‘War on Terror’ - a Failure 

[Courtesy http://www.gracejunction.com/]

 

Like every other civilised person I was horrified by the senseless carnage that occured in Mumbai this week. The slaughter of innocent people can never be justified irrespective of who commits these hideous crimes.One fact is very clear however, the so called “War On Terrorism” can never be won! That may sound like I am prepared to hoist a white flag in our efforts to eliminate this scourge. Far from it, the battle has got to continue but I humbly suggest that the way this “War” is being waged only encourages would be terrorists to join the fight against who they see as their oppressors.

This opinion is based on the indisputable fact that while terrorism has existed since time immemorial, it has increased dramatically since George W Bush proclaimed his war on it post 9/11. Think of Bali, London, Madrid, Istanbul and countless others before the latest outrage in Mumbai. How many other failed attempts has there been which we never get to hear about?Add to these the hundreds of attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan the majority of which were carried out by the same terrorists that the US invaded both countries with a mission to eliminate them.When war is waged it cannot be expected to be a one sided conflict. It has to be fought against an enemy which will be guaranteed to fight back with whatever means they may possess. If that has to include suicide bombings and terrorist acts so be it because it’s all they have to fight back with. I would even suggest that had Australia been invaded 20 years ago instead of 200, the native aborigines would have been very likely to respond with the very same methods.

You may wonder why people are willing to sacrifice their lives in a war which they have no hope of winning militarily. The answer may well lie in their belief that a grave injustice was perpertrated upon them. Make no mistake about it, while most people can learn to live with poverty, lack of opportunities and even degredation, a deep sense of injustice can be a far more powerful motivation.Unfortunately, the world is still full of injusticies whether we look at Palestine, Tibet, Chechnya, Kashmir or dozens of others including the Australian aborigines.So where does the solution lie? How can the scourge of terrorism be eliminated? I certainly don’t claim to have an answer but what is absolutely clear is that “The War On Terror” is definately not it.Maybe, just maybe, our leaders can put aside their political prejudices and try looking outside the box. Instead of a negative “War On Terror” they can attempt to instigate a “War On Injustice”. My sixth sense tells me that this could be a war which will even gain the support of potential terrorists.

refer :  http://www.gracejunction.com/blog/war-on-terror-a-failure/

Whyyyy the fires burn ?

An abstract becomes a reality

1st DECEMBER 2008

Terrorism - of any kind - on any one cannot be pardoned. Bombay has, yet again, fallen victim to terrorist attacks. While the terrorist attacks on South Bombay, specifically in the Taj and the Oberoi/Trident, may not be the "worst" we have had, terrorism is terrorism. Murder is murder. It cannot be condoned. In March 1993 a series of bomb attacks knocked out the Bombay Stock Exchange, battered the Air India building, but the attacks were scattered all over Bombay. More than 250 people were killed in those attacks. In August 2003, two taxis filled with explosives blew up in the Zaveri Bazaar area, also in South Bombay: 50 people lost their lives. In July, 2006 bombs ripped through the trains across Bombay - including those in South Bombay: 209 people died. 10 people die every day on the train tracks in Bombay - that is over 3,600 people every year are killed by an uncaring government entity. That is terrorism of the bureaucracy. There is one farmer committing suicide every 30 minutes in India; over 50 every day. There have been 150,000 suicides by farmers in India between 1997 and 2005. One out of every five farmers is from the state of Maharashtra. That is terrorism by the government. 8 people have died every day in Kashmir for the past 18 years. That is 6,570 days of terror in Kashmir. Bombay had its 60 hours of terror; Kashmir has had 157,680 hours of terror - and still counting. While these are larger terrorist attacks - in some cases perpetrated by the failure of government - they were an abstract for most of us living in South Bombay. A statistical data point that made it to page 5 of the newspapers in South Bombay as we went along with our daily lives. Till we saw the Taj and Oberoi/Trident in flames. Now we are in a rage. "Anger tends to cloud judgement" said Mahatma Gandhi. So, while we - rightfully - scream for blood, maybe it is time to step back and see what the origins of some of these problems are. Why fires burn Any act of violence or terrorism should lead to 3 questions: 1) what caused the person to be violent? 2) could we have protected ourselves from that act of violence? 3) what can we do to prevent this from occurring again - or improving the response? One can write a book on this. And still get it wrong. Some commentators have blamed the surge in Islamic terrorism on the Palestinian issue. Some on Kashmir. Some blame it on the export of the Wahabi version of Islam practiced by the Saudi Arabians who are enriched with petro-dollars. Some blame it on the fact that Muslims in India are at the lower end of the wealth spectrum. Some blame it on lack of education. Some say the Hindu mobs that destroyed the Babri Masjid were frustrated and fed up with the slow government - they were terrorists. Some say the Hindu terrorists who destroy churches are retaliating against the Christians for their forced conversions. An eye for an eye, said the Mahatma, merely makes the whole world blind. I have no love for countries that support terrorists - or religious leaders and politicians who mis-interpret their religion so that they can bless violence. But pointing fingers at Pakistan for everything that goes wrong in India is the easy way out. When we "blame" someone there is an implicit assumption that we are all looking after our own people and this "foreign hand" is messing us up. Terrorists carry a country’s passport as an identity card - to cross borders - not because they believe in the laws. Has anyone asked Sri Lanka whether they think that India is a terrorist state? There have been reports that training camps in India have helped the Tamil Tigers in their fight against the Sinhalese. Does that make India a terrorist state? Or do we pardon that because we have many Tamils in India? And if we are a "terrorist state" according to Sri Lanka, what are we doing about it? Or do we ignore them because they are a small nation and we are 50 times their size? Members of the underworld are known to be harboured in many countries in the middle east. Have we banned Indian businesses and labourers from going to those countries? Do we stop the Indian cricket matches that are played there? Are we silent because we need their oil? If Pakistan was to have a huge oil and gas discovery tomorrow and they agreed to sell it to India - would we change the way we view Pakistan? We have many home-grown terrorists. The Naxalites are fighting for a redistribution of the wealth of land. What is "foreign" about them? The Naxalites have grown in might because the Indian government has not delivered on the promises laid out in the Preamble and the Constitution. Corruption of our laws Our governments and systems have been corrupted by the willingness of those governed to break the law - and then buy their way to innocence. It takes two hands to clap. It takes two to be involved in corruption: the giver and the taker. So, when I see some industrialists and businessmen on TV blaming the government and the politicians the question to be asked is: have you ever been a part of the "system" and been a partner to corruption? If a politician knows that he needs to generate one business deal a month for his businessmen friend - on which he gets a nice cut - why should he worry about the voters and the people? When the next election comes, all the policitian needs to do is bribe the voters with a few gifts - which the corruption money can easily buy. The political system is not judged based on what they have "delivered" to the voters every day over their 5 year tenure. They are judged on the spoils they share with their henchmen and the voters in election month. And they are willing - like an efficient prostitute - to sell their bodies to the highest bidders: many times a day. Let’s take the example of this clamour to protect India’s coast line. In 1993, argue those on TV, boats were used to transport RDX that were used in the Bombay blasts. Yet - we are told by these indignant businessmen on the various TV channels - 15 years later there is nothing done to protect India’s coast line. But India does have a law about its coastline. It says that there can be no construction within 500 metres of the sea. The law may not be a good law and it is disliked by many - but it is a law. Drive along the coast of western India and see how many homes and buildings are within this 500 metre zone? The ones that were constructed after the law came into force stand aloof because things have been "taken care of". One you have injected a bag of cash into the system, why should the local policeman or local administrator or college clerk or tax officer restrict the cash-taking habit only to the bag of money that you have to offer? Your willingness to pay a bribe to break the law, has given the administrator the opportunity to set up a parallel business with its own parallel economy. So, the next time he is asked to look the other way when 2 speed boats head out to sea to pick up a cargo from a ship 4 nautical miles off the coast of Bombay, the only question to be asked is: how much will you pay me? He does not need to know what the cargo is; or what it is being used for; or by whom. Just like he does not need to know how large a home you wish to build within the 500 metre restricted coastal zone. When a college issues a fake identity card, it is because - somewhere in the system - there was a breakdown. Maybe some rich son’s kid wanted to go to a bar even before he reached the legal age limit. No problem, he works the system. He hears about how the father works the system every night at home over dinner. Of course, somewhere down the line a fake college identity card may be sold to a terrorist trying to blow up a hotel in South Bombay. There are rules in Bombay about the time that bars and clubs must close. Like the coastal zone rule, it is disliked. But it is a law. Drive around at night in Bombay and you will see bars open till later than what the law states. Things have been taken care of. The law enforcer has been bought. If the enforcer can be paid to look the other way to keep a bar open beyond legal times, how much would it cost to look the other way as a van or truck winds its way down the roads of South Bombay? Is the enforcer going to ask: do you have Ak-47’s and grenades in there? Does the enforcer ask the bar owner: do you declare your earnings to the tax department or do you serve hooch or foreign liquor? The Special Economic Zones and the large real estate development projects? Were they policies built on a transparent process? Or were these another way of those with good connections getting what they want? And then we wonder why the Naxalites are gaining power. Helping people break the law - or create laws that help a few - has become the major focus of many politicians and administrators in modern India: they get paid well for it. Bribing the enforcers of law has become our birthright. We are Indian. So, if you really want India to get on the right track: stop paying bribes. In fact, if someone asks you for a bribe send a letter to the editor of all major newspapers in the country naming that person, why they wanted the bribe, and how much they wanted. And, yes, if the TV channels had to get an honest declaration of "I have never paid a bribe" from people they invited on their shows, there would be a different breed of panellists on the talk shows. Marginalise the politicians, not the political process You don’t want the rule of the army. You want a democracy. So you must not change the political process of elections, but you can change who stands for elections. There have been many suggestions made by others that sound pretty good: 1) remove all security cover given to every politician - then truly those who wish to serve India will be counted; 2) your state of origin has no meaning in India or in any election speech and if that is the platform of any party, they should be barred from the electoral process - the NSG commandoes and the Marine Corps did not check the id cards of the people they saved to see if they were Maharshtrians, Gujaratis, of foreigners. They went about the job of saving people at the cost of their lives; 3) politicians cannot visit the site of any terrorist attack - unless they are willing to go unarmed and unescorted to meet the terrorists while they are still alive and well armed. 4) every major metro city must have a NSG-type force of 400 people; this will improve the response time for any future terrorist attack. And these units should not be in control of the state politicians - they report directly to head of the NSG, who reports to the head of the army. 5) the 6 Australian commandos on vacation - with no weapons - who rescued 150 people from the Taj Rooftop showed us what a well-prepared local force can do; time to get training from the Israelis, Australians, UK, and US commando units. And if any political party does not like it, send them on a boat ride to Karachi. Equip the boat with a GPS to ensure they reach Karachi. There is hope When we saw the image of the joy on the face of the terrorist at the train station, we realise we are not dealing with a human being. He looked like a bowler who had just taken the prized wicket of a star batsman. But the trophy here was the life of an innocent. We are dealing with an unknown army of people incapable of remorse and driven by misguided passions. But even though we know the raging response this time around stems from the fact that the island city of South Bombay is now officially a part of India, the fact is that there is anger. And anger, channelled with calm thought, can lead to wonderful change. We need to recognise that terrorism is not going to disappear. But one can lessen the impact by: 1) having the NSG forces in every major metro city will reduce the time factor for the response. 2) allowing the enforcers of the law to freely enforce the law will improve the efficiency of the police and the local governments. They can focus on their work. 3) Giving the media one common, controlled feed from one camera reducing confusion and reducing the risk of educating the enemy. The media will always look for the breathless excitement of breaking news. We saw the same pictures on all the TV channels - they may have shown images that gave the terrorists a clue as to what was about to happen. In a time of crises, the government (through DD) may as well generate a common footage and let the various channels give their independent opinions and have their independent studio interviews. The NSG can give a news briefing every 2 hours. The lack of time stamps on every image drew a fine line between news and "confuse". It seemed like the Taj Palace hotel had burnt down a hundred times. "Enough is enough" said NDTV and the hundreds of people they spoke to. Here are a few snippets of what the people said on NDTV and CNN-IBN: These are symbols of what we stand for...I walked through this hotel just to feel good...and I will be more than happy to help... If the politicians were to come here today, they would be killed We are a lawless people; we have no respect for the law. And my favourite: Karkare’s wife refuses help from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. You cannot eradicate terrorism, but we can defeat it by continuing to live life normally. And we can help remove the reasons for home-grown or foreign terrorism by eliminating corruption and weeding out the politicians who have debased the political process.

Tiffin Box

“Abbu khudaa hafiz”, said Munir as he left the house for his school.
“Just take care of yourself beta”, said Moin, as he closed the door of the shanty. Munir’s school was in a HINDU- dominated area called Vejalpur. The wounds of 2002 riots were still afresh in Moin’s mind, as he saw his 10-year-old Munir running with his school bag towards Ronak, his best friend who was waiting on the ‘border’ – the name given to the crossroads between Vejalpur and Juhapura. Juhapura – the muslim dominated ghetto of Ahmedabad, and probably the largest muslim ghetto in entire Asia. But for Munir, these facts didn’t matter; only his home did.
Six years had passed since Moin came to Juhapura; after losing his wife in the infamous Gujarat riots. Munir was too small to even know what riots meant. And no matter how old he grows, he still wouldn’t know the meaning. Not for Moin though… Moin epitomized hatred for Hindus. The riots took away his home, his business and his wife. The revenge factor, added to his dictionary by the so-called Muslim clerics, had seeped in deep.

“Abbu… I am back”, said Munir as he threw his bag and flung himself on Moin. “Mera Beta… Ok tell me, what did you learn today in the school?”
“Well, we learned about Indian constitution… All Indians are equal… and constitution gives equal rights and opportunities to all Indians irrespective of his caste or religion and”…
“BULLSHIT”, said Moin, as he shook off Moin’s arms from his shoulders “It’s all there in the text books only… Bloody double standards… Anyways, what else did you do…?”
“Abbu, I want a tiffin box”
“Tiffin box?? Why?? You already have one na?”
“No Abbu, I want one with a Spiderman sticker on it. Ronak has it too… Please Abbu!”
“But beta, you know our financial condition… And Ronak comes from a rich family… and why won’t he… He is a well earning HINDU afterall… It’s always we who suffer when a…”
“No-No Abbu I want a spiderman tiffin box”, Munir cut his father short.
“Ok, let me see… Give me some time.”
Munir always had fascination towards tiffin boxes. During his lunch break, he used to observe kids opening their tiffin boxes, and used to get amused of their reactions. For Munir, a tiffin box symbolized love of a mother – something he was always devoid of. All his dad could fill in the tiffin box was roasted grams; cheap and easily available. In fact, Munir’s classmates had nicknamed Munir as Gram-boy because of his tiffin box.
Two days after Munir’s demand, his father gifted him a bright red color Tiffin Box with a Spiderman on it. Munir’s joys knew no bounds. Not one, but his dad had got three such tiffin boxes, all red ones with a Spiderman on it. Listening to his dad talking to his friends, later did he realize that the other two tiffin boxes were meant for dad for some official purpose. He even overheard his father saying to another guy who too had a long beard, “The first one will be at LG Hospital and the second one at Maninagar Railway station.”
The next day Ahmedabad was rocked with two consecutive serial blasts – one at LG Hospital, and the other at a governmental school at Vejalpur, where a kid died and several got injured. An abandoned tiffin box at Maninagar Railway Station created lot of panic, only to the surprise of the police to find nothing but ROASTED GRAMS in it.



You may view the latest post at
http://www.gracejunction.com/blog/tiffin-boxauthor-atiq-khan/




Courtesy : www.gracejunction.com


My view :-->>>


I've seen a lot of people in my acquaintances who have openly expressed their non-secular nature and also gone on to abuse other religion... I know people are getting killed,... I know someday maybe even I may end up in the death-list. But does this justify the hate ? I, for one, have never seen the difference in the beutiful smile of a child, irrespective of religion. I had decided after the 2002 riots that I'll be and remain secular till the end of my life. Maybe i am incapable or even a coward to not hate,... But I find myself incapable to hate a human-being just because of his religion. Once again, I know that I cannot and will never be able to change the world,... But i can be a difference atleast.


Living in the city area of Ahmedabad, I've come to experience the perceptible fear hanging in air and the lack of information numbing human brains till the point of desperation. It was a point of utter chaos. Streets silent and painted lacked their point of existence during those times. I was not a child back then and my faculties were developed enough to allow me to think. I still see myself waving at Army trucks doing a flag march in the sensitive areas... I was in one. I was afraid,...


Its was a time of no hope. Seemed like our government and law & order, normally inefficient, had ceased to exist in all proximity... The worst of all was the reputed "Indian Media"... They showed inflammatory images again and again. Reports were constantly disturbing and depressing. It is sad that people still die in my country for apparently no reason whatsoever inspite of we being world's largest Parliamentry democracy...


It was a time when man ceased to be human,... There is much to say but i'll stop now. Its for you to decide whether you are going to remain an irrational extremist or a secular self-respecting individual person. And I am quite sure that any book of religion; whether the QUORAN, BIBLE or GITA, doesn't tolerate the killing... Not even for religion. Killing is comparatively quite easy,... I pray to god to help me conquer my hatred. I'll chose to be a human being rather than being a Hindu before I die... As that is what my religion teaches me. To love,...

Finally Micro-Shit comes up with something truely gr8 and respect-worthy !!!

DreamSpark Launched In India!!!! Get Your Dream Tools Free Today!!

 On 5^th November 2008, Microsoft unveiled DreamSpark - a software give-away for an estimated 10 million eligible students in India. DreamSpark will provide students access to the latest Microsoft developer and designer tools at no charge.

Addressing students and academicians at IIT Delhi – where the DreamSpark program was unveiled - Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corp, said, “We want to do everything we can to equip a new generation of technology leaders with the knowledge and tools they need to harness the magic of software to improve lives, solve problems and catalyse economic growth. Microsoft DreamSpark provides professional-level tools that we hope will inspire students like you to explore the power of software and encourage you to forge the next wave of software-driven breakthroughs.”
Microsoft DreamSpark will be available to all students whose studies touch on technology, design, math, science and engineering. The software available to students will include:

Microsoft developer tools

• Visual Studio 2005 Express
• Visual Studio 2005 Professional
• Visual Studio 2008 Professional
• Visual Basic 2008 Express
• Visual C++ 2008 Express
• Visual C# 2008 Express
• Visual Web Developer 2008 Express
• XNA Game Studio 2.0
• 12-month free Academic membership in the XNA Creators Club

Microsoft designer tools
Expression Studio 2, including
o Expression Web
o Expression Blend
o Expression Design
o Expression Media
Microsoft platform resources

• SQL Server 2008 Developer
• SQL  Server 2008 Express
• Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
• Virtual PC 2007

Training Resources

• IT Academy Student Pass

This broad range of professional-level software will be available both online via www.dreamsparkindia.com; and in off-line format via DVDs distributed by program partners NIIT, Aptech and Hughes Net Fusion Centers. A student merely needs to offer a proof of identity at a branch of these institutes to avail of a DreamSpark DVD. There are 125 NIIT, 175 Aptech, and 200 Hughes Net Fusion Centers participating across the country.
These program partners will also provide technology training on the DreamSpark software tools at a nominal cost; as well as have the option of soft skills training in languages like English and Hindi. Microsoft India is also working with academic institutions, government bodies and student organizations across the country to ensure that all students get a chance to benefit from DreamSpark.
The DreamSpark program in India is tailor-made to join the dots between software access and employability - which means making training and enablement complement simple access to technology.
DreamSpark will also facilitate student participation in Microsoft’s annual marquee contest, Imagine Cup, through various contest categories such as software design, short films, photography etc. Students from India that qualify for the Imagine Cup 2009 World Finals will get to travel to Egypt. Selected teams will also get the opportunity to get mentored by the Centre for Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at IIM, Ahmedabad.

[ Information Courtesy : Kin'ses ]

P.S> I find this to be totally unbelieveable,.. I mean coming from Microsoft... WOW !

Google Launches SearchWiki for Custom-Ordered Search Results

Some logged-in Google users are seeing an interesting new feature enabled on their results pages this morning. SearchWiki adds two buttons to the right of each result that let users move their favorite or most relevant results to the top spot or kill out a result entirely for their page only, as well as add notes for yourself on certain results and add entirely new results to that crucial first page. You (and other users) will be able to see the changes your username has made, along with aggregate numbers for other users' actions (x voted up, x removed). While they're just for your information right now, Google engineers have said they might consider letting group decisions impact global results. I don't have SearchWiki enabled in my account yet, so I can't tell if the "I'm Feeling Lucky" results work with the re-ordering (so cool if so). Check out Google demonstration video below, and tell us what you dig and don't about SearchWiki in the comments. Screenshot from Google Operating System.

(Courstesy "Life HACKER")

Gmail with a touch of MASCARA !

Gmail Updates Its Look, Adds Themes

Google's beloved web-based email client has always been ripe for third-party design customization (I've alwayz used the google black theme in STYLISH addon (firefox), for example), but now Gmail is officially riding the interface customization train by offering 30-some new themes to spice up your inbox. Reader should know that ORKUT backed by google Inc. had introduced a similar feature some time back....

Tough to get company these dayz !

Convenient

November 20th, 2008

So there is this porn shop two doors over from my office in NYC, which is a couple blocks from Times Square. I have to pass this store every morning. Yesterday, I spotted a pretty sign in the window.

Looks like I’ll need to start going a couple blocks down the street to get my prostitutes now.

-Justin

(Courtesy : Justin, who came up wid this kewl stuff !)

An entry in the Cat's Diary,...

Cat writing a Diary

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released, and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird must be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe...

Most gruesome death ! But was it worth the Ordeal ?

 

Most Gruesome Death  

There was a long, long line of spirits at the gate waiting to get into heaven. Not all these spirits could fit into heaven, so the ones who died the worst death would be allowed in.

The first man in line started telling his story, "Well, Peter, you see, I knew that my wife was cheating on me so I decided to come home early from work one day to catch them in action. I got home and searched all over but I couldn't find him. Then when I walked out onto the balcony, there he was dangling off the darn thing by his fingertips. So I ran and got a hammer then started beating him with it and he fell. Well, the fall didn't kill him, because he landed in a bush so I picked up the refrigerator and threw it on him. Although that killed him, the strain gave me a heart attack, and here I am."

The next man came up and started his story. "St. Peter, I always work out on my balcony on the 14th floor of my apartment building. I was on my bike one day and I fell off when it flipped. I sailed over the rail and I thought ''Please God spare my life" and he did. I caught on to a balcony below me. I was even happier when a man discovered me hanging there. But all of a sudden he started beating my hands with a hammer so I fell again. But the dear Lord saved me again when I landed in a bush. But I'm here now because the guy threw his refrigerator on top of me."

It was now the third guy's turn to start his story. "Well, Peter, just picture this. I'm hiding butt naked in this married chick''s refrigerator....."

November 20, 2008

AMD's 45nm Phenom II Chips Overclocked To 6+GHz

Hold the phone on handing the CPU performance crown to Intel's new Core i7 processors just yet -- the chip giant may yet have a fight on its hands in the coming months.

Advanced Micro Devices demoed its upcoming 45-nanometer "Deneb" desktop chips -- now confirmed as Phenom II -- for reviewers in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, and reports are in that AMD overclockers were able to achieve clock speeds north of 6 GHz on the second-generation quad-core devices.

How far north of 6 GHz? AMD spokesman John Taylor confirmed the basics of stories published by PC Perspective's Josh Walrath and Legit Review's Nathan Kirsch Thursday, but held back on outright endorsing the numbers originally cited in those stories.

Respecting AMD's wishes, we'll just point out that PC Perspective's story now says, "The Phenom II reached WELL over 5.x GHz (read: REALLY over)." And another source gives a more specific number -- 6.3GHz, though again, that could not be confirmed by AMD.

AMD, headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., reached such overclocking heights using liquid nitrogen to cool the processor that was taken to "WELL over 5.x GHz." PC Perspective reports that the Phenom II parts can also hit 4 GHz on air cooling and 5 GHz on dry ice cooling. The top Phenom II chip, due out sometime in the first quarter of 2009, will reportedly list as 3.0 GHz off the shelf.

Intel's top Core i7 processor, which incorporates the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip giant's new Nehalem micro-architecture, is listed as a 3.2 GHz part. Overclockers have reportedly managed to scale it to 4.5 GHz on air cooling alone. Some enthusiasts have also taken Core i7s to 5.7GHz on liquid nitrogen, while the CRN Test Center conducted some "modest overclocking" on the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition to add some extra oomph to an already astonishing Geekbench2 score for that processor on an Intel "SmackOver" board.

AMD's Taylor said the Phenom II demos conducted Thursday were done on what the chip maker is calling its "Dragon" platform -- a quad-core Phenom II processor, ATI Radeon 4800 series discrete graphics and an AMD 790 chipset. Taylor said the processors shown were not hand-picked engineering parts, though he added, "But clearly they weren't duds."

Clock speeds for AMD's upcoming 45nm desktop chips appear to be mapping to the same sort of advantages the recently released 45nm Opterons code-named Shanghai have displayed over the previous generation of 65nm Barcelona server chips. Taylor said the extra level of "headroom" towards dramatic overclocking capacities on the Phenom II parts is due to a combination of architectural improvements over the original Phenoms first released late in 2007.

"It's about high-speed path optimizations, how it does memory pre-fetch, how it does branch predictions, the larger cache. So you've got higher clock frequency per TDP, but at the same thermals," he said.

"The result has been modest improvements on instruction per clock but much better clock frequency. It'll be the biggest step in processor improvement between generations that AMD has ever made, with the exception of leading the industry from single to dual-core."

So who said the clockspeed battles are over? Over the past few years, we've heard quite a lot about how it's not as important on multicore chips. But now that both Intel and AMD are really hitting their stride on successive generations of quad-core architectures, the new chips are coming out of the gate pretty darn fast.

Intel is hitting first with what it calls the "fastest processor on the planet" (with a lot of shared enthusiasm from reviewers, we should add) and the new Core i7 parts are, without a doubt, a major step-up in performance over the older Core 2 Quad chips. But AMD might just be about to drop some surprisingly powerful processors on the market as well.

"Phenom II is a big step up, too, but you don't have to open your wallet as wide to make that step up," Taylor said.

(Posted by Damon Poeter at 7:43 PM)

[Courtesy  Damon Poeter and http://www.crn.com]

UNDOUBTEDLY, An engineer....

An engineer was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess."

He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week."

The engineer took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want."

Again the engineer took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally, the frog asked, "What is the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?"

The engineer said, "Look I'm an engineer. I don't have time for a girl friend, but a talking frog...that's cool.


(Coutesy : Kin'ses who stole it anyway !)

When will Microsoft regain its identity?

Posted by Don Reisinger

Remember the days when everyone knew that Microsoft was a software company? The company's focus was placed squarely on Windows, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office, and no one even considered the possibility of it becoming an online firm or providing any other service outside of the software industry.
But now, everything is different.
Instead of focusing all its attention on the software space, Microsoft has decided that it needs to split its attention into different markets in order to stay successful in the industry. Now, it's not only a software company, but it runs a video game business, and has consistently tried to cement itself in the online space. And even in that online space, it can't decide if it wants to focus all its time on Live Mesh, search, or advertising.
Microsoft focusing its attention in other markets isn't necessarily a bad thing. After all, it's one of the most important and prominent companies in tech and to think that it shouldn't expand outside software is ludicrous. But the main problem I have with Microsoft's identity problem is that it doesn't know how to focus.
Is Microsoft a software company or is it a video game company? If it's neither, is Microsoft an online firm that wants to compete with Google? At this point, Microsoft would probably say that it's all of those. But in reality, I just don't think that the company has what it takes right now to successfully manage all three segments.
As a software company, Microsoft is wildly successful. It's still the de facto leader in the operating system market and Office is still the chosen standard for businesses and students, alike. And if Microsoft focused all its attention there, it would probably be just as successful.
But it decided (rightfully so) that the future is on the Web and so, in an attempt to capitalize on that, has started to shift its focus away from software and place it squarely on the Web.
Back when Microsoft decided that software was central to its success, it allowed companies like Google and Yahoo to capitalize and gain a stranglehold online while it maintained its lead in the software market. But after realizing it was making a mistake, it started a few years ago to focus its attention online and try to make up lost ground.
And given its laughable search market share and its inability to make any headway in the advertising market, I think it's safe to say that Microsoft committed a major blunder.
And now, it's happening all over again.
As soon as Microsoft started focusing most of its attention online, Apple gained significant ground in the OS market. For years, Apple was allowed to run roughshod over the OS space and win a PR battle that Microsoft didn't even know it was fighting. And thanks to the constant hounding of Mac vs. PC ads, the mainstream was made aware that Microsoft wasn't holding up its end of the bargain with Windows.
Suddenly, after allowing Apple to operate unabated for so long, Microsoft had an epiphany and started airing ads to compete with Apple and help fix some of the negative PR it was experiencing with Vista.
But once again, it was too late.
Aside from Windows and Office, Microsoft isn't a leader in any other major market it competes in. Sure, it's a player, but whether it's video games or it's search, Microsoft can't establish itself as the leader in any other sector.
Now, I'm not suggesting that Microsoft should go out of other markets just because it's not the leader, but I think it needs to decide what kind of company it is. Apple has decided that it's a hardware firm, Google has decided that it wants to stick with online services and mobile platforms. Microsoft has decided that it wants to compete in practically every market, but it's abundantly clear that it simply can't--it focuses too much of its attention in one place and loses ground elsewhere in the process.
With all these issues, Microsoft is still an incredibly successful company and we can't lose sight of that when comparing it to others in the industry. But I do think that it's fair to say that Microsoft executives and management simply aren't capable of juggling two things at once and that could eventually lead to its downfall.
Running a business in one market is tough enough. But if you decide that you want to compete in other industries, you better be prepared to manage each part of your business as effectively as possible. If you can't, it will come back to haunt you.
And for all its profit and all its cash, I think Microsoft is learning that lesson right now.


Courtesy:

Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.

Being a gud P2P downloader,.. X-plain-ed !

Warning!! This is a looooong post!!

Take a deep breath and keep reading.

When torrent sites popped up like mushrooms and ppl started to join a lot of sites, something happened. Ppl were suddenly starting 10, 15, 20 or even more torrents, doing forced download on all torrents that had the nerve to get queued.

So, what's wrong with that? I want it all, and I want it now!

Ask yourself why bittorrent is considered to be a fast way of downloading things?

The answer is that it's fast because it's designed to concentrate many ppls bandwidth (both download AND upload) to ONE active download at the time. Everyone that is downloading data from any torrent is also uploading to it.

What happens when you have 5, or even 10 torrents downloading at the same time?

Your bandwidth capacity is shared across those 10 torrents, and not only are you now a slow downloader on each of those torrents, you are also a slow uploader.

Let me try to explain this in detail. The scenario is assuming optimal connections and that we live in a perfect world, but it serves its purpose, to shed some light on this mysterious world called bittorrent.

Lets say that a person S (as in seeder) has a new episode to share. S creates a torrent and submits it to the web site. S starts to seed this torrent (S tells the tracker it's ready to accept connections from other members).

Member L1, L2 and L3 (as in leecher) browse the web site, sees the new submitted torrent and start to download it.

S, L1, L2 and L3 are now symbols for the torrent programs behind each person, and are from now on called peers. This torrent now has 4 peers connected to it. S has the whole episode and the others have 0 bytes of it.

L1, L2 and L3 all connect to the tracker and ask the tracker for addresses to other peers connected to this torrent, and the tracker gives each of them all the other peers addresses.

L1 gets the addresses to L2, L3 and S.
L2 gets the addresses to L1, L3 and S.
Well, you get the picture ...

L1, L2 and L3 now tries to connect to all the other peers (this is why it's good to be connectable). Lets assume all 4 of them are connectable. That means that all of them are now connected to each other.

Let the fun begin

First a few words about the .torrent itself. When S created the .torrent, the torrent program divided the episode into small chunks (the size of the chunks can be manually set). In this case each chunk were 256 kByte. So this 350 MB episode were divided into 1400 pieces.

A checksum was created for each of these pieces, and that info together with the address to the tracker was saved into the little .torrent file. (The torrent program uses the checksums to check if a received piece was transfered without errors.)

The pieces are numbered P1, P2, P3 ... all the way up to P1400.

Scenario:

L1 asks S, L2 and L3 if they have any pieces. Since S is the only one with pieces L1 only gets a positive answer from S. The others say no, otherwise they would be lying wouldn't they.

Same thing happens to L2 and L3.

So, S starts to upload one piece to each of them. I'm writing the story so I therefore get to choose who gets what.

L1 downloads P1, L2 downloads P2 and L3 downloads P3. (Just to make it simple to remember.)

Lets assume now that everyone has the same bandwidth capacity, the same download and upload speed (don't want to make it unnecessary complicated here).

After a little while a snapshot of the situation looks like this:

S still has all the pieces (doh ... wouldn't it be crazy if it melted away while uploading it.)
L1 now has piece P1 (1399 pieces left to download)
L2 now has piece P2 (1399 pieces left to download)
L3 now has piece P3 (1399 pieces left to download)

OK, now there's time for a new round of requests, with one BIG difference. And what's that, you all say with tinkering eyes.

This time they all have something to offer to the other peers.

L1 can start to send P1 to L2 and L3.
L2 can start to send P2 to L1 and L3
L3 can start to send P3 to L1 and L2

And they can all ask for a new piece each from S.

(Did I get all those right, my eyes are bleeding now ... lol )

I'm still the one writing this story so I get to decide ...
This is what's going to happen in round 2.

L1: ( P1 ) -> L2    (This is short for L1 is sending piece P1 to L2)
L2: ( P2 ) -> L3
L3: ( P3 ) -> L1
S:  ( P4 ) -> L1
S:  ( P5 ) -> L2
S:  ( P6 ) -> L3

When those pieces are sent and received we take another snapshot:

S still has all the pieces (call me crazy, but didn't I just say that a minute ago)
L1 now has piece P1, P3 and P4 (1397 pieces left to download)
L2 now has piece P1, P2 and P5 (1397 pieces left to download)
L3 now has piece P2, P3 and P6 (1397 pieces left to download)

A shorter way of saying who has what is:

S: 1-1400
L1: 1, 3, 4
L2: 1, 2, 5
L3: 2, 3, 6

Time for the third request to be made, and by now it should be really clear that there are lots of choices now. 6 of the 1400 pieces are now available from someone else besides from S. So if S for some reason dropped out now (perhaps lost the connection to the Internet) L1, L2 and L3 should be able to get all those 6 pieces anyway. Right?

Imagine the continuing of this scenario. Are you doing that now?

Picture pieces being swapped between computers like mad, in a lightning fast tempo.
S uploads 1400 pieces once, and when that's done 3 ppl have the full episode ready to be watched.

Hurrrraaaayyyyy

y!!! It's a miracle!!! Are you picturing this in your head??? Now, add 9 more torrents to be downloaded. At the same time!!! How would that affect the ability to share pieces amongst L1, L2 and L3?? If L1, L2 and L3 don't share pieces amongst each other, who do they have to download the pieces from? How does this affect the speed? How does this affect the strain on S? How does this affect the number of times S has to upload each piece? Conclusion: You should under no circumstances be downloading more than 2 or at an absolute maximum 3 torrents at the same time. Anything else is a complete waste of resources, both bandwidth but of course hardware. Edit: Note that this means 2-3 active downloads in total, not from each site, in total.

The woman in your life

This is a Very beautiful article:
The woman in your life...very well expressed...


Tomorrow you may get a working woman, but you should marry her with these facts as well.

Here is a girl, who is as much educated as you are;
Who is earning almost as much as you do;

One, who has dreams and aspirations just as
you have because she is as human as you are;

One, who has never entered the kitchen in her life just like you or your
Sister haven't, as she was busy in studies and competing in a system
that gives no special concession to girls for their culinary achievements

One, who has lived and loved her parents & brothers & sisters, almost as
much as you do for 20-25 years of her life;

One, who has bravely agreed to leave behind all that, her home, people who love her, to adopt your home, your family, your ways and even your family ,name

One, who is somehow expected to be a master-chef from day #1, while you sleep oblivious to her predicament in her new circumstances, environment and that kitchen

One, who is expected to make the tea, first thing in the morning and cook
food at the end of the day, even if she is as tired as you are, maybe more,
and yet never ever expected to complain; to be a servant, a cook, a mother,
a wife, even if she doesn't want to; and is learning just like you are as
to what you want from her; and is clumsy and sloppy at times and knows that you won't like it if she is too demanding, or if she learns faster than you;

One, who has her own set of friends, and that includes boys and even men at her workplace too, those, who she knows from school days and yet is willing to put all that on the back-burners to avoid your irrational jealousy, unnecessary competition and your inherent insecurities;

Yes, she can drink and dance just as well as you can, but won't, simply
Because you won't like it, even though you say otherwise

One, who can be late from work once in a while when deadlines, just like yours, are to be met;

One, who is doing her level best and wants to make this most important,
relationship in her entire life a grand success, if you just help her some
and trust her;

One, who just wants one thing from you, as you are the only one she knows in your entire house - your unstinted support, your sensitivities and most importantly - your understanding, or love, if you may call it.

But not many guys understand this......

Please appreciate Women ,....

(Courtesy :

Streamstresser

(http://hellfreezer007.blogspot.com))

If Tears Could Build A Stairway If tears could build a stairway And memories were a lane We would walk right up to Heaven And bring you back again No farewell words were spoken No time to say goodbye You were gone before we knew it And only God knows why Our hearts still ache in sadness And secret tears still flow What it meant to lose you No on will ever know But know we know you want us To mourn for you no more To remember all the happy times Life still has much in store Since you’ll never be forgotten We pledge to you today A hallowed place within our hearts Is where you’ll always stay Author Unknown

Barack Obama wins US Presedential race, Experts react

Democrat, Barack Obama wrote his name indelibly into the pages of American history on Tuesday November 4, engineering a social and political upheaval to become the country's first black president-elect in a runaway victory over Republican John McCain. So, what does this mean for India? Ganesh Natrajan, Chairman, Nasscom, said Obama will not do anything to harm Indian IT. Venugopal Dhoot, CMD, Videocon, feels Obama victory will be good for Indian IT.

Local Network Protection,.. A very informative article,...

Black hats employ several stealth scanning techniques, and one of those threats is the idle scan.

If your organization's intrusion detection system (IDS) identifies a scan of your network, and you just block that IP address, you likely haven't addressed the real threat to your network. Black hats employ several stealth scanning techniques, and one of those threats is the idle scan.

Idle scanning is a procedure that involves scanning TCP ports. An attacker will probe a public host with SYNACK (synchronization acknowledgement) and receive an RST (reset the connection) response that has the current IPID (IP identification) number. The attacker will then send a SYN (synchronization) request packet to the port of his or her target with a source IP of the public host.

If the port is open, the target will send a SYNACK packet to the public host. The public host will then send an RST packet to the target and increment the IPID.

If the port is closed, the target will send an RST packet to the public host indicating that the port is closed. The attacker will then send another SYNACK packet to the public host and look at the IPID number to determine if sending an RST packet to the target incremented the IPID.

After several hundred of these bogus session requests, your IDS will realize that something is scanning the network, and you'll eventually block the public host. But even though you didn't identify the attacker, the intruder still managed to map your network.

This preemptive probe becomes an even greater problem if the public host used to scan your internal network is one of the trusted machines that sits in front of your firewall. However, you can protect your network from this type of scanning technique.

The best defense against idle scanning is to follow these simple best practices:

* Don't put a public host in front of your firewall that uses a predictable IPID sequence. Solaris and Linux are two operating systems that aren't vulnerable to this type of behavior. UNIX/Linux is a much more stable and secure platform for your Web site. Learn UNIX, and replace the Windows box that sits outside your firewall.

* Use a firewall that can maintain state-on connections, determine whether someone initiated a phony session request, and drop those packets without a target host response. If your firewall doesn't maintain state-on connections, your network really just has a "speed bump" -- not a firewall.

* Use an ingress filter on your network to ensure that no packets enter your outside boundary with a source address of your internal network.

* Use an egress filter on your network to ensure that no packets leave your network with a source address that isn't a part of your internal network.

If you don't use ingress and egress filtering, you're an easier target for black hats and wannabes on your own network to attack the rest of the Internet.

Source: ZDNet Asia Internet Security TechGuide

“Lord of War” is a one of the most compelling movies that really makes u think,...

“Lord of War” begins with one of the most brilliant openings I have seen at the cinema in a great while: the camera pans over a city street where the discarded shell casings of seemingly thousands of spent bullets lie and calmly standing amongst them is Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) the man who sold them. He turns to the camera, breaks the fourth wall, and ponders aloud. “There are over 550 million firearms in worldwide circulation. That's one firearm for every twelve people on the planet. The only question is: How do we arm the other 11?” We hear the famous opening notes of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and the most thematically important credits sequences I have ever seen begins. We bear a first person witness to the creation of a bullet to when it is used; from when it is first pressed until it is lodged into the head of a poor, nameless young man in a random corner of the world. Death is a business, made in factories and shipped the world over.

And we are immediately swept into a bizarre and gruesome world, the creation of writer/director Andrew Niccol, a world that is almost a parody of our own, but at the same time, too real to be a total fantasy. We are forced to sympathize with shady characters and evil men and watch morally wrong events occur while the protagonists look on with mild interest or glee. Those who do care are not the subject of the film; those who do care have no power in this world. “Lord of War” is a disturbing drama, a roller coaster thriller and a pitch-dark satiric comedy: if “Dr. Strangelove” and “Scarface” had a child, this would be it.



The story follows the above-mentioned Orlov as he becomes an arms dealer. He starts the film nervously selling an Uzi to two thugs in a hotel room and is soon shipping tanks to African dictators. Along for the journey is his brother, the dysfunctional Vitaly (Jared Leto), who finds himself addicted to cocaine, and his wife, Ava (Bridget Moynahan), who either believes Uri when he says he’s in the shipping business or chooses to look away. Pursuing Uri is a righteous ATF agent named Valentine (but there will be more on him later).

Looking over Niccol’s resume, I have noticed a trend: each of his films seems to, in one way or another, deal with the dehumanization of mankind. His screenplay for “The Truman Show” dealt with a man unwillingly being the subject of his own television show. His film “Simone” was about the first completely digital actress. “Lord of War” continues the trend. Orlov is a fascinating character because he treats his merchandise as if it were anything else, at one point comparing arms dealing to selling a vacuum. He is selling death. He is profiting from the human race destroying itself. It is made clear that Orlov is forcing himself to wear blinders, the less you know, the less it hurts. Note the powerful scene where Orlov returns home after a trip and visits his young son’s room. Next to the son’s bed is a plastic pistol. Orlov picks up the toy, stares at it and carries it out of the room. On this level, “Lord of War” is a story of guilt and tragedy. People are going to kill one another no matter what. Orlov realizes this. If he can accept that fact, he can justify what he does every day.

The character of Valentine acts as the antithesis to Orlov. He’s a Hollywood archetype, the straight arrow cop hellbent on catching man. In any other film, Valentine would be the hero and Orlov the villain, but “Lord of War,” like the best of it’s kind, plays with the emotions of the audience. We know that Orlov is wrong. He needs to be stopped…but we can see the appeal, the romanticism behind selling weapons. Being a cop seems so boring; Valentine is always held back by the law, and not matter what he tries to accomplish, he is outsmarted simply because, in this world, evil prevails. Pessimistic? Oh yes. Would it be dishonest any other way? You betcha.’

Don’t think “Lord of War” is all heavy, though. Actually, it’s almost a comedy. The humor is never laid on thick, but is funny in an satiric “Catch 22” style that most comedies never have these days. A running narration by Orlov provides a surprisingly large number of laughs, and many sequences seem straight out the theatre of the absurd: Orlov rids himself of evidence by yelling out “Free guns!” to African villagers. He re-paints the name of his boat to evade capture by authority.

“Lord of War” is the most fulfilling experience I’ve had at the movies so far this year. I’m bringing this critique to a close, but I still feel like I have so much more to say. I’ve yet to mention the brilliant use of sound and editing, the brilliant script that makes use of time and place or the performance by Cage, which may very well be one of his best (and one of the best this year). This is one of the greatest films of the year.

***In a month, I have seen two films dealing with Africa and it’s troubles. The first was “The Constant Gardener,” which was sympathetic to the continent’s plight and blamed all of it’s problems on interference by outside nations. “Lord of War” takes a far more bizarre take, making it out to Africa’s fault for being in it’s warring state (and doing so quite humorously and/or graphically). This makes both films unlikely viewing companions. Do yourself a favor and watch them both. My view: both films are correct.

© Written by Jacob Hall


Personally,... Anyone who is in love with movies with different mettle, should not miss this one. Its fantastic !!

Chrome versus Firefox 3... Heavy battle !!

Google Chrome’s release makes a big dust in the internet world. Mozilla is feeling big pressure about that. However, Mozilla has not hit the panic button yet, because they released a number of benchmarks showing Firefox 3.1 will be faster than anything Google can muster with Chrome.

Google claims that V8, an open source Javascript engine, which is heart of Chrome, is faster than anything currently offered on the Web.

But in the upcoming release of Firefox 3.1, which should be available by the end of the year, Mozilla will employ TraceMonkey, a new engine that according to Brendan Eich who is one of the coders of TraceMonkey: ”it will easily eclipse even the fastest instance of Chrome”.

As proof, Mozilla offers to public tests with Firefox running on TraceMonkey and compared it to Google’s Chrome beta using its own benchmarking solution called SunSpider. According to Mozilla, “Chrome was 28% slower on Windows XP and 16% slower on Windows Vista.”

Mozilla also said that TraceMonkey is still a young engine. It has been in development only for 2 months and will only get better before it is rolled out later this year on the other hand Google Chrome’s V8 was in development for over 2 years. Mozilla also believes that the new engine will put Firefox at the top of all benchmark speed tests at the end of this year. So, once Firefox 3.1 hits the Web, we’ll soon find out if Chrome has what it takes to stay on top after TraceMonkey becomes Mozilla’s engine of choice.

Now here’s what second alpha of FireFox 3.1 has to offer

• Ability to drag and drop tabs in and out of the browser windows(Chrome also has this feature).
• It adds support for the HTML 5 Video tag .

• It has added support for Web Workers which is a system that lets multiple scripts run as background processes.

Here’s what Chrome has to offer

• Chrome offers an “Incognito” mode which removes all your traces which means removing your footprints from the sites you have visited.
• Simplicity of Chrome is its plus point, it doesn’t waste any screen space.
• The Omnibox lets you search terms or URLs into a single spot and figures out what you want.
• Chrome’s multiprocess architecture makes a bad Web page less likely to take down the whole browser.

So all in all its good for us, because the more they compete more the options we get to choose from.

BYPASS free registration requirement,.. read on (interesting...)

Do you really get annoyed when asked for FREE REGISTRATIONS by many websites without which you cannot proceed further? Everyone who uses internet regularly must have faced this and must be knowing how annoying this is. Registering means, you have to give your personal details, which can result in SPAM, Promotion emails, Identity Theft etc.
Now here’s a site which can solve this problem, BUGMENOT.
Here are 5 simple steps to use Bugmenot as described on its tutorial page :
STEP 1: Make a note of the website address your are trying to access. For example:
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1024_3-5567274.html
Or even just:
www.nytimes.com

STEP 2: Visit Bugmenot
STEP 3: Enter the address from step 1 into the box and press the “Get Logins” button
STEP 4: You should now be presented with at least one username and password. Make a note of them.
STEP 5: Go back to the site you were originally trying to access in step 1 and proceed to login with the username and password you noted in the previous step.
Bugmenot is very helpful if you don’t want to get spammed or give your personal details and it also saves a lot of time.
Moreover, Bugmenot also provides an option for site owners to block their site from the Bugmenot database, if they match one or more of the follow criteria

1. A community site where users register to change content, but not to view it.
2. The site is pay-per-view.
3. There is a fraud risk associated with the site due to accounts containing private financial information .

A man's quest for revenge becomes a lucrative opportunity for others,.. Or Is it ??

[Recommended for ppl who enjoy complex movies like Denzel Washington's Deja-Vu and John Statham's Revolver]



Memento(2000) is a film made unique by his reverse montage and the cerebral exercise it provokes in the audience.


Guy Pearce interprets a man struck with amnesia who, in the opening scene, kills a man। From there, the film unwinds from back to front, retracing the steps that lead to such an act। But instead of simply playing the "flashback" card and ending with the beginning, the film advances backwards from scene to scene, obliging the viewer to use his own memory and logic in order to understand what's happening onscreen। The director nevertheless offers a discussion thread in order to avoid totally losing the audience.

Memento is cut into sequences which, when completed, return to the preceding sequence and so on. Two recurring characters played by Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix fame) and Joe Pantoliano come to further muddle the tracks and, by same token, the spirit of Pearce's character. He only has memory of his life up to the time his wife was attacked and killed and cannot create any new memories. Not having any memory of the day before, he thus bases his actions on Polaroids and tattoos on his body, which serve as his memory. But can he really trust his own notes and his subsequent interpretation of थेम ?

Just like Mike Figgis's Time Code, Memento is an innovative film, a successful exercise of style that disrupts the laws of narrative. With conventional treatment, the film would not have been of great interest, but in the hands of director Christopher Nolan becomes a satisfying cinematic feat. The full-length film even manages to offer some shocking and unexpected twists that call everything back into question. It is obvious that such a film is not addressed to everyone, considering its complexity. Incessant popcorn eaters and summer blockbuster aficionados must kindly disregard this film. Also appreciated is the real pleasure the director takes in the manipulation of his main character and the audience, injecting some touches of irony and self-derision taking advantage of the situation.

Thanks to the unpredictable nature of film, the actors are lucky to be able to act in different registers according to the evolution of the story. Pearce is excellent, skillfully passing between confusion and calculated coldness. He carries film on his shoulders while Carrie-Anne Moss is also convincing in the various layers of her role. Only Joe Pantoliano, though likeable, seems to spend too much time on a Joe Pesci impression.

Memento is without any doubt one of the most captivating films produced. A film that gnaws at you, amuses you, seduces you, and will give you one wish: to watch it and take another hard look।



Written and Directed by : "Christopher Nolan" famed for "The Dark Knight", "Batman Begins" and "The Prestige",... All classic screenplays. So don't miss this one.

If u watch and fully understand it at one go then either you're a genius or you suffer "Low Latent Inhibition" !!!