WindowsMobile photos on Flickr

Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat.[1] Most beer is also flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. The preparation of beer is called brewing.

Beer is the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage,[2] and is the third-most popular drink overall, after water and tea.[3] It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverage.[4][5][6][7]

Some of humanity's earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlours,[8] and "The Hymn to Ninkasi", a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people.[9][10] Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries.

The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% alcohol by volume (abv) although it may vary between 0.5% (de-alcoholized) and 20%, with some breweries creating examples of 40% abv and above in recent years.

Beer forms part of the culture of beer-drinking nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals, as well as a rich pub culture involving activities like pub crawling and pub games such as bar billiards

Helsinki Finland. by James Holme

14 10

Helsinki Finland.

Bike Parking Cogges Witney Oxfordshire UK. by James Holme

2 2

Ratha Yatra -Puri by Monsoon Lover

9 28

This is an unique festival which is associated with Sri Jagannth Dev ; it so happened that I reached Puri just two days after the return journey of the Chariot , I thought the festival is over and all I will be able to see is the empty chariots on Grand Road , waiting to be dismantled but to my surprise I came to know that Sri Jagannath , Sri Balaram and Srimati Subhadra these three deities stay inside their Chariot for 3 days after the return journey and on the 3rd night they go back to the temple, this is called Niladri Bijoy. So on the 3rd night when Lord Jagannath was going back to his temple I joined thousands of people to shout "Jai Jagannath". All drenched I came back to my hotel long after mid night.

Till this part the story is all hunky-dory but it’s not so rosy in real life . Millions of simple religious minded Hindus , Vaishnavs , ISCONite Vaishnavs, visit this Temple with a belief that this is the Palace of Bhagban Sri Hari , God’s abode. Trust me most of the Hindu Temples are place of Big Business where God has been hijacked and made captive by a group of Thugs , a Mafiosi clan named Panda, Sevait, Pujari.

Jagnnath temple of Puri is no exception. Here Pujaris (Sevaits) ( a group of priest who has taken control of the earnings and affair of the temple) make millions and fleece people in front of Lord Jagannath – day and night.

Hindus should put these scoundrels behind bar then and only then their God will come back to his temple. But that chance is remote; here at select temples Business Tycoons, Film Stars, Wife of Star Cricketer throws bag full of Gold and millions in cash. May be they think God is as corrupt as they are.......

Park End Street Oxford UK. by James Holme

7 4

The iPhone Death Squad - Where are they now? by Paul A. Chapel

10

A couple of weeks ago, Fortune writer Philio Elmer-DeWitt wrote an article called "The great iPhone death watch," which was filled with negative quotes about the original iPhone from tech writers and industry CEOs. I thought it would be interesting to do a "Where are they now" type segment to see what reaction, if any, these prognosticators had to the eventual success of the iPhone.

brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/12/01/the-great...

The Industry Standard was the first web site to do a comprehensive follow-up, but they left out four of the worse offenders. Below is a quick summary of those four offenders and what they've done and said since.

www.thestandard.com/news/2008/07/10/iphone-naysayers-one-...

Ed Colligan, Palm CEO

What he said:

“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” —November 6, 2006.

Where is he now?

Since making his bold prediction, Ed Colligan was instrumental in developing an iPhone competitor called the Palm Pre. When asked whether he would undercut the iPhone by coming to market with a significantly lower price, Colligan remarked, "Why would we do that when we have a significantly better product."

That comment makes me think maybe he didn't think he was wrong. Of course, making a phone that turned out to be exactly like the iPhone, would seem to refute that notion, but whatever. Since that time the Pre has launched to mixed success and Ed Colligan left Palm to take a position with Elevation Partners, a company with a major financial investment in Palm. Colligan was replaced by Jon Rubinstein, who left Apple's iPod division because ironically, he disagreed with Steve Jobs over the iPhone. In September 27, 2005, he made this wise statement:

"Is there a toaster that also knows how to brew coffee? There is no such combined device, because it would not make anything better than an individual toaster or coffee machine. It works the same way with the iPod, the digital camera or mobile phone: it is important to have specialized devices."

Like the Pre, Mr. Rubinstein?

Michael Kanellos, CNET

What he said:

"Apple is slated to come out with a new phone… And it will largely fail." —December 7, 2006.

Where is he now?

Michael Kanellos is still an editor at large at CNET, where he continues to write about the tech industry, which is strange since he has neither a background in technology (he used to be an attorney) and no apparent interest in the technology he writes about. In an article entitled "I have a cell now, and I might use it too," not only does he admit to not owning a cell phone until September of 2007, three months after the debut of the original iPhone, but he also admits in the same column that he tried out an iPhone. He ultimately decided against getting one because his hands were too sweaty. Seriously.

Of course, Kanellos' lack of experience with cell phones makes his prediction about the iPhone rather dubious. Or on second thought, maybe not. In November of 2006, two months before Macworld 2007, where the iPhone was introduced, Kanellos wrote a Dvorak style column entitled "How to be a tech blowhard," where he offers the following words of wisdom:

"All you really have to do is string together two or three nouns or concepts in a semiprovocative fashion, and you've become a one-person think tank."

"There are two basic reactions you're shooting for. You either want to: one, stun someone into a temporary catatonic state with enigmatic predictions, or two, confirm their prejudices and personal beliefs. In other words, it's either "Can Hewlett-Packard patent the number 6?" or "Although a lot of people dislike it, Microsoft will make a lot of money."

"Focus on the targets that everyone follows--Google, social networking, Apple. In fact, why not blurt "Is Apple becoming Google, or is it the other way around?" during the next break at a conference. People will be flocking to you like you're Uri Geller."

Wow, no wonder he made such a bonehead prediction about the iPhone. I guess it was all an act.

Bill Ray, The Register

What he said:

"The only question remaining is if, when the iPod phone fails, it will take the iPod with it.” —December 26, 2006

Where is he now?

Since the debut of the iPhone, Bill Ray has written over 90 articles related to the iPhone and Apple. The vast bulk of the articles are just summaries of iPhone events, running the absolute gamut of iPhone controversies, from the "I Am Rich" app, to the problems with iPhone activations, to the iPhone's viability in the Enterprise market.

While it is unclear whether Bill Ray has actually bought an iPhone, he has openly wondered, with mock frustration, "Is there anything Apple can't do?" in at least one article. In this particular instance, he was responding to the news that the iPhone had its first VoIP app. Bill Ray also has the dubious distinction of writing a web app that replaces all references to the iPhone on The Register web site with a word of the viewer's choosing. Side note: I've actually tried this web app on my iPod Touch and it works really well.

Bill Ray's history with Apple is rather mixed. While he admits to being a Mac user, he has had several run-ins with Apple corporate, being blacklisted from MacWorld after mocking Steve Jobs for his pronunciation of "Jaguar," the code name for the second version of OS X. Since his repeated run-ins with Apple PR, Ray seems to be waging a one man crusade against Apple and regularly reports Apple news with as much snark as possible, even when he's wrong.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO

What he said:

"Five hundred dollars? Fully subsidized, with a plan? It is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard which makes it not a very good email machine… So, I, I kinda look at that and I say, well, I like our strategy. I like it a lot.”

Where is he now?

Unfortunately for Microsoft investors, he is still CEO of Microsoft. Shortly after the introduction of the iPhone, Microsoft responded in typical fashion by releasing a bunch of vaporware concepts related to their next version of Windows Mobile, originally slated to be introduced at the end of 2009. The concept photos were largely mocked for stealing every feature of the iPhone, including Multi-touch, music player integration and a full html browser. The latest rumors suggest that Windows Mobile 7 has been pushed all the way back to the end of 2010!

Since that time, Ballmer has had several unpleasant run-ins with the iPhone. In September of 2009, during a private company meeting at Seattle's Safeco Field, he was approached by a Microsoft employee taking his picture with an iPhone. Ballmer grabbed the iPhone, put it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it, before walking away and later teasing the employee during a presentation on stage.

In October of 2009, Ballmer was heard to make a rather bizarre suggestion about the iPhone:

"Let's face it, the Internet was designed for the PC. The Internet is not designed for the iPhone. That's why they've got 75,000 applications — they're all trying to make the Internet look decent on the iPhone."

His comment is all the more stupid when you consider that Microsoft has copied Apple's strategy in creating a mobile app market and introduced more robust browsers in both their Windows Mobile phones and on the Zune. Windows Mobile, by the way, which released its 6.5 update in May of 2009, has sunken to less than 9 percent of the smartphone market, while the iPhone has surged to 17 percent, all within three years.

Tags WindowsMobile

View allAll Photos Tagged WindowsMobile