Ravi's Blog

if you have a website online, you should optimize it for the search engines. Google has redefined the internet. Almost all traffic on the internet is routed through google, and unless you do some offline advertising, you won’t get any traffic at all to your website if you don’t optimize your sites for the search engines.

Yes, there are people who call themselves experts, and they charge you a lot and don’t deliver results. I have fell for this myself several times. But don’t let this discourrage you, just pick someone from your own location whose balls you can grab if he doesn’t deliver. So for example if you are in Chicago, you should be looking for a chicago search engine optimization service provider.

I haven’t calculated this earlier, but am going to calculate on this post. Don’t really know what the outcome would be. Here goes.

The terms that I would be using would be easily understood by Indians as I am an Indian. If google brought you here from USA or elsewhere, read on if you must as I am not sure what values apply in your country.

The Tube Light is a tube filled with some florescent vapor and when electrons pass through the tube, the vapor glows. The cost of making this vapor glow is 40 watts of power.

This costs Rs 50 in Pondicherry, a Union territory in India were almost everything is cheap. Power in Pondicherry costs from Rs 0.55 to 1.75 per KWh.

So with a tubelight’s life of 1000 hours,

Time run per KWh = 1000/40 = 25 hours.
(want me to break this down for you? 40 watts = .04 KW, and to get the value for H, you invert .04 and you get 25, so the answer is 25 hours)

Total power consumed in Lifetime of a tube light = 1000 / 25 = 40 KWh.
(1000 hours of lifetime and 25 hours per KWh)

So the total cost of usage of a tube light in Pondicherry for its lifetime is Rs 50 for buying it, and Rs 70 to run it at the cost of Rs 1.75 per KWH for 40 hours, the total comes to Rs 120.

The CFL has a lifetime of 5000 hours. Thats 5 Tubelights, which cost 250 in total at Rs 50 each, and a 22 Watt CFL costs only Rs 200.

Whoa, there were have it, I guess I have the answer. Do your math for the CFL power consumption guys. Yes, I guess CFL is cheaper

Time run per KWh of CFL = 1000/22 = 45.45 hours.

Total power consumed in lifetime = 5000 / 45.45 = 110 KWh

Total cost of power = 110 * 1.75 = Rs. 192.51

Total cost = Rs 192.51 + 200 = 392.51.

Comparing with the Tube Light,

Rs 120 per 1000 hours is Rs 600 per 5000 hours. And CFL comes to about Rs 400 only. Yes, looks like the CFL is a bit cheaper.

The production costs of CFL bulbs should be really low, I am sure these Philips and Wipro guys are making a big bunch of money selling these. These should be available in the markets for Rs 50 as I don’t think the cost making a CFL would be any more than making a Tube light, of course the CFL has a built in choke and starter setup.

So guys, go get CFL, consume less power, save the planet.

By the way, is there a better air conditioner that consumes lesser power as well? As I don’t think saving 22 watts is really going to save the planet while my AC is drawing 2000 watts non stop for about 20 hours a day :p.

Whether you?re embarking on a family vacation or your family reunion, it?s going to be a special time. When we think of trips we?ve taken, we tend to remember them best with photographs. Here?s some ideas to enhance your vacation as well as your memories of them.

Location Preparation

Since you know where you?re going (that’s a minimum requirement), doesn?t it make sense to check out the location before you get there? Create a list of attractions, accommodations, special points of interest, amusement areas, shopping, etc. A good source to help you do this is: the Places and Travel section of msn.com ( http://groups.msn.com/Browse?CatId=179)

Figure out the photo opportunities for each appropriate venue. Anyone can take a ?that?s nice? picture of the kids at an amusement park. Wouldn?t you rather capture a ?WOW? photo that could be hung over the mantle?

Depending on the location you?re traveling to, you can see what books are written about them that highlight the best photo opportunities for the entire area

If you?re cyber-savvy, start at www.google.com and search using different combinations of: your destination, best photography locations, for images of the location, scenic spots, etc. The options are endless.

If you?re off to a non-big city area, scout out the national parks in the area. The great thing about national parks is that the scenery is usually so breathtaking, that a so-so shot looks outstanding, just because of the subject. Once in www.nps.gov, do a search on photos and you will be presented with terrific shots of all the parks

Photography Preparation

OK, you?re either traveling through or you?re at a wonderful location full of photo opportunities. You began this leg of your trip at the crack of dawn and as you?re pulling into the most scenic overlook for 400 miles, the sun is just starting to crack the horizon.

You instinctively pull the car over, grab your camera and your tripod, and look for the best spot to set up. Just one tiny little problem? YOU FORGOT YOUR TRIPOD! Rather than smack yourself on the forehead then, why not plan these things now, before you leave?

Your list should include AT LEAST the following consideration?

Do I need to repeat ? BRING YOUR TRIPOD? It doesn?t take up much room, and as explained at www.best-family-photography-tips.com/tripod-photography.html, tripods allow you to capture entirely new categories of photographs that won?t be possible without one

Memory. Of course, bring all the memory you have, but also pack your portable storage device such as an sd card.
If your camera has a hot shoe, bring your external flash, and any additional equipment that can be used to help with bounce flash

Remember your external shutter release cable for those long exposures. How else are you going to get that ?angel-hair? look of the waterfalls?

Don?t forget the basics like: batteries, battery charger, camera bag, and additional lenses and filters (if applicable on your camera)

And just in case you need it, bring the manuals for your equipment.

Finally, don?t get so wrapped up in taking perfect shots that you don?t enjoy the trip. Remember to use the tripod so that you’ll be in at least some of the photos.

Article courtesy of www.best-family-photography-tips.com, where you can see some sample pictures including more photography tips.

Having been running a web hosting company for a few years in my life has made me aware how much downtime costs. People just get mad when their sites dont show up to their clients. Once, a long downtime on my Windows server made me transfer the ownership to someone else who is more capable of doing it better than me.

Since morning, I tired to use google about 7 times to search for various things, and I found that the big G was down. Holy fucking shit, does this happen to google too? Imagine a dying man searching for life insurance in google and finding it down

People like me who depend on google for their lives would only now realize how important google is for them. As for me, I can’t do a thing right without google. Be it configuring a server, or to find the conversion rates, or to check the weather in places.

Earlier I used to feel crippled when I was away from the internet, now I feel crippled without google itself and I am unable to make up my mind to have yahoo or msn substitute it.

Just like everyone else, I too monetize my blogs with adsense. And I do receive payments every month on a net-30 basis. Payments accumilated till the end of may will be paid by the end of june, and you get ot clear it by the first week of july.

Well. I have been really happy all these months, since Adsense sends its checks payable in India through DHL from Dublin. It used to. Untill now. I used to get the check on the 1st of 2nd of every month just like most others in India and the payment would hit my account on the 3rd or 4th. And I did pay an extra $25 charge for that express delivery. I thought it was well worth it.

At around the 20th of April, I got a mail from google sent out a mail to everyone in India that there will be no more Secure Express Delivery, and all checks to India would be sent through the local courier service called Blue Dart.

Well, when i had got the mail, I thought it was cool. Saving $25, and you get your cheques from google’s Hyderabad office. Great. I should get the cheque the next day itself then. Paymet issued on the 28th and I get the cheque on the 29th. Send it for lcearing on the 29th and I get the money by the 30th. The idea was cool.

Payment was issued on the 28th of April, and I waited till the 30th. People said that only on the 30th the cheque will be handed over to blue dart, and may 1st being a holiday we would get the chq only on May 2nd. Great. Will wait. Late hua to kya hua? Paise to bach gaye na. I waited till the 5th. No cheque. If it was DHL, I would have gotten the money by 4th.

6th and 7th. No cheque. Today is 8th.

At a few forums where I participate, people just scare me. Looks like Google has made Hyderabad its center for cheque printing. It has been sending cheques to Russia and many other places in Asia and Europe from Hyderabad. People are saying that only after printing all those International Cheques, google will be sending the cheques for Indians.

Holy Crap.

And, people also say, it is India, and there would be several other problems that google might never have imagined.

1. Powercuts
2. Printer Problems
3. Delay in the arrival of service engineers to fix the printter.
4. Traffic delaying the delivery of cartridges for the printers.
etc.

Google moved their entire operations at Dublin and Singapore to Hyderabad because all Indians are loosers and work for food and nothing more and wont mind mesothelioma if they get it.

Well, at this rate, I dont think the cheques would arrive anytime sooner than the 31th of May. And we can only hope that google sorts out its operations soon and make the Hyd unit as efficient as Dublin, and make sure that we all get our cheques in time.