BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants  —  often focusing on early-stage web applications & related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.

The first BarCamp was held in Palo Alto, California, from August 19-21, 2005, in the offices of Socialtext. It was organized in less than one week, from concept to event, with 200 attendees. Since then, BarCamps have been held in over 350 cities around the world, in North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Australasia and Asia.To mark the one-year anniversary of BarCamp was held in multiple locations world wide on August 25-27, 2006.

Barcamp Pune 5 is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire of people for sharing and learning in an open environment. It is an intense event having a lot of discussions, demos and a lot of interactions among the attendees.

The previous barcamp pune had taken place on 16th february 2008 at Thoughtworks,pune. Being a volunteer for the event was a wonderful experience all together- got to learn new things ; interact with a lot if people and knowing them personally has proved very helpful in the long run.

This time barcamp pune 5 is to be held on 29th November, 2008 (till date) Venue : SICSR and we are expecting a varity any new topics for discussion. The venue is still not fixed but to get updated visit the official website of barcamp pune or get updates on your mobile through Google SMS Channel or SMS ‘ON BarCampPune’ to 09870807070 .

Clubhack - A pioneer in successfully organizing hackers’ convention in India serves the purpose of meeting and knowledge sharing of hackers, security professionals, law enforcement agencies and other security enthusiasts. This convention is annually targeted towards System Administrator, various IT professionals and those interested in the field of Information Security.

Clubhack organized its first hackers’ convention last year on 9th Dec ‘07. It was attended by a lot of people which included IT professionals, people from the law enforcing agencies and other security enthusiasts. The speakers also included a few international speakers.

This year clubhack2008 will host the world’s 2nd hackers’ convention: A platform where the great minds will come together to share their ideas relating to the Information security and other related issues.

Durga Puja (Bengali: দুর্গা পূজা, ‘Worship of Durga’), also referred as Durgotsab (‘Festival of Durga’) is an annual Bengali festival that celebrates worship of Hindu goddess Durga. It refers to all the six days observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi , Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Nabami and Bijoya Dashami. The dates of Durga Puja celebrations are set according to traditional Bengali Calendar and the fortnight corresponding the festival is called Debi Pokkho (Bengali: দেবী পক্ষ, ‘Fortnight of the Goddess’). Debi Pokkho is preceded by Mahalaya (Bengali: মহালয়া), the last day of the previous fortnight Pitri Pokkho (পিতৃ পক্ষ, ‘Fortnight of the Forefathers’), and is ended on Kojagori Lokkhi Puja (কোজাগরী লক্ষ্মী পূজা, ‘Worship of Goddess Lakshmi on Kojagori Full Moon Night’)

Durga Puja is widely celebrated in West Bengal and Tripura where it is a five-day annual holiday. Not only it is the biggest Hindu festival celebrated throughout the State, but also the most significant socio-cultural event in Bengali society. Apart from West Bengal, Durga Puja is also celebrated in Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and in some parts of India including Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir, Karnataka and Kerala. Durga Puja is also celebrated as a major festival in Nepal and Bangladesh. Nowadays, many non-residential Bengali cultural organizations arrange for Durgotsab in the countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Kuwait etc also.

The prominence of Durga Puja increased gradually during the British Raj in Bengal. After the Hindu reformists resemble Durga with India, she had become an icon for the Indian independence movement. On the first quarter of the 20th century, the tradition of Baroyari or Community Puja was popularised due to this. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

Durga Puja includes the worships of Shiva, Lakshmi, Ganesha, Saraswati, Kartikeya and Mahishasura also. Modern tradition have come to include the display of decorated pandals and artistically depicted idols of Durga, exchange of Bijoya Greetings and publication of Puja Annuals.

The ways in which the utsavv is referred as :

In Bengal, Durga Puja is also called Akalbodhan (অকালবোধন, ‘untimely awakening of Durga’), Sharadiya Puja (শারদীয়া পূজা, ‘autumnal worship’), Sharodotsab (শারদো সব, ‘festival of autumn’), Baro Puja (বড় পূজা, ‘grand puja’), Maayer Pujo (মায়ের পুজো, ‘worship of the Mother) or only referred as Puja or Pujo.

I simply Loved the Lyrics of this song… “like a stone”

On a cold wet Afternoon
No room for love and emptiness
By a freeway
I confess I was lost in the pages
Of a book
Full of death
Reading how we’ll die alone
And if we are Good will lay to rest

Anywhere we want to go
In your house
I long to be
Room by room, Patiently
I’ll wait for you there
Like a stone
Ill wait for you there
Alone

And on my death bed
I will prey
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan
To anyone who will take me to heaven
To a place
I would recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The world was black
And there you led me on

In your house
I long to be
Room by room
Patiently
Ill wait for you there
Liek a stone
Ill wait for you there
Alone

In all I read
Till the day was gone
And I sat in regret
In all the things Ive done
For all that I’ve blessed
And all that I’ve wronged
In dreams till my death
I will wonder on….

In your house
I long to be
Room by room
Patiently
Ill wait for you there
Like a stone
Ill wait for you there
Alone
Alone

NASA’s Phoenix spacecraft successfully landed on Mars’ frigid north pole region in a risk-fraught mission to search for signs of habitability

Fresh images sent back by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander from the Martian northern polar region showed most of its science instruments were in good..

Phoenix managed an almost perfect landing in a relatively rock-free, flat target area in the flat circumpolar region known as Vastitas Borealis — akin to northern Canada in Earth’s latitude

The 420-million-dollar spacecraft is designed to help scientists assess whether the Martian arctic has ever had conditions favorable to microbial life.

The XKCD is truely wonderful..

Click on the images to enlarge if it’s not readable..