Toronto has at least two Polar Bear Dips going on New Year's Day January 1, 2011 - 12 noon at Sunnyside Beach (Habitat for Humanity) and 1:30pm at Ashbridges Bay (Sears Great Canadian Chill) and the waters of Lake Ontario are ready for the plunge. Temperatures are expected above the freezing mark so we may only have to watch for rain - you don't want to get wet before the dip! Update: It was both foggy and rainy!
Bring your costumes, thongs and footwear then some warm clothes for afterwards.
See more of my pictures of the Dip and the Chill after the jump.


You can also check out my 2010 photos from the Sunnyside Habitat for Humanity Polar Bear Dip.

New Years is like a birthday party for the planet - so here is a cool shot of the planet, part of the blue marble series from NASA. I tried to get this shot but my tripod kept floating away. If you squint you might be able to see me in the photo below.

Honda Civic Hatchback Tunados

Honda Civic Hatchback Tuning

Honda Civic Hatchback Tuning

And I feel fine. It has been a great year of events and photographs and I say thanks to all my visitors, thanks for all the comments and emails and I look forward to another year of fun. Like many people I will make some New Year's resolutions but the fun is breaking them - so make some doozies.

Here are some other beautiful ends (after the jump) to keep you warm over the winter.

Say goodbye to year 2010 and welcome a brand new year 2011, we are going to celebrate 2011 with these 30 Superb Happy New Year 2011 wallpapers: feel the joy and make your desktop more beautiful, you can even send happy New Year wallpapers to your friends, family and loved ones.
Within this category you will find typographic, vector based, landscape, New Year calendar type and digital art work Happy New Year 2011s best wallpapers and backgrounds so lets have a look and enjoy this inspiring collection…

Say goodbye to year 2010 and welcome a brand new year 2011, we are going to celebrate 2011 with these 30 Superb Happy New Year 2011 wallpapers: feel the joy and make your desktop more beautiful, you can even send happy New Year wallpapers to your friends, family and loved ones.
Within this category you will find typographic, vector based, landscape, New Year calendar type and digital art work Happy New Year 2011s best wallpapers and backgrounds so lets have a look and enjoy this inspiring collection…

Say goodbye to year 2010 and welcome a brand new year 2011, we are going to celebrate 2011 with these 30 Superb Happy New Year 2011 wallpapers: feel the joy and make your desktop more beautiful, you can even send happy New Year wallpapers to your friends, family and loved ones.
Within this category you will find typographic, vector based, landscape, New Year calendar type and digital art work Happy New Year 2011s best wallpapers and backgrounds so lets have a look and enjoy this inspiring collection…

Say goodbye to year 2010 and welcome a brand new year 2011, we are going to celebrate 2011 with these 30 Superb Happy New Year 2011 wallpapers: feel the joy and make your desktop more beautiful, you can even send happy New Year wallpapers to your friends, family and loved ones.
Within this category you will find typographic, vector based, landscape, New Year calendar type and digital art work Happy New Year 2011s best wallpapers and backgrounds so lets have a look and enjoy this inspiring collection…

goodbye to year 2010 and welcome a brand new year 2011, we are going to celebrate 2011 with these 30 Superb Happy New Year 2011 wallpapers: feel the joy and make your desktop more beautiful, you can even send happy New Year wallpapers to your friends, family and loved ones.
Within this category you will find typographic, vector based, landscape, New Year calendar type and digital art work Happy New Year 2011s best wallpapers and backgrounds so lets have a look and enjoy this inspiring collection…

41% of all Transgender people attempt suicide at one time or another in their life. We need to try and help bring that number down. Life, in general, is very difficult for transgender humans. They have to face ridicule, discrimination, unemployment, homelessness and sometimes just having no hope whatsoever.

The last thing someone in such a vulnerable community needs to see is to be referred to as "It". This is by far the worst name you can call someone who is transgender. Everyone in the world knows this accept Jamie Freeze, who believe it or not, is a law student.

Please let Jamie Freeze and Renew America know what you think about this.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/request-jamie-freeze-to-remove-offensive-dehumanizing-headline-in-her-story-titled-hesheit/

America's last free-roaming wild bison are being slaughtered on a scale not seen since the 1800s. And hundreds more are slated to be killed.

1,600 bison were killed in the winter of 2007/2008 -- more than a quarter of the wild population. This is no way to manage one of the icons of the American West -- especially in a state that prides itself as a destination for wildlife-seeking tourists.

Take action now! Write to the Montana Promotion Division -- the state%u2019s tourism officials -- and speak out for sensible management of these American icons!

Please sign this petition…thank you!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-the-yellowstone-bison/

It was family time for actress Madhuri Dixit on the sets of 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4' as her sons, husband and parents came as audience members on the dance reality show.

Her sons - Arin, 7 and Ryan, 5 - and husband Shriram Nene are here for their Christmas and New Year's break and seemed thrilled to see Madhuri in the judge's chair on the show.

When the children were asked whether they liked their mother's show, one of them replied: "It is good", while Shriram said it was a great experience.

Madhuri had left her children with her husband in the US before she came here for a three-month break from household chores to make a comeback to showbiz. She has also shot for an advertisement during her stay and plans to go through some scripts as well.

The episode featuring Madhuri and her family will be aired January 3.

Wish you guys a very happy & fabulous 2011! May you achieve all your goals & touch your dreams. Have loads of fun & stay positive!

And I so have the urge to drink the bottle of whiskey just how heroes drink in Indian movies. They manage to do the impossible. I really want to know who came up with this ridiculous idea, but nevertheless it’s very tempting.

I think 2011 is just the right year to try out all the crazy things. But I guess any time is right to try out things that make us sink into the depths beyond vision.

Stay happy & make the most of the coming year!

Z & Nadz

For all you Preity Zinta fans, here’s a good buzz…but not the big screen, instead the small one…

Preity has signed on by Colors channel to play a host for its new reality show Guinness Book of World Records - Ab India Todega – which is in fact an adaptation of international version of the show. In this Indians will be taking on world record holders.

Top 10 Cloud Applications for Small Business

The role of cloud computing for business is more and more prominent. Indeed, cloud computing is probably the most buzzed tech today. The cloud has proven that it can help small businesses to cut costs, while improving productivity.

New cloud applications are being introduced to small business on regular basis. There are plenty of alternatives for small business owners to choose. Unfortunately, choosing the right cloud apps for your business need is rather trivial.

To clear the mist a bit for you, let me offer you a list of cloud apps I recommend (not in particular order):

1. Google Apps for Business: Google is the household name, and it has all needed to offer a reliable and secure online office tools – even before the cloud is as popular as today – Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail, etc. – you can access all of them in a secure and private environment with 24/7 support. The “personal” version is free, while the business version is offered at $50 per user per year.
2. Skype: Forget the latest historic downtime – Skype is one of the most trusted and reliable cloud-based companies offering free Internet call, with Pay As You Go and subscription-based plans to call on any phones to meet your small business needs.
3. SalesForce: A household name in cloud computing for customer relationship management (CRM.) Also one of the front-runners in the cloud, SalesForce is growing its arsenal of cloud apps: Sales Cloud, Force.com, Service Cloud, and the latest, Database.com. SalesForce can help your small business to manage everything related to your sales-generating activities in a centralised “dashboard.”
4. Basecamp: One of the leaders in online collaboration and project management. It can help your stakeholders to discuss, update, upload/download, share – anything you can think of – in one single web account, in real time. Basecamp claims that there are over 5 million people worldwide who are using it.
5. Quickbase: This online database software can help your small business tech team to create online database application from scratch or use more than 200 templates. Don’t have someone to build database app, yet? Intuit’s Quickbase can recommend you one of 160 partners to help you out.
6. Box.net: A cloud storage service provider allowing you to share, manage and access files and folders online in a secured and private environment. You can also collaborate to update documents on the fly with your business team members or clients.
7. Outright: If you are like me, you’ll gonna like this cloud finance app – Outright will help you with your business accounting by allowing you to track income/expenses, tax obligations, and profits/losses in real time, online. No more hiring/firing bookkeeper for your business finances.
8. Evernote: I call Evernote a “cloud reminder” or “cloud scratchpad” if you will, simply because of what it does best – it helps you to store your ideas, notes, reminders, schedules, to-dos, audios, images, videos, etc. for you to recall and review later on.
9. Mozy: The industry leader for online backup of any kind of data and information – images, documents, audios, etc. You can use Mozy cloud app to back up your entire business, regardless of your business’ size. With Mozy, you are not location-constrained – you can backup and access your backup remotely.
10. SiteCloud: Cloud hosting is great to host your small business website because it’s on-demand and scalable – in real time. You are guaranteed service availability due to the nature of the cloud – no issues regarding a sudden surge of web traffic to your site. You can switch plan anytime you want, without service interruption.

I recommend you to make use of the free plan or free trials offered by the cloud apps – trying the services is the only way to make sure that you choose the best for your small business. If you would like to learn more about the cloud, log on to my cloud business review blog for cloud business reviews, trends and tips.

Dia Mirza and Zayed Khan have confirmed that they are turning producers with their first film all set to go on floors in the month of February. They would be joined by Sahil Sangha who is not just a co-producer in their production house 'Born Free' but would also be directing their first film.

Between Dia Mirza and Zayed Khan, they have done close to 50 odd films. No wonder, now that they are stepping into production and that too as partners, they understand what to do and especially what not to do.

"I think what is very important is that when you are making a production house, you get an opportunity to correct things that you found were wrong when you worked in other films," says Dia, "One has to have very strong ethos of the company. There has to be a lot of passion and love involved and your first film should be indicative of that. That's pretty much the reason why our first film will also be about matters of love and heart. There couldn't have been any other subject after all."

While the matters of the heart rule here, Sahil has the final word about this unique association that brings him together with Dia and Zayed.

"The most important part about 'Born Free' is that Dia, Zayed as well as I are very comfortable in each other's company," he says with a smile, "We don't hold back on any thoughts that we may have for or against something that one of us may have thought. We can express ourselves well and we know that we can work together. There is this very good synergy which we can find between us that will keep 'Born Free' alive in years to come."

The actor differs in his estimation of 2010 as far as his career is concerned. According to Hrithik Roshan, the year 2010 has been one of the best years of his career. Says the actor, "I believe it's been more my year than any of the previous years. I've gone beyond anything that I've done in the past. KITES has been my most subtle work. After GUZAARISH I am on a high. I didn't feel this way after JODHAA AKBAR or KOI MIL GAYA or KRRISH. God would punish me and I'd feel ashamed if I didn't feel 100 per cent happiness".

As the promos and first look of Saath Khoon Maaf has hit television and big screens, people are really looking forward to yet another quirky love story (stories in this case) from the man himself - Vishal Bharadwaj. Along with showcasing an all new aspect of Priyanka Chopra, the film also showcases a rather interesting look of the otherwise chocolate boy Neil Nitin Mukesh.

Neil has taken his look to an all new level as he plays Priyanka's first and of course youngest husband and essays the role of an army major - Major Rodriques. He is seen sporting the narrow brim Fedora hat, sharp suits, pointed shoes and aviators. This is the first time he has been seen in such a structured and classy look. It also is the first time he will be seen with a moustache.

A source close to Neil reveals his preparation for the character. "After Neil was briefed about the character and the look by Vishal Bharadwaj, Neil visited his uncle who is a retired army major general. Neil is known to be someone who focuses on getting under the skin of the character from by learning experiences from real life references. His uncle was very excited about Neil playing an army major. He sat Neil down and took him through the life of an army man thereby justifying why they are the way they are. He also told Neil about the habits, attire choices and attitude of an army man which helped him immensely to get inside the mind of Major Rodrigues".

A production insider reveals that, "When Neil and Vishal sat down to discuss the look, they were both on the same page as far as personifying the character via his body language, style, voicing and dialogues were concerned. They both envisioned Major Rodrigues as someone who is extremely well spoken and strong along with being hot headed."

I really like this lady & she's so simple.


I had no idea that I would change my mind about Malaika...I don't find her sexy anymore.


This is the woman who plays ugly Betty in Hindi version on TV.


Over all, I know these aren't very nice pics.