Kamal's World

Winter Time On

2009-03-30T18:20:00.002+04:00

Summer Time is gone. Yesterday Mauritius moved back one hour at 0200. For most people, there was no real difference, but for some, it had some complications. They will have to adapt to one hour sunshine less in the afternoon when they return from work.

This system was adapted to the Mauritian context but I do not think that it had the desired results. It was supposed to make everybody consume less electricity, but the power consumption more or less stayed the same.

Reports will be written on the positive aspects, but I do not think it will get rave reviews.
I do not think that this experience will be renewed again here.

Manchester United Champions of the World

2008-12-21T18:53:00.002+04:00

Champions of England
Champions of Europe
And Now,
Champions of the World

This is the latest title added to the impressive cabinet room of Manchester United, making the English club the only one in the country to have this prestigious title.

Man United were directly qualified for the semi final of this tournament, hosted in Japan against Gamba Osaka, which they duly won 5-3. The scorers that day were Vidic, Ronaldo, Rooney twice and Fletcher.

The final itself was another story though against Quito, an Ecuadorean team, the current holders of Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the European Champions League.

The first half was dominated by United, with several chances to score, but either due to lack of precision on the part of the Mancunians or due to the exploits of Quito keeper, the British side could not break the deadlock.

The second half started rather badly for Man United as Vidic was correctly sent off for pushing his elbow onto the face of a Quito player. United was reduced to 10 man for nearly the whole of the second half. The South American outfit took an ascendancy in the game, and looked threatening sporadically. Their danger man was Manso who two two well taken shots superbly saved by Van Der Sar.

The game looked to be looming to penalties until around 15 minutes from the end, Ronaldo and Rooney combined to create and opportunity for the latter to scored with a placed shot. United held on, but Quito did not look menacing apart from when the ball was at the feet of Manso
.

Manso won bronze ball for this tournament, with Ronaldo getting silver ball, and Rooney getting the Most Valuable Player award. The scouser also won the Man of the Match award, with a brand new Toyota as prize.

Congrats to Manchester United...
Champions of England
Champions of Europe
Champions of the World

Football Manager 2009

2008-12-20T18:38:00.004+04:00

The game that every soccer fan was waiting for has already arrived.
Football Manager 2009 is out since mid November, and I got the game at the start of December.

Football Manager 2009 is more or less similar to Football Manager 2008, but with features that might or might not please the fans of the FM series
The game has now a 3D match engine, but personally I do not use it. There are also other new features like Press Conference, the possibility to request a player to learn new moves or to control himself, like suggesting to Wayne Rooney to stop arguing with officials.
The game has some bugs for which I am expecting a patch by January, but in overall, the fans will surely like it.

In my next posts, I will talk about my team, life in the game, and players I bought.

Stay connected!!!

Blog Update August 2008

2008-08-10T10:32:00.003+04:00

Its more than 1 month since I last updated this blog. Its equivalent to a year in the blog world.
Actually I was busy with my work, finishing late nearly everyday. There were some important projects which have just reached their completion.

I even did not get enough time to practise playing guitar.
Hopefully I'll be getting more free time to blog and play guitar, and watch football!

For the time being its just REST, REST and REST...

Blog Update June 2008

2008-06-04T19:12:00.003+04:00

Its quite a long time since I last posted something on this blog. Actually, I am working and I do not have enough spare time to blog! To tell the truth, I have become lazy when it comes to think something to write.

I am also thinking to sell my domain : dom20.com!
If someone is interested, please let me know!

By the way, if you have an idea on what I can write, do let me know
For the time being, let me think on more ways to make money and on what to write!!!

Manchester United Champions of Europe 2008

2008-05-22T18:49:00.005+04:00

It had to be 2008. 50 years after the Munich disaster, Manchester United have won their third European Cup. Who would have bet against them?

They retained their Premier League crown a week ago, and were fully focused on obtaining European Glory. The players were prepared for the battle, and a tough battle it was.

United took the lead in the 26th minute through, no need to introduce now, Cristiano Ronaldo. All looked to be going perfectly with United threatening to score more goals through Tevez and Carrick, but deep in injury time in the first half itself, Frank Lampard equalised amidst a series of confusions in the United defence.

In the second half, Chelsea had the upper hand, with some clear opportunities for them to score. Drogba hit the post with a great effort, and had that gone in, it would have been a goal worthy of a Final winner.

Before the end of the match, Lampard had a great chance to win it for the Blues but his shot cannoned back off the cross bar, much to the relief of the United fans. More drama was to ensure before the end of the extra time as Drogba was sent off for a slap on Vidic.

Penalties then followed. Ronaldo missed and most United fans, including myself began thinking that it was all over! When Nani was going to take his kick, I was on stand by to go under the covers on my bed, but he scored. Terry had the opportunity to become Chelsea's hero, but incredibly he missed. After Giggs had scored his penalty, Anelka needed to score to keep Chelsea in, but Van Der Saar saved his kick, and the rest is HISTORY...

Manchester United Champions of Europe 2008...

Small World

2008-04-07T12:08:00.003+04:00

Last week, after having done my domain renewal, I got 1 comment. I thought it might have been a geek trying to configure his domain. To my surprise, the comment was from a friend with whom I had lost contact several years ago. He went to study law in England, while I continued my studies in Mauritius itself.

Its an incredible coincidence, as I never have thought that I would renew contact with my friend through a blog, my personal blog! The World is really small, as friends and relatives are always in touch with mobile communication devices, and readily available connectivity.

The concept of a global community is not an utopia, as more and more people are interested in socialising through sites like Facebook, Hi5 and many others. Its also 'foolish' to say now that you must know a person physically to consider him as a friend.

Well, I hope I can get other friends like this and also renew contact with my lost friends!

Domain Renewal 2008

2008-03-30T12:21:00.006+04:00

I have just renewed my domain, dom20.com for a further year. Since I do not possess a credit card yet, I have renewed it through a forum. I had to push my domain to the forum admin so that he could kick start the appropriate procedures for the domain renewal.

Since I am hosting this blog on my domain, I had to reconfigure the address kamal.dom20.com so that it points to roonaldo78.blogspot.com. This was accomplished by adding a CNAME record with the alas kamal pointing to the address ghs.google.com in my DNS settings. I also had to configure blogger so that it points to my custom domain.

Now I am more relaxed knowing that dom20.com is mine for a further year. I can start thinking about new projects, and services which I might provide using this domain. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.

New PC

2008-03-17T18:41:00.002+04:00

My old PC crashed last Monday. According to the technician, the motherboard had become faulty, and thats why it was restarting continuously. Well, I did not switch it off during the weekend, and maybe the infernal heat had the better of it.

It was a P4PE ASUS motherboard with 256 MB DDR RAM, a 40 GB Hard Disk, a 128 MB GeForce graphics card, and a Pentium IV 2.8 GHz processor. For around three years it worked perfectly, sometimes it would be switched on for more than 20 hours per day. I did my University final year project on it, and many more other projects.

Now I have a PC with a BIOSTAR motherboard, 2 GB DDR2 RAM, 512 MB GeForce 8400 GS graphics card, 160 GB SATA hard disk. I am using my old processor on it, and I have also added my old 40 GB hard disk in it.

Its only a few days since I got my new PC, and I can feel the difference with the old one. This one is faster and with this one, I can install as many applications as I want without any fear of running out of space!

I hope I can get 4 to 5 years out of it, before its time to consider buying a new one, and most importantly, it will work as smoothly as the old one!

Grand Bassin 2008

2008-03-05T17:18:00.010+04:00

Today I went to Grand Bassin to pray, with my family. There was not much traffic on the road, and the weather also was fine. A great day for praying!
I also took some pictures there, and I hope you will like them!

The Great Status of Lord Shiva. Its awesome, isn't it?

How Grand Bassin looks for the Maha ShivaRatree festival.

A top view of the mandirs present at Grand Bassin. Hope you can see them!

The dense traffic at Grand Bassin.

Pilgrims performing their prayers on the side of the lake.

The islet in the middle of the lake. There are some folks tales about fairies having played there a long time ago!

The lake and its famous islet.

Water coming out from Lord Shiva's head. Hope you can see the droplets of water!

Like every year, there were many persons asking for donations to build temples, but who knows if these temples will ever be built, and what will happen to this money!

Still I believe that whatever happens, happens for the good, and God is great!

Prediction League Round 9

2008-02-22T20:58:00.002+04:00

This week will be Carling Cup week as Chelsea and Tottenham will clash to lay their hands on the first silverware of this season. The Spurs have been playing well lately, and Chelsea will not expect to have an easy ride.

Liverpool will try to build on their European victory against Inter Milan, while Arsenal have a potentially tricky encounter against Birmingham City. Newcastle United will host Manchester United with a feeling of revenge in their mind, having been crushed 6-0 in their last encounter.

The list of fixtures for this week are:

Birmingham v/s Arsenal
Liverpool v/s Middlesbrough
Wigan v/s Derby
Newcastle v/s Manchester United
Reading v/s Aston Villa
Blackburn v/s Bolton
Tottenham v/s Chelsea

What will be the outcome of these matches?
Who will be the heroes this week?

Prediction League Round 8

2008-02-18T20:03:00.003+04:00

The Champions League resumes this week and we already have some exquisite fixtures, where some teams will try to confirm their superiority while others will try to show why they are among the 16 best teams.

Liverpool and Arsenal will try to put their FA Cup disappointments behind them against the Milan teams, while Chelsea and United will be expected to continue where they left in their last matches.

This week promises to be explosive and the possibilities for upsets are not that high, but who knows?

The list of fixtures for this week are:

AS Roma v/s Real Madrid
Liverpool v/s Inter
Olympiakos v/s Chelsea
Shalke 04 v/s Porto
Arsenal v/s AC Milan
Celtic v/s Barcelona
Fenerbahce v/s Sevilla
Lyon v/s Manchester United

Who will confirm their credentials as potential winners this week, and who will disappoint their fans?

Can the four English clubs managed to gain an advantage for the next leg?

Prediction League Round 7

2008-02-15T20:06:00.002+04:00

This week will be FA Cup week, and the tie of this round will undoubtedly be Manchester United v/s Arsenal at Old Trafford. The Red Devils will try to keep their slim chances of a Treble alive, after their poor performance in the Manchester derby last week. Sir Alex Ferguson's men will try to redeem themselves in front of their supporters. Fabregas and company will without doubt deal a serious psychological blow to United's title aspirations by trying to win at Old Trafford in the cup, before the league meeting scheduled for later.

In the other notable ties, Chelsea and Liverpool are expected to have an easy passage into the next round, unless a major disaster occurs! The FA Cup always provides some magic and expect some incredible feats this week!

The fixtures chosen for this week are:

Chelsea v/s Huddersfield Town
Liverpool v/s Barnsley
Manchester United v/s Arsenal

Can you predict the correct scores and scorers for this week?

Prediction League Round 6

2008-02-08T20:56:00.000+04:00

This weekend will be special for Manchester United fans as they are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Munich crash. The fixture list has provided them with an opportunity to cheer with a derby match against Manchester City. The other high profile fixture this week will be Liverpool trying to take on Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. This match is highly important for both teams as the Blues are chasing the leaders while the Kops are trying to keep in touch with the top 2. Arsenal will try to dismantle Blackburn Rovers on Monday to maintain their lead on United.

The list of fixtures for this week are:

Aston Villa v/s Newcastle United
Derby County v/s Tottenham Hotspur
Everton v/s Reading
Manchester United v/s Manchester City
Chelsea v/s Liverpool
Arsenal v/s Blackburn Rovers

Who will be victorious in the Manchester derby?
Will Liverpool manage to beat Chelsea without Torres?
Can Derby contain the attacking force of Tottenham?
Will Arsenal be overtaken by United this week?

Prediction League Round 5

2008-02-02T10:30:00.000+04:00

This weekend looks like a tricky week for the top 2 as they will be away to tough oppositions. Arsenal will be in Manchester against Man City. Both of them will try to continue their run of successive league wins. Chelsea also will be away at Portsmouth and it will not be an easy ride for them. Liverpool will be trying to redeem themselves this week against Sunderland after the midweek loss to West Ham. The top 7 teams will try to maintain their current position before the International break next week.

The list of fixtures for this week's prediction are:

Manchester City v/s Arsenal
Birmingham City v/s Derby County
Blackburn Rovers v/s Everton
Portsmouth v/s Chelsea
Tottenham Hotspur v/s Manchester United
Liverpool v/s Sunderland
Fulham v/s Aston Villa

Will Ronaldo score again this week?
Can Arsenal find battle with Man City?
Will your predictions be accurate this week?

Prediction League Round 4

2008-01-28T20:40:00.000+04:00

This week we focus on the 24th day of the English Premier League calendar. In our main fixtures, on Tuesday Arsenal will take on Newcastle United in a attempt to make a repeat of Saturday's score, and try to overhaul Manchester United at the top of the table.

On Wednesday, Aston Villa will host Blackburn Rovers in an attempt to improve their hopes of a European qualification. Chelsea will be at home against Reading, and maybe we can expect Anelka to score again and Shaun Wright-Phillips to continue his goalscoring exploits. Derby County will be against Manchester City and they will attempt to restore some pride by trying to avoid defeat, following their shameful performance in the FA Cup. West Ham will entertain Liverpool at Upton Park, and they will surely attempt to inflict more miseries on the Kops. Everton will host Tottenham Hotspur, and both sides have the potential to score at any time. Manchester United will take on Portsmouth in an attempt to continue their excellent recent form.

The list of fixtures for this week are :

Arsenal v/s Newcastle United
Aston Villa v/s Blackburn Rovers
Chelsea v/s Reading
Derby County v/s Manchester City
West Ham v/s Liverpool
Everton v/s Tottenham Hotspur
Manchester United v/s Portsmouth

Will Ronaldo continue his scoring spree?
Will Benayoun score a hat trick against the Hammers?
Will Newcastle again lose 3-0 to Arsenal?

Make your predictions and see how good your predictions are!
You can also play the full version at The Prediction Premier League

The updated table is :

1. Noow : 14.5 pts
2. Roshan : 10 pts
3. Kamal : 9 pts
4. Vikram : 8 pts
5. Preetesh : 7 pts
6. Shanil : 7 pts
7. Nitish : 4.5 pts
8. Sachin : 4 pts
9. Keshav : 1 pt
10. Jashveer 0 pt

Prediction League Round 3

2008-01-26T09:38:00.000+04:00

This week is FA Cup week, where we can expect to see a lot of passion and drama. There were some giant killing feats in the last round, and non-leaguers Havant/W'ville will surely be fired up for their dream tie against Liverpool at Anfield. Will the Kops score more than 10 goals tonight?

Arsenal will take on Newcastle United on the back of a 5-1 drubbing by Spurs in mid-week and will be surely looking to unleash their anger on the Toons. Derby County will be against Millwall at home and will hope to secure a passage into the next round. Wigan will be hosting Chelsea and will try to dent the Blues Cup aspirations, hoping that they have an off-day!

Sunday's fixtures will see high-flying Manchester United against free-scoring Tottenham Hotspur. Expect a high scoring game as both teams are capable to score at any time. The other fixture will be Sheffield United trying to ward off the attacks of Manchester City to earn a lucrative ties against one of the other big-names in the next round.

The list of fixtures chosen for this week are:

Liverpool v/s Havant WestVille
Arsenal v/s Newcastle United
Derby County v/s Millwall
Wigan v/s Chelsea
Manchester United v/s Tottenham Hotspur
Sheffield United v/s Manchester City

Who will progress to the next round?
Will there be any surprise?

The updated prediction table after Round 3 is :

1. Noow : 13.5 pts
2. Vikram : 8 pts
3. Kamal : 7 pts
4. Roshan : 7 pts
5. Preetesh : 6 pts
6. Shanil : 6 pts
7. Nitish : 4.5 pts
8. Sachin : 3 pts
9. Keshav : 1 pt

Prediction League Round 2

2008-01-22T20:53:00.000+04:00

This Tuesday and Wednesday we will focus on the semi-final return legs of the English Carling Cup, where two teams will be vying for a spot in the final.

Tuesday's fixture is Tottenham v/s Arsenal. The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw with Jenas opening the scoring and Walcott equalising in the final minutes.
Will Tottenham overcome Arsenal, or will Arsenal produce a turnaround to book their place in the Final

Wednesday's fixture is Everton v/s Chelsea, where Everton needs to overturn a deficit 1 goal, the first leg ending in a 2-1 victory for Chelsea. Wright-Phillips and Lescott scored for Chelsea, while Yakubu clawed a goal back for Everton. Mikel Obi was sent off in this match for a reckless challenge, and expect more of tackles like this in the return leg.

What will be the scores of these two matches?
Who will be the scorers?
Who will get sent off?

Play in our Prediction League, and see how accurate your predictions are!

Bonus

Predict who will be in the final of the Carling Cup, and get 3pts for the correct prediction!

The updated table after Round 2 fixtures is as follows:

Noow : 8.5pts
Kamal : 5pts
Nitish : 4.5pts
Vikram : 3pts
Preetesh : 2pts
Sachin : 0pts

Prediction League Round 1

2008-01-18T11:30:00.000+04:00

Are you football crazy? Do you want to have some fun? Then why don't you play in our Prediction League? Its bound to be fun, and you are sure to make new friends!

Some of my football fanatic friends and myself thought about how to take our passion of football a step further, and how to stop swearing at each other via MSN, and came up with this idea! For each match day, there will be a list of fixtures on the blog of one among us, where you will be able to predict the scores in your comments. For the time being we are starting with the English Premier League, but other matches also will be added as the season progresses, like FA Cup matches, Champions League matches, and International matches.

Points will be awarded as follows in our Prediction League:
- For a correct prediction for a match, you get 3 pts
- For correctly identifying the goalscorer, you get 1 additional pt [You need to be explicit, for e.g if Arsenal wins 3-0, and you put Hleb and Rosicky as scorers, you will NOT be awarded any points even if they scored. You should put the name of the goalscorer and the numbers of goals he'll score besides his name, like Hleb(2)]
- You may opt not to name the scorers, but remember that others might be correctly naming the scorers and getting more points
- If your score prediction is not correct, but your goalscorer prection is correct, you will only get points for guessing the correct scorer
- For correctly identifying someone who is sent off, you get 2 pts
- For contentious decisions or disagreements, we will seek opinions from everybody related to this post, and the decision taken from this step will be final.
- These set of rules may be amended to add more FUN!

8 teams from the Premier League have been selected, and you have to guess their scores and their scorers. These teams are:
Manchester United - Will they be Champs?
Arsenal - Will they be Champs?
Chelsea - Will they be Champs?
Liverpool - Will they be Champs?
Everton - Will they finish 4th?
Aston Villa - Will they finish 4th?
Manchester City - Will they finish 4th?
Derby County - Will they win?

How to play?

List of fixtures in the post:
Man Utd v/s Bolton
Arsenal v/s Chelsea
Liverpool v/s Man City
Everton v/s Aston Villa
Sunderland v/s Derby

In your comment, you have to write something like this or which anyone can understand:
Man Utd 4 Tevez(3), Rooney(1)
Bolton 0
IF this match finishes 4-0 for Man United, you will get 3 pts. If Tevez scores 3 goals, you will get an additional 1 pt, if Rooney scores 1 goal, you will get another point. Total Score : 5 pts

Arsenal 2 Adebayor(2)
Chelsea 1
IF this match finishes 2-1 for Arsenal, you will get 3 pts, and if Adebayor scores only 1 goal, you will NOT get additional marks. Total Score : 3 pts

Liverpool 5 Crouch(3), Torres(2)
Man City 0

Everton 0
Aston Villa 0

Sunderland 1
Dervy 0

If you do not understand something, please leave your question in a comment.

The Game Starts here!

Fixtures for Saturday 19 January 2008

1. Birmingham City v/s Chelsea
2. Fulham v/s Arsenal
3. Portsmouth v/s Derby County
4. Reading v/s Manchester United

Fixtures for Sunday 20 January 2008

1. Wigan Athletic v/s Everton
2. Manchester City v/s West Ham United

Fixtures for Monday 21 January 2009

1. Liverpool v/s Aston Villa

So, start predicting now, and have fun!
See if you are better than your friends!
Scores will be tabulated in last comment

Next Round of the Prediction League will be on : Nitish's Blog

The current table is a follows:

1.Noow 6 pts
2.Nitish 3 pts
3.Kamal 1 pt
4.Preetesh 1 pt
5.Sachin 0 pt
6.Vikram 0 pt

Please check the comments to find what the players had forecast.

World's cheapest car

2008-01-10T18:49:00.000+04:00

The World's cheapest car, named Nano has finally hit the market today. This vehicle costs around $2,500, which is around MUR 75,000. It was unveiled today in New Delhi, India by Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata Motors, which creator of this automobile.

This car is really small as you can see in the picture above and it can accommodate at most five persons. The basic version has no radio, no passenger-side mirror and it has only one windshield wiper. Air conditioner is available only in the deluxe version. It has seat belts, but no air bags. The Nano is about 10 feet long, 5 feet wide. The 2-cylinder petrol engine delivers 33 horsepower and a top speed of just over 60 mph.

For now, the car will be sold only in India, but Tata eventually hopes to export it. The Nano could become the basis for other similar super-cheap models in developing markets around the world.

The most obvious concern is that with such cheap cars, anyone can aspire to be a car-owner, hence increasing the already large amount of vehicles in circulation, and increasing the amount of pollution released. However, the Tata chairman insists that this vehicle pollutes less than motorcycles, and will pass domestic and European emission standards and averaging about 50 miles per gallon.

What are your opinions on the World's cheapest car? Do you think it will be a success? Will you buy one? Please let us know!

FM 2008 best keeper

2008-01-09T19:33:00.000+04:00

Who is the best keeper in Football Manager 2008?
Well there are many answers to this question, and it is dependent on our interpretation of what a good goalkeeper is.

The best keepers in FM 2008 are the usual suspects given below:

Gianluigi Buffon, Petr Cech, Iker Casillas, Francesco Toldo, Sebastien Frey, Victor Valdes, Shay Given, Robert Green, Jose Manuel Reina, Edwin Van Der Sar, Andreas Isaksson, Flavio Roma, Marco Amelia

Well there is no need to introduce them, they are among the best in the real game and the simulation game as well.

There are also some surprise packages who will perform admirably well between the posts in FM 2008 and they are:

Craig Gordon, Oscar Ustari, Francisco Ochoa, Benoit Costil, Remy Riou, Andrea Cosigli, Chris Kirkland, Hugo Lloris, Igor Akinfeev, Steve Mandanda, Colin Doyle

These surprise packages are usually young meaning you can easily get 6-7 years out of them at the top level. However they are going to cost a lot, if their reputation start rising and it is a wiser option to buy them when they are still unknown.

My personal best keeper of FM 2008 is Igor Akinfeev. This guy is the equivalent of the Great Peter Schmeichel in this game. He can make saves as well as making assists! Just set his personal instruction to quick throws and see how your team can change defense into attack in a few seconds. He does not come cheap though. I paid £ 20 million to get him, and I feel his is worth that amount considering he is still very young.

Who has performed admirably well for you or other teams as a goalkeeper?
Please share your knowledge about the greats in this game!

Yahoo Domains

2008-01-02T18:22:00.000+04:00

Get your Yahoo Domain

You want to setup your own personal website of a commercial website? You want to have your presence on the Internet? You dream of www.myname.com or another domain?

Yahoo Domains provides you with the opportunity to register a domain for only $9.95. This service also provides the following facilities:

24-Hour Toll-Free Customer Service
Domain Management
Private Domain Registration
Starter Web Page
Domain Locking
Domain Forwarding
Complete Domain (DNS) Control
Email Forwarding
Room to Grow

Yahoo Domains also provides an email with unlimited storage, as well as a tool to design websites.

If you also wish to mark your entry in the DOT COM world, grab your domain today, as maybe you do not know that domains are getting rarer nowadays. There are other domains registrar available, such as GoDaddy.com or domainrightnow.com, but I feel that for starters, you should check Yahoo Small Business.

Another use of your own domain could be to give more credibility to your blog. blog.mydomain.com looks better than myblogname.blogspot.com. Maybe the first thing to do this year is to get yourself a domain, and Yahoo Domains provides you with an excellent platform to do so at an affordable price!

The legend of Marhgil Macuha

2007-12-30T21:09:00.000+04:00

Who was Marhgil Macuha?

Marhgil Macuha was a well-known blood-thirsty pirate who lived on the island of Macuha during the 12th century. She was a very beautiful woman but with the devil's mind. She had the power to manipulate any person she wanted and it was rumoured that she was the reincarnation of a witch.

The early life of Marhgil

Marhgil was a very intelligent child, and often showed maturity beyond her years. She also possessed a natural beauty which was equal to no one. She was a normal child till her ninth birthday, when she started showing signs of possession. She would talk of things that occurred in the past, and which a nine year old girl was not supposed to know. Since that day her behaviour towards everybody, especially towards men and boys changed. She would often fight with her friends, and one day her temper flared up and she killed one of her friends during one of her uncontrollable fits. She feared that she would be severely punished and ran away from home.

Marhgil's road to hell

Marhgil wandered for about 3 months around the island before she met a man who looked to be helping her, but instead raped her. She was completely broken down, and she was living because she was breathing. After a few weeks of wandering aimlessly and begging for food, she was invited by some sailors to travel the world with them. In the beginning, the sailors took great care of her, and she started living normally again, but soon she found out that she was a toy in the hand of the sailors. They started abusing Marhgil when they were drunk, and treated her like their personal slave. Her life had become hell. She had started to despise men. She decided to take her destiny in her hands, and each night she would kill one sailor and would throw him overboard after having drank his blood. One after the other she killed 10 sailors, and one day she decided to kill them all. She poisoned their drinks one night, and the next day she was free of her ordeal.

The rebirth of Marhgil Macuha

A new dawn had appeared for Marhgil, where she would be the master of her own destiny. She threw all the sailors in the sea, and set herself to conquer the world. She laid her hands on some books on witchcraft which she studied during the night, and it was not long before she persuaded sailors to join her to terrorise the oceans. Wherever she went, she would destroy everything with the help of her mercenaries. She was feared around the world. The name Marhgil Macuha had started to become a synonym for Devil. To satisfy her satanic needs and bestial impulses, she would sacrifice a sailors each month during the full moon. She was trying to increase her demonic powers. For the next ten years, she continued this game of playing GOD, and she seemed to be gaining much pleasure in doing so. Whenever she wanted, she would destroy cities, and her most pleasurable punishment was to torture men until they begged to be killed.

The death of a Devil

Marhgil Macuha was not destined to have a long life. She was cursed wherever she went and there were many unsuccessful attempts to kill her. However, she found death by accidentally drinking the poison she had prepared for her guests. There was a great sigh of relief everywhere when the news of her death was spread. Fire was set to her body to make sure she would never come back. Her belongings were thrown in the sea and her fortune was distributed among the poor. Since that time it is believed that her soul is still roaming on a ghost ship, and some rumours state that she had vowed to return!

Marhgil Macuha

2007-12-29T19:19:00.000+04:00

Marhgil Macuha - The Man

Marhgil Macuha is a blogger, who just like me but who lives in the other part of the world. One of the major differences between us is that he earns a lot through his blog, unlike me! He knows how to attract visitors, which I am trying to do.

The SEO contest of Marhgil Macuha

To celebrate the anniversay of his blog, Macuha.com, Marhgil Macuha has organised a mini SEO contest. The aim of this contest is for a blogger to have a highest rank on Google's and Yahoo's search page for the keywords Marhgil Macuha. The person managing to accomplish this feat will be rewarded $100 for his rank on Google, and $50 for his rank on Yahoo. This contest ends on the 4th January 2008.

My views on Marhgil Macuha's contest

I honestly believe it is a nice initiative to have conceived such a contest. It would encourage bloggers to dig more and more to find their own techniques to drive traffic to their blogs, and to have decent rankings on Google's search page. Its a fun way to peep into the world of SEO, and with a potential reward for the one who manages to grasp the already available concepts, or for the one who revolutionizes everything. The vision of Marhgil Macuha should be appreciated, and we must hope that other contests like this are organised in the future!

Ads Rotator

2007-12-13T09:38:00.000+04:00

You might not have noticed it, but every time you visit my blog, the banner above my posts change! Well, I have added an Ads Rotator to my blog, which means each time my blog is loaded, a random banner will be displayed.

I have added thid Ads Rotator because I feel the visitors might be immune to ads in the sense that seeing the same banner every time, they might just overlook them during their next visit. Having changing banners will most probably attract the attention of the visitors to the ads, and in this way I might probably be able to generate leads from a large number of Affiliates!

The Ads Rotator is a simple piece of code which involves making use of an array and random numbers, to display the banners randomly. The banner links are inserted into an array, and the array position is randomly generated. Simple as that! Below is a sample code of the Ads Rotator written in JavaScript.

var r_text = new Array ();
r_text[0] = link1;
r_text[1] = link2;
r_text[2] = link3;
.
.
.
.
r_text[n] = link(n+1);
var i = Math.round(n*Math.random());
document.write(r_text[i]);

As you can see, the Ads Rotator is very easy to implement, so why don't you give it a try? Maybe you also will be able to generate more leads! And its totally FREE!

Making of Ronaldo Clip

2007-12-04T11:11:00.000+04:00

You might be wondering how Cristiano Ronaldo managed to play against a bull as you might have seen in the clip in my previous post. Do you think Alex Ferguson let him play against a bull? Did the Manchester United player risk his personal safety by appearing in this ad. Well below is the MAKING OF. See it for yourself.

Seems that Ronaldo can give a try at acting!
And maybe next time, he can make an ad involving a dinosaur instead of a bull. It will be more cool!
What do you think?
What clip can be made next time?

Ronaldo against Bull

2007-11-30T08:39:00.000+04:00

Here is an interesting clip featuring Cristiano Ronaldo in an ad against a bull. Seems that his skills are too much for humans to cope, so he has stepped up a level by playing against a bull!

The first part of the clip seems real enough but the last part of the clip where the bull heads the ball suggests that this clip has been constructed using super-computers, and graphics softwares.

What do you think of this clip?
Is it real/stupid/funny/bizarre?
Do footballers make themselves look foolish by featuring in such ads?
Please leave your comments.

~~Next time I will show you the MAKING OF of this ad.~~

Here is the MAKING OF C.Ronaldo v/s Bull

Yahoo Error Message

2007-11-28T10:00:00.000+04:00

This morning while checking my mails on my Yahoo account, I encountered a rather funny error message. I have taken a screenshot of the error message, see it below.

I don't know if the designers at Yahoo were serious to display such an error message or it was just a prank from the part of an engineer.

Whatever the case, I bet maybe I will not encounter such an error message on Yahoo mail again.

Have you ever encountered bizarre error messages like this? Share your experiences!!!

CSV to XML Converter

2007-11-18T19:22:00.000+04:00

Many among you must have struggled with converting a CSV file to an XML document. Some have succeeded, while others not.

CXL is an utility which has developed and which serves as a CSV to XML converter. Click on the link below to download the BETA version of my application.

CXL

http://rapidshare.com/files/70579163/CXL.rar

Please report any bugs, and give any suggestion for improvement as well.

CXL is relatively easy to use. You just have to LOAD the CSV file, then specify a name to be given to the XML document, then start the conversion process.

For the next release, I'm planning for the user to specify his own column and row names, and other additions.

For the time being, feel free to play with my toy.

Football Jokes (Part 2)

2007-11-13T09:05:00.000+04:00

Here is another funny article from SOCCERNET:

100 greatest ever footballers

Yet another list of the 100 greatest players of all time has hit the headlines but on this occasion it is not based on mere opinion but fact, at least that is what the creators claim.

The Association of Football Statisticians' (AFS) compendium of 'Greatest Ever Footballers', due to hit the shelves in time for Christmas, used a points based 'all time player ranking system' to reveal that Pele is in fact, and you won't believe this, the best football player the world has ever seen.

Soccernet will let the shock of that revelation settle in before informing you that the Brazilian's normal opponent for that title Diego Maradona is actually only the sixth best player in the history of the game.

Manchester United legend George Best, the man Pele once described as 'the best player ever' does not even make it into the controversial list, whilst United defender Gary Neville is ranked 86th. And not the 86th best defender but the 86th best player of all time, in the entire universe...ever! Now we're not saying the Red Devils' skipper is not a decent player, but come on!

Some other baffling rankings has Johan Cruyff - three times European Footballer of the Year and key exponent of Rinus Michels' Total Football - listed 21st, just five places above little-known Iranian striker Ali Daei.

Daei ranks 26th due to his 109 goals in 149 international matches for Iran.... against the mighty teams of Asia. Socceroos' striker Archie Thompson's has already been on the phone to ask why he isn't on the list after his 13 goal haul against American Samoa (Population 57,291) in a World Cup qualifier.

Former France striker Sylvain Wiltord waltzes in at 58 and even overlooking the fact that he should not be in the list in the first place, it is difficult to comprehend why he is allegedly better than AC Milan legend Franco Baresi, Roberto Baggio, Bryan Robson and Edgar Davids.

The AFS' system of awarding points for goals scored by forwards, clean sheets from defenders and honours won - including cups and caps - seems like a reasonable idea at first glance; but there are so many variables in football that their method appears more flawed than FIFA's notoriously dubious co-efficient World Rankings for national teams.

A spokesman for the book's publishers defended the rankings by insisting it was a 'comprehensive list of who really were, statistically, the best players of all time'.

That much used saying regarding lies, damn lies and statistics has never seemed more appropriate.

The best team in the world according to the Association of Football Statisticians*

• GK - Peter Schmeichel

• LB - Roberto Carlos
• CB - Lothar Matthaus
• CB - Franz Beckenbauer
• RB - Cafu

• LM - Johan Cruyff
• CM - Zinedine Zidane
• CM - Michel Platini
• RM - Luis Figo

• ST - Ronaldo
• ST - Pele

*Compiled by taking the highest ranked player relevant to the available positions in standard 4-4-2.

The top 100 players according to the statistics is as follows:

GREATEST EVER PLAYERS
1.Pele (Brazil)
2.Ronaldo (Brazil)
3.Romario (Brazil)
4.Luis Figo (Portugal)
5.Zinedine Zidane (France)
6.Diego Maradona (Argentina)
7.Lothar Matthaus (Germany)
8.Gerd Muller (Germany)
9.Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)
10.Cafu (Brazil)
11.Roberto Carlos (Brazil)
12.Marco van Basten (Holland)
13.Michel Platini (France)
14.Rivaldo (Brazil)
15.Paolo Maldini (Italy)
16.Zico (Brazil)
17.Raul (Spain)
18.Ruud Gullit (Holland)
19.Eusebio (Portugal)
20.Ferenc Puskas (Hungary)
21.Johan Cruyff (Holland)
22.Alfredo di Stefano(Argentina)
23.Bobby Charlton (England)
24.Jurgen Klinsmann (Ger)
25.Kenny Dalglish (Scotland)
26.Ali Daei (Iran)
27.Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Ger)
28.Gabriel Batistuta (Argentina)
29.Michael Laudrup (Denmark)
30.Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria)
31.Dennis Bergkamp (Holland)
32.Frank Rijkaard (Holland)
33.Thierry Henry (France)
34.Pavel Nedved (Czech Rep)
35.Gheorghe Hagi (Romania)
36.Peter Schmeichel(Denmark)
37.Andrei Shevchenko (Ukraine)
38.Sepp Maier (Germany)
39.Didier Deschamps (France)
40.Lilian Thuram (France)
41.Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay)
42.Hakan Sukur (Turkey)
43.Paolo Rossi (Italy)
44.David Beckham (England)
45.Jean-Pierre Papin (France)
46.Kevin Keegan (England)
47.Marcel Desailly (France)
48.Oliver Kahn (Germany)
49.Alessandro Costacurta (Ita)
50.Clarence Seedorf (Holland)
51.Dino Zoff (Italy)
52.Patrick Kluivert (Holland)
53.Jari Litmanen (Finland)
54.Daniel Passarella (Arg)
55.Bixente Lizarazu (France)
56.Gary Lineker (England)
57.Ronaldhino (Brazil)
58.Sylvain Wiltord (France)
59.Bebeto (Brazil)
60.Alessandro Del Piero (Italy)
61.Davor Suker (Croatia)
62.Ryan Giggs (Wales)
63.David Trezeguet (France)
64.Demetrio Albertini (Italy)
65.Patrick Vieira (France)
66.Jurgen Kohler (Germany)
67.Laurent Blanc (France)
68.Michael Owen (England)
69.Youri Djorkaeff (France)
70.Frank De Boer (Holland)
71.Emilio Butragueno (Spain)
72.Hugo Sanchez (Mexico)
73.Rudi Voller (Germany)
74.Djalma Santos (Brazil)
75.Giacinto Facchetti (Italy)
76.Kanu (Nigeria)
77.Franco Baresi (Italy)
78.Gianni Rivera (Italy)
79.Roberto Baggio (Italy)
80.Oscar Ruggeri (Argentina)
81.Gheorghe Popescu(Romania)
82.Jon D. Tomasson (Denmark)
83.Raymond Kopa (France)
84.Carlos Valderrama (Colombia)
85.Rui Costa (Portugal)
86.Gary Neville (England)
87.Edgar Davids (Holland)
88.Claudio Taffarel (Brazil)
89.Paul Scholes (England)
90.Diego Simeone (Argentina)
91.Bryan Robson (England)
92.Roy Keane (Rep of Ireland)
93.Brian Laudrup (Denmark)
94.Henrik Larsson (Sweden)
95.Fabien Barthez (France)
96.Michael Ballack (Germany)
97.Jan Koller (Czech Republic)
98.Edwin van der Sar (Holland)
99.Robert Pires (France)
100.Johan Neeskens (Holland)

Do leave your comments/reactions/opinions...

Click HERE to read Part 1

Football Jokes (Part 1)

2007-11-12T10:29:00.000+04:00

This is the first list of FOOTBALL jokes which I have read on other sites, and which I want to share with you. The sources of these materials come from FOOTBALL365, SOCCERNET and TRIBALFOOTBALL.
Happy Reading, and share your comments!

Taken from Football365 :

WEST HAM IN FOR MARCELO
Bad news for Panathinaikos' midfielder Marcelo: He'll be injured soon as West Ham are reportedly trying to sign him.

The Sun says that Alan Curbishley will make a £5million bid in January and 'is understood to be ready to sell Hayden Mullins to fund the deal'.

Based on the record of Curbishley's previous signings over the past 12 months, Marcelo will suffer a muscle strain by January 12.

JUSSI TO THE GOONERS?
Having realised that one of his keepers is a sulky, arrogant, creaking old sour Kraut and the other shames the good name of 'dodgy', Arsene Wenger might be after a half-way decent goalie.

The Daily Mirror reports that the man in question is Jussi Jaaskelainen, whose Bolton contract runs out next summer and would thus satisfy Arsene's criteria for a custodian - namely that they must be cheap.

After those last two, this whisper should be listed in the dictionary under the entry 'credible'.

Taken from TRIBALFOOTBALL:

Blackburn's Bentley suffers name cock-up

Blackburn Rovers didn't get off on the right foot against Manchester United yesterday.

David Bentley's shirt for the 2-0 defeat at United had the Blackburn winger's name spelt as 'Betnley" - is it any wonder why Zura Khizanishvili cannot get in the side!

Someone posted a hilarious comment for this article on TRIBALFOOTBALL :

Thats why Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink went to Celtic instead of us. He refused to wear two shirts

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do leave your comments/reactions/opinions...

Read Part 2 Here

Google Page Rank

2007-10-27T10:54:00.000+04:00

I've got a Google Page Rank since yesterday!
My current Page Rank is 3, which is not bad according to me for a blog which is only 10 months old!
You can check the Page Rank of any site using the Google Toolbar or by visiting this SITE.

'PageRank is a link analysis algorithm that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set. The algorithm may be applied to any collection of entities with reciprocal quotations and references.' - Quoted from Wikipedia.
You can find more information from Wikipedia's site on PageRank.

Well, from the explanation of Wikipedia, the best way to get a high Page Rank is to have a high number of back links from sites which have a Page Rank.

According to an article on DDBoard, Google will change the way it calculates Page Rank.

Quote:-

'
Google Announces End of Page Rank

Google 2.0

In a nod to Web 2.0 and in an effort to make the Google experience more user-centric, Google will end the system of assigning each web page a Page Rank based on an algorithm of links, quality and popularity. Instead, each page will have a Page Rate assigned by the readers.

Page Rate will be established by the installation of an attractive voting widget on each page allowing readers to click either an up or down arrow to show approval or disapproval of the page's content. After clicking the arrow of choice, the reader will be prompted to leave a comment about the page they just voted for. While all users are allowed to vote, only those logged into their Google account will actually have their votes counted or be allowed to comment.

Float It

Google users will also be able to go to the new "Float It" site where they may rate sites already rated by other Googlers. Once on Float It, readers are encouraged to examine pages other Floaters have submitted and vote to either "Float It" or "Sink It", thereby helping to bring exposure to the truly deserving web pages.

Trip Over It

Another method of finding pages to rate will be by using the new Google Toolbar With TripOverIt. The new toolbar will have a TripOverIt button integrated into it as well as a window showing the current page's Votes and Floats. With the toolbar installed, the user may click the "TripOverIt" button and be taken to a random web page to vote on. The user need not worry about selecting categories or preferences because the toolbar will also track their surfing habits and only serve up the kind of pages they like.

Goo.glicio.us

For those Googlers who want to be able to return to the pages they really liked, Google has developed Googlicious. Googlicious is a social bookmarking community that allows users to connect and share their favorite pages.

Limitations and Restrictions

While it is required that each page have the Page Rate Widget installed to qualify for a Page Rate, the site owner is not allowed to have any other voting or submission widgets on the page. Neither may the site owner ask for votes or refer to the widget in any way. The site owner also may not, under any circumstances, click their own widget. If a site owner clicks their own widget or in any way attempts to commit widget fraud, all pages owned by that owner will be removed from the Page Rate Program, will be disallowed from Organic Search Results and the Googlebot will be instructed to break all of the links on the page and screw up the CSS code on its way out.

Rankings

Rankings will still be scored on a 10 point system based on a proprietary algorithm of Up Votes, Down Votes, Float Its, Sink Its, Bookmarks and the quality of comments received.

From The Founders

In an interview posted on the Google blog, the founders of Google were asked if they were trying to take over the entire internet. Sergey Brin adamantly stated, "We absolutely are not trying to take over the internet!" Co-founder Larry Page interjected, "We don't like to use the word 'trying'."

'

Moreover, I have reached my target of having an Alexa Rank which is less than 1,000,000, in just two months!

Isn't it incredible?

Now my next aim is to drive a larger number of visitors to my blog using SEO techniques.
Need to do some research on SEO first.

FreeStyle

2007-10-20T19:08:00.000+04:00

Click on the link below:

Click Here

Now try typing anywhere in the current window.
What do you notice?

Yeah, the window has become like a typepad.

Isn't it cool?

You can now break my blog into pieces!
Whatever you do will not be seen by others though.
If you refresh or close the window, all changes will be reset.

Happy FreeStyle!

Accident!

2007-09-27T20:53:00.000+04:00

I was involved in an accident this morning! A car collided with the bus in which I was. There was not great damage done, as you can judge from the picture. The driver of the car was a tourist who maybe did not know how the traffic was in Mauritius during the peak hours in the morning.
The driver of the bus and the tourist tried to find a compromise, but in vain. A man was acting as a translator between the tourist and the driver, but they could not come to an agreement, and eventually they had to go to the Police Station.

As for me, I reached my work place late, and what is more incredible is that I was delayed this morning by another accident near my home!

Seems I am a magnet for ACCIDENTS!
Maybe it would be wise to get myself insured!

Truth of Life

2007-09-16T22:03:00.000+04:00

Whenever you are alone,
Do not ask yourself why you are alone,
But be happy that you are alone,
Because you came alone, you'll go alone,
Anybody who says you are not alone,
Will someday leave you alone...

These few lines were written by me in a moment of loneliness.

Do you think they reflect the truth of life?
Leave your comments.
Thanks

Putting Name near Time

2007-09-15T11:13:00.000+04:00

How to put your name besides the clock like in the picture?

Simple!

This trick is meant for Windows users.

-> OPEN Control Panel
-> OPEN Regional and Language Options
-> Click on CUSTOMIZE

-> Select the TIME tab, and put anything you want in the AM symbol and PM symbol combo boxes.

-> Then apply the settings.

There is also one cool trick.
This trick will clear the cache of your Firefox browser.

-> PRESS SHIFT on the keyboard and click on the REFRESH icon in the browser, and you will get the last updated page.

How to save bookmarks?

2007-09-05T18:07:00.000+04:00

Need to format your PC?
But what will happen to the bookmarks you have preciously accumulated?
Can you afford to lose them?

Most of us will jot down all the bookmarks on paper, before re-entering them in our browser and saving them again.

A much more intelligent way would be to store all the bookmarks at DEL.ICIO.US, from where they can be accessed anytime and anywhere.

For FIREFOX users, there's still an another way to save the bookmarks.
Install the FOXMARKS FIREFOX Plugins and start synchronizing your bookmarks between two or more PCs without much hassle.

Try this plugin and see how easy it is to store your bookmarks anytime.

Blog Update

2007-08-29T16:40:00.000+04:00

Barely two weeks after I first got an Alexa ranking, I'm now at 2,062,337 on the Alexa rank. This rank is for both www.dom20.com and kamal.dom20.com.

I am also hosting my blog on my domain, as you can deduce from the address in the address bar.

Now I need to increase the popularity of my blog and my domain. I am also working on other projects which will appear as services on my site.

For the time being, its work, work, and work.

Finally on Alexa

2007-08-16T19:45:00.000+04:00

I've got an Alexa Rank.
Finally!

For www.dom20.com, the rank is 9,152,099
and for My Blog, the rank is 5,148,319.

This means that my blog is more visited, and I've got a long way to go to have a rank which is below 1,000,000.

It will happen! I don't know when, but I'll make it happen ;-)

www.dom20.com

2007-08-12T18:23:00.000+04:00

I have acquired a domain : www.dom20.com since May, and I've been figuring what to do with it.

Well, the craze of WEB2.0 and building my own social community has got over me, but I do not really know from where to start. For the time being, I've put a few pages, and one among them is a Google Map where you can try to gauge where I live!

My primary concern for the time being is how to generate income from this domain as I have to renew it in May 2008, and I also need to find another host. My current host displays its own Google ads on my pages, which I try to hide.

I have my idea how to generate income, but the results won't be immediate.
Another of my concerns is how to get a good page rank, and ranking in Google searches.

It will be tough, but I'm confident that in 1 year, my site will have atleast a Page Rank of 1.

A long time

2007-07-16T20:16:00.000+04:00

Its quite a long time since I last wrote on my blog. Many events occurred since then.

-> My football team is the runner up of the UOM 7 a side tournament.

-> I've started working.

-> I went to the Casino yesterday. Actually did not play, but observed a lot there. Especially the Roulette game.

I'm currently considering about how to simulate the game on my mobile phone. It would be quite cool to know the next number to crop up so that I can place my bet on it! Its still at the analysis phase, but I hope to move further forward on this particular project.

If someone knows any algorithm, or other relevant info, please do tell me.

My dream to become rich goes on...

IMG - The Final Coutdown

2007-06-09T10:57:00.000+04:00

I've not been writing on my blog for a major reason. I've got my final year project presentation in the coming week, and I'm preparing for it.

Its called the IMG, which stands for Interactive Museum Guide.
I'll give you more details later. Need to do much testing with the software.

What a season in Online Soccer Manager

2007-06-01T20:23:00.000+04:00

It has been a great season for me and my team Tottenham Hostpur in Online Soccer Manager.
I won the league with a record of 101 goals scored, with my 3 strikers finishing as top scorers in the league. Moreover I also won the Cup with a 5-0 victory over Manchester City!

Well the English Season is over, but with Online Soccer Manager I can manage to pursue my football craze.
Great game.
For those who have not tried it, you should really give it a go.
You'll see that within a few days you'll become totally addicted to this name.

For the time being searching for a new team to manage and looking ofrward to prepare for the new season.

The Interview with Gilles Granger

2007-05-20T17:05:00.000+04:00

Awesome.

That's what I would describe Vinivi. The technologies that they use are simply "fantasmagoric"!

I had an interview yesterday with Gilles Granger, the co-founder, and it was a really enriching experience. I bet many of you who had interviews did not get to do much apart from answering questions.

My interview was different. Relaxed atmosphere, in a real start-up, you could see it from the interior decoration.
It was more of an interactive session, where we got to learn about many things, I never imagined that it would be an "IT General knowledge" session.

Interview with Mr Granger on Saturday

2007-05-14T17:59:00.000+04:00

I've been called by Mr Gilles Granger for an interview on Saturday. I think so!
Everything happened so quickly.

I was revising, exams start tomorrow, and for once I was really cut out from the rest of the world. My mobile was ringing, and it was on silent mode, and my mobile was ringing. The time was 14:33 and the caller was the founder of Vinivi.

It was only after 15 minutes, when Avinash notified me that he had been contacted by Mr Granger that I checked my mobile. Indeed, he had phoned me also. Avinash told me to call him back, and I was desperately trying to do so for 15 minutes. The line was busy.

At last, my call got through, and I was surprised by his friendliness. I was going through a phone interview, and as usual, i fluffed my lines a few times. I hope Mr Granger did not mind.

I'm really fired up to meet him on Saturday, and I'm starting to feel that maybe bad days are going.

Wish me good luck for Saturday!

New Hopes, New Dreams

2007-05-11T13:22:00.000+04:00

I was quite depressed this week. Exams are next week, I'm telling myself that I'm so jinxed that I will not a job in this lifetime, etc, etc. Morever, I was trying to build my personal web site since 4 May 2007, and I haven't progressed a lot (I will talk about it later).

In short, everything was going wrong in my life till my friend announced a morale boosting news to me.

Yes, its incredible, and its true. Paypal now covers Mauritius, and I thank Vikram for breaking this news to me. You'll find a similar article on his blog, click on his name to go there.

What this means to me is that the World is now open to me! Just imagine, I can now make almost any business transaction in most countries in the world using a highly secure system. More significantly, like Vikram has mentioned in his blog, I will be able to register as an affiliate with many sites and try to make quick money, and Paypal is the key to that world.

The downside of this story is that I do not have a credit card (I'm still a student, can't afford one), but I'll be toying with Paypal to understand payment procedures better. If everything goes well, I might become a bit more richer, but I'm determined to make myself become a success story, for others (Young Mauritians without large financial backings) to follow.

For the time being I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Wish me Good Luck!!!

Forza Milan

2007-05-03T20:10:00.000+04:00

In simple words, yesterday match between Milan and Manchester United.
Milan's performance : Awesome
United's performance : Awful

The Best team won, and deservedly are in the final.
Congratulations and good luck to them.

Job well done

2007-05-02T08:47:00.000+04:00

Congratulations to Liverpool for having brillantly booked their place for the Champions League final in Athens after their penalty shoot-out victory against Chelsea yesterday. Being 1-0 down from the first leg, Rafa Benitez knew his team had to attack since the beginning, and this is what his team did. Agger scored the only goal of the match after a delightful play by Gerrard, and no more goals were scored.

It is a great achievement for Liverpool, highlighting the fact that they are amongst the greats in Europe, while Chelsea maybe should perhaps start thinking that money cannot buy success.

Whatever team qualifies in the other match, it will be a highly entertaining final. A Liverpool - AC Milan match would make football fans all around the world hope for another repeat of the 2005 Final. A Liverpool - Manchester United match would be a fitting final, for all the rivalry between these two clubs, and for their respective supporters to obtain bragging rights about the best team in the land.

What do you think about Liverpool's chances for winning another European Cup?
How do you rate Liverpool and Chelsea for yesterday's match?
Which team do you want Liverpool to play against in the Final?
Please let us know.

If you do not have a Blogger account, select Other, and put your name there, or you can post as Anonymous.

Match Preview : AC Milan v/s Manchester United

2007-05-02T08:37:00.000+04:00

Tonight A.C Milan and Manchester United will be competing against each other for a place in the final of the Champions League against Liverpool. The last match was a classic, and this match also is expected to be an absolute cracker. The first leg of this tie was an absolute classic, characterised by attacking football from both teams. That matched finished 3-2 in favour of Manchester United but the score could have been more.

Kaka was imperious in the last match, and he is expected to continue producing more beautiful football tonight. Dida should keep his place in goal, while Bonera will be favourite to partner Nesta in central defence, Maldini being injured. Gattuso should be fit to play after succumbing to injury in the last match. He is the key man in this match, as he will be doing all the dirty job in the midfield, allowing Kaka, Seedorf, and Pirlo to dictate Milan's play. Inzaghi should be preferred to the awful Gilardino, while the rest of the team should be the same. Milan is expected to play with their 4-3-2-1 formation.

Possible Milan line up :

Manchester United are going to Milan on the back of their astonishing victory against Everton, making an incredible comeback after being led by 2-0. They scored 4 goals in 30 mins, and who would bet against them from scoring again tonight. However, as proved in the last match, without Rio Ferdinand, and Vidic, United's defence is rather comic. For this match, I expect Ferguson to take a major gamble by playing Vidic from the start, and putting Ferdinand on the bench. The rest of the team will maybe remain the same, with the United manager using a 4-3-3 formation.

Possible United line up:

I expect United to attack from the start, and trying to find that crucial away goal, while Milan also will be trying to do find an early lead, then shut-off the defence. It will be a pulsating match, where goals mouth actions are expected to be frequent occurences. Both teams are vying to play against Liverpool in the final, but which team will go through?

Which team will win the match?
What will be the score?
Who between Ronaldo and Kaka is the best player?
If United win, will Scholes, Heinze or Ronaldo be booked and suspended for the final?
Please let us know.

If you do not have a Blogger account, select Other, and put your name there, or you can post as Anonymous.

Match Preview : Liverpool v/s Chelsea

2007-04-30T20:04:00.000+04:00

Liverpool and Chelsea will both be going head to head for the return leg of the Champion's League semi final (1 May 2007) to book their place in the final. For Liverpool, qualification would mean the chance to win a sixth European title, while for Chelsea, it would their first taste of a Champion's League final.

For the first leg, Liverpool passed the ball well without really ever threatening Petr Cech, with only Steven Gerrard nearly scoring had it not been for the monkey-like agility of Chelsea's keeper. Meanwhile Chelsea played efficiently without really playing beautiful football.

The first match was a purely tactical one, where Mourinho did not want to concede a crucial away goal, while Benitez was trying to get a fair result, either a draw, or an away goal. Credit should be given to the Chelsea manager for the ruthless football played by his team. They were not eye-catching, but effective in their play. It was straight-forward football. Bang-Bang-Bang(Carvalho-Drogba-Cole) for the only goal of that game.

For this match, Chelsea know that a draw is enough to take them through, while need to win this match at any cost. I expect Liverpool to field their strongest team as this is their only chance for silverware this season, with maybe Finnan restored to right back instead of the dodgy Arbeola, and Mark Gonzalez on the left wing. Concerning Steven Gerrard, I expect Rafa Benitez to play him as a centre forward, just behind Kuyt or Crouch, and Jermaine Pennant getting his place on the right side of midfield.

A possible lineup for Liverpool might be:

As for Chelsea, having nearly conceded the Permiership title, they will be trying to cement their place in perhaps a potential encounter with Manchester United in the Champions League final, depending on the result of the other match. Mourinho's men should continue where they had left. They are expected to soak up Liverpool's constant bombardment's and break quickly on the counter attack. Drogba is expected to lead the charge with long balls being pelted towards him to hold on until other players get forward.

A possible lineup for Chelsea might be:

According to me, the match will be ending in a draw, with Chelsea progressing to the final. The whole Chelsea team has a determination and desire to win, which only Steven Gerrard has in the Liverpool team. Chelsea has already won 1 cup, and are still going for the quadruple, while Liverpool will most certainly try to show that their triumph 2 years ago was not just due to sheer luck.

Hope the best team win.

Who do you think will reach the final?
What will be the score?
What do you think of both teams?
Who will be the hero and zero?
Please leave your comments.

If you do not have a Blogger account, select Other, and put your name there, or you can post as Anonymous.

Its Really Rocking

2007-04-29T17:16:00.000+04:00

This song is really Rocking!!!

You've got to listen it.

I've fallen in love with it.

Its quite of a new genre, and refreshing. Music Lovers will understand what I'm trying to say. Please leave your comments about the song and the clip.

The craze of Online Soccer Manager

2007-04-29T15:44:00.000+04:00

Its Sunday and I'm in front of my PC as usual, this time trying to prepare my final year project presentation. Since yesterday I've only worked on 3 slides, and I need to do atleast 30 more slides by tonight.

Well, I could easily have finished the presentation work yesterday itself had it not been for Online Soccer Manager. I played against Charlton away yesterday and easily won the match by 3-0, thanks to a double from the league's topscorer, Robbie Keane (12 goals in 10 matches). I have moved up to 3rd in the table with my Tottenham team and I'm rather confident that my team can win the league at the end of the season.

Everything seems to be going very well for me right now, coz I've managed to buy Carlos Tevez from West Ham today, and I intend to make him a Superman in the game. Today I'll be playing against Everton and I expect another thumping victory for my side. I'm thinking that I might be competent enough to replace Alex Ferguson when he retires!

I'm getting addicted to this game, and I can't wait for the holidays so that I can play Football Manager, another marvellous game which had me glued to my seat in front of the PC. I'll keep you updated about my season with Tottenham, and how my team is performing.

My Tottenham Strikers

My Tottenham Midfielders

My Tottenham Defenders and Goalkeepers

P.S : I'll manage to complete my presentation by tonight. I'm used to work under pressure.

Torres to Liverpool?

2007-04-27T18:17:00.000+04:00

Liverpool fans, start dreaming.

Torres might be coming to Liverpool at the end of the 2006/2007 season.
This is what The Sun newspaper claims, and their journalists have made their claims based on some pictures taken during Atletico Madrid's match against Real Zaragoza.

Does this picture really means to say that Torres like Liverpool, or does it have other meanings?
Please let us know your opinions and views about this picture.

Use Internet freely.

2007-04-18T18:17:00.000+04:00

You have a serie 40 Nokia mobile phone?
You think it is outdated?
You want to buy a smartphone?
Well, the serie 40 Nokia mobile still has some great utilities, like using free Internet services.

You might think how is this possible. Well just follow the simple steps that I will describe and you will see how it is possible.

Activate GPRS and MMS on your sim card.

Install Opera Mini on your phone, and use the MMS access point.

This trick currently works well in Mauritius.

I'm using it with my 7250i.

Try it out and let me know!

Indepence Day at Uni

2007-03-14T20:30:00.000+04:00

On Monday Mauritius celebrated the 39th year it attained independence, and the 15th year it became a republic.
At the university, the celebrations had kick started on Friday with a mega show organised by the University students.
The show was a joy to watch and I did not regret attending the show instead of going to my football training match!
Hassen was great as a host, but I think he overdid a bit with the distribution of Emtel's '"gifts". He got for his money with a troupe of men/women!
It was fun.

Amazing

2007-01-10T21:26:00.000+04:00

The new Villareal playmaker can even rival Ronaldinho for his skills, vision and the quality of football he produces. Matias Fernandez is the latest talent to emerge from South America, even though he is not as recognised as the likes of Carlos Higuain, Carlos Tevez or Fernando Gago.
Considering his huge potential, and his never say die attitude with the ball at his feet, he is sure to make it big in European football, and the youngsters of tomorrow will soon have a new idol to look at.

Watch out this clip for a comparison between him and the Maestro, Ronaldinho Gaucho

Isn't he amazing?
How do you rate him?
Make sure to leave your comments...

Das Wonderkid

2007-01-10T21:13:00.000+04:00

Forget Cristiano Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, or Ronaldinho.
A new star is set to rise on European football.
Matias Fernandez is the name of this gem unearthed in Chili, and he was voted best player in South America for 2006 as he helped Colo Colo win the South American equivalent of the UEFA cup.

He has now joined Spanish side Villareal during the January (2007) transfer window, and if he lives up to the expectations, it would not be a surprise if he commands a move to a big European club very soon.

Keep watching for him!!!

Fact File – MATÍAS FERNÁNDEZ

Full Name: Matías Ariel Fernández Fernández
Nicknames: Mati, Pelusa (Hairy), Matigol
DOB: 15/05/1986
POB: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality: Chilean
Previous Club: Colo Colo (Debut 2004)
Current Club: Villareal (Since January 2007)
Position: Midfielder
Height: 1.75m

Send SMS to EMTEL users

2007-01-07T11:32:00.000+04:00

Testing!!!
This part is still under construction...
Keep checking

A world of dreams

2007-01-06T12:26:00.000+04:00

Someone very special sent me the greetings. New Years Greetings. Click on the link to view it.
If you also want to send greeting to somebody special, go to http://www.nethugs.com. You will get a vast collection of virtual greetings, wishes, everything you need.
Do not think twice to send your greetings to your closed ones.

The game everyone's talking about!

2007-01-06T11:56:00.000+04:00

Are you a football fan?
Do you want to become a manager one day?
Do you hate Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal, etc? You want to destroy that team?
You can now aspire to have a taste of football management by playing Online Soccer Manager. Just create a new account at http://www.onlinesoccermanager.co.uk, and you can start managing your favourite team.

Are you having trouble with the game?
Keep in mind that this game is a fantasy game meant only for fun.
So relax and enjoy the game.
You can put a maximum of 4 players on the transfer list at the same time.
At the start of the season, it is preferable to put the weaker players on the transfer list at reasonably affordable prices, so that you can get quick money to strengthen your squad.
As the season goes on, you can train your players, and demand higher prices for them.
If you do not know much about tactics, keep it simple.
Play traditional 4-4-2 formation,
Mentality : Put the slider in the middle
Overall match tactics : Counterattack
Style of play : Extreme
Defensive tactic : Zonal
Offside trap : No
Pressing : Yes
Defenders : Stay Back
Midfielders : Neutral
Attackers : Attack Only

And Do Not Forget
Enjoy!!!

Want to send SMS through mobile?

2007-01-06T11:37:00.000+04:00

You have a mobile phone capable of supporting simple Java Applications, and you want to send SMS at cheaper rates than usual.
The solution is simple, either install Opera Browser on your mobile and use the websites for sending SMS.
Or you can install simple Java applications on your mobile and make use of them.
You can find them on www.getjar.com
If you want some help on how to use them, do not hesitate do contact me.

SMS

2007-01-06T11:00:00.000+04:00

Want to send free SMS internationally
=> Try www.wadja.com

For Mauritian user possessing an EMTEL simcard
=> Try http://emtelfun.emtelworld.com

You can also sms using Yahoo or any other email account.
What you need to know is the email carrier of your service provider.
For example in Mauritius, the email carrier for EMTEL is yournumber@emtelworld.net.
Replace your number with your mobile number without the international dialing code, and all emails sent, will arrive as a series of SMSes to your mobile.
And its free!!!
Try it!