May Day, SSSpiritually!

For some reasons, my blogger accounts were inaccessible.

Today, I get a prompt reg a comment on another post. Then, I find, I am able to post !! Delighted to re-start my posts here, on my spiritual journey! #FeelingBlesssed #BeingGrateful.

Friendship Day

Dearest Friend,

Blogging is a new hobby for me. Now I am at a milestone - to post my 300th post!

Sachin, when asked about his 300 runs milestone, he said,'it will come if it has to' ! I am not being so dispassionate about this achievement. I was fulfilling a childhood dream of becoming a writer, thru my blog. God-willing, I will graduate to the level of an author of a book.

God has been very kind me, I have lived in so many different places. Every where I got a set of great friends. Indeed, life would have been incomplete without all those friends.

A big thanks to you for being there, in past, present and future too. May God bless you, hey friend. If God had given more people, more friends like you, this world would have been better place to live in...

Count your age with friends but not with years - Anonymous

Let us spread the Spirit of True Friendship

Blog to Publish

Dear all fellow-bloggers, would-be-authors!

I am sure many of us, at some point of time, dreamt of writing a book...becoming an author...Many of us are able to fulfil the dream, thanks to this option, Blogging !

Some of us are yet to get on to the bandwagon (blogging), content with tweets/FB, etc., while some are yet to transfer the thoughts on to the paper, before publishing.

For all bloggers, you have an option to publish your blogs. Check out....
http://blogspot.sharedbook.com/blog2print/googleblogger/index.html

Many of us, who may not be qualified to get an agent/publisher to fulfill our literary dreams ( publish) or just don't want to get in to that process, another option is SELF PUBLISHING.
Came across an interesting article...authors shake up traditional publishing with do-it-yourself ( WSJ)

I am a fan of Amazon.com  and the idea itself. Now such players are enabling budding authors to enter the publishing world, fearlessly. We mey be 'at the leading edge of a technological disruption...' WoW !!

Publish your own book

We dreamt of becoming a sportman/singer/actor/etc as a child....till much later into adolescence...

here is an opportunity to write your own book... one of the options, that is

start blogging... then through Blog2Print by Google, you can publish ... start blogging !

Turn your blog into a book!
Blog2Print from SharedBook turns your blog into a soft cover or hard cover book. You pick the cover, add an optional dedication, then preview and you're done. Prices start at $14.95.

Ten years of Blogging

The art of blogging is ten years young... ! 10 yrs is definitely a milestone, for anything that is on such a popular, free-to-use and evolving medium.

The medium has evolved from pure text-based to picture/video etc.

While most of bloggers took it up as a hobby, there may be few who are doing for other personal reasons. For me it remains a hobby, a medium to express my thoughts/feelings/views, take a stand, and not be part of a silent majority...

Social networking trends

Bill Gates has deleted his Facebook account, after he found it impossible to handle the requests for connections, and also… getting thousands of mortgage refinance requests due to the sub prime crisis and thousands more friend requests from non friends. He had some advise for others who get hooked/addicted to all those tools to stay connected through network.

It was reported, a popular brand had put a contest to exit facebook to qualify for prizes.

This is the latest craze, obviously. Like everything else, when used within control, no harm. Too much of anything is bad!

Bill Gates may inspire many more users to quit such platforms and utilize time more effectively. I am definitely one of the candidates !

Blog Action Day 08

Gandhiji said this world has enough for the needs of its population, not for its greed...
Many experts, mostly common man, today's financial crisis is the result of the greed of players in financial arena....
A crisis in any area of our lives first hit the common man, the poorest. There is so much poverty and suffering in the world. This needs the attention of every one of us


http://blogactionday.org/js/e36945634f181e2602517f2a3ef9d8500c0c7ab9
Poverty

Amitabh goes back to school

Amitabh was in news for his new passion of blogging.
Now he is in news for his visit to his alma mater. I am sure that would inspire some of his fans to reconnect... they may visit their own alma mater, get in touch with old friends... ( I did that personally after seeing the movie, dil chahta nahin :) !!)
Of course, RGV's Sarkar Raj hits theaters tomorrow.

For once, the superstar is in news for right reasons... Let us re-connect & give something back to our favourite schools and colleges ! Happy re-connect-ing !

Bollywood hooked on to Blog

Shobha De's take on 'the art of blogging' :

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Columnists/Shobhaa_De_Mere_paas_blog_hai/articleshow/3069489.cms

The world of blog is one of the wonderful things to happen recently. Shobha De has given her usual touch to this article, to be read as any other comment on Bollywood ( defintely not about the art of blogging !)

Interesting fact is Amitabh Bhachans & Aamir Khans of the world may give just the impetus needed to make this'art' more popular in India

Amitabh Bachchan turns blogger

India's Hindi Superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, is the new addition to the wonderful field of blogs !

An extract from the press release ( courtesy : Times of India)
HE has now found a new way to reply to inconsequential gossip about him. The superstar has signed up with a website where he will post his comments on a blog. In a press statement issued by the website, Bachchan said, “it will allow me to express myself, share and reflect my emotions, thoughts, opinions and listen to what people have to say to me and show them the real side to my larger-than-life image that they see through media. It’s a platform, which I control and share my own drama without anyone editing or interpreting my thoughts.’’ “What’s most important to me is that I can now share consequential replies to the inconsequential gossip that do the rounds. I have always wanted a platform, where I can speak for truth is always stranger than fiction. People will now be able to get an unedited version of my views, ideas and thoughts, straight from me,’’ he added.

Aamir is the first Indian actor and perhaps the only one who seriously blogs. His posts at www.aamirkhan.com are widely read and the actor religiously checks the responses to his views. The reclusive actor prefers to voice his views and uses the blog to clarify some serious issues like the Tibetan protest and his decision to run with the Olympic torch.

Both these celebrities are into blogging for the same reason, we all blog :) We may not be a celebrity (yet!) ... but our life, thoughts & feelings are no different to them. SO go on, and dive into the wonderful world of blogging !

Japan's bloggers

Blogging is an art... It continue to fascinate me.

As I have received several queries on blogging, here I am sharing what I read on the way Japanese blog.

• They have not only gone wild, but do it differently !
• Though English speakers outnumber their japanese counterparts by 5-1, more blog postings are written in Japanese
• 40 % blogging by Japs estimated to be on mobile phone
• Unlike their English counterparts, who use abrasiveself-promotion, Japs have embraced this techonogy and refashioned it as a soothingly nonconfrontational medium.
• They don't blog to stand out, but to fit in. They would write about small joys in life such as cats, flowers, bicycles, gadgets, movies, food, etc.
• Also they write short, anonymously and more often.
• They consciously avoid criticism. They would rather sympathise a restaurant, rather than take out the anger for bad food/poor service on a blog.

While Japanese style of management has inspired us for decades now, the way they blog is also so much like their culture. In Japan, it is socially not acceptable to pursue fame. They believe rather in team effort.

How beautiful !

Source - press reports, Technorati ( internet search engine that monitors the blogosphere)