One of the “benefits” of being in my choir is the regular treats that we get. This time it was cause of Sharon‘s birthday which was on Sunday. She fed us wafers, cake, samosas and cold drinks on Tuesday. I skipped dinner

We had practice on both Monday and Tuesday in preparation for Good Friday. Our line up is good (as usual). There are a few of our legacy hymns as well as some new ones so practice is needed.

This is going to be my last Holy Week in Mumbai, atleast for the next two years so I’m going all goes well.

I also joined the the SCMHRD community at Orkut, so spend a good amount of my time in the forum there. It’s good to get to know some of my future classmates.

And, my laptop arrived today! Atleast the box did. Hopefully, the engineer drops in tomorrow so I can start playing with the baby.

Orkut and Google Talk have now been integrated.

Follow these steps to link your Orkut account to Google.

Are you on Orkut? Add me to your list and scrap me.

From the very beginning Orkut has been invitation based. Inspite of that the number of users has increased tremendously and today it is one of the most popular Social Networking sites.

I remember one and half year ago there were no Firefox Extensions for Orkut except for the Orkut oolbar and when I searched the other day, there are a good number. I got hold of Orkut Scrapper recently.

Anyway, back on topic, Google has finally opened up Orkut Subscription for all users. This means you no longer need to wait for an invite to get an account.
If you already have a Google Account, which is free to get, you can join Orkut.

Join Orkut now and check out my profile.

Found via TechBuzz

Gautam pointed out this article in the Economic Times today about Google’s Social Networking Site, a.k.a. Orkut

In a nutshell, this is because of the “We Hate India” community which has been present on Orkut for a long time now. I’m stunned that Orkut has not done anything about it in so many months of hundreds, maybe thousands of users reporting it.

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad bench of Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to issue notice to Google for the alleged spread of hatred about India by its social network service `Orkut’.

The order was issued by Justice A P Deshpande and Justice R M Borde Monday in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by local Advocate Yugant R Marlapalle.

Read the rest of the article…

And it can get very irritating!

Have been getting the infamous donut message on Orkut, whenever I try to scrap most folks!

Bad, bad server. No donut for you.

Unfortunately, the orkut.com server has acted out in an unexpected way. Hopefully, it will return to its helpful self if you try again in a few minutes.

It’s likely that the server will behave this way on occasion during the coming months. We apologize for the inconvenience and for our server’s lack of consideration for others.

Are you folks getting the problem as well?

I have been getting warning emails about the same, and I guess there may be some amount of truth in them.

I received quite a few scraps from pals with this content. None of them know Portuguese.
The scrap was:

Opa, tudo bom? Eu criei um vídeo com uma seleção de minhas fotos novas, clica aí pra ver – http://mmgurl.com/M7U – Estão bem legais!!!

When I once tried to visit the link it asked me to download something (which I didn’t). Other time led me to a proxy server.

I wasn’t able to check if it actually was a virus, but I suggest not downloading any such file. Immediately delete the scrap if you are sure your friend doesn’t speak Portuguese, or if he/she doesn’t even know about the scrap.

I’m not sure how the scraps actually get placed. Possible computer infection? Or a problem with the Orkut server? Or is it a hoax?

And yet another Orkut Hoax has popped up. Boy do people sure have imagination!

The mail reads as:

someone by your name scraps u,delete it immedietly within 10seconds. Its a virus. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on your list feads the scrap then his comp will also be affected. It is a hard drive killer and a very horible virus. Please pass this on to everyone on your list. We need to find out who using these accounts

Firstly, what if I am offline? Then does the ten second limitation still apply? What if someone else has the same name as me? I know I found someone in Mumbai called Ajay D’Souza.

I’m not sure if the spelling mistakes in the message above were because of the person who sent it to me or if it is the original mail.

If others have received this, please do give me your feedback.

And for those who plan on forwarding this, STOP! And reply to the person who sent it to you that it is a hoax.

Thanks.

Yet another Orkut hoax floating around on the internet is this one:

GIRLS BEWARE PLEASE.. IT IS SERIOUS! HELP URSELF

It has recently been found out that there are some spammers present on Orkut who download the Photographs of Girls from their Profile and they get 5 cent per photograph. This photographs are later sent into Image Editors like Photoshop where they are morphed and superimposed on the images of Porn Stars. These people are so expert in this field that the photographs looks completely real and anyone can get decieved by generated images.

These photographs are then used for multiple purposes like Printing in International Magazines, Uploading on paid Porn Sites and sometimes even blakmailing. And the post consequences are a known fact. So after knowing about this fact my advice to all sisters of my brothers here to please remove their photo’s from Orkut and don’t give the culprits a chance to do play around with You. Afterall Prevention is better than Cure. AUR BHAI LOG PLZ IS MAIL KO JAHAAN TAK HO SAKE FORWARD KARO TAKE CARE

It is good that you thought to spread the message and I know the thought is noble, but please stop this stupid email chain!

I have researched this and haven’t found a single place which actually confirms this. It doesn’t take much time to research. Please do check and if you find some truth in what you are about to send, only then send it. Otherwise stop and don’t cause unnecessary panic!

I simply can’t understand how gullible people can be, and most of them are engineers (some even computer engineers) and MBAs!

I last posted about a similar orkut hoax and now I’ve received over 10 messages in the past 3 days from friends with contents as follows:

Dear user because of sudden rush of people signing upto orkut is come to an attention that we are vastly running our of resources so with in a week any one who does not receive this scrap will be deleted of our server. We know that you are still using this account We want to find out which users are actually using their orkut accounts so if you are using your then please send this scrap to every orkut user that you can if u do not pass this scrap to anyone then we will delete your account

Just follow these simple steps.
1. Click on the “Messages Tab” in your account.
2. Click on the “compose mail” option which is the last
one of the four icons you see together.
3. Select “all friends”
4. Cut and Paste this mail
5. Send it……..

Let’s look at this message.
The message states that Orkut is running out of resources, so you should send a message to prove you are active.

Have you realized that sending the message actually consumes resources?
Have you realized that if every user sends messages like this to each other, how many resources will actually be consumed?

In Feb itself Orkut posted this notice on their News Page

Is it true? Inactive accounts will be deleted? 2/16/2006

We heard there’s a rumor going around orkut that says orkut.com will delete your account for inactivity. We’ve even received this notice from someone pretending to be Orkut himself! This is not true and you can safely disregard these messages or scraps.

Please please please check if the message you are sending actually has any sense. You may be all scared that your account will be deleted, but if that is the case Google (who own Orkut) will contact you personally and not your friend via an email or scrap!!

And by sending these messages to all your friends you are just giving an open invitation to spam.

I just created a Connections Reloaded Community on Orkut.

So those of you who are on Orkut and would like to join the community you are welcome to do so.

Please do spread the word about it.