Dreams do come true beyond the magical world of Disney

Disney, a wonderful world of color, an unbelievable land of animated characters, a recreation of forgotten classics like Alice in the wonderland; princess and frog, tooth fairy, etc
A part of child’s entertainment, their adventurous fantascape. Disney, a reincarnation of the dream world, a fantasy world encouraging the young minds to dream and dream big as they do come true. How many of you agree with this basic idea. Do you think it is naïve to dream as they vanish the moment we open our eyes, it is like a bubble that bursts faced with reality. Is it an antidote to reality, a mark of unrealism.

But in my view, this belief is true: the free flowing dreams which flutter in our minds eyes like colorful butterflies form the first step to our future destiny. Some of these dreams may make you achieve physical excellence. Or you may dream to win awards and a year’s time you may be in the midst of Aruba islands sipping pina colada from one hand and holding the achievers award in the other. Or you may be like a poor Cinderella before she becomes a princess waiting to be swept off her feet by prince charming and a year hence like a rabbit from a magicians hat this is what happens. Be it one or several, it is true that the dreams that begin to be spun through fictional, unrealism of disneys fake animated characters roll on to become a magical reality which can seem unbelievable enough to make to pinch yourself over and over again only to reveal that they have become the reality nothing but stark reality urging you to dream on so you can reach higher to realize your beautiful destiny.

Some useful tips to keep in mind before taking a trip to this magical world of Disney:
1. You can go by car or plane (if going from Toronto)
2. You should stay at a Disney resort if you only want to cover parks, stay in close proximity outside the Disney world if want to have more than the parks from the trip
3. Avoid spring break time for your trip, try to go in May or September to avoid line ups and jam packed crowds
4. If you do plan a trip at such a time, go for fast pass option.
5. Make plans before hand, for instance make a plan like the one given below before going to Magic Kingdom

• Be at magic kingdom bus stop at 7:30 am and say that you are going to a character breakfast
• Arrive at magic kingdom at 7:45 am
• Walk to train station holding area and stand in front of one of the two tunnel that will take you to the main street.
• Go to adventureand entrance
• Go directly to pirates of Caribbean – ride11
• Go to big thunder mountain railroad-ride14
• Go to haunted mansion – ride 19
• Walk through fantasy land to space mountain-ride 40
• While waiting to ride space mountain, or finish riding, go over to tomorrowland transit authority-ride 42
• Then over to carousel of progress-ride43

Rides-
Ride36- walt Disney world railroad
Ride20- it’s a small world
Ride18- liberty square riverboat (half mile tour)
Ride17- hall of presidents (20 minutes long)
Ride15- Tom Sawyer island
Ride13- splash mountain
Ride10- jungle cruise
Ride9: the enchanted tiki room
Ride 7-Swiss family treehouse
A dream come true parade at 3 pm
Spectromagic ( light upparade) at 9 pm and 11 pm
Disney wishes (fireworks) at 10 pm

6. Price of the park for the 5 day trip is $ 350 per person, after which each consequent day costs only 3 additional dollars per person, so try to make a seven day trip to have the maximum from the trip.
7. Park food is very ordinary, so for fine dining venture outside the park
8. Spectromagic parades and fire works happen every night so save your energy till 10 pm
9. Water parks are open in summer time only, include that in your itinery
10. Don’t go by height requirements for rides, small children may not like the roller coaster rides (like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster), space mission or Everest rides. So stray them clear from those.

Cheater Woods : Is he out of the woods?

Seemingly spotless Golfer, Tiger Woods made headlines in the newspapers and media because of his series of transgressional stories. The issue hogged media’s attention and was tossed up like a tornado in a storm. Only a few felt that it is only human for someone as successful and rich to step outside his marriage to find an extramarital affair. But to indulge in as many as 20 affairs would call for extreme organizational skills. Had he shown the same dexterity and discerning abilities as in golf he could have gotten away unscathed from the messy situation he architectured. Obviously his championship in golf does not extend to save himself from the mishaps of adultery .

The whole episode cost him dearly as he had to pay 60 million dollars to his wife in damages just to stay with him, a split would have probably cost him even more. But the whores were slicing him like a turkey on a thanksgiving day, looking at the this as a chance to profit from. They showed proofs of his illegitimate affairs with them through permanent and wildly incriminating messages left on the telephone through voice mails and text messages. It seems quite naive of him to think that mistresses would at his request delete a solid proof of damning evidence of their affairs with their multi-million boyfriend  just out of goodness of heart. He obviously didn’t take into account the impact all this will cause to his marriage and kids. His inexperience and carelessness risked his family life to shake the roots of his career and family. His caddy would have come with a better strategy to resolve an issue than that.

And then confiding about his affair to a  friend from media was like adding fuel to fire. Had he confided to a friend who had been in a situation similar to him, he could have had a sympathetic ear. But handing over a juicy story like that to a media friend seemed like he offered himself as an ideal fodder to a hungry fish who would in time would hog on him and tear him him down. So he may be a champion in golf but in dealing with real life issues he proved deficient.

Now as a part of crisis management strategy from a reputed PR firm, he had to give a public apology for his misconduct and announced his decision to take an indefinite break from golf to focus on becoming a better person, a husband and a father. Here is how his latest statement was: “I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I’ve done, but I want to do my best to try.” Whether he wants a break to be treated of his sex-addiction, or whether he wants to save his marriage, his invincible expertise in the green battle fields of golf is all anyone wants to see. Outside of the golfing, his life issues have been blown way off-limits.

A pandora’s box Google – a double edged sword.

Do you remember the time before Google, I think my primary search engine was msn.com or yahoo. But now Google has hogged the entire search engine market, has about 80% of the market share. Google is like a Aladdin’s lantern, that brings you all you need, it’s infinitely large yet takes up no space. I can find a house in Mexico to rent, look at paintings in Prada or listen to Tiger Woods ill-considered voice mail to that bar girl.
It is a priceless resource that can fulfill your big and small information needs in no time. I can put together a research file on any subject, identify top experts in any field anywhere in the world, email them right away to ask a question or request an interview. Amazingly, they usually email me right back.

People in 60s sometimes ask me how many researchers are working for me. Who needs researchers when you have Google? Google is a double-edged sword in the media world while it is a boon it is also a bane. It is the worst thing for people in the world of old media i.e. TV, newspapers and books and advertising. So to the once-glamorous old media, Google is a Googzilla. It is like a scary monster tat leaves destruction in its wake.

Google’s mission is thrilling, idealistic and seemingly benign. It is a to make information accessible and free There is a terrific story about a conversation with Mr. Bill Gates back in 1998. What keeps you up in the night? Mr. Gates replied that what worried him most is not the competition he saw all around him. It was the fear that, somewhere there might be two guys in a garage dreaming up something completely new.

There were. Their names were Sergery Brin and Larry Page. By 2008, 10 years later, there garage start up had revenues of more than $22-billion and is full-on in competition with Microsoft. All money comes from ads that you never click but obviously other people do. Advertisers love them as they only pay if someone clicks. No more waste of time or inefficiency. To add to the pain, Google own content is stealing time and audience from everyone else.

At Google the world is inefficient and engineer is the king. They can make the world more efficient. Wouldn’t it be cool to have 20 million books online; or to digitize the newspaper distribution system; or to enable people to get software for free through cloud computing; or why shouldn’t phone calls be free?

Free information is wonderful. It levels the playing field between buyers and sellers; haves and have-nots. It means that third-world students who cannot afford textbooks can still have access to information. I is a tremendous force for democracy, social justice and liberation.

Google has demolished entire industries. Nobody buys encyclopedias anymore. People don’t need travel agents, either. Anyone is intermediary business (including retailers, advertising agencies) is basically toast. It has thrown entire education industry in disarray. What is the use of learning anything when all the facts are out there on Google. Will people who have grown up with web be persuaded to pay for content they now get for free?

Google of course would not rule forever for sooner or later some two guys in garage are sure to have a new idea….
What has changed since Google?

1. I stopped bookmarking things. In fact, it will take fewer keystrokes to get there and in case something better comes along I’ll get on it right away.
2. I stopped using specialized sites. If I want to read up on some vehicle, or anything, for that matter – google will show me the specs and reviews much, much faster.
3. I stopped using sites like weather.com, yahoo movies, financial sites, etrade, fool, even calculator, dictionary and Microsoft Excel for many cases! Everything could be done by a simple text box and “Search” button. Faster.
4. In fact I stopped using the address bar all together, just like many others – Firefox has an alternative “address bar” that is powered by Google and is proper: no need to add “.com” or retarded “www” to everything and accidental misspellings will get fixed. Isn’t that sweet? Just go Ctrl+K instead of Alt+D.
5. I do not have POP3 email client software anywhere. Gmail, even though it does not have folders and uses “collapsed” conversations, was by leaps and bounds the best web-based email program. My primary address is 10 years old and does not end with ‘@gmail’ but I tunnel all my messages through gMail anyway simply because they eliminate spam. 99.999% of it, like nobody else.
6. I stopped using my personal site. I can store family photos and useful files up there on FTP, just in case I’ll need them when away from home. With ad-free Picasa and the giant gmail mailbox I don’t need those either.
7. Finally, all sorts of Yellow Pages became history: online, offline – does not matter. Google finds that stuff too. Phone companies finally (!) realized that as well and stopped bombarding everyone with those useless yellow bricks.

Web trends in 2010

Web trends in 2010
There are some conspicuous web trends showing up for 2010. As human beings tend to think in threes: the following three promise to be big in 2010: Real-time communication, Internet TV and social gaming.

Online social networking isn’t going to go away.  It’s only going to keep growing at an astronomical rate.

1… Real time web: The term represents the growing demand for immediacy in our interactions. Immediacy is compelling, engaging, highly addictive … it’s a sense of living in the now. Social networking sites like face book, twitter and Linked In make it easy to instantly update status, post pictures, write wall posts and respond to interesting facts presented by friends spontaneously and in no time at all. You can share your personal experiences.. review a restaurant, recount your trip to zoo or a Japanese park and share info with your friends who are quick to respond to your experience by commenting on it or liking it with a press of a button.

You can also portray your talents like paintings or articles or blogs and exhibit it before hundreds of your friends and open groups attracting contributions from all. Why wait until you get home to post a restaurant review, asks consumer trends tracker Trendwatching, when scores of iPhone apps let you post feedback as soon as you finish dessert?

Cloud computing

Cloud computing was very much a buzzword of 2009, but there’s no doubt this transition will continue. The trend, in which data and applications cease to reside on our desktops and instead exist on servers elsewhere (”the cloud”), makes our data accessible from anywhere and enables collaboration with distributed teams.

The cloud movement will see a major leap forward in the first half of 2010 with the launch of “Office Web Apps,” free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote released in tandem with Microsoft Office 2010.

Internet TV and movies

Is 2010 the year the majority of our television starts coming to us via the Internet? No more waiting for the next sequel of your favorite TV show, you can watch what you want, when ever you are free through Internet TV. Looking at time for your must-see shows is a concept of bygone times. Now Internet allows you access to latest TV shows and movies for free and it is available to see when you are. Could things get any better for the movie and media lovers.

Social gaming

There’s little risk of social gaming proving a bad bet in 2010 — Zynga’s FarmVille game on Facebook now counts more active users than Twitter, claims a Facebook executive. Meanwhile, rival Playfish was recently acquired by Electronic Arts in a deal valued at up to $400 million. You can practice stock trading for free with the help of free cash and mock situations. You can even build another life for yourself on Second Life along similar lines as is exhibited in the movie Avatar. However you have to be careful if your spouse in real life finds out that you have an affair with cartoon from Second life their could be a transgression suit waiting for you.

Of growing interest in 2010, however, will be the virtual currencies these games have spawned: In the allegedly unmonetizable world of social media, virtual buying and selling may be the route to riches for some social media sites — a concept can be outlined in a topic “Is Facebook the future of micropayments?

Mobile payments
I’d wager that 2010 will be the breakthrough year of the much-anticipated mobile payments market. While much of Asia has embraced the technology, the U.S., in particular, has lagged. There’s reason for optimism in 2010, however: From PayPal to Amazon’s mobile payments platform for developers, the big players are seizing the mobile payments opportunity. Mobile banking is an extension of internet banking and the phenomenon started getting very popular in US a couple of years back. A lot of banks in US have already started using mobile banking (using the WAP technology) in a big way. Some of the prominent ones are Citibank, Bank of America, SunTrust and Wachovia.

• Cell phones can be used to make payments
• It is simpler and easier than online banking
• Their will be a standard interface waiving off the use of unnecessary graphics.
• It is secure incase the instrument is lost as data isn’t stored on the phone and information cannot be obtained without an access code, which must be entered each time. The only real danger might be from shoulder surfers (privacy issues).
• It is quick. It is only 3 clicks away to see your account information.
• It is secure as mobile service has 128-bit data encryption, the same level as the existing Internet service.

Reality Stars :

Fame is now abundant. Social media has birthed a galaxy of stars in thousands of niches: We’re all reality stars now, on Face book, Twitter and all the myriad online outlets where we hone our personal brands.

We’re seeing the ongoing voluntary erosion of privacy through public sharing on Face book and Twitter, the rise of location-based services and the inclusion of video cameras in a growing array of devices. Some of the bad practices of the social media is exposing your private life unabated in social networking sites which can tarnish your career plans or show you in a poor light to employers, family, etc.

The incredible efficiency of Web-based communication and our Google-fueled appetite to know everything about everything (or everyone) leads to continued erosion of privacy — this is expected to be a hot media topic of 2010. With private information so easily accessible, it makes sense make yourself  just a little hard to get in order to void becoming a target of  frauds.

Human Trafficing in America : 5 year old victim

A surprising story just hit headlines that a California mother sells her daughter to prostitution (sex slavery) for money. Shaniya Davis, 5 year old was reported missing by her mother. The mother gave her daughter to Mario Andrette McNeill. McNeill will be charged with first-degree murder and rape of a child. Shaniya Davis’ mother also has been charged in North Carolina case.  The story is indeed sad.  Jeff Riccio found her body. Shaniya cause of death : asphyxiated

He is charged with raping a 5year old.  The kidnapper takes the child into the room, the child may have died in that hotel room. The girl’s body was found about 30 miles from where she was reported missing. The story is unbelievable that an advanced country can have sex crimes and child crime for money. In this story, mother had a personality disorder, she had no attachment to child, she was away from the child for last 5 years and just used her for amusement. She was herself a prostitute, a drug addict, a criminal. Her mother called 911 to report Shaniya missing. From hearing her reporting itself, she sounded distraught and fake. Mothers and fathers sell their children and a report stated that many children are sold by their parents. Shaniya’s mother can be charged with felony and murder as she threw her child into prostitution due to which she died.

The question that chills us is : What kind of person could do this? Impulsive people who want what they want when they want it. Many people were involved in this story, police have to figure who did what. The story is still evolving.  Drug addicts sell themselves in order to feed their habit, let alone use their children as a means to an end. This is a common happenning. When you hear about a case like this for a defense lawyer it is a worst nightmare. We can conclude by saying: The demonic filth that committed these crimes are not human beings and the law should therefore not apply to them.

Sarah Palin and her new book- “Going Rogue”

Sarah Palin’s new book, Going Rouge : An American Life is America’s new best seller. The media calls her a diva and a narcissist. The critics say the book is a political venture. The book highlights her in the light she wants to be known, shading out the part she wants to overlook. She is influential enough that when she tweets, the world reads. She certainly is a force to reckon with. Though CNN survey rates her as the least qualified to be a president, her point of view is that it is not essential to hold a office to make a difference in society.

Her book strays from the point and has contrary points of views. Palin criticizes in her book Obama’s economic policies and says Reagan had a worst recession which is not true. This was the most severe and hardest hitting recession in comparison. Her book is a recollection of events, presents itself more as a campaign. The book states that she was asked to stick to the script. Her advocates believe that the book is not a political venture but a memoir. This latest stunt to get media attention got her a lot of money.

Her future in politics depends on her ideas and proposals for the financial crisis facing America. What solution does she see for the current problems facing America. She creates excitement, has an intense base but only 30% people feel she is qualifies for a President 70% rate her as lowest qualified in comparison to other contestants. She is being juxtaposed to the balloon boy in terms of her obsession with media. Another question posed to her is whether she wants to run for presidential ticket in 2012? She says there are many ways to make an impact on American society besides running for office.

No room for GOP moderates

The cover of this week’s Newsweek asks, “How do you solve a problem like Sarah”? It says she’s bad news for the GOP and for everybody else too. This is not the kind of publicity that will cause her to be taken more seriously – not that there’s any great risk of that anyway. Palin palooza is on television and magazines.  She posed for Newsweek which originally appeared in Runners world. She is being confronted with teasing questions that Sarah Palin must smile and mince her way through. She is being compared to the balloon boy a shiny flashing thing – a balloon boy.  Palin’s book is flying high to the top of Amazon’s best seller list. Comedy shows like Jimmy Kimmel are taking aim. Sarah Palin is all over TV, talking with Oprah and doing a 5-part series of interviews with Barbara Walters.

Despite the ridicule from media, there are many admirers of Palin who feel:  If there were ever a woman with “True Grit”she is her!!! The other point of view however is : To bad the Presidential race didn’t include a swim suit competetion, then Sarah would have a chance.

Happy Halloween

Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. Halloween is the time when the young and the young at heart unleash their inner heroes or monsters in fancy costumes.

How many numerous love stories have begun from Halloween party where a hoax busty soccer player and a hoax potbellied soccer coach fall incurably in love to be chained forever in holy matrimony till death does them apart.

While this may be the pretty face of Halloween, there is an ugly side to it too. This holiday second only to Christmas in the minds of many kids is more than a celebration of the most deranged characters pop culture has to offer. It is a gore fest that has kids as young as six unleash their inner monsters which emerge from their nightly dreams to possess them for a day and get them those mouth-watering candies. Those eye popping costumes, blood-smeared chain saws and spiked killing gloves – “bloody, sadistic, nightmare-inducing Halloween costumes are indeed being made and marketed for kids and no one seems to care. Surely Halloween costumes have evolved from being “sickly sweet to just plain sick.”

Question that must bug one and all is what is the point of all the realistic gore – for the oh-so young anyway? I think wearing these costumes and being exposed to human depravity even in a ‘fun’ context, doesn’t scare kids so much as desensitize them to brutal violence. Numerous number of gunning incidents in schools in the past have brought to light that kids are less able to distinguish between real world and fictional brutality than grown ups. So to conclude I am throwing a question to readers out there that for these underage and undead young adults : Are some costumes to gory for kids?

Ballon Boy – Reality Shows or Exploitation

Balloon Boy story shows to what extent people would go to get some air time, exposure on media and maybe even money – even exploit their own children in this pursuit. Such stories were heard commonly in the third world countries but advanced nations like Unites States of America and Canada are not away from this hunger to exploit even innocent kids for selfish ends.

Reality shows have grown from extreme make overs where a ugly ducking is turned into a swan in no time at all and now this balloon boy  has hit media by a storm. It was apparently a publicity stunt by making a 6-year old fly in a hot air balloon. Now the parents face charges for putting at risk their child (named falcon) for the sake  of some air time. Kudos to the little 6-year old falcon who didn’t hesitate to unveil his parents hoax stunt. We hold our breadth and thank God for his mercy that the balloon didn’t hit an electric wire or  high rise building.

Other reality shows like ‘So you think you can dance’, ‘Bachelor or Bachelorette’ where these beautiful and talented people parade in front of the world and put up a brave face even when they fail before millions of people.

We’ve been duped, America!
Entire world watched with abated breadth as a homemade balloon took flight in Colorado last week, thinking 6-year-old Falcon Heene was in the basket below. The whole balloon incident was called “a hoax” and a “publicity stunt” on the part of the Heene family.

The family, who was featured on an episode of ABC’s Wife Swap, was looking for a little more airtime and “put on a very good show for us, and we bought it,”. “We believe that we have evidence at this point to indicate that it was a publicity stunt done with the hopes of marketing themselves or better marketing themselves for a reality television show at some point in the future,” Alderden said.

Falcon was found hiding in the attic of parents Richard and Mayumi Heene’s home after the balloon landed and it was discovered that he wasn’t inside. And now charges are most likely going to be filed against the couple. “We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances,” he said. “We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren’t additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance.”

Ten most beautiful eyes

As is popularly well known “Eyes are the soul of a human being”. So being born with beautiful eyes immediately beautifies your soul in the eyes of the world so is a any wonder that ambassadors to the world, the most influential people in the world are the ones gifted with beautiful eyes.

So the top ten women with most beautiful eyes are as follows:

Number 10 - Charlize Theron

She won an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in Monster.

Number 9. Sophia Loren
She won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role
in Ciociara, La.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize … its worth a debate

Stars, oh lucky stars how good luck can impact you life, not oh-so-priced fruits of labour. What has he done to get this prize – may be reach out to people and connect with them. He reunited people, for an African American President to accomplish this feat is truly inspirational.

It was obviously enough to get the coveted prize vis a vis Oprah or Clinton or SriLankan President who seemed to be more deserving candidates. Obama is a world’s president. A much liked president amongst Canadians and Americans and Europeans who have a even different kind of admiration than Americans.

What ever the controversy, a mixed reaction, majority of the people (a data from a recent poll states, 70% people) feel convinced that he deserves this award while only 30% feel that it is not that well deserved.

He at the same time very humbly accepts the 2009 Norwegian Peace Price as a call to action award for confronting the challenges of 21st century.

Whatever mixed reaction he might have got, his extraordinary efforts to strengthen diplomacy and cooperation among people cannot be undermined. Whether his few months of efforts cloud others over 30 years of consistent efforts towards world peace endeavor is worth a debate…..