In My Life

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends i still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life i've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When i think of love as something new

Though i know i'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know i'll often stop and think about them
In my life i love you more
(In My Life by The Beatles fr Rubber Soul Album 1965 - Lyrics by John Lennon)

Greatest Band of All Time

The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
The impact of the Beatles upon popular music is limitless; they revolutionized the music industry and touched the lives of all who heard them in deep and fundamental ways. Arriving in US on February 7, 1964, they literally stood the world of pop culture on its head. The Beatles' buoyant melodies, playful personalities and charisma have created a mass adulation coined as Beatlemania. Without exaggeration, they transfixed and transformed the world in music, fashion, lifestyle and popular culture in general.

Beatles’ first Number One single in the U.S. was I Want to Hold Your Hand. During the week of April 4, 1964, the Beatles set a record that is likely never to be broken when they occupied all top 5 positions on Billboard's Top Chart, with Can't Buy Me Love at Number One, followed by Twist and Shout, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, and Please Please Me. The Beatles had twelve songs on the Top-100 charts that week, a feat never matched before or since.

The Beatles can unassailably be regarded as the top group in rock and roll history. Yet their significance as a band extends beyond numbers to encompass their innovations in the recording studio. The Beatles' legacy as a concert attraction is distinguished primarily by the deafening screams of fans overcome by the group's very appearance.

For various reasons, ranging from safety concerns to frustration that no one could hear or was listening, the Beatles retired from touring after a San Francisco concert on August 29, 1966. Consequently, they began to indulge their creative energies in the studio, experimenting with sounds in ways no one had attempted before. The results included such musically expansive and lyrically sophisticated albums as Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966).

They released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), an album that has almost universally been cited as the creative apotheosis of rock and roll, a watershed event in which rock became serious art without losing its sense of humor (or sense of the absurd).

The Beatles have amassed the greatest sales for any artist. All-time sales have been estimated by EMI at over one billion discs and tapes to-date. In 2001, they had been certified for album sales of 163.5 million in the US alone. The Beatles have numerous other world records, including most recorded song Yesterday had 1,600 versions recorded between 1965 and 1985.

Their compilation album 1 (released on 13 Nov 2000) sold13.5 million copies around the world in its first month, making it the fastest-selling album in music history. It's something unthinkable for a band that broke up in 1970.

Their latest album Love (released on 21 November 2006) has also topped album charts all over the world.

John Lennon was shot dead by a deranged fan in 1980 while George Harrison died in 2001 due to cancer.

Mobile Phone Virus

Nowadays, even basic mobile phones can send and receive text messages which makes them vulnerable to attack by worms and viruses. Advanced mobile phones capable of e-mail can be susceptible to viruses that can multiply by sending messages through a phone's address book. Of more important concern, a virus may allow unauthorized users to access a phone to find passwords or corporate data stored on the device. Moreover, they can be used to commandeer the phone to make calls or send messages at the owner's expense.

Unlike computers that are restricted to only a few widespread operating systems, mobile phones use a variety of systems that require separate programs to be designed in order to disable each one. While reducing overall compatibilty from an application design standpoint, this has the beneficial effect of making it harder to design a mass attack. However, the rise of cellular phone operating system programming platforms shared by many manufacturers such as Java, Microsoft operating systems, Linux, or Symbian OS, may in the future change this status quo.

Bluetooth is a wireless communication feature now found in many higher-end phones, and the virus Cabir hijacked this function, sending Bluetooth phones on a search-and-destroy mission to infect other Bluetooth phones.

In November 2004, several web sites began offering a specific piece of software promising ringtones and screensavers for certain phones. Those who downloaded the software found that it turned each icon on the phone's screen into a skull-and-crossbones and disabled their phones, so they could no longer send or receive text messages or access contact lists or calendars. The virus has since been dubbed Skulls by security experts.

In March 2005, the Commwarrior.A virus was identified to attempt to replicate itself through MMS to others on the phone's contact list. Like Cabir, Commwarrior. A also tries to communicate via Bluetooth wireless connections with other devices, which can eventually lead to draining the battery. Bluetooth telephones are also subject to bluejacking, which is the generally benign transmission of messages from anonymous Bluetooth users.

Outcasts

To the residents of Yarpur basti in the heart of Patna, there is nothing extraordinary in the friendship between Mohammed Jaleel and Ganesh Ram Bara. Both of them, in their mid-sixties, had worked together for many decades in the Patna Municipal Corporation as sanitation workers. They spent much of their lives in Yarpur, locally called dom basti or bhangi basti in a disparaging reference to the caste of the sanitation workers. Their work involved a variety of tasks, such as sweeping the roads, unclogging gutters, cleaning toilets, carrying filth and disposing of waste, aimed at keeping Bihar's capital city clean.

Because of the nature of their job both Jaleel and Bara faced the same kind of societal exclusion.

"No Brahmin or Rajput would come to my house or drink a glass of water from my hands. No Sayed or Mallik would go to Jaleel's house or have a glass of water from his hands," says Bara. "All our social gatherings are essentially among sanitation workers, both Hindu and Muslim."

Obviously, Jaleel and Bara have led strikingly similar lives. Their day-to-day social experiences too are similar. Yet, in the eyes of the government, Jaleel is more privileged than Bara. Throughout his service, Bara had enjoyed some benefits because the Hindu safai karmachari community was absorbed in the Scheduled Castes (S.C.) list.

Jaleel never got the same benefit because he is a Muslim. "We tried to enlist ourselves as beneficiaries of various government schemes, including education schemes, which our Hindu brethren enjoy, but we were rejected each time on the grounds that we were Muslims," said Jaleel's daughter, Najma Khatun.

But this is not the story of one Jaleel and his family. Dalit Muslims across Bihar and other parts of North India who belong to castes such as Jolaha, Nutt, Bakkho, Bhatiyara, Kunjra, Dhunia, Kalal, Dafali, Dhobi, Lalbegi, Gorkan, Meershikar, Cheek and Rangrez, have the same low social ranking and are deprived of the benefit others enjoy. In many parts of North India, many of these communities have separate mosques and bury their dead in separate graveyards.

According to Mohammed Usman Halal Khor, general secretary of the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj (AIPMM), a Bihar-based organisation of Dalits and Most Backward Caste (MBC) Muslims, the socially and educationally backward communities among Muslims "are not accepted or treated as equals by elite Muslim communities and even by sections of the clergy. They are subject to the same social discrimination faced by Dalit Hindus. Yet, Dalit Muslims are deemed ineligible for the government benefits given to Dalit Hindus."

Of the total Muslim youth in the 18 to 25 age group, a mere 8.1 per cent are in college (Hindus: 18.7 per cent; Christians: 20.5 per cent), 6.2 per cent alone are engaged in other studies (Hindus: 9.9; Christians 14.9); 30.5 per cent are employed (Hindus: 32.3; Christians 32.7) and 55.2 per cent are unemployed (Hindus: 39.1 per cent; Christians 31.9 per cent). Muslims have clicked `Pause' on education only to their disadvantage even in a progressive society that has nurtured their interests throughout history.

(excerpt: hinduonnet)

Halal Market

“...The world is going Halal. All over France, foods marked Halal are growing in numbers. Halal meats are offered in many French public establishments such as school cafeterias. Cabot's Vermont Cheddar Cheese and France-Echos Paté de Foie de Canard (duck liver paté) have gone Halal. IKEA at Anderlect near Brussels has Halal hot dogs. McDonald's in Detroit has introduced Halal Chicken McNuggets while McDonald's in Australia has Halal burgers.....” Galliawatch, Saturday, 2 December 2006

The total number of Muslims is huge, a little more than one fifth of the world's populaton. Current world Muslim population is estimated between 1.2 billion to 1.8 billion or 18 to 26 percent of the world population spreading over 150 countries. It is claimed that Muslim is the fastest growing population in the world at a rate of 2.9 percent a year as compared to world population growth of 2.3 percent a year. At this rate, Islam would surpass Christianity as the world's main religion by 2023. Between 2000 and 2006, the average growth rate of the Muslim population at 1.9% percent is also far higher than the world's population growth rate, which averaged 1.22 percent in the same period. It is also much faster than any other major religious group.

Muslim population in 2006 is estimated at 1,596.59 million.

No one really knows how big the global Halal market is. Estimates are usually based on the number of Muslims in the market. There are also a lot of non-Muslims eating Halal meat. Current estimates to the value of the global Halal food market range from US$150 billion to US$580 billion* a year. Total global Halal products is estimated at US$2.2 trillion (RM$7.98 trillion) and is projected to grow by 10 - 20 % annually.

* - Based on per capita expenditure on food by Muslims. (source: various)

Super Basmati Rice

Pakistan is considering a proposal from the Indian government to jointly register basmati rice produced by the two countries though some of its farmers accuse India of stealing their ‘Super basmati’ seeds.

The registration is meant to profit from the vast EU market that is currently in the process of conducting DNA tests in Pakistan before moving on to India and Nepal. India and Pakistan are the world's traditional producers of basmati rice, with Nepal recently joining them.

The EU has sent a team to conduct DNA tests of basmati rice in Pakistan, India and Nepal to determine the EU's policy on basmati imports from each of these South Asian countries.

Some Pakistani exporters alleged that India had stolen a seed variety developed in Pakistan called super basmati. They said growers in collaboration with local institutions developed the seed here, and this variety was in high demand in the world market.

However, they claimed, a few years ago two Sikh pilgrims visiting Pakistan took super basmati seeds with them and started cultivation in India. Eventually, Indian farmers developed a strong super basmati crop and started exporting it.

An rice exporter was quoted by The Daily Times as alleging that this was “a clear case of piracy and should be should be barred from using the name super basmati & be challenged in Indian courts”.

The EU team will decide on the comparative quality of the Pakistani and Indian basmati. If the DNA tests conducted by the EU team show Pakistan's basmati rice to be of equal or better quality to India's, the European market will remain open to Pakistani rice exports. However, if the tests fail to show the rice is of a distinct quality, the EU could impose an embargo on Pakistani basmati.

Pakistan's rice exporters say that since India has registered its basmati in the international market, Pakistan should do the same under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules. They have also complained that the government was delaying framing a “Geographical Indication (GI) law”.

The official said that the government was preparing a GI law to register farm and traditional products specifically produced or manufactured in Pakistan.

Pakistan has set a $2 billion rice export target for this fiscal. Rice exporters surpassed last year's $1 billion export target by exporting $1.2 billion worth of rice.
(excerpt: indiatimes tuesday dec 05, 2006 02:47:57 am)

Time drags when you are in a hurry..

Doing Business In Japan..

Small and medium-sized companies looking to penetrate the Japanese market, especially the food industry, should take a hard look at the country's rules and regulations and use trading firms to make their initial foray.

Japan, one of Asia's most prized export markets, is also one of the toughest nuts to crack. Stringent rules and regulations take time and resources that some smaller firms simply cannot afford. It is tough to get through in the initial stage, but once there the returns are worth all the effort. The rules and regulations changed very often in Japan and therefore food exporters to the country needed to keep themselves abreast of the changes. The recent changes that have been implemented are things such as hazards either from new agricultural chemicals, new additives or from global supply sources.

Japan is a prosperous country that must import a large amount of food to feed its 128-million population. The average Japanese household is estimated to have more than RM360,000 in savings and a disposable income of about RM13,600 per month. This provides a huge opportunity as long as a supplier can gain the trust of Japanese consumers.

It is necessary to go through trading firms if you are to enter the Japanese market. Many firms continue to encounter obstacles when exporting to Japan, including heavy restrictions on the ways the food is cooked and processed imposed due to fears of contamination. There cannot be any kind of foreign body in any of the consignment, as even a single foreign body - be it flies, bees, additives or any other thing - would mean that the entire consignment would be rejected. Microorganism specifications comprised the bulk of violations.

Another way to penetrate the market is to get locals spreading news of the product through word of mouth.

Asean's importance is self-evident; it has a population of 570 million, is rich in resources and is conveniently located near Japan, China, India and many other important markets. Asean is poised to become a major hub of production, feeding Asian and global markets.

Product labelling is another key aspect, where exporters must disclose all relevant information on the packaging. These include any health risks, such as allergies the product may cause.
(excerpt: mckinsey, nov 02 2006)