Archive for July, 2009

Safety feature – Online Credit card usage

If you have ever stopped to look at the online credit usage you would have done (including reviewed the information you were asked to provide), it would seem extremely easy to use somebody’s card and use it for buying stuff. What is it that you need to provide in terms of information when using your credit card online ? You go to a site, decide to buy something (maybe jewellery, maybe some electronics goods, or something that can be delivered instantaneously such as software) and are asked whether you need to pay through a credit card, using the much hyped secure card payment gateways (that use ’128 bit encryption security’, and are from well known banks).
Think for a minute about the information you provide online; you typically provide the following information:
- Name
- Date of birth (sometimes)
- Card Number
- 3 / 4 Digit security code at the back of the card
- Validity period of the card

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Drama in Kashmir finally over – Governor rejects resignation of Omar Abdullah

Ever since Sonia Gandhi did her act of sacrifice many years ago by not accepting the post of Prime Minister, the rarely done act of denial and refusal (also known as sacrifice by the adulating supporters) has become one of the ultimate weapons of defence when pushed to the wall. On another note, Omar Abdullah was the junior external affairs Minister during the NDA rule, and hence would have come across all sorts of stuff including files of various horrible things that happen in this world of ours, and hence could not be accused of having a thin skin.
India also suffers from the problem of even the most severe of accusations and cases taking a very long time to progress in our courts, and if you remember the sex scandal that seared Srinagar in 2006, you would be surprised to learn that the case court related to that is making its way through a trial in Chandigarh (the Supreme Court had pulled the trial out of Kashmir and into Chandigarh). Prosecution witnesses are still being examined, and if you were to ask as to when the case would be decided, would be difficult to say. This was the case where an initial case of one girl exploded into a case that revealed how minor girls were pushed into a prostitution ring to service many of the rich and powerful in Kashmir.

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Delhi collapses after 4 hours of rain

Be careful what you wish for ! Delhi and North India were bereft of rain during the first month of the rainy season. A bit about why Delhi is special. This is a city that is supposed to become a world class city, a city that will host the Commonwealth Games. It is the city that is the capital of a hot emerging economy, the city where people from over the world get their first glimpse of Delhi.
On 27/7/2009, the first major rainfall (major means this was 4 hours of rainfall, not 12 hours or something like that) brought this city to its knees. The news channels are full of roads being flooded, all the major intersections suffering heavy jams (including many areas of the New Delhi area that normally do not suffer traffic jams). Gridlock was the word, with many cases where people did not move beyond 100 meters in 2 hours.
What are the major causes of such a situation:
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