502 hits Gmail

Google's mail service,Gmail had been down earlier for a significant amount of time causing panic amongst the reliable mail service which started 5 years back.

Google is the ultimate service provider as the ratings have been showing with their dominance in search engine business.However,Gmail's downtime has not gone down well with Google lovers.

Their other services such as Reader,Blogger etc. were working fine.The reason is still unclear and so is the time it was down for.

The page encountered a "502 Server Error" which despite many refreshes wasn't working.


Yahoo or Hotmail anyone?



UPDATE: There was an outage of two and a half hours in parts of Asia,North America and Europe.The reason is still being investigated by Google authorities.

WTF's: Boy married to dog and more..

From today onwards I would be starting a section on my blog entitled "WTF Section"(Yeah couldn't be easier than that!) where I would post some of the weirdest,most absurdest,most bizarre events that took place during the week but were secluded to the sides of the newspapers. This section would be updated every Sunday at noon(IST).

WTF NEWS

A little boy in Bhubhaneshwar,Orissa was married off to the neighbors' dog to prevent him from being killed by wild animals.

Now you might want to know why was he wedded off when he's underage?(let's try and ignore the fact that he's married off to a dog for now!)

The simple reason,he developed a tooth on his upper gum! The villagers apparently believe this is a bad omen and the tribal gods will bless the child and ward off any attacks by tigers and other animals in the future.

The local priest performed the marriage ritual at the temple by chanting Sanskrit hymns.The "marriage" was attended by around 150 tribals.

Although there are two positives from this WTF-ness,no dowry was exchanged and the boy can marry a human girl in the future without filing for divorce.

My questions are,Would the bitch file for monetary settlement in the future?
Can the bitch marry too without filing for divorce?

In the end,I would like to congratulate,Sagula(the groom) and Jyoti(the bride) and wish them a lifetime of happiness.

(Source : Reuters)

WTF PICTURE

You know those "Dummies guide to..." books that exist which range from technological topics to adoption to anger management.The topics sometimes seem a little weird to be having a whole book about.Don't get me wrong,they are wonderful books and work for everyone; from a newbie to a professional. Although they made a little error in their Instant messaging for dummies book. Check the image below.(Click image if it isn't clear)

Think there was something even more weird/absurd/bizarre than this?Was there something else which made you exclaim WTF!? Leave a comment.

Are you Male or Female?

Image Source : Streaming Cups of Coffee

There are numerous ways of finding out the answer to the question on the internet by playing some quizzes,solving puzzles but how about something different?Something for a writer?Something less tedious and mind boggling?Read on.

1.Using the websites that you visit : This sites' little script checks on your browser history to analyse if the sites that you recently visited are more manly or girly.Absurd I know,but its pure fun.Click here.

My result :




2.Your blog/website address : Now I have no clue as to how this site decides if you're male or female but then again we're just having fun,right? Click here.

My Result : 99% Female.Its like its bloody accurate,bah!

3.Your written content : It seems to be a rather tried and tested method.Paste your written content and then select if its fiction/non fiction or a blog entry.Now it may depend upon the content every time.I tried by pasting the content of my Paris Hilton's "goof-up" with the British PM.

My Result :

Try the above three methods and tell me what your results were!

Cricket : Adam Voges fabulous catch

I never imagined there would be a cricket related post here on my blog but then again classic events cannot be ignored,right?

Australia played New Zealand today in a T-20 game.At a crucial juncture of the game(19th over to be precise),Adam Voges took a fabulous catch on the rope.



For all those who are cricketically challenged,if you cross the boundary line then its six runs and the catch is counted invalid.For it to be a valid catch the person/fielder has to be on the playing field.As you see in the video,Voges isn't in total control of his body and is leaning towards the boundary which would have made it six runs.So he throws the ball in the air and returns to the playing field to catch it back,thus making it totally valid. Its a fabulous catch and deserves to be counted for great plays.ESPN are you listening?

Billu Barber : Reviewed

Billu Barber is the story of Billu played by Irfan Khan who is a small time barber based in Budbuda village.Income is meager as is displayed by Billu and his wife Bindiya(Lara Dutta) who somehow sustain and Billu has to keep convincing his kids' principal for more days to pay the school dues.

Things change for Billu when the country's biggest filmstar,Sahir Khan(Shahrukh Khan) reaches their village on a movie shoot.Word gets around that Billu and Sahir used to be childhood friends.This changes the attitude of the other villagers who used to mock Billu for his incapabilities to respect and school even offering to pay for their kids' education out of their fund,only with something in return - chance to meet Sahir Khan.

Bindiya loves the attention that she gets from other ladies and has no qualms about his "friendship" with Sahir Khan.Billu on the other hand gets caught up in further complication as the shoot nears completion and he still hasn't met Sahir Khan.

This makes the villagers realise that the story of him knowing Sahir Khan might just be cooked up after all,they turn hostile.Billu gets arrested and all the expensive gifts and royalties endowed upon him are taken away.

The climax of the movie is whether Billu would be able to meet his childhood friend or not.Also if he would recognise his now "just a barber" friend or not.

All in all,the movie is a Krishna-Sudama story set in present times with more style as elaborated by Shahrukh Khan's screen presence and the item numbers.Sometimes it just gets a little too slow and seems like a drag rather than keeping you intrigued and glued to your seats.

Shahrukh Khan's lip quivering speech in the end just doesn't get what it deserved.The characters could not have been related to.Item numbers could have been done away with.Shahrukh Khan isn't actually required in the movie to be honest.The movie was about the simpleness of Billu and his family and that could have been it.

If you must see it,see it for Irfan Khan's fabulous performance and for the little rib tickles here and there.Also for Deepika Padukone's item number which is a sizzler.Do look out for the scenes where Shahrukh talks about Khans in the industry and when Billu talks to a government officer if he would take bribes or no.

My rating : 2/5

IF Slumdog Millionaire had an Indian director

Slumdog Millionaire has had resounding success all over the world.Award nominations everywhere be it for the music or the direction.The movie has 10 Oscar and 11 Bafta nominations.It has had its share of criticism from Bollywood as well as the media.


There have been many comments about the recognition and success of the movie due to its Hollywood status despite the Indian/Bollywood setting.Which has raised the question of its level of success had it indeed been made by an Indian director.



WARNING : Text below might reveal the plot of the movie.So people who aren't from this planet and have been living in a cave for the past few weeks and haven't seen the movie and plan to,then don't read as yet.Read after you have seen the movie,its a must watch.

Sooraj Barjatya

Sooraj Barjatya is the ultimate king in slow and boring family movies.

• If Sooraj Barjatya had made this movie then the slum children would have been living all huddled up with their families.

• Saleem and Jamal would have been living with their families and would have been stinking rich.

• There would have been songs every now and then for no rhyme or reason!

• The adaption of Who wants to be a Millionaire? would in itself have taken two and a half hours!

• The character of Dev Patel would have been played by Salmaan Khan and the character would have been called Prem.

Mahesh Bhatt

• Mahesh Bhatt or Bhat(whichever he prefers now!) would have launched a ravishing girl in the movie.

• Freida Pinto would have worn some very questionable outfits in the movie.

• Here,the character of Dev Patel would have been played by Emraan Hashmi.

• Character of Dev Patel would first love Freida Pinto's character but then would fall out of love and find someone else.Then he would realise how its all been a big mistake and beg for forgiveness.

• The music would be totally fabulous,not sure if the same could be said for the movie though.

Ram Gopal Verma

• The movie would come and go and you wouldn't have a clue!

• The attempts to scare people in the gun battles and eye destruction would have been rather funny.

• Instead of appearing on the show to win a million bucks,character of Dev Patel would have joined a gang and engulfing in fierce gun battles with other groups.

• Freida Pinto's character would have been played by Urmila Matondkar.

• The slum kids would have rather preferred to take autographs of Daud Ibrahim than Amitabh Bachchan!

Now I wonder whose version would the audience prefer,Danny Boyle's or the Indian directors?Let me know!