Introduction of toilets in trains

Okhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj Divisional Railway Office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption "Traveller Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station. This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honour to make big fine on that guard for public sake.
Otherwise I making big report in papers."

Any guesses why this Bengali Babu's letter was of historic value?

It apparently led to introduction of toilets in our trains !

U know these guys ?

This is Me.
This is JO



And this is doc

Google Nears $1 Billion Deal To Take Stake in AOL

Google Nears $1 Billion Deal
To Take Stake in AOL

By JULIA ANGWIN, KEVIN J. DELANEY and DENNIS K. BERMAN
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 16, 2005 3:47 p.m.

Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and Google Inc. have entered exclusive negotiations over a deal that would have the search giant pay $1 billion for a 5% stake in AOL, deepening their advertising partnership, according to a person close to the situation.

The talks shut out Microsoft Corp., which has been wooing AOL since January.

As part of the deal, AOL would be able to sell advertising among the search results provided by Google on AOL Web properties. AOL's sales staff would also sell display ads across Google's network of Web publishers.





WSJ's Julia Angwin discusses a possible partnership between Google and AOL.
• Plus, WSJ's Kevin Delaney and Porter Bibb of MediaTech Capital Partners discuss the deal.

Google will promote AOL's Web properties among the sponsored links in its search results, and will include AOL's collection of online videos among its search results. Google's arrangement to provide search technology for AOL, which was set to expire at the end of next year, would be extended for five years.

Microsoft had hoped to convince AOL to use MSN's search engine instead of Google's. Talks between the two companies began early this year, when Microsoft first approached AOL about switching its search-engine alliance.

When news of the talks leaked to the media in September, Google, working with cable giant Comcast Corp., emerged to try to save its relationship with AOL. Time Warner was considering proposals from both companies by Thanksgiving, and in early December appeared to be in favor of a deal with Microsoft.

Web portal Yahoo Inc., also a potential suitor, dropped out of the running in early November.

Spokespeople for Google and Time Warner declined to comment Friday. A Microsoft spokeswoman couldn't immediately be reached.


The contest illustrates how far companies are willing to go to secure a chunk of the quickly expanding market for Internet advertising, by far the fastest-growing advertising medium. Online sales in the third quarter rose 34% to $3.1 billion from a year earlier, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Search ads, which display ads based on queries users enter into search engines, are the biggest segment of that market.

The deal also comes at a difficult time for Time Warner, as hedge-fund investor Carl Icahn wages a dissident campaign to replace a majority of the media giant's directors. Mr. Icahn has threatened to sue Time Warner's directors if they sell a stake in AOL at too low a price or approve a partnership that makes it difficult to sell or spin off AOL at a later date.

For its part, Microsoft has struggled for a firm foothold in the online ad landscape. Its MSN unit, whose search ads are currently sold by Yahoo, has lagged behind Google in market share and in its ability to woo large Internet advertisers. It wanted to team with AOL to get the scale needed to compete with Google and Yahoo and bring more advertisers to an online ad system, dubbed AdCenter, that Microsoft is testing outside the U.S.


Courtsey : Wall Street Journal

My pics at IDC

People asked for my pics so here I am with some which I took at My Cubicle

www.flickr.com flyingdeath's MS IDC photoset

Yahoo! answers

http://answers.yahoo.com Yahoo launched its new service Yahoo answers Beta. Check it out.

National Talent Hunt Microsoft

Microsoft is organizing is a talent hunt for students of India.

Copied from http://www.microsoft.com/india/code4bill/

About the Contest
code4bill is a unique contest aimed at finding the best student technologists in India.Contest registrations open on January 1, 2006. Till then you can sign in to get updates and access to cool brain teasers.What is in it for you?Internships, cool jobs, and an opportunity to work with Bill Gates Technical Assistants Team (Yes, that’s true!).

Here’s how:
The top 20 students will be offered a two month internship at Microsoft Research Center & Microsoft India Development Center in India. What’s more students successfully completing their internship will be offered a job at Microsoft India. And these jobs will not be just any jobs, these will be cool jobs where you might just change the way we work, communicate and live. Click here to see projects that interns work on.

The Grand Champion:
The numero uno, the chosen one, the best of the best will be decided on the basis of project submissions & final presentations to a selection panel. The winner will work with Bill Gates Technical Assistants Team in Redmond, USA for a period of one year.

What if you are not in the Top 20?
You can still win certificates of participation, cool Microsoft goodies and gifts if you are in the top 1000 contestants.

How does it work?
The code4bill contest comprises of a series of online tests followed by a face-to-face interaction to identify the top 20 student technologists.The contest will run from January 2006 to March 2006 followed by a 2 month internship for the top 20 contestants.Check out the exact details on January 1, 2006Interested?You can actually get a sneak peek into what's coming, interact with our top programmers and benefit from the first mover advantage.

To get updates, take a sneak peek and stay ahead, just Sign In. It's that simple.

For more information log on to http://www.code4bill.com

3000 new MS jobs in India

Read this thread at Channel 9

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=143523