orkuteers visit Google Bangalore

Posted by Robin Norvell, orkut Operations Team

A few months ago, we invited our Portuguese orkuteers to visit Google's Belo Horizonte office. But we weren't going to rest until we'd given our orkuteers in India the same chance to meet the orkut team and share their feedback about orkut in person. On June 6, three of our Indian superusers from throughout India met at the Google office in the Garden City (aka Bangalore), where they told us what they loved about orkut, shared suggestions for improvement, and sampled Google cuisine (and chai tea, of course). On hand to talk with them were a group of Googlers from the orkut team including product managers, engineers, operations staff, user experience researchers and HR reps.

Even at the end of a long day, there was still excitement in the air at the Bangalore office. The orkuteers gave first-hand feedback of some soon-to-be-launched features, and they also shared some common user pain points that the team can start working to remedy. The orkut team was happy to have Rakesh, Prashant and Gaurav share their perspectives, and the orkuteers were thrilled to meet the Google guides and engineers. Here's what they had to say:

"It was the most memorable day in my life because it helped me to meet the guides, orkuteers and engineers.”

"The invitation was really surprising for me…That day became the historic landmark for me. I will never ever forget that day that I spent there with Google. Google people are so careful about users and that day they cared a lot of me and my mates. I feel lucky that I'm a superuser. This was the first time for me that when anyone was asking question, I was listening with my full concentration.”

"The best thing about being an orkuteers is to receive the recognition from Google for doing something that I just love, helping people on orkut. The recognition I'm talking about is not just gifts, but to know that Google wants to hear from me about problems and suggestions for orkut and the orkut Help Group."

The orkuteers were happy to serve as reps for many orkut users, and would like to thank all members from INDIA community and OUG community for feedback to help prepare for the orkuteer Day in Bangalore.

We're glad they enjoyed the day, and many thanks to them again for their continued support in serving as wonderful guides in the orkut help group!

Tim Russert Tribute

Here was how the news was reported by NBC, Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams, and Andrea Mitchell that Tim Russert had died yesterday. So great was Russert's influence in the political realm that I do not believe that I will forget where I was when I heard the news that Russert had died. For me, it is up there with where I was when I heard that aircraft had crashed into the World Trade Center-one of those generational moments that stick in the memory.



Tim Russert has become my after-Mass buddy every Sunday on television, and I watch Meet the Press religiously. What Russert was best at, however, was covering an election. There was no one in the business of covering election nights that I trusted to give it to me straight more than Tim Russert. His loss to political news and commentary is inestimable, and political coverage simply won't be the same without him.

Take care of your Weight

Weight can affect the personality and appearance of a person. I am not too fat or not too slim. But some of my kins are extremely obese. Now they are facing many problems due to their obesity. They can't wear all kind of cloths. They have high blood pressure and so on. Their situation always warns me not to gain weight.

And I always suggest them to go for a good weight loss program. A proper program and regular training can give them a new life. They can improve the quality of their life and build self-esteem. A good weight loss training can also help them to ward off depression and other health risks. I used to tell them all these things. But they just continued to ignore my suggestions until one of my relatives got a severe heart attack. He is now recovering and Doctors told him that obesity could be one of the key reasons of his heart attack.

Now they are taking it seriously and consulting their doctors for a good weight loss program. An over-weight person must consult a doctor before going for a weight loss program. Then one must know what to eat, how to eat, what to do and what not to do during going through a weight loss program.

One last line. There is no short cut method for weight loss. You must follow the routine and work hard to burn your extra calories. So, if you want to keep fats away, go for healthier food and regular workouts.

Chocolate Mousse

The first chocolate mousse I ever ate came out of a box. Mum must have added water or some other liquid, stirred it into the dry ingredients, which probably included gelatine and powdered milk, and let the creamy chocolate-looking mixture "set up" in the fridge some time before dinner. (I say "included," but it would not surprise me if one could still purchase it or some other post-modern variant.) I used to love "mousse" as a kid. But, of course, I am no longer a kid, and I now know better - however nostalgic the photos for today's post look (bad lighting on account of heavy, dark clouds that make my usually vivid yellow background that strange "70s ochre" of my parents' kitchen counters when I was a child), the contents are not from a box. What is ridiculous is that one does not need to depend on an instant dessert kit to make chocolate mousse - the few ingredients required and recipe are simplicity itself. And for those who are vegetarian, there is no need to look away from this recipe, for no gelatine is needed to stabilise the mousse (the chilling of the mousse keeps the whipped egg whites from breaking down).

I have not made chocolate mousse that often, but when I do make it, I tell anyone who wants to eat it that it is rich. I do not do what chefs and cookery writers conservatively often suggest: a combination of bittersweet and semi-sweet chocolate to please all palates (and, I suspect, to give the chocolate more dimension). I love bittersweet chocolate, and though I tell myself that cream works to balance out the acidity of the chocolate, it does actually make the dessert richer. Of course, the chocolate you use will impart its own properties - for example, a dark chocolate from Madagascar generally has fruity notes; whereas a dark chocolate from the Ivory Coast may impart cinnamon and coffee notes. I rely on Valrhona's Guanaja when making chocolate desserts because of its intense chocolate aroma with subtle berry notes. (If you have no clue about the properties of the chocolate bars available in today's market, and if you do not mind subjectivity, check out the incredible array of chocolate bars reviewed at seventypercent.com.)

The following recipe, loosely adapted from Lindsey Remolif Shere's Chez Panisse Desserts, can be improved upon depending on your proclivities. In fact, you can stick to Ms. Remolif Shere's recipe to the T and add two tablespoons of cognac or brandy (or, by extrapolation, any booze). I chose to omit the brandy (I know - Shock! Horror!) because I was serving the mousse to people who are sensitive to brandy, which is to say that they do not care for it at all. I substituted the potential differentiation in liquid with a little extra cream.

The following recipe makes approximately 3 1/4 cups.

Chocolate Mousse
(Adapted from Lindsey Remolif Shere's Chez Panisse Desserts)

180g/6oz 70% dark/bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons coffee from freshly ground beans (you could use water instead)
4 eggs, separated
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whipping cream

1) Melt the chocolate with the coffee in a glass bowl suspended over a pot of simmering water (make sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). Stir frequently.
2) Remove chocolate from heat as soon as it has melted and is smooth and glossy.
3) Whisk the egg yolks into the melted chocolate.
4) Beat the egg whites in a steel bowl until they hold very soft peaks.
5) Fold one quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder. The addition of one quarter at the beginning creates a ligter mixture that is receptive to a quick folding of the rest of the egg whites - it prepares their reception! A quick folding is essential in order to prevent the egg whites from deflating too much.
6) Whip the cream until soft peaks are formed (stiffer peaks creat a foamy texture).
7) Fold the cream into the chocolate mixture.
8) Evenly divide the chocolate mixture into your serving vessels - I usually use wine glasses.
9) Chill in the refrigerator.
10) Take the mousse out five minutes before serving in order to make it more palatable (too much chill is not fun for the teeth, and it masks some of the subtle flavours of the mousse). Use this time to consider topping the mousse.

As you can see, I whipped up 1/4 cup of cream until soft peaks were achieved and then stirred in 1 tablespoon of hazelnut syrup. I spooned the cream over each mousse and garnished them with grated chocolate.

Though cool to the tongue, the richness of the chocolate and silky texture make chocolate mousse an appropriate and welcome Autumnal dessert. The variations are endless - you can use different chocolates, a little alcohol...I already have my eyes on Lindsey Remolif Shere's recipe for Frozen Caramel Mousse!

Richness upon richness!

Hydrogen Fuel Cells - Cars Of The Future

Hydrogen Fuel Cells - Cars Of The Future
By Fei Lim

Imagine a world where you don't have to pay $3 to drive twenty or thirty miles, where trucks belching diesel smoke are unheard of, where you can walk down the road without inhaling the fumes of a thousand vehicles, where thousands of cars pass you and you hear nothing but a gentle hum and whoosh, and you have an idea of where hydrogen fuel cells will be taking us.

Fuel cells were invented in 1839 by Sir William Grove, who figured out that you could separate hydrogen and oxygen from water through hydrolysis, and suggested that the procedure could be reversed to create clean energy, with a by-product of water. Back then, it was called the gas voltaic battery; only in 1889 did it get the name fuel cell.

How Hydrogen Fuel Cells Work

Like batteries, fuel cells use chemical processes without combustion to create energy with a clean by-product. Because they do not work with the process of combustion, fuel cells never have partly used components, and therefore do not produce poisonous by-products (combustion engines produce carbon monoxide and a wide variety of other poisons, in contrast.)

They are very different from batteries in that they are not self-contained. Instead of counting on an enclosed chemical process that ends when all the components are used up, fuel cells have a constant inward flow of their fuel, usually but not always hydrogen and oxygen. In the case of automobile fuel cells, this means you need a storage tank for water or a hydrocarbon fuel and a place where hydrogen can be separated (this place, called a reformer, has its own technological development problems), as well as an exhaust system that directs used water out of the car or back to the original storage tank.

There are several types of fuel cells right now, but currently the most favored model is the polymer exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). This cell uses precious metals like platinum to create atom-thin layers of oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen gas, at this time H2, is split into two protons and two electrons at an anode. The electrons are conducted along a path to do useful work - in this case, run your car - before returning to a cathode where they are recombined with their protons and with oxygen, producing water as a by-product. Right now, the typical fuel cell produces less than a single volt of electricity, so several cells must be piled into a stack in order to produce enough energy to do useful work. Currently, the cost of creating each of these volts is prohibitively high, and technology is focused on making fuel cells more cost effective.

The big problem with the fuel cell is separating water into its constituent components to begin with. Elementary physics dictate that you cannot create or destroy energy, and entropy will cause energy to be lost. In addition, you're using up some of the energy from the fuel cell to run the car. So where does the initial energy to split the water molecules come from?

Currently, instead of using water as a base fuel, we have to use other technologies to produce hydrogen, which is then transferred to the car's storage tank. This is costly, and we have no infrastructure for delivering hydrogen the way we can deliver gasoline. It's also dangerous to handle flammable hydrogen in large quantities; remember the Hindenburg?

Freezing and boiling are also problems. Most forms of fuel cells, including the PEMFC, require water to function properly, but if your fuel cell is frozen or heated above 80 degrees Celsius, it may be destroyed.

Who Is Working On Fuel Cells

Researchers all over the world are working on fuel cell technology; it is potentially a very lucrative field. The United States Department of Energy supports many different fuel cell initiatives with block grants, and it also supports work at its own Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. Most car companies that have a reasonably forward-looking research and development arm are also working to create fuel cells for their own vehicles; this includes companies like Daimler AG, Honda, Ford, and General Motors.

Governments are also becoming increasingly sensitive to the need to have alternative fuel cars. Leading politicians like Newt Gingrich, who is rarely considered a leader in green technology, has spoken out for years about the need for government to support alternative fuel initiatives. Look for this to become the norm in the political future.

When Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars Will Be Available

We currently have several fuel cell cars in production as prototypes, including the DaimlerChrysler Necar, which drove cross country in 2002 from San Francisco to Washington DC. The trip was beautifully successful despite the extremes in temperature the car had to endure. At that time, Chrysler predicted no fuel cell cars would be available commercially before about 2010.

However, the Honda FXC Clarity is scheduled to be available in limited quantities in late summer 2008, leasing for about $600 a month (they will not be available for sale at all, only lease). It will not use gasoline at all, but instead fill up at hydrogen stations; these stations will be available primarily in Southern California at first. Honda is working on developing home fueling stations that will allow you to generate your own hydrogen at home using electricity.

How to preserve your learning

Fantastic! You’ve just learned something new.

The next step is to preserve it.

So, here are the four things you need to do:

FIRST: Preserve your learning by evaluating it.

After all, we learn not from our experiences but from intelligent reflection upon those experiences.

So, ask yourself these questions:

*What else is like this?
*What did I just learn from this experience?
*How does this fit into my theory of the universe?
*Does this statement give me any insight about myself?
*How can the basic concept be applied to different areas?
*What went right/wrong/perfectly about what just happened?

SECOND: Preserve your learning by writing it down.

After all, if you don’t write it down, it never happened.

So, ask yourself these questions:

*How can I blog about this?
*What folder does this go into?
*What journal does this go into?
*How can I make writing a part of this?
*What list can I immediately make this into?
*What are the various ways I can recycle this intellectual property?

THIRD: Preserve your learning by teaching it to others.

After all, you learn something most effectively the moment you teach it to someone else.

So, ask yourself these questions:

*How can I teach this to others?
*Who else needs to know about this?
*What’s the Universal Human Emotion/Experience?
*Through which medium can I best teach this idea to others?
*Now that I’ve written about this, what else does this make possible?
*If everyone did exactly what I said, what would their world look like?

FINALLY: Preserve your learning by leveraging it.

After all, killing two stones with one bird is always the best business practice.

So, ask yourself these questions:

*Where can I use this?
*What else can be made from this?
*How can I make this last forever?
*How many different ways can I leverage this?
*How can I use this to add more value to myself?
*How can this mistake quickly be made into something good?

REMEMBER: Evaluate. Write. Teach. Leverage.

Preserve your learning today!

Mika - Relax, Take It Easy

Took a ride to the end of the line
Where no one ever goes.
Ended up on a broken train with nobody I know.
But the pain and the longing's the same
When you're dying.
Now I’m lost and I’m screaming for help alone.

Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can't do.
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me or blame it on you.

It’s as if I’m scared.
It’s as if I’m terrified.
It’s as if I'm scared.
It’s as if I’m playing with fire.
Scared.
It’s as if I’m terrified.
Are you scared?
Are we playing with fire?

Relax
(Love) There is an answer to the darkest times.
It’s clear we don’t understand it, but the last thing on my mind
Is to leave you.
I believe that we’re in this together.
Don’t scream – there are so many roads left.

Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can't do.
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me or blame it on you.

Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can't do.
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me or blame it on you.

Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can't do.
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me or blame it on you.

Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can't do.
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me or blame it on you.

Relax, take it easy
For there is nothing that we can't do.
Relax, take it easy
Blame it on me or blame it on you.

It’s as if I’m scared.
It’s as if I’m terrified.
It’s as if I'm scared.
It’s as if I’m playing with fire.
(Relax)
Scared.
It’s as if I’m terrified.
Are you scared?
Are we playing with fire?

Relax
Relax

[spoken:]

Same day I want to dress for wedding
Same day while i won't married
What happened, He's go meeted another girl
While he was married another girl, I am very very sad
I can talk like God take my legs
How he's made a different lady, I no believe.

After one month i am send out to balcony
Some bomb, come for my eyes. My eyes gone.
My eyes gone in bomb, now i have only one eyes.
I am sad, until now I no married any man after.