Secret History of the Credit Card

The secret of credit card and the nasty business model thereof.

Another super image, from Nasa.

Another super image from Nasa.
" Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn and slightly scattering sunlight, in the above exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the above image. Visible in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus, and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, visible on the image left just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth."

Outstanding Images outside of the earth

" Explanation: If you could stand on Mars -- what might you see? Like the robotic Opportunity rover rolling across the red planet, you might well see vast plains of red sand, an orange tinted sky, and wispy light clouds. The Opportunity rover captured just such a vista after arriving at Victoria Crater earlier this month, albeit in a completely different direction from the large crater. Unlike other Martian vistas, few rocks are visible in this exaggerated color image mosaic. The distant red horizon is so flat and featureless that it appears similar to the horizon toward a calm blue ocean on Earth. Clouds on Mars can be composed of either carbon dioxide ice or water ice, and can move quickly, like clouds move on Earth. The red dust in the Martian air can change the sky color above Mars from the blue that occurs above Earth toward the red, with the exact color depending on the density and particle size of the floating dust particles."
Courtsey NASA.Gov.

Time to get a new LIDAR?

That's what the linked article reported at Edmunds.com.

Great Reunion

It was amazing to meet all the older folks from my old lab. Mouli, CK, Scott, Francis, they are known to me just by their name and their link to Takacs lab. I was pleasantly surprised tonight that how good they are in keeping the "touch". Yet another nice evening, after yesterday.

Materazzi is a bad guy! look for yourself.

This video clip came to my attention when I was searching for Wordpress. Check this out. Original post is here.

When the cowards will die?

Todays breaking news- the latest gift from the cowards, Mumbai blast. I am and I think most of the law abiding common people of the world are sick by now, by these stupid bunch of morons. I do not know who is gaining a penny by doing such an act of terrorism which takes the live of common people.
The picture I got from CNN-IBN network is really bad. At least 100 people are reportedly killed. I wud add atleast another 50 to the total, keeping in mind the utter failure of Indian government hospitals in treating wounded poor people.
Question may arise, why we, Indians, can not take any precautionary steps to stop these attacks. Act of terrorism is not very uncommon over the skyline of Mumbai. As you can see in this picture taken on March 13rd, 2003 blast scene, bomb blast is quite common in this part of the world. And the scene was even worse in the 1993 serial bomb blasts in the same city. 13 bombs were exploded to reap apart teh heart of Mumbai within a span of 75 minutes.
Kudos to the people of Mumbai who know how to fight back, even after seemingly nonfunctioning governmental security promises. I am pretty sure Mumbai will be back into its rythms by tomorrow morning. Our funny politicians will speak in length in morning edition news channels. However, nothing will be taken care of, when it comes to stop this type of attacks. Cann't we learn anything from NYC? Probably not! This is the country where almost every politician likes to raise his finger to others and basically do nothing else. Am I pessimistic? No, I am just speaking for the Indians as of now. Things may change, may be not. Who knows? Let's clean up the mess first.

test

test

So France lost!

Shame shame shame! Jiju, how did you do that? How can you act like a bull when we consider you as one of the best players of contemporary soccer?
So you left France without a player for the second half of the Final. And now, a man less in penalty shoot-out. God bless France.

Official Travel to India post

I think this question pops up in travels forum more than once in a week. Let's make it a consolidated thread for traveling to India only. So please keep all the deals and discussions to this single thread.

As a starter, I have compiled the names and phone numbers of desi agents I have
dealt with so far. Please keep adding your info under the quick edit section as
in a fresh thread.


Here is my info list:-

Mitra Travels
12375 Bissonnet St # 41, Houston, TX
(281) 530-3000

(excellent fare but service is very scary. You have to cross your finger for a
long time after paying for tickets, send my paper ticket by regular first-class
mail; ticket fare can be paid by credit card without any additional fees in most
cases)


Trade Wings Travel
2611 S 90th St, Omaha, NE
(402) 399-2004

(Usually gives very good rates from midwest, thru Northwest/KLM)


Vati Travels

Website

206 W College, STE #4,
Carbondale, IL 62901
vatitvl@poofaccess.com
Telephone: 618-549-9214
fax: 618-549-9215



Mudra Travels
6814 Gafford Dr
Columbus, OH 43229
Email: MudraTravels@yahoo.com
FatWallet PM: PatelFromIndia



(excellent service, and CHEAP. In most cases payment can be made by credit card)


List of agents I have not dealt with:-

Alanita Travels

Website

87 Common Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Tel: 617.254.8045
Fax: 617.923.4821



One of the highly recommended agents. You can contact them by email but a quick
phone call is teh best way to communicate.


Highfly travels

Website

1897 Woodbridge Ave., Suite 10
Edison, NJ 08817
Tel: 732 985 5855



A-ONE TOURS & TRAVELS (unprofessional, at least in my experience)
2341 W. Devon Ave,
Chicago, IL 60659
Ph 773-274-6969
Fax 773-274-2898



http://skymastertravels.com

One Irving Plaza

415 E Airport Freeway
Suite# 380, Irving TX 75062
(972) 256-2200
(972) 252-4454



Another big travel agency specialized in India/Pakistan tours. According to many
posters here, they are as good as Alanita, but once again I don not have
personal experience.



Fly4less

Website

Globetravels

Website

Makemytrip

Website

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

Black listed agents

1. Azure Travel Bureau Inc., contact name, Mr. Ravi Kohli .

47 West, 34th. Street, Suite # 409,

New York, NY 10001 Ph : (212) 239 1999

Number of complaint#1 from user dluxarun

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


Best time to travel

Here is what I found from Alanita's website about seasonal fares:-


Jan 17 2005 to May 08 2006 (Low Fare) May 09 2006 to May 31 2006
(Medium Fare)

Jun 1 2006 to Jul 12 2006(High Fare) Jul 13 2006 to Dec 10 2006
(Medium Fare)

Dec 11 2006 to Dec 27 2006 (High Fare) Dec 28 2006 to May 08 2007(Low
Fare)

The fare database above is approximately followed by other airlines too.



Another detailed pricing trend from fly4less:-



USA to India Travel pattern What's happening Suggest booking

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

01Jan - 15Jan =========== Overspill from winter holidays by mid Nov

16Jan - 31Jan ======== Slowing down by mid Dec

01Feb - 15Apr ====== Slow Jan onwards

16Apr - 10May ========= Pre summer travel picks up Feb onwards

11May - 31May ========== Start of Summer Holiday rush Feb onwards

01Jun - 10Jun ============ Summer rush picks up before Mar end

11Jun - 15Jul ============ Peak summer travel before Mar end

16Jul - 31Jul ========== Continuing Apr onwards

01Aug - 15Aug ======= Slowing down May onwards

16Aug - 31Aug ===== Slow Jun onwards

01Sep - 15Sep === Low fare rush May onwards

16Sep - 10Oct ===== Slow Jun onwards

11Oct - 15Nov ========== Diwali travel Jul onwards

16Nov - 30Nov ============ Thanksgiving Holidays travel Jul onwards

01Dec - 10Dec ============== Low fare rush before mid Jun

11Dec - 15Dec ============== Winter Holidays rush begins before mid Jun

16Dec - 24Dec ========= Peak winter travel before mid Jun

25Dec - 31Dec ===== Low fare rush before Jun end



India to USA Travel pattern What's happening Suggest booking

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

20Aug - 08Sep ============= Peak summer return travel by mid Mar

20Dec - 10Jan ============= Peak winter return travel before mid Jun





Also, please post your itinerary and paid $$$$ for the plane fare so we can have
a good idea of the current fares/promotions.








Old travel agents review/contact links. Some phone number may not
necessarily work since the list was from 1998.



Following tips were collected from quick editors. Thanks for the effort.



# ALWAYS call various airlines directly for pricing. I check United, AirFrance,

Delta, Lufthansa and British Airways. I have always been able to find the
best fares via their phone centers. Most airlines let you "hold" a reservation
for 2-3 days. If you plan to do multicity/open jaw or want to stay for a few
days in Europe on the way to/from India, you need to call. For simple round
trips online works fine too to avoid the "handling fee"



# Hold a reservation first at the lowest price you can get through an airline
directly and then go about fare shopping at various travel agents. It costs
nothing to hold a reservation with an airline directly



# Be prepared for low to no service from travel agents who give you a rock
bottom price. You chose low price over service so no complainin' or cryin'



# Be prepared for airlines to NOT help for all agent booked flights. All
requests for changes et al must come from the travel agency, the rationale being
that airlines have already paid a commission to the travel agent and the agent
is supposed to take care of you. Since to give you a rock bottom price the agent
must have shared part of that commission with you, do not expect to get fast and
courteous service



# Do not forget to use your frequent flyer number to get miles. Check to see if
different airlines are partners. e.g. if fying British Airways, provide a united
frequent flyer number if all your existing miles are with United and vice versa



# Just want to add that the reason airlines will refer back to your travel agent
is that the low consolidator fares come with their own contract clauses, like
chage fee, one free change allowed, cancellation fee. Sometimes going through a
travel agent will allow for a free date change but not if you go through the
airline directly. Especially true if you are booking travel from India to US.

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

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

TRAVEL THRU UK MAY REQUIRE A VISA, SO DOUBLE CHECK WITH TRAVEL AGENT/BA
WEBSITE IF YOU FALL UNDER SUCH CATEGORY

As per FWer WHsung,

" In my application, I was required to send the itinerary which clearly stated
the dates I would be traveling through LGW (Sep 2 and Oct 9). I also included a
cover letter that stated the travel dates.

I applied on June 15. When my transit visa came, I noticed that it was valid
only from June 15 through Sep 15 making my return through LGW impossible!!! The
person at the UK embassy, I guess, forgot to read my itinerary and also my cover
letter!

So I had to call the UK embassy support and was charged $2.10 /minute
(see this http://www.britainusa.com/visas/articles_show.asp?i=65021&L1=41000)

I was told to send back my passport and finally they issued me a visa valid for
1 year.

It was frustrating time...

So just as a warning, if you have to apply for a UK visa (if you need it that
is), make sure you use a highlighter to mark the dates!For December Travel for
Students:- according to PFI,

After speaking with students from different states, I realize that if students are planning to go India in DEC they are going to be in awkward situation because their exams ends on around 12th DEC. and they will have ONLY 13th or 14th DEC to travel to stay away from hammer of high peak season from 15th DEC, this hammer is $300 to $400 heavy. So what can be done?



(1) Below is list of Airlines which has cut of date on 14th Dec. I will keep
updating this list. Remember, for some airlines cut of date is 8th or 9th
DEC. so I am not going to mention it here as exam date is around 12th DEC,
which does not allow to catch early cut of dates flights..



Korean Airlines (from West Coast)

Sri Lanka Airlines (from West Coast side, and gives Student Discount)

Air France (No chance for seat)

Lufthansa (No chance for seat)

Malaysia Airlines (not confirmed)



(2) Even though, you see above airlines, do not think that you will easily get
seat becuase those airlines which has chance to get seat are code sharing with
other domestic airlines and getting seat in domestic airlines is also an issue.
so summery is: hurry up.



(3) If you think that you are not able to catch flight on 13th DEC or 14th DEC,
then start collecting extra money from today or you can go after 24th Dec.



(4) Above, those airlines which has chance to get seat, does not hold
reservation for long time so make-up your mind and Jump.

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

Additional Detail:



- Air-India (Peak Season: 8th Dec. to 23rd Dec.)

- American Airlines (Peak Season: 14h Dec to 24th Dec.)

- Singapore Airlines (Peak Season: 6th Dec to 23rd Dec.)"

Performance of PQI 100X 4GB compact flash card.

We had a long standing debate about the quality of PQI high speed cards and several self proclaimed nerds reported it as a slower card compared to even 50X Kingston pro seriese cards.
Anyway, I recently came accross a 4Gb 100X PQI card and tested them side by side Sandisk Ultra II 1GB.
The speed of these drives were measured using a self-powered USB 2.0 card reader. In both cases, the cards were formatted thru PC before testing. I used Radkill's Disk Speed program to get a rough idea.
The screenshot on top, was from PQI, while that on the bottom was from Sandisk. According to my testbed, PQI and Sandisk UT2 has almost similar linear read speed rate, but PQI beat Sandisk to ground in random read speed test. I have check the speed of Kingston elite pro card, but teh read speed was significantly lower in both tests.
In real shooting mode, I am yet to discover any speed difference between PQI and Sandisk UT2.

A man with a real tail

The latest from the land of obscurity, this time a man with a tail. Mr. Oram is worshipped by locals as The GOD, but he is yet to find a real match, according to a news report by PTI. Full story is here.

Enjoy!

World's fastes processor

Here comes teh news today that IBM/Georgia Tech Univ developed a Si-Ge based chip that is as fast as 500GHz! The whopping number is actually so fast that we, the regular PC users can not even imagine. Read the full story here.