Home   Contact Us                                                                     Dateline New Delhi, Thursday, June 2, 2005

 

 


Main Page                                                       Archive
BOTTOMLINES

 



Spielberg voted greatest director of all times (Go To Top)

     London: Acclaimed Hollywood film-maker Steven Spielberg has topped a poll of the greatest director of all time. According to the Sun, the 'War of the Worlds' director beat 'Psycho' helmer Alfred Hitchcock, who got the second place in the poll by Empire movie magazine. While Martin Scorsese (The Aviator), Stanley Kubrick (A Clockwork Orange) and Sir Ridley Scott (Gladiator) got third, fourth and fifth places respectively, renowned fimmakers like George Lucas (Star Wars) and Tim Burton (Batman) failed to feature in the list.

      Top 20 directors of all time are: 1. Steven Spielberg 2. Alfred Hitchcock 3. Martin Scorsese 4. Stanley Kubrick 5. Sir Ridley Scott 6. Akira Kurosawa 7. Peter Jackson 8. Quentin Tarantino 9. Orson Welles 10. Woody Allen 11. Clint Eastwood 12. Sir David Lean 13. The Coen Brothers 14. James Cameron 15. Francis Ford Coppola 16. Oliver Stone 17. Sergio Leone 18. John Ford 19. Billy Wilder 20. Sam Peckinpah

Hacking computers for ransom (Go To Top)

     Washington: Extortion, regarded as one of the oldest crimes in the world has now become sci-fi sans all the guns, bullets and daggers. Intelligence experts have said that hackers have now designed viruses to encrypt documents stored on a PC, which can be unlocked only when the owners pays a ransom for them. The virus named Pgpcoder, which was discovered last week by the San Diego based web-filtering company Websense, searches a victim's hard drive and encrypts any text-based document it finds there. After encrypting the document, it displays a ransom note, demanding 200 dollars for supplying software for decoding encrypted data. According to New Scientist, while so far, the virus is capable of only weak encryption that can easily be broken into, experts believe that with time, hackers may develop more complicated encrypts that may not be easy to decode, resulting in the owner forking out large sums of money. "The danger now is that the virus writers might turn to using strong military-grade encryption systems instead. That would make it impossible to decrypt the files," said Joe Stewart, a computer security consultant with Chicago-based IT firm Lurhq, adding that such a scenario would leave people with little option but to pay up. Experts however opine that after hacking the system the virus always displays an email id and an electronic cash account number, both of which can be easily traced back, making the hackers vulnerable to the law enforcement agencies. "It's just another version of extortion, but there's a rather obvious weakness in the attack is that the ransom includes a contact email address and an electronic cash account number, both of which could be traced," Dan Hubbard, director of security and defence at Websense was quoted as saying. Experts believe that the best defence against such attacks is to buy antivirus software and keep it up to date, and ensure that the latest operating system and browser security patches are installed.

Beckham may end career playing in the US (Go To Top)

     London: Real Madrid ace David Beckham has revealed that he might end his career playing in the United States. "I may end up playing here, it won't take much to be honest," the Sun quoted Beckham as saying to a US TV. The England captain played in America for the first time when England beat Colombia in New York last week. And this week he flew to Los Angeles to open his David Beckham Soccer Academy.

Madonna and Sting to do Lennon's 'Imagine' at Live 8 (Go To Top)

     Washington: Pop diva Madonna and rock singer Sting are reportedly all set to duet at a star-studded finale of Live 8 charity concert. According to The Sun, the two will provide a dazzling finale to the high-profile concert by performing an historic cover of John Lennon's poignant classic 'Imagine'. The concert aims to persuade politicians to cancel Third World debt, double the aid budget and rewrite global trade laws so that developing countries can protect their economies. Sources said that the 'Material Girl' and the former 'Police' star want that the concert lives up to its billing as the biggest show of the decade.

Charles face to face with Calendar Girls (Go To Top)

     London: Prince Charles is attending a reception to celebrate the Calendar Girls, who raised over 1 million pounds by selling thousands of calendar copies around the world in order to help leukaemia patients. The Prince of Wales and his wife Dutchess of Cornwall are going to meet the six women who had shot to fame after stripping for a calendar. Lyndan Logan, who is reportedly the Prince's favourite calendar girl, is expected to be present at the reception to be held at the Clarence Hall in London. "The prince is a great admirer of the 'Calendar Girls' and was absolutely delighted to agree", Femalefirst quoted Prince's spokeswoman as saying. These six women, still involved in fundraising, call themselves as Baker's Half Dozen and have also inspired a movie called Calendar Girls. The calendar, launched initially for a noble cause, was also produced for a second time in 2004 with all the six actresses.

Drink and swim in this pool of beer (Go To Top)

     London: Imagine being in a pool full of beer, swimming and at the same time being able to take a few glugs whenever thirsty. Well this is not just wild imagination, as the management of The Starkenber Beer Myth resort, located in the medieval castle of Starkenber in Austria has decided to offer a pure beer bath in its swimming pool, filled with 42,000 pints of beer. The resort which has filled seven , 13 feet long swimming pools with beer, will offer their members the chance to enjoy their favourite brew while swimming. "I would rather swim than swallow, as we serve enough of a cold, fresh tapped beer on the bars next to the pools", The Sun quoted the Manager, Markus Amann as saying.

Anna Kournikova to pose nude for US magazine (Go To Top)

     Washington: Former tennis player Anna Kournikova, movie actresses Michelle Phillips and Gabrielle Union, and pop singer Vanessa Carlton are all set to shed their clothes for the upcoming issue of American magazine Jane. The four will bare it to the minimum for the summer issue of the magazine with their private parts carefully covered. While Carlton admitted that she loves getting nude, Phillips said that she feels lucky to see herself naked. "I like the area where my butt meets my thigh and I like the size of my boobs - they're small and I don't have to wear a bra," Contactmusic quoted Carlton as saying to Bare Issue.

Hitler almost produced a nuke (Go To Top)

    London: A diagram of a rough schematic bomb has revealed that German scientists were closer to developing a nuclear bomb during the last days of the WWII than previously thought. Historians working in the US and Germany claim to have discovered a 60 year old diagram of a mini nuke with a rocket, reports The BBC Though the drawing, published in an article written for Physics World magazine by Dr Rainer Karlsch and Mark Walker, professor of history at Union College in Schenectady, US, is of a rough bomb, experts believe that it throws enough light on the fact that German scientists were closer to developing a nuclear bomb than previously thought. Researchers claim that the drawing and the report, though undated belong to the period immediately after the war in Europe. Also the report lacks a title page, thereby providing no information on the scientist who carried out the work.

     Experts, however, said that the bomb was more likely to be a mini nuke combined with a rocket, than a classic atomic bomb. "The Nazis were far away from a 'classic' atomic bomb. But they hoped to combine a "mini-nuke" with a rocket. The military believed they needed around six months more to bring the new weapon into action. But the scientists knew better how difficult it was to get the enriched uranium required," Dr Rainer Karlsch who wrote the book Hitler's Bombe was quoted as saying. The revelation carries significance as not only had the Germans during the war attained expertise in rocket engineering, but also that Dr. Karlsch, a German historian behind the discovery, had earlier this year said that he had evidence that German Scientists had tested a primitive nuclear device during the last days of WWII.

References: Cabinet meeting fuel price hike, Sri Lankan president New Delhi, Haryana by-elections, ULFA US intervention, film industry smoking ban, Bofors VP Singh apology, Shabir Shah visit POK, ISI Osama CIA, Kashmiris Gohar, BCCI Chappell coach, Spielberg greatest director, hacking computers ransom, Beckham career US, Madonna Sting Lennon imagine at Live 8, Charles Calendar Girls, swim pool of beer, Anna Kournikova nude US magazine, Hitler nuke, India, India News, Newspaper, Indian, News, Travel News, India Travel Times, Travel,Tourism, Tour, Tourist, India, Times, News, Hotels, Airlines, Ayurveda, Yoga, Hindu, Taj Mahal, Cuisine, Festival, Temple, Trekking, Hindu, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Odissi, Dance, Shimla,Varanasi, Kullu, Manali, Dehra Dun, Mussourie, Mussoorie, Haridwar, Hardwar, Rishikesh, Nainital, Delhi, Goa, Kovalam, Darjeeling, Bodh Gaya, Kancheepuram, Kanchipuram, Thekkady, Badrinath, Amar Nath,Vaishno Devi, Tirupati, Sabarimala, Guruvayoor, Kanyakumari, Kodaikanal, Ooty, Chennai,

     Previous File                 Go To Top
Home    Contact Us
NOTE:  Free contributions of articles and reports may be sent to editor@indiatraveltimes.com
DISCLAIMER
All Rights Reserved ©indiatraveltimes.com