How to slash your international phone call expenses

I have been living in a foreign country (US) since the past eight months and believe me feeling homesick is very common. My family, friends, home, everything else I was familiar with has changed and it is quite natural to miss these things. The telephone is a magical gadget which keeps me in touch with my loved ones back home. While international calls keeps me in touch with my loved ones, it also costs quite a lot. In my quest for affordable telephone calls, I found this great online resource, where I can buy cheap phone cards and make international calls.

This place known aptly as Phone Cards Avenue is one the few places which offers cheap international phone cards which enables users like me to save 80 percent or more on international calls. This savings are better than popular mass-market telephone service providers like at&t, sprint, verizon etc.

Prepaid phone cards are one of the best ways to save on long distance and international telephone bills. The market is full of companies selling phone cards, each claiming to offer the best deal. This blitz of advertising makes it very difficult to find and buy a really cheap phone card or calling card.

Thousands of websites sell pre-paid phone cards online, and searching for good deals only make us frustrated. But at Phone Cards Avenue, this frustration is removed completely, the site offers pre-sorted international calling cards which offer great quality and value. Users can save thousands by buying country/ region specific cards available online at Phone Cards Avenue.

My advise is simple and straight forward: If you call home frequently, don't bother to buy minutes from your phone provider. Just buy a pre-paid phone card from Phone Cards Avenue and start saving money.

Skateboarding event at Plano

The day started off as a boring Saturday morning and we didn't know what to do. We finally decided that we must get out and do something and got ready to go out. But in flat Texas and boring Dallas area what do we do? Well, we decided to go to Sports Academy and check out their bicycles and if there are any good offers we would buy a bike and start biking around the trails in Carrollton.

We drove down to the mall were the sports goods dealer is located and to my surprise I saw this huge crowd of kids doing skateboarding. Getting closer to the venue music was blaring deafeningly and there were guys and gals enjoying themselves on 4 miniature wheels of the skateboard.

I have always been fascinated by skating activities of all kinds, roller skating, inline skating/ roller blading and skateboarding. But lack of facilities to learn ad practice in India had always prevented me from indulging myself in these pursuits. Now thanks to my being in the US I have learnt how to do roller skating. I am not perfect but I can do something. So this event was too much of an attraction to give up. The sun beat down on us as we walked around the parking lot looking at the various fun stalls, skateboarding kids.

There was one stall selling skateboards and funky t-shirts, another peddling food and bottled water, one of them was a fun stall in which they were giving away T-shirts, chains and other funky stuff if participants did something really gross. Like applying mustard sauce all over their face, coloring their hair purple etc.

I shot a video of the proceedings, skateboarding, doing gross stuff etc. Watch it and give me your feedback.

Novel Presidential Campaign

As the race for the American Presidency hots up, supporters and campaigners for each of the candidates are becoming more and more creative. They have created T-shirts, jewellery, caps, bumper stickers, even underwear with the names of their favourite candidates. But the latest gig by New York entrepreneur is something that is perhaps the first of its kind.
Benjamin Sherman, promoter of Practice Safe Police in New York City wants to to "have fun" with the campaign. And how does he plan to do it, by marketing condoms featuring images of presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain. Both products carry unique marketing messages appropriate to their candidacy. While the Obama condom proudly says "Use With Good Judgment", the McCain version says "OLD BUT Not Expired." The messages hint at each candidates obvious drawbacks... Obama's inexperience and McCain's age.

Sherman has created separate websites for each brand of condoms.
Highlights of the McCain Condoms:
Trophy wife approved
For the proud, liberal RepublicaN -- conservative Republican

The Obama Condoms website has a similar message too. It says: "These are uncertain times. The economy's a ball-buster and the surge went flaccid... but now there's Obama Condoms, for a change you can believe in! ObamaCondoms are strong enough to withstand the most rigid assault, light enough to penetrate the deepest trenches..."

Highlights of Obama Condoms:
FOR THE ELITIST PENIS
THEY WON'T LEAVE A BITTER TASTE IN YOUR MOUTH
WHEN YOU JUST WANT TO CLOSE THE DEAL

Quite expectedly these unique collectors items have created quite a stir in the US media, with every television news channel and print media covering it in their prime time. Take a look at one of the newscasts below.

Oh! the condoms are priced $9.95 a pair. I wonder how effective they are... but it is surely an effective way to make sure that Sherman laughs all the way to the bank



Closing comments
On an afterthought I was thinking if it were Indian scenario what would have happened. Instead of marketing condoms branded after prime ministerial candidates the campaigners would have elevated them to demi-god status by building temples, performing worship ceremonies, chanting hymns, sacrifices etc. Well, I guess American presidential candidates don't have the good luck of being equated to Gods and being worshipped.

Laugh too much in Australia and you could land in jail

This might sound incredulous but this what happened to one Chris Cocker in Blackburn, Australia. According to a new report on Times of India Cocker was enjoying himself watching a television comedy show on BBC and he laughed so much that he fell off the sofa. The fall created quite a flutter and the noise annoyed the neighbors who complained to the police. And guess what the police did? They promptly arrived and tried to arrest Cocker. When he refused to go with them, the cops used a pepper spray to subdue him and put him behind bars for a night.

I continue to be wonder struck by the actions of people across the world. Private space or rather private insulated-from-everything space is so important to people that they are willing to knock the doors of law enforcers if someone even makes little noise in their vicinity. I hope this kind of rules and law wont come into force in India, if it does... there wont be enough prisons to house arrested "trouble makers".

Strange are the ways of the world indeed.

Package tours for those who wish to travel alone!

Package tours with customised itineraries for couples and families was the buzzword in the internet era. But the latest buzzwords include Solo Travel, Power of one, time alone etc. The latest news I came across is from Backroads, a California (US)-based travel operator which has started offering over Solo tours. This year they are offering over 100 packages.

According to a company press release, Backroads was founded in 1979 by Tom Hale and they specialise in offering active vacations and is the founding member of Adventure Collection. Solo tours is not a new concept though it is pretty nascent as a mass travel phenomenon. Backroads has been offering solo trips for independent travelers since 1989.

"Our trips for solo travelers offer the award-winning high-quality experience that travelers have come to expect of all Backroads trips, while providing the comfort of vacationing with other independent individuals," says Backroads Founder and President Tom Hale adding that Backroads trips offer the best of both worlds — a fine blend of time alone and time with group.

Their popular tours include: Alaska Biking; California Wine Country Weekend Biking; Tuscany Biking and lot more. Visit their website for more details and schedule your tour.

Cattle - Texan's favourites

Texans love for cattle is obvious by the several ranch and related sculptures installed all over the metroplex

One thing I must say about Texas and the state's cowboys and cowgirls is their demonstrated love for bovines, both in terms of raising them and eating them. There are innumerable steakhouses in the state and all of them seem to be doing well. There are several cattle ranches which raise the globally famous Texas Long Horns for meat and dairy. But something I enjoy looking at are their continued patronage of cattle even after the place has become completely modernised.

In several locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex I have seen sculptures of cattle installed. The most famous is of course the one installed in the Pioneer Cemetery in downtown Dallas. Then there are the beautiful stone/ stucco sculptures in the Trinity River Park, beside Trammell Crow Lake. The latest one to catch my attention is this sculpture pictured above and below of a raging bull installed infront of a mall in Frisco. This is installed close to the Frisco Bridges which was the original route of cattle drives from Oklahoma to Texas and back couple of centuries ago. Now all the area has been urbanised and modern transport systems have been established, but these sculptures evoke a sense of nostalgia and make us ponder over the past.

This sculpture of a raging wild bull is installed amidst a manicured lawn on Preston road in Frisco city, Texas

Movie Review: Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

Genre: Adventure/ comedy
Directors: Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Cast: John Cho, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, Jack Conley, Roger Bart and others

This is one of the rare comedy movies which had me laughing through and through. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is infused with a heavy dose of satirical humor. A chronicle of the adventures Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) when they get mistaken to be terrorists; arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay following a misunderstanding aboard an international flight. The movie moves very swiftly from this stage, with the protagonists jumping from one hilarious situation into another including an encounter with a one-eyed hillbilly, participating in a Ku Klux Klan meeting, a bottomless party, etc.

The movie starts off with Harold and Kumar on a plane to Amsterdam to meet the formers girlfriend. Meanwhile Kumar has smuggled some weed (Marijuana) along in his invention “a smokeless bong” to enjoy a joint in the aircraft’s bathroom. But this gadget is mistaken for a bomb and air marshals who are part of every international flight tackle the duo and arrest them. Racist and arrogant FBI official Rob Corddry thinks that every colored individual is out to destroy America and should be put behind bars. As per Corddry’s orders the two are blithely shipped off Guantanamo Bay, from where they escape within the first 24 hours. The film’s title is a misnomer though, because the duo escape from Guantanamo bay in the early part of the film.

Naturally FBI is angry, intrigued and wants to get them at any cost. After escaping from Guantanamo Bay the duo get onto a boat along with a crowd of illegal immigrants and land on US soil. Their only hope is Kumar’s ex-girlfriend’s fiancé (Vanessa), who is linked to President George Bush. The duo decides to take help of their Florida-based friend Raza and travel from Florida to Texas where their friend is scheduled to get married.

From here on it is one adventure after another for Harold and Kumar, a series of miscalculations and encounters with the strange. Of course the adventures could be treated as separate and isolated episodes as there is no connection between them. This is kind of refreshing because one doesn’t need to track the story so closely and can just have fun at the theatres. The jokes and pranks would make you hold your sides and laugh. They land up in down town Alabama and bust a fire hydrant and fearing backlash from a group of African-Americans playing ball on the road Harold and Kumar abandon the car and run.

Quite expectedly the FBI is called in and Corddry lands up there and suspects the African-Americans to be hand-in-glove with the terrorists. Meanwhile it gets dark and the duo land up in the middle of a Ku Klux Klan meeting. They succeed in mugging two of the clan members and steal their robes and become part of the meeting for some time. But then they are discovered soon and run for their lives. Another funny sequence is the bottomless party, but I wouldn’t recommend this move to be watched with your family, for the language is quite sharp and below-the-belt humor can be disturbing.

This is definitely a socio-political comedy and everything that the duo come across is portrayed in a mix of sharp and hilarious cultural comedies. It shows the American paranoia that borders on racism and brands everyone colored as uneducated and a potential terrorist. All in all I would give this movie 3.5 out of 5 as an entertainer but surely not a family entertainer. Don’t take your kids to watch it.

Interesting Cartoon

This comic strip was published in today's Dallas Morning News. I found it very funny and insightful about human nature, so I decided to share it on my blog.

The official truth about Iraq War is finally out!

I had written about the high price the world has to pay for America's foolish war on Iraq. In that article I had speculated whether the price that America and the rest of the world had to pay for a war was worth it to satiate the ego of one man. And now five years after the war was declared and flattened an entire nation throwing the lives of millions into limbo a high-profile US Senate panel has released a report which states that President Bush and his associates built up a false case for war against Iraq.

According to the report President Bush, vice president Cheney and many others were involved in creating a systematic and exaggerated propaganda about Saddam Hussein's links to Al Qaeda, the stock of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear bombs in Iraq etc. These blatant lies misled not only the US congress but also the people and made them suppor the war. I came to know about this Senate Panel report in today's front page story of Dallas Morning News.

The 170-page report accuses president Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials of repeatedly overstating the Iraqi threat in the emotional aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. The report has been endorsed by all eight committee Democrats and two Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

The report is not only about Iraq, it also talks about alleged US attempts to destabilise Iran by pitting one faction against other. Apparently there were meetings of high-profile Pentagon officials in Rome and Paris where they deliberated about ways and means to destabilize the government in Iran. Pentagon officials studied the internal rivalries inside Iran wanted to set up a "Iranian hit" team which would target U.S. troops in Afghanistan. This is the US government itself wanting to kill their soldiers, can they get any more cruel and selfish?

It makes me wonder whether the speculations that the terrorists in North-East India being funded by CIA are true? After reading this confirmed report I wouldn't be surprised if it were US which is funding the Kashmir terrorists too, by proxy through Pakistan. It seems as if US doesn't want any country to prosper or become powerful, economically, militarily or otherwise. If it seems imminent there will be efforts to create internal strife in the country or a war will be declared. Will this trail of blood for oil and power ever end? Can the US not think of a situation where the entire world prospers and there is no hunger, poverty or civic disturbance in the world?

Historically the British used the "Divide and Rule" policy to conquer the world and plunder its riches for their own benefit. America seems to be following their example in a bid to retain its sole economic, political and military super-power status in the world. I wonder if US thirst for oil, wealth and power will ever be satiated?

Doesn't President Bush deserve to be impeached?
In 1998 President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for moral trupitude because of the Monica Lewensky and Paula Jones scandals. Compared to the widespread destruciton that President Bush's actions has wrought upon the world, Clinton's actions were relatively harmless and of a personal nature. But there is no word or even whisper about impeachment of President Bush.

• Is it because the majority of those killed, impoverished and suffering are not Americans?
• Is it because destruction has been heaped upon Iraq and not America?
• Or is it because America doesn't care for their own soldiers fighting and dieing in Iraq because of the blatant lies of their president?

Read More: Dallas Morning News

Free tool to increase traffic to your blog!

One of the biggest problems that we bloggers face is the dissemination of our message to readers. Posting new articles is one thing but ensuring that it reaches the audience is completely different. RSS feeds are good but not really good enough to ensure readership. The latest trend is to send e-mail newsletters about new blogposts to targeted readers. Here is a low down on one of the most user-friendly e-mail marketing tools: Zookoda.

Zookoda is a simple, user-friendly and effective email marketing application designed for bloggers. This online tool enbables bloggers to send out blog summaries and newsletters on a periodic basis as decided by you. The summary could be despatched daily, weekly or monthly to your visitors e-mail. And the best part of Zookoda is that this service is completely free of cost.

Now wouldn't you like your blog visitors and readers to know what you are writing about in on your blog? Do you think it would make it easy for your visitors to read your posts if they were to receive a summary or sneak preview by e-mail? Would it make you feel comfortable if this process were to be automated and you don't have to bother about sending emails? If your answer is yes to any of the above questions then you must check out Zookoda and its amazing services.

For starters Zookoda helps bloggers in several ways including:
- Subscription management
- Creation of customised newsletter subscription forms for your blog.
- Helps you design aesthetically appealing newletters
- Create and Schedule newsletter despatches from your blog in your required frequency
- Get reports on the progress of your newsletter - you will get a low down on subscriptions, bounces, unsubscribed etc
- The newsletters can be sent to mobile users too.

Do all these facilities sound interesting and do you want to get a head start in promoting your blog? It is fairly simple just visit Zookoda and follow the instructions online.

Movie Review: Army of the Dead

Genre: Action/ Thriller
Director: Joseph Conti
Cast: Ross Kelly, Stephanie Marchese, Miguel Martinez, Mike Hatfield and others

How many treasure hunting movies can you recall? Quite a few I am sure. There have been quite a few movies about Inca treasure and how adventurers have been trying to get at it from time to time. From Mackenna’s Gold in 1969 to the Army of the Dead in 2008 the story has remained the same, groups of treasure hunters seek out the gold, find it and then fight over it, and at the end of the movie only the hero and heroine remain alive. Well Army of the Dead is a movie with a similar plot but with a little difference, here the hero and heroine don’t get any treasure at the end.

Army of the Dead has all the elements of intrigue, death, gore, death and heroics, but somehow fails to make its mark. While the movie is entertaining, with fast paced screenplay and enough thrilling action to keep you at the edge of the seat, it has nothing new to offer. It is quite understandable that it didn’t do very well in the box office.

The movie starts off with a group of students set out on an off-road driving cum camping outing into the deserts of Mexico. The trip is organized as a surprise birthday party for one of the students by classmates and their professor. But the professor has an ulterior motive, he wants to go into the Mexican wilderness and search for the ancient treasure. If it was just a treasure to be hunted it would be easy, but this cache of gold is fiercely guarded by an army of skeletons, who kill anybody and everybody who try to steal their gold. Whenever someone gets close to the gold, the stars turn black and the moon turns red and the army of skeletons is unleashed upon the treasure hunters.

Does the screenplay sound familiar? Of course it does, we saw armies of skeletons in The Mummy, The Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness. Now coming back to the Army of the dead, the skeletons in this movie are invincible, bullets do little harm, but fire does burn them to embers and electricity shocks them out of their wits.

The story is the same old plot, so there is nothing new in that. The acting is quite mediocre. I particularly hated the part when Miguel Martinez (the professor) gets a shock attack and starts jabbering and mumbling in praise of the army of skeletons and that nobody can escape. The love triangle in the film is totally unnecessary and the mercenaries hired by professor to help in getting at the treasure are pathetic.

In the final judgment I would give this flic 2.5 out of 5. Hopefully next time around Joseph Conti will do a better job of choosing the star cast and also drafting the story.

Here is a trailer of the movie:

Social Spark - the latest blog marketing community

I started blogging couple of years ago and since then I have dabbled with several online marketing and other schemes trying to generate revenue out of my blogs and online enterpises. Success rate has not been very high but finally I found this novel concept of online social marketing community SocialSpark, which acts as a bridging paltform between advertisers and bloggers.

The concept behind SocialSpark is simple and straight forward. On one side there are advertisers who want their message passed on to potential customers and on the other side there are bloggers who write about subjects of their choice and communicate with readers. The advertisers want to reach the readers and offer sponsored posts which bloggers take up and communicate the formers message to the reader. This way the blogger receives compensation for his efforts and the advertiser successfully gets his/ her message across to the right audience.

The first wave in social marketing was that of advertising in print, television and online. Then came the wave of public relations in which advertisers got news coverage in media. But the latest wave is in in the blogosphere where bloggers act as opinion leaders and convey advertisers messages to people. I think this is here to stay and SocialSpark will be remembered as the pioneer company in this sphere.

I signed up for SocialSpark and am now making some money online doing something I like the most, blogging. I am quite sure soon I will be able to supplement my income thanks to SocialSpark. Believe me this has been one of the simplest sign up processes and customer love is always to help in all possible ways. Check out social spark and you will not be disappointed.

The Global Food Crisis and President Bush

With the rise in gas prices food prices has been hitting the roof globally. There have been food riots and rebellions in several third world nations in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Like a phoenix rising out of nothing the “knowledgeable” American president made a statement that Indian middle class is responsible for the global food crisis. To quote his exact words from a Washington Post article: India, where the “middle class is larger than our entire population." But "when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food," he said. "And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up.”

Like most Indians living worldwide my first reaction was that of outrage and anger at the irresponsible statements of the American president. I then decided to go to the root of the problem and find out for real if India’s prosperity had anything to do with the global food crisis and what is America’s role in this problem. My findings were astounding and throw a light on who is actually responsible for the global food crisis.

In this essay I would like to start off by comparing the resources of two nations India and US. I have chosen these two nations because the president of the latter accused the citizens of the former of eating too much and causing a global food crisis. Let us get to the basics first:

Total Population:
US: 301 million
India: 1,129 million (1.2 billion)

Land available for agriculture
US: 938.28 million acres (Source: Economic Research Service, USA)
India: 445.95 million acres (54.9 percent of total land area of 3,287,263 sq. km or 812.30 million acres) (Source: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations)

Total food wastage:
US: Almost 100 billion pounds of food is wasted in America each year. The annual value of this lost food is estimated at around $31 billion. (49 million people could have been fed by those lost resources) - Sound Vision
In the US 40-50% of all food ready for harvest never gets eaten - Global Issues
27 percent of the food available for consumption (about a pound of food every day for every American) ends up in garbage. - Dallas Morning News
India: Wastage of harvested food items is estimated to be valued around Rs.58,000 crore (US$ 13.80 billion) per annum. - One India

Obesity trends:
US: Nearly 237 million Americans are currently overweight. The U.S. is the 9th fattest nation in the world.
India: India ranks 176 among the world’s fattest nations and has 16% obese population (180.64 million)
Source: Forbes

Keeping the above statistics in mind I would like to elaborate on how much food gets wasted and where all they are being scrapped in the US. I read this article titled “One country's table scraps is another country's meal” by New York Times writer Andrew Martin in Dallas Morning News recently and was spurred to write this blog post.

• Across several parts of the US there is already a serious hatred about India and Indians which has stemmed from outsourcing. People hate India because of several reasons:
  Several people in the US lost jobs to better qualified and hardworking and cheaper Indian employees.
• Next when TATA Motors launched its fuel efficient Nano aka the people’s car, American’s driving hyper-polluting, fuel guzzling cars said millions of Indians will buy Tata Nanos and there will be a global fuel crisis.
• Now with Bush saying that rising prosperity of Indian middle classes is one of the causes of the global food crisis, this fire of hatred is getting fanned. And every time an American shops for grocery, it would not be uncommon for him/ her to be cursing Indians for rising prices.

Well these facts are not real and I have already proved in my blog post about “Who Gets the Fuel?” how Nano is not the threat to world’s petroleum reserves but the fuel-guzzling big V-8’s and V-6 cars are!

According to the article by Andrew Martin, a US government study estimated that “an estimated 27 percent of the food available for consumption, according to a government study – and it happens at the supermarket, in restaurants and cafeterias and in your very own kitchen. It works out to about a pound of food every day for every American”.

The main wastage happens at several places and due to several reasons. At grocery stores produce is discarded into trash because of minor spoilage or even cosmetic blemishes. According to a US Department of Agriculture estimate two years ago, 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food in the United States was never eaten. This food that was wasted includes fresh vegetables and fruits, milk, grains, etc. But the study didn’t include ready-to-eat foods that are stacked high in super market shelves.

Several studies have proved time and again that Americans are the world’s largest trash generators. A study by the US Environmental Protection Agency recently declared that highest food wasters in the world are also Americans, who generate about 30 million tons of food waste year after year.

I am not saying that Indians don’t waste any food, but it is relatively lower and considering a population of 1.2 billion the amount of food wasted is normal.

According to a US Department of Agriculture estimate, if only 5 percent of the wasted food were to be recovered/ prevented, it could feed 4 million people a day and if this recovery were to be increased to 25 percent, it would feed 20 million people.

Food recovery and Why it is not happening now?
During Clinton’s administration, a national effort was launched to prevent/ curb food waste. One of the initiatives was to recover leftover crops from fields. But the effort was discontinued by the Bush administration.

And President Bush says that Indians are responsible for the global food crisis. Can he get any more stupid?

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the crystal skull

Genre: Action/ Adventure
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf, Ray Winstone, John Hurt etc

The past year and half has seen sequal after sequal of hit movies coming to theatres and most of them have been huge disappointments. There was Die Hard 4, Rocky V, Rambo IV and now it is the Indiana Jones.

Harrison Ford is back playing Indiana Jones after 19 years and I hope this is the last movie of this series by him. This latest edition of Indiana Jones was a sure shot disappointment for me. Hollywood directors seem to be getting old and unable to churn out new ideas and storylines. They are heavily depending on old hit movies and making sequals of them. Come on, the heroes of 80s are old and can no longer conjure up the same aura and adoration they did two decades ago.

Personally speaking I am a great fan of Harrison Ford, but I hate to see him old and infirm trying to act like a 18-year old kid. It can't get any absurd. Harrison Ford should not have jumped into the bandwagon to make sequals like Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone. Indiana Jones definitely looks old and jaded and he has a son too in this movie and towards the end his family gets complete as he makes up with his wife. The so-called action sequences in this movie is quite staid and seems lazily designed to ensure that our hero in not in any great peril. Before the scene is out audience will be able to guess his escape step, there is not enough innovation gone into the screenplay and direction.

The wonder of all wonders, Indy survives attacks from all weapons including an atomic bomb. He walks out even as the atomic bomb explodes in the background, come on get real, Indy's no Superman and you don't have to make him out to be one. I don't know what it is about old heroes, they like to appear indestructible on the screen at least. I would say the movie is completely "laid-back" and is too slow for audiences, even if they are absolute Indy fans.

And I don't understand Hollywood directors fixation with Russians. The communist regime in former Soviet Union collapsed more than a decade ago and here in this movie shot in 2008, the director wants to show KGB spies crawling and attacking American secret army bases. Come on get real, find some real enemies. How much do you want to batter the Russians? They could have at least shown Al Qaeda or Taliban as the crooks or even some mafia dons of the US itself. But no, the crooks have to be Russians and that is what gives these guys some vicarious pleasure.

My suggestion for all movie goers considering this movie is "Don't go unless you are a blind fan of Harrison Ford and Indiana Jones". You can confirm by watching the video trailer of the movie.

Movie Review: Never Die Alone

Never Die Alone
Genre: Action/ Crime/ Drama
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
Cast: DMX, Michael Ealy, Drew Sidora, Antwon Tanner, Robby Robinson etc

What happens when a drug dealer, outlaw and killer decides to return to his original place and settle scores with his old enemy drug lords? You'd expect loads of gun battles, street fights and action. Well in this movie there is a bit of action and fights but it has lot of drama and spiritual thought. This is one of the first movies I have seen in which there is only one White actor, everyone else is colored (African-American) and what is more surprising is that the entire story talks about Karma and redemption of the Hindu philosophy.

The story starts off with King David (played by DMX) returning to New York from Los Angeles to set right his life and try to correct all his wrongs. He wants to settle all his old scores, pay off debts and try and find his long lost children. Mike (Michael Ealy) is sent by Moon to collect payment from David. After collecting the money, Mike gets into a tussle and stabs David, who in turn sticks an ice pick into Blue's eyes. They kick and hurt David badly and abandon him in a gutter. A failing journalist Paul (David Arquette), who was passing by at that moment, drives David, a total stranger, to the hospital, where he succumbs to his injuries. But before breathing his last, David leaves everything he owns to Paul. The possessions include jewellery, money, car and a set of audio tapes, which contain the audio journal of David's life recorded on the drive from Los Angeles to New York.

Meanwhile Blue and Mike inform Moon about the tussle with David and that he is in the hospital. An angry Moon tells them to come to a parking garage where he sends gunmen to kill them all. In the parking garage gun battle Mike's sister and Moon get killed and Mike goes out baying for revenge. The rest of the movie goes back and forth in time. Partly showing David's past life and then jumping to the present where Mike and Moon are hunting each other. And of course Moon's men are hunting Paul to destroy all evidence that would possible link David's death to Moon.

As Paul listens to the David's audio journals, the life of a drug peddler is unfolded on the screen. After a particularly bad experience in the east, David travels west in search of better fortunes. There he finds a Vietnamese gang who can get him high-quality cocaine. With his smooth charm he finds a new girlfriend Janet (Jennifer Sky), a television star, who squanders her show biz career thanks to drugs and soon becomes sick. David promptly ditches her and with no job or money, Janet becomes David's heroin peddler to pay bills.

David meets a highly talented college student and stunning beauty Juanita (Reagan Gomez-Preston) and falls in love with her. Their relationship goes well, but Juanita tries his drugs. She hurts David's ego by saying that the $250,000 he has stashed away isn't enough to retire on. Angry, David secretly switches her heroin with cocaine, getting her addicted. Meanwhile Janet calls David and demands that he pay for her entrance to rehab or else she'll go to the police. The mention of cops angers David and he decides to do the same thing he did to Edna in New York: Mix drugs with car battery acid, resulting in a fatal seizure for her. Through a flashback, it is revealed that David is actually the father of Mike, Edna's child. Mike is a witness to Edna's killing by David.

Listening to the tapes Paul wonders if the money David talks about in his tapes is indeed hidden in the car. When he checks, he find that it is. But by now Moon's henchman are crawling like insects all over New York searching for him. After some more gun battles and chases in the dark, Mike hunts down Moon and kills him.

Now Paul is listening to the last tape when David talks about leaving Juanita, but she soon comes back, addicted to cocaine and begging for help. He offers to give her cocaine only if she has anal sex. This causes a proud Junaita severe emotional distress and depression and she takes to drugs even more. Juanita threatens to go to cops, if he doesn’t give her drugs.

As one watches the movie, it is hard to understand the movie, it moves too fast and confusingly back and forth in time. The only part of the movie I really liked is the underlying message it tries to communicate to the audience. There is no life in drugs either peddling or consumption. Janet's television career is ruined thanks to drugs, Junaita succombs to drugs even before she could step out of college. Innocent and unconnected, Mike's sister gets killed in a drug battle. And even though David King comes back to settle all scores and retire into a quiet countryside, his past catches up with him and takes his life. Drugs and guns are not the answer to life's problems. Hardwork and integrity are!

Watch the trailer here:

China's Lies: Worthy of a Olympic Gold Medal

At the recent Dragon Boat, Kite and Lantern Festival, I was given this booklet: "Green Olypic Games" - Beijing's Promise by someone trying to propagate the wonderful things Chinese government had done in a step towards saving and cleansing Beijing's environment for the 2008 Olympics. The book first printed in 2007 (400,000 copies) by the Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, China, has been widely circulated across the world makes quite an impact on the lay reader. Unless otherwise well-informed any reader of this book will immediately turn an ardent admirer and supporter of China. Printed in soothing colour combinations with beautifully composed, evocative pictures the book comprises of five parts each dealing with a different aspect of China's eco-friendly initiatives: Green Olympic Games; The Green Promise; Green Actions; Green Services and Green Personalities.

The book starts off with lofty statements of Beijing's promise to provide a Green Olympic Games to the world. How the Chinese government decided to close down huge polluting enterprises such as the Beijing Coking Plant which is the main provider of raw material for Beijing's energy supply. The company which employed 10,000 people was closed down and here is one place where the people who actually lost their jobs saying that it was a good thing to close down the factory. "Now for the sake of the city's environment, we are moving, and it hurts but it's for the good of the society," says factory master Zhang Xiwen who perhaps retained his job or maybe not. This is not stated in the book.

After going through the book and its lofty world-saving statements, I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and to make sure what I knew was true and the book was just propaganda I did some research on the internet and was shocked by what I found. Here are some facts about China's pollution statistics:

"China has probably already overtaken the US as the world's leading emitter of CO2, and the country's ecosystems are displaying climate change's consequences: Arid northern China is drying out, the wet south is seeing more and more flooding, and, according to a June 2007 Greenpeace report, 80 percent of the Himalayan glaciers that feed Asia's mightiest rivers could disappear by 2035. Such a development would jeopardize hundreds of millions of people who depend on the rivers for their livelihood." - Writes CS Monitor
"The World Bank reports that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in China" - Wikipedia
According to World Health Organisation, 760,000 people die prematurely each year in China because of air and water pollution.
In 1997, the lower Yellow River did not flow 230 days out of the year, an increase of over 2000% since 1988
15 to 20 percent of higher plant varieties in China are endangered. 40,000 species.

There are lots of statistics available about China's role in polluting the air, water and soil of this earth. Searching the internet will yield loads of information. Some sources I have used to compile this blog are given below.
And the Reality
As I said earlier the reality in China is quite different. Here are some pictures of AP which reveal the bleak environmental scenario in China. They are self-explanatory.

"Guangzhou: Illegal motorbikes confiscated by police in an effort to curb air pollution await destruction at a recycling company". How much pollution this recycling effort will cause is completely out of focus of the world.

Lanzhou, Gansu province: A resident takes a water sample from the polluted Yellow river". The river color looks red, as if full of blood, but it is full of chemicals and according to scientists it would probably take a few centuries to make the water usable for any purpose.

This image from Reuters struck a terrible chord with me on China and the life of China’s next generation. This is a photo of a man cleaning up dead fishes, over 120,000 pounds of dead fish in Wuhan, Hubei province that died due to pollution and the weather. China must do all it can to control this dangerous spread in pollution, before we know it, it will devour our country.

Great Propaganda
Indeed one must admire and learn from Chinese government about good public relations and propaganda. They have printed 400,000 copies of this book and are distributing it across the world, especially in the developed world as publicity material so there will be no voices of dissent about China. The packaging and production of the material is so slick and smooth that one will definitely fall for it.

Sources of Information for this article:
CS Monitor
Water and Environment
Mother Jones.com
Econbrowser.com
Wikipedia
China's Pollution

SocialSpark the Social Marketing Network

The internet is full of social networking sites, but which of them offer a direct opportunity to earn money? Probably none. Here is the latest website SocialSpark, positioned as a Social Marketing Network, which is aimed at connecting bloggers with people who need online blog-posts about their products/ services.

It is an online marketplace where bloggers and advertisers can meet and do business together. Advertisers can select blogs which are suited for their products and services and make cash sponsorship offers to them. Interested bloggers will take up the offers and publish blogs. Sponsored posting enables advertisers to create a online advertising campaign at fraction of the cost of any other forms of advertising.

Of course blogs with higher Google Page Rank tend to get more offers and earn more money. So keep your blog quality high so the traffic is high and you make more money. Apart from making money through blog posts, bloggers can also make money by displaying advertisements.

Coming to the site itself, it has certain visual appeal and very easy to navigate through and visit various parts. The message center helps bloggers build friendships and interact seamlessly. One of the bloggers I have met on this space is CherrylSmith23, an avid blogger with an array of interests and hobbies. I was impressed by the large number of friends she has made on SocialSpark. Her profile says 168 friends and 32 props, it is sheer excellence. Thirty two bloggers have endorsed and vouched for her. Indeed it is great to have friends like this supporting our small blogging enterprises.

So if you are looking for opportunities to make money online through blogging, just sign up for SocialSpark and you will be well on your way to online prosperity.

Penalised for academic excellence!

I read this news report on Dallas Morning News and was really shocked. Though US universities have established themselves as the ultimate destination for higher studies, the primary and secondary education is suffering from archaic legislations and stupid interpretations.

This is one classic example of a student who is being penalised and refused the honor she truly deserves. The reason, she completed the four-year high school diploma in just three years and the school board laws state that only students with four-year high school records are eligible for the highest honor. And more than that two attorneys both of the school district and the state board of schools have upheld this archaic law and said that the excelling student should not be awarded the honour. Can it get any more absurd?

I had heard great accolades about the wonderful government and legal systems of America but after reading these types of news reports I wonder where things have gone wrong.

"Grapevine High School senior Anjali Datta holds the highest grade-point average of the 471 students graduating from Grapevine High School this year. In fact, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD officials believe her GPA of 5.898 may be the highest in the high school's history. It's still not enough to make her the valedictorian, which brings a one-year college scholarship from the state," writes Dallas Morning News correspondent Laurie Fox.

Isn't it ironical and down right humiliating for Anjali Datta who has worked hard and completed high school credits in just three years. Normal students take four years to complete this course work and now she is being slapped right across the face for excelling academics. After seeing the treatment meted out to Anjali, will any other student attempt a similar feat? Aren't the school authorities stifling talent and creativity by insisting on archaic rules?

Well, I am no expert on American law or education system to talk about these issues. It is just that I felt that this is a great injustice done to a bright student so I decided to blog about the story. Read more on Dallas Morning News and leave your comments to the editor as well as the school district. Maybe public pressure will make the ISD change their minds.

There is a poll on Dallas Morning News Website with option for voters to leave their comments. It is interesting to read the comments both in support and against Anjali Datta. I would like to quote some reactions here:
Reactions in favour of Anjali
"This is not only unfair, it is outrageous! Regardless of my personal disdain toward such potentially inflammatory outcries, I find myself questioning if racial, religious, political or gender bias has not been in some way employed to justify such an illogical conclusion. Miss Datta was encouraged and assured, by the only school district officials with whom she has access, that her valedictorian honor status would not be affected by early graduation. (there is more online)"
If anything, students who graduate early (with top grades) should be even more recognized for their accomplishments!!! Shame on Grapevine ISD for not giving the true Valedictorian the credit she deserves!
What a joke. This is why our puplic school systems are is the mess that they are ! So not future students will be planning their futures to now work the system vs doing their very best.
She worked much harder in three years than the boy did in four!! The board members of Grapevine-Colleyville ISD should consider revamping their policy, which is very unfair!!
If she were "white" this not not be an issue.
To have a policy that does not reward excellence at an accelerated pace is ludicrous and inflexible. Boneheaded decision.

Reactions against Anjali
She's not an american any way
Of course it is fair. I completely support the decision of the school district. Ya, you might be a smart cookie and can get all your stuff done quicker than everyone else, but you know what, High School is usually Four Years. Congrats on your 3 year plan. No, just step aside and quit your bitching.
These students who graduate early usually have a superior IQ anyway, and why is that fair to your average student who busts their tail every night trying to just keep up with someone so gifted. Therefore, I think the student who has tried the hardest (taken a full 4 years to accomplish this) should be the one honored!

Read more comments: Survey

Lesser known places in the US

Honestly speaking when I was in India I thought I knew quite a big about the US, especially from a travellers perspective. But having come here and travelled 6 of the 50 states of this continent-sized country, I believe that this country too has several interesting landmarks worthy of visiting. There is not much in terms of ancient historical monuments or well preserved cultural heritage but the natural wealth of the country is simply immense. Given its size there are vast areas of sparse population which has enabled the government to creat national forests, sanctuaries, national parks etc.
But one thing is certain though US has five times India's land area and about a fifth of India's population, it is certainly a crowded country. Whichever road you may be travelling on, there will be several big fuel-guzzling cars passing you. Finding accommodation or even a camping spot in the wilderness during weekends is difficult. There is an over supply of housing which has lead to a massive real estate slump across the country triggering a near-recession kind of scenario, but still people don't seem to stay at home. They are always out on the road or visiting some place or the other.

Last weekend was a long one owing to it being the Memorial Day, a day on which America remembers its men and women who laid down their lives serving the nation. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it was enacted to honor Union soldiers who fought the American Civil War, then later after World War I the scope was expanded to cover all Americans killed in any war or military action. And we decided to head out of Flat Texas and visit some hill country in neighboring states of Oklahoma and Arkansas.

We chose to explore the Kiamichi Country in Oklahoma state, which was a thriving Native American settlement before the white people came, massacred them and took over their lands and forests. Anyway today there are no natives in this part of the country. Our plan was to visit the Ouchita National Forest which spans across both Oklahoma and Arkansas. The entire forest is criss-crossed by several well-marked hiking, bicycling and walking trails, the longest of which is about 192 miles.

Our plan was to drive across the 54-mile Talimena Scenic Drive and then camp at Cedar Lake. So we started our drive early in the morning and sped off on America's big roads towards Oklahoma, first on Tx-121 and then on US-75 and then I lost track of highways. After making enquiries we finally turned off the scenic drive and reached the banks of Cedar lake only to find that most of the lakeside campsites were taken. Luckily we found one in the farthest campsite and took it immediately ($10).

The undulating water body sprawls across 86 acres and is surrounded by pine and Oak covered hills. According to the national parks website the lake maintains its water level even during fierce droughts. The forest around the lake is infested with a diverse array of wildlife including, black bears, deer, rabbits, armadillo, raccoons, possum, etc. The lake itself is a great place to get a refreshing swim, fish, boat, kayak and just hang out.

Images of Cedar Lake and surroundings
Modern Campsites
Campsites in America are highly evolved and offer all the comforts of the city. Many people travel in airconditioned Recreational Vehicles which are hooked up to the power points at campsites and then set up a portable dish antenna and TV to watch their favourite shows. Others who don't own an RV bring in huge tents and camp furniture and set up their temporary home at the campsite. Every campsite has a barbecue pit, a fire place and two benches and a dining table. There are clean toilets and bathrooms within easy reach of the campgrounds, so output is not a problem here. The super rich even bring horses and ride through the forests on them.

Activities
We were not too well equipped for our camping. We carried enough food for two days a tent, some sleeping gear and reached there. We forgot to carry a torch and that was not much of a problem because we used the car's headlights to light up the dinner table.

I enjoyed a refreshing swim in the icy waters of Cedar lake. When I first entered the lake at the shallow end I felt it was rather dirty for American standards, instead of being azure the water was brown and murky. I reluctantly went over to the pier where people were diving, here the water was much clearer and inviting. I just jumped in and boy... was it cold??? refreshing in the hot afternoon sun. After enjoying in the water for about an hour we went for a long walk in the wilderness and retired into the tent for the night.

Coming SoonRoad Kill and Queen Wilhelmina State Forest, Arkansas.

"Insight" from the heart

I received this anthology from its author Mr.PKN Panicker a while ago and finished reading it too. But today as I was flipping through the pages of this wonderfully Insightful volume I felt that I must share some of my thoughts about this book.

First thing writing poetry and publishing it is not a joke, be it in India or anywhere in the world. There are just not enough takers and it would be difficult to sell even modest print run of 1,000 copies unless the poems are written by a well known celebrity poet. But there are several wonderful communities and support groups both online and offline which help and encourage these poets to get published. One group known as Glorious Times is where I interacted with Mr. Panicker. When he came to know I like reading poetry and am a budding poet he just took my address and sent me a copy of his book Insight.

Insight is a compilation of 30 poems written by chemical engineer and prolific writer PKN Panicker. Apart from the volume I am talking about he has written several other books such as Our Earth, Swami Vivekananda, and another anthology of English poems titled Random Reflections. Well if you are already amazed, be prepared for more, Panicker is not just a writer in English, he has written several essays in his mother tongue of Malayalam.

I would like to quote a small portion of one of the poems in Insight. Being a traveller I am quoting from a poem titled Picnic.

Picnic, a picnic,
We shall plan ahead,
to avoid left-outs,
irritations, disappointments,
to make the picinc
lively and enjoyable.

Picnic, yes, a picnic,
I have gone on picnics
earlier too on picnics
with Mom and Dad
with sister and brother,
picnic, lovely and enjoyable.

If you like this I am sure you will enjoy the book. Contact Window Publishers, 35, Sir, P.S. Sivaswamy Salai, Chennai 600 004, India and get your own copy.
Price: Rs.100 (US$2.5)

Uniforms, Gear and other paraphernalia for law enforcers

During my numerous jaunts on the information highway stopping at numerous websites and homepages, I have come across some valuable information too. Such as the diverse kinds of businesses that thrive on the web. Technology has made it possible for entrepreneurs to find and do business in a specific niche.

One of the things I found on the web is the secret of the smart uniforms of police and military services personnel. Well there are specialist designers and manufacturers who are working to create fashionable, comfortable and yet authoritative looking clothes for the law enforcement personnel. One of the products 5.11 Tactical Shirts, I found online is something unique.

Available in both long and short sleeved versions, the 5.11 Tactical Shirt is loaded with 5.11 innovative features. The shirt's design is patented and has hidden document pockets large enough to stash flight tickets, maps, etc, but subtle enough to stow-away a small backup. The shirts are triple stitched and bartacked for durability. The shirts feature pen pockets, a back vent with a Dri-X-treme mesh backing, hidden button-down reinforced collar and front pockets with a hook-and-loop closure. Isn't it amazing how much thought has gone into detailing what is probably one of the most common products?

If you are into law enforcement or security and want to get attire for your staff, La Police Gear is one of the best places to shop.

Views of Cedar Lake, Oklahoma

It was long weekend and we decided to head out into the open and take in some part of neighboring states of Oklahoma and Arkansas. During the two day drive, hike, camp and swimming outing we were able to take in a tiny part of both the states. Here are few basic pictures... more to come soon. Tomorrow I have an exam so I am not able to blog completely about what I saw. Will be updating the blog with detailed stories and lots of pictures in the next couple of days. For now enjoy the sneak preview.

Starting point of Talimena scenic drive and national park

These roads are too scenic and seem to stretch endlessly in to the world

Strategically placed signage help visitors find places easily

Vast and beautiful Cedar Lake

Thick forests and hiking trails around Cedar Lake

Sun bathing groups on the banks of Cedar Lake

Jokes about SMS/ Texting

Our team was asked to give a presentation on text messaging as a thinking assignment in our college. Like everyone else I gathered loads of data from internet (especially Wikipedia). During my online research I found some stunning statistics and really funny graphics, pictures and cartoons.

According to the article on Wikipedia, text messaging is the most widely used mobile data service worldwide, with 74 percent of 2.6 Billion mobile phone users worldwide, actively sending and receiving text messages. The countries where texting is extensively used are as below:

Philippines: 15 texts sent per day by subscriber.
Singapore: 12 texts per day per user
South Korea: 10 texts per day per user
US: 1 text per user per day
Finland, Sweden and Norway: 90% of total population
Europe: 85%
North America: 40%

Just imagine if all 1.92 billion sms users were to send just one message everyday @ $0.20. This means telephone companies and SMS service providers make $380 million every day. Just imagine how big the global sms expense is. There is so much money in this world but concentrated in the hands of few individuals.

Disadvantages of SMS

One of the biggest problems that SMS or text messaging has created is distracting users from whatever they are doing. Seen in the picture is this driver who is busy texting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
SMS is a huge distraction, especially among students who use it during class to chat instead of concentrating on lessons.
Mobile phone viruses can be transmitted through sms
There is no guarantee that the sms will be delivered
Inconsistency in delivery. For example: person A sends sms to person B in the morning but it gets delivered only in the evening.
People addicted to messaging tend to spend large amounts of money on texting.
Limited number of characters per message restricts free expression of thoughts
Continuous texting can lead to RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) including Carpel Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
Texting has been used to commit frauds including identity theft.

Enjoy the cartoons and pictures below

New Phenomenon: Intrusive Light Pollution!

Ever heard of this term Intrusive Light Pollution? Well I had never heard of this kind of pollution until today. I came across this term while reading a newsreport about a debate over installation of lights in White Rock Lake. The article titled "Debate heats up over lake's proposed lights" was published in today's Dallas Morning News.

Apparently city authorities have proposed to install about 50 lights atop 20 feet tall poles in the parking lots and along the walking trails around the 1,015 acre city lake at an astronomical cost of $310,000. And later an additional 100 lights at about $500,000. But people living around the lake are not happy, they say that installation of the glow from lights would be too harsh and cause "Intrusive Light Pollution".

I had been to White Rock Lake a few months ago and believe me it is one of the most beautiful spots I have seen in thi area. The beautiful aqua forte has facilities for several outdoor activities such as a hiking and biking trail (9.33 miles); Audubon Society-designated bird watching area and wetlands site; picnic areas; Fishing piers for catfish, sunfish, and bass fishing. Apart from this numerous special events, including the March of Dimes Walk America, White Rock Marathon and the White Rock Lake Trash Bash take place regularly in the lake.

According to the article the authorities want to install lights to boost up security in the vast open areas around the lake. Quite obviously a step in the right direction, but then this installation is not going down too well with people living around the lake. So now the citizens are meeting for a public debate to decide on the issue.. whether security is more important or prevention of "Intrusive Light Pollution"...

For me, I find it funny that there is a debate at all. :)

Dragon Boat, Kite and Lantern Festival, Irving

Today I attended the colourful and well organised Dragon Boat, Kite and Lantern Festival. This annual festival was initiated last year as part of the Asia Pacific Heritage Month celebrations. The month of May is celebrated as the Asia Pacific Heritage Month and in its observance there are numerous cultural and social activities taking place across the US. And Dallas being one of the locations where loads of Asians live, multiple festivals have been organised during this month.



The festival was held in a vast open space sited on the banks of Lake Carolyn in the city of Irving, close to the historic Mustangs of Las Colinas. I really wanted to participate in the Dragon Boat Race and tried to put together a team but then I was not successful and had to content myself to just visiting and enjoying the performances and views of the festival.

The Hawaiian dance

Like the Asian Festival of Dallas, the Dragon Boat Festival too featured numerous food stalls, entertainment shows, kite flying, lantern dances, there were booths selling Asian handicrafts, clothes, jewellery and among others. The sunny weather... bordering on hot and sultry... helped keeping the spirits high. The highlight of the festival however was the Dragon Boat Races, which sadly I missed.

Cultural performances included, Chinese Lion Dance, An Asian Fashion extravaganza titled Parade of the Nations, Indian dance, Tahitian and Hawaiian Hula Dance, Mahalika Philippine Bamboo Dance, Chinese cultural performance, Chinese Peacock Dance, Tai Chi and Kung Fu demonstrations among others. It was an afternoon of fun and food for the entire family. But for the blazing sun I'm sure people would have enjoyed the festival better and not confined themselves to the comoforting shade of the few tents.

I enjoyed each and every performance that I could get to see. The video and pictures in the post gives a sneak preview of the activities and performances of the festival. Hope you enjoy reading the blog and looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed visiting and being part of the festival.

Mustangs of Las Colinas

The Festival Champions, Irving Fire Department

Lake Carolyn

Colourful and large kites

Kung Fu Performance

Travelling to another city? Fly and rent a car!

All of us travel to far off locations for various reasons, on job, seeking new jobs, visiting family and friends, taking a vacation, attending a conference etc. Travelling can be quite a hassle especially when we know that we will be needing reliable transport in the new city and can't depend expensive cab services or abysmal public transport. This concern about local commuting often makes us take our cars and drive all the way to far off places.

Car rental companies have been around for several decades, but somehow some of us don't feel comfortable dealing with them. Some of us have had bad experiences with these car rental companies. Well now this worry can be thrown out of the window. The most dynamic car rental company is out there waiting to serve you. And what is more their commitment is not only to give guests the best service but also ensure that their cars are eco-friendly, low emission and help rejuvenate the earth.

Now you don't have to drive days to reach your destination, you can just fly down there and rent a car from Advantage's eco-friendly fleet. Let us know a little about Advantage Rent A Car, a privately held rental car company, headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. Advantage has operations in over 150 U.S. locations and 130 locations in 33 countries. That should make you trust this company.

At Advantage you’ll always find the best rates available on all vehicles including brand new SUV models. You can rent a Suzuki XL7 for as little as $34.99/day in select markets. Wherever you're going, Advantage has you covered with a fleet of new cars, trucks, vans and SUVs. So in short I would say just fly, your car will be waiting for you at the destination. And your car is safe at home resting till you return from vacation. Isn't it a good deal?