Top Public National Universities

According to USNews, Rutgers University (New Brunswick) ranked #21. Even though Rutgers is not even in top 10, I am glad to know that the University is on par with 'Texas A&M" and "Purdue". I hope Rutgers improves it's ranking in coming years.

21.
Ohio State University–Columbus
Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)
Rutgers–New Brunswick (NJ)
Texas A&M Univ.–College Station
University of Iowa

Click on the title to navigate to "Top Publick National Universities"
For more on rankings Click here

Dear IBM Thinkpad fans - use 'Keyboard Customizer'

I use 'Window's key on my desktop (at work and home) all the time. I was disappointed initially because ThinkPad doesn't provide a similar key on it's keyboard. However, I recently realized that you could customize the ThinkPad's keyboard. I want everyone else to take advantage of this (hidden) feature; here is how you do it...

- Find and Click 'Access IBM' on your ThinkPad keyboard
- Click on - Manage keyboard & pointing devices
- Click on - Map keys to functions
- You can make following choice for instance to map 'Right' Alt key to 'Windows(R)' Key




- While you are at it, explore other customization options

Identify this Snake

Snake in North Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

We just saw this snake in our back yard today. Please identify the snake and its characteristics. The snake just caught a frog and was having the morning breakfast.

FTC banned person gets on NYTimes best seller list?

Surely you can recognize this guy, as I can. Many times while surfing the television late at night or early in the morning he used to show-up on the blue tube. Surely, I never stopped to listen what he was trying to sell or anything, but I never suspected that same bogus material could make him to New York Times best seller list. His book also at 15th bestseller on amazon.com

Allegedly he was involved in many scams before, and FTC banned his infomercials from airing on television.

My advice to anyone, don't buy this book and don't buy into any hoopla such as this book trying to promote.

Click on the title to navigate to the related article from Salon.com

Khipu

Khipu or Quipu - are the mysterious knots on colored cotton cords, are said to compose of some kind of short hand like code at the time of Inca Empire.

You can read more about these at New York Times article, or click on the title to navigate to wikipedia.org

Everyday we learn something new, don't we!?

Top 10 overpriced places to live in US - Forbes

According to Forbes.com following are top 10 over priced places to live in US. Out of 10, I lived in Passaic(90s) and Middlesex County, NJ (recently). Most of my friends and I would agree that these places are overpriced, but still amazingly the people are buying houses at the same high pace.

1. Seattle


2. New York City
   
3. Portland, Ore.
   
4. Chicago
   
5. San Jose, Calif.
   
6. Bergen-Passaic, N.J.
   
7. San Francisco
   
8. Middlesex, N.J.
   
9. Denver
   
10. Los Angeles

	New York City	Passaic, NJ	Middlesex, NJ
Cost of Living Rank	146	140	138
Job Growth Rank	108	102	92
Income Growth Rank	70	82	104
Housing Affordability Rank	144	130	115
Median Home Price	$435,200	$448,100	$381,400

"New York City: New Yorkers will tell you (grinning with the slightest hint of hubris) that their city should be at the top of any list of overpriced places. And they do have a lot to complain about. The local economy is doing well, and incomes are going up solidly. But cost of living and housing affordability is where New Yorkers get the bite. New York is the most expensive city in North America, according to the "2005 Cost of Living Survey" from Mercer Human Resource Consulting. And, in the first quarter of this year, inflation was at its highest rate (4.1%) since 1991, according to the city comptroller."

"Bergen-Passaic, N.J.: The Bergen-Passaic area has hit the top ten again--last year it was No. 2. This year, it scores far better on income growth, but housing and cost of living are very, very expensive. That's not that surprising--the area is full of commuters to New York City, and some local towns, such as Alpine, are among the priciest in the country. "

"Middlesex, N.J.: Most of the country has never heard of Middlesex, N.J., so how can it make the list? This wouldn't be the first time--last year it was at number five. Middlesex residents mainly take a hit on cost of living and housing affordability. Located in the center of the state, the county is home to large companies, including Merrill Lynch and Bristol-Meyers Squibb, and is one of the fastest growing in New Jersey. "

- Click on the title to navigate to original artilce at Forbes.com

I just watched the movie Azaad by Nagarjuna today. I couldn't help but notice an unhealthy trend of belittling Pakistan at every chance -- and that is putting it mildly.

I saw Hero and other movies which support the aformentioned observation. In a way, it got me thinking about patriotism etc.

What is this affinity to the country we have? Why do we have it? I realised that the patriotism is only a hop, skip, and a jump away from jingoism. Movies and propaganda are actually brainwashing and indoctrinating a hatred towards our neighbours. They are blurring the distinction between patriotism and jingoism.

It saddens me as a human being to see that a bloke in India can hate another person from Pakistan without even knowing him or her. Having different countries with different laws governing similar people is already a necessary evil; however, using mass media to encourage this separation and to erect a wall between different peoples is a downright atrocity.

Just wanted to share my thoughts on that :)

Rocky Mountain National Park

Day 1:
Arrived at Denver 10:10pm
Rented 2 full-size sedans from Alamo at Denver airport
Checked-in at Marriot Courtyard, South Lakewood, Denver

Day 2:
Denver Botanic Gardens












Downtown of Denver has beautiful gardens with many varieties of plants and flowers.

Special attraction in the gardens is the 30 varieties of lotus flowers placed in a ink filled ponds. Ink added ponds reflect the sky and the sorrounding plants making it a beautiful site to see.



















Garden of Gods -
Spectacular sandstones were shaped in various forms because of erosion. Siamese Twins, Balanced Rock, Kissing Camels and more ....
Dinner at Olive Garden
Cave of the winds - A guided tour of a cave $20/person was sold out by the time we arrived which is not far from Garden of Gods

Day 3:
Checked-out from Courtyard





Stopped at Boulder, CO on way to Estes Park









Entered Estes park in the evening and checked-in to Holiday Inn














Visited Moraine Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park

Dinner at Village Pizza
Great place, can be recommended to anyone. Nice food, plenty of choices in terms of variety of pizzas. Had food there twice in a row.







Day 4:
Left hotel room at 7:30am for Rocky Mountain National Park.






Our first stop is Bear Lake which is about 10 miles away from the east entrance of the park. Parking space there is limited, therefore we left early, other wise we had an option of taking shuttle bus.








At Bear Lake all of us joined a guided tour given by a park ranger. Park ranger was very nice and knowledgeable, explained whole lot to everyone who were following her. The tour ended with an applause.







In order to visit three lakes we hiked up, each one was 200 feet height apart. Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake .

Drove on Trail Ridge Road
Shepards Lake Tundra
Dinner at Village Pizza

Day 5:
Lilly Lake, Hollowwell Park - Beaver Dams
Saw a cayote at Moraine Lake
Souvenier shopping at RMNP Head Quarters, Indian Village (Estes Park)
Dinner: Take out from Taco Bell / Chinese Restaurant

Day 6:
Checked-out from Holiday Inn Lunch at Denver airport
Departed Denver for BWI at 1:10pm and arrived at 10:10pm (EST)