Missing Mary Road

A grandson of the last ruler of the Indian princely state of Hyderabad has joined the claim for a share of a fortune held in a London bank since 1948.

As Sir Osman Ali Khan, the absolute ruler of India’s largest princely state of Hyderabad deposited one million pounds in to the National Westminster Bank – he pondered whether his mostly Muslim subjects should join India or Pakistan. The amount which was deposited in August 1948 was frozen a month later when Indian forces annexed Hyderabad and the Nizam’s finance minister tried to transfer it, without his permission, to the new Pakistani High Commissioner in London.

The money, which has swelled to 30 million pounds, has been claimed ever since by India, Pakistan and the heirs of the Nizam, who reputedly sired 100 illegitimate sons by 86 mistresses. It is only now, after 60 years of family feuds and legal wrangling, that India has agreed to begin negotiations on an out-of-court settlement with Pakistan and the Nizam’s descendants.

According to the BBC, the best known claimant to the fortune is 66-year old Mukarram Jah, the Nizam’s first grandson and technically the heir to the throne. He currently lives in a small apartment in Istanbul after spending several years squandering much of his initial inheritance of land, jewels and a rusting collection of antique cars, on a sheep farm in Australia. An article in The Guardian states that Mukarram Jah is now so poor that he had been unable to hire a lawyer to handle his case.

Prince Jah could receive as much as 20 per cent of the money, with India and Pakistan dividing the remainder. However, since the state of Hyderabad no longer exists, his brother, sister and cousin are also expected to stake a claim – as are his former wives, one of whom is a former Miss Turkey. Then there are the estimated 470 sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters from the Nizam’s various mistresses.

In any event, it appears that in a case which has taken over 60 years to begin, it might just take an equal number of years to finally settle.

Send $10 to the Something Store, and they will send you something. You won’t know what it is until you open it, but hey, it’s only ten dollars!

It maybe something you need, something you want or something you desire.
Yours may be a cool gadget, rare book, table game, handmade necklace, reverse clock, box of gourmet chocolates, set of shiny shower curtains, popular video game, big-box retailer gift card, the latest version of a software, a set of kitchen knives, a pair of designer jeans, garden tool, kitchen appliance, unique home decor item, electronic equipment, magazine subscription, office supply item, or …
Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique.

interesting comparison over at the mental floss between miyagi, santa claus, dumbledore, gandalf, merlin, obi-wan kenobi and others. i would have liked to have seen getafix on there.

so we just did books. let’s try movies to see before you die. i’m sure my brother would do a lot better on this than myself though. here’s the ones that i’ve seen. that’s 258 movies i’ve seen out of 1001 compared to only 69 books that i’ve read out of 1001.

A Trip to the Moon (1902)
Nosferatu, A Symphony of Terror(1922)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Metropolis (1927)
Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
City Lights (1931)
Shanghai Express (1932)
King Kong (1933)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Modern Times (1936)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Stagecoach (1939)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Rebecca (1940)
Fantasia (1940)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Pinocchio (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Dumbo (1941)
High Sierra (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Bicycle Thief (1948)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Rashomon (1950)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The African Queen (1951)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
The Big Heat (1953)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Animal Farm (1954)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
12 Angry Men (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
North by Northwest (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Psycho (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
The Hustler (1961)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Lolita (1962)
8 1/2 (1963)
The Great Escape (1963)
Goldfinger (1964)
Marnie (1964)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
The Battle of Algiers (1965)
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
The Graduate (1967)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Point Blank (1967)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
The Jungle Book (1967)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Easy Rider (1969)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
Patton (1970)
M*A*S*H (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Klute (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Get Carter (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Shaft (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
The Sting (1973)
American Graffiti (1973)
Papillon (1973)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Mean Streets (1973)
The Exorcist (1973)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Chinatown (1974)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
The Wall (1975)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Jaws (1975)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Rocky (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Star Wars (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Grease (1978)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Alien (1979)
Life of Brian (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
The Jerk (1979)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Mad Max (1979)
The Shining (1980)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Airplane! (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981)
E.T.: The Extra-Terestrial (1982)
The Thing (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
Poltergeist (1982)
Tootsie (1982)
Gandhi (1982)
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Terms of Endearment (1983)
Once Upon a Time in America (1983)
Scarface (1983)
Amadeus (1984)
The Terminator (1984)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Ghostbusters (1984)
A Passage to India (1984)
The Natural (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Ran (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
Back to the Future (1985)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
Stand By Me (1986)
The Fly (1986)
Aliens (1986)
Top Gun (1986)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
The Princess Bride (1987)
The Untouchables (1987)
Bull Durham (1988)
Akira (1988)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
The Naked Gun (1988)
Big (1988)
Die Hard (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Rain Man (1988)
Batman (1989)
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)
Roger & Me (1989)
Glory (1989)
Goodfellas (1990)
King of New York (1990)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Total Recall (1990)
Boyz ‘n the Hood (1991)
Naked Lunch (1991)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
JFK (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
The Crying Game (1992)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Philadelphia (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Three Colors: Blue (1993)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Clerks (1994)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Casino (1995)
Toy Story (1995)
Braveheart (1995)
Clueless (1995)
Heat (1995)
Seven (1995)
The Usual Suspects (1995)
Fargo (1996)
Independence Day (1996)
The English Patient (1996)
Trainspotting (1996)
Scream (1996)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Titanic (1997)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Run Lola Run (1998)
Pi (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
There’s Something About Mary (1998)
Magnolia (1999)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Three Kings (1999)
Fight Club (1999)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
American Beauty (1999)
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Traffic (2000)
Memento (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Amelie (2001)
Monsoon Wedding (2001)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)
Gangs of New York (2002)
City of God (2002)
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

for the people who grew up watching PTV.

bhool na jaana phir papa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyGfuHJvno8

beema policy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdGgXddaBDQ

binaca cream and brush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0seU8n_9T9E

kiwi shoe polish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruEgC6FSF_Q

meri muthi main band hay kia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_RRMqrDrJM

wasim bhai main cigarette nahin peeta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1plUHwAk-Y

1001 (fictional) books every person should read before they die. i’m skimming through the list and these are the ones off the top of my head that i’ve read. the more i read though, the more i realize i’m becoming a fan of non-fiction and reading fiction is getting more and more distasteful. what are some of your favourites from the list?

Aesop’s Fables – Aesopus
The Thousand and One Nights – Anonymous
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
Gulliver’s Travels – Jonathan Swift
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Moby-Dick – Herman Melville
Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lonely – Harriet Beecher Stowe
A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There – Lewis Carroll
Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
Ben-Hur – Lew Wallace – seen the movie, not read the book
Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
The Time Machine – H.G. Wells
Dracula – Bram Stoker
The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
Kim – Rudyard Kipling
A Room With a View – E.M. Forster
Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
A Passage to India – E.M. Forster
The Trial – Franz Kafka
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell
I, Robot – Isaac Asimov
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
Foundation – Isaac Asimov
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
Naked Lunch – William Burroughs
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel García Márquez
2001: A Space Odyssey – Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – Philip K. Dick
The Godfather – Mario Puzo
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
The Name of the Rose – Umberto Eco
The Unbearable Lightness of Being – Milan Kundera
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
Contact – Carl Sagan
Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez
Watchmen – Alan Moore & David Gibbons
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency – Douglas Adams
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul – Douglas Adams
The Satanic Verses – Salman Rushdie
Time’s Arrow – Martin Amis
The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
Life of Pi – Yann Martel

You know how the mobile carriers charge you a couple cents to SMS a few characters’ worth of text over their network? When you add it up, you’re paying about a zillion bucks a meg for that traffic — seriously! A space scientist from Leicester has calculated that SMS data is four times more expensive than receiving data from the Hubble space telescope.

He worked out the cost of obtaining a megabyte of data from Hubble – and compared that with the 5p cost of sending a text.He said: “The bottom line is texting is at least 4 times more expensive than transmitting data from Hubble, and is likely to be substantially more than that.

“The maximum size for a text message is 160 characters, which takes 140 bytes because there are only 7 bits per character in the text messaging system, and we assume the average price for a text message is 5p. There are 1,048,576 bytes in a megabyte, so that’s 1 million/140 = 7490 text messages to transmit one megabyte. At 5p each, that’s £374.49 per MB – or about 4.4 times more expensive than the ‘most pessimistic’ estimate for Hubble Space Telescope transmission costs.”

Dr Bannister said it had been difficult to work out exactly how much Hubble data transmission costs. So he contacted NASA who gave him a firm figure of £8.85 per megabyte (MB) for the transmission of data from HST to the Earth.

via BB

One of my favourite geek news sites has an extensive review of Hardy Heron. Check it out.

Before Mozilla open sourced their code, they had to go through a clean-up/sanitization process cause there were far too many swear words in the comments.

Good fun.

Thanks Ali.