Up launches Cannes film festival

Up tells of an old man who makes his entire house airborne

Pixar film Up has opened the 62nd Cannes Film Festival – the first time an animation has launched the event on the French Riviera.

A host of celebrities donned 3D glasses for the film, not in competition, about a curmudgeonly man who ties balloons to his house in order to get airborne.

Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton was among those on the red carpet.

Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Johnny Depp are also all due in town, with new films to promote.

Opening Cannes with an animation – and a 3D animation at that – is a radical departure Razia Iqbal, BBC arts correspondent

The event runs until 24 May, when the Palme d’Or prize will be announced.

John Lasseter, Up producer and Pixar co-founder, beamed with delight as he and colleagues mingled with the celebrities on the carpet.

“We’re just a bunch of animation geeks from northern California on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival,” he said.

The 10th feature film from animation powerhouse Pixar was warmly received earlier at its press screening, where the closing credits were greeted with a round of applause. Read more at BBC Website

Medical discovery on a Mac

While browsing Apple’s Hot News page for update on new pricing structure that Apple is going to implement from 1st of april onwards on its iTunes Store content I arrived at a report entitled Ahna Skop- In Search of the Midbody. It shows a colorful image of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell hovers on a field of black created by professor Ahna Skop’s lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Ahna Skop is an assistant professor of genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She studies cytokinesis, the phase of eukaryotic cell division in which a cell splits apart to form two daughter cells.

This image has been created using Openlab software created by Improvision, a Mac-only microscope software program. It interfaces directly with the microscope. She adds false color to the image, a different shade for each wavelength that the laser records. Finally, the image is post-processed in Adobe Photoshop.

 

Though to me this article on the Apple’s website clearly depicts the Apple style of promoting their line of products!

Custom fonts for current theme

From the posts that I’d imported from my Live Journal account I realized that if I use this code in my posts I can use the font of my own choice.

Here’s the code:-

“<p class=”MsoNormal”><span style=”font-size:9pt;font-family:Verdana;”></span>”

Though Robin promised me that once I get a self-hosted blog he’ll write a  new CSS for my blog according to my needs.

Events

I was wrong over there. Yesterday I downloaded U2’s The Unforgettable Fire and listened it four times.
Found Zooropa which I downloaded last time has better tunes.
Still got $44.60 credit in my iTunes Store account. Got no idea what to do with that!
Ritu called me today just to inform me of her result. She got 77% this time.
Completed Virulogy, including general characters, viruses of bacteria & archea; and viruses of eucaryotes from Prescott et. al.
Deepansh suggested to try GNDU, Amritsar for M.Sc. Going to call them tomorrow.
Also have to visit Prateek’s place at Roorkee in the morning after 10 O’clock.

Too many tweets

After three days of break I’m trying to log into twitter and seeing this message:-

With the news like Facebook  implementing a new design just to fight back the wave of publicity and success earned by rival social network Twitter I wonder what is the future of this anything 140 characters blogging!

While browsing through blog posts on Readomattic I arrived at a post (sadly I lost the post’s url)  that had a very clear explanation of the future of this kinda blogging.

Here’s an elaborate Facebook vs Twitter comparision.

Anyway Happy Holi to all friends!

Zoomin.com-15 free prints online

With the prevailing laziness of visiting photo labs to get the photos printed I resorted to an online photo printing service named Zoomin.

This evening I received my first print order of fifteen 4×6 inches photos that I placed on 15th. It charged me only Rs-28 as shipping charges while the first fifteen prints was free of cost as per their promotional incentive.

I’m really impressed by the quality of the prints and the speed of their service, something that the photo labs in my city completely lack. Felt good!

Their website interface is similar to that of Flickr with small changes here and there. They’re using the same desktop uploading tool as the flickr does. Zoomin allows you to print your photos in almost every size of your choice. Print it on mugs, T-Shirts, etc or create calendars, posters whatever you want.

Also signed up for Twitter. Tried to add Twitter widget to my blog but it failed. Both html and the flash require self-hosted blog.

The only reason why I’m not having a self-hosted blog is that I’m unable to figure out a domain name.

Anyway added Twitter RSS feed to a new RSS widget in the sidebar.

Back In Action!

Well it took 16 days to BSNL to figure out the problem and fix it. Now they got my DSL working. They always take that much time to deal with my DSL broadband problems because of the fact that I’m the only one subscriber of BSNL broadband in this area (Laksar Road).
Moreover, this month they billed me with an obsolete amount of Rs-10844 according to HOME250 plan which I already changed on 24th of October to HOME750 plan with unlimited download/upload. However they corrected my bill now and I’ve to pay only Rs-843 monthly.

Here comes my first Apple gadget!

I ordered one Apple iPod shuffle1GB from ebay.in on 14th of October but it arrived at my door step nearly after a month that’s today. It wasn’t seller’s fault though. It was actually DTDC courier service which do not deliver their services on my address. And I can’t believe what they had done— they sent it back to Mumbai on seller’s address with a tag of “No Service”.

Anyhow I received my iPod Shuffle from Blue Dart courier today.

Watch my flickr iPod  photo set as I play with this little toy.

For those who missed otherwise a wonderful event.

Finally this workshop ended on September 30. Here’s the whole workshop at glance.

Following eminent Professors and Scientists from different Universities and Institutes across the India were there to attend this event and to deliver their lectures:-

Dr. U.C. Lavania of Central Institute of Medical and Aromatic Plants(CIMAP), Lucknow gave lecture on Chromosome diagnostics in Genomics era.

Dr. Vinod Kumar of Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi informed students about R&D opportunities in India. He explained how proactive and constructive role DST is playing in promoting development of new areas of science and technology. The Ministry of Science and technology is supporting budding scientists to access major international research facilities abroad.

Prof. H.B. Singh of Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi explained students the functionality and the benefits of Biopesticides, particularly explaining his and his department work in the production of biopesticides from Trichoderma spp microbe. He discussed steps involved in the development, production and commercialization and patenting of microbial products. He also told students how a microbiologist can make the techniques developed by him more lucrative from the industrial point of view.

Dr. H.S. Ginwal of Division of Genetics and Tree Propagation, FRI Dehradun explained DNA Markers. He discussed Plant Biotechnology, Plant Propagation and Recombinant DNA Technology (Genetic Engineering).

Dr. Rakesh Kumar Jain of Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTech) Chandigarh told students how microorganisms can be indispensable in degrading some otherwise harmful chemicals while explaining Bioremediation and work done by his Institute.

Prof. Meenu Saraaf, Department of Microbiology, Gujrat University, Ahemdabad gave her lecture on Biofuels. Considering the present CO₂ emission levels and environmental conditions biofuels like Biodiesel are boon for the world. He pondered about biodiesel from source like Jatropha curcas seeds to meet economic, energy and environmental requirements.

Dr. R. Saravanamuttu of Department of Botany A.V.C College, Chennai explained students the biological control of soil borne plant diseases.

Prof. D.K. Maheshwari of Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar gave lecture on The Industrial Fermentation Process whilst Prof. R.C. Dubey emphasized on Animal Biotechnology especially Transgenic (Hybrid) Animals.

Dr. Subhash of IIT New Delhi and Piyush Pandey of Sardar Bhagwaan Singh College Dehradun with the help of Sandeep Kumar, Abhinav Aeron, Harish, Rajat, Narendra Maheshwari, Pankaj and Pradeep of Department of Microbiology, GKU Haridwar demonstrated students the Immobilized Cell Culture for Fermentation Process and Recombinant DNA Technology respectively.

On the valedictory function Prof. Ved Prakash Shastri, Prof. D.K. Maheshwari, Prof. A.K. Chopra distributed certificates to the participants.

This workshop helped students to apprehend various crucial topics of Biotechnology and Microbiology.

Another event at GKU Haridwar!

Click to see entire snaps on flickr.com!

Today I attended another event at GKU. It was the inaugural function of Summer School on The Recent Trends in Biotechnology, spearheaded & sponsored by the State Biotechnology Programme Govt. Of Uttarakhand, Haldi, UdhamSingh Nagar. The function was adorned by lots of guests including Vice Chancellor Prof. Swantatra Kumar, Department Heads & Professors, Dr. Ved Prakash Shastri, Dr. Vijay Shankar (Founder of the Department of Microbiology at GKU,Haridwar) , Dr. A.K. Chopra (Registrar), Dr. A.M. Purohit (Retd. Prof. Botany H.N.B., Gharwaal) and the “Guest of Honour” Dr. Rajendra Dhobhal(Senior Scientific Advisor, State Biotech. Programme).

The workshop is focused on Plant Tissue Culture & Molecular Biology with Special Reference to Microbial Diversity. The experts from I.I.T Delhi; Delhi University North & South Campus; JNU, Delhi; Jamia Hamdard University and IMTech Chandigarh will be delivering their lectures on concerned topics during this workshop which is going to last 15 days.

Dr. R.C. Dubey (H.O.D Botany & Micro) started this event with his words after lighting the lamp, The Lamp of Light in his words, Vice-Chancellor Prof Swantantra Kumar appreciated this workshop & also assured for other such events in future.

Dr. R.C. Dubey urged Prof. Ved Prakash Shastri to deliver his speech in Sanskrit. Though most of the audience faced problem deciphering his Sanskrit articulation but it was subtle.

Then Dr. R.C. Dubey ceded the mic to Dr. A.M. Purohit who started with rather ribtickling part saying that “I don’t wanna die the miserable death of Bhishmah Pitamah” as Dr. R.C. Dubey honoured him as the Bhishmah Pitamah of Botany for the Uttarakhand Students. He has been awarded Padamshree Award from Govt. of India.

We must understand the recent concepts of Biotech & so as the advance tools. For this one should concentrate and put hands on practical work, he said.

Citing the example of a product developed by Japan using 10-12 plants products & fermenting to produce it on mass scale he explained the big scope of Fermentation Technology. These industries follows herbal scenario, he added.

In proceeding event Dr. Rajendra Dhobhal pondered into pre-eminent contribution of Indians in various fields citing LHC,Geneva; BPO Sector; Biotechnology. He admired the fact that there are good human resources in India. He also said that the rise in all scientific research fields is attributed to the spurt in I.T industry.

State government’s Biotechnology department culled Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar among three institutes- I.I.T Roorkee, IVRI Mukteshwar and GKU Haridwar.

The Department of Microbiology at University of Gurklul Kangri is also celebrating its silver jubilee. And on this occassion Prof. Swatantra Kumar awarded Rs-25000 to Prof. Vijay Shankar as laurel who established this department and was present at this event.

Also there present was the 1994’s student of Grukul, Mr.Sumitra Pandey. He works as export manager in a MNC St.herb Cosmetics International Co., Ltd., Thailand.

Final Words:-

We UK’ians can also earn millions of dollars like America and other first world countries solely from Insulin- Dr. R.C. Dubey.

Here’s the list other upcoming events at GKU, Haridwar.