 kg. The looks of this champagne colored magnesium laptop are enhanced with subtle gold accents. The laptop comes with diary like folder and is attached to it via magnets. The folders come in different colors, attach a shoulder strap to make it a purse and ladies can match with their accessories. The display is large and made of electronic paper; hard disk is based on flash memory and has a long battery life. Intel has taken care to fill the innards with its own efficient and speediest chips. Its always on connectivity feature is particularly appealing to the users. The connectivity is through Wi-Fi, EV-DO and WiMax. Other attractive features are small array microphones, enhanced security and finger print reader.

The launch is scheduled early next year and yes the price is not fixed. But you go ahead and place it on the list for Santa this holiday season.

Source: The thinnest laptop in the world from Intel

Green IT

The technology industry has become an essential and inseparable part of everyday life. The various information technology systems used are a significant contributor of waste to environment. Today the greening effort is picking momentum, thanks to the awareness created by voluntary organizations and Government bodies. The negative effects of the toxic e-waste have been so alarming that the IT industry is seriously considering managing and reusing the disposals.

What you can do:
1. Make your hardware vendors responsible for recycling and disposal. Encourage vendors to whom you can return the end-of-life equipment at no cost.
2. Donate useful used equipment after wiping out sensitive data.
Purchase low-power hardware whenever possible.
3. Do not use screen savers which are major culprits of power consumption.
4. The power saving features is not usually enabled default in your system. So take effort to leverage these features of your operating systems.
5. Next when you plan to upgrade, put power saving capabilities on your criteria list.
6. IT managers can contribute by using notebook and desktops that consume less power when in sleep or standby mode.
7. IT managers must question the vendors’ manufacturing processes. They must make queries related to use of environmentally sensitive materials and recycled plastics.
8. IT managers should consider desktop, storage and backup virtualization. This will free up valuable resources and save financially too.

Big companies are reducing the carbon emissions, recycling the waste that will take care of equipment obsolescence, using energy smart servers, and even “Plant a Free for Me” campaigns. Some of the IT giants who have made tremendous contributions to greening are:
1. Sun Microsystems encourage upgrade program, where customers can return the used equipment. A third party vendor dismantles these used equipment and returns useful parts back to Sun.
2. Apple and Microsoft have developed operating systems with power management features. These features can control computers’ energy consumption.
3. Chip manufacturers too have contributed. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has come out with a new quad-core processor. It doubles the power output when compared with dual-core processor while using the same amount of energy and thermal power.
4. Apple bans use of toxic substances like lead, cadmium, mercury and asbestos from its manufacturing process and has also stopped using CRT monitors which contain lead oxide and barium.
5. Virtualization software helps lower energy consumption and cost by reducing the number of machines and servers. It enables the deployment of many operating systems and applications on the same computer simultaneously.

The task is difficult no doubt, but a steady effort from all can surely make the environment greener.

Yercaud Flowers

Flowers have a language of their own and those who love flowers know this! You have one for every sentiment of yours and one for every occasion: love, humility, truth, longing, peace, memories and even retirement! Their silent eloquence is unbeatable.

When we halted the Horticultural research center at Yercaud, we didn't have the slightest inkling of the huge collection of plants and flowers we would find there. I had my Canon PowerShot A540, 6.0 Mega Pixels and 4x Optical Zoom. I used SCN Foliage shooting mode for most of the clicks and I got some amazing pictures. Here they are...

Blue carpet welcome...

Fire sparks...

Next time I intend to take a closer shot of a similar flower. The inner arrangement of the flower is inviting!

Smiley...


Dancing Fairies!

This single flower caught my attention. I experimented by focussing deep in to the flower....

Like a Wave!

Inside...

Hi!

Sweet Heart!

Tears of joy!

Tenderly yours!

Yellow fairy

...together

Symphony