This is written by a Pakistani journalist called Dr Farrukh Saleem on 12/9/2007. He is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist.
It was an eye-opener and made a wonderful read. I have just re-produced the article on an 'as-is' basis, hence no offense intended to anyone.
The two Ambani brothers can buy 100 percent of every company listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and would still be left with $30 billion to spare. The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services produced over a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with $60 billion to spare. The four richest Indians are now richer than the forty richest Chinese.
In November, Bombay Stock Exchange's benchmark Sensex flirted with 20,000 points. As a consequence, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries became a $100 billion company (the entire KSE is capitalized at $65 billion). Mukesh owns 48 percent of Reliance.
In November, comes Neeta's birthday. Neeta turned forty-four three weeks ago. Look what she got from her husband as her birthday present: A sixty-million dollar jet with a custom fitted master bedroom, bathroom with mood lighting, a sky bar, entertainment cabins, satellite television, wireless communication and a separate cabin with game
consoles. Neeta is Mukesh Ambani's wife, and Mukesh is not India's richest but the second richest.
Mukesh is now building his new home, Residence Antillia (after a mythical, phantom island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean). At a cost of $1 billion this would be the most expensive home on the face of the planet. At 173 meters tall Mukesh's new family residence, for a family of six, will be the equivalent of a 60-storeyed building. The first six floors are reserved for parking. The seventh floor is for car servicing and maintenance. The eighth floor houses a mini-theatre. Then there's a health club, a gym and a swimming pool. Two floors are reserved for Ambani family's guests. Four floors above the guest floors are family floors all with a superb view of the Arabian Sea. On top of everything are three helipads. A staff of 600 is expected to care for the family and their family home.
In 2004, India became the 3rd most attractive foreign direct investment destination. Pakistan wasn't even in the top 25 countries. In 2004, the United Nations, the representative body of 192 sovereign member states, had requested the Election Commission of India to assist the UN in the holding elections in Al Jumhuriyah al Iraqiyah and Dowlat-e Eslami-ye Afghanestan. Why the Election Commission of India and not the Election Commission of Pakistan? After all, Islamabad is closer to Kabul than is Delhi.
Imagine, 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin; 38 percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians; and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians.
For the record: Sabeer Bhatia created and founded Hotmail. Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla. The Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was fathered by Vinod Dham. Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project. Four out of ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians. Bollywood produces 800 movies per year and six Indian ladies have won Miss Universe/Miss World titles over the past 10 years.
For the record: Azim Premji, the richest Muslim entrepreneur on the face of the planet, was born in Bombay and now lives in Bangalore. India now has more than three dozen billionaires; Pakistan has none (not a single dollar billionaire) .
The other amazing aspect is the rapid pace at which India is creating wealth. In 2002, Dhirubhai Ambani, Mukesh and Anil Ambani's father, left his two sons a fortune worth $2.8 billion. In 2007, their combined wealth stood at $94 billion. On 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh
became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stands at around $56 billion).
Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome haplogroup. We have the same genetic sequence and the same genetic marker (namely: M124). We have the same DNA molecule, the same DNA sequence. Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. What is it that Indians have and we don't?
He concludes the article by saying these words - INDIANS ELECT THEIR LEADERS.
Friday, February 29, 2008
India in the eyes of a Pakistani Journalist
Oral sex related cancer becoming more common: Study
The cases of oral cancer caused by a virus transmitted during oral sex appear to have increased drastically over the last 30 years, according to a study by US researchers.
The team led by Maura Gillison at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, US, studied trends in oral cancers recorded by US National Cancer Institute registries, and suggested that this increasing trend can be related to changes in people's sexual behaviour.
The team said that the incidence of tongue, mouth and throat cancers due to the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV), which can also cause cervical cancer in women, increased by about a third from 1973 to 2004.
After looking at nearly 46,000 cases, the team identified 17,625 cancer that were potentially related to HPV and 28,144 that were potentially unrelated, based on factors such as anatomical sites strongly associated with HPV, including the tonsils and base of the tongue.
"What we do know is that the prevalence of HPV is high, particularly among young people and this shouldn't be a surprise given that, since the sexual revolution, people have been having more sexual partners," New Scientist magazine quoted Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, as saying.
The increase was largest among young white males, signifying that this group is more likely to have oral sex at a younger age now than it was 20 years ago, explained Gillison's team.
Gillison called for a need to consider giving boys the HPV vaccine, to protect them from the disease.
A Merck vaccine is presently licensed for use in young women and girls to protect them against the most common cervical cancer-causing strains of HPV.
"We need to start having a discussion about those cancers other than cervical cancer that may be affected in a positive way by the vaccine," Gillison said.
The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/ani/20080229/r_t_ani_hl/thl-oral-sex-related-cancer-becoming-mor-3b18f0d.html
sex practices around the world
Do you ask yourself how long foreplay lasts in Japan? And why the rear is the most desired part of the body in Brazil?What would you see if you looked through the bedroom window in some countries?
The Japanese – born to have sex
The Japanese aren’t known only for their photo-cameras, but also for their penchant for sex. A Japanese citizen has sex with approx. 12.7 people in his/her life. They give their body and soul to foreplay, which lasts approx. 19.5 minutes. 33% Japanese have at least one sexual toy hidden under their beds, 49% watch porn movies with their partner.
If you’ve been to Japan, you’ve probably noticed how shyly they look, but looks can be deceiving. You’d be surprised, if you knew how easily Japanese women talk about sex. Even female magazines advertise the increase in female libido. The female magazine with most revenue in the Japanese market always has a sexual toy as a gift and comics for adults. All evening papers have a column with an erotic story, which is very well read. The most common character in such stories is a weak widow, getting help from workers, neighbors, etc.
China – sexual revolution
You though the Japanese are stallions?! Believe me, they are nothing compared to the Chinese. They are bored with everyday routine, so they usually have sex with approx. 19.3 people in their lives. To not let passion cool too quickly, they give their best Chinese precision to foreplay, which usually lasts 20.1 minutes. Because they’re very confident and know what they’re good at, only 10% of them use sexual toys. But they do like to watch erotic movies. 24% admitted to watching porn several times a week.
The sexual revolution has finally reached Beijing. The Chinese have sex all over, but only a few have heard of condoms. Many of them, especially prostitutes, live in an illusion. The Chinese “women of the night” offer their customers disinfecting tissues instead of condoms.
Brazil – land of love
Even though Brazil is a very religious country, there’s at least one cross in every room, 21% of people, beside going to the church, also visit shops with piquant accessories. They use them to liven up the 19.6 minutes long foreplay. In their diverse and rhythmical life they have sex with 15.2 people. Besides visiting festivals they also follow the antics on movie screens. 50% absolutely adore thrillers filled with eroticism and porn movies.
Dear ladies, if you wish to win a Brazilian’s heart, quit your diet immediately. These hot-blooded men adore a nice, round and full rear end. Virginity until marriage is very appreciated in this country, so the Brazilians satisfy themselves orally and anally. No wonder, then, that the bottom is the most esteemed part of the body…
South African republic – I Tarzan, you Jane
The South-Africans would be constantly in court for sexual harassment. What is totally acceptable in their country is somewhere else illegal. Open wishes and asking for sex, even ordering, are part of the every day life in South Africa. If you visit, they will ask you and force you to have sex in a very aggressive manner. The statistics show that every third woman in this country is the victim of rape. Another horrendous fact is, that most people don’t use protection, which shows in a high rate of HIV infection.
- average number of sexual partners – 11.9
- length of foreplay – 19.9 minutes
- % of population that uses sexual toys – 37
- % of population that regularly watches porn movies – 60
USA – no sex, we’re Americans
Land of the free and home of the brave is turning into a land of puritans. Sexual liberation is slowly regressing, which most pleases President George Bush. He gave 700 thousand dollars to the organization Silver Ring Thing for their anti-sex-before-marriage campaign. In this manner they’re trying to present the advantage of virginity and monogamy to the American youth. Maybe that’s not a smart move, Georgie boy, ‘cause the data shows that the ones who wait until wedlock to have sex, live in even more debauchery and danger than ‘the sinners’. They don’t practice ‘normal’ sex, but you’ve forgotten oral and anal sex, which can also be dangerous.
Anyway, the Americans entertain 10.3 partners in the beds, their foreplays last 19.7 minutes, 46% hide a sexual toy in their drawer and 56% regularly watch porn movies.
Iceland – Bangkok of the North
The women of Island fare very well, since there are more men than women up there. According to their statistics, the puberty in this cold country begins very early. The average age in which teenagers start loosing their virginity is 15 years (the world average is 17.7).
If you ever travel to this country, you have to visit the national museum in their capital city. There you’ll be able to see a nice collection of dried penises and penises in formaldehyde. Glance along the walls, where you’ll see trophies of the biggest penises in the world (animal, of course).
Some statistics:
- average number of sexual partners – 12.4
- length of foreplay – 19.8 minutes
- % of population that uses sexual toys – 56
- % of population that regularly watches porn movies – 55
France – Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?!
- average number of sexual partners – 8.1
- length of foreplay – 19.2 minutes
- % of population that uses sexual toys – 22
- % of population that regularly watches porn movies – 22
Ah, France. The country of great lovers… The French are known for their easy life – sex one, too. First un caffé, and then en peu d’amour. In France all women are beautiful and every place is good to have sex. Swinger life and nudism are very well spread.
So, where are you going on vacation this summer?
Source : World Wide Web
Indian Budget 2008: Impact on you
Unsure about how the budget would impact your life? Read to find out what the finance minister had in store for you.
Here are the major highlights of Union Budget 2008 that would impact your life directly:
--Income Tax: Threshold limit of exemption increased from Rs 1,10,000 to Rs 1,50,000
-Threshold tax exemption for women increased to Rs 1.8 lakh
- New tax slabs: 10% for 1,50,000 to 3,00,000; 20% for 3,00,000 to 5,00,000; and 30% above 5,00,000.
- Sixth Pay Commission report by March 2008
-Small cars to cost less by Rs 10,000 to 15,000
-Two wheelers to cost less, excise duty reduced by 10%
-Requirement of PAN extended to all financial transactions
-PAN to be sole identification in securities market
-3 IITs to be set up in Bihar, AP, Rajasthan
- Set-top boxes to become cheaper
-Duty reduced on life saving drugs; exempt from excise
-Anti-Aids drug exempted from excise duty
-Excise on packaged softwares to lower from 8% to 12%
--Duty on non-filter cigarettes to be raised
-Excise duty slashed to 8% on water purification items
-Duty withdrawn on naptha for production of polymers
-Refigeration components to become cheaper
-Improved infrastructure for Sainik schools
-Debt waiver scheme for farmers announced
-Loan waiver amounts to 4% of total bank loans
-Farmers eligible for fresh agri loans post the waiver or one time settlement
-Rs 340 cr insurance scheme to cover 17 lakh farmers and weavers
-300 more ITIs to be upgraded with an investment of Rs 750 cr
-LIC to cover all woman SHGs linked to the bank
-Schemes for women to get Rs 1,460 crore this fiscal
-Child-related schemes to get Rs 33,434 crore
-Jawaharlal Navoday Vidyalaya to be set in 20 new districts for SC/STs
-16 new Central Universities to be built
-NE region to get Rs 1,455 cr as budgetary support
-NREGS to be extended to 596 rural districts at an outlay of Rs 16,000cr
-Science scholarships for young learners
-About 6,000 high quality schools to be built by 2009
-Rs 200 cr for providing potable water system in each school in areas of water scarce regions
-Education & health to get 20% more from Rs 28,674 cr to Rs 34,4000 cr
-Agri credit doubled in first two years
-Keeping inflation under check to be on focus
-Women entitled to equal share and equal say
--Pilot plan to use smart cards for food grain distribution in Haryana, Chandigarh
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Budget_2008_Impact_on_you/articleshow/2825403.cms
Income Tax exemption limit hiked to Rs 1,50,000
In a major bonanza to the salaried class, the government on Friday proposed to increase the income tax exemption limits from Rs 1.10 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh, in addition to restructuring the tax slabs.
The proposals may result in a benefit of over Rs 50,000 to a taxpayer having an income of Rs 5 lakh annually.
The minimum benefit to a person with an annual income of Rs 1.5 lakh at the threshold will be around Rs 4,000, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, while presenting the Budget 2008-09 in Lok Sabha.
According to the proposed slabs, income between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh will be taxed at 10 per cent, between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh at 20 per cent, while for Rs 5 lakh and above the rate would be 30 per cent in addition to 3 per cent education cess.
The tax exemption limit for women assessees has been raised from Rs 1.45 lakh to Rs 1.80 lakh, while in case of senior citizens it has been increased from Rs 1.95 lakh to Rs 2.25 lakh.
Chidambaram also introduced an additional deduction of Rs 15,000 for taxpayers towards payment of medical insurance for parents. This would be in addition to the Rs 1 lakh limit for savings under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/29budget20.htm
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Do you make these 10 mistakes in a conversation?
Can you improve your conversation skills? Certainly.
It might take a while to change the conversation habits that’s been ingrained throughout your life, but it is very possible.
To not make this article longer than necessary let’s just skip right to some common mistakes many of us have made in conversations. And a couple of solutions.
Not listeningErnest Hemingway once said:
“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”
Don’t be like most people. Don’t just wait eagerly for your turn to talk. Put your own ego on hold. Learn to really listen to what people actually are saying.
When you start to really listen, you’ll pick up on loads of potential paths in the conversation. But avoid yes or no type of questions as they will not give you much information. If someone mentions that they went fishing with a couple of friends last weekend you can for instance ask:
- Where did you go fishing?
- What do you like most about fishing?
- What did you do there besides fishing?
The person will delve deeper into the subject giving you more information to work with and more paths for you choose from.
If they say something like: “Oh, I don’t know” at first, don’t give up. Prod a little further. Ask again. They do know, they just have to think about a bit more. And as they start to open up the conversation becomes more interesting because it’s not on auto-pilot anymore.
Asking too many questions
If you ask too many questions the conversation can feel like a bit of an interrogation. Or like you don’t have that much too contribute. One alternative is to mix questions with statements. Continuing the conversation above you could skip the question and say:
- Yeah, it’s great to just get out with your friends and relax over the weekend. We like to take a six-pack out to the park and play some Frisbee golf.
- Nice. We went out in my friend’s boat last month and I tried these new lures from Sakamura. The blue ones were really great.
And then the conversation can flow on from there. And you can discuss Frisbee golf, the advantages/disadvantages of different lures or your favourite beer.
Tightening up
When in conversation with someone you just meet or when the usual few topics are exhausted an awkward silence or mood might appear. Or you might just become nervous not knowing exactly why.
- Leil Lowndes once said: “Never leave home without reading the newspaper.” If you’re running out of things to say, you can always start talking about the current news. It’s also good to stay updated on current water cooler-topics. Like what happened on the latest episode of Lost.
- Comment on the aquarium at the party, or that one girl’s cool Halloween-costume or the host’s mp3-playlist. You can always start new conversations about something in your surroundings.
- Assume rapport. If you feel nervous or weird when meeting someone for the first time assume rapport. What that means is that you imagine how you feel when you meet one of your best friends. And pretend that this new acquaintance is one of your best friends. Don’t overdo it though, you might not want to hug and kiss right away. But if you imagine this you’ll go into a positive emotional state. And you’ll greet and start talking to this new person with a smile and a friendly and relaxed attitude. Because that’s how you talk to your friends. It might sound a bit loopy or too simple. But it really works.
Poor delivery
One of the most important things in a conversation is not what you say, but how you say it. A change in these habits can make a big difference since your voice and body language is a vital part of communication. Some things to think about:
- Slowing down. When you get excited about something it’s easy to start talking faster and faster. Try and slow down. It will make it much easier for people to listen and for you actually get what you are saying across to them.
- Speaking up. Don’t be afraid to talk as loud as you need to for people to hear you.
- Speaking clearly. Don’t mumble.
- Speak with emotion. No one listens for that long if you speak with a monotone voice. Let your feelings be reflected in your voice.
- Using pauses. Slowing down your talking plus adding a small pause between thoughts or sentences creates a bit of tension and anticipation. People will start to listen more attentively to what you’re saying.
- Learn a bit about improving your body language as it can make your delivery a lot more effective.
Hogging the spot-light
I’ve been guilty of this one on more occasions than I wish to remember. 
Everyone involved in a conversation should get their time in the spotlight. Don’t interrupt someone when they are telling some anecdote or their view on what you are discussing to divert the attention back to yourself. Don’t hijack their story about skiing before it’s finished to share your best skiing-anecdote. Find a balance between listening and talking.
Having to be right
Avoid arguing and having to being right about every topic. Often a conversation is not really a discussion. It’s a more of a way to keep a good mood going. No one will be that impressed if you “win” every conversation. Instead just sit back, relax and help keep the good feelings going.
Talking about a weird or negative topic
If you’re at a party or somewhere were you are just getting to know some people you might want to avoid some topics. Talking about your bad health or relationships, your crappy job or boss, serial killers, technical lingo that only you and some other guy understands or anything that sucks the positive energy out of the conversation are topics to steer clear from. You might also want to save religion and politics for conversations with your friends.
Being boring
Don’t prattle on about your new car for 10 minutes oblivious to your surroundings. Always be prepared to drop a subject when you start to bore people. Or when everyone is getting bored and the topic is starting to run out of steam.
One good way to have something interesting to say is simply to lead an interesting life. And to focus on the positive stuff. Don’t start to whine about your boss or your job, people don’t want to hear that. Instead, talk about your last trip somewhere, some funny anecdote that happened while you where buying clothes, your plans for New Years Eve or something funny or exciting.
Another way is just to be genuinely interested. As Dale Carnegie
“You can make more friends in two months by becoming really interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Which is just another way of saying that the way to make a friend is to be one.”
Knowing a little about many things or at least being open to talk about them instead of trying to steer the conversation back to your favourite subject is a nice quality.
Meaning: talking for what seems like hours about one topic. Topics may include work, favourite rock-band, TV-show and more work.
Opening up a bit and not clinging desperately to one topic will make the conversation feel more relaxed and open. You will come across like a person who can talk about many things with ease. As you’ve probably experienced with other people; this quality is something you appreciate in a conversation and makes you feel like you can connect to that person easily.
Not reciprocating
Open up and say what you think, share how you feel. If someone shares an experience, open up too and share one of your experiences. Don’t just stand there nodding and answer with short sentences. If someone is investing in the conversation they’d like you to invest too.
Like in so many areas in life, you can’t always wait for the other party to make the first move. When needed, be proactive and be the first one to open up and invest in the conversation. One way is by replacing some questions with statements. It makes you less passive and makes take a sort of stand.
Not contributing much
You might feel that you don’t have much to contribute to a conversation. But try anyway. Really listen and be interested in what the others are saying. Ask questions. Make relating statements.
Open your eyes too. Develop your observational skills to pick up interesting stuff in your surroundings to talk about. Develop your personal knowledge-bank by expanding your view of interesting things in the world. Read the newspapers and keep an eye on new water cooler-topics.
Work on your body language, how you talk and try assuming rapport to improve your communication skills.
But take it easy. Don’t do it all at once. You’ll just feel confused and overwhelmed. Instead, pick out the three most important things that you feel needs improving. Work on them every day for 3-4 weeks. Notice the difference and keep at it. Soon your new habits will start to pop up spontaneously when you are in a conversation.
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http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2006/11/05/do-you-make-these-10-mistakes-in-a-conversation/
9 Signs You Shouldn't Hire that Web Guy
9 signs you shouldn't hire THAT web guy.
1. He Calls Himself a "Webmaster"
Any web guy that calls himself a "webmaster" probably isn't a master of anything. The term "webmaster" has become a translation for the word "amateur." The web has diversified into so many different realms that webmaster is no longer meaningful (was it ever though?)
2. He's a FrontPage Expert
Any developer / designer with a degree knows that Microsoft FrontPage most definitely isn't a professional tool. FrontPage will pass for Mom and Dad who want to create a website dedicated to their dogs, not someone who's trying to do business. I'd argue that a solid Web Developer should work at code level.
3. He'll Submit Your Website to [Inflated Number Here] Search Engines
Submitting your website to hundreds of search engines would be great…10 years ago. Websites are indexed by relevant search engines by how rich their content and keywords are. Search engine optimization is big business and submitting sites to search engines simply isn't the way to get to the top of Google.
4. He Wants a "Designed By …." Plug on the Bottom of Every Page
You've paid this person to create a marketing tool for you — not a billboard for him. Your website is a launch pad for your business and Poindexter McScooner is simply the man behind the curtain — keep him there.
5. He Created a Cool Website for [Insert Family Member / Friend Here]
Your business needs someone who's been there before. The most common answer to my "Who was he and what business did they work for?" question is "Oh, he did a website for the CEO's daughter's [insert lame organization here]." I honestly hear that friend-of-a-friend story all the time. Choose someone with a sizable portfolio that can provide references.
6. He Can Make You a Great Splash Page Flash Animation
Translation: "I can spend dozens of hours wasting your money to create something that will take too long to load and will be skipped more times than dessert at a bad restaurant." Consistency and website flow are important to web design — not meaningless animations that waste visitors' time and your money.
7. He Mentions He's HTML Expert
Who the hell isn't? I would argue that dropping any language acronym on a customer (PHP, Ruby on Rails, ColdFusion, etc.) unless they ask is meaningless fluff. A mechanic could use a banana on my car if it would fix it. Keep your tools, especially HTML, to yourself — the customer doesn't care.
8. He'll Fit a Cool Counter on Your Site
You'll add an ugly relic of the early internet on my site so that my competitors have an idea of my web stats? Sweet! Counters make a website look as unprofessional as possible — don't use them.
9. He'll Place a "Best If View in…" Message on Your Website
Any real Web Developer knows that he doesn't make the rules. Follow standards in the initial build and then fix it in Internet Explorer — that's the flow. No responsible programmer would place a "best if view in…" message on the front-end of a website.
If you liked this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks!
http://davidwalsh.name/9-signs-not-to-hire-that-web-guy/
What is Existential Depression?
When people talk about depression, sometimes they refer to different types based upon what they think may have caused their depression. One such possible cause is existential in nature, that is, a person ends up questioning his or her life, death or meaning of life, and by doing so, lapses into depression.
According to existentialism, a specific type of philosophy, humans are driven to meaning in their lives not by a specific type of deity or god, or by an outside authority, but internally, through our own choices, desires and pursuits. Humans are entirely free, and, therefore, entirely responsible for their own happiness or misery. It is up to each one of us to create the meaning which drives our life, whether it be through work, hobbies, charity, religion, relationships, offspring, family, or something else.
Existential depression may occur when a person comes face to face with these kinds of issues of life, death, freedom and the meaning of their life. For instance, a person with existential depression might ask themselves, “What is the meaning of my life? Is it only to work 9 to 5, have a family, and then die? Will I ever find someone who truly understands and believes in me no matter what? Does god care about me? Does anyone else truly care about me?” Existential depression may be characterized by a unique sense of hopelessness in feeling that our lives may actually be meaningless.
People who experience normal clinical depression may also experience existential issues related to the meaning of their life in the course of psychotherapy to treat the depression. This is a normal component of treatment of depression, and many clinicians will often work with the person to help them explore the meaning of their life if this happens.
Finding one’s meaning or passion in life is something that many people consider important, and an episode of existential depression can help focus a person’s need to find an answer to that question. Existential depression is usually treated not with any type of prescription medication, but rather psychotherapy focused on helping the person explore the meaning of their life.
Existential depression may be caused by a specific event in the person’s life (e.g., loss of a job or a loved one), or nothing at all. Existential depression has not been widely researched and no specific therapeutic approaches have been shown to work better than others in its treatment.
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2008/what-is-existential-depression/
Over half of India will live in urban areas by 2050
Over 55 percent of Indians will live in urban areas by 2050, a big change from now when only about 30 percent of the country's population is urban, according to projections in a United Nations report.
However, India will still not be as urbanised as China where the number of people living in cities will go up to 70 percent from the current 40 percent.
India will remain the country with the largest rural population during most of the future decades, according to the 2007 Revision of World Urbanisation Prospects released by the UN Tuesday.
By 2025, Chennai will be another mega city of over 10 million people, besides Mumbai with 26.4 million (up from 18 million in 2005), Delhi at 22.5 million (up from 16 million) and Kolkata with 20.5 million residents (up from 14 million).
The population growth in many second tier cities will even be higher. In Ahmedabad by 2025, the population will grow to 7.7 million, up 50 percent from the current 5.1 million. In Pune, 6.8 million people will live by then, a growth of 60 percent from the current 4.4 million.
Migration from rural to urban areas would continue despite attempts by the country's planners to prevent people from moving to cities, said Hania Zlotnik, director of Department of Economic and Social Affairs' Population Division, while releasing the report in New York.
Zlotnik said Indian planners should try to promote economic development in rural areas. But improving agriculture and establishment of agro-industries would mean fewer people would be needed in that sector, pushing excess labour to the non-farm sector in the cities.
She outlined two scenarios - either people would migrate to cities such as Mumbai, or one-time rural areas would transition into urban centres by generating other activities as has been happening in China.
The annual population growth in India's rural areas has been declining since reaching a peak of 1.9 percent during 1980-85. It will record negative growth by 2025. In comparison, the urban growth rate reached a peak of 3.9 percent during 1975-80 and has been declining since, yet will remain above two percent till 2040.
Projecting for the world, the UN report said half the global population would live in cities by the end of this year, for the first time in human history. Their number would rise to 70 percent by 2050, most of that growth being concentrated in Asia and Africa. The number of mega cities is expected to double from the current 20 to 40 by year 2025.
The greatest expansion, however, would happen not in metropolises but in cities with populations of less than 500,000 and even some of the rural areas will graduate into urban areas.
The report notes that its projections will be realised only if fertility rates in the developing world continue to decline.
http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=27992
Economic Survey of India : Highlights
Economy slows down to 8.7% in 2007-08
Inflation projected at 4.4 pc in 2007-08
3 manufacturing sector to grow at 9.4 pc in current financial year, lower from 12 pc in 2006-07
Lower agriculture growth at 2.6 pc in 2007-08 from 3.8 pc in 2006-07
Government sets target of 9 pc GDP growth during 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2012)
Maintaining 9% rate challenging
Double-digit growth tougher still
Deceleration this year was expected
Fundamentals "inspire confidence"
Investment climate "full of optimism"
But labour force growing faster than employment growth
Unemployment rate higher by 1pc in five years to 2005
Subsidies to increase by Rs 6,550 cr over Budget Estimate
Budget estimate for subsidies was Rs 51,247 cr
Glosses over off-Budget subsidies
Inflation seen at 4.1 pc this year
Inflation lower than 5.6 pc last year
Inflation mainly led by primary non-food items
Fuel and power group prime contributors to inflation
Investment goods inflation declines to 4.3 pc
Positive for investment
Farm growth seen at 2.6%, against 3.8% a year ago
Foodgrain output seen at 219.3 MT against 217.3 MT in FY'07
Acceleration in domestic investment, savings drove growth
Macroeconomic fundamentals continue to inspire confidence
Industrial growth slower at 9 pc in first 9 months of FY'08
Costly rupee, sluggish consumer goods and infra a concern
Rupee rose by 8.9 pc against USD during current fiscal
Average credit growth slowed to 26.8% in FY'07, down in '08
Forex reserves up by $91.6 bn to $290.8 bn on Feb 8, 2008
GDP projected at Rs 46,93,602 cr (mkt price) in 2007-08
Inflation reined despite higher commodity prices %26 surge in
capital inflows
Cumulative increase in non-food credit by Jan 4, 2008 was 11.8 pc as against 17.5 pc a year ago
Capital inflows rise to 7.7 pc of GDP in first half of FY'08 as against 5.1% in FY'07
FDI inflows reach $11.2 bn, outward investments surge to $7.3 bn in April-September
Exports reach $111 bn in first 9 months of FY'08; imports grow 25.9 pc
Surge in capital inflows, including FDI, to continue in
medium term
Complete the process of selling 5-10% equity in previously identified profit making non-navratna PSUs
Phase out control on sugar, fertiliser, drugs
Sell old oil fields to private sector
Allow a share for foreign equity in all retail trade
Raise foreign equity in insurance to 49 pc
Allow 100 pc FDI in greenfield private agri-banks
State Electricity Regulatory Commissions should notify
rational, credible, cross subsidy to make open-access viable
Increase work week to 60 hours from 48 hours and daily limit
to 12 hours
Introduce new bankruptcy law that facilitates exit of old/
failed management as expeditiously as possible
Public sector Rail Track company to own new tracks and
signals
Situation of excess inflows is likely to remain, though the
pressure on reserve accumulation and exchange rate
appreciation is likely to ease
Urgent need to place the highest priority on building roads
Urban land ceiling laws and limitations of rent control acts
needs to be urgently addressed
Irrigation a major constraint on raising crop productivity
Urgent need for a regime that supports predictable user
charges, a financial system that allocates risk efficiently,
and project selection based on sound commercial and legal
principles to ensure transparency
Import dependence to meet energy needs should be reduced by tapping coal reserves, accelerating exploration of oil and gas and fully exploiting the nuclear and hydro potential for
power generation
http://in.news.yahoo.com/indiabroadcast/20080228/r_t_ibn_nl_general/tnl-60040-3a4f8c1.html
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
77 Brain Hacks to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Betterb
If someone granted you one wish, what do you imagine you would want out of life that you haven't gotten yet? For many people, it would be self-improvement and knowledge.
New knowledge is the backbone of society's progress. Great thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and others' quests for knowledge have led society to many of the marvels we enjoy today.
Your quest for knowledge doesn't have to be as Earth-changing as Einstein's, but it can be an important part of your life, leading to a new job, better pay, a new hobby, or simply knowledge for knowledge's sake — whatever is important to you as an end goal.
Life-changing knowledge does typically require advanced learning techniques. In fact, it's been said that the average adult only uses 10% of his/her brain. Imagine what we may be capable of with more advanced learning techniques.
Here are 77 tips related to knowledge and learning to help you on your quest. A few are specifically for students in traditional learning institutions; the rest for self-starters, or those learning on their own. Happy learning.
Health
1. Shake a leg. Lack of blood flow is a common reason for lack of concentration. If you've been sitting in one place for awhile, bounce one of your legs for a minute or two. It gets your blood flowing and sharpens both concentration and recall.
2. Food for thought: Eat breakfast. A lot of people skip breakfast, but creativity is often optimal in the early morning and it helps to have some protein in you to feed your brain. A lack of protein can actually cause headaches.
3. Food for thought, part 2: Eat a light lunch. Heavy lunches have a tendency to make people drowsy. While you could turn this to your advantage by taking a "thinking nap" (see #23), most people haven't learned how.
4. Cognitive enhancers: Ginkgo biloba. Ginkgo biloba is a natural supplement that has been used in China and other countries for centuries and has been reputed to reverse memory loss in rats. It's also suggested by some health practitioners as a nootrope and thus a memory enhancer.
5. Reduce stress + depresssion. Stress and depression may reduce the ability to recall information and thus inhibit learning. Sometimes, all you need to reduce depression is more white light and fewer refined foods.
Balance
6. Sleep on it. Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote about in his book Psycho-Cybernetics about a man who was was paid good money to come up with ideas. He would lock his office door, close the blinds, turn off the lights. He'd focus on the problem at hand, then take a short nap on a couch. When he awoke, he usually had the problem solved.
7. Take a break. Change phyical or mental perspective to lighten the invisible stress that can sometimes occur when you sit in one place too long, focused on learning. Taking a 5-15 minute break every hour during study sessions is more beneficial than non-stop study. It gives your mind time to relax and absorb information. If you want to get really serious with breaks, try a 20 minute ultradian break as part of every 90 minute cycle. This includes a nap break, which is for a different purpose than #23.
8. Take a hike. Changing your perspective often relieves tension, thus freeing your creative mind. Taking a short walk around the neighborhood may help.
Perspective and Focus
9. Change your focus. Sometimes there simply isn't enough time to take a long break. If so, change subject focus. Alternate between technical and non-technical subjects.
10. Change your focus, part 2. There are three primary ways to learn: visual, kinesthetic, and auditory. If one isn't working for you, try another.
11. Do walking meditation. If you're taking a hike (#25), go one step further and learn walking meditation as a way to tap into your inner resources and your strengthen your ability to focus. Just make sure you're not walking inadvertently into traffic.
12. Focus and immerse yourself. Focus on whatever you're studying. Don't try to watch TV at the same time or worry yourself about other things. Anxiety does not make for absorption of information and ideas.
13. Turn out the lights. This is a way to focus, if you are not into meditating. Sit in the dark, block out extraneous influences. This is ideal for learning kinesthetically, such as guitar chord changes.
14. Take a bath or shower. Both activities loosen you up, making your mind more receptive to recognizing brilliant ideas.
Recall Techniques
15. Listen to music. Researchers have long shown that certain types of music are a great "key" for recalling memories. Information learned while listening to a particular song or collection can often be recalled simply by "playing" the songs mentally.
16. Speedread. Some people believe that speedreading causes you to miss vital information. The fact remains that efficient speedreading results in filtering out irrelevant information. If necessary, you can always read and re-read at slower speeds. Slow reading actually hinders the ability to absorb general ideas. (Although technical subjects often requirer slower reading.) If you're reading online, you can try the free Spreeder Web-based application.
17. Use acronyms and other mnemonic devices. Mnemonics are essentially tricks for remembering information. Some tricks are so effective that proper application will let you recall loads of mundane information years later.
Visual Aids
18. Every picture tells a story. Draw or sketch whatever it is you are trying to achieve. Having a concrete goal in mind helps you progress towards that goal.
19. Brainmap it. Need to plan something? Brain maps, or mind maps, offer a compact way to get both an overview of a project as well as easily add details. With mind maps, you can see the relationships between disparate ideas and they can also act as a receptacle for a brainstorming session.
20. Learn symbolism and semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols. Having an understanding of the symbols of a particular discipline aids in learning, and also allows you to record information more efficiently.
21. Use information design. When you record information that has an inherent structure, applying information design helps convey that information more clearly. A great resource is Information Aesthetics, which gives examples of information design and links to their sources.
22. Use visual learning techniques. Try gliffy for structured diagrams. Also see Inspiration.com for an explanation of webs, idea maps, concept maps, and plots.
23. Map your task flow. Learning often requires gaining knowledge in a specific sequence. Organizing your thoughts on what needs to be done is a powerful way to prepare yourself to complete tasks or learn new topics.
Verbal and Auditory Techniques
24. Stimulate ideas. Play rhyming games, utter nonsense words. These loosen you up, making you more receptive to learning.
25. Brainstorm. This is a time-honored technique that combines verbal activity, writing, and collaboration. (One person can brainstorm, but it's more effective in a group.) It's fruitful if you remember some simple rules: Firstly, don't shut anyone's idea out. Secondly, don't "edit" in progress; just record all ideas first, then dissect them later. Participating in brainstorming helps assess what you already know about something, and what you didn't know.
26. Learn by osmosis. Got an iPod? Record a few of your own podcasts, upload them to your iPod and sleep on it. Literally. Put it under your pillow and playback language lessons or whatever.
27. Cognitive enhancers: binaural beats. Binaural beats involve playing two close frequencies simultaneously to produce alpha, beta, delta, and theta waves, all of which produce either sleeping, restfulness, relaxation, meditativeness, alertness, or concentration. Binaural beats are used in conjunction with other excercises for a type of super-learning.
28. Laugh. Laughing relaxes the body. A relaxed body is more receptive to new ideas.
Kinesthetic Techniques
29. Write, don't type. While typing your notes into the computer is great for posterity, writing by hand stimulates ideas. The simple act of holding and using a pen or pencil massages acupuncture points in the hand, which in turn stimulates ideas.
30. Carry a quality notebook at all times. Samuel Taylor Coleridge dreamed the words of the poem "In Xanadu (did Kubla Khan)...". Upon awakening, he wrote down what he could recall, but was distracted by a visitor and promptly forgot the rest of the poem. Forever. If you've been doing "walking meditation" or any kind of meditation or productive napping, ideas may suddenly come to you. Record them immediately.
31. Keep a journal. This isn't exactly the same as a notebook. Journaling has to do with tracking experiences over time. If you add in visual details, charts, brainmaps, etc., you have a much more creative way to keep tabs on what you are learning.
32. Organize. Use sticky colored tabs to divide up a notebook or journal. They are a great way to partition ideas for easy referral.
33. Use post-it notes. Post-it notes provide a helpful way to record your thoughts about passages in books without defacing them with ink or pencil marks.
Self-Motivation Techniques
34. Give yourself credit. Ideas are actually a dime a dozen. If you learn to focus your mind on what results you want to achieve, you'll recognize the good ideas. Your mind will become a filter for them, which will motivate you to learn more.
35. Motivate yourself. Why do you want to learn something? What do want to achieve through learning? If you don't know why you want to learn, then distractions will be far more enticing.
36. Set a goal. W. Clement Stone once said "Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve." It's an amazing phenomenon in goal achievement. Prepare yourself by whatever means necessary, and hurdles will seem surmountable. Anyone who has experienced this phenomenon understands its validity. [Related Article: How to Write Your Goals]
37. Think positive. There's no point in setting learning goals for yourself if you don't have any faith in your ability to learn.
38. Organize, part 2. Learning is only one facet of the average adult's daily life. You need to organize your time and tasks else you might find it difficult to fit time in for learning. Try Neptune for a browser-based application for "getting things done."
39. Every skill is learned. With the exception of bodily functions, every skill in life is learned. Generally speaking, if one person can learn something, so can you. It may take you more effort, but if you've set a believable goal, it's likely an achievable goal.
40. Prepare yourself for learning. Thinking positive isn't sufficient for successfully achieving goals. This is especially important if you are an adult, as you'll probably have many distractions surrounding your daily life. Implement ways to reduce distractions, at least for a few hours at a time, else learning will become a frustrating experience.
41. Prepare yourself, part 2. Human nature is such that not everyone in your life will be a well-wisher in your self-improvement and learning plans. They may intentionally or subconsciously distract you from your goal. If you have classes to attend after work, make sure that work colleagues know this, that you are unable to work late. Diplomacy works best if you think your boss is intentionally giving you work on the days he/she knows you have to leave. Reschedule lectures to a later time slot if possible/ necessary.
42. Constrain yourself. Most people need structure in their lives. Freedom is sometimes a scary thing. It's like chaos. But even chaos has order within. By constraining yourself — say giving yourself deadlines, limiting your time on an idea in some manner, or limiting the tools you are working with — you can often accomplish more in less time.
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Supplemental Techniques
43. Read as much as you can. How much more obvious can it get? Use Spreeder (#33) if you have to. Get a breadth of topics as well as depth.
44. Cross-pollinate your interests. Neurons that connect to existing neurons give you new perspectives and abilities to use additional knowledge in new ways.
45. Learn another language. New perspectives give you the ability to cross-pollinate cultural concepts and come up with new ideas. As well, sometimes reading a book in its original language will provide you with insights lost in translation.
46. Learn how to learn. Management Help has a resource page, as does SIAST (Virtual Campus), which links to articles about learning methods. They are geared towards online learning, but no doubt you gain something from them for any type of learning. If you are serious about optimum learning, read Headrush's Crash course in learning theory.
47. Learn what you know and what you don't. Many people might say, "I'm dumb," or "I don't know anything about that." The fact is, many people are wholly unaware of what they already know about a topic. If you want to learn about a topic, you need to determine what you already know, figure out what you don't know, and then learn the latter.
48. Multi-task through background processes. Effective multi-tasking allows you to bootstrap limited time to accomplish several tasks. Learning can be bootstrapped through multi-tasking, too. By effective multitasking, I don't mean doing two or more things at exactly the same time. It's not possible. However, you can achieve the semblance of effective multitasking with the right approach, and by prepping your mind for it. For example, a successful freelance writer learns to manage several articles at the same time. Research the first essay, and then let the background processes of your mind takeover. Move on consciously to the second essay. While researching the second essay, the first one will often "write itself." Be prepared to record it when it "appears" to you.
49. Think holistically. Holistic thinking might be the single most "advanced" learning technique that would help students. But it's a mindset rather than a single technique.
50. Use the right type of repetition. Complex concepts often require revisting in order to be fully absorbed. Sometimes, for some people, it may actually take months or years. Repetition of concepts and theory with various concrete examples improves absorption and speeds up learning.
51. Apply the Quantum Learning (QL) model. The Quantum Learning model is being applied in some US schools and goes beyond typical education methods to engage students.
52. Get necessary tools. There are obviously all kinds of tools for learning. If you are learning online like a growing number of people these days, then consider your online tools. One of the best tools for online research is the Firefox web browser, which has loads of extensions (add-ons) with all manner of useful features. One is Googlepedia, which simultaneously displays Google search engine listings, when you search for a term, with related entries from Wikipedia.
53. Get necessary tools, part 2. This is a very niche tip, but if you want to learn fast-track methods for building software, read Getting Real from 37 Signals. The Web page version is free. The techniques in the book have been used to create Basecamp, Campfire, and Backpack web applications in a short time frame. Each of these applications support collaboration and organization.
54. Learn critical thinking. As Keegan-Michael Key's character on MadTV might say, critical thinking takes analysis to "a whole notha level". Read Wikipedia's discourse on critical thinking as a starting point. It involves good analytical skills to aid the ability to learn selectively.
55. Learn complex problem solving. For most people, life is a series of problems to be solved. Learning is part of the process. If you have a complex problem, you need to learn the art of complex problem solving.
For Teachers, Tutors, and Parents
56. Be engaging. Lectures are one-sided and often counter-productive. Information merely heard or witnessed (from a chalkboard for instance) is often forgotten. Teaching is not simply talking. Talking isn't enough. Ask students questions, present scenarios, engage them.
57. Use information pyramids. Learning happens in layers. Build base knowledge upon which you can add advanced concepts.
58. Use video games. Video games get a bad rap because of certain violent games. But video games in general can often be an effective aid to learning.
59. Role play. Younger people often learn better by being part of a learning experience. For example, history is easier to absorb through reenactments.
60. Apply the 80/20 rule. This rule is often interpreted in dfferent ways. In this case, the 80/20 rule means that some concepts, say about 20% of a curriculum, require more effort and time, say about 80%, than others. So be prepared to expand on complex topics.
61. Tell stories. Venus Flytrap, a character from the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, once taught a student gang member about atoms, electrons, and protons by saying that an atom was one big neighborhood, and the protons and neutrons had their own smaller neighborhoods and never mixed. Just like rival gangs. The story worked, and understanding sparked in the students eyes.
62. Go beyond the public school curriculum. The public school system is woefully lacking in teaching advanced learning and brainstorming methods. It's not that the methods cannot be taught; they just aren't. To learn more, you have to pay a premium in additional time and effort, and sometimes money for commercially available learning tools. There's nothing wrong with that in itself, but what is taught in schools needs to be expanded. This article's author has proven that a nine-year old can learn (some) university level math, if the learning is approached correctly.
63. Use applied learning. If a high school student were having trouble in math, say with fractions, one example of applied learning might be photography, lenses, f-stops, etc. Another example is cooking and measurement of ingredients. Tailor the applied learning to the interest of the student.
For Students and Self-Studiers
64. Be engaged. Surprise. Sometimes students are bored because they know more than is being taught, maybe even more than a teacher. (Hopefully teachers will assess what each student already knows.) Students should discuss with a teacher if they feel that the material being covered is not challenging. Also consider asking for additional materials.
65. Teach yourself. Teachers cannot always change their curricula. If you're not being challenged, challenge yourself. Some countries still apply country-wide exams for all students. If your lecturer didn't cover a topic, you should learn it on your own. Don't wait for someone to teach you. Lectures are most effective when you've pre-introduced yourself to concepts.
66. Collaborate. If studying by yourself isn't working, maybe a study group will help.
67. Do unto others: teach something. The best way to learn something better is to teach it to someone else. It forces you to learn, if you are motivated enough to share your knowledge.
68. Write about it. An effective way to "teach" something is to create an FAQ or a wiki containing everything you know about a topic. Or blog about the topic. Doing so helps you to realize what you know and more importantly what you don't. You don't even have to spend money if you grab a freebie account with Typepad, Wordpress, or Blogger.
69. Learn by experience. Pretty obvious, right? It means put in the necessary time. An expert is often defined as someone who has put in 10,000 hours into some experience or endeavor. That's approximately 5 years of 40 hours per week, every week. Are you an expert without realizing it? If you're not, do you have the dedication to be an expert?
70. Quiz yourself. Testing what you've learned will reinforce the information. Flash cards are one of the best ways, and are not just for kids.
71. Learn the right things first. Learn the basics. Case in point: a frustrating way to learn a new language is to learn grammar and spelling and sentence constructs first. This is not the way a baby learns a language, and there's no reason why an adult or young adult has to start differently, despite "expert" opinion. Try for yourself and see the difference.
72. Plan your learning. If you have a long-term plan to learn something, then to quote Led Zeppelin, "There are two paths you can go by." You can take a haphazard approach to learning, or you can put in a bit of planning and find an optimum path. Plan your time and balance your learning and living.
Parting Advice
73. Persist. Don't give up learning in the face of intimdating tasks. Anything one human being can learn, most others can as well. Wasn't it Einstein that said, "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration"? Thomas Edison said it, too.
74. Defy the experts. Dyslexia, in a nutshell, is the affliction of mentally jumbling letters and digits, causing difficulties in reading, writing and thus learning. Sometimes spoken words or numbers get mixed up as well. In the past, "experts" declared dyslexic children stupid. Later, they said they were incapable of learning. This author has interacted with and taught dyslexic teens. It's possible. Helen Keller had no experience of sight, sound, or speech, and yet she learned. Conclusion: There is more than one way to learn; never believe you cannot.
75. Challenge yourself. People are often more intelligent than they realize. In a world that compartmentalizes and categorizes everything, not everyone is sure where they fit in. And genius can be found in many walks of life. If you honestly suspect that there's more to you than has been "allowed" to be let out, try an IQ test such as the one offered by MENSA. It's unlike the standardized IQ tests given in many schools. You know the kind — the ones which traumatize many young students into thinking they are stupid, simply because the tests don't really assess all student's knowledge and learning ability. And the ability to learn is far, far more important than what you already know.
76. Party before an exam. Well, don't go that far. The key is to relax. The worse thing to do is cram the night before an exam. If you don't already know a subject by then, cramming isn't going to help. If you have studied, simply review the topic, then go do something pleasant (no more studying). Doing so tells your brain that you are prepared and that you will be able to recall anything that you have already learned. On the other hand, if you didn't spend the semester learning the ideas you need, you might as well go party anyways because cramming at the last minute isn't going to help much at that point.
77. Don't worry; learn happy. Have a real passion for learning and want to share that? Join a group such as the Joyful Jubilant Learning community [via LifeHack].
This article was originally published at the Online Education Database
10 Killer Tips For Rapid Weight Loss
In order to make the most of your weight loss program, finding the most effective ways to burn fat will maximize your results and minimize your waistline! Follow these 10 tips for fat burning if you want to lose weight and lead a healthier way of life.
1.) Drink More Water
One of the best weight loss secrets is to ditch the sodas and stick to water! Experts say you should drink approximately eight glasses of water a day to stay hydrated and healthy. Instead of turning to calorie-laden or sugar-rich drinks, grab a refreshing glass of water. In addition to flushing toxins out of your system, drinking water encourages you to build muscle.
2.) Eat More Meals
A traditional three-meals-a-day plan just will not cut it if you are in the market to burn fat. Your body is not able to metabolize large meals and will quickly turn any excess into fat. Many experts believe you should eat six small meals a day. Be sure you cut back on your food consumption at each meal, or else you will be doubling your intake—and doubling your fat storage!
3.) Work Out with Weights
One great way to maximize the amount of fat you are burning is to add a weight program to your work out routine. Weight training will not only tone your physique, but will strengthen your body and improve your general health. Lifting weights will also burn calories and fat more quickly than traditional exercising, and it will also boost your metabolism.
4.) Choose Protein
Choose protein-laden foods for boosting your metabolism and enabling your body to burn fat rapidly. In addition to burning fat, consuming a protein-enriched diet will help you rebuild muscle after work outs and maintain leanness of that muscle. Wisely choose proteins for your diet. Take great care to pick proteins low in fat so you do not consume extra calories.
5.) Cut Calories Wisely
It may be tempting to drastically cut your calorie intake when starting a healthy lifestyle. Instead, use a step method when cutting your calorie intake to minimize risk. Reducing calories too quickly results in your body rapidly burning all available calories, which will lower your metabolism. Furthermore, you are more likely to maintain your healthy lifestyle through this step method.
6.) Reward Yourself
When it comes to successfully dieting to burn the most fat, be sure to reward yourself. Everyone has temptations and favorite treats—so allow indulgence. You will be less likely to cheat on your new diet if you grant yourself small rewards. If you are a chocolate lover, treat yourself to a small square of chocolate or single chocolate kiss each evening.
7.) Avoid Marathon Work Outs
8.) Mix It Up
Choosing to engage in a variety of quality exercises will keep your interest and best allow you to maintain your goal of burning fat. Instead of doing the same exercises each day—mix it up! Opt to swim laps one day, jog another, and bike the next. Rotating your activities will not only allow you to experience a variety of athletics, it will also allow you to better tone your body.
9.) Skip Happy Hour
For those individuals who want to burn fat quickly, avoid alcohol. Rich in sugars and carbohydrates, alcohol is a calorie-rich substance. These empty calories can add up quickly and take away from necessary nutrients that should be included in your daily diet. Furthermore, alcohol acts as an inhibitor for burning fat, allowing your body to store it more quickly.
10.) Try a Low GI Diet
A low GI diet is an excellent method of burning fat quickly. This diet encourages individuals to consume high amounts of foods with low rankings on the Glycemic Index. These foods are nutritious and will aid your body in burning fats and calories at a quicker pace. This diet includes many of your favorite fruits, vegetable, meats, dairy, and grain products.
Source : World Wide Web
Add Chat to Your Webspace with Google Talk Chatback
Google Talk has released a new chatback feature allowing people visiting your blog, online profile, or personal web page to chat directly with you via Google Talk. To use chatback on your web site or supported personal profile page, all you need is a Google Talk account and some web space where you can embed the chatback badge code. Any user who wants to chat with you through the chatback badge doesn't need a Google Talk account at all, so it's a great way to let friends, family, or readers of your blog, for example, contact you quickly and easily without needing to register for anything.
Cheesy Pick-up Lines in Every Language
ten lines from Brook's book to help get you started collecting your United Nations of bed-mates:
"Do you come here often?"
FRENCH
Tu viens ici souvent?
SPANISH
¿Viene aqui mucho?
ITALIAN
Vieni spesso qui?
GERMAN
Kommst du hier oft?
DUTCH
Kom je heir vaak?
"How you doin'?"
FRENCH
Alors, ça roule?
SPANISH
¿Què tal?
ITALIAN
Come stai?
GERMAN
Wie geht's?
DANISH
Hva så der?
"Is it hot in here, or is it just you?"
FRENCH
Il fait chaud ici, ou c`est juste toi?
SPANISH
¿Hace calor aqui, o eres tù?
ITALIAN
Fa caldo qui, o è perchè ci sei tu?
GERMAN
Ist es hier warm, oder bist du nur heiβ?
SWEDISH
Är det varmt här eller, är det bara du?
"Screw me if I'm wrong, but you want to sleep with me, don't you?"
FRENCH
Baise-moisi j`ai tort, mais tu veux cocher avec moi, n`est ce pas?
SPANISH
Que me jodan si me equivoco:¿tù quieres acostarte conmigo, no?
ITALIAN
Fottimi se mi sbaglio, ma vuoi venire a letto con me, no?
GERMAN
Ich soll verflucht sein, wenn ich mich irre, aber du willst doch mit mir schlafen, oder?
DUTCH
Ik mag doodvallen als 't niet waar is, maar je wilt met naar bed, hè?
"What's a nice girl like you doing in a dirty mind like mine?"
FRENCH
Que fait une gentille fille comme toi dans un esprit mal tournè comme le mien?
SPANISH
¿Que hace una chica tan maja como tù en una mente tan sucia como la mìa?
ITALIAN
Che fa una ragazza perbene come te in una mente sporca come la mia?
GERMAN
Was macht ein nettes Mädchen wie du in so schmutzigen Gedanken wie meinen?
DANISH
Hvad laver en pæn pige som dig i mine beskidte fantasier?
"If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?"
FRENCH
Si je te disais que tu as un beau corps, tu m'en tiendrais rigueur?
SPANISH
Si te digo que tienes un cuerpo precioso,¿me lo restregaràs por la cara?
ITALIAN
Se ti dicessi che hai un bel corpo, lo stringeresti sul mio?
GERMAN
Wenn ich sage, dass du einen tollen Körper hast, würdest du es mich spürgen lassen?
THAI (phonetically)
Taa chan bok wa khoon mii roobrang tii som suan khoon ja yeng chan mai?
"That's a nice set of legs, what time do they open?"
FRENCH
Que belle paire de jambes, A quelle heure s'ouvrent-elles?
SPANISH
Vaya par de piernas. ¿A què hora abren?
ITALIAN
Che bel paio di gambe. A che ora aprono?
GERMAN
Das sind hübsche Biene—und wann öffnen sie?
RUSSIAN (phonetically)
Haroshenikie nozhki, a kagda ani atkryvayootsya?
"That's a nice dress. It would look great on my bedroom floor."
FRENCH
Quelle belle robe. Je la vois bien par terre dans me chambre.
SPANISH
Llevas un vestido muy bonito. Quedarìa precioso en el suelo de mi habitaciòn.
ITALIAN
Che bel vestito. Andrebbe molto bene sul pavimento della mia camera da letto.
"My underwear is edible."
FRENCH
Mes sous-vètements sont comestibles.
SPANISH
Mi ropa interior es comestible.
ITALIAN
Le mie mutande sono commestibili.
GERMAN
Meine Unterwäsche ist essbar.
HEBREW (phonetically)
Hatakhtonim sheli akhilim.
And, if any of these should actually work...
"I'm not sleeping on the wet spot."
FRENCH
Je ne dors pas sur la partie mouillèe.
SPANISH
Yo no duermo encima de este charco.
ITALIAN
Non dormo sulla chiazza bagnata.
GERMAN
Ich schlafe nicht auf der nassen Stelle.
THAI (phonetically)
Chan ja mai non bon puen biaak.
Pakistan set to lift its ban on Bollywood
Cinema is a powerful weapon, though it is often called soft power. Men like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Germany's Adolf Hitler understood the awesome might of movies.
Mussolini established the world's first film festival at Venice in 1932 primarily to promote Italian cinema and that of his allies. Reni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" was an eerie documentary that endorsed what would become Hitler's notions of mass murder. She was the golden girl of German cinema, and Hitler's pet.
In India, cinema has never been used for an evil purpose, but politicians, especially in southern India, started their lives in the tinsel world. Often as scriptwriters, directors and even actors, they liberally used the medium to publicize and propagate their political ideals and views. They were highly successful, for the visually enriching movies they created touched the heart of the ordinary citizen. Cinema in India still continues to be a strong weapon for swaying people.
Admittedly, films do play a very positive role in our world if we forget and ignore what men like Hitler and Mussolini did with cinema. Movies are great binders. They build bridges among races, peoples and countries, helping one to understand and sympathize with another's point of view. Cinema creates a sense of identity and affinity, and this cannot be truer than in the case of India and Pakistan, two Asian neighbors who have been at war over Kashmir for decades.
The people of Pakistan love Indian cinema, with its color, music, grand costumes and breathtaking locales.
Indian films spread sheer joy. Popularly described as Bollywood, Indian cinema has enslaved hearts for decades with its melodrama. The primarily Hindi-language movies that grew out of Bombay, often called "Magic City," have traveled from Russia to Africa and from Canada to New Zealand, spreading thrills and enjoyment through its beautiful characters and make-believe moods.
Indian pictures are a hit even in China, despite a yawning gap in the two cultures. Travelers to China tell me that cab drivers have started to hum popular Indian songs. In Beijing, in Shanghai and elsewhere, cassettes of Indian celluloid works are to be found aplenty, sought after by expatriates and locals alike.
However, big-screen Bollywood could never cross over to Pakistan. This is sad because Bollywood originated in the Pakistani city of Lahore, where a vibrant film industry thrived before the Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. Hordes of movie men came to Bombay to set up what became Bollywood.
Bereft of talent, Lahore's Lollywood could never become a Bollywood, but Pakistan is all set to lift a 43-year-old ban on Indian cinema. Pakistan's parliamentary committee on culture has just recommended that the ban be lifted, and Cabinet approval is to follow soon.
"We have devised a mechanism for allowing the import of Indian pictures for a period of one year, after which the arrangements can be reviewed," said Sen. Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, who heads the committee.
The ban was imposed in 1965 when the two South Asian neighbors went to war over Kashmir, a region both claim as their own. However, nothing could stop the march of Bollywood; its movies were smuggled into Pakistan, and huge amounts of pirated VCDs and DVDs were sold in clandestine operations. But once the ban goes, Pakistanis will be able to watch the latest masala on the big screen from Bombay in about week after it opens in India.
Bollywood is sure to give a fresh leash on life to the moribund Pakistan film industry. Today the country has fewer than 300 screens, compared to about 1,500 in the early 1970s. Indian cinema may not only help revive cinemas, but also provide much-needed inspiration to Lollywood, listless and languishing for years.
The question is will Pakistan's ultra-radical clergy allow the entry of Bollywood with its see-through rain-drenched body-hugging saris that ravishing Indian stars wear to titillate the male fantasy?
B. Gautam writes for a leading Indian newspaper.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-southasia.asp?parentid=88005
Men remember their first car better than their first kiss
Majority of men remember their first car more than their first kiss, a survey revealed. According to the study, 60 per cent of respondents regarded their first car as being female and a quarter gave it a name. Owning their first car ranked higher than their initial embrace, their first boyfriend or girlfriend and their 18th birthday, the survey carried out by the organisers of the British International Motor Show found. About 40 per cent of respondents even remembered their first registration plate in full. More than a third said they had sex in their first vehicle. Show organiser Kirsty Perkinson said people develop strong bonds with their first car. "First cars represent an explosion of independence and a gateway to untold adventures, which is why they are so special," the Daily Mail quoted Ms Perkinson as saying.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1153207
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Parmesan? It’s OK if it’s German, court says
Germany will not have to remove the name “Parmesan” from cheeses on sale that are not made in Italy’s Parma region, Europe’s highest court said on Tuesday.
Germany won a reprieve on Tuesday, though perhaps only temporarily, from having to rename cheeses made or sold there under the same name as Italian Parmesan.
The European Union’s highest court upheld the EU’s principle of protected food names by saying that only cheeses labelled “Parmigiano Reggiano” — in other words, those made in Italy — should be sold as “Parmesan”.
But it said responsibility for policing this did not lie with Germany, which had been taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission in Brussels.
Parmesan, a hard cheese that is grated onto pasta or eaten in slivers with balsamic vinegar in a salad, comes from the Parma region in northern Italy, where cheesemakers are fighting to protect their product from cheaper, lower-quality copies.
The Commission, the EU executive, argued that Germany should not have allowed non-Italian cheese to be labelled “Parmesan”.
But Germany, Europe’s second-largest producer of that type of cheese, said “Parmesan” had become a generic term over the centuries for grated hard cheese, and entirely unrelated to the specific Italian product from the Parma region.
The court said in a statement that an EU country was not obliged to take the initiative in penalising the infringement on its territory of protected origin names from another EU country.
... the only inspection structures which are obliged to ensure compliance with PDOs are those of the member state from which the PDO (protected designation of origin) in question originates,” it said.
“Responsibility for monitoring compliance with the specification for the PDO ‘Parmigiano Reggiano’ does not therefore lie with the German inspection authorities.”
The original Italian name, along with the cheese’s specific geographical origin and manufacturing process, won legal protection as a PDO across the EU in 1996.
Both the Commission and Italian cheesemakers welcomed the verdict, saying its most important aspect was to confirm that only “Parmigiano Reggiano” could be sold as “Parmesan”.
“The court has upheld the basis of our PDO system,” Commission agriculture spokesman Michael Mann said. “Parmesan is not a generic product — you can only call it that if you follow the specifications of Parmigiano Reggiano.”
“We lost the case because it was specifically about our thinking that Germany had a legal responsibility to prevent the sale of these products,” he said.
Under the EU’s system of protected names for farm products, of which there are hundreds, protection also extends across the 27-country bloc to translations of the registered term or name.
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Why lesbians must be thin
A study done by American Journal of Public Health stated that lesbians are twice as likely as heterosexual women to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death. 1. Men do not care about appearance as much as women. Most of the time women fuss about their appearance and how they wish they could be thinner, but what do men care ? A men do not want a woman to have a skinny body that resembles Kate Moss, in fact men are alright with those love handles and a little lump of fat in your arm. So what makes women attractive in front of men is actually how attractive you are. So if lesbians say that other lesbians do not care about how I look then it could be wrong. Sometimes ago I even read a survey that stated most women are not satisfied with their current weight or shape, but most of them who take the survey have boyfriends! So if women care about physical appearance so much, then being a lesbian means that you need to worry about your appearance as it is the factor that can appeal your counterpart. 2. Appearance is a reflection of your personalities. The studies by American Journal of Public Health actually drive people to stereotype the lesbians as the butch type lesbians, with men hair cut and obese body. While there are indeed a butch type of lesbians, but being a butch type does not mean that lesbian can become attractive. Being attractive has very LITTLE to do with being thin. Yes of course you can't expect someone to call you attractive if you are having morbid obesity, unless that someone know and enjoy your personalities really well. But a lesbian should care and try to do the best with her appearance. If you look terrible on your obese body then by all means struggle to get rid of it. Caring for your appearance, in the very bottom of a nutshell, means that you must know and care about how do you look. Dress, body and your body language determine how do you care for your appearance. If a person looks sluggish and apathist of her appearance then a quick judgment from the crowd will be that this person is also an apathist and dirty person. Your appearance is a window to your personalities. You may see a lot of 60 years old or more woman still look appealing to others, for example Meryl Streep. 3. Your appearance can make other women jealous. And that's the most important reason why women bother to shape up their appearances. Don't you love the envious look that others give when you walk. And believe me that this type of nature will last for lifetime. A 70 years old woman can still look graceful and tall that she can intimidates younger woman by just looking at her. Appearance play the card to this envious game, and I am not talking about the sexy dress and body, in fact I am talking about the way you laugh, smile, dress and look that can make others envious. 4. Your appearance is a tribute to your beloved ones. A 60 years old woman spent two hours to select her dress, busily put her best dress, wear proper make up just to go on a date with her husband. And it's so touching when we see that two old couples is still enjoying the laugh and love together regardless how time has passed. Suddenly we can see that both of them are beautiful in a way despite their age. Why do men like women who strive hard to make her appearance wonderful in front of him? Because men feel respected by the efforts of the women. And so is your lesbian counterpart. You may have a boyish cut but that does not stop you to prepare your best appearance as a tribute for your lesbian counterpart. Appearance is a form of respect and that's why you should strive hard for it. What is written here can motivates everyone (not just women) to care more for their appearances. Appearances can be the deciding factors between a meeting of two lovers, or it can be a deciding factors for everything. With proper appearances your aura will shine out and that probably will lead you into more success in your career. Or perhaps a strive of effort in maintaining appearance can be the deciding factor that stops your husband or wife from cheating. Work hard and maintain your appearances! http://www.miscmasala.com/2008/02/top-reasons-why-lesbian-must-be-thin.html
Top 10 Most Evil Men
The most unfortunate aspect to researching this list was the realization that a list of top 100 most evil men could have been made and still a multitude of people for were candidates for a second list! The selection of this list is based not upon death tolls, but upon the general actions, and impact, or brutality of the people. From bad to worst, here are the top 10 evil men in history.
10. Attila The Hun
Attila was Khan of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. In much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. An unsuccessful campaign in Persia was followed in 441 by an invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire, the success of which emboldened Attila to invade the West. He passed unhindered through Austria and Germany, across the Rhine into Gaul, plundering and devastating all in his path with a ferocity unparalleled in the records of barbarian invasions and compelling those he overcame to augment his mighty army. Attila drowned in his own blood on his wedding night.
9. Maximilien Robespierre
Maximilien Robespierre was a leader of the French revolution and it was his arguments that caused the revolutionary government to murder the king without a trial. In addition, Robespierre was one of the main driving forces behind the reign of terror, a 10 month post-revolutionary period in which mass executions were carried out. The Terror took the lives of between 18,500 to 40,000 people, with 1,900 being killed in the last month. Among people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes.
In an act of coincidental justice, Robespierre was guillotined without a trial in 1794.
8. Ruhollah Khomeini
Ayatollah Khomeini was the religious leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989. In that time he implemented Sharia Law (Islamic religious law) with the Islamic dress code enforced for both men and women by Islamic Revolutionary Guards and other Islamic groups. Opposition to the religious rule of the clergy or Islam in general was often met with harsh punishments. In a talk at the Fayzieah School in Qom, August 30, 1979, Khomeini said:
“Those who are trying to bring corruption and destruction to our country in the name of democracy will be oppressed. They are worse than Bani-Ghorizeh Jews, and they must be hanged. We will oppress them by God’s order and God’s call to prayer.”
In the 1988 massacre of Iranian prisoners, following the People’s Mujahedin of Iran operation Forough-e Javidan against the Islamic Republic, Khomeini issued an order to judicial officials to judge every Iranian political prisoner and kill those who would not repent anti-regime activities. Many say that thousands were swiftly put to death inside the prisons. The suppressed memoirs of Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri reportedly detail the execution of 30,000 political activists.
After eleven days in a hospital for an operation to stop internal bleeding, Khomeini died of cancer on Saturday, June 04, 1989, at the age of 86.
7. Idi Amin Dada
Idi Amin was an army officer and president of Uganda. He took power in a military coup in January 1971, deposing Milton Obote. His rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extra judicial killings and the expulsion of Indians from Uganda. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is unknown; estimates range from 80,000 to 500,000. On August 4, 1972, Amin issued a decree ordering the expulsion of the 60,000 Asians who were not Ugandan citizens (most of them held British passports). This was later amended to include all 80,000 Asians, with the exception of professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and teachers. Amin was eventually overthrown, but until his death, he held that Uganda needed him and he never expressed remorse for the abuses of his regime.
6. Leopold II of Belgium
Leopold II was King of Belgium from 1865-1909. With financial support from the government, Leopold created the Congo Free State, a private project undertaken to extract rubber and ivory in the Congo region of central Africa, which relied on forced labour and resulted in the deaths of approximately 3 million Congolese. The regime of the Congo Free State became one of the more infamous international scandals of the turn of the century. The area of land privately owned by the King was an area 76 times larger than Belgium, which he was free to rule as a personal domain through his private army, the Force Publique. Leopold’s rubber gatherers tortured, maimed and slaughtered until at the turn of the century, the conscience of the Western world forced Brussels to call a halt.
5. Pol Pot
Pol Pot was the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the Prime Minister of Cambodia from 1976 to 1979, having been de facto leader since mid-1975. During his time in power Pol Pot imposed an extreme version of agrarian communism where all city dwellers were relocated to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labour projects. The combined effect of slave labour, malnutrition, poor medical care and executions is estimated to have killed around 2 million Cambodians (approximately one third of the population). His regime achieved special notoriety for singling out all intellectuals and other “bourgeois enemies” for murder. The Khmer Rouge committed mass executions in sites known as the Killing Fields. The executed were buried in mass graves. In order to save ammunition, executions were often carried out using hammers, axe handles, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks.
4. Vlad Ţepeş
Vlad III of Romania (also known as Vlad the Impaler) was Prince of Wallachia three times between 1448 and 1476. Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire main character in Bram Stoker’s popular Dracula novel. In Romania he is viewed by many as a prince with a deep sense of justice. His method of torture was a horse attached to each of the victim’s legs as a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled, and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp; else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Wikipedia has an article that describes, in great details, the methods of Vlad’s cruelty. The list of tortures he is alleged to have employed is extensive: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to animals, and boiling alive. There are claims that on some occasions ten thousand people were impaled in 1460 alone.
3. Ivan IV of Russia
Ivan IV of Russia, also know as Ivan the Terrible, was the Grand Duke of Muscovy from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of Tsar. In 1570, Ivan was under the belief that the elite of the city of Novgorod planned to defect to Poland, and led an army to stop them on January 2. Ivan’s soldiers built walls around the perimeter of the city in order to prevent the people of the city escaping. Between 500 and 1000 people were gathered every day by the troops, then tortured and killed in front of Ivan and his son. In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, causing a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son’s (accidental) death.
2. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, becoming “Führer” in 1934 until his suicide in 1945. By the end of the second world war, Hitler’s policies of territorial conquest and racial subjugation had brought death and destruction to tens of millions of people, including the genocide of some six million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. On 30 April 1945, after intense street-to-street combat, when Soviet troops were spotted within a block or two of the Reich Chancellory, Hitler committed suicide, shooting himself while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule.
1. Josef Stalin
Stalin was General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953. Under Stalin’s leadership, the Ukraine suffered from a famine (Holodomor) so great it is considered by many to be an act of genocide on the part of Stalin’s government. Estimates of the number of deaths range from 2.5 million to 10 million. The famine was caused by direct political and administrative decisions. In addition to the famine, Stalin ordered purges within the Soviet Union of any person deemed to be an enemy of the state. In total, estimates of the total number murdered under Stalins reign, range from 10 million to 60 million.
Bonus: Emperor Hirohito of Japan
Hirohito was the Emporer of Japan from 1926 to 1989. In 1937, Japanese troops committed the war crime that is now known as the Rape of Nanking (the then Capital of China, now known as Nanjing). The duration of the massacre is not clearly defined, although the violence lasted well into the next six weeks, until early February 1938. During the occupation of Nanjing, the Japanese army committed numerous atrocities, such as rape, looting, arson and the execution of prisoners of war and civilians. A large number of women and children were also killed, as rape and murder became more widespread. The death toll is generally considered to be between 150,000 and 300,000. The Wikipedia article contains images and descriptions of the atrocities committed.
Notable Omissions: Oliver Cromwell, Mao Tse-tung, Kim Il-sung, Caligula
http://www.miscmasala.com/2008/02/top-10-most-evil-men.html
Neues Werk in Indien
„Indien, einer der am schnellsten wachsenden Automärkte, wird eine Schlüsselrolle in unserem weltweiten Wachstum spielen“, erklärt Patrick Pélata, Vizepräsident von Renault. Mit dem neuen Werk wollen man an den Erfolg des Logan anknüpfen. Bereits seit Mai letzten Jahres vertreibt Renault zusammen mit dem indischen Partner Mahindra & Mahindra den Logan sedan. Es wurden bereits über 20.000 Fahrzeuge verkauft. http://www.automobil-industrie.vogel.de/oems/articles/110192/ Renault und Nissan haben ein Abkommen mit der Regierung von Tamil Nadu über den Bau einer neuen Produktionsanlage in Oragadam unterzeichnet.
In einem 50:50 Joint Venture verpflichteten sich Renault und Nissan innerhalb der ersten sieben Jahre zu einer installierten Anriebsleistung von 400.000 Fahrzeugen pro Jahr. Die minimalen Investitionen dafür liegen bei 780 Millionen Euro. Das geplante Werk solle beiden Partnern die Fertigung einer breiten Produktpalette ermöglichen, sowohl für den indischen Markt, als auch zum Export, hieß es in einer Mitteilung der Hersteller. Man erwarte den Produktionsstart in Oragadam für 2010. 
In Indien entsteht bis 2010 ein neues Werk. 
Optimismus auf beiden Seiten
„Wir wollen unbedingt Produkte entwickeln und herstellen, die auf die Ansprüche des indischen Marktes zugeschnitten sind“, sagt Carlos Tavares, Vizepräsident von Nissan.
Monday, February 25, 2008
13 Ways to Find New Hidden Markets
1. Find and expand into new geographical markets for an existing product. This is the simplest and quickest strategy to grow your business. It requires minimal investment with infrequent and either direct or indirect exporting, and little planning of market development. Exporting is a common growth tactic for both mature international companies as well as smaller companies. This market entry strategy contributes to the revenue stream and profitability of an increasing number of enterprises.
2. Tap and penetrate emerging markets. We cannot wait for big emerging markets like India and China to grow up. The work should begin now to take advantage of opportunities presented by rapidly developing economies and to ensure that we are ready to reap the rewards when these markets explode.
3. Source new products that complement existing ones and offer them as a new, specially priced package deal. This should be a snap by surfing ThomasNet.com (http://www.thomasnet.com/), Alibaba.com (http://www.alibaba.com) and GlobalSources.com (http://www.globalsources.com), which provide a wealth of information on potential manufacturers.
4. Reduce dependence on existing markets. Protect your company against the risk of decline in domestic sales by exporting, using the Internet, licensing or franchising your industrial products.
5. Develop new applications for existing products that can be offered to new buyers. Here’s where a few months of actually living in a foreign country really pays off. It enables you to learn firsthand how the locals do things and what they need to do them better.
Perhaps a favorite food dish in China could be made better and or more quickly if you changed the speed of a kitchen mixer. Or maybe reconfiguring an existing vacuum attachment would be perfect for some out-of-the-way corners in Sri Lanka. Before you set out to do business in a particular country, ask some simple questions. How do the people there like to spend their time? What are their favorite gadgets? How do they clean their homes or cars? How are their clothes laundered? If you can’t travel there, the information-gathering strategies outlined above should give you some answers.
Think beyond the everyday uses of things as well as cultural constraints and you’ll be amazed at the opportunities that arise.
6. Cross fertilize your marketing efforts through a variety of industries. For piano wire, market coverage should pollinate over into the sporting goods (fishing), movie and soap and detergent industries to reach new and appropriate buyers and to broaden the scope of your business activities.
7. Take the market to your buyers. If you can’t beat or woo them, join them where they are located by setting up shop locally in the country in which you wish to do business. Are you making bicycles spokes and trying to sell them in a country without bikes? Then you better ship a sampling of finished bikes first, educate the consumers, find a small manufacturer and then secure buyers for those spokes!
8. Offer new services that complement your industrial products in order to boost profits. This segment of marketing involves all countries at every level of development; even the least-developed countries are seeking computer technology (China and India, for example) and sophisticated data banks to aid them in advancing their economics.
9. Move more production of subassemblies and parts to cheaper offshore factories. That’s what Hoveround Corp., maker of motorized wheelchairs and scooters in Sarasota, Florida did. The problem they ran up against was set prices by fee structures for Medicaid and by contracts with large insurers. By moving production outside of the USA, the company has consistently widened profit margins slightly each year.
10. Establish a strategic global alliance (SGA). An SGA is a business relationship established by two or more companies to cooperate out of mutual need and to share risk in achieving a common objective. This strategy works well for market-entry or to shore up existing weaknesses and increase competitive strengths.
11. Globalize your business by forming worldwide product groups by function. Your design can be done in California; your manufacturing can take place in China and your distribution might start in Antwerp. Together, you have a powerful global network.
12. Form joint-ventures in places where you desire to do business. For example, many years ago, JCPenny had developed three alternatives for implementation in global markets: (1) owning and operating JCPenny department stores, (2) licensing for forming joint ventures with local partners, and (3) exporting private-brand merchandise to be sold through other retailers. Since then, the Internet has fostered another alternative for growth.
13. Market your business aggressively and in the language your buyers understand. For example, if you make one style of an electrical component, what happens if the market changes and your buyers no longer need your particular type of component or they learn how to source it cheaper elsewhere and on their own? In a case like that, it is best to supply many grades, more styles and more types of electrical components to ensure at least one product will always be in demand.
Global competition requires quality products designed to meet ever-changing customer needs and rapidly advancing technology. Develop your global strategy. Refine your international business practices. And discover every imaginable hidden market for your products and services. You will transform your business and take the lead in the world of expanding customer choices.
Global business expert Laurel Delaney is the founder of GlobeTrade.com and LaurelDelaney.com. She is also the creator of “Borderbuster,” an e-newsletter and The Global Small Business Blog, which are both highly regarded for coverage on global small business. She can be reached at ldelaney@globetrade.com.
http://smallbusiness.logoworks.com/newsletter/index.php/09/2007/06/13-ways-to-find-new-hidden-markets/?intsrc=M6%7CNL%7C48&lpn=Sep+LW+NL++Landing
Tendulkar blamed for India's failures
Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar came down heavily on his former teammate Sachin Tendulkar saying his repeated failures at the top of the order is hurting India in one-day internationals.
"Another problem that India have these days when they bat second on a good pitch, is that their most experienced batsman, who bats at such an influential position in the batting order, becomes almost redundant," he wrote in his column for the Times of India.
Tendulkar has failed to get going in the ongoing tri-series having managed just 128 runs in seven matches at a lowly average of 18.28.
Manjrekar also pointed out that in the last 51 One-day internationals, Tendulkar's batting average when he bats first is 62.10 in 24 innings. In contrast when he bats second, it's 26.00 in 27 innings.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday also seemed visibly upset with the repeated failures of Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag and suggested that the batting order could be changed for the next match, against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
"The run-making for the top order hasn't been the story till now and it could make things so much easier for the lower order batsmen," Dhoni said after India's 18-run loss to Australia in Sydney on Sunday.
Manjrekar believes that Tendulkar seems to let the team down the most when chasing big targets.
'After a brilliant Test series, it's not so much his form in this one-day series that is the concern but his contribution, at that crucial opening position when India is set bigger targets to chase. If you look at it, it's a simple batting issue that the maestro along with the team management should professionally address,' he said.
The former Mumbai batsman also seem puzzled as to why no one is talking about Tendulkar's poor form. Senior pros like Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly were shown the door from the ODI team after a few failures and youngsters were inducted in their place.
'But with Tendulkar, it's like the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about,' Manjrekar writes.
http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/feb/25manj.htm
75 questions to ask yourself
An old proverb says, “He that cannot ask cannot live”. If you want answers you have to ask questions. These are 75 questions you should ask yourself and try to answer. You can ask yourself these questions right now and over the course of your life.
1. Why not me?
2. Am I nice?
3. Am I doing what I really want to do?
4. What am I grateful for?
5. What’s missing in my life?
6. Am I honest?
7. Do I listen to others?
8. Do I work hard?
9. Do I help others?
10. What do I need to change about myself?
11. Have I hurt others?
12. Do I complain?
13. What’s next for me?
14. Do I have fun?
15. Have I seized opportunities?
16. Do I care about others?
17. Do I spend enough time with my family?
18. Am I open-minded?
19. Have I seen enough of the world?
20. Do I judge others?
21. Do I take risks?
22. What is my purpose?
23. What is my biggest fear?
24. How can I conquer that fear?
25. Do I thank people enough?
26. Am I successful?
27. What am I ashamed of?
28. Do I annoy others?
29. What are my dreams?
30. Am I positive?
31. Am I negative?
32. Is there an afterlife?
33. Does everything happen for a reason?
34. What can I do to change the world?
35. What is the most foolish thing I’ve ever done?
36. Am I cheap?
37. Am I greedy?
38. Who do I love?
39. Who do I want to meet?
40. Where do I want to go?
41. What am I most proud of?
42. Do I care what others think about me?
43. What are my talents?
44. Do I utilize those talents?
45. What makes me happy?
46. What makes me sad?
47. What makes me angry?
48. Am I satisfied with my appearance?
49. Am I healthy?
50. What was the toughest time in my life?
51. What was the easiest time in my life?
52. Am I selfish?
53. What was the craziest thing I did?
54. What is the craziest thing I want to do?
55. Do I procrastinate?
56. What is my greatest regret?
57. What has had the greatest impact on my life?
58. Who has had the greatest impact on my life?
59. Do I stand up for myself?
60. Have I settled for mediocrity?
61. Do I hold grudges?
62. Do I read enough?
63. Do I listen to my heart?
64. Do I donate enough to the less fortunate?
65. Do I pray only when I want something?
66. Do I constantly dwell on the past?
67. Do I let other people’s negativity affect me?
68. Do I forgive myself?
69. When I help someone do I think “What’s in it for me”?
70. Am I aware that someone always has it worse than me?
71. Do I smile more than I frown?
72. Do I surround myself with good people?
73. Do I take time out for myself?
74. Do I ask enough questions?
75. What other questions do I have?
If you would like to share some or all of your answers, please feel free to do so in the comment section below.
http://www.lyved.com/life/75-questions-to-ask-yourself/
No Country for Old Men wins four Oscars
LOS ANGELES: The Coen brothers completed their journey from the fringes to Hollywood's mainstream, their crime saga No Country for Old Men winning four Academy Awards, including best picture ( watch ), in a ceremony that also featured a strong international flavour.
Europeans swept the acting categories. British actor Daniel Day-Lewis and France's Marion Cotillard were best lead actor ( watch ) and actress ( watch ). The supporting actor and actress prizes went to Spain's Javier Bardem ( watch ) and British actress Tilda Swinton ( watch ).
Bardem won for supporting actor in No Country , which earned Joel and Ethan Coen best director, best adapted screenplay and the best-picture honour as producers.
Accepting the directing honour alongside his brother, Joel Coen recalled how they were making films since childhood, including one at the Minneapolis airport called Henry Kissinger: Man on the Go .
"What we do now doesn't feel that much different from what we were doing then," Joel Coen said. "We're very thankful to all of you out there for continuing to let us play in our corner of the sandbox."
Day-Lewis won his second best-actor Academy Award for the oil-boom epic There Will Be Blood , while La Vie En Rose star Cotillard was a surprise winner for best actress, riding the spirit of Edith Piaf to Oscar triumph over British screen legend Julie Christie, who had been expected to win for Away From Her .
Swinton won for her portrayal as a malevolent attorney in Michael Clayton .
As a raging, conniving, acquisitive petroleum pioneer caught up in California's oil boom of the early 20th century, Day-Lewis won for a part that could scarcely have been more different than his understated role as a writer with severe cerebral palsy in 1989's My Left Foot .
"My deepest thanks to the academy for whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town," Day-Lewis said.
Day-Lewis walked up the steps to accept his trophy from Helen Mirren, then went down on one knee before her, head bowed. Mirren, last year's best-actress winner for The Queen , picked up his cue, touching Lewis's Oscar to his shoulders as she would a royal sword.
"That's the closest I'll ever come to getting a knighthood," the Englishman said.
The Coens missed out on a chance to make Oscar history - four wins for a single film - when they lost the editing prize, for which they were nominated under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.
The Bourne Ultimatum won the editing Oscar and swept all three categories in which it was nominated, including sound editing and sound mixing.
Past winners for their screenplay to 1996's Fargo , Joel and Ethan Coen joined an elite list of filmmakers to win three Oscars in a single night, including Francis Ford Coppola ( The Godfather Part II ), James Cameron ( Titanic ) and Billy Wilder ( The Apartment ).
Cotillard, the first winner ever for a French-language performance, tearfully thanked her director, Olivier Dahan.
"Maestro Olivier, you rocked my life. You have truly rocked my life," said Cotillard, a French beauty who is a dynamo as Piaf, playing the warbling chanteuse through three decades, from raw late teens as a singer rising from the gutter through international stardom and her final days in her frail 40s.
"Thank you, life; thank you, love. And it is true there (are) some angels in this city."
A relatively fresh face in Hollywood, Cotillard has US credits that include Big Fish , A Good Year and the forthcoming Public Enemies , featuring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale.
With a heartbreaking turn as a woman succumbing to Alzheimer's in Away From Her , Christie had been expected to win her second Oscar. She won best actress 42 years ago for Darling .
Heavies ruled the first acting prizes. Along with Day-Lewis' greedy oilman, Bardem played an unshakable executioner in No Country and Swinton played a conniving attorney who stops at nothing to achieve her goals in a $3 billion class-action lawsuit in Michael Clayton .
"I have an American agent who is the spitting image of this," said Swinton, fondly looking at her Oscar statuette.
"Really, truly, the same shape head, and it has to be said, the buttocks. And I'm giving this to him, because there's no way I'd be in America at all, ever, on a plane if it wasn't for him," said Swinton.
Backstage, Swinton said she was "so stoked, as they say, I think it's fantastic. ... I'm amazed I'm still standing. But I'm not complaining. It's good."
Swinton, 47, born in London into a patrician Scottish military family, noted that other foreign actors were taking home the gold Sunday. "Hollywood is built on Europeans," she said. "Don't tell everybody, but we're everywhere."
Bardem won for his fearsome turn in No Country . "Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think I could do that and for putting one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head," said Bardem, referring to the sinister variation of a page-boy bob his character sported.
Host Jon Stewart joked that Bardem's haircut in the film combined "Hannibal Lecter's murderousness with Dorothy Hamill's wedge-cut."
Mickey Mouse gained a rival as Hollywood's favourite rodent as the rat tale Ratatouille was named best animated film, the second Oscar win in the category for director Brad Bird.
Bird thanked his junior-high guidance counsellor, who expressed repeated scepticism over his desire to become a filmmaker.
"It went on like this until we were sick of each other," said Bird, who also won the animation Oscar for 2004's " The Incredibles " and shared a nomination for original screenplay for Ratatouille , a $200 million blockbuster. "I only realized just recently that he gave me the perfect training for the movie business."
The ceremony's montage of photos and film clips of stars, filmmakers and others in cinema who died in the past year ended with a scene from Brokeback Mountain featuring Australian actor Heath Ledger, who died of a prescription drug overdose last month.
Glen Hansard of the Irish band the Frames and Marketa Irglova, both non-actors who starred in the musical romance Once , won the best-song Oscar for Falling Slowly , one of several tunes they wrote for the film.
"What are we doing here? This is mad," Hansard said, recounting the low-budget history of Once . "It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred-grand. We never thought we'd come into a room like this and be in front of all you people."
Irglova, a 19-year-old Czech, did not get a chance to speak because the orchestra played after Hansard spoke. She was brought out a second time to make her victory speech.
"The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible," Irglova said during take two.
The song won over three nominated tunes from Enchanted written by composer Alan Menken, an eight-time Oscar winner, and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, a three-time winner, whose previous academy prizes included their song and score collaborations for Pocahontas .
The sound-mixing win for The Bourne Ultimatum extended the years of Oscar futility for Kevin O'Connell, a nominee for Transformers , who holds an academy record: 20 nominations, no wins.
Michael Moore, who assailed President George W Bush over the Iraq War in his Oscar speech for documentary winner Bowling for Columbine five years ago, missed out on a chance to take the podium again.
His health-care study Sicko lost the documentary prize to Taxi to the Dark Side , a war-on-terror chronicle that centres on an innocent Afghan cab driver killed while in detention.
Box-office dud The Golden Compass scored an upset for visual effects over the blockbusters Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End .
Other early winners included Elizabeth: The Golden Age for costume design, La Vie En Rose for makeup and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street for art direction.
The Oscar broadcast began with a fanfare and an effects-laden opening segment showing key characters and creatures from past films lining Hollywood Boulevard.
Stewart started his opening monologue with a wisecrack about the 100-day writers strike that ended just in time for the Oscars to come off as usual.
"These past three and a half months have been very tough. The town was torn apart by a bitter writer's strike, but I'm happy to say that the fight is over," Stewart said. "So tonight, welcome to the makeup sex."
Stewart joked about this year's crop of "Oscar-nominated psychopathic killer movies."
"Does this town need a hug? What happened? No Country For Old Men , Sweeney Todd , There Will Be Blood ? All I can say is, thank God for teen pregnancy. I think the country agrees," Stewart said, referring to best-picture nominee Juno .
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/No_Country_for_Old_Men_wins_four_Oscars/articleshow/2811598.cms
12 Things to Photograph Before You Die
12 Things to Photograph Before You Die
1. A Perfect Portrait
Photography: millylillyrose
There are few photographers who don’t, at some point, find themselves pointing their camera at the face of someone they love, admire or just find interesting. Capturing an expression is simple enough but creating a portrait that captures an entire life’s story is a whole other challenge.
You can practice portraiture every day but you might only get the right face in the right light at the right time once. It’s worth looking out for.
2. A Complete Story
Photography: Dorothea Lange, Farm Security Administration
An image of a face can capture a life but photojournalists have to capture moments that describe stories that might have taken years to develop. This picture by Dorothea Lange of a 32-year-old mother of seven in California summed up the Depression. You don’t have to find poverty to create a picture like this; just a moment that says more.
3. Northern Lights
Photography: Joshua Strang/ USAF
A telling moment can happen anywhere at anytime. The Northern Lights can only be found in the northern latitudes. They’re a must-see for anyone but especially for any artist whose medium is light. While the Southern Polar Lights are just as impressive, the Aurora Borealis is easier to reach. They’re the reason to bone up on your long-exposure night photography… and buy a pair of longjohns too.
4. A Blue Iceberg
Photography: Marc Shandro
And you can get a second use out of those when you take a picture of an iceberg. All icebergs are spectacular but blue icebergs are special. They often come from the bottom of a glacier and may be 80,000 years old when they hit the sea. Ice filters out all colors except blue so because these icebergs are completely clear, they look exceptionally beautiful through a lens.
5. A Rainforest
Photography: pfly
The amazing color of a blue iceberg is one reason to shoot one before you die; another reason is that if global warming theorists are right, there might be a sudden burst of them and then no more. The same is true of rainforests. If you like photographing any sort of flora or fauna, you won’t find a better variety of choices than along the Amazon or in the wilds of Sarawak.
6. Migrating Wildebeest
Photography: pnoid00
And whether you like photographing animals or not, every photographer should get a chance to shoot the annual wildebeest migration. It might be a wildlife photography cliché, but the sight of 1.5 million animals spreading across the plains, crossing rivers and feeding lions makes for some spectacular photos.
7. A Sand Dune
Photography: Luca Galuzzi
A photo of the wildebeest migration is likely to be all action and rapid movement. Sand dunes move too but at a much slower rate. That gives you plenty of time to set up your camera and capture an image of rich blue, golden yellow and curving shadow. Try it once.
8. New York
Photography: photochiel
There are plenty of cities that look good through a lens. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, London has St. Paul’s and Shanghai has the Bund. But only New York has that skyline, those sky-less streets, yellow taxis, steaming grilles and more characters than a Tolstoy novel. There’s a reason it’s one of the most photographed cities in the world — and plenty of reasons why at least one of those photos should be yours.
9. Love…
Photography: LordKhan
Christopher Hitchens based the title of a book on the principle that life is incomplete unless it has experienced love, poverty and war. Fortunately, of those three, love is the easiest to find. At least one of the images you take before you die should summarize that most wonderful of emotions.
10. … and War
Photography: arique
And another photo should still include war. You don’t have to dig out a helmet and buy a ticket to Iraq to do that. “War” can mean an argument between two battling neighbors, a face-off at a rap concert or two football players lining up. It’s a vital part of life and it should be in your portfolio of images.
11. A Picture that’s Sold
Photography: Matt Pagel
Selling a photo is never just about the money. It’s about the recognition that you’ve created something so valuable that someone is prepared to pay for it. It doesn’t matter how much or what they do with it. It just matters that they pay.
12. An Image that Makes a Difference
Image courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center.
And this is what photography is really all about. Some photographers are lucky enough to take a picture that changes the course of history or affects the way millions see the world. That would be ideal. It’s good enough to take a picture that gives hope, pleasure and a smile whenever it’s seen.
http://blogs.photopreneur.com/12-things-to-photograph-before-you-die
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Pakistan blocks YouTube for 'blasphemous' web content
Pakistan has blocked access to the popular video-sharing website Youtube for alleged "blasphemous" content.
The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has directed all the Internet service providers of the country to block access to Youtube, media reported here. The order, issued by the director of the enforcement agency, claimed the ratio of "non-Islamic objectionable video" has increased on the website.
"The site would remain blocked till further orders from the PTA," a local ISP worker told the Daily Times.
Some ISPs have also asked the users to write to the youtube.com administrators to "remove the objectionable web content/movies because this removal would enable the authorities to order un-blocking of this website."
Local media cited different reasons for the government move, some referring to a trailer from Dutch politician Geert Wilders' controversial anti-Islam movie that is available on the site. There were also reports that the website contained a controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed reprinted by 17 Danish newspapers earlier this month.
The ban also sparked speculation on mailing lists and blogs, and people wondered whether the blackout was connected to some other videos that had been uploaded to the site, implicating a certain political party in "election rigging".
International media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders condemned the decision, saying it regards the measure as "disproportionate".
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1152695
Friday, February 22, 2008
तस्वीरों में : बिकनी में बॉलिवुड बालाएं
एक दौर था जब बॉलिवुड की बालाएं बिकनी पहनने से झिझकती थीं। अब तो अपने करियर के ग्राफ में तेजी लाने के लिए बॉलिवुड ऐक्ट्रेस धड़ल्ले से बिकनी पहनकर पर्दे पर आ रही हैं। बात जब बिकनी की हो तो बिपाशा को कैसे भूला जा सकता है। 'धूम2' में बिपाशा ने बिकनी पहनकर दर्शकों के दिलों में धूम मचा दी थी। 'अजनबी', 'राज' और 'जिस्म' जैसी फिल्मों में बिपाशा ने काफी बोल्ड सीन दिए।
आज भले ही कैटरीना कैफ ठीकठाक कपड़ों में नजर आती हैं लेकिन अपनी पहली ही फिल्म 'बूम' में उन्होंने बिकनी में बोल्ड अदाओं से दर्शकों को मदहोश कर दिया था।
मल्लिका सहरावत ने 'ख्वाहिश' फिल्म में 17 चुंबन देकर यह जता दिया था कि उन्हें बोल्ड सीन देने में कोई झिझक नहीं है। 'मर्डर' में उन्होंने अपनी सेक्सी इमेज को और पुख्ता किया। इस फिल्म में उन्होंने बिकनी में कई सीन दिए।
दीपिका पादुकोण अगर बिकनी में दिखें, तो जाहिर सी बात है कि लोगों के दिलों की धड़कन बढ़ जाएगी। फिल्म 'ओम शांति ओम' में सौम्य दिखने वाली दीपिका किगंफिशर के कैलेंडर के लिए बिकनी में खूब पोज दे चुकी हैं।
करीना कपूर की सेन्शुअस ब्यूटी का लोहा पूरा बॉलिवुड मानता है। 'चमेली' में बारिश की बूंदों में भींग रहीं करीना की अदाएं किसी के मन में हलचल मचा सकती हैं। फिल्म 'डॉन' के गीत 'ये मेरा दिल प्यार का दीवाना' पर किया गया उनका सेक्सी डांस याद है ना!
किम शर्मा ने अपनी पहली फिल्म 'मोहब्बतें' में ही सेक्सी अदाओं का ऐसा जलवा दिखाया कि लोगों के मुंह से अनायास ही 'वाह' निकल पड़ा। उनकी शोख अदाओं का जादू कुछ ऐसा चला कि युवराज सिंह भी उनके दीवाने हो गए थे।
फिल्म ऐक्टर कबीर बेदी की बेटी पूजा बेदी अपनी बोल्ड अदाओं के लिए जगजाहिर हैं।कामसूत्र का उनका ऐड अभी लोगों के दिलों में अरमान जगा देता है।
अपनी पहली ही फिल्म 'अंदाज' में बिकनी पहन कर प्रियंका ने यह जता दिया कि वह ब्यूटिफुल तो हैं ही, साथ ही बोल्ड सीन करने से भी उन्हें परहेज नहीं है। 'एतराज' फिल्म में भी प्रियंका बिकनी में दिखीं।
फिल्म 'रंगीला' में उर्मिला बिकनी में नजर आईं। अपनी मादक अदाओं और सेक्स अपील से उन्होंने दर्शकों को दीवाना बना दिया।
ऐसा नहीं है कि बॉलिवुड में बिकनी का चलन ताजा है। पुरानी अभिनेत्रियों में से कई ने भी अपने करियर की शुरुआत में ही बिकनी पहनकर सबको चौंका दिया। उन्हीं में से एक थीं शर्मिला टैगोर।
नूतन और बिकनी! शायद इस बात पर आपको यकीन न हो, लेकिन यह सच है। यह तस्वीर देखने के बाद तो आपको यकीन हो गया न कि नूतन ने भी बिकनी पहनी थी।
जीनत अमान की गिनती बॉलिवुड की बोल्ड ऐक्ट्रेस में होती है। 'सत्यम शिवम सुंदरम', 'रोटी कपड़ा और मकान' जैसी फिल्मों में डायरेक्टर्स ने उनके बदन की खूबसूरती को बेहद ही सुंदर तरीके से पेश किया है। 'हाय-हाय रे मजबूरी' गीत पर पानी में भींगती जीनत को दर्शक शायद ही कभी भूल सकेंगे।
फिल्म ऐक्ट्रेस रिया सेन और राइमा सेन की मां मुनमुन सेन अपने जमाने की हॉट अभिनेत्री थीं। मुनमुन सेन कितनी हॉट थीं, इसका अंदाजा आप इस बात से लगा सकते हैं कि उन्होंने पेंटर वसीम कपूर को अपनी नेकिड पेंटिंग बनाने का ऑफर दिया था। हालांकि किसी कारणवश यह पेंटिंग नहीं बन पाई।
http://navbharattimes.indiatimes.com/articleshowpics/msid-2791716.cms
10 Ways We Hurt Our Romantic Relationships
10 Ways We Hurt Our Romantic Relationships
1. You’re playing to win
One of the deadliest killers of relationships is the competitive urge. I don’t mean competition in the sense that you can’t stand to lose at tennis, I mean the attitude that the relationship itself is a kind of game that you’re tying to win. People in competitive relationships are always looking for an advantage, the upper hand, some edge they can hold over their partner’s head. If you feel that there are things you can’t tell your partner because she or he will use it against you, you’re in a competitive relationship — but not for long.
2. You don’t trust
There are two aspects of trust that are important in relationships. One is trusting your partner enough to know that s/he won’t cheat on you or otherwise hurt you — and to know that he or she trusts you that way, too. The other is trusting them enough to know they won’t leave you or stop loving you no matter what you do or say. The second that level of trust is gone, whether because one of you takes advantage of that trust and does something horrible or because one of you thinks the other has, the relationship is over — even if it takes 10 more years for you to break up.
3. You don’t talk
Too many people hold their tongues about things that bother or upset them in their relationship, either because they don’t want to hurt their partner, or because they’re trying to win. (See #1 above; example: “If you don’t know why I’m mad, I’m certainly not going to tell you!”) While this might make things easier in the short term, in the long run it gradually erodes the foundation of the relationship away. Little issues grow into bigger and bigger problems — problems that don’t get fixed because your partner is blissfully unaware, or worse, is totally aware of them but thinks they don’t really bother you. Ultimately, keeping quiet reflects a lack of trust — and, as I said that’s the death of a relationship.
4. You don’t listen
Listening — really listening — is hard. It’s normal to want to defend ourselves when we hear something that seems like criticism, so instead of really hearing someone out, we interrupt to explain or excuse ourselves, or we turn inward to prepare our defense. But your partner deserves your active listening. S/he even deserves you to hear the between-the-lines content of daily chit-chat, to suss out his/her dreams and desires when even s/he doesn’t even know exactly what they are. If you can’t listen that way, at least to the person you love, there’s a problem.
5. You spend like a single person
This was a hard lesson for me to learn — until it broke up a 7-year relationship. When you’re single, you can buy whatever you want, whenever you want, with little regard for the future. It’s not necessarily wise, but you’re the only one who has to pay the consequences. When you are with someone in a long-term relationship, that is no longer a possibility. Your partner — and your children, if there are or will be any — will have to bear the brunt of your spending, so you’d better get in the habit of taking care of household necessities first and then, if there’s anything left over, of discussing with your partner the best way to use it.
This is an increasing problem these days, because more and more people are opting to keep their finances separate, even when they’re married. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of arrangement in and of itself, but it demands more communication and involvement between the partners, not less. If you’re spending money as if it was your money and nobody else has a right to tell you what to do with it, your relationship is doomed.
6. You’re afraid of breaking up
Nobody in a truly happy partnership is afraid of breaking up. If you are, that’s a big warning sign that something’s wrong. But often, what’s wrong is the fear itself. Not only does it betray a lack of trust, but it shows a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem — you’re afraid that there’s no good reason for someone to want to be with you, and that sooner or later your partner will “wise up” and take off. So you pour more energy into keeping up the appearance of a happy relationships than you do into building yourself up as a person. Quite frankly, this isn’t going to be very satisfying for you, and it also isn’t going to be very satisfying for your partner.
7. You’re dependent
There’s a thin line between companionship and support and dependency. If you depend on your partner — that is, if you absolutely cannot live without her or him — you’ve crossed that line. The pressure is now on your partner to fill whatever’s missing in you — a pressure s/he will learn to resent. If you expect your partner to bring everything while you bring nothing to your relationship — and I’m talking finances as well as emotional support, here — you’re in trouble. (Note: I’m not saying that you need to contribute equally to household finances — what I’m saying is that if you’re not contributing to the household budget, and you’re not contributing anywhere else, things are out of whack and that’s never good.)
8. You expect happiness
A sign of a bad relationship is that one or both partners expect either to make the other happy or for their partner to make them happy. This is not only an unrealistic expectation to lay on yourself or on them — nobody can “make” you happy, except you — but it’s an unrealistic expectation to lay on your relationship. Relationships aren’t only about being happy, and there’s lots of times when you won’t and even shouldn’t be. Being able to rely on someone even when you’re upset, miserable, depressed, or grieving is a lot more important than being happy all the time. If you expect your partner to make you happy — or worse, you’re frustrated because you aren’t able to make your partner happy — your relationship isn’t going to fare well when it hits a rough spot.
9. You never fight
A good argument is essential, every now and then. In part, arguing helps bring out the little stuff before it becomes major, but also, fighting expresses anger which is a perfectly normal part of a human’s emotional make-up. Your relationship has to be strong enough to hold all of who you are, not just the sunny stuff.
One reason couples don’t fight is that they fear conflict — which reflects a lack of trust and a foundation of fear. That’s bad. Another reason couples avoid arguments is that they’ve learned that anger is unreasonable and unproductive. They’ve learned that arguing represents a breakdown rather than a natural part of a relationship’s development. While an argument isn’t pleasant, it can help both partners to articulate issues they may not have even known they had — and help keep them from simmering until you cross a line you can’t come back from.
10. You expect it to be easy/you expect it to be hard
There are two deeply problematic attitudes about relationships I hear often. One is that a relationship should be easy, that if you really love each other and are meant to be together, it will work itself out. The other is that anything worth having is going to be hard — and that therefore if it’s hard, it must be worth having.
The outcome of both views is that you don’t work at your relationship. You don’t work because it’s supposed to be easy and therefore not need any work, or you don’t work because it’s supposed to be hard and it wouldn’t be hard if you worked at it. In both cases, you quickly get burnt out — either because the problems you’re ignoring really don’t go away just because you think they should. or because the problems you’re cultivating are a constant drag on your energy. A relationship that’s too much work might be suffering from one of the attitudes above, but a relationship that doesn’t seem to need any work isn’t any better.
Your choices
There isn’t any one answer to any of the problems above. There are choices though: you can either seek out an answer, something that addresses why you are hurting your relationship, or you can resign yourself to the failure of your relationship (and maybe the next one, and the next one, and…). Failure doesn’t always mean you break up — many people aren’t that lucky. But people can live quite unhappily in failed relationships for years and even decades because they’re afraid they won’t find anything better, or worse, they’re afraid they deserve it. Don’t you be one of them — if you suffer from any of these problems, figure out how to fix it, whether that means therapy, a solo mountain retreat, or just talking to your partner and committing yourselves to change.
Dustin M. Wax is a contributing editor and project manager at lifehack.org. He is also an anthropology and women's studies professor in Las Vegas, NV where he lives with his partner and three children. His personal site can be found at dwax.org.
7 lies men tell women
Men are more prone than women to lie so as to project a better self-image or hide something. But when you catch yourself telling too many lies, or detect your man telling one too many..you have the beginning of a problem.
It can wreak a relationship. The central issue is : why are the lies deemed necessary?
Most common lies :
1. “Me? I graduated top of my class.”This is an ‘ego-based lie’, designed to project a glorified self image and impress a woman.
2. “Of course I like your friends!”
The lies to hold captive a woman’s amour account for many stretched truths.
3. “Honey, you’re the best.”
One of the most lied-about subjects has to be sex.
4. “No, I can’t call you. I don’t even know where I’ll be.”
Red flag. Beware!
5. “That dress isn’t too tight. It looks great!”
Considered a good lie - he still cares enough to lie.
6. “They’re downsizing at work. But don’t worry. They won’t get me.”
The men lie to spare the female folk worry.
7. “Sure, I’ll mow the lawn — as soon as this crick in my back goes away.”
A “hassle-prevention ” lie.
David Nyberg :” Still, it’s important to remember that lies are at heart deceptions, and repeated deceptions destroy intimacy.”
For the full article, click here
Thursday, February 21, 2008
All you wanted to know about IPL
What is the Indian Premier League?
It’s a Twenty20 tournament involving eight teams (cities), starting April 18 and ending on June 1. Launched on September 14, 2007, it’ll be organized by the BCCI and has the sanction of the ICC. The model, based on the same lines as the English Premier League (EPL) in football and the National Basketball League (NBA) in the US, is franchise-based and the eight teams will be owned by a host of businessmen and celebrities. The players will be bought through auction and will represent the teams/cities who bid for them. The matches will be played on home and away basis.
Who has the TV rights of IPL?
Sony Television and Singapore-based World Sports Group, who paid a whopping $1billion to bag the rights for 10 years.
Which are the eight teams and their franchisees?
1. Mumbai (Mukesh Ambani)
2. Hyderabad (Deccan Chronicle)
3. Kolkata (Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment)
4. Chennai (India Cements)
5. Delhi (GMR Holdings)
6. Bangalore (Vijay Mallya)
7. Mohali (Preity Zinta & Ness Wadia)
8. Jaipur (Emerging Media)
What is the money involved?
Overall prize money is US$5million, with the winners getting $2m. The remaining money will be given in the form of awards like ‘man-of-the-match’ etc.
How much does the Board get?
The BCCI has earned $723.59m from the ‘sale’ of the eight teams. On top of that, the Board will get around $1billion from the sale of TV rights.
Will the IPL dates clash with cricket seasons of other countries?
For India, no. It’s off-season here. But it clashes with the tours of other countries. The BCCI plans to sort this out during the ICC chief executives’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
Some other salient features of the IPL are...
*The franchisees will have the freedom to run the teams in their own style, bring their own sponsors and even name the team as they wish (after consulting the IPL board)
* After the auction in the inaugural year, they will be free to trade their players, as is done in various leagues around the world
* The players also get a share in the profits, starting from TV revenue, gate money and merchandising
* The teams can be listed on the stock exchange
* Top players in the teams are expected to earn a minimum of Rs 1-2 crore per season as guarantee money. They are also slated to get salaries on which there won’t be any cap
* All IPL matches will be played under lights, as per ICC rules. The League will feature a total of 59 matches that would be spread over 44 days. All matches will be played on Saturdays and Sundays plus one yet-to-be-decided weekday. There will be two matches per day, the start time being 5pm
* The IPL governing council will be in charge of running, operating and managing the league independently
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1152110
Table Manner Tips Every Guy Should Know
We all remember the basics our mothers taught us about table manners–no elbows on the dinner table and don’t talk with your mouth full. But ever wonder which fork to use for your salad or how to signal a waiter at a fancy restaurant? Read on and learn the basics in table manners that will be sure to impress your date, girlfriend/wife’s parents, employers or whomever you dine with.
Table Setting Placement
In formal settings, all the silverware, glassware, cups, saucers and the like are placed on the table, so it’s often difficult to know which fork to use when or which water glass is yours. As a general rule to thumb, silverware is lined up in the order in which a person will use them, going from the outside, in. For instance, the fork and knife used for the salad are placed in the outermost of the setting, farthest from your plate (with the exception of the spoon). Dessert silverware, if not brought out with the dessert, are placed at the top of your entrée plate. Glassware, cup and saucer are placed to your right, while the napkin, bread plate and butter spreader to your left.
10 Table Manner Tips
Now that you know how the table setting is laid out and when to use each, here are 10 tips for the duration of the meal:
- When dining with six or more, it’s polite to wait till roughly 50% of the table has their food before starting your meal. In smaller groups, wait until the entire table has their food, unless food temperature is at high risk in decreasing the enjoyment of the meal, and/or others at the table incessantly insist you begin.
- You can and should use your knife to cut large pieces of lettuce or other ingredients in your salad. Nothing is worse than trying to shove a large piece of lettuce in your mouth and having some of it stick out. (No brainer, but this applies to your entrée as well.)
- The proper way to butter a piece of bread is to rip off a piece that’s about one or two bites in size, butter it, and eat it. Repeat. Never bite straight into a roll, and refrain from cutting it in half and buttering.
- While cutting meat, the correct way is to cut a piece and then switch your fork to your right hand to pick it up. This method is considered the “American” way. Not switching your fork and using your left is called the “Continental” way, and is done most often in European countries. This way is gaining acceptance and I wouldn’t be surprised if one day soon it’s considered acceptable in fine dining. Also, cut meat a piece at a time. Cutting the entire meat up into pieces or cutting more than one at a time is tacky.
- Wipe your mouth before taking a sip of your drink. It’s unsightly to see food particles or grease on the rim of your glass. Also, it’s considered rude to take a sip of your drink with your mouth full. Plus, backwash is gross!
- When leaving the table during the course of your meal, put your napkin on your chair, not the table. No one wants to see your stained napkin. And at the completion of the meal, place it on the left of your plate, or if your plate has been cleared, in the center.
- When in a situation where you have to pass food or condiments to others at the table, pass it to your right, or counter clockwise. Never do a “boarding house reach” across the table.
- When you don’t want to swallow a piece of food in your mouth (e.g. a bone or a piece of fat), move the piece to the front of your mouth and use your fork (or spoon if that’s what you were using) to retrieve it from your mouth and into the side of your plate. The only time its okay to use your fingers is when it’s a fish bone.
- To get the waiter’s attention, the most polite way is to make eye contact. However chances are they are busy and/or are ignoring you. It’s acceptable to raise your hand to head level, just don’t go overboard by raising it way above your head and wave it about.
- When you’re done with your meal, the proper placement of the silverware is to lay them parallel to each other and across the plate with the handles facing the right. To clarify, the ends would be facing 10 o’clock and four. Note: Not all waiters will know this and they still may ask you if it’s okay to clear your plate. At least you appear classy.
http://www.ploomy.com/2008/01/30/table-manner-tips-every-guy-should-know/#=rss
10 MOST BEAUTIFUL INDIAN ROADS
10 MOST BEAUTIFUL INDIAN ROADS
| Ahtong , Sikkim |
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| Corbert Park Pathway |
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| Numaligarh , Assam |
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| Dalhousie |
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| Nainital, Uttaranchal |
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| Almora, Uttaranchal |
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| Ooty |
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| Patratu valley, Jharkhand |
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| Gulmarg |
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| Manali Pass |
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A 12-Step Program to Eating Healthier Than Ever Before
The 12-Step Program
Actually, what follows is just an example. You can use as many steps as you want, making whatever changes you want. This is just a sample of what can be done, to give you some ideas.
The rules:
- Apply these changes, one at a time, until you get used to them. This will probably be 3-4 weeks per step. But in a year’s time, you’ll be eating as healthy as possible.
- Focus as much energy as possible on each change for at least a couple weeks. Don’t deviate if you can. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.
- If it seems too difficult, make a smaller step instead. For example, instead of cutting out sweets, just cut out cakes and donuts. Smaller steps make things much easier.
- Always replace bad food with healthy food that you enjoy. What I’ve given are just examples — everyone has different tastes.
OK, so here’s an example of how this step-by-step process could work:
- Eat fruits for snacks. If you snack on junk food during the day, have some fruits by your side at all times. When you’re feeling hungry for a snack, eat a fruit. One of those bags of small apples is a handy thing — you can’t go wrong with apples.
- Drink water instead of soda. The only thing I drink (besides an occasional beer) is water. I’m not saying you need to do that, but try to cut out sugary drinks a bit at a time, replacing them with water.
- Eat whole grain bread. If you eat white bread or bagels or whatever, replace them with whole-grain versions. Be sure to look at the ingredients — it shouldn’t say enriched wheat flour, but whole grain. Also try to avoid breads with high-fructose corn syrup (actually, avoid that ingredient in anything).
- Add fresh veggies to dinner. If you don’t already, have some steamed greens with dinner. Cut out a less healthy side dish if you usually eat something else.
- Cut out red meat. You can still eat poultry and seafood for now. You can later cut those out too if you want.
- Make pizza instead of ordering. Homemade pizza is the best, and if you haven’t made it yet, you should. The simple way is to get a ready-made whole-wheat crust, although making your own tastes even better. Start with the simple version, though, as you don’t want to make things too difficult. For the simple version, just add some gourmet spaghetti sauce (not Ragu), cut up some veggies (I like tomatoes and mushrooms and spinach and olives, but you can use anything, even potatoes). Brush the veggies with some olive oil. You can add grated cheese or soy cheese if you want, though it’s not necessary. Bake till it looks cooked. Mmmm.
- Nuts instead of chips. If you normally snack on chips, try unsalted peanuts or raw almonds.
- Soymilk instead of whole milk. Whole milk is fatty (not to mention the suffering done by the cows in modern dairy factories). Soymilk is much healthier. You get used to it after awhile, like all the changes on this list, but if soymilk is a problem at least drink 1% milk.
- Whole grain cereal. If you eat sugary cereal, try a whole-grain cereal instead.
- Berries instead of candy. This is a recent change of mine, and it’s actually been much easier than I thought. I used to snack on chocolate candy all the time, but now I try to eat berries to satisfy my sweet cravings and it works!
- Scrambled tofu instead of fried eggs. Scrambled tofu is a secret vegan wonder. Try this recipe.
- Try some great veggie dinners. There are so many good ones out there if you haven’t tried them.
If you implement 12 changes, you’ll probably be eating healthier than you ever have before. A great thing is that once you’ve done this, you’ll probably keep going, to 20 steps and beyond.
http://zenhabits.net/2008/02/a-12-step-program-to-eating-healthier-than-ever-before/
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
India's 7 hottest IT destinations
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India's 7 hottest IT destinations
Thanks to its treasure-trove of skilled manpower and high growth of software export, India is a true IT powerhouse.
And despite the current slowdown in the United States, Indian companies' overdependence on the American economy, and a weak dollar, the Indian IT juggernaut is on a roll. So where in India has the IT boom really taken off? And which are India's hottest IT spots? Read on. . .
1. Bangalore
Bangalore's (or Bengaluru's) ten-fold growth in quick time can be traced back to the IT boom over the past few years. Bangalore's main activity is information technology and information technology-enabled services. Being the leading contributor to India's IT industry, it has been dubbed the Silicon Valley of India.
Home to many software majors, like Infosys and Wipro, Bangalore accounted for 33 per cent of India's Rs 144,214 crore ($32 billion) IT exports in 2006-07.
A recent study also revealed that the rupee millionaire club in Karnataka's capital is the largest in India.
Bangalore also boasts of having the largest number of households with an annual income of Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) or more. Needless to say, the city owes it all to the IT boom. Little wonder then that Bangalore is the number 1 IT desitnation in India.
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2. Hyderabad
Like Bangalore, Hyderabad too has witnessed an IT boom in recent times, with software exports exceeding $1 billion in 2004. Of late, the city has seen huge investments in digital infrastructure. It is the second most attractive IT destination in India.
On February 19, 2008, the Indian government cleared seven projects, estimated to fetch about $7 billion over 10 years to Fab City, a silicon chip manufacturing facility, in the city.
The capital of Andhra Pradesh has also made considerable progress in the field of bio-technology through initiatives like Genome Valley and Nanotechnology Park.
Image: Cyber Gateway in Hyderabad. |
3. Chennai
Chennai is the country's third-largest exporter of information technology and information-technology-enabled services, next only to Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Experts say that the city has the potential to beat Bangalore and Hyderabad in terms of infrastructure and thus gain the position of the most attractive IT destination. Today, it is the third most preferred IT spot in India.
The software companies having their development centres in the city, are well positioned to tap the growing healthcare market for IT products and the emerging opportunity in life sciences.
Companies like Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant Technology Solutions and Covansys earn the lion's share of their income from what they offer to the US healthcare market.
The capital of Tamil Nadu is often looked upon as the most reasonable and reliable outsourcing destination for IT and healthcare solutions.
Image : Mahindra World City-Chennai. |
Maharashtra, with its many cities doing excellently on the IT front, has two big IT destinations, Pune and Mumbai. The state is the 4th most attractive IT spot in India.
4. Pune
Once a sleepy town, nestling in Western Ghats, Pune (or the 'Queen of the Deccan') may soon become the number one destination for IT investments in India, considering the pace at which it is growing and attracting companies.
According to a recent report, Pune has the highest PC penetration among households. Several IT majors like Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, Tata Consultancy Services, Kanbay, Veritas, Cognizant, PCS and Mahindra British Telecom have development arms in the city.
IT parks like Rajiv Gandhi IT Park at Hinjewadi, Magarpatta Cybercity, MIDC Software Technology Park at Talawade, Marisoft IT Park at Kalyani Nagar are seats of technology that the city can boast of.
4. Mumbai
The Maharashtra government has done a fantastic job in building the IT Corridor connecting International Infotech Park, Millenium Business Park and the Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone. A number of IT companies have set up offices here.
The most important advantage that brings software enterprises to SEEPZ is the hi-tech 64 KB line, that enables these companies to communicate and video conference over satellite to any of the offshore sites, or branches around the world.
Mumbai, apart from being the financial capital of the country, is also a booming IT centre.
Image : One of the numerous IT offices located at Magarpatta, near Pune in Maharashtra. |
5. Kolkata
West Bengal is aiming to become one of the top three IT states by 2010, contributing 15-20 per cent of the country's total IT revenue. A number of IT majors are today doing significant business in the state's capital, Kolkata.
Announcing the results of a survey report on the state's IT and ITeS sector in Kolkata recently, Indian Chamber of Commerce president Harsh K Jha said, "Between 2002-05, West Bengal has been recognised as the fastest growing IT destination in the country with more than double the national average growth rate."
"The ICC carried out the survey by gathering feedback from prominent IT companies operating in the state, including TCS, Cognizant, IBM, Wipro, on issues like infrastructure, investment scenario and future business prospects," he said.
According to the survey, 80.6 per cent of the respondents affirmed that the state was a competitive destination for IT and ITeS companies to set shop.
However, he warned that majority of the companies felt that IT and ITeS remained a 'public utility service' only on paper, with a resounding 74.19 per cent opining that the sector in the state could not operate on 24x7x365 model, as it was being frequently disrupted by strikes and bandhs.
Image: The Cognizant campus at Salt Lake |
6. Delhi
India's capital owes its recent economic growth to the emergence of Gurgaon as a significant outsourcing hub of northern India.
The outsourcing industry, which practically took birth in Gurgaon in 1997 with the setting up of GE Capital International Services, the business process outsourcing arm of GE Capital. In 2005, GECIS got an independent entity, Genpact.
Apart from Genpact, Gurgaon houses other important knowledge process outsourcing units and BPOs like Dell, Accenture, Hewitt Associates, etc.
Gurgaon's outsourcing boom has led to a spurt in jobs and wages not only in Gurgaon but in Delhi as well. A chunk of Delhi's population is employed in the BPOs and KPOs of Gurgaon.
Image : Unitech Trade Centre in Gurgaon. |
7. Bhubaneswar
Once famed for its Sun Temple, the capital of Orissa is fast emerging as a major player in the outsourcing industry. The city accounts for almost all of the IT revenue of Orissa and is one of the fastest growing regions in India in this sector.
The city is home to more than 30 engineering colleges. Although Orissa has a planned investment of $90 billion for the IT sector, the road to success is fraught with hindrances. Land acquisitions for some of these projects have been opposed by the local people as well as by environmentalists.
Image: Odissi dancers entertain visitors at Konark's Sun Temple, 60 km south of Bhubaneswar.http://specials.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/19sld01.htm
In Film und Fernsehen bleiben Frauen stumm
Frauen werden nicht nur in Erotik-Filmen, sondern auch in jugendfreien amerikanischen Filmen meistens in freizügiger und die sexuellen Reize betonender Kleidung gezeigt. Einer Studie zufolge wird nur ein Bruchteil der Sprechrollen in jugendfreien Filmen mit Frauen besetzt; auch in Kindersendungen sind Männer stärker präsent.
Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt eine Studie der amerikanischen Medienwissenschaftlerin Stacy Smith, die 400 Filme aus den Jahren 1990 bis 2006 ausgewertet hat. Ihre Ergebnisse hat die Wissenschaftlerin vor wenigen Tagen auf einer internationalen Konferenz zum Thema „Gender in Media“ an der University of Southern California vorgestellt.
Stacy Smith konnte belegen, dass nur 28 Prozent aller Sprechrollen in jugendfreien Filmen mit Frauen besetzt sind. Wenn sie in diesen Filmen auftreten, liegt der Fokus ihrer Beobachtung nach auf der äußeren Erscheinung.
Außerdem hat Smith die 400 erfolgreichsten Filme der Jahre 1990 bis 2006 untersucht. Hier zeigte sich, dass Frauen fünfmal häufiger in sexuell aufreizender Kleidung auftraten als Männer. In Fernsehsendungen, die für Kinder gemacht werden, treten Smith zufolge doppelt so häufig Männer auf wie Frauen. „Es kommen also insgesamt mehr Männer als Frauen vor“, fasst Stacy Smith ihre Ergebnisse zusammen, „und wenn Frauen vorkommen, werden sie meist in übersexualisierter Weise gezeigt.“
Smith arbeitet mit dem „Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media“ zusammen. Das von der Schauspielerin Geena Davis gegründete Institut ist weniger ein Forschungsinstitut als eine Lobbyvereinigung. Es will weibliche Rollen in Film und Fernsehen stärken und dadurch das Geschlechterbild vor allem von Kindern im Sinne der Gleichheit beeinflussen. Davis wurde bekannt durch den Film „Thelma & Louise“ (1991): Die Titelheldinnen wehren sich gewaltsam gegen männliche Drangsalierung.
http://www.handelsblatt.com/news/_pv/_p/204493/_t/ft/_b/1393652/default.aspx/index.html
Top 100 Inspirational Quotes
Henry David Thoreau
1. A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
2. None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
3. Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
5. We judge of man’s wisdom by his hope.
6. We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
7. What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say”
8. People seem not to see that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character.
9. The sun shines and warms and lights us and we have no curiosity to know why this is so; but we ask the reason of all evil, of pain, and hunger, and mosquitoes and silly people.
10. We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.
Friedrich Nietzsche
11. Enduring habits I hate…. Yes, at the very bottom of my soul I feel grateful to all my misery and bouts of sickness and everything about me that is imperfect, because this sort of thing leaves me with a hundred backdoors through which I can escape from enduring habits.
- Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, 1882
12. A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions–as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all.
13. He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.
Albert Einstein
14. I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
15. Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
16. Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means.
17. I think and think for months and years. Ninety-nine times, the conclusion is false. The hundredth time I am right.
18. Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.
19. Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
20. Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts..
Mark Twain
21. The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.
22. Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
23. Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.
24. Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.
25. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Robert Frost
26. The best way out is always through.
27. By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day
28. In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.
29. The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.
30. The world is full of willing people, some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.
Mahatma Gandhi
31. You must be the change you want to see in the world.
32. Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
33. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
34. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
35. “An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
36. Man is the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
37. Satisfaction does not come with achievement, but with effort. Full effort is full victory.
38. “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems”
39. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Rabindranath Tagore
40. By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower.
41. I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.
42. A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.
43. If you shut your door to all errors truth will be shut out.
Swami Vivekananda
44. Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.
45. If you are a strong man, very good! But do not curse others who are not strong enough for you. …Everyone says, “Woe unto you people!!” Who says, “Woe unto me that I cannot help you?” The people are doing all right to the best of their ability and means and knowledge. Woe unto me that I cannot lift them to where I am!
46. Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it were after his or her heart. But the intelligent ones are those who can convert every work into one that suits their taste.
47. The only test of goods things is that they make us strong.
Winston Churchill
48. Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.
It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.
49. I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.
50. If you’re going through hell, keep going.
Aristotle
51. Hope is a waking dream.
52. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
Voltaire
53. Every man is guilty of all the good he didn’t do.
54. Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.
55. Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
Michael Jordan
56. “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
57. If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.
E. Joseph Cossman
58. Whenever you find whole world against you just turn around and lead the world.
Anonymous
59. Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.
William B. Sprague
Henry Ford
60. Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.
Henry Ford
61. I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.
Oprah Winfrey
62. What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
Goethe
63. You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.
Zig Ziglar
64. Desire is the starting point of all achievement, not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.
Napoleon Hill
Truman Capote
65. Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.
Truman Capote
66. Vision without action is daydream. Action without vision is nightmare.
Japanese Proverb
67. In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
68. If you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a chance of being a prophet.
Isaac B. Singer
69. Success consists of doing the common things of life uncommonly well.
Unknown
70. Keep on going and the chances are you will stumble on something, perhaps when you are least expecting it. I have never heard of anyone stumbling on something sitting down.
Charles F. Kettering, Engineer and Inventor
71. Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.
Unknown
72. Some succeed because they are destined. Some succeed because they are determined.
Unknown
73. Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.
Dan Stanford
74. A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes.
Hugh Downs
75. If you’re going to be able to look back on something and laugh about it, you might as well laugh about it now.
Marie Osmond
76. Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination.
Roy Goodman
77. In between goals is a thing called life, that has to be lived and enjoyed.
Sid Caesar
78. The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work.
Richard Bach
79. If the going is real easy, beware, you may be headed down hill.
Unknown
80. To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
Anatole France
Eleanor Roosevelt
81. Great minds discuss ideas
Average minds discuss events
Small minds discuss people
Eleanor Roosevelt
82. “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
83. Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
Leo Tolstoy
84. The only thing worse than a man you can’t control is a man you can.
Margo Kaufman
85. The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed.
Richard B. Sheridan
86. I can’t understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I’m frightened by old ones.
John Cage
87. Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can.
Richard Bach
88. Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
John Wooden
89. Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.
Machiavelli.
90. “To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”
Elbert Hubbard
91. A failure is a man who has blundered, but is not able to cash in on the experience.
Elbert Hubbard
92. “When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’”
Sydney Harris
93. Do first things first, and second things not at all.
Peter Drucker.
94. The only people who find what they are looking for in life are the fault finders.
Foster’s Law
95. We see things not as they are, but as we are.
H. M. Tomlinson
96. Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.
Euripides
97. There is only one success–to be able to spend your life in your own way.
Christopher Morleys.
98. The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
Chinese Proverb
99. If youth knew; if age could.
Sigmund Freud
100. Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye.Bill Hicks
http://leftofzen.com/motivational-inspirational-quotes/2008/01/22/
10 Euro: Weltweit günstigstes Handy kommt aus Indien
Mit dem People's Phone genannten Handy stellt die indische Firma Spice ein Handy für umgerechnet knapp zehn Euro vor - nach eigenen Angaben ist es damit das weltweit günstigste Mobiltelefon. Für diesen Kampf-Preis muss es ohne Display auskommen. Als Backup-Lösung für Notfälle wäre das Handy aber auch hierzulande willkommen.
Zurück zur Basis: Das People's Phone beschränkt sich, ähnlich wie Motorolas Motofone F3, nur auf absolute Basisfunktionen. Doch wo Konkurrent Motorola immerhin mit einem E-Paper-Display punkten kann, klafft beim indischen Kandidaten eine große Lücke. Im Prinzip kann man mit diesem Mobiltelefon nur telefonieren und die Lautstärke der Gespräche verändern.
Das People's Phone (links) bietet nur das Nötigste; mit dem Movie Phone (rechts) lassen sich hingegen Filme in DVD-Qualität abspielen.
Die beschränkten Funktionen machen sich natürlich auch im Preis bemerkbar. Hersteller Spice plant, das Budget-Handy für unter 20 Dollar auf den Markt zu bringen. Zunächst soll das günstige Telefon in Indien, Südost-Asien sowie im Mittleren Osten erhältlich sein. Wenn dort die Verkaufzahlen stimmen, ist aber nicht auszuschließen, dass es auch hierzulande in die Läden kommt.
Vom gleichen Hersteller stammt das Movie Phone, nach eigenen Angaben das erste Mobiltelefon, das Filme von einer eigens entwickelten Disc abspielen kann. Die Speichermedien erinnern stark an die Spiele-Discs von Sonys Playstation Portable. Im Falle des Movie Phones soll genügend Speicherplatz vorhanden sein, um Filme in DVD-Auflösung auf dem Mobiltelefon wiedergeben zu können. Angaben zu Preis und Verfügbarkeit machte der Hersteller noch nicht.
http://www.netzwelt.de/news/77178-10-euro-weltweit-guenstigstes-handy.htmlTuesday, February 19, 2008
India Tops Asia in Salary Hikes
India is likely to top salary hikes in Asia for a fifth year in 2008, but the Indian companies are finding it hard to retain talent, a new survey said Tuesday.
Indian salaries are expected to rise by an average 15.2 percent in 2008 after rising 15.1 percent last year, according to an annual survey conducted by global human resource company Hewitt Associates. Real estate and energy companies were seen offering the biggest hikes of 25 percent and 17.5 percent respectively.
China is expected to come in second with projected raises of about 8.5 percent, followed by the Philippines with 8.3 percent, the survey said.
However, the high salary growth is fueled by a talent demand and supply mismatch, it said.
"Employees are increasingly looking for great career opportunities and are actively being pursued by other organizations," said Sandeep Choudhury, a Hewitt executive. "Organizations are using compensation as a strategic lever."
But the salary increases in India were expected to stabilize in the 9-10 percent range by 2012, Hewitt Associates said.
The survey measured actual and projected increases in salaries of individuals in the private sector. It examined compensation practices in five specific job categories -- executives, managers, midlevel staff, clerks and manual workers.
The survey covered 2,000 Asian companies, 540 of which are in India. The survey did not provide a margin of error.
The companies surveyed in India included foreign-owned, locally owned and joint venture companies across 19 industries.
The survey also showed that the traditional gap between salary hikes offered by locally owned and multinational companies had closed with Indian private sector companies projected to raise salaries by 15.5 percent in 2008 compared with 14.9 percent offered by multinationals, the survey added.
India's booming economy has averaged nearly 8.5 percent growth in the past five years, but more than 300 million of its nearly 1.1 billion people still live on less than a dollar a day and nearly twice that number struggle for access to basic facilities such as drinking water, education and health care.
Junior managers and midlevel staff received the biggest pay hikes in 2007, a trend likely to continue in 2008, the survey said.
The survey included companies in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080219/india_salaries.html
A way to see how stubborn your brain is
Bumped into this when surfing Digg, find it interesting so decided to share. I believe some of you might have heard this before. The human brain is just so stubborn. Try drawing a square with one hand and a circle with the other.
In case you can't read it.
While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles. Now while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction and there's nothing you can do about it.
Monday, February 18, 2008
10 Reasons It Doesn’t Pay To Be “The Computer Guy”
Top Ten reasons it doesn't pay to be the computer guy:
Reason #10 - Most Of Your Accomplishments Are Invisible
Reason #9 - Every Conversation You Have Is Roughly The Same
Reason #8 - You’re An Expert Of Bleeding-Edge Technology Products, Aren’t You?
Reason #7 - Your Talents Are Forcibly Undervalued
Reason #6 - You’re Never Allowed A Moment’s Peace
Reason #5 - People Ask You To Perform Miracles
Reason #4 - Your Assumed “All-Knowing” Status Sets You Up To Let People Down
Reason #3 - You Possess Unlimited Responsibility
Reason #2 - A Life Of Alienation
Reason #1 - You Have No Identity
Friday, February 15, 2008
41 ways to melt a woman`s heart
41 ways to melt a woman`s heart
1. Ask her to dance.
2. On windy days, brush wayward strands of hair from her eyes and mouth.
3. When she’s coming down the street, across the room, or up the stairs to meet you, walk towards her as soon as you see her.
4. Kiss her between her shoulder blades when she turns her back to you to go to sleep.
5. Put your arm around her when you introduce her to your friends and family.
6. Grasp her hand when a scantily dressed, beautiful woman walks by.
7. Call her when you’re feeling sad.
8. Kiss her eyelids.
9. Ask to see a picture of her when she was a child.
10. Wash her from head to toe in the shower.
11. If she’s crying on the phone, go over to her place. Immediately.
12. Stand her naked on a sturdy chair and lick between her legs.
13. Occasionally call her by her first and middle names.
14. Buy her your favourite rock album of all time on vinyl.
15. Order coffee for her, remembering exactly how she likes it.
16. Undress her and put her to bed when she falls asleep in the car.
17. Mention your upcoming anniversary before she does.
18. Send her something in the mail. Anything.
19. When she’s feeling insecure, stare into her eyes and tell her there is no-one in the world who could be as right for you as she is.
20. Call her just before you get on the plane.
21. Pick her clothes up off the floor.
22. Try desperately to make her laugh when she’s feeling down.
23. Take her to see your favourite sport live. Pay more attention to her than to the game.
24. Touch her arm when you leave the table to go to the bathroom. Touch her again when you come back.
25. Shave just before you see her. She’ll notice.
26. Hug her when she gets jealous. Hug her hard.
27. Worship her breasts.
28. Give her jewellery.
29. Hand her two towels when she gets out of the shower. (The second one is for her hair.)
30. Ask her specific questions about her work.
31. Keep her favourite cereal on hand.
32. In the middle of a conversation, tell her you love her.
33. Send her very expensive flowers when you screw up.
34. Take her to a cabin with a fireplace. Build her a fire.
35. Moan her name when she goes down on you.
36. Read her a story when it’s her turn to drive during a long road trip.
37. Offer to fix something at her place that you realise is broken.
38. Notice when she’s wearing something new.
39. Make love to her standing up, against a wall.
40. Kiss her hand in front of your most die-hard bachelor buddies.
41. If she’s too stressed to want sex...
a. Run a bath for her.
b. Give her a full-body massage.
c. Ask if she wants to wrestle.
http://www.menshealthsa.co.za/index.php?cat=1228&art_id=1201
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Indians second-most romantic lot in Asia: survey
If celebrating Valentine's Day is any measure of being romantic, Indians are Asia's second-most romantic lot with 68.5 per cent of them showing affection for their partners on this day, a survey has found.
But India is the only place in the region where more women want their men to foot the bill for the day as against a parity in spending between the sexes elsewhere.
Indians are second only to Filipinos in celebrating the Day, according to the survey conducted by GE Money across Asia.
However, in terms of spending for the Valentine's Day, Singaporean, Chinese and Koreans came on the top, while Thais would spend the least.
The survey results revealed parity in spending between the sexes for Valentine's Day across Asia, except in India. In India, 21 per cent of females said that their men should spend between 500-5,000 dollars on this day, a view shared by only 7 per cent of men, GE Money said.
Fifty per cent of the Indian respondents said they would spend same as 2007, while 38 per cent indicated a likeliness to spend more this season.
Overall, Japanese men emerged as the least romantic with only 16 per cent indicating they would celebrate the day.
The survey also found that Asian women would spend more than the men.
For funding the day's spending, Indian and Thais said they would use a mix of cash and credit cards, while over 60 per cent of Filipinos and Japanese would use cash and close to 92 per cent Koreans expressed their likeness for credit cards.
According to the survey, Indians were not as organised as their Asian peers who complete their Valentine's shopping one week before, with 76 per cent of Indians saying they shopped just a day before.
http://www.ptinews.com/pti/ptisite.nsf/all/C034661931A4A1EC652573EF00446F01?Opendocument
Smoking kills million Indians a year: Study
Smoking is killing nearly a million people a year in India, exacting a higher toll than previously thought, but allied problems are often different to those seen in the West, according to research published on Thursday.
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows Indian smokers prefer traditional leaf-wrapped, hand-rolled "beedis" to manufactured filter brands; are more likely to die of tuberculosis than cancer; and, almost never quit.
"The extreme risks from smoking that we found surprised us, as smokers in India start at a later age than those in Europe or America and smoke less," said lead author Prabhat Jha of the Toronto-based Centre for Global Health Research.
He said the study was prompted by a lack of research into the nature of smoking in India and other developing countries.
The results are partly explained by the fact that, unlike in the West, many people in India are infected with asymptomatic tuberculosis. Smoking can cause enough damage to the lungs that the latent infection can no longer be contained, researchers said.
As a result, tuberculosis is the most common cause of smoking-related deaths among Indian men.
Around 120 million people smoke in India, most of them men, according to the study.
Indian health authorities want tobacco companies to print grisly images of tobacco-related diseases on packets of cigarettes and beedis, but face opposition from politicians keen to protect the jobs of tobacco workers.
The study said that more than half of Indian smokers are illiterate and only 2 percent ever quit - and mostly only because they are too sick to continue.
The research involved tracking deaths between 2001 and 2003 in more than a million homes across India chosen to be nationally representative of the population.
Researchers arrived at their results by comparing the smoking history of 74,000 Indians who had recently died with 78,000 living Indians.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/indianexpress/20080214/r_t_ie_nl_general/tnl-smoking-kills-million-indians-a-year-aaaedd4.html
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
16% of Indians suffer from sexual dysfunction: Study
Roughly 16 per cent of the Indian population suffers from various forms of sexual dysfunctions, according to a recent survey.
The survey, conducted by the Indian Institute of Sexual Medicine (IISM), Chennai states that men suffer from dysfunctions like premature ejaculation, ejaculatory dysfunction and impotence.
Change in life style is the main reason for this, IISM Director Dr T Kamaraj said. Working on computers and business outsourcing firms had changed the life style, which affected the daily activities of the people, he said adding that this had led to more stress, affecting sexual life.
"The attitude towards sex has undergone a change, which has resulted in value degradation and even sexual frustration," he said.
Spreading fast food culture had led to obesity, which in turn affects sexual life of a person, he said, adding blood pressure, diabetes and obesity had also affected the youth.
Youth had a lot of myth and misconceptions on sex compounded with age old superstitions, which also played a major role on the sexual life of individuals, Kamaraj said.
The two day third international conference on sexology, which begins here on Saturday would address these issues at length, he added.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/16_of_Indians_suffer_from_sexual_dysfunction_Study/rssarticleshow/2779283.cms
20 Memory Tricks You’ll Never Forget
try these expert-recommended strategies to help you remember.
Brain Freeze #1
"What the heck is his name?"
• Pay attention. When you're introduced to someone, really listen to the person's name. Then, to get a better grasp, picture the spelling. Ask, "Is that Kathy with a K or a C?" Make a remark about the name to help lock it in ("Oh, Carpenter -- that was my childhood best friend's last name"), and use the name a few times during the conversation and when you say goodbye.
• Visualize the name. For hard-to-remember monikers (Bentavegna, Wobbekind), make the name meaningful. For Bentavegna, maybe you think of a bent weather vane. Picture it. Then look at the person, choose an outstanding feature (bushy eyebrows, green eyes) and tie the name to the face. If Mr. Bentavegna has a big nose, picture a bent weather vane instead of his nose. The sillier the image, the better.
• Create memorable associations. Picture Joe Everett standing atop Mount Everest. If you want to remember that Erin Curtis is the CEO of an architectural firm, imagine her curtsying in front of a large building, suggests Gini Graham Scott, PhD, author of 30 Days to a More Powerful Memory.
• Cheat a little. Supplement these tips with some more concrete actions. When you get a business card, after the meeting, jot down a few notes on the back of the card ("red glasses, lives in Springfield, went to my alma mater") to help you out when you need a reminder.
Brain Freeze #2
"Where in the world did I leave my glasses?"
• Give a play-by-play. Pay attention to what you're doing as you place your glasses on the end table. Remind yourself, "I'm putting my keys in my coat pocket," so you have a clear memory of doing it, says Scott.
• Make it a habit. Put a small basket on a side table. Train yourself to put your keys, glasses, cell phone or any other object you frequently use (or misplace) in the basket -- every time.
Brain Freeze #3
"What else was I supposed to do today?"
• Start a ritual. To remind yourself of a chore (write a thank-you note, go to the dry cleaner), give yourself an unusual physical reminder. You expect to see your bills on your desk, so leaving them there won't necessarily remind you to pay them. But place a shoe or a piece of fruit on the stack of bills, and later, when you spot the out-of-place object, you'll remember to take care of them, says Carol Vorderman, author of Super Brain: 101 Easy Ways to a More Agile Mind.
• Sing it. To remember a small group of items (a grocery list, phone number, list of names, to-do list), adapt it to a well-known song, says Vorderman. Try "peanut butter, milk and eggs" to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "Happy Birthday" or even nursery rhymes.
• Try mnemonic devices. Many of us learned "ROY G BIV" to remember the colors of the rainbow, or "Every Good Boy Deserves Favors" to learn musical notes. Make up your own device to memorize names (Suzanne's kids are Adam, Patrick and Elizabeth, or "APE"), lists (milk, eggs, tomatoes, soda, or "METS") or computer commands (to shut down your PC, hit Control+Alt+Delete, or "CAD").
• Use your body. When you have no pen or paper and are making a mental grocery or to-do list, remember it according to major body parts, says Scott. Start at your feet and work your way up. So if you have to buy glue, cat food, broccoli, chicken, grapes and toothpaste, you might picture your foot stuck in glue, a cat on your knee looking for food, a stalk of broccoli sticking out of your pants pocket, a chicken pecking at your belly button, a bunch of grapes hanging from your chest and a toothbrush in your mouth.
• Go Roman. With the Roman room technique, you associate your grocery, to-do or party-invite list with the rooms of your house or the layout of your office, garden or route to work. Again, the zanier the association, the more likely you'll remember it, says Scott. Imagine apples hanging from the chandelier in your foyer, spilled cereal all over the living room couch, shampoo bubbles overflowing in the kitchen sink and cheese on your bedspread.
Brain Freeze #4
"What's my password for this website?"
• Shape your numbers. Assign a shape to each number: 0 looks like a ball or ring; 1 is a pen; 2 is a swan; 3 looks like handcuffs; 4 is a sailboat; 5, a pregnant woman; 6, a pipe; 7, a boomerang; 8, a snowman; and 9, a tennis racket. To remember your ATM PIN (4298, say), imagine yourself on a sailboat (4), when a swan (2) tries to attack you. You hit it with a tennis racket (9), and it turns into a snowman (8). Try forgetting that image!
• Rhyme it. Think of words that rhyme with the numbers 1 through 9 (knee for 3, wine for 9, etc.). Then create a story using the rhyming words: A nun (1) in heaven (7) banged her knee (3), and it became sore (4).
Brain Freeze #5
"The word is on the tip of my tongue."
• Practice your ABCs. Say you just can't remember the name of that movie. Recite the alphabet (aloud or in your head). When you get to the letter R, it should trigger the name that's escaping you: Ratatouille. This trick works when taking tests too.
Brain Freeze #6
"I just can't memorize anything anymore!"
• Read it, type it, say it, hear it. To memorize a speech, toast or test material, read your notes, then type them into the computer. Next, read them aloud and tape-record them. Listen to the recording several times. As you work on memorizing, remember to turn off the TV, unplug your iPod and shut down your computer; you'll retain more.
• Use color. Give your notes some color with bolded headings and bulleted sections (it's easier to remember a red bullet than running text).
• Make a map. Imagine an intersection and mentally place a word, fact or number on each street corner.
http://www.rd.com/health/brain-and-nervous-system/retrain-your-brain/article.html
World's thinnest laptop comes to India
Apple unveiled the world's thinnest notebook, MacBook Air, in India on Wednesday. Angeline Tan, product marketing manager of Apple, introduced the notebook here, which measures 4 mm at its thinnest point.
The MacBook Air was first launched at the MacWorld expo in San Francisco on January 15.
In India, it will ship in two weeks through Apple authorised resellers and authorised dealers for a suggested retail price of Rs.96,100 ($2,421).
The features of the MacBook Air include a 13.3-inch liquid crystal display, a full-size backlit keyboard and a built-in video camera.
MacBook Air delivers up to five hours of battery life and includes Wi-Fi networking.
With an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1.6 or 1.8 GHz of processing power, Apple's standard model contains a 1.8-inch hard drive offering 80 GB of storage.
http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2778499.cms
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
22 Websites that can change your life
The internet has changed all of our lives, hopefully in a more positive direction. You can use these sites just for entertainment or you can use them to change your life. Many of them you visit all the time but it’s time to look at them another way and harness their power.
*These are in no particular order.
1 - Facebook - Facebook allows you to reconnect with old and new friends. In the case of Lori Haas, facebook helped Lori reunite with her son that she gave up for adoption when she was just 17. (Full Story)
2 - Myspace - This is the most popular social network on the web, even though it has the most spam. Some absolutely hate myspace, but others have used it to launch their careers. Many singers and musicians have achieved “overnight” success using the network. Like facebook you can connect with friends but myspace makes it easier for networking with people you don’t know and create new business contacts.
3 - Digg - many will agree with this choice, while others will strongly disagree. But Digg can open you up to a whole new realm of news. You can visit the homepage once a day and instantly become up to date on what’s going on in the world. You can use Digg to your advantage, find the latest trends in business or find articles on improving your life.
4 - Kiva - Kiva is a lending site that helps entrepreneurs in developing countries finance their ventures. It doesn’t take much to help someone out. By changing others you can change yourself.
5 - Lifehack.org - Lifehack can help you get things done. This blog has in depth articles on all things that do with productivity.
6 - YouTube - If you want to work in the entertainment industry, YouTube is a great way to get your feet wet and at a very low cost. You have an audience of millions of people at your disposal.
7 - Google - This is an obvious one. I really don’t know how we lived without Google in the early days of the internet.
8 - Twitter - Twitter may someday save lives by people quickly alerting others of dangerous situations to avoid. During the California fires, people used Twitter to let friends know that they were safe. You can also use Twitter as a way to help with your business networking by knowing where your business contacts are at.
9 - eBay - eBay can save you a lot of money but can also bring you immense opportunities. You can easily create an online business that reaches millions of buyers. Many people have very successful million dollar enterprises using ebay.
10 - Ancestry.com - This website can help you piece together your family history. By understanding the past your can change the future. * Many readers have expressed concerns about the business practices of Ancestry.com. Please read comments below and be sure to check any complaints about Ancestry.com or any other business before working with them.*
11 - Zen Habits - This blog is similar to Lifehack.org by offering simple productivity to get the most of your life.
12 - Craigslist - You can find almost anything on Craigslist. It’s a simple site but can simply change your life.
13 - Post Secret - The Post Secret project shows you that we’re all very much the same. It can also show you that others may have worse problems than the ones your facing.
14 - LinkedIn - You can use LinkedIn to network with professionals from all areas of business including Fortune 500 companies.
15 - TED.com - This website is full of various videos from TED conferences and has biographies on some of the greatest thinkers of present time. Presentations from successful people such as Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, Bono, Seth Godin, and Jane Goodall. Most videos are a few minutes long but can empower you for years to come.
16 - Wikipedia - Not everything on Wikipedia is accurate but there is so much information on almost every topic possible. Don’t know about something, just look it up on Wikipedia and within a few minutes you can be informed.
17 - The Fastlane to Millions - This is a relatively new and small forum for those who are or aspire to be entrepreneurs and millionaires. The members are very positive and want to help each other get the most out of life.
18 - Second Life - This virtual world may seem like a virtual waste of time but some people such as Anshe Chung have found opportunities limitless on Second Life. Anshe has become a millionaire by buying and selling virtual real estate.
19 - Quoteland - You can visit Quoteland and read hundreds of quotes that will give you a fresh perspective and change your life in minutes. If you have an open mind.
20 - 43 Things - 43 Things can be a great way to achieve your goals. You can post your dreams and aspirations for all to see. Having that type of pressure can be very positive for you, helping you continue till you reach your goals.
* 21 - Stumble Upon - This has been requested by readers to be added to the list. Stumble Upon can change your life and help you discover so many new websites you would never be able to otherwise.
* 22 - del.icio.us - This site has also been demanded to be added to the list. So since many have found Lyved via del.icio.us, it must be an addition. Maybe someone from del.icio.us can change their life after visiting Lyved.
What sites have been most beneficial to you or changed your life? Leave a comment below.
http://www.lyved.com/life/20-websites-that-can-change-your-life/1000 Condom Tester needed in India
Durex is looking for a few lucky Indians to do, what is quite possibly, the world's best job - testing Durex products.
If you are among the lucky 1000 selected, you'll then have to provide Durex with feedback about product performance. After testing them - of course!
Consistent, relevant and informative feedback could fetch you huge rewards. How much more pleasurable can a job be?
If you believe in working hard for greater job satisfaction, here’s the opportunity for you. In what’s being touted as “the best job on earth”, condom-maker Durex wants to recruit Indian men above the age of 18 to test its “product performance”.
Besides the obvious perks, there would be the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing the country and larger Asian identity a large service. For, however much sexologist may insist that size does not matter, the fact remains that Asians are less endowed than most other races. Even a 2006 ICMR study mapping Indian penis size said the international condom sizes available in India are oversized for smaller Indian men, causing slippages and breakages — of the condoms.
World Health Organisation experts say there are variations in penis size across ethnic groups. Men of African descent are wider and longer, Caucasians are medium, while Asians are narrower and shorter.
So if you are not embarrassed reporting to work in a piece of latex, here’s a chance to prove them wrong. The selected 1,000 applicants will get a condom hamper — no texture or flavour specified — with which they can get to work right away. Once they have exhausted themselves testing the products, all they need to do is send the feedback and have a chance of winning iPods and gift vouchers, besides the “Grand Prize” of Rs 25,000.
“Durex wants to ensure that its condoms are best meeting the needs of Indians and what better way to know this than to ask Indians first hand. Our expectations with Indians are high,” said R. Srinivasan, VP, TTK-LIG Ltd, which markets Durex condoms in India. Similar surveys have got enthusiastic response in France, Germany and Malaysia.
Monday, February 11, 2008
10 Healthy Things Commonly Mistaken as Unhealthy
Here are 10 things that are commonly mistaken to be unhealthy for us that are in reality very beneficial.
1. MarijuanaMarijuana, one of the most wide spread illegal drug in America actually has some medical purposes. It can be used to help prevent memory loss. There are a few ingredients inside the drug that prevent the proteins in our brains to get stuck together. It can also be used to ease pain of the suffering. If used in large amounts it can be very dangerous in both the short term and long term.
2. Beer
Believe it or not beer can actually be beneficial to you if you drink it in moderation. In recent studies it has been proven that moderate beer drinking will actually improve your cardiovascular functions. If you consume too much obviously you will get drunk, but there are many other downsides to over usage such as depression.
3. LSD
LSD ties in perfectly with over users of beer. It has shown that small, very small, doses of LSD can be used to avoid the low stages of alcoholism and prevent the relapses. Very old studies, however they have been yet to be proved inaccurate.
4. Sex
This article is a great description of many benefits of having sex. To name a few it reduces stress, fights depression, improves fitness level, and decreases signs of aging. Once again if you are interested in these and the many more healthy benefits and what make it healthy read that. I don't really believe there are any down sides to it.
5. Anger
Anger is usually thought of as a bad thing, something you don't want to be. Recent studies have shown that times of great anger every once in a while are beneficial to your health and are more effective as a coping mechanism than being irritated or disgusted. The affects of over usage are high blood pressure, lung damage, sleeping disorders, and depression.
6. Maggots
Maggots can help us when we get seriously injured. When placed on a very serious wound they will do as maggots do. Maggots will eat the bacteria and dead tissue surrounding the wounds which can help prevent infection. This may not be the smartest idea as everyone knows maggots aren't exactly clean themselves.
7. Sunlight
Sunlight is a much needed element to human survival. The sun not only provides the light for plants to grow, it also keeps us awake. The lack of sunlight can cause a sort of depression that is experienced during the long winters. Too much sun however can give us cancer.
8. Coffee
A very common drink in the workplace but how can this giant boosts of morning caffeine helps your body? Surely it is taking away from it right? A few studies have shown that coffee, containing a large amount of antioxidants, can help lower our risk of getting diabetes. The beans that are used to make the coffee are shown to be helpful in easing the pain of cirrhosis of the liver.
9. Chocolate
This like coffee has many antioxidants in them which help prevent cancers and lower the risk of getting diabetes. Still just a theory but it may also improve blood flow to the brain. There, of course, is a limit, to much of it over a long term may help cause you to gain weight.
10. Red Wine
The worlds healthiest populations of the present and past have drank red wine. It is very helpful in preventing cancer and provides many benefits for your arteries. This drink also includes the antioxidants found in coffee and chocolate which help prevent diabetes.
Remember the key to successfully using any of these for medical benefit is to use them in moderation. If there is an error in any of these please comment me with a source to your information and explain it to me.
http://www.healthmad.com/Alternative/Healthy-or-Not-10-Healthy-Things-Commonly-Mistaken-as-Unhealthy.79382
'Venice rated the most romantic city'
Venice is the most romantic city of the world, according to a survey.
Europe picked up six of the top 10 destinations, with Venice pipping the traditional favourite city of Paris for the top spot.
The other cities that made it to the list in order were Rome, Vienna and New York. Melbourne was the only Australian destination to make the cut, scoring ninth place.
Australian online accommodation website Wotif.com surveyed nearly 2,000 of its customers around the globe to find their opinions on Valentine's Day.
Wotif.com market manager Saskia Moon said Melbourne had proved particularly popular with New Zealand and Asian voters.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1150275
Friday, February 8, 2008
Amazing True Facts
Any month that has a Friday the 13th also has a Wednesday the 25th.
John Madden is an accomplished ballroom dancer.
In 21 states, Wal-Mart is the single largest employer.
Jim Gordon, drummer of Derek and the Dominos ("Layla"), killed his mother with a claw hammer.
One of Hewlett Packard's first ideas was an automatic urinal flusher.
Eric Clapton did not play the very famous first riff on the song "Layla". That was Duane Allman. Clapton comes in later.
As you age, your eye color gets lighter.
There are more cars in Southern California than there are cows in India.
The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.
The province of Alberta, Canada is completely free of rats.
Illinois has the most personalized license plates of any state.
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
The average chocolate bar has 8 insect legs in it.
There are 206 bones in the adult human body, but 300 in children (some of the bones fuse together as a child grows).
Fleas can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6 foot person jumping 780 feet into the air.
Snakes are true carnivores as they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.
There are no venomous snakes in Maine.
The blue whale can produce sounds up to 188 decibels. This is the loudest sound produced by a living animal and has been detected as far away as 530 miles.
The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.
It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.
Erosion at the base of Niagara Falls (USA) undermines the shale cliffs and as a result, the falls have receded approximately 7 miles over the last 10,000 years.
The longest living cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire lifetime.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
North Dakota has never had an earthquake.
Alexander Graham Bell (who invented the telephone) also set a world water-speed record of over seventy miles an hour at the age of 72.
There is enough fuel in a full tank of a jumbo jet to drive an average car four times around the world.
Hawaii is moving toward Japan 4 inches every year.
Chimps are the only animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror.
The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth.
Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.
If you keep a goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
Almonds are members of the peach family.
Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
One person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.
Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Animal Kingdom".
The dot that appears over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
All major league baseball umpires must wear black underwear while on the job (in case their pants split).
The Spanish word esposa means "wife." The plural, esposas, means "wives," but also "handcuffs."
If all Americans used one third less ice in their drinks the United States would become a net exporter instead of an importer of energy.
If the Nile River were stretched across the United States, it would run nearly from New York to Los Angeles.
San Francisco cable cars are the only National Monuments that move.
The Hoover Dam was built to last 2,000 years. Its concrete will not be fully cured for another 500 years.
Abraham Lincoln's dog, Fido, was assassinated too.
All of David Letterman's suits are custom made - there are no creases in his suit trousers.
Cranberry Jell-O is the only flavor that contains real fruit flavoring.
Fewer than half of the 16,200 major league baseball players have ever hit a home run.
In comic strips, the person on the left always speaks first.
Richard Versalle, a tenor performing at New York's Metropolitan Opera House, suffered a heart attack and fell 10 feet from a ladder to the stage just after singing the line "You can only live so long."
If the entire population of earth was reduced to exactly 100 people, 51% would be female, 49% male; 50% of the world's currency would be held by 6 people, one person would be nearly dead, one nearly born.
In 1920, Babe Ruth out-homered every American League team.
Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England, but only in tropical fish stores.
Toxic house plants poison more children than household chemicals.
The original name of Bank of America was Bank of Italy.
The ant, when intoxicated, will always fall over to its right side.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has issued six driver's licenses to six different people named Jesus Christ.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike each year than all the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
People in China and Japan die disproportionately on the 4th of each month because the words death and four sound alike, and they are represented by the same symbol.
Chicago is closer to Moscow than it is to Rio de Janeiro.
Dogs have two sets of teeth, just like humans. They first have 30 "puppy" teeth, then 42 adult teeth.
In 1950, President Harry Truman threw out the first ball twice at the opening day Washington DC baseball game; once right handed and once left handed.
A Swiss ski resort announced it would combat global warming by wrapping its mountain glaciers in aluminum foil to keep them from melting.
The chameleon has a tongue that is one and a half times the length of his body.
Beethoven dipped his head in cold water before he composed.
There once was a town named "6" in West Virginia.
Ten years ago, only 500 people in China could ski. This year, an estimated 5,000,000 Chinese will visit ski resorts.
In 1920, Babe Ruth broke the single season home run record, with 29. The same year, he became the first major leaguer to hit 30 home runs. The same year, he became the first major leaguer to hit 40 home runs. The same year, he became the first major leaguer to hit 50 home runs.
A Nigerian woman was caught entering the UK with 104 kg of snails in her baggage.
Profanity is typically cut from in-flight movies to make them suitable for general audiences. Fox Searchlight Pictures has substituted "Ashcroft" for "A**hole" in the movie Sideways when dubbed for Aerolineas Argentinas flights.
Author Hunter S. Thompson, who committed suicide recently, wanted to be cremated and his ashes to be shot out of a cannon on his ranch.
Sports Illustrated magazine allows subscribers to opt out of receiving the famous swimsuit issue each year. Fewer than 1% choose this option.
There is a company that will (for $14,000) take your ashes, compress them into a synthetic diamond to be set in jewelry for a loved one.
The RIAA sued an 83 year old woman for downloading music illegally, even though a copy of her death certificate was sent to the RIAA a week before it filed the suit.
Two 1903 paintings recently sold at auction for $590,000 - the paintings were in the famous "Dogs Playing Poker" series.
Russian scientists have developed a new drug that prolongs drunkenness and enhances intoxication.
Romanian firefighters could not get their trucks close enough to a burning building, so they put out the fire by throwing snowballs at it.
A perfect SAT score is 1600 combined. Bill Gates scored 1590 on his SAT. Paul Allen, Bill's partner in Microsoft, scored a perfect 1600. Bill Cosby scored less than 500 combined.
Motorists traveling outside Salem, Oregon saw one of the "litter cleanup" signs crediting the American Nazi party. Marion County officials had no choice but to let that group into the adopt-a-road program. The $500 per sign was picked up by Oregon taxpayers. The Ku Klux Klan is also involved in the adopt-a-road program in the state of Arkansas.
Spam filters that catch the word "cialis" will not allow many work-related e-mails through because that word is embedded inside the word "specialist".
McDonald's restaurants will buy 54,000,000 pounds of fresh apples this year. Two years ago, McDonald's purchased 0 pounds of apples. This is attributed to the shift to more healthy menu options (the Apple Pie, which has been at McDonald's for years uses processed Apple Pie Filling).
The biggest dog on record was an Old English Mastiff that weighed 343 pounds. He was 8 feet, 3 inches from nose to tail.
Mailmen in Russia now carry revolvers after a recent decision by the government.
All of Queen Anne's 17 children died before she did.
There are over 87,000 Americans on waiting lists for organ transplants.
American made parts account for only 1% of the Chrysler Crossfire. 96% of the Ford F-150 Heritage Truck is American.
A Dutch court ruled that a bank robber could deduct the 2,000 Euros he paid for his pistol from the 6,600 Euros he has to return to the bank he robbed.
Only 6% of the autographs in circulation from members of the Beatles are estimated to be real.
The time spent deleting SPAM costs United States businesses $21.6 billion annually.
60.7 percent of eligible voters participated in the 2004 presidential election, the highest percentage in 36 years. However, more than 78 million did not vote. This means President Bush won re-election by receiving votes from less than 31% of all eligible voters in the United States.
John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, loved to skinny dip in the Potomac River.
La Paz, Bolivia has an average annual temperature below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. However, it has never recorded a zero-degree temperature. Same for Stanley, Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas, Chile.
41% of Chinese people eat at least once a week at a fast food restaurant. 35% of Americans do.
A Wisconsin forklift operator for a Miller beer distributor was fired when a picture was published in a newspaper showing him drinking a Bud Light.
G-rated family films earn more money than any other rating. Yet only 3% of Hollywood's output is G-rated.
Richard Hatch, winner of the first "Survivor" reality series, has been charged with tax evasion for failing to report his $1,000,000 prize.
The entire fleet of Unicoi County Tennessee's salt trucks was rendered out of commission in one accident. All three trucks were badly damaged when one of them began skidding down a road, causing a chain reaction accident. Officials blamed road conditions.
More people study English in China than speak it in the United States of America (300 million).
Fast food provider Hardee's has recently introduced the Monster Thickburger. It has 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat.
More than 2,500 left-handed people are killed each year from using products that are made for right-handed people.
For every person on earth, there are an estimated 200 million insects.
There are 2,000,000 millionaires in the United States.
1.5 million Americans are charged with drunk driving each year.
A Georgia company will mix your loved one's ashes with cement and drop it into the ocean to form an artificial reef.
The Washington Times newspaper is owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
The busiest shopping hour of the holiday season is between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Christmas Eve.
In 2002, women earned 742,000 bachelor's degrees. Men earned only 550,000 during the same year. The difference is growing so large that many colleges now practice (quietly) affirmative action for male applicants.
Most of the deck chairs on the Queen Mary 2 have had to be replaced because overweight Americans were breaking them.
Actor Bill Murray doesn't have a publicist or an agent.
The day after President George W. Bush was reelected, Canada's main immigration website had 115,000 visitors. Before Bush's re-election, this site averaged about 20,000 visitors each day.
Only 30% of stolen artwork worth more than $1,000,000 each is recovered.
The typical American child receives 70 new toys a year, most of them during the holiday season.
90% of Canada's 31,000,000 citizens live within 100 miles of the U.S. border.
Costco is the largest wine retailer in the United States. Annual wine sales are about $700 million.
The worst air polluter in the entire state of Washington is Mount St. Helens.
There are less than 100 surviving American World War I veterans.
Actor Bruce Willis has filed a lawsuit against the movie studio that produced his film "Tears of the Sun", alleging he was struck in the forehead by a fake bullet. Since 2002 (when the movie was in production), the lawsuit claims he has endured "extreme mental, physical, and emotional pain and suffering".
A ten year old mattress weighs double what it did when it was new, because of the -ahem- debris which is absorbed through the years. That debris includes dust mites (their droppings and their decaying bodies), mold, millions of dead skin cells, dandruff, animal and human hair, secretions, excretions, lint, pollen, dust, soil, sand and a lot of perspiration, of which the average person loses a quart per day. Good night!
About 20% of gift cards never are redeemed at the full value of the card.
John Kerry's hometown newspaper, the Lowell Sun, endorsed George W. Bush for president in 2004. Bush's hometown newspaper, the Lone Star Iconoclast, endorsed John Kerry for president in 2004.
Only 939 of the 1,400,000 high school seniors who took the SAT in 2004 got a perfect score of 1600. Two of them are twin brothers Dillon and Jesse Smith from Long Island, NY.
Billboard magazine has recently launched a top 20 chart of cell phone ringtones.
The US Army is handing out $2,500 to Fallujah residents whose property was destroyed by US planes and artillery.
George W. Bush, who presents himself as a man of faith, rarely goes to church. Yet he received votes from nearly two out of three voters who attend church at least once a week.
In 2015, it is estimated that half the federal budget will be spent on programs for the elderly.
A private elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia, accidentally served margaritas to its schoolchildren, thinking it was limeade.
The Chicago Cubs are suing former Hartford Courant newspaper carrier Mark Guthrie to get back $301,000 in pay that was intended to go to a Cubs pitcher with the same name. The Tribune Company owns both the Hartford Courant and the Chicago Cubs.
In February 2004, a Disney World employee was killed when he fell from a parade float and was trapped between two float sections. OSHA termed this a serious workplace violation, but Disney was fined only $6,300.
Even today, 90% of the continental United States is still open space or farmland.
The second Saturday in September is usually a popular time for weddings. Not in 2004, as most couples did not want their anniversaries on September 11.
Mel Gibson has personally earned almost $400,000,000 from his movie "The Passion of the Christ".
Austin High School in Texas has removed candy from its vending machines. Now some enterprising students are earning $200 per week dealing in black market candy.
In 2004, Virgin Atlantic Airlines introduced a double bed for first class passengers who fly together.
The world's largest book, "Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey" is in a Chicago public library. The book measures 5 feet tall by 7 feet wide when open. It weighs 133 pounds.
If the recent U.S. election was held in Canada, John Kerry would have beaten George Bush in a landslide - 64% to 19%.
Oprah Winfrey and Elvis Presley are distant cousins.
55% of Americans claim they would continue working even if they received a $10,000,000 lottery prize.
The company that manufactures the greatest number of women's dresses each year is Mattel. Barbie's got to wear something.
All radios in North Korea have been rigged so listeners can only receive a North Korean government station. The United States recently announced plans to smuggle $2,000,000 worth of small radios into the country so North Koreans can get a taste of (what their government calls) "rotten imperialist reactionary culture".
La Paz, Bolivia is the world's most fireproof city. At 12,000 feet about sea level, the amount of oxygen in the air barely supports a flame.
The estates of 22 dead celebrities earned over $5 million in 2004. These celebrities include Elvis Presley, Dr. Seuss, Charles Schulz, J.R.R. Tolkien and John Lennon.
George Washington spent about 7% of his annual salary on liquor.
Each year, more people are killed by teddy bears than by grizzly bears.
If you disassembled the Great Pyramid of Cheops, you would get enough stones to encircle the earth with a brick wall twenty inches high.
Nearly one third of New York City public school teachers send their own children to private schools.
The New York City Police Department has a $3.3 billion annual budget, larger than all but 19 of the world's armies.
CBS's fine for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" in the 2004 Super Bowl show was $550,000. This could be paid with only 7.5 seconds of commercial time during the same Super Bowl telecast.
In September 2004, a Minnesota state trooper issued a speeding ticket to a motorcyclist who was clocked at 205 mph.
Al Gore's roommate in college (Harvard, class of 1969) was Tommy Lee Jones.
In her later years, Florence Nightingale kept a pet owl in her pocket.
The New York Jets were unable to find hotel rooms for a game in Indianapolis recently because they had all been booked up by people attending Gencon, a gaming convention.
China is the world's largest market for BMW's top of the line 760Li. This car sells for $200,000 in China - more than almost all people in China make in a lifetime.
A chef's hat is shaped the way it is for a reason: its shape allows air to circulate around the scalp, keeping the head cool in a hot kitchen.
Life expectancy for Russian men has actually gone down over the past 40 years. A Russian male born today can expect to live an average 58 years.
Each year, sixteen million gallons of oil run off pavement into streams, rivers and eventually oceans in the United States. This is more oil than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.
An employee of the Alabama Department of Transportation installed spyware on his boss's computer and proved that the boss spent 10% of his time working (20% of time checking stocks and 70% of the time playing solitaire). The employee was fired, the boss kept his job.
In 1985, the most popular waist size for men's pants was 32. In 2003, it's 36.
Solid structures (parking lots, roads, buildings) in the United States cover an area the size of Ohio.
A Brussels Airlines flight to Vienna was aborted because the pilot was attacked in the cockpit. The attacker was a passenger's cat, who got out of its travel bag.
Physicists have already performed a simple type of teleportation, transferring the quantum characteristics of one atom onto another atom at a different location.
At General Motors, the cost of health care for employees now exceeds the cost of steel.
There is a regulation size half-court where employees can play basketball inside the Matterhorn at Disneyland.
One of pitcher Nolan Ryan's jockstraps recently sold at auction for $25,000.
Television stations hung banners at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, including Al-Jazeera, until it was noticed and taken down.
A woman was chewing what was left of her chocolate bar when she entered a Metro station in Washington DC. She was arrested and handcuffed; eating is prohibited in Metro stations.
The New York City subway system, in an effort to raise revenue, is considering selling sponsorships of individual stations to corporations. Riders could soon be getting off at Nike Grand Central Station or Sony Times Square.
The Nike swoosh was designed by a Portland State University student, and purchased by Nike for $35.
Gerald Ford once worked as a cover model for Cosmopolitan magazine.
Gillette spent $1,000,000 to place razor samples in the welcome bags handed out at the Democratic National Convention, only to have them confiscated as they were considered a threat. This caused huge delays at all security checkpoints.
Quebec City, Canada, has about as much street crime as Disney World.
Jim Carrey voted in 2004 at the Beverly Hills City Hall. He had an assistant wait in line for him, however.
As part of a charity event, 500 cats were spayed and neutered in the cafeteria of an elementary school. School was cancelled for days and $10,000 was spent on cleaning and sterilizing the room.
The United States has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five percent of the world's prison population.
Seven percent of Americans claim they never bathe at all.
The largest McDonald's is in Beijing, China - measuring 28,000 square feet. It has twenty nine cash registers.
A house in Baghdad worth $15,000 before the Iraq war now sells for $120,000 to $150,000.
There are between 5,000 and 7,000 tigers kept as pets in the United States.
The fertility rate in states that voted for George Bush is 12% higher than states that favored John Kerry.
The chicken is one of the few things that man eats before it's born and after it's dead.
The number of US college students studying Latin is three times the number studying Arabic.
In 2004, one in six girls in the United States enter puberty at age 8. A hundred years ago, only one in a hundred entered puberty that early.
If you hook Jell-O up to an EEG, it registers movements almost identical to a human adult's brain waves.
Some dogs can predict when a child will have an epileptic seizure, and even protect the child from injury. They're not trained to do this, they simply learn to respond after observing at least one attack.
32 out of 33 samples of well-known brands of milk purchased in Los Angeles and Orange counties in California had trace amounts of perchlorate. Perchlorate is the explosive component in rocket fuel.
The remains of 125 people will be launched into space where they will orbit the Earth for centuries.
The leading cause of on-the-job deaths in workplaces in America is homicide.
So far, Congress has authorized $152,600,000,000 for the Iraq war. This is enough to build over 17,500 elementary schools.
Americans take an average of just ten days per year vacation. In France, the law guarantees everyone five weeks of vacation, and most full-time workers get two full months vacation.
The IRS admits that one in five people who call their help line get the wrong answer to their question.
20% of Americans think that the sun orbits around the Earth.
Van Halen singer David Lee Roth trained to be an EMT in New York City, and planned to be certified by November 2004.
The thong accounts for 25% of the United States women's underwear market.
On average, 40% of all hotel rooms in the United States remain empty every night.
When you hear a bullwhip snap, it's because the tip is traveling faster than the speed of sound.
There is a new television show on a British cable called "Watching Paint Dry". Viewers watch in real-time. Gloss, semi-gloss, matte, satin, you name it. Then viewers vote out their least favorite.
The largest ocean liners pay a $250,000 toll for each trip through the Panama Canal. The canal generates fully one-third of Panama's entire economy.
French author Michel Thaler published a 233 page novel which has no verbs.
The spring thaw finally allows cemeteries in Alaska to start digging graves for those who died during the winter.
When Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen turn 18 in mid-2004, they will take official control of a company worth more than the gross national product of Mongolia. Their earnings in 2003 topped $1 billion.
Orthodox rabbis warned that New York City drinking water might not be kosher; it contains harmless micro-organisms that are technically shellfish.
David Bowie thinks he is being stalked by someone who is dressed like a giant pink rabbit. Bowie has noticed the fan at several recent concerts, but he became alarmed when he got on a plane and the bunny was on board.
A party boat filled with 60 men and women capsized in Texas after all the passengers rushed to one side as the boat passed a nude beach.
In 1997, a woman in Bradenton, Florida lost her cat. In 2004, she got a call from the local animal shelter. The cat turned up wandering the streets in San Francisco, California. The cat's identity was proven with a microchip that had been implanted prior to 1997.
Almost 20% of the billions of dollars American taxpayers are spending to rebuild Iraq are lost to theft, kickbacks and corruption.
The treasury department has more than twenty people assigned to catching people who violate the trade and tourism embargo with Cuba. In contrast, it has only four employees assigned to track the assets of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.
There are 40,000 New York City cab drivers, who collectively drive more than a million miles each day.
An estimated 800,000 senior citizens voluntarily give up their driving privileges each year. The average age at which they surrender the wheel is 85.
More than 8,100 US troops are still listed as missing in action from the Korean war.
3,400,000 Americans are considered "Extreme Commuters". These people commute over 90 minutes round trip every day to work.
82% of Americans made a purchase at Wal-Mart in 2002.
Oslo, Norway is the world's most expensive city. A gallon on gas costs almost $5, and it costs $1.32 to use the public restrooms.
Villanova University's commencement speaker this year is the actor who plays Big Bird.
In 1965, auditions were held for the "Monkees" TV show. Some of the people who responded (but were not hired) were Stephen Stills, Harry Nilsson, Paul Williams and Charles Manson.
Kevin Spacey's older brother is a professional Rod Stewart impersonator.
71% of office workers stopped on the street for a survey agreed to give up their computer passwords in exchange for a chocolate bar.
George W. Bush and John Kerry are 16th cousins, three times removed.
If current trends continue, Medicare costs will absorb 51% of all income tax revenues by 2042.
The prison system is the largest supplier of mental health services in America, with 250,000 Americans with mental illness living there.
Newest trend in the Netherlands: Tiny jewels implanted directly into the eye.
Researchers have found that doctors who spend at least three hours a week playing video games make about 37% fewer mistakes in laparoscopic surgery than surgeons who didn't play video games.
Before he had his own show, Jerry Seinfeld appeared on three episodes of the TV show "Benson" as the governor's speechwriter.
There are 1,008 McDonald's franchises in France.
Hostess Twinkies were originally filled with banana filling. The filling was changed during World War II when the United States experienced a banana shortage.
World War II veterans are now dying at the rate of about 1,100 each day.
George W. Bush is probably going to be the eighth president in US history to have completed a term in office without ever having issued a single veto.
A deployed air bag adds as much as $2,000 to the cost of repairing a vehicle. That's enough for insurance companies to often declare the car "totaled".
For the first time in history, the number of people on the planet aged 60 or over will soon surpass those under 5.
A British gymnast survived a fall from a fourth story window because he went into a somersault and came down on two feet.
One out of five people in the world (1.1 billion people) live on less than $1 per day.
The Swedish pop group ABBA recently turned down an offer of $2 billion to reunite.
The New Yorker magazine now has more subscribers in California than New York.
Five years ago, 60% of all retail purchases were made with cash or check. Now it's 50%. By 2010, 39% of purchases will be made by cash or check.
35 Billion e-mails are sent each day throughout the world.
The richest self-made American under 40 is Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Computers. He is worth $18 billion.
Legislators in Santa Fe, New Mexico, are considering a law that would require pets to wear seat belts when traveling in a car.
Life Savers got their shape by a malfunctioning machine, which mistakenly punched a hole in the center of each candy.
SUV sales are up 18% in the first quarter of 2004 vs. the same period of 2003, even though gas prices are skyrocketing. Consumer surveys show that gas prices would have to hit $3.75 per gallon before there will be any real impact on SUV sales.
Airport security agents at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts caught a passenger trying to sneak a severed seal head onto a plane inside a cooler. The man said he was a biology professor and had found the dead animal on the beach.
Jimmy Carter once reported a UFO in Georgia.
There are 150,000,000 cell phones in use in the United States, more than one per every two human beings in the country.
A Boeing 767 airliner is made of 3,100,000 separate parts.
The average child recognizes over 200 company logos by the time he enters first grade.
Last December, the House of Representatives earmarked $50,000,000 to create an indoor rain forest in Iowa.
Amusement park attendance goes up after a fatal accident. It seems many people want to ride upon the same ride that killed someone.
Jeffrey and Sheryl McGowen in Houston turned to vitro fertilization. Two eggs were implanted in Sheryl's womb, and both of them split. Sheryl gave birth to two sets of identical twins at once.
For every ton of fish that is caught in all the oceans on our planet, there are three tons of garbage dumped into the oceans.
June Foray did the voice for Rocky the Flying Squirrel and the Chatty Cathy dolls.
Japanese and Chinese people die on the fourth of the month more often than any other dates. The reason may be that they are "scared to death" by the number four. The words four and death sound alike in both Chinese and Japanese.
People with initials that spell out GOD or ACE are likely to live longer than people whose initials spell out words like APE, PIG, or RAT.
More people in the United States die during the first week of the month than during the last, an increase that may be a result of the abuse of substances purchased with benefit checks that come at the beginning of each month.
In the film Forrest Gump, all the still photos show Forrest with his eyes closed.
There are an average of 18,000,000 items for sale at any time on EBay.
The New York Times reports that in February 2004, 62% of all e-mail was spam.
A Massachusetts surgeon left a patient with an open incision for 35 minutes while he went to deposit a check.
In 1991, the average bra size in the United States was 34B. Today it's 36C.
U.K. telecom provider Telewest Broadband is testing a device that hooks to your PC and wafts a scent when certain e-mails arrive.
The average North Korean 7-year-old is almost three inches shorter than the average South Korean 7-year-old.
In 1993, David McLean developed lung cancer. He died on October 12, 1995. McLean's death made him the second Marlboro Man to die of lung cancer. Another actor, Wayne McLaren, died in 1992 at the age of 51 from lung cancer.
There is a bar in London that sells vaporized vodka, which is inhaled instead of sipped.
According to market research firm NPD Fashionworld, fifty percent of all lingerie purchases are returned to the store.
On EBay, there are an average of $680 worth of transactions each second.
The Eiffel Tower shrinks 6 inches in winter.
The first FAX machine was patented in 1843, 33 years before Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated the telephone.
72% of Americans sign their pets' names on greeting cards they send out.
In an effort to encourage the use of nuclear energy, the United States lent highly enriched uranium to countries all over the world between 1950 and 1988. Enough weapons-grade material to make 1,000 nuclear bombs has still not been returned by such countries as Pakistan, Iran, Israel and South Africa.
Homing pigeons use roads where possible to help find their way home. In fact, some pigeons followed roads so closely that they actually flew around traffic circles before choosing the exit that led them home.
Every year, 2700 surgical patients go home from the hospital with metal tools, sponges, and other objects left inside them. In 2000, 57 people died as a result of these mistakes.
A snowflake can take up to a hour to fall from the cloud to the surface of the Earth.
Only 5 percent of the ocean floor has been mapped in as much detail as the surface of Mars.
The only people whose likenesses adorn Pez dispensers are Betsy Ross and Paul Revere.
We forget 80 percent of what we learn everyday.
Pain is measured in units of "dols". The instrument used to measure pain is a "dolorimeter".
In a nod to astronauts, Texas is the only state that permits residents to cast absentee ballots from space.
Eleven top executives of the Direct Marketing Association (the telemarketers' group that is trying to kill the federal "Do Not Call" list) have registered for the list themselves.
An iceberg the size of Long Island, New York, has broken off Antarctica and has blocked sea lanes used by both ships and penguins.
In 2003, the Transportation Security Administration dropped a requirement that air marshals pass a marksmanship test. Some applicants were even hired after they repeatedly shot flight attendants in mock hijacking episodes.
As of January 2004, the United States economy now borrows $1,500,000,000 each day from foreign investors.
A Costa Rican worker who makes baseballs earns about $2,750 annually. The average American pro baseball player earns $2,377,000 per year.
Former keyboard player for Jethro Tull David Palmer is now a woman named Dee Palmer. He waited until his wife died before going through with his longtime desire for a sex change.
During Bill Clinton's entire eight year presidency, he only sent two e-mails. One was to John Glenn when he was aboard the space shuttle, and the other was a test of the e-mail system.
Albert Einstein never knew how to drive a car.
The UK's best selling hiking magazine published faulty coordinates for descending Scotland's tallest peak (Ben Nevis), and recommended a route that leads climbers off the edge of a cliff.
The Mars Rover "Spirit" is powered by six small motors the size of "C" batteries. It has a top speed of 0.1 mph.
Zeppo Marx (the unfunny one of the Marx Brothers) had a patent for a wristwatch with a heart monitor.
The entire town of Capena, Italy (including children as young as 2 years old) lights up cigarettes each year in honor of St. Anthony's Day. This tradition is centuries old.
The Amish a diet high in meat, dairy, refined sugars and calories. Yet obesity is virtually unknown among them. The difference is since they have no TVs, cars or powered machines, they spend their time in manual labor.
Microsoft threatened 17 year old Mike Rowe with a lawsuit after the young man launched a website named MikeRoweSoft.com.
As of January 1, 2004, the population of the United States increases by one person every 12 seconds. There is a birth every eight seconds, an immigrant is added every 25 seconds, but a death every 13 seconds.
There is a Starbucks in Myungdong, South Korea that is five stories tall.
Astronauts cannot burp in space. There is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.
There has been no mail delivery in Canada on Saturday for the last thirty five years.
The weight of air in a milk glass is about the same as the weight of an aspirin tablet.
The world's smallest winged insect is the Tanzanian parasitic wasp. It's smaller than the eye of a housefly.
Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
If you have three quarters, four dimes and four cents, you have $1.19. But you cannot make exact change for a dollar.
There are more plastic flamingoes in the United States than real ones.
The chance that you will die on the way to buy your lottery ticket is greater than the chance of you winning the big prize in most lotteries.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton Look-Alike contest.
An average of 100 people choke to death on ball point pens each year.
The National Anthem of Greece has 158 verses.
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
The Bible has been translated into Klingon.
Toto was paid $125 per week while filming the "Wizard of Oz".
All polar bears are left handed.
Fidgeting can burn about 350 calories a day.
To help reduce budget deficits, several states have begun reducing the amount of food served to prison inmates. In Texas, the number of daily calories served to prisoners was cut by 300, saving the state $6,000,000 per year.
The only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name Beard.
Pope John Paul II is the world's Scrabble champion in the over-70 category.
Montpelier, Vermont is the only state capitol without a McDonald's.
Wearing headphones for an hour increases the bacteria in your ear 700 times.
In 1993, the board of governors at Carl Karcher Enterprises voted (5 to 2) to fire Carl Karcher. Carl Karcher is the founder of Carls Jr. restaurants.
The little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of flowing over the side, is called a "porcelator."
The wingspan of a Boeing 747 jet is longer than the Wright Brothers' first flight.
Ted Turner owns 5% of New Mexico.
Over 8 years, this happened 284 times: "Cosmo" Kramer went through Jerry Seinfeld's apartment door.
The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth 2 moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel fuel that it burns.
There are more 100 dollar bills in Russia currently than there are in the United States.
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
65% of Elvis impersonators are of Asian descent.
Burt Reynolds was originally cast to be Han Solo in the first Star Wars film. He dropped out before filming.
Pope John Paul II was named an "Honorary Harlem Globetrotter" in 2000.
There are only three types of snakes on the island of Tasmania and all three are deadly poisonous.
It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is "shake" and the 46th word from the last word is "spear".
If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long.
The strength of early lasers was measured in Gillettes, the number of blue razor blades a given beam could puncture.
The drive-through line on opening day at the McDonald's restaurant in Kuwait City, Kuwait was at times seven miles long.
Point Roberts in Washington State is cut off from the rest of the state by British Columbia, Canada. If you wish to travel from Point Roberts to the rest of the state or vice versa, you must pass through Canada, including both Canadian and U.S. customs.
The Pentagon in Washington, D. C. has five sides, five stories, and five acres in the middle.
Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar with "Midnight Cowboy." Her entire role lasted only six minutes.
There is an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which has a winter population of 200.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Newborn babies are given to the wrong mother in the hospital 12 times a day worldwide.
The Starbucks at the highest elevation is on Main Street in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Each year, over 1,000,000 people fail to itemize out the mortgage interest deduction on their income taxes. Last year, this amounted to $473,000,000 in taxes.
In 1998, more fast-food employees were murdered on the job than police officers.
The lead singer of The Knack, famous for "My Sharona," and Jack Kevorkian's lead defense attorney are brothers, Doug and Jeffrey Feiger.
Two very popular and common objects have the same function, but one has thousands of moving parts, while the other has absolutely no moving parts - an hourglass and a sundial.
One out of three employees who received a promotion use a coffee mug with the company logo on it.
If you know a (male) millionaire who happens to be married, The most likely profession of his wife is a teacher.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
1 pound of lemons contain more sugar than 1 pound of strawberries.
The "you are here" arrow on maps is called an ideo locator.
60% of all US potato products originate in Idaho.
61,000 people are airborne over the US at any given time.
A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.
Mark Twain was born on a day in 1835 when Halley's Comet came into view. When he died in 1910, Halley's Comet was in view again.
The Weddell seal can travel underwater for seven miles without surfacing for air.
In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first (and only) home run.
The longest words in the English language with only one syllable are the nine-letter "screeched" and "strengths".
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eye".
All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" read 4:20.
A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
A baby is born without kneecaps. They appear between age 2 and 6.
Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
A snail can have about 25,000 teeth.
A snail can also sleep for three years.
A starfish can turn its stomach inside out.
A strand from the web of a golden spider is as strong as a steel wire of the same size.
A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans.
About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still sitting on it.
According to Genesis 1:20-22 the chicken came before the egg.
Soldiers from every country salute with their right hand.
The microwave oven was invented by mistake when an engineer testing a magnetron tube noticed that the radiation from it melted the chocolate bar he had in his pocket.
Moisture, not air, causes super glue to dry.
Only 14% of Americans say they've skinny dipped with the opposite sex.
"60 Minutes" on CBS is the only TV show to not have a theme song or music.
Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace.
Most boat owners name their boats. The most popular boat name requested is Obsession.
100% of all lottery winners gain weight.
An average American will spend an average of 6 months during his lifetime waiting at red lights.
The Olympic flag's colors are always red, black, blue, green and yellow rings on a field of white. This is because at least one of those colors appears on the flag of every nation on the planet.
Cats can hear ultrasound.
In a recent survey, Americans revealed that banana was their favorite smell.
In all three Godfather films, when you see oranges, there is a death (or a very close call) coming up soon.
The arteries and veins surrounding the brain stem called the "circle of Willis" looks like a stick person with a large head.
Brushing your teeth regularly has been shown to prevent heart disease.
If you were to spell out numbers, you would you have to go until 1,000 until you would find the letter "A".
23% of employees say they have had sex in the office.
Bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers were all invented by women.
Married men change their underwear twice as often as single men.
A kiss stimulates 29 muscles and chemicals causing relaxation. Women seem to like it light and frequent, men like it more strenuous.
There are more collect calls on Father's Day than any other day of the year.
Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
40% of all people who come to a party in your home snoop in your medicine cabinet.
3.9% of all women surveyed say they never wear underwear.
Superman is featured on every episode of "Seinfeld", either by name or pictures on Jerry's refrigerator.
85% of the men who cheat on their wives die while having sex.
Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than for the US Treasury.
American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served first class.
Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28
Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38
Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again: 80
Percentage of American women who say they would marry the same man: 50
Percentage of men who say they are happier after their divorce or separation: 58
Percentage of women who say they are happier: 85
Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches
Percentage of bird species that are monogamous: 90
Percentage of mammal species that are monogamous: 3
Chances that a burglary in the United States will be solved: 1 in 7
One third of the land in the United States is owned by the government.
The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards.
Antarctica is the only continent without reptiles or snakes.
An eagle can kill a young deer and fly away with it.
In the Caribbean there are oysters that can climb trees.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
When George Lucas was mixing the American Graffiti soundtrack, he numbered the reels of film starting with an R and numbered the dialog starting with a D. Sound designer Walter Murch asked George for Reel 2, Dialog 2 by saying "R2D2". George liked the way that sounded so much he integrated that into another project he was working on.
The youngest pope was 11 years old.
Mark Twain didn't graduate from elementary school.
Proportional to their weight, men are stronger than horses.
Pilgrims ate popcorn at the first Thanksgiving dinner.
Your nose and ears never stop growing.
They have square watermelons in Japan - they stack better.
Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
Heinz Catsup leaving the bottle travels at 25 miles per year.
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.
Men get hiccups more often than women.
Armadillos can be housebroken.
Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks.
The first Fords had engines made by Dodge.
A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.
Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge, a dime has one less groove.
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.
Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee.
The flashing warning light on the cylindrical Capitol Records tower spells out HOLLYWOOD in Morse code.
Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.
One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
The average American will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.
Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
Over 1,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.
The State of Florida is bigger than England.
Ants stretch when they wake up in the morning.
It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland.
Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day.
Thomas Edison, light bulb inventor, was afraid of the dark.
During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food. That's the weight of about 6 elephants.
Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they can't find any food.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
The world's oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old.
In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow.
About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30.
More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.
A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.
Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe.
In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons.
Slugs have 4 noses.
Recycling one glass jar saves enough energy to watch TV for 3 hours.
Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.
Owls are the only birds who can see the color blue.
The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year.
It's against the law to slam your car door in Switzerland.
There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses.
Honeybees have hair on their eyes.
A jellyfish is 95 percent water.
In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals.
A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump.
The penguin is the only bird who can swim, but not fly.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States.
One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet.
America once issued a 5-cent bill.
You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in your lifetime.
Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under is cap to keep him cool. He changed it every 2 innings.
Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung.
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
The pitches that Babe Ruth hit for his last-ever homerun and that Joe DiMaggio hit for his first-ever homerun where thrown by the same man.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head.
In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
There are over 52.6 million dogs in the U.S.
Dogs and cats consume almost $7 billion worth of pet food a year.
Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
The Pentagon has twice as many restrooms as necessary. When it was built, segregation was still in place in Virginia, so separate restrooms for blacks and whites were required by law.
In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" was considered a dirty word.
Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
In 2003, there were 86 days of below-freezing weather in Hell, Michigan.
The average person laughs 15 times a day.
10 Top Reasons You Need Broccoli In Your Diet
Here’s 10 reasons why broccoli is great!
1 Broccoli is the king of low carb vegetables - 1.1 grams of carbohydrate per 100g! (after fiber subtracted) Sometimes I fill my plate up with broccoli and drench it in melted butter or cheese.
2 A chemical in vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage can boost DNA repair in cells and may stop them becoming cancerous
3 Eating steamed broccoli reduces the risk of a heart attack by boosting the body’s ability to fight off cell damage, researchers have found.
4 Did you know broccoli contains more vitamin C than an orange? (ounce for ounce) Vitamin C is great for your hair, skin, teeth, fighting infections and keeping red blood cells healthy.
5 Did you know broccoli contains as much calcium as a glass of milk? (ounce for ounce) Calcium helps to keep you heart beating regularly and promotes sleep.
6 Broccoli is also a good source of folate . Folate is necessary for the production and maintenance of new cells.
7 Broccoli is also a good source of iron. Iron is an essential component of haemoglobin and, therefore, iron is required for normal blood formation and oxygen transport around the body.
8 Broccoli is also a great source of fiber.
9 Broccoli is also a good source of potassium. Potassium plays an important role in the physical fluid system of humans and it assists nerve functions.
10 Broccoli is also a good source of vitamin K. Vitamin K is known to be needed to coagulate blood and to maintain proper bone density. It also plays a key role in proper development of the fetus.
http://www.musclehack.com/10-top-reasons-you-need-broccoli-in-your-diet/