It’s been a while I have been on Fark. Everytime I stop by, I just laugh my ass off. Here are a few headlines that caught my eyes today:

• Dumbass: If you plan to shoplift from a store, be sure you don’t leave behind any evidence that can tie you to the crime. Like your son. Awkward [link] - oh crap!
  
• PSA: Apparently needs to be said: If two strangers in a parking lot offer you “a large sum of money” in return for your savings account information, do not give it to them [link] - this one needs to go into the dumbass category
  
• Interesting: Remember how those nifty $50 fluorescent bulbs were going to solve America’s dependency on foreign oil? Turns out they will actually kill us while we sleep [link] - not everything is as it seems to be.
  
• Amusing: Pics of what happens when an ATM malfunctions and starts giving out twice the amount of cash customers request. “It makes up for all the bank charges, I guess” [link] - I really wouldn’t want to be the guy/gal who programmed that machine. Check out the pictures of the long line at that ATM. I know i would have been there in that line.
  
• Silly: Man illegally poaches deer from his bathroom. And that’s not even the weird part [link] - wow!
  

Get NCAA Scores by RSS

March madness is on and you can keep track of NCAA scores during the day via RSS feeds from a cool service, TotallyScored.com. You could get the scores by Sport or by team too if you don’t care about rest of the sports or teams than the one you are interested in.

The WWW Blog Contest

It’s been a while since I posted about contests. The WWW Blog is hosting a cool contest with prizes worth over $350 in value! This includes some cool cash prizes from sponsors, a chance to win some advertising space, some hosting packages, etc. Chetan is a dental student but has an interest in SEO, blogs and even a bunch of web directories as well. I like his style of writing and have subscribed to his RSS feed as he talks a bit about technology, mac apps, seo etc. Pretty much the stuff I like to read about. The contest ends on march 23rd and make sure you get your entries in before that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hello newcomer, did I say welcome to ShanKri-la yet? Before you move on, just wanted to thank you for visiting and we hope you come back and see us again!

The esteemed guest author (hint hint.. you should come back to write, Peter) and a great friend of mine, Pedro sent me these videos this week.

Disclaimer: If you are an animal lover or for that matter fish lover, it may not be pleasant viewing for you.

And this..

I am not a sushi eater. I guess for some it’s art and for some it’s cruelty. One thing I can say for sure is that it’s gotta suck to be in the lower end of the food chain.

What do you think?

It definitely would have been far from fun for the passengers in this Lufthansa flight. This A320 flight was caught in the crosswind and was almost blown over. When I saw it all I could say was wow! I really wouldn’t want to be on that plane.

They are guessing the wind speed when that gust almost tipped the plane over but I guess we have to give the pilot credit to get the plane off the ground again for another try..

I heard a piece on NPR radio where the host talked to the author of the book Beyond the Black Box: The Forensics of Airplance Crashes. You can hear it here.

On a side note, I let ShanKri-la’s first birthday pass by silently (Feb 26th was my first post last year). That’s because I actually registered the domain in Sep 06 but didn’t really start blogging until Feb’07. It’s been a great year of learning and I hope to learn even more in the coming year and share my finds with you. Thanks for staying with me.. looking forward to another great year!

I swear I am not a Star Wars fan. I did talk about a Darth Vader hot air balloon last friday and this week I have more Star War stuff.

Here is Star Wars according to a 3-year old!

I am sorry if you have already seen this video making the rounds this week but I couldn’t help but post about it here. My wife and I watched her atleast a dozen times already and no wonder the video has registered over 3.3+ million views already!

‘Darth Vader will GETCHA!’ is priceless! She IS going to be famous someday!.

Friday is a day when I try to steer off my usual tech ramblings and look at some fun things. I am going highlight a few things that caught my attention this week and hopefully of some interest to you.

Free Wi-Fi at Starbucks for AT&T Customers

AT&T is partnering with Startbucks to offer free Wi-Fi to their DSL customers at any of the zillion err.. about 7000 Starbucks locations in the US. Being a AT&T DSL subscriber, this is sweet news for me! I think it’s planned to be in effect sometime this spring. Ashley of CyberNet News reports that Starbucks ditched a 6-year partnership with T-Mobile to go with AT&T. Does iPhone wielding coffee drinkers flocking Starbucks have anything to do with it?

Get Digsby Private Beta Invite Code

Digsby is a multi-system instant messaging client for Windows and is making the rounds in the blogosphere this past week. Webware is offering a private beta download with the code CNET here. I haven’t had a chance to try this yet but I am already having fun with the SamePlace Firefox Extension.

Find out how much Uncle Sam is sending you this May (and a free e-book)

JD of Get Rich Slowly, an awesome personal finance blog, talks about and links to a calculator to find out how much of a tax rebate we can expect from Uncle Sam this May. I started making plans for that money even when the bill hadn’t been signed into law.

While we are talking finance, you can grab a free e-book, Women & Money by Suze Orman for free at Oprah’s site. The link doesn’t seem to have been pulled but you can still download it from here. My wife says this is much more interesting though.

Darth Vader Hot Air Balloon

Wow.. Start Wars fans have done it again and have one-upped their previous achievements. Check out this awesome hot air balloon and read the details of it at /Film. There is even a video of it in action. Check it out.

World Press Photo Award Winners of 2007

Photographs can capture time and emotions so vividly and WorldPress Photo Awards have announced their winners for 2007. Check out the awesome pictures taken from around the world here. The images at that site are small and are much better here at Google Blogoscoped if you just want to look at the pictures.

I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend with a couple of home projects to get done.

Have a great weekend!

Are you into watching some good movies? How about the five Oscar Nominees for Best Picture? How about all five in one day?

Yes, AMC Theaters are showing all five Oscar Nominees for Best Picture in one day at select theaters around the country (sorry US only) on Saturday Feb 23rd. Every year, AMC theaters run a special called AMC Best Picture Showcase where they show five films nominated for Best Picture in one day for $30. You get a free large popcorn and unlimited refills. Even if you aren’t a movie buff you could probably tell this is a great deal.

You have to check to see if there is a theater near you that is participating in this special.

Here is the schedule of films if you are interested:

• Michael Clayton 11:00am (ends at 1:00pm)
• There Will Be Blood 1:20pm (ends at 4:00pm)
• Atonement 4:20pm (ends at 6:23pm)
• Juno 7:00pm (ends at 8:36pm)
• No Country for Old Men 9:00pm (ends at 11:12pm)

How about 12 hours of movies? I have seen 3 movies back to back and I’m not sure if I’d do it again. But, there is a really good mix of movies here. Although, some movies are best enjoyed when you have time to replay the scenes in your head and enjoy the brilliance of the director, the screenplay or a funny moment. With this kind of schedule, I might come out at the end of the day with scenes from different movies mixed up in my head!!

In fact, my wife and I just watched Atonement just this Tuesday and we loved it. If there was one thing that stuck with me from the movie, it was the background score where the sound of typewriter grows in pace in a rhythm & flows into music. Absolutely brilliant! I haven’t seen the other four and I’m really tempted.

Would you be going to the AMC showcase?

[via /Film]

I don’t have much of personal info in the About page and figured this might be a good time to share some with you.

I chose to do a 31 random things about me as I am stepping into my 31st year today, the 31st.. And it turned out to be the hardest one to write.

1. I was born in Chennai, India
2. I am 30 today
3. I love travelling and if I won the lottery, I know exactly where I’ll go first
4. I have a bachelors in Chemical Engineering and a masters in Computing Info Systems
5. I live in East Lansing, Michigan in the U.S. with my loving wife Priya. Go Spartans!
6. I have been married to Priya for 801 days
7. I have a little brother & a sister living in Chennai.
8. My parents live in Chennai too in the house I grew up.
9. Our house is less than a mile from the airport and grew up watching airplanes flying in and out of the airport from our terrace.
10. Our current house in E.Lansing is 5 miles from the airport and I still love to watch the airplanes fly in and out from our deck in summer nights.
11. I can’t ski but enjoy long walks with my wife.
12. I love playing pool even though I am not good at it.
13. I play in a BCA 8-ball pool league (in my 7th season).
14. I love playing volleyball - I am in a long break since Sep after an ankle sprain.
15. I drive a Mitsubishi Eclipse - always wanted a sports car!
16. I enjoy bowling. I once scored 222 on a Thanksgiving day just to see my buddy score 223.
17. I never played any kind of sport for the best part of my life.
18. I like cooking but hate cleaning up after.
19. I enjoy fiction - Irving Wallace, Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum, Michael Crichton kind of books and an occasional book like ‘The World is Flat’.
20. I can’t swim well but love to be in the water.
21. I am very bad at returning phone calls. Friend, if you haven’t heard from me just know it’s not personal. I’m just lazy at that.
22. I love nature and Grand Canyon has to be the best place I have been to.
23. I registered ShanKrila.com in Sep 2006 in hopes of creating our family website with pictures & such. ShanKri-la is a play on the word - Shangri-la. shan being a part of my wife’s name and the K, is of course me.
24. I love movies - comedy, mystery, drama & action. For a geek, I really don’t enjoy Sci-fi as much. Recent favorite - Charlie Wilson’s War. All time favorite - Forrest Gump.
25. Favorite actors - Rajnikanth (tamil), Tom Hanks, Will Smith & Adam Sandler.
26. Favorite actresses - Asin (tamil), Catherine Zeta Jones & Julia Roberts.
27. I wear a lot of hats in my day job and love it. No, I am not a male model. Far from it, actually.
28. I am running out of things to write.
29. My favorite food - Lamb Briyani (a spicy aromatic Indian rice dish). Obvious plug: SpicyTasty.com - the best Indian Recipes site. Ever. (honey, did you read this?)
30. My favorite cuisine - Indian (surprise!), Mexican, Thai & Italian.
31. I am Karthik Ramadoss. Nice to meet you too.

Priya & Karthik

If this hasn’t put you to sleep, I don’t know what will. Thanks for sticking along with me and you are the reason I am blogging.