Youth poke fun at popular sites

Any web worthy netizen is familiar with Wikipedia, the free online encyclopaedia. You either write for it or you turn to it for all life’s answers. But what’s really radical is Uncyclopedia, a parody of the popular online reference. The Encyclopedia Dramatica is an even more ludicrous (and objectionable) website whose name sounds remarkably similar to the hallowed leather bound tomes that line dusty library shelves. Today’s youngsters have no qualms about poking fun at others, in fact that’s what these sites thrive on.

The Uncyclopedia web pages are designed like Wikipedia, and even have a spoof of the Wikipedia logo. "The content-free encyclopedia that anyone can edit" is the tagline — another dig at the original.

Wikipedia user Vemana Madasu, a student of MJCET, feels the nature of the Internet is to allow different perspectives to exist. "popular web pages like thebestpageintheuniverse.net are considered cool because they take a random topic and make fun of it."

Humour is always a good thing, says Aditya Narayanan, a student of MGIT. "Whether it’s something like a Hatebook spinning off from Facebook or Uncyclopedia making fun of Wikipedia, we all love a good laugh."

Harsha Vemulapati, another netizen and student of Vasavi College, says, "These websites are so popular now because the concept is new and everyone wants to check it out, but I don’t think it’s worth visiting everyday." He adds, "They must be set up by some bored wannabe. It’s just a waste of bandwidth."

Beating jet lag

Jet lag is caused by a complex combination of circumtances.Crossing time zones, time shifts, alterations in magnetic fields, modifications in climates, cultural diversity, pre-flight conditions, dry atmosphere, cabin pressure and stale air are some of the factors which cause jet lag. So, before departing make sure too stressed. Don't hang out too late the night before. Make sure you have a good night sleep before travelling by flight. The dry air in the air craft causes dehydration. So, make sure you have enough amount of non-alcoholic fluids.

Chennai Corporation’s new Digital Venture

The Chennai Corporation added another feather to its cap when it called for tenders for an automated building plan approval system. Big companies used to flex their muscles and get their building plans approved quickly but it would take months for small house owners to get theirs approved. This would soon be a thing of the past. The new system will read the drawings submitted in electronic format and validate it for development Control Requirements (DCR). If the plan does not meet the rules, the system will indicate the errors and also give a report for rectification.
This is another step towards the e-governance plan of the corporation. It is inspired from the system in place in Pune and Surat and just a step behind the one in place in Singapore. The Corporation has also proposed to digitize old drawings and sanctioned plans. Such archiving will help ease the pressure of storage space and will also help in quicker search and retrieval for the Corporation officers. The proposed system will increase transparency, reduce manual error, simplify and standardize the procedures with better accountability.

Cars and the Environment

Cars have always fascinated Human Beings. Ever since the wheel was invented ages ago, Cars have been Inevitability. Off late there has been a huge cry over how Cars are the major cause for Global Warming and how it is important to cut down on Car Travel and start Carpooling, reduce use of fuels by Driving very economically. Most people are definitely concerned about the Environment, but forcing them to drive economically would take out the whole fun of Car Travel.
While the primary objective of driving is obviously getting a person from Point A to Point B, the element of driver comfort and driver Adaptability counts to a large extent. Each individual has a unique way of driving. While saving the Environment is in the back of everybody’s minds, Comfort, Looks, Value for Money, Speed, Luxury and the Thrill are still contributing factors for anyone who buys a Car.

The science express

The science express, a science exhibition on train was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on October 30th 2007. Impressed by the model of the science express in Germany, it was he who expressed his desire for a similar one in India. Twelve out of the sixteen coaches in the train have alloted for the science exhibitions and it has a fifty member team to co-ordinate the exhibition. The main aim of this express is to inculcate a scientific temperament among the Indian people. The train has covered 41 destinations when it reached Mangalore and still has 16 more destinations to cover before reaching New Delhi in june.

Discovery to bring in a new DTH channel

Discovery communications was launched in India thirteen years ago. It has three niche offerings presently namely Discovery channel, Discovery Travel and Living and Animal planet. Now it's ready to bring a fourth channel, exclusively in the Direct-to-home(DTH) platform. Worldwide, it offers channels like the Investigation Discovery, Discovery Health,Military Channel, TLC and science channel. It may rope in one of these channels for the DTH platform. Due to CAS failure and DTH services becoming cheaper, more and more people are
now preferring DTH over cable.

Looking Beyond Colour

With the advent of digital, there have been drastic changes in the way photographers operate. By now, all of them have realized that on every ground, digital does offer an edge. So why not with black and white, you may ask? The truth is, the problem is not with the medium. As with black and white films which were only sensitive to brightness, digital sensors too work exactly the same way. The only difference is that like with film, they had conveniently forgotten the use of coloured filters that helped them achieve the tonality required to distinguish one object from another. Similarly turning images into black-and-white does require some extensive work in the digital darkroom i.e. Adobe Photoshop. There are many ways using which you can achieve monochrome images in Photoshop and photographers have started using this to brilliant effects like we saw in the Airtel campaign.