Travelling Soldier

The copyright case brought by two historians who accuse Dan Brown of plagiarizing their work in The Da Vinci Code ended recently. The presiding judge said he hoped to give a ruling by early April.

Lasting more than three weeks, the closely watched hearings featured a tetchy Brown in the witness box, debate about the Merovingian monarchy, the Knights Templar and Jesus’ bloodline, and revelations about the media-shy author and his wife Blythe.

The Da Vinci Code, one of the most successful novels of all time with sales of over 40 million copies, uses some of the same ideas as The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, a 1982 work of historical conjecture by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh.

Both books raise the possibility that Jesus had a child by Mary Magdalene, that she fled to France after the Crucifixion and that Christ’s bloodline survives to this day. They also associate Magdalene with the Holy Grail.

Baigent and Leigh, who have been in court throughout the case, are suing Brown’s British publisher Random House, which also happens to be their own.

He (Brown) and/or Blythe has intentionally used HBHG in order to save the time and effort that independent research would have required,said Jonathan Rayner James, lawyer for Baigent and Leigh.The third author of the Holy Blood book, Henry Lincoln, is not part of the legal action.

In his closing submission, Rayner James tried to play down fears that victory for the historians would limit the extent to which novelists can draw on sources, historical or otherwise.

It has been Google’s tradition to release new products and features on fools day,April 1. As always,there are huge expectations and speculations from the users and media for tomorrow.For the last month,’Google’ has been influencing the Stock Market more than its competitors and the Stock price of it has almost doubled.

In 2004,google had released GMAIL Beta and it is already a household name in the internet parivars.Lat year,2005, google has given two surprises.It gave an extra 1 GB memory space to its GMAIL users and also they FAKE launched Energy Drink,Google Gulp.It was never a product and users were informed that one has to get a Google Gulp bottle cap to buy one for themselves.And it was never possible as the bottle was never meant to be made.

In the samelines,this year we can expect some fake and exciting lauches from Google.GMAIL might be out of beta,voice mail etc., are some of the guesses once can make from the past.

I am sure that Google is gonna thrill us with some of its new moves on this saturday and waiting for the clock to tick 12′0 clock…

Manchester Business School has launched a unique distance-learning MBA for construction executives, with half of the students from the first year’s intake being sponsored by industry.

The new MBA programme was developed in partnership with CITB-ConstructionSkills and through consultation with the leading industry bodies, and is designed to appeal to managers within all construction disciplines, from surveying and engineering through to managing the process.

The total intake for January 2006 was 16 students, 13 of them from the UK. Companies sponsoring students included contractors Mace Limited and Seddon Group, property agent Jones Lang Lasalle, architects Malcolm Reading & Associates and from the client side, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council. In total, 8 of the 16 students were funded by their employer. The average age of students enrolling was 31, and they came from a range of roles and professional backgrounds.

MBSW is the distance-learning arm of Manchester Business School, which is ranked as the 22nd business school in the world, according to the annual Financial Times survey conducted in January. The survey placed the school third in the UK and seventh in Europe in its annual ranking of full-time MBA programmes.

The course is now enrolling for the July intake. Applications for the MBSW construction MBA programme are normally considered on the basis of at least three years’ business experience, involving decision-making responsibility and the exercise of initiative. Applicants will normally, therefore, be at least 27 years of age and have a good first degree.

For further information about the construction MBA programme, visit:

http://www.mbs-worldwide.ac.uk/programmes/construction/default.asp

London Business School students are set to assume the identities of four global media and entertainment giants in the first ever public competitive intelligence ‘war game’ in Europe.

Following on the success of a similar event in the USA, the MBA students will examine which media giants are likely to rule the emerging multi-billion dollar digital entertainment world. The battle will commence on the 24th of April at London Business School between Apple Computer, Sky, Microsoft and Vodafone as each team competes for the future.

The event gives an exclusive glimpse into the way big business predicts the future when stakes are high and global trends need to be identified. Normally these kind of strategies are held behind closed doors.

The students, who are studying for their MBAs part-time while working full-time in the real world, are competing for a prize of £2,500. They will simulate competition with rivals as they use their strategic and creative skills to negotiate, hatch deals and even gang up on one another.

These photographs were released by sculptor Daniel Edwards.These show his sculpture of singer Britney Spears giving birth.

The life-sized ‘Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston,’ shown at the artist’s studio in Moosup, Conn., will be shown at the Capla Kesting Fine Art gallery in the Williamsburg section of New York beginning April 7.

Director of The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB),Hyderabad,India, Dr Lalgi Singh has announced that the CCMB was making prepartions to clone Cheetah in collaboration with a team of scientists from South Africa.

Cheetah is in the list of endangered species in the country.

Stating that South Africa would be the donor for the cloning, he explained that ‘earlier the CCMB had discussed with Iran on this project. ‘But, Iran was not willing to be a donor. and CCMB approached the South African government, he said.

Mr Singh said the CCMB has reached the ‘Morula’ stage in cloning of Rabbit, in a project launched last year.

Replica of the way customers are treated by Tech and Customer Support guys over phone.

Courtesy:dilbert.com/Scott Adams

Idli with Sambar

It is not an exaggeration of the fact that the only Industry which would survive in any kind of environments,irrespective of the influence of stock marker is FOOD INDUSTRY.

Suresh Babu,MBA graduate from the prestigious Management School of India,IIM-Ahmedabad has turned down a job offer of Rs.8.5 lakhs from a IT firm and showed conviction that he would start his own Food Catering Services for the Industries present in the same city.

In his childhood,Mr.Suresh used to sell idlis,prepared by his mother,and meet the expenses of education.Suresh had graduated from BITS pilani,which has offered him scholarship and also later the IIM has offered him scholarship for his MBA.

He has expressed confidence over his new company and hopes to create a whopping turnover of Rs.500 crores within a few years.He preferred to start his company and employ people enabling them to support their families rather than joining an exisinting firms and earn for himself.

As a native of south india,I am aware of the demand of IDLIS almost throughout the South India and one can easily say that more than 50% of South Indian Population include Idli as their breafast meal everyday.

Wishing Mr.Suresh Success in his attempt..

Professor Michael Brennan will join Manchester Business School as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Accounting and Finance in May.

Educated at Oxford, The University of Pittsburgh and MIT, Professor Brennan is a consultant and director of the investment management firm, Smith Breeden Associates, and Professor of Finance at London Business School. He is the former Irwin and Goldyne Hearsh Professor of Banking and Finance at the University of California, Los Angeles and is also currently Emeritus Professor at UCLA.

Professor Brennan’s research interests include asset pricing, corporate finance, the pricing and role of derivative securities, market microstructure, and the role of information in capital markets, and he’s published extensively in all of these areas.  He’s currently working on several issues, including the problem of asset allocation, the determinants of international flows of portfolio investment and the valuation of assets under time-varying market risk aversion. In 2002 he presented the first Clarendon Lectures in Finance at the University of Oxford.

More info @ http://www.mbs.ac.uk/news/23-03-2006.htm?rssHP

See and Believe

Will Farrel’s Ad Parody @ Apple “Switch”

The Da Vinci Code is one of the most anticipated movie of the year.Best Selling novel and directed by Ron Howard.

Cast:Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou,Sir Ian McKellen and others

In theatres on 05.19.06.

Trailer

An asian’s quest in search of the answer for the question: What a girl wants?? Funny Video Enjoy…

Leading Search Engine,Google has launched its own Financial news service site.The services offered here are similar to the Yahoo Finance and MSN Money.It has also added certain new features like interactive charts will map the market data based news sites,announcements etc.,

This service was developed at Bangalore,India and NY,USA offices.At present only the north american market data alone is available and other regions’ data will be available after passing certain legal tests.

Website: http://finance.google.com/finance

Please note that the site is still in Beta Stage(as usual)

Nike and Google have come up with a social community portal to bring all the football players,fans and all enthusiasts to share the pictures,clips and their experiences.Joga is a member-only portal and will require an invitation to join.One can leave his name and email in the website and they will reach us with the invitation within few weeks.

As the Football worldcup is nearing and the fans are already waiting eagerly to know everything happening around the event,there is no doubt that this site will become famous in no time.

Website : www.joga.com

The most powerful storm to hit Australia in decades laid waste to its northeastern coast on Monday, mowing down sugar and banana plantations and leaving possibly thousands of people homeless. But there were no reports of serious injuries, reflecting the preparedness of residents in the storm-prone region.

About 30 people were treated at hospitals for minor cuts and abrasions, said Ben Creagh, a spokesman for Queensland state Department of Emergency Services. Many people had fled their homes to shelter in evacuation centres ahead of the storm, while some hunkered down in their homes.

The NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship is held each spring featuring 65 college basketball teams in the United States.

The 20-day tournament, colloquially known as "March Madness" or the Big Dance, has become one of the United States’ most prominent sports events.

The tournament, whose field includes regional conference champions and other top teams, is staged in a single elimination format. Since its 1939 inception, it has built a legacy that includes dynasty teams and dramatic underdog stories. In recent years, friendly wagering on the event has become something of a national pastime, spawning countless "office pools" that attract expert fans and novices alike. All games of the tournament are broadcast on CBS.

The tournament bracket is made up of champions from each Division I conference, which receive automatic bids. The remaining slots are at-large berths, with teams chosen by an NCAA selection committee. The selection process and tournament seedings are based on several factors, including team rankings, win-loss records and RPI data.

The two lowest-seeded teams (often the teams below .500 who win their conference tournaments to gain the automatic bid) play a pre-tournament game to determine which will advance into the first round of the tournament, with the winner advancing to play the best team overall. This play-in game was added in 2001 and has been played in Dayton, Ohio each subsequent year.

Trivia:

Oscar Robertson Generally considered the greatest all-around player in the history of basketball; 3-time College Player of Year (1958-60) at Cincinnati; led 1960 U.S. Olympic team to gold medal; NBA Rookie of Year (1961); 9-time All-NBA 1st team; MVP in 1964 with Cincinnati Royals; NBA champion in 1971 with Milwaukee Bucks; 6-time annual NBA assist leader; 3rd in career assists with 9,887; 8th in career points with 26,710.

Google will be adding new feature to the Google Desktop Search.One can find what they are looking for a search box in the middle of the desktop.One has to just press the Ctrl key twice.

This will be available with the Google Desktop Search from 14-Mar-2006.

More Info about the new feature can be obtained at http://desktop.google.com/features.html#quicksearch

One gets hardly disappointed by Google Labs. Ever-inventive developers have now announced that it has acquired @Last Software.Sketch up is one of the most innovative programs designed by the @Last Software team to help developes design in 3D 3- Dimension…oooh like those 3D Movies..

With the SketchUp Google Earth plugin, you can use Google Earth to view 3D models in their real-world context. You’re no longer limited to just viewing the world through satellite imagery; now you can build on the tapestry provided by Google Earth.

As usual,most creative things are not for free until they have become into commodity.Currently Sketch up costs $495,but a free trial version which lasts for about 480 minutes is available.So I request enthusiats to try this product.. 

More technical details of the product and features can be obtained at http://www.sketchup.com/?section=product

People like portable gadgets, and Microsoft hopes they’ll like a device that packs much of the power of a desktop PC, with all the multimedia capabilities of a portable MP3 and movie player, plus the convenience of a PDA with W-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, into a device that will fit into a handbag or large pocket. We have seen such ultra-mobile PCs before, but Microsoft claims these new machines are easy to operate with the world’s most popular pointing device - your finger - and will be available at relatively affordable prices.

Microsoft Origami Trailer

That’s the thinking behind the Origami Project, which saw the first handful of machines unveiled by five manufacturers, including Korea’s Samsung and Taiwan’s AsusTek, last week. Of course, these are not Microsoft devices. The design, manufacturing, distribution and pricing of Origami UMPCs are down to the manufacturers, as with all PCs. But Microsoft is trying to create what could ultimately be a new mass-market platform for devices based on Microsoft’s Tablet PC and Vista versions of Windows.

All about Basket Ball