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Sam Rao Blog Archives:    (CLICK FOR( Jnne 2009 to Dec 2009 Jan 2009 to june 2009     JAN 2007 to OCT 2008 Dec 2008
JULY 2006- DEC 2007  ! JAN 2006 to JULY 2006)   !    2005      !  2003/2004   
SEE BELOW   CURRENT BLOG  JAN 2010 To Present

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SLIDE SHOWS-  PHOTO BLOGS 

The 2010 Winter Olympics Start Friday Feb 12, 2010- Vancouver This is the first indoor Opening Ceremonies in the event's 86-year history, More than 2,500 athletes and 10,000 journalists have gathered in Vancouver BC in Canada, and a television audience of three billion is expected to tune in over the course of the 15-day competition at Vancouver British columbia in Canada    The WINTER OLYMPICS will see a parade of a wide variety of Athletes from all over the world  and along with traditional powerhouses at the Winter Sports ie from EU  and USA (216 Athletes!!) and even hosts Canada-in a  wide variety of sports, the noteworthy are the athemetes from countries not viewed as typical Winter Olympics countries. (especially as countries like Jamaicas and most Arabian and African countries etc are not known for being snow bound At all!  A Few countries do have a diverse climate in theor country like India, nepal and Pakistan- famous for Himalayas  but are not traditionally thought of as regular participants in Winter olympics  In this Winer Olympics 2010, INDIA has 3 Athletes, Pakistan has 1 and Nepal 2 athletes (see below)  More noteworthy is the Islamic Republic of IRAN - which along with half a dozen athletes is also fielding a lone Woman athlete ( with head scarf!)     MAY THE GAMES BEGIN Friday Feb 12 and ALL NATIONS HAVE  A GOOD GAME    GO USA  216 ATHLETES  and GO OTHERS LIKE BELOW with JUST A COUPLE ATHLETES too!   Go OLYMOICS SPIRIT! Other Athletes from the Indian subcontinent Marjan KALHOR AlpineSki IRAN Abbas Muhammed Alpine Skiing Pakistan Sherpa  Dacchiri Cross Country skiing NEPAL Shyam Kumar Shakkal Alpine Skiing NEPAL

SHIVA KESHAVAN Luge      INDIA NAMGIA lJAMYANG Alpine Skiing INDIA TASHI LUNDUP CrossCountrySki INDIA

S. KOREAN 1st Lady Traces Ancestry to Ayodhya South Korea 1st Lady Kim Traces her Ancestry to Ayodhya- via Genetics and Family history Korea's first lady Kim Yoon-ok is a descendant of one of India's royal families dating back two thousand years, according to the presidential office of South Korea    Archeologists discovered a stone with two fish kissing each other in Korea, which is a unique cultural heritage linked to a royal family in Ayodhya. Ms Kim is a descendant of Heo Hwang-ok, a princess who travelled from an ancient kingdom in Ayodhya, India, to Korea.    Heo arrived on a boat and married King Suro of Korea's Gaya Kingdom in A.D. 48, according to Samguk Yusa, an 11th-century collection of legends and stories. An analysis of DNA samples taken from the site of two royal Gaya tombs in 2004 in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province, confirms that there is a genetic link between the Korean ethnic group and certain ethnic groups in India. ther's name. The Heo clans trace their origins to them, and regard Heo as the founder of their lines Mrs Boa Sra Last Known Speaker of Bo language of Andaman Islands Dies The Last known speaker of ancient Indian Andamanese language of Boa. A member of the elusive Bo tribe of Great Andaman Islands- who have lived in same place for 65,000 years are one of the ancient people of India,  She was an Indian Icon RIP

NASA publishes possible evidence of Water and "Life" on Saturn's moon NASA publishes possible evidence of life sustaining water on Saturns moon This is scientific exploration By Cassini spaceraft and analysis  Using a plasma spectrometer, new evidence that liquid water lies beneath the surface on the Saturn moonof Enceladus has been discovered by Nasa scientists, suggesting that life may exist Cassini scientist Andrew Coates said the evidence gathered by Cassini pointed to other constituents for life, such as carbon, plus a source of heat to keep the water liquid.  "While it's no surprise that there is water there, these short-lived ions are extra evidence for subsurface water," said Dr Coates, from University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory.  The evidence gathered by Cassini pointed to other constituents for life, such as carbon, plus a source of heat to keep the water liquid.  And where there's water, carbon and energy, some of the major ingredients for life are present. ," said Dr Coates, from University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory. Indian/Pakistani Double Tennis Win ATP tennis  Rohan Bopanna (India) and Aisam Quereshi<> India-Pak Doubles pair win ATP tennis Championship in South Africa In Johannesburg, the doubles pair of ROHAN BOPANNA (ind) & AISAM QUERESHI (Pakistan) won the Championship-2-6, 6-3, 10-5 This is another instance of keeping politics OUT of sports and encouraging people-People exchange Indian American JHUMPA LAHIRI named to US Co­m­mittee on Arts and Humanities, along with five other distinguished persons by President Obama Feb 2010 Her debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000, while her novel, The Namesake, was turned into a film by director Mira Nair. Her latest story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, has won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Vallombrosa-Gregor von Rezzori Prize. Also named along with Lahiri are painter-photographer Chuck Close and ent­ert­ainment executives and arts patrons Fred Gold­r­ing, Sheila Johnson, Pam­ela Joyner and Ken Solomon.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL New Secretary General is Sunil Shetty 1st Indian to head A I Shetty, an Indian national, has been the Director of the UN's Millennium Campaign for the past six years and the Chief Executive of international anti-poverty NGO ActionAid before then. "We are thrilled that Salil will be joining us and leading Amnesty International as we renew our fight to end injustice – campaigning with those imprisoned because of their ideas, those on death row, those being tortured, and those who have their rights denied because they live in poverty," said Peter Pack, the chair of Amnesty's International Executive Committee [the organization's governing body].   "As we approach our 50th anniversary, we have ambitious plans to expand our work, especially in the global south, and Salil has a solid track record in mobilising people, civil society, governments and international organizations in the fight for people’s rights and dignity. He’s absolutely the right person to take Amnesty International into the next stage of our work," added Peter Pack.     "I feel privileged to be given this amazing opportunity at a time when the world needs human rights for all more than ever before," said Salil Shetty.    Salil Shetty will start in June 2010. He succeeds Irene Khan who steps down after eight years as Amnesty International’s Secretary General on 31st December 2009.

UN Indian Peacekeeping Forces in Haiti There are presently 140 Indian paramilitary personnel who are heavily armed, eleven unarmed police officers and one military staff  in Haiti.    With experience dealing with disasters esp Earthquakes and Hurricanes etc, The Indian peacekeeping contingent in Haiti via the United Nations is drawing praise for their efforts and contributions. Haiti government also welcomed the Indian troops and sauted the efforts of india in rushing aid and material to the devastated country Paramilitary Central Industrial Security Force personnel have been guarding banks and other vital centres in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, to prevent looting besides providing security to Indians in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake. The Indian contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) who were present even before the earthquake, did not suffer causalities after the 7.0 quake that hit the Caribbean nation on January 12, according to the United Nations. tioned in Port-au-Prince.     Seen here    The Indian Formed Police Unit (FPU) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Leander Paes/ Cara Black Win Australian Open 2010 Mixed Doubles Melbourne:  Top seeds India's Leander Paes and Zimbabwe's Cara Black won the 2010 Australian Open mixed doubles championship  beating 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia 7-5, 6-3 in just about 1,5 hours.     The triumph gave India's L Paes his 11th overall and fifth mixed doubles title. With this, Paes has equalled one-time doubles’ partner Mahesh Bhupathi’s tally.

AR RAHMAN Wins TWO GRAMMYS 2010 ~ Jai Ho!   Following in a remarkable run in 2009, Indian Music Director, composer AR RAHMAN  added two Grammys to his tally by winning twice for his compositions at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY AWARDS at Los Angeles. So far RAHMAn for his compositions in the 'Slumdog Millionaire' movie, has won two Oscars, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Critics Choice Award and the Golden Globe      Complete List Grammy Winners 2010 RAHMAN won for 1)Best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture category and 2) Song "Jai Ho" - Best motion picture song category JAI HO!! An estatic Rahman said, " Insane, eh? I never even dreamt about winning all these awards," "I once again want to thank the Almighty, my spiritual Sufi teachers - Ameen Peerullah Malik Sahib, Danny Boyle, Fox, the whole 'Slumdog...' creative team, all the awesome actors in the movie and Resul Pookutty. My whole team, Gulzarji, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Vijay Prakash, my friend and sound engineer the late H. Sridhar.... "My agents Sam Schwartz and Amos Newman, my mentors Mani Ratnam, Shekhar Kapur and Subhash Ghai, and mentor in the west, Andrew Lloyd Webber, folks at id-PR, Allison and Courtney... extraordinary musicians from Chennai and Mumbai, my mother, my father, my sisters and my lovely wife and children... And all my well wishers from the world who keep me going... Jai ho India!".   COMPLETE LIST GRAMMY WINNERS 2010

PAKISTAN CRICKET CAPTAIN BITES BALLS- Pak vs Australia 2010  Cheater Caught Redhanded! In an over the top incident on the field in Australia, during an official cricket match, Pakistan Captain SHAHID AFRIDI was seen biting the seams of the cricket ball- to gain unfair advantage while bowling,    The idiotic and unsportsmanlike conduct was captured on camera by the 26 movie and telecast cameras around  the stadium, even though Afridi tried to shield the act with another Pakistani bowler Rana Naved in front of him! (Duh! as if that would shield him from the eyes in the sky!)      This disgusting cheating act further de moralizes the Pakistani Cricket which has been embroiled in a series of internal problems including poor performances. Pakistn had alrady lost the cricket test series 4-0 and were on the verge of losing the International One Day version series 5-0 - when this latest incident occured,  Pakistani Captain Afridi has previously been caught and fined for deliberately using his boots and spike to dig up the cricket pitch- which can be used to extract spin and unexpected bounce - in a test match games VS England five years ago.      This latest shameful act was condemned by many cricket fans world wide including Pakistanis but a larger questions looms is HOW and WHY Do Pakistani Think they can get away with lies and decietful behaviour.all the time!    In a series of recent incidents, the Pakistani cricket players and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have been at loggerheads, Changes in Captaincy has been done after several fights, last year the visiting Sri Lanka Cricket team was attacked by Terrorists in Pakistan, while the Pakistani Cricket Team bus was missed- as they were 'delayed' by 5 minutes, A star bowler was banned fro drug use and another was suspended for a fight in the dressing room  and earlier allegations of match fixing and throwing games against the team were levelled officially.The current team was formed after the PCB had its own fights and selectors and the Board had nasty public and media fight, leading ti resignations of Coach, Board members etc.          In all this individual Pakistani platersdo remain talented but all this has left a sour taste in every fans mouth.  It should be noted that similar allegations have been posed against the Government of Pakistan eg with AQ KHAN the nuclear scientist who sold nuclear bomb secrets to the highest bidder and the antics of ex President Gen. Musharraff who nurtured the terrorists Taliban and siphoned millions of Dollars from USA and allied nations etc    We wish and hope that appropriate penalties are imposed by the International body and not a slap on the wrist by the PCB and good sportsman ship and good cricket comes out of this latest fiasco and maybe after some more sould searching good Pakistani citizens will surface and assert themselves!    SHAME HO  SHAME KARO!

JANUARY 26, 2010 HOUSTON NAMES A DISTRICT AS  MAHATMA GANDHI DISTRICT

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  TOP INDIA CIVILIAN AWARDS 2010
 PRESTIGIOUS PADMA AWARDS 2010 ANNOUNCED 
The Annual PADMA Awards- The Padma vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shree/ Shri were announced by the Government of India
See Complete List here

AAMIR KHAN KUZHUR NARAYANAN	PRATAP C REDDY MALLIKA SARABHAI	ILLAYARAJA NOOKALA C	AR RAHMAN SULTAN KHAN	V. SEHWAG UK SIVARAMAN

President Obama on India's Republic Day Jan 26, 2010- Official statement    I send my warmest wishes on behalf of the American people to the people of India and to those here in America and around the world who are celebrating Republic Day. As the world’s largest democracies, the United States and India have a strong shared... belief in the values of liberty, pluralism, and religious tolerance.     This Republic Day is particularly special because it marks India’s Diamond Jubilee. In the sixty years since the Indian Constitution was adopted, we have built a strong and vibrant partnership. I was pleased that Prime Minister Singh was the honored guest for the first state dinner of my Presidency. It was a chance to celebrate the great and growing partnership between our two Nations, and the friendship between our peoples. Indeed, the more than two million Indian Americans in the United States enrich every corner of our great nation – leading in government, science, industry and the arts. And as our peoples continue to build upon that friendship, let our governments continue to work together to advance peace, prosperity, and stability around the globe.

More Details soon.

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FREE OPEN HOUSE @ Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View 10 AM

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FREE OPEN HOUSE @ Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View 10 AM
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR- BLOG ARCHIVES

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