Sankeertanas

Some Annamacharya Sankeertanas. Considering that the TTD is one of the richest temples in the world one would expect atleast CD quality audio but sounds like it was ripped off of a cassette. Pretty pathetic

The scoop on Jiffy Lube

http://mfile.akamai.com/12924/wmv/vod.ibsys.com/2006/0503/9152183.200k.asx

Fanaa(Hindi, 2006)

This is one movie that should be watched on the big screen. Absolutely no doubt about it. The photography is superb. I had read in a review somewhere that without Kajol the movie would have lost it appeal. I can see now why. We also see Rishi Kapoor of yester years who by now looks very much like Raj Kapoor(which Kapoor doesn't ? ). It may be argued that the quality of Bollywood movies is on the rise, which to an extent is true but I doubt the same can be said about their originality. I remember towards the end of the movie something coming back to me. It was about an old English movie starring Donald Sutherland. The parallels with this movie are numerous(in the second half only) leading me to think that maybe that movie was the inspiration for this one. There is one detail in the movie which surprised me pleasantly. It is about the satellite phone that the bad guys use. There is one shot of the handset and it caused me no less surprise that the one shown is authentic. That particular phone is used on the only successful satellite phone service that actually encompasses South Asia/MiddleEast/Europe... and there is no doubt that it is used by people in the remote regions of that part of the world but it is not allowed in India by the Government. Not like Bollywood to strive for consistency but there it is.

A friend's photo repository

http://aces.smugmug.com/

This is his friend's( Anush Krishnaswamy, IITM EE - 98 passout) photo rep

http://www.flickr.com/photos/krisphotography/

Volvo at an overnight pit stop

Whats the part number of this ?

Looking for the parts number for the broken glass piece. Car is a 92 940T. The guy manning the parts counter at local Volvo dealer couldn't find it.

The volvo at night

Resetting service light 01 V70

Got this when searching through http://forums.swedespeed.com The 3rd step was a bit different however
Turn ignition key to postition 1
Set trip to trip 1 and keep the trip button pressed. This will reset the trip miles. Keep the button pressed
Turn key to ingition position 2. Service Light starts blinking. Keep the trip button pressed. The service light blinking will go away.

Voila. the service light is reset.

HU-613 Hidden Menus

The first inkling I had about the hidden menus on the HU-613 was from http://www.v70xc.com/resources/audio_menus/hu613/. The sequence didn't strictly work in my 01 V70. Here's what I had to do. First set the unit to FM mode. The menus dont seem to work in any other mode. Power off the unit by pressing the power/volume button. Press the function button and keep it depressed. Then press the volume/power button and release it. The unit will come on. Keep the function button depressed for another 5 or so seconds. Then you get the hidden menu. Source button is used to navigate through the items in the menu and the I-20/Disc is used to set values for a particular item.

<< + Volume
|<< + Volume
>> + Volume --> Gives Country USA/Australia

The following work too.
ASC + Volume
Auto + Volume

The owners manual mentions some of these functions as AUM(Advanced User Mode) and says to press the volume button for an extended period of time to activate the menus. That didn't work for me however.

Installing an Ipod adapter in a V70

This is a very good link which gives a picture description of how to install an ipod adapter in v70 with stock head stereo unit. This way the iPod can be controlled via steering wheel controls.

http://www.geocities.com/scotjo/ipod/ipodinstall.html

And here is an absolute goldmine about a custom-made ipod adapter that leaves the OEM and other "professional" ipod adapters in the red.

http://forums.swedespeed.com/zerothread?cmd=print&id=32512

Brilliant site describing Volvo accessories

http://acctest.semcon.se/en-GB/

So Long

Parting with my good old 2000 Saab 9-3SE. It has become a tad small for our needs.

Estimating car depreciation

http://carprice.com/loandepr.html

Plug

A relative of mine(from wife.gov's side) recently opened a pub in Vizag, India. Its called 10 Downing Street and is a franchisee of the original one in England. Decent outfit. If you are ever there in Vizag you might want to drop in. It is opposite the Waltair Club.

The hunter 44760 thermostat at Lowes

On reading an earlier post of mine regarding replacing thermostat a friend requested my help and decided to replace his too. It took him nearly 6 months(Oct 2005-April 2006) to get the same thermostat at Lowes. The Lowes staff just asked him to check periodically on the stock for this particular model even after he offered to pay to per-order the thing. And when he did get it it was the lone one there. This thermostat has the same features as a Honeywell one which is $99 at Home Depot and is in stock all the time. I dont know what the geniuses at Hunter were thinking.

Worst cars of the millenium

A friend of mine recently forwared this link from carstalk to me. Absolutely hilarious.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/Worst-Cars/results1.html

Backing up files to DV camera

http://www.jakeludington.com/project_studio/20050828_backup_files_to_dv_camera.html

Volvo

The other day a guy from the office ran his car into mine in the parking lot. Here are the results.

Some fantastic photos of the Raj

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/06/south_asia_india_then/html/1.stm

The end of the US telegram

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4674782.stm

Banning the incandescent light bulb

Here is an interesting article about banning the incandescent light bulb.