India plans to probe the moon

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to send a probe called called Chandrayan I to the moon early this year. Don't have the details but I guess they are going to do it just to show they can.

The successful launch of an Israeli spy satellite has enhanced it's reputation (and of course made it richer) in the global satellite launching market - putting India in a small elite group of nations.

The 300 kg TECSAR satellite was carried by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). For more info, read India launches Israeli 'spy satellite'.

A Battle of Faith and Love reviewed

It's been quite sometime since I wrote a post here. It's not that I have been too busy as I have been updating my other blogs, it's just one (or a few) of those days when you just don't feel like updating.

Finally got around to visiting one of the blogs on my long long overdue "to review" list. I only a few more to go now. I also realise that most of them have removed the link to my blog but I am still going ahead.

'A battle of faith and love' is one of the few blogs that made me think. The author who calls herself Chickpea, who was raised as a Muslim, shares her thoughts on religion and spirituality. Most of the content is quite serious. Quite interesting as I ask/ have asked the same questions but came to quite different conclusions, though some views on some issues were quite similar.

The blog has a simple and neat Wordpress layout with no ads - makes it stand out from the ad splattered blogs that litter the blogosphere now.

Introducing Nitro Digital

For several years, I have been helping people with establishing a presence on the net - this includes individuals as well as companies. Most of the time, I just point them to professionals who can help them set up a web site and in case they already have one, to market their sites online.

I always keep an eye out (and ear open) for companies specialising in web design and online marketing. It's quite hard to recommend a good one considering the fact that there are so many companies out there as well as freelancers involved in this area.

Among the criteria I look for includes whether the companies were established (when they started) and their portfolio.

One company I recently came across is 'Nitro Digital'. The compay was established in 2001 and started out as Nitro Ventures before changing to the current name. They specifically target pharmaceutical companies looking for agency to take care of their website - right from design and updating to marketing and driving quality traffic to it.

Nitro Digital is a succesful medium size Media Agency specialising in Web Design, Development and Online Marketing for Pharmaceutical companies (including PPC, SEO, Viral and Social Network Marketing, Online Display Advertising, You name it...)

Was quite impressed by their list of clients and case studies. I would defnitely recommend them to anyone looking for such services.

Thang Ta - Manipuri martial art

Thang Ta is a little known martial arts practised in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur. The art went underground after the state (then a country) came under the British rule. However, it survived and has seen a resurgence.

Some of my friends found it similar to Silat - the Malay / Indonesian martial art.

Check out this clip I found on YouTube:



Also read "Thang-Ta: Martial Art of Manipur"

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Miami Univ.


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Poke here, Poke there.

The Freemium model

The 'Freemium model' is the latest concept from Chris Armstrong, Editor-in-chief of Wired and best known for his 'Long Tail' theory.

I read the exclusive interview with the author on the 123-reg blog, where Chris discusses his latest concept and clarifies some misconceptions about the Long Tail theory. He also shares his thoughts on social networking as well.

In the interview, Chris mentions how online companies "experiment with giving away one thing to sell something else." I guess commercial blogs work with the same principle but in a slightly different way. That is why you see ads and sponsored posts on a number of popular blogs.

I specially found the interview with Chris really interesting because it is quite relevant to my doctoral research topic. It was also the first time I heard about the social networking site Ning (www.ning.com). That doesn't sound good for someone who's doing research on the Internet and show how no one can claim to be a "Net Guru" as the Internet is evolving so quickly with new applications and sites emerging every day. Looking forward to his new book.

Wet Roses

I haven't been making any Green Thumb Sunday posts for quite sometime. The garden is almost bare and the only plants doing well are the lavender and the rosemary. Went though my collection of pictures to see if I could find anything to post up and I found this picture of my roses taken after a shower on a September afternoon.



This is my Green Thumb Sunday post for this week.
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