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

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.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1153107

Telephone Interview Tips

Telephone Interview Tips

Be articulate. Practice asking yourself questions, then answer them with confidence in front of the mirror. This will give you an idea of your facial expressions and pronunciation. Keep your answers brief and to the point. You must know where to stop and start while answering questions. Never talk non-stop. Control the speed of your speech. Listen carefully to the interviewer's questions. Understand the question and start your answer by recollecting your experiences and knowledge. If you are not able to understand the question clearly, ask the Interviewer to repeat it. Request for more related information if you are not sure about the answer. If you don't know the answer or haven't used a particular method or tool, please say "I don't know" or "I haven't experienced that situation " or " I haven't used that tool, but if given the opportunity, I can learn fast". An Interviewer will always take it positively when you admit the truth. While starting a conversation, introduce yourself with your first name and last name (if any) and greet your Interviewer with a "How are you" or "Hi" or "How are you doing" If the Interviewer discusses issues regarding country, lifestyle, weather, accommodation, language, driving, culture, politics, food and family background (rare) - answer briefly. Please keep a copy of your resume in front of you. The interviewer may ask about individual project details, your roles, responsibilities, major accomplishments, product advantages, techniques followed, tools used, and your involvement in that project. Refer to your resume quickly and answer the question promptly. Don't be nervous or panic. Be cool, enjoy yourself. Remember you have the skills the client needs. Never show or express unwillingness to be interviewed. Even if you are not interested in that job or client, don't discourage the interviewer especially after having started a dialogue with him/her. If you decide on another client call the Interviewer, thank him and give a valid reason for not joining. After successfully completing the interview process, if interviewer asks "do you have any questions ?", ask! Clarify issues related to company background, place of work if hired, starting date and timings. Do not ask about the position offered, rates at this stage since those issues come under the negotiation process. Don't raise or talk about issues related to discrimination against race, religion, color, country and sex. These are extremely touchy topics and are best avoided. Don't use slang words. Don't stretch an argument. After completion of interview, say "Thanks" or "Thanks for your time" or "Thanks for your time and have a good morning/evening day" and put down the phone very slowly. If the interviewer makes a positive offer and you are satisfied with it, it would be nice if you said the following: "Thanks for giving me an opportunity to work with your company and I will do my best to prove my skills....." If you are asked to briefly introduce your entire work experiences, take 30 seconds to explain all major points, client names and contributions you have made. I recommend you practice this by writing down the exact contents and reading it aloud in front of the mirror. Always be positive. Try to answer all questions with practical examples based on your previous experience. This way, you can recollect your experiences and prove that you have faced challenging situations in your career. If you feel you lack adequate communication skills, attempt to regularly converse with friends on general topics. Listen to the radio, watch discussion oriented TV programs. Talk to yourself in front of mirror and watch for, speed, lip movements and body language. After the interview is over, recollect what you did, how you performed. Note down where you were lacking. These points will help you better your performance the next time around. References always works well no matter where you are applying. Managers and HR departments will always cross check with the references you have provided. So have at least 3 references who can give them a very clear picture about your experience and skill set. If you are not hired, don't loose heart. There may be several reasons for the client/consulting company to reject the applicant even after a successful interview: Budget constraints Terms with medical staffing company are not agreeable to client Salary not agreeable to client Medical staffing company is getting better offer for you from a different client. Medical staffing is not willing to send you because of short term assignment. Client is not ready to sponsor your Work Visa and has restrictions in company corporate policies. Here are some common reasons for rejection along with a suggestion for improvement: Lack of communication skills - actively work towards improving your communication skills. Lack of leadership qualities. Applicant skills and experience is not matched with client requirements - you can't do anything. You have nothing to lose. Find another Company where they can match your skills and knowledge set. Not enough number of references - ensure that you have enclosed at least three excellent references. Not ready to pay you what you want - before asking what you want, you need to do little market survey based on your experience. You need to go through Salary Survey and learn more about general company HR policies too. Very importantly, when you address the Interviewer, Use his/her first name or put Mr. before last name. This is important while writing e-mail, holding a general conversation or making a presentation. I hope these tips will be of use to you for your next telephonic interview. Never hesitate to ask for help from others. Gather as much information as you can about the company and position you have applied for.

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

Renault und Nissan haben ein Abkommen mit der Regierung von Tamil Nadu über den Bau einer neuen Produktionsanlage in Oragadam unterzeichnet.

In Indien entsteht bis 2010 ein neues Werk.

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.

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.

„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/

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