Sarfaraz Merchant

Last Request: Please Don't Smoke

sarfaraz — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:05:00 GMT

An old man on his death bed asked his step-son to take this picture.
Well just for information (to non-smokers) that this person is no more in this world.

Got this picture & info from flickr .

IndianBloodDonors.com

sarfaraz — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:39:00 GMT

Want to donate blood just register with IndianBloodDonor.com
Apart from usual registration fields two interesting info:
1) Number of time you want to donate in a year. They provide you with once, twice, thrice & four times. You also have to set your last donated dated. With help of these two inputs they will alert you only when are ready to donate again.
2) Hospitals close to your work/home place so that you can respond quickly to alerts.

Incase you need blood you don't need internet connection. Blood donors just a sms away. Here is how can ask for donor details

Type Blood<Space>Your City STD Code<Space>Blood Group<Space>Your Name

Then send to 5676775

Sample SMS Blood 022 B Positive Khushroo

This is something that I wanted to do for a very longtime. I am glad these people have done.

Chess challenge

sarfaraz — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:23:00 GMT

I bet you wont be able to win a single game of chess against them. Why? Check out this link http://www.chesspics.com/rating.php?r=1

According to me the most beautiful of them is Alexandra Kostenuik from Russia. She got a lovely smile with perfect dimples.

Second best has to be Zhu Chen. I guess it is more because I admire oriental looks.

Innovative wall paintings

sarfaraz — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 18:47:00 GMT

200 favorite images on Flickr

sarfaraz — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:50:00 GMT

I have compiled a list of 200 of my favorite images on flickr.com. I hope they will make it to your favorites list as well.

10 ways to reduce global warming

sarfaraz — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:33:00 GMT

1) Don’t leave your TV or other electric appliances on standby. Even on standby mode they utilize a small amount of energy.

2) If your washing machine is not full make sure you change its setting to half-load or less if available.

3) Clean your air-conditioner filter as often as possible. This will help in reducing carbon-dioxide in the air.

4) Replace normal light bulbs with fluorescent lights as they utilize less energy. They can save upto 50% of energy.

5) Plant trees. A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon-dioxide over its lifetime. Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air-condition bill by 10 to 15%.

6) Use fresh foods. Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

7) Drive only when necessary. Other times you can walk, cycle or take public transport. Save fuel save energy.

8) Use products that can be recycled. This way you can cut down on production & energy. Take you lunch in reusable containers instead use & throw ones.

9) Take bath with cold water or warm water whenever possible. Heating water takes too much of energy.

10) Use pressure cooker as much as possible while cooking food. They can save energy upto 70%. Atleast cook food in close containers.

Import PSI chat logs into Pandion

sarfaraz — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:27:00 GMT

1) Locate PSI chat log folder. The default location is C:\Documents and Settings\<loginname>\PsiData\profiles\default\history.
The file name will be like sarfaraz_at_jabber.history

2) Locate Pandion history folder. The default location is C:\Documents and Settings\<loginname>\Application Data\Pandion\Profiles\<username>
Pandion create chatlog files with some random numbers & alphabets eg 423600fab7454f3158e53d9af61e4d07.log
The only way to make out which chat log is of user sarfaraz you have to read the file & guess. Or you can compare History from the interface with raw log file.

3) Once you have the correct files take backup of both files before proceeding.

4) Open sarfaraz_at_jabber.history file in EditPlus . Hit control+H to popup Find & Replace dialogue box. Check "Regular expression" checkbox. VERY VERY IMPORTANT.

5) In Find what text box paste this: ^\|([0-9]*)-([0-9]*)-([0-9]*)(T[0-9:]*)\|([0-9]*)\|(to)\|N\-\-\-\|(.*)
In Replace with text box paste this: \1\2\3\4;out;\7
Hit Replace All.

Note: The step mentioned below look similar to the step above but they are different.
6) In Find what text box paste this: ^\|([0-9]*)-([0-9]*)-([0-9]*)(T[0-9:]*)\|([0-9]*)\|(from)\|N\-\-\-\|(.*)
In Replace with text box paste this: \1\2\3\4;in;\7
Hit Replace All.
Save the file.

7) Now open the corresponding Pandion log file in EditPlus and copy text from NEW sarfaraz_at_jabber.history at the beginning of the file.

Repeat the same process to get chat log of other users.

Photostudio section added

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 17:54:00 GMT

I have added photo section to my blog. I call it a photostudio.

As of now it contains photos of my recent trip to Jaisalmer & Gir. You can expect some more photo pretty soon.

Help the Government

sarfaraz — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:48:00 GMT

Bombay High Court has passed order, directing our dear BMC to fill all the potholes in Mumbai & Thane by 31st of this month. I think we should help our gorvernment by informing them about as many potholes as we can. We are not alone this time. MumbaiMirror has published an article asking people to forward the pictures to them which they will forward to BMC. You can forward the picture either by email or post. Thier email id is feedback(at)mumbaimirror(dot)com and postal address is The Times Of India Bldg, Dr. D.N. Road, Mumbai -1.

Lets be a responsible citizen and help our government.

For Firefox lovers

sarfaraz — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:39:00 GMT

Dhiraj in his article for NeoBinaries has listed "5 Firefox extensions you cant live without". It a very well written article and all firefox users; new & old will find this article useful. He has explained in detail the reason for his picks and has also provided with direct download links.

Enough from my side now go ahead and read the article.