some thing important

Richest technology companies

2009-02-20T00:45:00.000-08:00

Even as many US companies struggle to stay solvent in one of the worst financial crises in decades, some technology companies are bursting with cash, with the only question being how they plan to use it. Fitch estimates that the US tech industry is carrying a cash balance of around $260 billion, one of the largest among all sectors.

"There's a strong emphasis on the preservation of liquidity, but we think the larger players will use their balance sheets and use their cash balances to ignite mergers and acquisition activity," said Fitch Ratings analyst Nick Nilarp.

The old cliche that cash is king is never more true than in bad times. So as investors navigate tough financial markets, the cash hoards held by tech companies could make their shares more attractive and bolster the argument made by some analysts that the sector will lead the way out of the downturn.

Here are some of the technology companies with huge cash piles.

Cisco Systems Inc is the most cash-rich tech company with $29.5 billion in hand, putting it just behind Exxon Mobil Corp's $31.4 billion, despite having a market value less than one-quarter of the oil giant's.

The company has been rather upfront about its plans to use some of this cash to make acquisitions. Cisco has said it plans to be acquisitive during the economic downturn, and bankers and analysts think it may make a move on virtualisation software maker VMware Inc or its parent EMC Corp.

Taking advantage of loosening credit markets, Cisco recently made a surprisingly large $4 billion debt sale. The company stated that it intends to use the recent debt sale "for general corporate purposes" and to repay $500 million in notes due in 2009.

Another tech company with some of the largest cash piles includes Apple Inc with $25.6 billion. In spite of spending about $2bn a year on R&D and capital investment, Apple's $26bn in cash has left it with the biggest cash pile in the technology world -- a big contrast to the last downturn, which it started with less than $4bn. The cash now accounts for about a third of its market value.

The company's stock price too has rebounded from its low of $78.20 in the week when Steve Jobs announced his leave. The realisation that Apple's cash can be a big strength during recession has quieted critics, who in the past have called on the company to buy back shares or offer a dividend.

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Microsoft"id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304799668472619954" />Microsoft Corp too sits on a huge cash pile of $20.7 billion. The rich software giant, however, announced rather disappointing quarterly results recently, unlike IBM. Microsoft recently announced that its Q2 2009 profit sank from $4.71bn a year ago to $4.17bn, a loss of 12 percent. Total revenue was $16.63bn, a 2 per cent rise from year before. This was only possible thanks to higher server, tools and entertainment sales. Client sales revenue, which includes Windows products, fell 8 percent.

The company may have missed the analysts’ target, however, the fact is it is still posting big profits -- $4.17B in profit is enough to make even some of the biggest companies drool.

The search giant Google Inc too sits pretty with a cash reserve of $15.9 billion. The Mountain View, California-based company had almost $16 billion in cash at the end of the recent-announced fourth quarter.

According to Google CFO, Patrick Pichette, the cash reserves provided Google with sufficient flexibility "for the right deal at the right price."

Google said its Q4 earnings declined to $382 million, far below the $1.2 billion it earned in the prior-year's fourth quarter. The fall was attributed to losses from Google's investments in AOL and Clearwire Corp.

International Business Machines Corp too has a huge cash pile. In January the company disclosed its full-year financial results for 2008: record revenue of $103.6 billion; record pre-tax profit of $16.7 billion; record earnings per share of $8.93; and record free cash flow of $14.3 billion, up $1.9 billion, excluding global financing receivables.

For IBM it is not just the huge cash pile it is sitting on, the year 2008 also saw the IT giant register strongest revenue growth since 2003 and the strongest profit performance in more than a decade. IBM also announced an earnings’ forecast for the coming year at $9.20 a share, well above Wall Street's $8.75 call.

The enterprise software giant Oracle too sits on a $7.4 billion pile of cash. Little doubt that the Redwood Shores-based company is quietly going on a shopping spree.

The software giant completed as many as 10 acquisitions in 2008, ranging from a maker of insurance policy-writing tools, to a designer of `plan-o-gram' software (the software used by stores to optimise shelf space usage). Recently, the company bought mValent Inc, a small software company that helps configure other software. The deals put Oracle in the club of cash-rich companies bargain hunting amid the present economic turmoil.

Oracle made sales of $22.4 billion in fiscal 2008. However, the company hasn't been unscathed from the slump, it recently reported a 1 per cent drop in net income, the first decline in three years.

Sun Microsystems might be facing hard times. The company’s stock has been faced considerable hammering in the past few months further accentuated by fears of weakening global tech spending. However, Sun Microsystems too is among the companies with a relatively large amount of cash. The company carries a cash balance of $2.6 billion and a market cap of $3.8 billion.

The high-end computer and software maker posted better-than-expected results as a strong software and open storage business cushioned declining overall sales.

Like much of the industry, the company is now struggling to slash costs as tech spending dissipates globally. It said in November it would cut 5,000 to 6,000 jobs, or 15 to 18 percent of its workforce, as part of a plan to save $700 million to $800 million a year.

Hopkinton-based EMC Corp's fourth quarter profit though fell 45 percent, the company said that it increased its cash reserves by 9 per cent.

In Q4, EMC's profits fell from $526 million to $288 million, on restructuring charges. For the full year, the company reported revenue of $14.9 billion, a 12 percent increase over the prior year, and a profit of $1.4 billion, a 14 percent increase over 2007.

The data storage giant's fourth quarter revenue hit $4 billion, an increase of 8 percent over the third quarter and 5 percent over the fourth quarter of 2007. EMC announced recently that it would lay off about 2,400 employees, 600 of them in Massachusetts.

While these tech companies are guarding their money and investing in only the safest of instruments, such as US Treasury debt, analysts expect the bigger players to put their cash to work later in the year in the form of acquisitions or share buybacks.

Seems the experience of previous downturns and fear that they could need deep reserves to draw on has made technology companies cautious on spending.

Some Silicon Valley veterans point to earlier near-failures, with Intel forced to take an investment from IBM in the 1980s, and Steve Jobs famously accepting a $150m cash infusion from Microsoft after returning to head Apple in 1997.

Top 10 germiest jobs

2009-02-16T00:18:00.000-08:00

10. Meat Packer
Meat packers handle entire animal carcasses and hundreds of pounds of meat a day, putting them in close contact to harmful microbes and possibly even salmonella and E. coli.

9. Sanitation Worker
Sanitation workers are surrounded by solid waste all day. Although they take precautions while on the job, they may be bringing those nasty germs home on their clothing.

8. Janitor or Plumber
Janitors are responsible for cleaning the very surfaces that are collecting all our germs. Plumbers have to get close and personal to appliances and fixtures that are also covered in germs. Obviously, the dirtier the space the riskier the task.

7. Animal Control Officer
Animal control has to deal with unruly animals that may be carrying rabies or other dangerous diseases. They are also responsible for cleaning up dead animals or animal waste that are covered in harmful bacteria.

6. Police Officer
Police officers come into contact with a wide variety of people every day, many of whom are not too concerned with their personal hygiene. All public safety officers are encouraged to wear latex gloves to protect themselves.

5. Lab Scientist
Dealing with infectious bacteria is all in a days work for a lab scientist. They have to take extra precautions to make sure their environment stays clean.

4. Doctor or nurse
Being around sick people all day obviously puts doctors and nurses in contact with a lot of germs. These sometimes drug-resistant germs are then passed around by hands, clothes, paperwork, medical equipment...

3. Tech Support/Computer Repair
If keyboards really carry more germs than toilet seats as some studies have indicated, then who knows how many germs the people that spend their day working on everyone else's keyboards are coming into contact with.

2. Cashier, Bank Employee
Money is covered with everything from microbes to illegal narcotics and cashiers handle it all day long. In addition to touching dirty cash, bankers also tend to spend a lot of time at their desks, which are also covered with bacteria.

1. Teacher/Day-Care Worker
It's not just the kids that are spreading germs around the classroom. Teachers also have the germiest workspaces of all the professions studied, including the worst computer keyboards, computer mice and telephones.

Salma Hayek Breast-Feeds Stranger's Baby in Sierra Leone

2009-02-12T00:05:00.000-08:00

Some Hollywood stars try to help children out by taking them from third-world countries, others try to help the kids where they are.
Salma Hayek breast-fed a hungry baby after the child's mother ran out of milk,

This is how we sleep

2009-02-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

Pepsi Logo: a response

2009-02-09T11:08:00.000-08:00

Now you can determine the gender of a blogger

2009-01-05T23:02:00.000-08:00

Ever feel curious about the gender of a blogger , is the blogger male or female ?
If you have the blog url , you can easily find that .
Sound amazing ? funny ? weird ?

Yes, you can find it online , through Gender Analyzer

How To Steal A Car In Seconds

2009-01-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

Thieves are becoming quicker, savvier, and more advanced. Vehicles, which are equipped with computer-based security system, keyless entry and ignition systems, can now be stolen in just a few seconds. Some thieves force the window of the car to have a good opening. The car door is later unlocked and locked. They then pop the hood, disconnect the battery and look for the ignition cable. If still, the method does not work, thieves have ample time to manipulate car alarm. I found a few videos that show us how they do it !

TOP 10 Search On Internet

2009-01-03T23:56:00.000-08:00

1 - Britney Spears

The singer's steep trajectory to redemption restored her to the top of searches. Her year began with a police visit, hospital stay, and psych evaluation. She returned under her father's shelter and, by summer, settled custody with her ex. Professionally, she guested on a sitcom, won thrice at the MTV Video Music Awards, broke records with "Womanizer," relaunched her site, and released a documentary detailing her fall and comeback...by age 27.

2 - WWE

A June explosion destroyed a World Wrestling Entertainment stage and "injured" chairman Vince McMahon, unleashing a sweaty soap opera of chaos that included his kids appealing for cooperation in difficult times. The stunt could've symbolized the sporting empire's battles against the economy's fall and mixed martial arts' rise. WWE produced more events, video games, and movies to make up for fewer paying fans, and faithfuls kept track online to maintain its Top 2 status.

3 - Barack Obama

The Illinois junior senator faced two hard-fought contests and nearly won a third—although toppling Britney Spears wasn't on his list. He entered 2008 as a relative newcomer on the national scene and ended the year as president-elect. His campaign defied political wisdom and made history at every turn. His Web strategy set the groundwork to make him the first wired president and, in an unprecedented Search surge, landed him at No. 3

4 - Miley Cyrus

Before 2008, the singer/actress had been better known—and searched—by her Disney persona, Hannah Montana. She appeared on shows like "Idol Gives Back" as Cyrus, but true name recognition came with scandal: a Vanity Fair spread featuring the 15-year-old seemingly wrapped only in a bedsheet. Savvy Cyrus apologized, survived, and closed down Disneyland for a 16th birthday charity bash, and ended up at No. 4.

5 - RuneScape

The multi-player role-playing game's international popularity rests on its cheap access, ability to run on older computers, and compelling play. Its underground success has even led to a real black market, trading actual cash for RuneScape gold—and controversial restrictions to stop it. A new boss, graphics, and touted player-versus- player combat release signal the company's power play to step up in the RPG battle...and take hold at No. 5.

6 - Jessica Alba

Her movies fared none too well, following 2007 missteps that got her three Razzie Worst Actress nominations. Still, she earned Best Movie Actress at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and No. 6 in searches, buoyed by her wedding and baby Honor Marie (who earned a reported $1.5 million in her OK! mag debut). The pregnant pause may have given her impetus to switch to more serious roles—something to watch for in 2009.

7 - Naruto

The manga. The game. The anime. Whatever form Naruto Uzumaki takes, the awkward but accomplished young graduate of the Ninja Academy remains the Web's most popular fictional character in seventh place. His peers and enemies also command their own followings, but the complex tale of Naruto (whose name translates to "maelstrom") , the orphaned misfit who craves recognition, resonates with its generation of fans.

8 - Lindsay Lohan

At No. 8, the actress made stumbling progress back from rehab, revolving-door relationships, and rejected roles. On the upside, she settled down (with a monogamous twist), blogged about politics, and recreated Marilyn Monroe's photo shoot. On the downside, she got booted from "Ugly Betty" and as World Music Awards host. Lohan has had celebs testifying to her talent, but a true comeback may have to wait for 2009.

9 - Angelina Jolie

Leading power lists in Forbes and even Guinness World Records, the actress took her place among Hollywood's elite. "Delicate" condition aside, she underscored her image as a tough-dame throwback with a 21st-century vibe. She earned box-office bucks as an assassin and cartoon tigress, Oscar cred in "Changeling, " and karma by donating her and Brad Pitt's twins' $14 mil pictorial payout to charity—moves that muscled her in at No. 9.

10 - American Idol

Judges kept declaring its 2008 singers their best ever, but while the Fox reality show ruled ratings, an audience decline since 2007 sent producers into a fit of self-examination. In a season beset with complaints, "Idol" had the last laugh with a smashing finale and iTunes recordbreaker. The show also got "cougar" into household vernacular, unlikely credit for exposing youth to the democratic process, and a top Search 10 nod once again.

Detox diets are 'nonsense' and 'waste of money'

2009-01-02T06:04:00.000-08:00

If your New Year's resolution involves detox diet, then here's a piece of information for you - the weight loss plan is "nonsense" and a waste of money, leading dieticians have warned.

The British Dietetic Association, which represents 6,000 dieticians across Britain, said that there was no "potion or lotion" which could "magically" rid the body of chemicals.

Health experts have dismissed the theory behind detox that dangerous toxins build up in the body. Instead, the experts said that the body was constantly cleaning itself, reports the Telegraph.

Slimmers undergoing a detox are usually advised to cut out a wide range of "unhealthy" foods and supplement their diet with vitamin drinks.

However, the BDA insists that there is no such toxic build-up, and branded the industry "pseudo scientific".

Dr Frankie Phillips, a spokesperson for the BDA, said, "The whole idea of detox is nonsense. The body is a well-developed system that has its own built-in mechanisms to detoxify and remove waste from top to toe.

"Skin, the gut and liver and kidneys are all chemically-controlled powerhouses that respond to signals in the form of, for example, hormones, to remove waste products - typically detoxifying the body constantly. There are no pills or specific drinks, patches or lotions that can do a magic job.

"If you have over-indulged on alcohol, for example, the liver works hard to break down the alcohol into products it can remove. Being well-hydrated is a sensible strategy. It sounds predicable, but for the vast majority of people, a sensible diet and regular physical activity really are the only ways to properly protect your health for the year ahead."

We spend 25 years of our life sleeping!

2008-12-29T10:36:00.001-08:00

As 2008 comes to an end, many must be thinking how they will spend the next year and for that matter the rest of their lives. But, don't worry, for a new survey will help you manage your life as it has revealed how people pass most of their time - by sleeping!

Statistics have revealed that people will spend most of the time in life taking a nap-while men will sleep for a long 25 years in their entire life, women spend 27 years tucked in bed.

Work, on the contrary, comes after sleeping for both men and women, as they spend almost 11 years and nine years respectively, working in the office.

And almost 10 years of your life will be spent sitting on the couch, reports The Sun.

While you'll spend 2 years of your entire life standing in a queue, you'll be suffering from colds and viruses for three and half months of your lifetime.

And when it comes to some action between the sheets, statistics show that people spend just three months having sex.

With people getting more tech savvy, men will be spending five years of their life surfing on the internet, while women will devote three years browsing the web, revealed the figures.

Health conscious individuals will spend one year of their lives doing exercise, on the other hand fag breaks will take four months of your life.

Mobile Phone Tricks

2008-12-28T00:46:00.000-08:00

Would you like to know if your Mobile is Original or Not ?

Press the following on your Mobile

*#06#

The International Mobile Equipment Identity [IMEI] number appears. Then check the 7th and 8th Digits of this IMEI Number.

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 02 or 20 this means your cell phone was assembled in Emirates which is very Bad quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 08 or 80 this means your cell phone was manufactured in Germany which is fair quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 01 or 10 this means your cell phone was manufactured in Finland which is very Good

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 00 this means your cell phone was manufactured in original factory which is the best Mobile Quality

IF the Seventh & Eighth digits are 13 this means your cell phone was assembled in Azerbaijan which is very Bad quality and also dangerous for your health

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it

EMERGENCY

The Emergency Number Worldwide for Mobile is 112
If you find yourself out of coverage area of your mobile network and there is an
emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the Emergency Number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.

Have you locked your keys in the car? Does you car have remote keys? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone:

If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end.

Your car will unlock.

Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.

Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your cell battery is very low, you are expecting an important call and you don't have a charger. Nokia instrument comes with a reserve battery.

To activate, press the keys *3370#

Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile Phone's Serial Number, key in the following digits on your phone:

*#06#

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset called the IMEI Number. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.

You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

What is Google AFS (Adsense For Search) Video in Detail

2008-12-27T07:04:00.000-08:00

Funny full forms of Big Companies

2008-12-26T10:14:00.000-08:00

1. NIIT : Not Interested in IT

2. WIPRO : Weak Input, Poor & Rubbish Output

3. HCL : Hidden Costs & Losses

4. TCS : Totally Confusing Solutions

5. INFOSYS :Inferior Offline Systems

6. HUGHES : Highly Useless Graduates Hired for Eating and Sleeping

7. BAAN : Beggars Association and Nerds

8. IBM : Implicitly Boring Machines

9. SATYAM : Sad And Tired Yelling Away Madly

10. PARAM : Puzzled And Ridiculous Array of Microprocessors

11. C-DOT : Coffee During Office Timings

12. AT&T : All Troubles & Terrible

13. CMC : Coffee, Meals and Comfort

14. DEC : Drifting & Exhausted Computers

15. BFL : Brainwash First and Let them go

17. TISL : Totally Inconsistent Systems Ltd.

18. PSI : Peculiar Symptoms of India

19. ORACLE : On-line Romance And Chatting with Lady Employees.

20. MASTEK: Mad And Stupid Technitians Enroute to Kabaarkhana

21.PATNI : Pathetic Appraisal Techniques, No Increments

Christmas Holiday Facts

2008-12-25T22:06:00.000-08:00

There's no other holiday like Christmas. Many of us celebrate the holidays without knowing how our traditions got started or what they signify. Christmas is much more fun when you know some facts behind the holiday.

Most of these facts are very interesting and reminds us that there is quite a bit of history behind our family customs. Try using the Christmas Holiday Facts to make your own Christmas quiz for holiday parties and add a unique touch with personal favorites.

Christmas Holiday Facts: (World Amazing Facts)

The word Christmas is Old English, a contraction of Christ's Mass.

The first president to decorate the white house Christmas tree in the United States was Franklin Pierce.

Electric lights for trees were first used in 1895.

The first Christmas cards were vintage and invented in 1843, the Victorian Era

"It's a Wonderful Life" appears on TV more often than any other holiday movie.

"Rudolph" was actually created by Montgomery Ward in the late 1930's for a holiday promotion. The rest is history.

"The Nutcracker" is the most famous Christmas ballet.

"Jingle Bells" was first written for Thanksgiving and then became one of the most popular Christmas songs.

If you received all of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", you would receive 364 presents.

The poinsettia plant was brought into the United States from Mexico by Joel Poinsett in the early 1800's.

Holly berries are poisonous.

Contrary to common belief, poinsettia plants are non-toxic.

In 1843, "A Christmas Carol" was written by Charles Dickens in just six weeks.

The first state to recognize the Christmas holiday officially was Alabama

Christmas became a national holiday in America on June, 26, 1870.

Coca Cola was the first beverage company to use Santa for a winter promotion.

An angel told Mary she was going to have a baby.

Clearing up a common misconception, in Greek, X means Christ. That is where the word "X-Mas" comes from. Not because someone took the "Christ" out of Christmas.

Traditionally, Christmas trees are taken down after Epiphany.

More diamonds are sold around Christmas than any other time of the year.

In Mexico, wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is said to bring new love in the upcoming year.

Women ...........do u agree?

2008-12-23T05:41:00.000-08:00

The One Flaw In Women

By the time the Lord made woman,
He was into his sixth day of working overtime.
An angel appeared and said,
'Why are you spending so much time on this one?'
And the Lord answered, 'Have you seen my spec sheet on her?
She has to be completely washable, but not plastic,
have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable
and able to run on diet coke and leftovers,
have a lap that can hold four children at one time,
have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart-and she will do everything with only two hands.'

The angel was astounded at the requirements.
'Only two hands!? No way!
And that's just on the standard model?
That's too much work for one day.
Wait until tomorrow to finish.'

'But I won't, ' the Lord protested.
'I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart.
She already heals herself when she is sick AND can work 18 hour days.'

The angel moved closer and touched the woman.
'But you have made her so soft, Lord.'

'She is soft,' the Lord agreed,
' but I have also made her tough.
You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish.'

'Will she be able to think? ', asked the angel.

The Lord replied,
'Not only will she be able to think,
she will be able to reason and negotiate.'
The angel then noticed something,
and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek.
'Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model.
I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one.'

'That's not a leak,' the Lord corrected,
' that's a tear!'
'What's the tear for?' the angel asked.

The Lord said, 'The tear is her way of expressing her joy,
her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love,
her loneliness, her grief and her pride.'
The angel was impressed.
'You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything!
Woman is truly amazing.'

And she is!
Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens,
but they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy
and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take 'no' for an answer
when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel
and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member,
yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you
to show how much they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideals.
They give moral support to their family and friends.
Women have vital things to say and everything to give

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE TINY FLAW IN WOMEN,

IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

Angelina Jolie in Cosmopolitan Magazine Cover - January 2009

2008-12-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

Angelina Jolie cover girl of Cosmopolitan Magazine January 2009 issue. Angelina Jolie is an American film actor and a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency.

Awesome Way To Propose

2008-12-22T04:26:00.000-08:00

Why We Never Lied to Our Kids About Santa

2008-12-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

There are many things to dislike about Christmas: the bloated newspaper ads, the second-rate music repeated endlessly in shopping malls, the inane evangelical bleating that " "Jesus is the reason for the season"", and the pressure to conform lest you be labeled a Scrooge, or, even worse, a Grinch.

Of course, there are things to like about Christmas, too. Everybody enjoys giving presents, and some even like receiving them. A break from work is always appreciated -- even if, like me, you just use it to catch up on work left undone -- and a house that smells of roast turkey is one worth coming home to.

But there's one Christmas tradition that my wife and I have never shared: deceiving our kids about the real nature of Santa.

You know -- Santa Claus, Jolly St. Nick -- the man in the red suit who delivers the presents, as immortalized in the classic poem by Clement Clark Moore. (Shhh - don't tell the kids that Moore, a dour, humourless man who owned slaves and opposed abolition, probably stole the poem and its authorship from Henry Livingston.)

Ever year, Christmas offers adults the opportunity to participate in an absurd fraud against your own children: to pretend that Santa Claus is real, that he spookily monitors their behavior, that Santa won't bring them presents if they misbehave, and that he somehow manages to invade a billion houses in one night, aided by eight (or is it nine?) aviating ungulates.

I can already hear the howls of outrage. "It's a harmless fantasy," some will say. But it's not that harmless. Someday your Santa lie will be discovered. If you lied to them about Santa Claus, kids will wonder, what else did you lie to them about?

"It's only a little lie," others will say. But it's not so little. Once you lie about Santa's existence, you have to lie another time when your kids see Santa in two different stores. You have to lie once again when the kids leave Santa cookies before going to bed, and in the morning they're gone. It starts small, but it soon becomes an elaborate deception. We refused to play along.

I have nothing against fantasy stories. As a child, I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy and read it over and over again. But it's important to know the difference between reality and fantasy. I never believed that Tolkien's Middle Earth was real, and my parents didn't lie to me that it was.

My wife and I never lied to our kids about Santa Claus. We treated him as a mythical figure, just like the the Easter Bunny and the Great Pumpkin.

Our kids don't seem to have been permanently harmed by our choice. Both like reading and telling stories, and they enjoy fantasy and role-playing games. The Narnia books are some of their favorites. They've even been known to wear Santa hats and play Christmas carols on their violins.

"You deprived them of a magical experience," some will say. I don't think so. Our kids know there is magic in the world, because they've looked through a microscope at a cell, and they've looked through a telescope at the rings of Saturn. They know that the tilt of the Earth's axis is the real reason for the season, but they also know the magic of their parents' love.

So no, Virginia -- Santa Claus isn't real. But there's nothing phony about human imagination, fantasy, the telling of tales, the complexity of our universe, the desire for a better world to live in, and our ability to achieve that world if we work hard enough and care about others. We told our kids the truth about those things, too.

Man Paints Pictures with his Tongue

2008-12-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

Guy Paints With Tongue @ Yahoo! Video

Police kill a football fan in Brasil

2008-12-11T05:46:00.000-08:00

Police brutality is a term used to describe the excessive use of physical force, assault, verbal attacks, and threats by police officers and other law enforcement officers. The term may also be used to apply to such behavior when used by prison officers. Widespread, systematic police brutality exists in many countries, even those which prosecute it.Brutality is one of several forms of police misconduct which include false arrest, intimidation, racial profiling, political repression, surveillance abuse, sexual abuse, and police corruption. (policebrutality)

Indian woman gives birth at age of 70 (Amazing Birth)

2008-12-09T02:24:00.000-08:00

Rajo Devi, who married 50 years ago, gave birth to a baby girl on November 28, and is now thought to be the world's oldest new mother.

Dr Anurag Bishnoi, a doctor at the Hisar fertility centre in Haryana state, said: "Rajo Devi and (her husband) Bala Ram approached the centre for treatment and the embryo transfer was done on April 19.

"Both the mother and child are in good health."

A 67-year-old Spanish woman who had twins in 2006 was thought to have been the previous oldest mother.

Devi's husband, aged 72, had also wed his wife's sister after 10 years of his first marriage did not result in children. His second wife also failed to become pregnant.

It was not clear whose egg and sperm were used in the successful treatment.

Dr Bishnoi, who helped the couple realise their dream, said both the mother and child were in good health.

"IVF has revolutionised the way we look at infertility," said Mr Bishnoi. "Infertility is no longer a social taboo or a divine curse. It can be treated scientifically."

"Adriana Iliescu, a retired university lecturer in Romania, was the oldest woman to have given birth. She delivered at the age of 66 in 2006. Maria Del, a Spanish woman, gave birth by the IVF treatment at the age of 67. And now, Rajo Devi has become the oldest woman to have given birth and the first woman in her seventies to do so," claimed Dr Bishnoi.

"Another woman of her age is reported to have delivered a child at Muzzafarnagar, but she was previously fertile," he added.

New mother Rajo Devi, "We longed for a child all these years and now we are very happy to have one in the twilight years of our life."

Husband Ram said he wasn't worrying over who would look after the child if they died.

"The upbringing of the child is not a problem. We have a joint family as is common in rural Haryana," he said.

The couple said they were facing social stigma for being childless for the last 55 years.

"We used the usual intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique in her case. The ICSI method enables even poor quality sperms being used creating embryos," said Dr Bishnoi.

He said his parents and wife, all doctors, performed the procedure together. "The major concern for us was that in case the woman conceived twins, she may not be able to carry them through the full term of pregnancy. In that case, all over efforts would have failed and the woman's life would have been in danger," Bishnoi said.

To avoid multiple pregnancies, the doctors used blastocyst culture, where a single potential embryo is transferred to the uterus instead of the normal two to three embryos. "This embryo is transferred after five days in this technique, while in normal cases it is done in two-three days," he added.

"Rajo is the eldest of four siblings. She is elder to me by about 16 years. We all prayed she would get a child and even married our other sister to Bala Ram in this hope. Now the whole family is very happy that she has a child," said Chand Ram, Rajo Devi's brother who is a sub inspector in Haryana Police at Panchkula.

How night shift workers can improve their job performance

2008-12-07T03:14:00.000-08:00

Wearing dark sunglasses when outside in daytime and a strict sleep schedule can improve job performance and alertness in night shift workers, say researchers.

The research team revealed that use of light exposure therapy, dark sunglasses and a strict sleep schedule can help night-shift workers create a "compromise circadian phase position," which may result in increased performance and alertness during night shifts while still allowing adequate nighttime sleep on days off.

The study involved twenty-four healthy subjects with seven women and five men in both the experimental and control groups.

All subjects were young, but the experimental group was significantly older than the control group (average age of 28.9 years versus 23.7 years). Subjects did not work night shifts in the three months preceding the study and did not travel across more than three time zones in the month preceding the study.

During the research, subjects underwent a total of seven simulated night shifts from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. with two days off. Experimental subjects slept in dark bedrooms at scheduled times: 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. after the first two night shifts, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. after the third night shifts, from 3 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the two weekend days off, and again from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. after the final four night shifts.

They also were exposed to five, 15-minute, intermittent bright light pulses each night shift; wore dark sunglasses when outside; and received outdoor afternoon light exposure.

The performance of the experimental group was close to the level during day shifts, demonstrating fast reaction times with low variability and few or no lapses. In contrast, the control group continued to show longer and more variable reaction times on all night shifts.

The study suggests that in addition to adopting the recommended sleep pattern and wearing sunglasses, night-shift workers who use bright light exposure therapy will be able to alter their circadian rhythm in order to improve performance during night shift work, continue day-time interaction with peers and have the ability to sleep at night on days off.

The study appears in the journal Sleep.

Mumbai under attack

2008-11-29T03:01:00.000-08:00

Late Wednesday night, Mumbai, India found itself the target of a ferocious terrorist attack, and the situation remains unresolved even now, three days later. According to reports, upwards of 60 young men entered Mumbai in small inflatable boats on Wednesday night, carrying bags filled with weapons and ammunition, and spread out to nine locations to begin their attacks. Lobbing grenades and firing their weapons, they entered hotels, a railway station and several other buildings, killing scores and wounding even more. As of this moment, the identity of the attackers has yet to be definitively determined, though there are reports indicating some of the gunmen were Pakistani - at least nine of them have been killed, nine more arrested. As of this writing, there were a reported 151 people killed from 11 different countries - though nearly 100 were Indian. More than 300 injuries have also been reported - those numbers may yet rise as several hostage situations still exist in the city.

Onlookers stand at the site of a bomb blast in Mumbai November 26, 2008. (REUTERS/Stringer)

A gunman walks through the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Mumbai Mirror, Sebastian D'souza)

A man carries a victim of a gun attack away from the scene of an earlier attack at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Armed gunmen are seen in the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. Teams of gunmen stormed luxury hotels, a popular restaurant, hospitals and a crowded train station in coordinated attacks across India's financial capital, killing people, taking Westerners hostage and leaving parts of the city under siege Thursday, police said.

A reporter talks on her phone as smoke is seen coming from Taj Hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008. Large plumes of smoke were seen rising from the top of the landmark Taj Hotel in Mumbai on Thursday and heavy firing could be heard, a Reuters witness said. (REUTERS/Arko Datta)
A member of the anti-terrorist squad takes a position during an engagement with suspected militants at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, India, Friday, Nov. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Firefighters try to douse a fire at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008. Indian commandos freed hostages from Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel on Thursday but battled on with gun-toting Islamist militants.

The body of a terrorist attack victim is brought in an ambulance to the St. Georges Hospital in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008. Dozens of people were still trapped or held captive Thursday.

Employees and guests of the Taj Mahal hotel, site of one of the shootouts with terrorists, are recued by firefighters as fire engulfs the top floor on late November 26, 2008.

Fire engulfs the top floor of the Taj Mahal hotel, site of one of the shootouts with terrorists in Mumbai on late November 26, 2008. (LORENZO TUGNOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Sharda Janardhan Chitikar, left, is consoled by a relative as she grieves the death of her two children in a terrorist attack while she waits for their bodies outside St. Georges Hospital in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008.

The windows on the first floor of the Taj Mahal hotel shatter after the use of a grenade launcher in Mumbai, India, Friday, Nov. 28, 2008. Explosions and gunfire continued intermittently at the Taj Mahal hotel Friday afternoon, two days after a chain of militant attacks across India's financial center left people dead and the city in panic.

Schoolchildren hold candles during a vigil held in memory of the victims of Wednesday's shootings in Mumbai, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad November 27, 2008. Elite Indian commandos fought room to room battles with Islamist militants inside two luxury hotels to save scores of people trapped or taken hostage, as the country's prime minister blamed neighbouring countries. (REUTERS/Amit Dave)

A National Security Guard (NSG) commando aims towards a window after an explosion on the fourth floor of the Nariman House where suspected militants are hiding, in Mumbai November 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe)

A National Security Guard commando fires at suspected militants believed to be hiding in Nariman House, in Mumbai November 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Peter Keep)

Live and let live

2008-10-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

21 Important advices

2008-09-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.

FIVE. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN! . When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY- ONE. Spend some time alone.

Say Good Bye To Laser Mouse. Welcome Microsoft BlueTrack LED Mouse.

2008-09-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

For those who are frustrated with laser/optical mouse that does not work when the operating surface is not good, here is a good news. Microsoft today introduced BlueTrack mice that solve that uses a brand new blue LED technology to solve the problems faced with laser/optical mice.

The Microsoft BlueTrack mice work on virtually any surface-including granite, carpet and even rough-grain wood.

You can purchase the mouse from Best Buy and more technical details are available at
Microsoft Hardware web site.

8 Things To Do With Mouse Scroll Wheel In Firefox

2008-08-27T14:42:00.000-07:00

There are many hidden gems in Firefox and exploring them makes us to wonder how well Firefox is designed by its creators. Today let us explore what we can do with mouse scroll wheel other than just scrolling the web pages.

1. Moving Back & Forward

Hold the shift key and move the mouse scroll while up and down to move back and forward of the browser history respectively.

2. Close a tab page without even displaying it

Popup ads of yesterday are new tab page ads of today. Few annoying web sites keeps opening popup adds as new tab pages. At times we don’t even want to see what is there in the unwanted tab and close it. Mouse scroll wheels come handy to deal with this situation. Just hover the mouse on the unwanted tab and click using mouse scroll wheel. The tab will be closed immediately.

3. Opening links in a new tab

To open any link on a new tab page just click it using the mouse scroll wheel. In the background Firefox silently opens the link in a new tab page.

4. Scroll line by line while reading a web page

This is the very useful functionality for those who read lot of stuff online. Hold the Alt key while scrolling the page using mouse scroll wheel to move it line by line. This come very handy while you need to scan text line by line.

5. Zoom In and Out images/text

Use CTRL + Mouse Scroll wheel to zoom in and out a web page

6. Scrolling though the tabs

If you open many tabs then Firefox adds a tab scroll as it runs out of space to show all the tabs. The general way of scrolling through the tabs is to use the arrows Firefox displays on the edges of tab area. The quickest way to scroll through the tabs is to use mouse scroll. Place the mouse scroll on any tab and move it up and down to scroll through the pages

7. Open a folder of bookmarks with a single click

Bookmark toolbar of Firefox is very handy to create bookmarks of the favourite web sites that we browse often. The bookmark tool bar also allows us to create folder and group the bookmarks under them. If you click on a folder with mouse scroll wheel, Firefox opens all the bookmarks of the folder in tab pages.

8. Move Up and Down

Click on the web page using mouse scroll wheel to use mouse to move the page up and down

Political sex scandal cheat sheet

2008-08-19T03:13:00.000-07:00

Amusing Irrelevant Facts

2008-07-30T00:44:00.000-07:00

1. Walter Cavanaugh, "Mr. Plastic Fantastic," has 1,196 different valid credit cards.

2. The oldest known goldfish lived to 41 years of age. Its name was Fred.

3. In 1987, a 1,400-year-old lump of still-edible cheese was unearthed in Ireland.

4. There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Dildo.

5. In Kentucky, 50% of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers.

6. Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during WWI.

7. If an orangutan belches at you, watch out. He's warning you to stay out of his territory.

8. Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.

9. In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles.

10. About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still sitting on it.

11. In 1984, a New Jersey man opened a summer camp for Cabbage Patch dolls.

12. You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day that in any other weather.

13. How can you tell when a gorilla is angry? It sticks its tongue out.

14. According to one poll, nearly 3/4 of all American women wear a bra that is the wrong size.

15. In 1976, a Los Angeles secretary formally married her 50-pound pet rock.

16. The first sperm banks opened in 1964; they were located in Tokyo and Iowa City.

17. In 1980, the Yellow Pages accidentally listed a Texas funeral home under frozen foods.

18. Cold showers actually increase sexual arousal.

19. 200 college students streaked at the same time in Boulder, CO in 1974.

20. In 1977, a 13-year-old boy discovered a tooth growing on his left foot.

21. In 1983, a Japanese artist made a copy of the Mona Lisa completely out of toast.

22. In the early '80s, a toad was discovered that meows instead of croaking.

23. In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting ad space on his cows.

24. About 96% of all American children can recognize Ronald McDonald.

25. An average person laughs about 15 times a day.

26. Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas.

27. Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.

28. The average human has seven sex fantasies in a day.

29. The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.

30. The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.

ABC 's for every Day

2008-07-06T00:04:00.000-07:00

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Microsoft Live Search Cashback Deserves Some Credit

2008-05-25T01:19:00.000-07:00

With Live Search Cashback, Microsoft has determined that it’s willing to take roughly difficult losses to acquire search market cut. Ignoring the bribery, which unavoidably will have towards end, the search engine itself is actually pretty obedient.

The benefit of this program for the merchant is that it’s a cost-per-battle plan for customer acquisition, with the cash bribe coming from the merchant and going into the customer’s description. Usually the search machine corporation would escort a reduction of that funds — or every of it — but for now Microsoft is passing the entire amount back to the customer. It’s top in many ways than the sacrifice-apiece-click plan that’s typical of Google AdWords, which makes the merchant pay but doesn’t pledge a trade. It’s a lot harder to perpetrate “combat sham” than “click sham,” for example.

Live Search Cashback beats Google Product Search with the “Bottomline Price” present. I can’t impart you how many era I’ve searched for the best price by a product, only towards extend through mainly of the purchase process and observe obtainable there are extra processing sum or outrageously high shipping charges. So back I attempt towards the search schedule and try some other sites until single of them has a reasonable total cost. Reside Hunt eliminates persons empty-basket shopping trips by viewing the actual price after tax, shipping, and money back allowance. Several other investigate engines like PriceGrabber allow this feature as well; it’s shocking that Google lags after here.

A ration of you perhaps work for sizeable companies and produce troupe credit cards. That is one of the chairs where purchase gimmicks can generate sales, and one of the reasons why I lecturer’t like them. I’m a issue owner, and these kinds of deals supply the incorrect incentives. Workers can be tempted to turn visitors purchases toward these deals not because they’re the best price, but because they acquire towards curb the kickbacks — rebates, gift certificates, airline miles, you name it.

In the outcome, what I very want is to fast acquire a creation at a good price, and my experiments with Live Search Cashback did that. I’d dearest to understand Dwell Search incorporate product and merchant reviews, which Google Products already has; a good cost means nothing stipulation the merchant can’t deliver or the creation doesn’t run. While a lot of people will no doubt come to Live Exploration for the cash back, Microsoft’s built a search appliance that’s lovely enough to treat whether they compensate you or not.

World's deadliest natural disasters in 40 years

2008-05-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

A look at some of the deadliest natural disasters around the world in the past 40 years:

- May 2008: Earthquake (magnitude 7.8) hits Sichuan province in central China. Thousands are killed.

- May 2008: Cyclone Nargis strikes Myanmar, killing more than 30,000 and leaving an additional 30,000 missing.

- October 2005: Northern Pakistan earthquake (magnitude 7.6) kills about 78,000 people.

- August 2005: U.S. Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina kills at least 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi.

- December 2004: Indian Ocean tsunami (triggered by magnitude 9.0 earthquake) kills 230,000 in a dozen countries.

- December 2003: Southeastern Iran earthquake (magnitude 6.5) kills 26,000.

- January 2001- Gujarat earthquake (magnitude 7.9), epicenter: Bhuj, Western Gujarat. Over 20,000 killed.

- October 1999- Orissa’s super-cyclone- Over 10,000 killed.

- August 1999: Western Turkey earthquake (magnitude 7.4) kills 17,000.

- October 1998: Central America Hurricane Mitch kills 9,000.

- April 1991: Bangladesh cyclone kills 140,000.

- June 1990: Northwestern Iran earthquake (magnitude 7.7) kills 50,000.

- July 1976: Northeastern China earthquake (magnitude 8.2) kills 240,000, with some estimates at 655,000.

- November 1970: Bangladesh cyclone kills 300,000. World's deadliest cyclone on record.

Google Earth Working on a 3D Ocean?

2008-05-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Google Earth plans to bring even more than Earth and Sky

It was only a matter of time until the Mountain View-based company started looking for new worlds to explore so, after reaching the earth and the sky, Google
gets ready for the ocean. Elinor Mills of CNET reports that Google may be interested in developing a 3D version of the ocean which would be integrated into Google's downloadable tool, Google Earth.

A few weeks ago, Google rolled out Google Earth 4.3 beta, a brand new version of the application which incorporates many new functions such as Street View. Moreover, the Sky support was implemented a long time ago so the Ocean would be an obvious addition.

According to the same source mentioned above, Google refused to comment the speculations, saying that the Mountain View-based company has "nothing to announce right now." However, Elinor Mills writes that Google "has assembled an advisory group of oceanography experts, and in December invited researchers from institutions around the world to the Mountain View, Calif., Googleplex." Moreover, "they discussed plans for creating a 3D oceanographic map, according to sources familiar with the matter."

Obviously, such an improvement would be an amazing update and an extremely useful function for oceanographers because it would help them explore the underwater world. In fact, it's already known the fact that Google Earth is currently being used by numerous scientists out there for all kinds of purposes including monitoring volcano activity in different regions of the world.

"There is no real terrain or depth model for the ocean in Google Earth. You can't get in a submarine and in essence fly through the water and explore ocean canyons yet," Tim Haverland, a geospatial application developer at the Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told CNET

Refuse to Carry Frenchmen and Dogs (Pic)

2008-05-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

There was an anti-France/anti-Carrefour/anti-Tibetan independence protest in China over the weekend (Carrefour is a large supermarket chain based out of France), and this taxi driver was quick to capitalize on the anti-French mood! Maybe it’s just because the French don’t tip well

Surgeons remove 125-pound belly from Russian woman

2008-04-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

When Natalya M. was rushed to a hospital in Voronezh, Russia, the doctors didn’t believe their eyes – the woman had a gigantic skin-fat growth on her belly that didn’t let her walk normally. It was 36 inches long and weighed 125 pounds.

Natalya was overweight since 13, when she had hormonal disturbance. She tried all the existing diets, visited hundreds of doctors, but with no result. Years passed as her belly was growing larger and larger. Finally it became so huge that the woman literally had to stump it to make a step.

Read also: Abdominal fat closely related to dementia risk

Oleg Strigin, the head of the department of surgery of the hospital, where the woman was rushed, said they don’t do such complicated surgeries often. He said there are 4 levels of the belly-growth: the inch of more than 4-inch length belongs to the 4th level. We’ve never seen the growth of 36 inches!

The growth-removing surgery lasted for many hours. The surgeons removed fat the weight of a grown-up woman!

Read also: Five reasons why overweight people cannot lose weight

Later the surgeons showed Natalya what she was wearing. The woman was shocked and deeply grateful to the surgeons for having saved her life. Natalya has always dreamed about having a baby. Now her dream may come true. She is starting a new life. Only pictures of her old body and the scars on her stomach mind her of her previous life.

Trust is More Important Than Love

2008-04-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

Once we lose trust, relationship is impossible. We can compromise it, and stick around for the ride but the truth is, once trust is gone, love can't flow.

In business, as has been proven over and over, people can't be trusted. Leave an employee near an open computer and they'll connect to the internet and waste time. Accuse them and they'll scream like you just shot them in the foot. Interesting isn't it.

To be accused of untrustworthiness is one of the most sensitive insults you can hand another person. People can, and will, lie through their teeth about things that have breeched trust.

The Ancient laws of nature predict this clearly. They suggest that we have within us, 7 levels of mind. The lowest of these exists in everyone, as well as the highest. That lowest mind is a devil in disguise. And cannot be trusted, in anyone.

The lowest mind functions on instinct. Many people are living in this level of mind. We call it survival instinct but there's allot of complexity in this survival. A multi millionaire might still be in survival mode. A beautiful woman or a handsome guy might be in survival instinct. A religious fundamentalist is operating in survival instinct. Anyone who is in survival instinct is operating in their lowest mind, and therefore cannot be trusted.

Why can't they be trusted? Because there is so much fear, so much guilt that their real authenticity cannot be "allowed to surface" They put on a brave face and can be some of our most successful people, but their fears or their guilt drives them insane, or to self destruction.

To be trustable, you have to trust yourself. That means you do things in private that you are "not ashamed of" and you are not always "should-ing" yourself. Should do this and shouldn't do that. To be trustable, you'll need some level of transparency between your revealed self, and your non revealed self.

Once trust is lost between two people it can rarely be regained. If love is an the iron that holds us together, trust is the silk that binds us. Love can tolerate so much abuse, trust on the other hand cannot and once broken, is really hard to repair.

I think trust is more important than love. A person you trust, you can eventually love. A person you love who breaks your trust, you will never settle in intimacy with.

There are circumstances when people speak of MEN, or WOMEN, as a generic class of people. They have a prejudice about "ALL MEN" or "ALL WOMEN" and there are so many books written to encourage this idea of one mould fits all. For some people "ALL WOMEN" or "ALL MEN" are unworthy of trust. This is a huge problem because people become as we treat them. The untrusting lover actually breeds the un-trustable partner.

There was once a beautiful woman who betrayed many men. She eventually birthed a child and wanted to settle down. She chose a man, one she loved, but she couldn't trust him. What she had done, she knew he was capable of doing. This is called Karma.

The only way to stop breeding this untrustworthiness in her partners, was to begin to believe that she herself was worthy of being trusted. She became more transparent to her partner, she opened to him. The second part was to accept that what she had done to others, others could do to her. It was only fair. So, she gave her partner permission, to cheat. She told him that she had found the need to be unfaithful in the past and that if he found that need, it was ok. From this strange vantage point she no longer held suspicion, no longer felt guilty. She released him to do as she had done.

Months later the partner in deep privacy came to know me that he had cheated on many of his partners before, but, now in this relationship it was as if he didn't need to. He claimed that the fact that his wife had given him permission was the deepest love he'd ever felt and he no longer had the urge.

This is all on the surface. The deepest core of this story, is that the lady I consulted to had stopped breeding her fears in her partner. She had stopped being guilty about her own past. She had risen above the lowest mind which manifests it's fears and guilt's in others.

It is one couple where trust was mended.

The ancient laws of nature are difficult sometimes. They often require a personal honesty that is beyond the lower mind. An acceptance that what we judge in ourselves, we breed, attract or cause in others.

This is real healing.

All I want to say is :-

"BE Faith full to the One who loves you… never break trust … god shall never uplift you … be true to your heart …."

This will makes life if you cannot be truthfull Please never love any one

New children's book explains why mommy got a boob job

2008-04-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

London, April 18 (ANI): Ever wondered how will you react to your child's incessant queries about your latest boob job or tummy tuck? Well, a leading US plastic surgeon has come to the rescue of all the mums, by releasing a new book, which aims to explain kids why their mom is going under the knife.

Dr. Michael Salzhauer is set to release his controversial book My Beautiful Mommy, the first book to describe cosmetic surgery to children, this Mother's Day.

Dr. Salzhauer revealed that he had the idea after seeing women bring their children with them to consultations.

"Parents tend to go into this denial thing. They just try to ignore the kids' questions completely. But kids fill in the blanks in their imagination. With the tummy tucks, mums can't lift anything. They're in bed. The kids have questions," The Sun quoted him, as saying.

The book, aimed at kids under seven, features a superhero surgeon called Dr. Michael and a girl whose mother gets a tummy tuck, nose job and breast implants.

Before she goes for the chop, the mum tells her daughter: "As I got older, my body stretched and I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore. Dr Michael is going to help fix that and make me feel better."

Her nose surgery, she explains, will make her look "not just different, my dear -- prettier!"

After the operation, mum emerges "even more beautiful" than before. (ANI)

Ex-Girlfriend Meets New Girlfriend - Fight

2008-04-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

http://view.break.com/487492 - Watch more free videos

5 Crazy Diets

2008-04-15T00:11:00.000-07:00

5. Grapefruit Diet. Eating half a grapefruit before every meal probably wouldn't be too bad. You certainly would stay on top of your vitamin C needs. No scurvy for you!

4. Cabbage Soup Diet. This is a 1 week on and 2 weeks off diet. Personally, I don't think I'd make it through a week of cabbage soup. I mean eating cabbage for just one meal sounds like enough torture to give up chocolate. Sure there are some other veggies mixed in here, but yuck.

3. Fat Flush Diet. This is all about flaxseed oil, cranberry juice, and supplements. Forget about caffeine and alcohol. And ladies, apparently, you have to forgo birth control pills. Talk about a double whammy on this one.

2. Coconut Diet. Coconut oil is supposed to boost metabolism. It's also high in saturated fat, which can raise cholesterol. I mean seriously, how about just eating a little extra coconut? Why make a whole diet out of it?

1. Bento Diet. No, you aren't eating bento boxes, but you are doing portion control by putting your food into them. The lady who created this diet actually has some pretty common sense weight loss advice. She's working with a 4:2:1:1 ratio of veggies, protein, grains, and fruit. But I'd never thought of using Bento boxes as portion control. Maybe I should start the Nike shoe box diet.

Jesus And Budweiser, A Match Made In Heaven?

2008-04-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not photoshopped:

Sophisticated graffiti artists have left their mark near downtown Houston.

Someone covered up a billboard on La Branch at Winbern with a poster featuring a picture of Jesus Christ holding a Budweiser can. The company that leases the billboard believes vandals made the poster at home and then pasted it on top of the ad that’s supposed to be there.
It shows Jesus holding a Budweiser in between the phrases “Jesus, King of Jews” and “Jesus, King of Beers.”

“I thought that was just crazy,” said commuter Jose Cazares. “It looks professional too.”

Muslim sex offenders could opt out of treatment programme 'because it's against their faith'

2008-04-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

Muslim sex offenders are asking to be let off a prison treatment programme on religious grounds.

Rapists, paedophiles and other dangerous attackers are expected to discuss their crimes with other inmates as a condition of release.

But Muslim prisoners complain that criminals should not have to talk about their offences - a "legitimate Islamic position", according to Ahtsham Ali, the Prison Service's Muslim adviser.

One thousand inmates were put on the Sex Offender Treatment Programme last year with places usually reserved for the most dangerous attackers.

Failure to complete the course can weigh against an offender at parole hearings.

The possibility of an exemption for Muslims came to light in a letter from an unnamed inmate to Inside Time, a newspaper for prisoners.

The convict said: "I have always insisted that it was against Islamic teachings to discuss your offence to anyone, let alone act it out within a peer group."

Experts said ministers, who have launched a review of the issue, could face a legal challenge from Muslims kept longer in prison because they had not undergone the treatment programme.

Harry Fletcher, of the probation union Napo, said: "If they do not take part, Muslim sex offenders are likely to serve longer sentences, possibly the whole of their term, before they are released."

Nick Herbert, Tory justice spokesman, said: "There can be no religious discrimination when it comes to deciding the appropriate and safe time to release a prisoner.

"In any case, all prisoners, regardless of religion, should have their release made conditional on their behaviour and progress in custody, not be given automatic release at the half-way mark."

A Prison Service spokesman said officials were seeking to ensure the treatment programme was sensitive to "the diversity of religions within the prison context".

"Membership of a particular religion is not a bar to participation in accredited programmes," she insisted, adding that offenders were carefully vetted to ensure they were suitable candidates for the course.

Don't drink too much water: Study

2008-04-06T00:26:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK: There is no clearcut scientific rationale for the average healthy individual to drink a lot of water -- and it may be downright harmful -- according to two kidney experts.

Drinking a lot of water is claimed to be helpful for everything from clearing toxins and keeping organs in tip-top shape to keeping weight off and improving skin tone. At best, however, the evidence to back up these claims is weak, according to a new scientific review published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology .

"There is what I call an urban myth that drinking a lot of water is a healthy thing to do and it leads to people toting around plastic water bottles all day drinking water," Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia said.

"The source of this is the complementary and alternative medicine worlds. If you go on the internet and look up water-drinking and its health implications, that's what you encounter," Goldfarb said.

As a kidney specialist, Goldfarb is interested in how the kidney handles fluids, which prompted him and colleague Dr. Dan Negoianu to review the scientific literature on the benefits of drinking water. In doing so, the researchers debunked four myths.

One is that drinking a lot of water suppresses appetite. "Many people drink water before and during the meal to try to suppress their appetite," Goldfarb explained, yet there is "no consistent evidence" that water suppresses appetite.

"Because you absorb water so quickly and it moves through the GI tract so quickly, it probably doesn't fill you up the way people have proposed, nor does it lead to the release of hormones which suppress appetite as far as we know," the researcher said.

The second myth is that filling up on water flushes toxins from the body. "In fact, that is not how the kidney works," Goldfarb said. "When you drink a lot of water you end up having a larger volume of urine but don't necessarily increase the excretion of various constituents of the urine."

The third myth is that it reduces headaches. It does not, according to the evidence. The fourth myth is that water drinking improves your skin. "There are no data to suggest that it actually improves the water content of the skin," Goldfarb said.

Goldfarb and Negoianu did find solid evidence that people living in hot, dry climates, as well as some athletes, have an increased need for water, and people with certain diseases like kidney stones may benefit from increased water intake -- but no such data exist for average, healthy individuals. Furthermore, there are a couple of circumstances where drinking a lot of water may be actually unhealthy.

"In long-distance runners, for example, more harm is done by long distance runners over-drinking during races than by long distance runners who under-drink," Goldfarb explained.

He also cited the case of a woman who developed swelling of the brain and died when she drank water continuously and very rapidly for several minutes as part of a contest.

Goldfarb also said there is no rational basis for the widespread belief that people need to drink eight glasses of water a day, and it is unclear where this recommendation came from.

Beach Policeman: 1922

2008-04-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

In what counts as a major curatorial development here at Shorpy, we've found the high-res version of one of last year's most popular images: "June 30, 1922. Washington policeman Bill Norton measuring the distance between knee and suit at the Tidal Basin bathing beach after Col. Sherrell, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, issued an order that suits not be over six inches above the knee." National Photo Co.

20,000 Vietnamese workers go on strike at Nike contract factory

2008-04-01T02:45:00.000-07:00

More than 20,000 Vietnamese workers have walked off the job at a Taiwanese-owned plant that makes shoes for Nike Inc., demanding higher pay to keep pace with skyrocketing prices, officials said Tuesday.

The workers at Ching Luh plant, in southern Long An province, went on strike Monday. They want a 20 percent bump to their $59 average monthly salaries along with better lunches at the company cafeteria, said Nguyen Van Thua, an official with the province's trade union.

The plant has been making sneakers since 2002 and employs about 21,000 workers, most of them young rural women. The company is paying the workers 14 percent more than minimum wage, but soaring inflation is eroding their earnings, Thua said.

"The company has followed the Vietnamese laws in paying their workers, but given the fact that consumer prices are soaring day by day, the workers have had troubles with their daily expenses," Thua said.

Ching Luh plant is one of 10 factories that contract with Nike to produce sneakers in Vietnam. Nike's contractors in Vietnam make about 75 million pairs of shoes each year, and the Ching Luh plant accounts for about 12 percent, said Nike spokesman Chris Helzer.

"We recognize the impact that rising inflation has had on the people of Vietnam, and hope the situation will be resolved quickly and amicably," he said.

Consumer prices in Vietnam are 19 percent higher than they were a year ago, according to government figures. Hanoi responded in January by increasing the minimum wage foreign-owned companies are required to pay by roughly 13 percent.

As inflation has picked up in recent years, strikes have become more common, with workers demanding higher pay and better working conditions.

Velvet worm attacks beatle. WTF

2008-03-31T01:44:00.000-07:00

Scientists train fish to swim into nets

2008-03-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

Scientists are testing a plan to train fish to catch themselves by swimming into a net when they hear a tone that signals feeding time.

If it works, the system could eventually allow black sea bass to be released into the open ocean, where they would grow to market size, then swim into an underwater cage to be harvested when they hear the signal.

What's next, teaching them to coat themselves in batter and hop inside a fryer?

"It sounds crazy, but it's real," said Simon Miner, a research assistant at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood's Hole, which received a $270,000 grant for the project from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Miner said the specially trained fish could someday be used to bolster the depleted black sea bass stock. Farmed fish might become better acclimated to the wild if they can be called back for food every few days.

The bigger goal is to defray the costs of fish farming, an increasingly important source of the world's seafood. If fish can be trained to return to the farmer after feeding in the open ocean for several days, farms could save money on feed and reduce the amount of fish waste released in concentrated areas.

The key question for fish farmers: How many fish will actually return, and how many will be lost to predators or simply swim away?

Randy MacMillan, president of the National Aquaculture Association, said fish farmers won't be easily convinced to adopt open-ocean ranching.

"The commercial side is going to be skeptical," said MacMillan, who works on a trout farm in Idaho.

The Massachusetts project is one of several experiments funded by the federal government last year as part of aquaculture research.

"We're looking for innovations that will actually make a difference for coastal communities and the environment," said Michael Rubino, manager of NOAA Aquaculture. "It fits in both."

Previous experiments have used sound to train a fish to feed — similar to what Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov did in his famous dogs that salivated at the sound of a bell, expecting food.

In Japan, scientists have used sound to keep newly released farmed fish in certain areas, where they could be caught in traditional ways.

But no one has ever tried to get fish to leave and return to an enclosure where they can be scooped up.

The project began last summer using 6,500 black sea bass, a stout, bottom-dwelling fish that lives between Florida and Cape Cod and in the winter is generally not found north of New Jersey. The species grows up to 3 pounds and 20 inches long and has a thick, white flesh that can be filleted for broiling or cut into nuggets for frying.

Miner said the first objective was to see if the fish could truly be trained. He got his answer after keeping the fish in a circular tank, then sounding a tone before he dropped food in an enclosed "feeding zone" within the tank that the fish could enter only through a small opening.

Researchers played the tone for 20 seconds, three times a day, for about two weeks. Afterward, whenever the tone sounded, "you have remote-control fish," Miner said.

"You hit that button, and they go into that area, and they wait patiently," he said.

Miner is now trying to figure out how long the fish remember to associate the tone with food. He feeds the fish outside the feeding zone without a tone for a few days and then tests if they will still head for the feeding area when the tone sounds again.

Some fish forgot after five days. Others remembered as long as 10. Miner said the strength of memory seems tied to how long the fish are trained.

By May, researchers hope to bring about 5,000 black sea bass to a feeding station called an "AquaDome," a structure about 33 feet across and 16 feet high that will be anchored to the ocean floor in Buzzards Bay, 45 miles southeast of Boston.

The sea bass will be fed in the dome after a tone sounds. After researchers feel they've been sufficiently trained, they will be freed from the dome. A day or two later, scientists will sound the tone again and see how many bass return. They'll do the experiment again around summer's end.

The tone will have a range of about 100 meters in every direction. Miner said sea bass are a territorial fish that prefer a rocky bottom, like in Buzzards Bay, where they can forage for food. He doesn't think they will stray too far from the dome.

MacMillan is not convinced the fish won't just swim away.

"My experience with fish is they will wander far and wide," he said.

MacMillan said getting farmed fish to supplement their diets with ocean feeding is intriguing, but farmed fish now get a steady diet that produces reliable growth.

He also expects large numbers of released fish to be lost to predators.

Scott Lindell, the project leader, said losing fish is a concern. But the savings of using the trained fish and the AquaDome is potentially huge: Even if only half the fish come back after reaching market size, the operation would be more profitable than current methods. The dome, for instance, is 10 times cheaper than a standard aquaculture sea cage.

Miner said real answers won't start coming until the fish hit Buzzards Bay this spring. "There's probably 18,000 ways for it to go wrong and only one way to go right."

Woman survives fall into icy ravine as her body drops to 25C

2008-03-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

A woman survived nine hours in sub-zero temperatures after falling 30ft into an icy ravine.

Mandy Evans became so cold that her body temperature fell from 98.6F (37C) to 77F (25C), bringing her close to death.

When rescuers found the 43-year-old, her heart had slowed so much that they first believed she was dead.

Dr Linda Dykes, who treated Mrs Evans at Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor, North Wales, said that anything below 86F (30C) could be critical.

She said: "At 25C she was the coldest person I've seen by at least four degrees.

"That's not a record by a long way, but the mortality rate for hypothermia when the temperature is so cold is very high.

"We warmed her up by giving her warm oxygen and infusing warm fluids in various ways.

"We passed warm air over blankets while we looked for other injuries and gave her a scan."

Mrs Evans described yesterday how she fell down the ravine at Coed Pandy near her home in Dolgellau, north Wales, while looking for her 17-year-old son, Scott, at 2am on Easter Sunday, although the family did not say why.

She spent the night in freezing temperatures as a search party, which included her husband, Keith, and daughter, Hayley, 19, looked for her.

Mrs Evans was eventually found at 11am by Scott, Paul Crowley her daughter's boyfriend, and his friend Wayne Povey.

Mr Crowley, 22, said: "When I saw her lying there I thought the worst. Scott was really upset to see his mum and Wayne took him away to tell the others where we were.

"I stayed with Mandy until more help arrived."

Police and paramedics took care of Mrs Evans until a helicopter arrived from RAF Valley to take her to hospital.

From her hospital bed, Mrs Evans, who broke a rib, said: "I'm lucky to be alive. I lost my footing on the path and fell into a tree.

"I was hanging onto it upside down and trying to pull myself up. I was calling out for help. It was dark but I knew there was a sheer drop. I thought to myself if I fell I would be dead. My clothes ripped and I fell. I ended up half in the river with my head on a rock.

"It was raining and I'm lucky I wasn't washed away by the water.

"Dr Dykes says I'll be in the record books. She said I did incredibly well to come round so quickly."

Records show that Mrs Evans is the coldest person ever admitted to the hospital with hypothermia and survived.

When a person reaches temperatures of 89.6F (32C) it is classed as a medical emergency.

Symptoms can include hallucinations, delirium, complete confusion and extreme sleepiness.

At 82.4F (28C) people will experience severe heart rhythm disturbances and breathing may stop at any time.

However, when body temperature reaches about 78.8F (26C) or less, death usually occurs because of an irregular heart beat or respiratory arrest.

Patients have been known to survive with body temperatures as low as 57.5F (14.2C).

How Many Google AdSense Ads Did You Click Today ?

2008-03-30T00:43:00.000-07:00

If you ever wanted to know about the Google AdSense ads that you have recently clicked from Firefox or IE, here’s a tip:

Open the history panel (Ctrl+H) in the browser and type googleadservices - you will see all the Google Ad URLs that you have clicked since the last time you cleared your browser history.

You can also know the exact web address of the Adwords advertiser from these URLs. Firefox 3 users can type googleadservices in the address bar and get the same information from the auto-complete entries in the drop down.

Nothing very useful but will give you an idea about how frequently you click on Google AdSense Ads on other websites.

April Fool Joke

2008-03-28T01:18:00.000-07:00

Wish you all a very stupid April Fools day. Fool everybody, like i do.

Some Insulting Lines for your enemy

2008-03-27T05:24:00.000-07:00

Insulting lines

1. Any similarity between you and a human is purely coincidental!

2. Are you always so stupid or is today a special occasion?

3. As an outsider, what do you think of the human race?

4. I'd like to kick you in the teeth, but why should I improve your looks?

5. At least there's one thing good about your body. It isn't as ugly as your face!

6. Brains aren't everything. In fact, in your case they're nothing

7. Careful now, don't let your brains go to your head!

8. I like you. People say I've no taste, but I like you.

9. Did your parents ever ask you to run away from home?

10. If I had a face like yours. I'd sue my parents!

11. Don't feel bad. A lot of people have no talent!

12. Don't get insulted, but is your job devoted to spreading ignorance?

13. Keep talking, someday you'll say something intelligent!

14. Don't you love nature, despite what it did to you?

15. Don't think, it may sprain your brain!

16. Fellows like you don't grow from trees; they swing from them.

17. He has a mechanical mind. Too bad he forgot to wind it up this morning.

18. He has a mind like a steel trap-always closed!

19. You are a man of the world-and you know what sad shape the world is in.

20. He is always lost in thought-it's unfamiliar territory.

21. He is dark and handsome. When it's dark, he's handsome.

22. He is known as a miracle comic. if he's funny, it's a miracle!

23. He is listed in Who's Who as What's That?

24. He is living proof that man can live without a brain!

25. He is so short, when it rains he is always the last one to know.

26. He is the kind of a man that you would use as a blueprint to build an idiot.

27. How come you're here? I thought the zoo is closed at night!

28. How did you get here? Did someone leave your cage open?

29. How much refund do you expect on your head now that it's empty.

30. How would you like to feel the way you look?

31. Hi! I'm a human being! What are you?

32. I can't talk to you right now; tell me, where will you be in the next 10 years?

33. I don't want you to turn the other cheek; it's just as ugly.

34. I don't know who you are, but whatever you are, I'm sure everyone will agree with me.

35. I don't know what makes you so stupid, but it really works.

36. I could make a monkey out of you, but why should I take all the credit?

37. I can't seem to remember your name, and please don't help me!

38. I don't even like the people you're trying to imitate, if you are at all.

39. I know you were born silly, but why did you have a relapse?

40. I know you're a self-made man. It's nice of you to take the blame!

41. I know you're not as stupid as you look. Nobody could be!

42. I've seen people like you, but I had to pay admission!

43. Why are you so stupid today? Anyway, I think that's very typical of you.

44. Do u practice being this ugly?

Hurray!!!! New medical tool for doctor ( iPhone )

2008-03-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

Version 2.0 of the popular iPhone's firmware, which is due to be launched in June this year, could turn the device into an indispensable medical tool in hospitals.

Doctors are quite optimistic about the new version of the mobile phone as it could serve as an electronic alternative for the old-fashioned clipboard and X-ray light box.

According to Adam Flanders, director of informatics at Thomas Jefferson University and an expert in medical imaging, "If you could use the gesture-based way of manipulating images on the iPhone and actually manipulate a stack of X-rays or CT scans, that would be a huge selling point."

To date, such a feature has remained an impossible dream due to most smart phones' inability to handle the sophisticated compression techniques used on large medical images. Also, most phones lack the requisite memory and image-processing capabilities.

But the iPhone's reasonably powerful Samsung ARM processor, 8 GB or 16 GB of flash memory and intuitive, visual interface seem well suited to medical imagery.

Hospitals are also wary of beaming medical images all over the place via WiFi because of security concerns.

But, the iPhone's new business-friendly security features may ease privacy fears, according to physicians, and could even turn the device into an indispensable medical tool if hospitals approve the device.

Earlier this month, Apple released a software development kit (SDK) for programmers to create native iPhone applications.

The Apple team also announced a new partnership with Epocrates, the developer of a massive drug-interaction database for mobile devices.

The company said it is now working directly with Apple on a new iPhone-native version. When released, it will give doctors the ability to view drug information regardless of their location or the availability of a WiFi.

Physicians, particularly radiologists, are also excited about the prospect of accessing medical images directly on their iPhones.

According to Flanders, who regularly looks for ways to apply new imaging techniques to the radiology field, he's already seen a number of "neat tricks" with compression in recent years that can deliver hundreds of images on a handheld device, with a high resolution as well as the ability to manipulate those images.

"Such applications might actually work better through a browser-based interface," he said.

"The real beauty of the iPhone is that it offers a richer 3-D experience and more memory," said Michelle Snyder, vice president of marketing and subscription services at Epocrates.

World's Longest Mustache

2008-03-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

It is said that the mustache is a symbol of male vanity. A vanity that was lost in the western world. But not in other parts of the world. In India, mustached men impose more respect. And this man must impose a lot of respect: Badamsinh Juwansinh Gurjar, 60, an Indian villager from Ahmedabad (western India).

On February 29, 2004, his mustache was measured to be
12.5 ft long (4.2 m) long, a world's absolute record. The man had not cut his mustache for 22 years, in order to be admitted into the Guinness Book of World Records. We have to admit the mustache of Badamsinh is relatively unstylish, unsmeared, with mustache goops.

In fact, an Indian is also the proud possessor of another Guinness Book record of hair: the longest ear tufts: Radhakant Bajpai, a grocer from the city of Kanpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, northern India.

Bajpai's ear tufts were already 13.2 cm (5.2 in) when he broke the record in 2003 and now the man is really unbeatable: his ear hair has grown to almost 25 cm (10 in). Bajapai had defeated BD Tyagi of the city of Bhopal (central India), whose ear adornments measured 10.2 cm (4.1 in) (could it be because of the Bhopal accident?), and the amazing length was confirmed for the Guinness Book of Records by medical examiner Dr. R P Gupta.

The man washes his ear hair with a special shampoo (for a brighter hair and rapid growth) and has ceased wearing rings and necklaces, in order not to damage it. The ear tufts are long enough for wearing two small ponytails. But Bajpai does not fully enjoy his record, as he feels that the authorities do not really appreciate his efforts. Moreover, his own son regards his father's fascination with his ear tufts as, let's say, at least weird.

Read Word 2007 Files in Internet Explorer, No Word Required

2008-03-23T03:36:00.000-07:00

If you ever find yourself needing to review the contents of a Microsoft Word 2007 document (DOCX) but you're sitting at a computer without a Word installation or any other comparable word processor, weblog Digital Inspiration details how to read the document with nothing but Internet Explorer. In a nutshell, the method involves changing the doc's file extension to ZIP, unzipping it, and then finding a document.xml file inside the unzipped archive. From there, you can open that XML file in IE (or virtually any text editor, for that matter). As the post mentions, your document will lack any formatting, but it will allow you to read the content, which is essentially what matters anyway.

Read DOCX Files in Internet Explorer - No Word 2007 Required [Digital Inspiration via Of Zen and Computing]

Girls Are Not To Be Trusted

2008-03-23T00:13:00.000-07:00

Amazing things about everything

2008-03-20T01:01:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen such a video before. Really amazing

40 Adsense Alternatives

2008-03-19T11:20:00.000-07:00

40 Good Alternatives to Google Adsense

Banned? Tired of poor revenue? Why don’t you try another alternatives to adsense?

[AdAgency]
http://www.adagency1.com/publishers.html
Adagency1 offers 70% payout – net 60 days via Stormpay.

To qualify:

* site must be written in English
* site must have 15,000 or more monthly impressions.
* site must be professionally designed and include useful content
* site must have top level domain (www.example.com)
* site cannot contain any adult content
* site can not infringe on any personal, intellectual property, or copy rights

[AdBrite]
http://www.adbrite.com/mb/
Revenue split is 75/25 in your favor. There are two distinct things you can do with AdBrite — buy ad space and/or sell ad space.
Advertisers can choose relevant sites on which to advertise on a PPC basis.
Publishers can sell ad space, and approve or reject every ad that’s purchased for your site. Place a “Your Ad Here” Link on your site to

sell the space.

[Advertising]
http://www.advertising.com/
Select offers from a diverse range of advertiser partners and ad placement options including:

* WebSelect: Select from cost-per-click, cost-per-acquisition and revenue-share offers. We provide you with real-time reporting and net

15 payouts.

* RegSelect: Co-registration platform enables affiliates to supplement their registration path with advertiser offers. Advertising.com

will host and serve creatives and landing pages to your site.

[AffiliateSensor]
http://www.affiliatesensor.com
Tired of cutting and pasting Clickbank merchants Affiliate codes into your pages? You can now earn Clickbank revenue by signing up for

Affiliate Sensor’s free program.
Choose from over 10,000 of Clickbank’s products using Affiliate Sensor’s context-relevant, text-link affiliate ads. You just have to

paste a little javascipt on your pages.
Ads are sorted to display the best performing products on top.

[Allfeeds]
http://www.allfeeds.com/?action=publishers
Display over 25,000 advertisers in various ways: Contextual ads, Popaway ads, Text Links, DHTML Popaways, and a Free Web Site Portal.

Place news, sports, and weather on your site.
Pays 60% of bid prices. Must earn $25.00 before check will be cut.
Allfeeds can be integrated into your Google Adsense code to replace public service ads.
Searches go to Freesites.com, which look to be TE-generated pages and of little value.

[AzoogleAds]
http://www.azoogleads.com/
Ousted from the CJ network in December 2005 for being “non-compliant” and because CJ “identified a series of isolated violations with

Azoogle and has worked closely with them to rehabilitate and make the necessary corrections, to no avail”, AzoogleAds continues on as a

CPA network that places great emphasis on lead generation through Email marketing.

In addition to offering third-party Affiliate Program management, AzoogleAds’ In-house programs center around debt relief, credit card

assistance, satellite dishes, dating, car quotes and loans, and extended warranties.

[BidClix]
http://ads.bidclix.com/serve-link/
A bid-for-placement model, BidClix enables enables publishers to maximize yield by selling their advertising inventory to the highest

bidder. Ads can be served as banners, towers and pop-unders.
Unlike pay-for-placement search engines (such as Overture, Google, FindWhat), BidClix does not sell keywords or search results.
Pays Net 15.
As of April 2005, BidClix had over 5,200 registered publishers, 10,400 registered advertisers and served approximately 1.1 billion ads

per month, reaching an estimated 25 million individual consumers in the US and international markets.

[Bidvertiser]
http://www.bidvertiser.com/
Pays monthly, by check or PayPal with a minimum of only $10.
All ads are pre-approved by Bidvertiser’s editorial team, but you can block unwanted ads as well. Only the highest bidders’ ads are

shown on your site.
Detailed reports are available.
Note: Yet another Merchant/advertiser that doesn’t recognize countries with states and provinces outside the U.S. :-( (Try putting

Canada in the drop-down folks!)

[Buds Media]
http://www.budsinc.com/
Pays 60% of gross, Net 30, via PayPal, Check, Wire,Xoom etc.

Remove unwanted campaigns, and opt-out of broad ‘unsavory’ categories such as Active X ,Spyware, 728 banners, Banner/pop combos, Wide

Skyscrapers and Gambling ads.

[Burst! Media]

http://www.burstmedia.com/

BURST! delivers more than 4 billion monthly advertising impressions, across 477 content channels, for its more than 2,000

specialty-content web sites.

Eligibility:

* Represent specialty content. Portals, search engines, and sites of links to other people’s content generally do not meet the

criteria.

* Have at least 5,000 page views per month.
* Site language must be English.
* Have a publicly stated Privacy Policy.
* Agree to post BURST!‘s Demographic Survey somewhere on the site.
* Reside on its own top-level domain.
* NO content or links to adult or sexually explicit content.
* No unmoderated content.

[Casale Media]
http://www.casalemedia.com/Publishers/
Your site must receive more than 10,000 unique visitors per month, attract an English-based audience, and be hosted under a root domain

to qualify for Casale.

Pays 70%, Net 30.

[Chitika]
https://chitika.com/mm_overview.php
Although they serve up the most attractive contextual ads, the jury still seems to be out on the Chitika eMiniMalls network.
With many affiliates reporting income audits with losses of 30 – 50% of their expected Chitika earnings, numerous publishers have pulled

the plug on this fledgling contextual advertiser, still in beta.
While Chitika publishes Net 30 payments, so far that hasn’t been the case, and to make matters worse, rather than sending publishers

notice of this contraventionof their terms of service, they merely posted in on their blog.
Maybe they haven’t heard about ‘blog to email’ yet?
Follow the boards on this one though and cross your fingers that they rise to meet their initial expectations.

[Claxon]
http://www.claxon.com/publishers.html
Claxon Media pays 85% of gross on the 15th and 30th of each month check, wire, or PayPal.
Offers multiple ad formats, accurate stats, and the ability to preview ads, opt out of ads, and set up defaults.
Hurray! They also guarantee “speedy replies to questions and the best customer service possible”.

[ClickCent]
http://www.aclickcent.com/publishers.html
Pays 65% – on 25th of the month for the previous month by check or PayPal
Non-exclusive, no volume contracts required.

[ClickSor]
http://www.clicksor.com
Pays up to 85% of the advertising revenues, net 15 terms on a bi-weekly schedule. Check (min. payout: $50), or PayPal
(min. payout: $20).
Media includes Text Banners, Graphic Banners, Pop-Under Advertisements, Search box and XML feed to host on websites or blogs.

[ContextCash]
http://www.paydotcom.com/homepage.php
Context Cash was developed by Michel Fortin, famous for writing some of the best pulling sales letters of internet marketers like John

Reese and Frank Kern.
Context Cash now works with Amazon and Clickbank, and modules for Ebay, Paydotcom.com and other affiliate programs are to be added soon.

[ContextClik]
http://www.contextclick.com/
Canadian company offering 65% payouts at Net 45. Payments by check, wire transfer and PayPal
Earn 5% on both advertiser and publisher account referrals

[ContextWeb ContextAd]
http://www.contextweb.com/Corporate/...ublisher.shtml
Targeted ads are rotated across your Web site are optimized based on relevance, performance, and price.
Pays 50% (fifty percent) of the net revenues for countable clicks. May provide Advertisers with free bonus impressions or clicks.
Pays within 15 days of the end of the month during which the cumulative total exceeds $25 (USD).

[Kontera]
http://www.kontera.com/publishers.asp
Payments via check in US Dollars on balances over $100 US.
Who knows what percentage they actually pay?

[Enhance TopLink]
http://www.enhance.com/partners/distribution.asp
TopLinks™ pulls the most popular Enhance Interactive advertisers (based on the content of each page) and displays them in an

advertisement form. Media includes pop-ups, pop unders, sidebars, skyscrapers or banners, or button/text links.
Commission is paid out every 30 days.

[Fastclick]
http://www.fastclick.com/publish.html
Earn up 65-percent on all advertising revenue your website generates. Fastclick pays by the 25th of the month for the previous month by

check or PayPal.
No fees, Exclusivity contracts, volume contracts or serving charges.
Note: Pretty much a pain to try and sign up for. They turned me down the first time… apparently the person responsible for doing site

reviews, DOESN’T do site reviews. A phone call is required if you’re really interested.

[Hurricane Digital Media]
http://www.hurricanedigitalmedia.com/
Pays 60% on non-exclusive agreements, 75% on exclusive, without monthly minimum Impression volume requirements. Net 45.

[Kanoodle BrightAds]
http://www.kanoodle.com/about/brightads.cool
Kanoodle BrightAds ContextTarget™ and BehaviorTarget™ sponsored links are mapped to “topics” and “segments,” not to keywords, which

matches the content of your site to hand-picked areas of interest.
Pays a 50% share of the advertiser’s charge. PayPal Payments.

www.LinkAdage.com

[Mamma Media Solutions]
www.mammamediasolutions.com
50% revenue share based on pay-per-click search results from Mamma Branded Search Box, co-branded site/search or XML-Based Content

Delivery.

[MIVA AdRevenue Xpress]
http://www.miva.com/us/content/partners/arx.asp
Add relevant content through predefined Keyword searches, a co-branded search box or category and directory searches based on site

content.
MIVA pays within thirty (30) days of the end of the calendar month in which MIVA receives the revenue, on balances $25.00 and over.
I was unable to locate a percentage value for the amount pays its publishers on contextual advertising.

[Nixie]
http://www.nixxie.com/display.php?section=Partners
Runs an exclusive offer – “website using Nixxie ads may not publish on its web pages advertising from competing advertising companies”.
Note: Unable to locate ANY payment terms on their site.

[Quigo AdSonar]
http://www.quigo.com/adsonarpublishers.htm
Pays thirty (30) days of the end of the calendar month during which Quigo collects any Click Through Revenue, Quigo will pay to

Publisher a percentage of Net Revenue set forth in the version of the Agreement that is presented to Publisher after Publisher receives

a user name and password, minus any applicable withholdings.
Note: Doesn’t specify WHAT percentage of net revenue is paid.

[RealCast Media]
http://www.realcastmedia.com/publishers.html
Advertising Size and Location. All banners must be placed Above the Fold on your web site screen. Banners must be viewable without

scrolling…
I don’t think so…

[RealTechNetwork]
http://www.realtechnetwork.com/network/about.php
Net 60. Requirements:

* At least 25,000 impressions per month (12,500 Unique).
* Root level Domain Name (http://www.mydomain.com ).
* 80% US/UK/CAN audience, however, will pay for all international traffic.
* No applications from free e-mail accounts (I.E. email @ Hotmail.com) will be proccessed.

Referal network – Earn 5% of referred advertiser’s expenditure and 5% of referred publisher’s earnings for life of referral.

[Revenue Pilot]
http://www.revenuepilot.com/
You will be paid 60% of each search term bidded value. That means that if keyword “flowers” is bidded at $1, you will automatically earn

60 cents from that click.
Payments are processed on the first business day after the last billing period. You will get paid within 60 business days via US check

for the previous month’s earnings or choose PayPal.
Minimum payout amount is $25.00
Referal program pays 10% of all earnings from accounts that are referred by you.

[RightMedia]

http://www.rightmedia.com/categories/Publishers/
Right Media serves ads through Yield Manager, which is their auction-based transactional platform.
Note: Not your standard ad agency site. TONS of good info, but I found it nearly impossible to find the signup form!

[SearchFeed]
http://www.searchfeed.com
Two ways to monetize with either the “Search Engine Generator” or as a “Category Chaser”.
Search box and a specialized results page match the look of your site.
Referal program offeres monthly commissions of up to 7% for advertisers and up to 5% for affiliates – based on actual click activity for

each new advertiser and/or affiliate who joins one of Searchfeed.com’s services.
Board comments: “Will accept any type of site, but don’t expect more than a penny per click”.

[TargetPoint]
http://publisher.targetpoint.com/
You are guaranteed to receive at least 50% of the total on–click revenue. Payment options include bank checks, PayPal and Wire transfers

(if eligible).

[TLA]
http://www.text-link-ads.com/
The text link is sold at a monthly basic. For each text link sold, TLA share 50% of the sale price with you. No clicks and no page

impression required.
TLA makes payment by PayPal or Check (USA and Canada only)
100$ free -> http://www.text-link-ads.com/starter_kit.php

[traffic Marketplace]
http://www.trafficmp.com/tmpexpress/signup/signup.asp
Pays 65% of the revenue your site’s users generate. Reports that top publishers are earning over $10,000 per month.
Net-30 terms.

[tribal Fusion]
http://www.tribalfusion.com/SmartPublishers/
Tribal Fusion™ pays publishers 55% of all revenue secured by your site.
Payment terms are net 45. Tribal Fusion™ will issue and mail you a check 45 days after the last day of the month during which your site

generated more than $50 in net revenue.

[ValueClick]
http://www.valueclickmedia.com/publisher.shtml
Commission Junction’s parent company, use the “IAB” methodology for measuring impressions, clicks, leads and acquisitions, and payments

are based upon delivery in accordance with these measurements and tracking data calculated by ValueClick.
On the first day of each month, ValueClick will total all accumulated data for the previous month. Payments made Net 30 to Publishers

who have earned more than $30.00 .

[Veoda]
http://advertise.veoda.com
Veoda’s rates start at 60% and top partners can receive up to 90% per click. Average small to medium website owners receive 80% per

click.

[Vibrant Media IntelliTXT & SmartAds]
http://www.intellitxt.com/site/web_01b.html
Contextually relevant banner ads are dynamically delivered (see pic below) adjacent to immediate editorial content. Publishers receive

fixed CPM for all paid SmartAD units served on the site.

[Yahoo Publisher Network]
http://publisher.yahoo.com/
To be considered for the Yahoo! Publisher Network beta program, you must have a valid U.S. Social Security or Tax ID number, and web

site content that is predominantly in English and targeted at a U.S. user base.

Scientists uncover how HIV protein sneaks into cells

2008-03-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

Washington, March 18: A team of researchers involving an Indian origin boffin has solved the mystery of how stealthy HIV protein gets into cells.

Boffins have known for quite some time that a protein called TAT is good at crossing cell membranes. However, how exactly it worked has been of much curiosity.

TAT is not involved in transmitting the HIV virus; it only aids the passage of other materials across the membranes of infected cells.

Now, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Illinois involving graduate student Abhijit Mishra, materials science and engineering professor Gerard Wong; and postdoctoral researcher Vernita Gordon, has solved this mystery, something that could help improve the design of therapeutic agents that cross a variety of membrane types.

Lead author of the study Gerard Wong said, "TAT is extremely good at getting through cell membranes. You can attach TAT to almost anything and it will drag it across the membrane. It can work for virtually all tissues, including the brain."

The TAT protein transduction domain of the HIV virus is a tiny part of the overall TAT protein, containing only 11 amino acids, of which six are arginine, a positively charged amino acid that gives the protein its activity.

Most membranes are composed of a double layer of neutral, water-repellent lipids on their interiors, with hydrophilic (water-loving) "head groups" on their internal and external surfaces. The head groups generally carry a mildly negative charge.

Keeping these two things in mind, the researchers had thought that any positively charged amino acid could deform the membrane in a way that opened up a pathway through it.

However, when they replaced the arginine in the protein with other positively charged amino acids, it lost its function.

Using confocal microscopy and synchrotron x-ray scattering (SAXS), where the pattern of X-ray scattering can reveal how atomic and nano scale materials are structured, researchers found that adding the TAT protein to a membrane completely altered its SAXS spectrum, a sign that the membrane conformation had changed.

Upon analyzing the spectrum, they noted that TAT had completely reconstructed the membranes and made them porous thus making it easier for other biological processes to bring materials through.

Further analysis showed that the arginine was interacting with the head groups on the membrane lipids in a way that caused the membrane to buckle in two different directions, bringing on the saddle splay curvature that allowed the pores to form.

When another positively charged amino acid, lysine, was used instead of arginine, the protein bent the membrane in one direction only, forming a shape more like a closed cylinder that would not allow materials to pass through.

These findings will aid researchers hoping to enhance the properties of the TAT protein that make it a good vehicle for transporting therapeutic molecules into cells.

The paper describing the findings appears this month in Angewandte Chemie.

Painless: Say bye-bye to body art the easy way

2008-03-18T08:15:00.000-07:00

Removing tattoos may soon be easy, painless and risk free, thanks to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, who have come up with an ultrasonic tattoo eraser.

Tattoos come into being when water with colour particles is injected into the skin. The water diffuses into the surrounding tissue, leaving the colour particles in the skin.

And, while getting a tattoo is easy, removing it is just as difficult.

The process requires any one of the three methods - abrasion, surgical removal or laser treatment.

However, all carry various risks such as infection and the possibility of severe scarring.

Thanks to Michael Chancellor, professor of urology at the University of Pittsburgh, and his colleague, people who want to get rid of their body art can breathe a sigh of relief.

The process that Prof Chancellor and his colleagie have come up with relies on a process called cavitation. In this process, sound waves are used to reduce the pressure of a liquid to the point where tiny bubbles of gas form.

When the pressure is raised, the bubble collapses violently, generating huge pressures, albeit on a tiny scale.

Prof Chancellor says that ultrasound can be used to destroy pigment particles without damaging tissue under the surface of the skin.

The result is a non-invasive technique that should "safely, economically, and efficiently remove at least significant portions of the tissue markings", reports the New Scientist.

$100 Million Investment for iPhone Software Applications

2008-03-18T02:41:00.000-07:00

Venture Capital fund, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) has announced a huge US$100 million investment initiative to finance new products developed explicitly for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch platform.

The iFund is agnostic to size and stage of investment and will invest in companies building applications, services and components. Focus areas include location based services, social networking, mCommerce (including advertising and payments), communication, and entertainment.

"A revolutionary new platform is a rare and prized opportunity for entrepreneurs, and that's exactly what Apple has created with iPhone and iPod touch," said John Doerr, Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "We think several significant new companies will emerge as this new platform evolves, and the iFund™ will empower them to realize their full potential."

"Developers are already bursting with ideas for the iPhone and iPod touch, and now they have the chance to turn those ideas into great companies with the help of world-class venture capitalists," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We can't wait to start working with Kleiner Perkins and the companies they fund through this new initiative."

The iFund will be managed by KPCB Partner Matt Murphy in collaboration with partners Chi-Hua Chien, John Doerr, Bill Joy, Randy Komisar, Ellen Pao and Ted Schlein. Apple will provide KPCB with market insight and support.

Internet creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee against web tracking

2008-03-17T22:07:00.001-07:00

London, March 17: World Wide Web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee stresses the need for protecting customers against systems that can reveal what they are doing on the internet.

He insists that he would change his internet provider rather than allow the introduction of such a system.

His statement comes amid the controversy over the plans of a leading internet provider to use Phorm, a company which tracks web activity to create personalised adverts.

Berners-Lee says that he will not like being tracked for which web sites he visits.

"I want to know if I look up a whole lot of books about some form of cancer that that's not going to get to my insurance company and I'm going to find my insurance premium is going to go up by five per cent because they've figured I'm looking at those books," the BBC quoted him as saying.

Berners-Lee also insists that those wishing to use a system to track customers' online activities should first negotiate with him, claiming that the web history belongs to him.

"It's mine - you can't have it. If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me. I have to agree, I have to understand what I'm getting in return," he said.

Phorm, on the other hand, says that its system offers security benefits. The company claims that its system can warn users about potential phishing sites that attempt to con users into handing over personal data.

Berners-Lee, who was on a short visit to Britain from his base at MIT in Boston to promote a new subject of Web Science, also had a warning for youngsters about putting personal data on social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

"Imagine that everything you are typing is being read by the person you are applying to for your first job. Imagine that it's all going to be seen by your parents and your grandparents and your grandchildren as well," he said.

New robot aboard space station to help astronauts with difficult jobs

2008-03-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh, March 17: The International Space Station (ISS) has got its newest crew member in the form of a robotic handyman named "Dextre", who will perform heavy construction and maintenance tasks considered dangerous or difficult for its human colleagues.

According to a report in The Scotsman, the robot, who has also been nicknamed as "C-3PO's great-grandfather", was flown to the ISS aboard the space shuttle Endeavour in nine pieces and assembled during a risky eight-hour spacewalk 220 miles above the Earth.

The astronauts who put together Dextre - while floating outside the ISS as it orbited Earth at 17,500 mph, were Richard Linnehan and Michael Foreman.

Standing 12ft tall and weighing 1.5 tons, Dextre has a human-looking torso that swivels at the waist, arms with seven joints and hands with retractable claws that can grip tools and objects from the size of a telephone directory to a telephone box.

Dextre will be used to carry out external jobs that could otherwise be fulfilled only by sending astronauts on punishing spacewalks.

It is operated by human commands and has dexterity and sensory abilities far superior to those of spacewalking astronauts, whose bulky spacesuits and thick gloves make precision tasks tricky.

The robot can move up and down, left and right and can tilt, pitch, yaw and even open compartment doors to rummage in its own toolbox, remove what it needs and use it to perform DIY (Do It Yourself) jobs.

"Dextre is unique in that it's able to remove and replace items on the space station rather than just move them around," said Michel Wander, a CSA engineer. "It can unbolt a computer or a camera or a component that has failed and replace it."

Dextre will live on the end of the Canadarm, from where it will have a bird's eye view of Earth.

It has four "eyes" in the form of sophisticated video cameras that feed images to astronauts inside the station, allowing them to monitor its performance, and lights so that it can work in the dark.

"I see this as the great-grandparent of robots like R2-D2 and C-3PO. It's an operational robot that's pushing the limits of what we can do in space today," said Daniel Rey, manager of the Dextre project for the CSA.

Top 10 myths about cell phone health hazards

2008-03-17T21:37:00.000-07:00

Cell phones are no longer a luxury but a necessity to be always available to colleagues and relatives. Parents are happy for they know where their kids are, even if you experience a difficult situation you can call rescue workers, and there are also a number of cases when cell phones are useful. However, everyone knows for sure that electromagnetic waves are dangerous and, as cell phones are a source of such waves, they can apparently destroy health.

The myth about brain cancer bore other myths about health problems. This happened after an American neurologist, Chris Newman, brought a proceeding against all mobile and cell phone producing companies, including Motorola. He was dying from brain cancer. After this case, there was a whole army of people commencing proceedings against cell operators and cell phone producing companies.

Let us ruin one by one the spread myths about cell phones and health problems.

1) Using cell phones can result in premature babies. This myth was born when physiologists proved that one third of chicken embryos die under cell phone waves. But how many women do you know who refused to use phones and didn´t bear a baby? And how many women do you know who refused to use a PC? A PC has electromagnetic waves comparable with the ones cell phones have.

2) Alzheimer´s disease. It hasn´t been really proved as some physiologists showed that high electromagnetic frequencies don´t destroy the brain but just heat some of its areas. Additionally, some doctors proved that brain disorders as Alzheimer´s and Parkinson´s diseases do not have a direct connection with cell phone signals. Nevertheless, both types of the researches advise to use hands free.

3) Immunity. Researchers have recently proved that cell phone waves change genes. Thus, many people began discussing cell phone influence on immunity. But still, no researches have given any clear result.

4) Cell phones´ influence on sperm quality. A study involving 361 men was conducted at the Cleveland Clinic, and scientists discovered that everyday/frequent use of cell phones spoil sperm quality. But they examined only 361 men. That´s not enough to obtain a clear result. And again, in some regions people don´t have problems with baby conception, though men use cell phones. Moreover, some of our grandpas and grand grandpas have had great problems with conception and they didn´t use any phones.

5) Brain Cancer. This myth was born after so many proceedings against cell phone producing companies were brought by sick people. But also televisions, alarm systems, computers, and all other electrical devices emit electromagnetic radiation. Some cell phone users have been diagnosed with brain cancer, and many others who have not used cell phones also got this disease.

6) Ear cancer and other ear disorders. This is the myth based on the fact that ears become hot after talking too much on the phone. But, anyhow, the connection between this and ear diseases is not obvious and clear. And if you have had any ear problems before then, surely, you would get diseases now. But if you haven´t, there is nothing to worry about.

7) Arthritis. This may be the only myth that is not related to electromagnetic frequencies but with sending messages. This myth is absolute nonsense as arthritis is connected with the lack of calcium in the body. You can get arthritis even if you make pancakes every day, of course, in the case your organism lacks calcium.

8) Cell phones spoil complexion. Almost everything can spoil complexion: from stress after quarreling with your sex partner to an extra cup of coffee. Until there is more testing and concrete evidence of electromagnetic damage and a realistic solution, you can go on using your cell phone as much as you want.

9) Eye diseases have more in common with brain disorders. If you have headaches, high blood pressure or problems with eyesight then using cell phones may worsen these problems.

10) Endocrine problems. Scientists Mann K and Wagner P fixed some changes in hormone level when tested people were speaking on the cell phones. But after people finished speaking the level got the same as it had been before talks.

As you may have noticed, there is nothing scary about using cell phones if you do not have peculiar health problems. Enjoy talks and take care of your health!

Baby born with two faces in Northern India

2008-03-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

More people have begun to visit a small rural village in Northern India to worship a baby born with two faces. The baby is seen as an incarnation of God and people make offerings and ask for the baby`s blessing. The doctor who delivered her said she and her mother are healthy and doing well.

Man gets 3 yrs in prison for overcharging Rs 3

2008-03-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

Katihar, Bihar: A court in Bihar has convicted fair price shop owner Upendra for charging Rs three extra from his customers and he now faces three years of rigorous imprisonment.

Upendra and his family have faced 11 years of legal battle and are staring at more.

All hell broke lose on them two days back, as the district court in Katihar in Bihar sentenced him to three years in jail — his crime was charging Rs three extra for a purchase of kerosene from his fair price shop 11 years ago.

Upendra says, "I thought that the court was a temple of justice, and it's to seek justice that people go to court, even I had hoped to get justice but for a mere sum of Rs three I was sentenced to three years imprisonment."

A rough estimate of the amount that Upendra has spent on the legal battle so far is approximately Rs 10,000.

But the family is gearing up to appeal against the court verdict. After all, the solitary breadwinner behind bars will make life impossible for his wife and three kids.

Upendra's wife, Munni Devi says, "Since the time he's become a dealer we've been tensed and unhappy, it would have been better had he been a cobbler. All these legal hassles we're facing is a result of others envy."

People in Upendra's village are mostly farmers, and the locals in his village have welcomed the judgment.

As the man who dragged him to court says it is not for the petty sum that he fought the case, but to serve as a deterrent to others.

The petitioner Sutti Mandal says, "I feel that if he is convicted then it'll be a lesson for all the dealers who steal and overcharge people, and they'll stop overcharging people."

For now Upendra and his family are staring at yet another lengthy legal battle.

Do you trust science with your life?

2008-03-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Melodrama ahoy! The awesome-filled show “Brainiac”, featuring Richard Hammond from Top-Gear takes on the conservation of energy. The idea is no doubt taken from professor Walter Lewins (MIT) physics lectures (which are awesome, available at MIT Open Courseware for free), but in true Top-Gear spirit, they’ve spiced it up a bit (and god knows science sometimes needs spicing up).

You’ve probably heard it times and times again, “Energy is conserved!”, but what does it mean? Well it means that in a closed system, energy can not be created and it can not be destroyed, it can only be re-arranged. An example of a closed system would for example be the Universe, this means that there is always the same amount of energy in the Universe, that is, the energy today is the same as the energy only a few seconds after the big bang. The only difference is, it is now spread over a much larger area (because the universe is expanding). An example of an open system would for example be earth, we receive energy constantly from the sun, so the total amount of energy available on earth is not a constant.In practice you can approximate a lot of things as a closed system, which makes calculations a lot easier in. For example if you are only thinking about gravity, you can approximate earth as a closed system and say that energy is conserved. So if it takes an x-amount of energy to put a bowling ball on a 10 meter tall diving board, it will have exactly that same amount of energy right before it hits the ground, in kinetic energy (energy of movement).

Bill Gates Wants Fresh Blood to Fuel Technology Innovation

2008-03-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates has come up with a recipe to continue fueling technology innovation in the U.S., and it involves fresh blood, an education reform and additional financial resources. Gates is scheduled to present this perspective before the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology, on the organization's 50th anniversary on March 12, 2008. With the country's competitiveness at stake, Gates is prepared to argue that the Congress, the administration as well as the president will have to take decisive measures in order to maintain the country's momentum as the center of innovation worldwide.

"I know we all want the United States to continue to be the world’s center
for innovation. But our position as the global leader in innovation is at risk," the Microsoft Chairman warned. The Redmond company as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have long been at the forefront of technology innovation. Microsoft alone invested in excess of $7 billion into Research and Development in 2007, with the philanthropic foundation focusing its efforts on educational aspects. But Gates stated that the U.S. government too has to get involved into improving education, overhauling the U.S. immigration policies and boosting the funding for basic research.

U.S. companies are already forced to joggle with what the Microsoft co-founder referred to as a severe shortfall of scientists and engineers. "If we don’t reverse these trends, our competitive advantage will continue to erode. Our ability to create new high-paying jobs will suffer," Gates added. The U.S. already made a step forward in this direction, by passing the necessary legislation designed to drive technological innovation via the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education and Science Act from 2007. But at the same time, the educational initiatives of the legislation lack funding, and in this context fail to provide any results.

"Even though we know that basic research drives economic progress, real federal spending on basic research has fallen since 2005," he said. "I urge Congress to increase funding for basic research by 10 percent annually for the next seven years." But along with an increased volume of financial resources, what the Microsoft Chairman wants is nothing more than the U.S. to focus on the next generation of scientists and engineers. And in this context, the possibilities are either to go after homebred talent or to import it when possible.

According to Gates, the U.S. needs to reform immigration policies that will permit it to not only educate foreign talent, but also to keep it after graduation. At stake is the ability of the U.S. not only to innovate but also to compete.

Scarlett's mum was jailed for slitting throat: Report

2008-03-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

London, March 14: The mother of British teenager Scarlette Keeling, who was allegedly murdered on a beach in Goa, spent a year in jail for slitting the throat of a man she met at a party, her son has revealed.

Hal Keeling, 19, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail of Britain that Fiona MacKeown, 43, was jailed for attempted manslaughter.

MacKeown's son revealed that his mother was 18 when she and a friend were charged with attempted murder.

She served a year of a three-year sentence after the charge was reduced to attempted manslaughter following a trial in 1983, the daily reported.

"I haven't been an angel in the past," the mother, who is in Goa following her daughter's murder, confessed to her nine children, according to Hal.

"She said she was very naive and a man they met at a party tried to get his heels into her. Mum said he was into black magic and she freaked out," Hal was quoted as saying in the report.

The 15-year-old Scarlette's semi-clad body was found on Goa's Anjuna beach on the morning of February 18.

Police have nabbed two accused in connection with the case, who reportedly have confessed to the crime.

While one of them, Samson D'Souza, has admitted to sexually abusing Scarlette after drugging her and later dumping the teenager in the shallow water, another Placido Carvalho drugged her.

MacKeown from Bideford, Devon, Thursday said she was not satisfied with the investigation in the case, terming it as 'an extension of original cover up by the police'.

The British woman has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention, as she feels the case has weakened, with the police sitting on vital medical tests for weeks to confirm the presence of drugs in Scarlett's body.

The Power of A-List Bloggers: John Chow is Warren Buffet

2008-03-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

Original Post by Mattaw and filed under Blog Blog Related, General Money Making

Have you heard of Warren Buffet? You better have, but for those that haven’t, he’s the current richest man in the world according to Forbes, with $62 billion dollars. He can literally affect the United States economy with his decisions, that’s how powerful and rich he is. But how does this tie into the online world?

Well, the point I want to make is that in every economy there is that person(s) that can affect the economy by their actions alone. For this niche (Making Money Online), two people spring to mind, John Chow, and ShoeMoney.. Both are A-list bloggers with an obscene amount of power.

Each of them has the power to make websites into superpowers, to shift the focus of the make money online niche and influence literally hundreds upon thousands of peoples decisions about what to do in the near future. But can I back this statement up?

Sure can, lets look at Shoemoney first, then John next. I coined the term the Shoemoney Effect a while back, in response Shoe wrote a post about it. In this post he wrote that:

“Probably one of the biggest impacts was a article I wrote on million dollar wiki. A couple days later Graham updated his blog saying I drove more then $40,000.00 in sales.”

That’s right folks, he drove the website $40,000.00, in sales with just one article. Any product he endorses or blogs about gets a huge traffic rush and some business, after all he is writing to 15,000 people that want to and eagerly read what he has to write.

John Chow is a freak of nature for the make money online niche. No one absolutely knows how he did it and his success will probably not be replicated any time soon with the same scale of earnings. Last month his blog grossed $29,643.01 ($1,022.17/day). That’s monumental, never mind with his 21,000 readers, he definitely has the most power in the niche!

When he blogged about peal away ads, how many websites did you see throw up peal away ads, TONS. Honestly, why do you think so many reviews get purchased from him? Because people listen to what he says and follow. They are his flock and he is a very good herder.

Anything John talks about will get a huge traffic spike as well as some good business. He is truly the Warren Buffet of the Making Money Online Niche, while ShoeMoney is more of a Carlos Slim (second richest man in the world).

The question we must ask ourself after considering this fact is how will these people use their immense power. So far they have used it correctly, but if John or Shoe makes a bad decision and for some reason endorses a scam or other faulty product, imagine how many people will loose money? Is it really healthy for these bloggers to have this much power? Right now, it’s okay, the niche (making money online) is a micro economy with the big bloggers dictating to an extend what the smaller ones do, but we must be on the lookout and always remember to question. Remember although these guys are the big names, it doesn’t mean they have all the right answers….

Possibility of Hacking Implanted Defibrillators Demonstrated

2008-03-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School, University of Massachusetts, and University of Washington, has shown the possibility of hackers interfering with implanted defibrillators, including downloading sensitive information and reprogramming the device to the detriment of the patient.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The study, to be presented at a California computer-security conference in May, suggests manufacturers should consider how to stop unauthorized people from tampering with implanted medical devices that receive instructions via radio waves, a growing category that also includes spinal-cord simulators and drug-delivery pumps.

"This report demonstrates that you can obtain private information without authorization. You can reprogram the device without authorization," said William Maisel, a Harvard Medical School cardiologist and a co-author. But he cautioned that "our report is a theoretical risk, not an actual risk" and said there was no reason for anybody to consider removing a defibrillator.

There are no known cases of malicious tampering with somebody else's defibrillator, Dr. Maisel said. The authors withheld certain details of their experiment to prevent malicious people from repeating the procedure.

AOL to Pay $850M for Social Network Bebo

2008-03-13T07:17:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK (AP) - AOL said Thursday it will pay $850 million to acquire the online hangout Bebo, giving the struggling Internet company a foothold in an expanding business.

Bebo is one of the largest social networks in Britain, is ranked No. 1 in Ireland and New Zealand and has a global membership of more than 40 million, according to AOL. In the United States, however, it ranks third behind MySpace and Facebook.

Ron Grant, AOL's president and chief operating officer, said the deal should help AOL expand internationally and Bebo grow in the United States. The all-cash deal, expected to close in a month, also should give AOL an engaged audience from which it can generate additional advertising revenue.

AOL has been looking for ways to boost its advertising revenue to offset steep declines in dial-up Internet subscriptions. After several quarters of strong growth, AOL's advertising expansion has been slowing, putting pressure on the company's parent, Time Warner Inc., to sell off the Internet unit.

The deal is an acknowledgment that AOL still needs to seek additional outlets for expanding its audience and its advertising opportunities. But it also underscores the growing value of social networks such as Bebo to media companies as potential gold mines for online advertising dollars.

News Corp. bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, but has estimated the network is now worth more than $15 billion. News Corp. also owns the Fox television and movie studios in addition to its newspaper and Internet holdings.

Facebook Inc., which owns the Internet's second-largest social network behind MySpace, now arguably has a $15 billion market value, based on Microsoft's purchase late last year of a 1.6 percent stake for $240 million.

``Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL's personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media,'' said Randy Falco, chairman and chief executive of AOL.

AOL said current Bebo president Joanna Shields will continue to run the company, reporting to AOL President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Grant.

The acquisition is part of AOL's shift from a subscription-driven business to a public Web site that generates income from building traffic and selling advertising, similar to rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN. AOL, which has launched 17 international Web sites over the last year and expects to expand to 30 countries outside the U.S. by the end of 2008, said Bebo plans to launch in five countries this year, and will be ``featured prominently'' in AOL's international expansion efforts after the deal is closed.

Bebo has about 100 employees operating in offices in the U.K., San Francisco and Austin, Texas.

AOL was advised by Banc of America Securities LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. Bebo was advised by Allen & Co.

Dolphin rescues two whales off New Zealand coast

2008-03-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

Wellington, March 13: The case of two stranded whales saved by a dolphin off the coast of New Zealand could be the first such case in the world, a conservation worker said Thursday.

Moko the dolphin, a regular visitor to the coast of Mahia on the east Coast of New Zealand's North Island, became an instant hero after leading two pygmy whales that had repeatedly stranded into deep water on Monday.

"As far as I know it's the only documented instance of this happening," said local Department of Conservation officer Malcolm Smith, adding he had checked with whale stranding specialists who were also unaware of any similar dolphin rescues.

Moko, who had been visiting the beach at Mahia on and off over the summer, arrived at the beach in the nick of time, Smith said.

The disoriented mother and calf had resisted attempts to herd them out to sea, and kept restranding on the beach, to the point where Smith said the pair would likely have to be killed.

Then Moko appeared, and came right up to the whales before leading them out to sea.

"Quite clearly the attitude of the whales changed when the dolphin arrived on the scene. They responded virtually straight away," Smith said.

"The dolphin managed in a couple of minutes what we had failed to do in an hour and a half."

Smith said the whales had not been sighted again in the area.

However Moko had returned and was continuing to play with swimmers near the shore, as she has down for about the past six months.

According to Department of Conservation figures about 700 whales strand on New Zealand beaches every year.

The exact reasons why are not known, but theories include sickness, and sloping sandy beaches interfering with whales' sense of direction.

Lenovo will set up R&D centre in India

2008-03-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, March 13: Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's No. 4 computer maker, is evaluating options for setting up a research and development centre in India, company officials said on Thursday.

"We are constantly evaluating opportunities (for a centre)," India managing director Amar Babu told reporters after launching a new range of computers in the fast-growing market.

"When we bump up our business here, may be," Lenovo Senior Vice President Liu Jun added.

The Chinese firm, which in 2005 bought IBM's loss-making PC arm, has said it would focus overseas investment on emerging markets like India, Brazil, Mexico, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, where computer penetration is low.

-Amazing 51 Facts -

2008-03-13T05:47:00.000-07:00

1.People who ride on roller coaters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain.

2.Black bears are not always black they can be brown, cinnamon, yellow and sometimes white.

3.People with blue eyes see better in dark.

4.Each year 30,000 people are seriously injured by exercise equipment.

5.The placement of a donkey's eyes in its head enables it to see all four feet.

6.The sun is 330330 times larger than the earth.

7.The cow gives nearly 200000 glass of milk in her lifetime.

8.There are more female than male millionaires in the U.S.A.

9.A male baboon can kill a leopard.

10.When a person dies, hearing is usually the first sense to go.

11.Bill gates house was designed using Macintosh computer.

12.Nearly 22,000 cheques will be deducted from the wrong account over the next hour.

13. Almost all varieties of breakfast cereals are made from grass.

14.Some lions mates over 50 times a day.

15.American did not commonly use forks until after the civil war.

16.The most productive day of the week is Tuesday.

17.In the 1930's America track star Jesse Owens used to race against horses and dogs to earn a living.

18.There's a great mushroom in Oregon that is 2,400 years old. Covers 3.4 square miles of land and is still growing.

19.Jimmy Carter is the first U.S.A. president to have born in hospital.

20.Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump.

21.Cleopatra married two of her brothers.

22.Human birth control pill work on gorillas.

23.The right lung takes in more air than the left.

24.It is illegal to own a red car in shanghai china.

25.A hard-boiled egg will spin. An uncooked or soft-boiled egg will not.

26.Astronauts cannot burp in space.

27.The snowiest city in the U.S.A. is blue canyon, California Lake Nicaragua in Nicaragua is the only fresh water lake in the world that has sharks.

28.Kite flying is a professional sport in Thailand.

29.The great warrior Genghis khan died in bed while having $ex.

30.No matter how cold it gets gasoline will not freeze.

31.SNAILS have 14175 teeth laid along 135 rows on their tongue.

32.A BUTTERFLY has 12,000 eyes.

33.DOLPHINS sleep with 1 eye open.

34.A BLUE WHALE can eat as much as 3 tones of food everyday, but at the same time can live without food for 6 months.

35.The EARTH has over 12,00,000 species of animals, 3,00,000 species of plants & 1,00,000 other species.

36.The fierce DINOSAUR was TYRANNOSAURS which has sixty long & sharp teeth, used to attack & eat other dinosaurs.

37.DEMETRIO was a mammal like REPTILE with a snail on its back. This acted as a radiator to cool the body of the animal.

38.CASSOWARY is one of the dangerous BIRD, that can kill a man or animal by tearing off with its dagger like claw.

39.The SWAN has over 25,000 feathers in its body.

40.OSTRICH eats pebbles to help digestion by grinding up the ingested food.

41.POLAR BEAR can look clumsy & slow but during chase on ice, can reach 25 miles / hr of speed.

42.KIWIS are the only birds, which hunt by sense of smell.

43.ELEPHANT teeth can weigh as much as 9 pounds.

44.OWL is the only bird, which can rotate its head to 270 degrees.

45.In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

46.On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

47.The c!garette lighter was invented before the match.

48.Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

49.Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.

50.German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

51.A female mackerel lays about 500,000 eggs at one time.

Why can't Digg's algorithm do something about rampant teenage sex?

2008-03-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

Original post by Paul McNamara on Wed, 03/12/2008 - 12:48pm.

If you don't care about the inner workings of social bookmarking/news aggregation sites - Digg, in particular - I'd suggest that you move along; nothing to see here.

However, the Diggers among you - and I'm told that's 1 in 5 of NetworkWorld.com readers - are aware that recent changes in the Digg submission-ranking algorithm has caused great consternation among long-time Diggers, who believe they are being unfairly punished for having gotten good at Digg's game, a game that has attracted multimillion-dollar acquisition interest from the likes of Google and Microsoft.

Not my fight, but it seems to me there is another problem - one directly relevant to the bigger Digg brouhaha - that Digg software engineers might address to make that site more useful to readers and more fair to these already-irritated regular content submitters: They should do something about all these sexually transmitted diseases among teenage girls.

As I type (as opposed to when you'll read), here are five of the nine top "Hot in Health" stories as ranked on Digg's page devoted to health issues ... and, yes, they're all duplicate versions of the exact same news story:

1 in 4 Teenage Girls Has a Sexually Transmitted Disease

Study: 1 in 4 teen girls has an STD

1 in 4 teen girls has sexual disease

STDs rife among US teenage girls

Tainted Love: 1 in 4 teenage girls in USA has STD

Now, I know enough about the Digg demographic to appreciate the fact that any combination of the words "teenagers" and "sex" is a sure-fire draw, but Digg's rewarding of this obsession seems to be a bug not a feature. The reason that this should matter to Diggers is that the "Hot in ..." lists for each subject area are a key means of exposure needed to make any given story "popular" - in other words, to have it hit Digg's coveted front page. If these "Hot in ..." lists are jammed with multiple copies of a single story, the odds of any particular submission making it all the way upstream to the site's front page become even longer.

And, while I'm not software engineer, it would seem that two factors about Digg might indicate that this single-topic dominance is fixable: 1) every submission is time-stamped, so giving preference to first and/or earlier entries should be easy and 2) the site already has an elaborate duplicate-determination system, which while largely ignored by submitters seemingly could be used to impose just a measure of discipline in the interest of providing better "Hot in ..." lists.

In other words, some combination of the two would seem capable of staunching this epidemic of teenage sex.

Zen Guide to Life by Maharishi Fattifatbastard

2008-03-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

♣ Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either,
just fuck off and leave me alone.

♣ The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a flat tyre.

♣ The darkest hours come just before the dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbour's milk and newspaper, that's the
time to do it.

♣ Sex is like air. It only becomes really important when you aren't getting any.

♣ Don't aspire to become irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

♣ Never forget that you are unique, like everyone else.

♣ Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

♣ If you think nobody cares whether you're dead or alive, try missing a couple of mortgage payments

♣ Before you judge someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you judge them, you're a mile away and
you have their shoes.

♣ If at first you don't succeed, avoid skydiving.

♣ Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

♣ Have you ever lent someone $20 and never seen that person again? It was probably worth it.

♣ If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.

♣ Some days we are the flies; some days we are the windscreen.

♣ Don't worry; it only seems kinky the first time.

♣ Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment.

♣ The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it back in your pocket.

♣ A closed mouth gathers no feet.

♣ There are two theories about how to win an argument with a woman. Neither one works.

♣ Generally speaking, you aren't learning much if your lips are moving.

♣ Never miss a good chance to shut up.

♣ Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

♣ When we are born we are naked, wet, hungry, and we get smacked on our arse. From there on in, life gets worse

♣ The most wasted day of all is one in which we have not laughed.

Remember not to forget that which you do not need to know.

Oil prices break fresh record high near $110

2008-03-12T05:55:00.000-07:00

LONDON (AFP) — Oil prices struck a record high of 109.72 dollars per barrel on Tuesday after the dollar hit a fresh all-time low against the euro and amid persistent energy supply concerns, traders said.

New York's main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, soared to the historic level, beating the previous peak of 108.21 dollar that was set on Monday.

Also on Tuesday, Brent North Sea crude for April hit a record high 105.82 dollars on barrel, beating the prior high of 104.42 dollars touched on Monday.

In the foreign exchange market, the European single currency surged to a record high 1.5495 dollars.

A weaker US currency tends to increase demand for dollar-denominated oil as it becomes cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies.

Oil prices are also heading higher because investors are seeking a safe place for their cash amid fears of rising inflation and a US recession, analysts said.

"Crude futures held firm (on Tuesday), extending yesterday's rally and reaching fresh record highs in both London and New York, still underpinned by strong demand for dollar-denominated commodities and with oil seen as a good hedge against inflation," said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.

"Inflation fears are still very strong, outweighing prospects of a slower growth in the US and lower seasonal demand for oil in the second quarter."

At the same time, the oil market is under intense pressure from stretched supplies and demand from the United States -- the world's biggest energy consuming nation -- and Asian powerhouses China and India.

In recent days and weeks, oil prices have blazed a record-breaking trail, smashing through 107 and 108 dollars in New York on Monday alone.

"Currently concerns over a weakening US economy are leading investors to find a haven in commodities as the dollar weakens on expectations of further cuts in US interest rates," energy consultancy John Hall Associates wrote in a note to clients.

"This is outweighing the impact of fundamentals" of supply and demand, they added.

In Paris on Tuesday, meanwhile, the International Energy Agency warned that high prices were here to stay.

"We are in an era of higher oil prices," the IEA said in a monthly market report.

The IEA trimmed its monthly estimate for world oil demand this year to 87.5 million barrels per day "with downward pressures from weaker economic growth in the OECD mostly offset by stronger former Soviet Union (FSU) projections."

Oil demand was forecast to increase by 1.7 million barrels per day in 2008 or 2.0 percent from demand in 2007, which grew by 1.1 percent.

Tattoo ad on forehead for $10,000

2008-03-12T03:04:00.000-07:00

A mother had her forehead tattooed with the web address of a gambling site after auctioning off advertising space on her head to pay for her son's school fees.

Karolyne Smith has to live with a permanent billboard on her forehead after she accepted Goldenpalace.com's offer of $10,000 for the 'advertising space'. She needed the money to send her son Brady to a private school.

Karolyne said: ""I really want to do this. To everyone else, it seems like a stupid thing to do. To me, $10,000 is like a million dollars."

"I only live once and I'm doing it for my son. It's a small sacrifice to build a better future for my son."

Karolyne did not take the decision lightly. She discussed it for more than three weeks with her boyfriend Jeremy Williams.

Smith's eBay auction attracted more than 27,000 hits and 1,000 watchers. Bidding reached $999.99 before Goldenpalace.com, an Internet gambling company met Smith's $10,000 asking price. Goldenpalace.com also gave her another $5,000 for her trouble.

Another person, inspired by Karolyne is currently auctioning his forehead as ad space on ebay..

Best memory in USA

2008-03-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

Chester Santos is a 31 year old software engineer from San Francisco who become famous by winning a “memory” contest in New York last night.

In 2 minutes and 27 seconds he remembered the correct order of an entire deck of playing cards. He is now automatically qualified for World championship that will be take place later this year in Bahrain.

Santos is training his brain by spending a few hours each night after work practicing his memory.

The Paradox of Self-Promotion: Part II

2008-03-11T05:50:00.000-07:00

On February 19th I posted an article called “The Paradox of Self-Promotion with Social Media..” I was honored by the success of the article. The post made the front page of Digg, became popular on Mixx, and sat atop a couple of keyword lists on StumbleUpon. This attention was valuable not just because of the traffic driven to this blog but because of the conversations which resulted.

I have spoken with many people via email and social sites about the paradox of self-promotion. Agreements were offered, disagreements put forth, and from these discussions I realized that the original article is not actually complete. Or perhaps it is complete, but engenders another question. That question is:

“When do I stop promoting myself?”

This question is just as important as any of the questions tackled in the original post. In the first post I argued that self-promotion in the social media world is not only possible, but necessary in the early stages of your blog/video/website. But what did I mean by “early stages?” At what point are your done with the early stages? Unfortunately, there is not sign post along the road to give you an incontrovertible landmark by which to travel. To know where you are in your journey, you are going to have to experiment a little. These experiments are not hard, they just require some willpower on your part.

But why bother to experiment, why not just keep promoting all of your own stuff? This is also a valid question. The answer is two-fold. First, self-promotion can be time consuming. The labor might not break your back, but think of all the time you could save if your readers and fans had assumed the mantle of promotion for you. Second, if you continue to rigorously submit all of your own content to sites like Stumble, Digg, Reddit, and Sphinn then you lose the possibility that a more powerful user will submit your content. Think about it, MrBabyMan might have submitted your awesome new video to Digg and that would have counted for a lot in both viewers and chance of reaching the front page, but if he were the second to digg it after you, you would have lost all that potential.

So when do you stop promoting yourself? When do you perform this little test? Right now. If you are anything other than brand-spankin’-new, then take a chance and don’t promote you next post/video at all. You won’t know if anyone likes you enough to submit you to social sites if you don’t give them a chance. I see so many people submitting their own content to every site right after they publish it. I too have been guilty of this. So take your next post, suck it up, be willing to forego the 100 stumble visitors that you would have gotten, and see what happens. If the experiment fails miserably and after 3-4 days nobody submits your content anywhere, then you know you have more work to do. Go back to your content creation, work on building subscribers and fans, and go back to helping yourself along by promoting yourself. But don’t forget to take a chance once a month and see where you stand. You never know, next month you might have twice as many subscribers and realize that TheNanny612, Zaibatsu, and DoshDosh all think your stuff is great. You wont know if you don’t stop for a second and take a look.

Original Post by Matthew Peters

Girl has extremely long tongue

2008-03-11T03:03:00.000-07:00

http://view.break.com/299548 - Watch more free videos

WOW!I don't know how could she do this, Amazing.

Hulu will debut Wednesday, YouTube beware!

2008-03-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

New York, March 11: Hulu, the online video joint venture of News Corp and General Electric's NBC Universal, will make its public debut on Wednesday with programming from Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros Television Group, Lionsgate and from sports leagues.

Missing from the list of providers are media mogul Sumner Redstone-controlled companies Viacom Inc, which continues to hold discussions, Viacom said recently, and CBS Corp, which has said it was not averse to a licensing deal.

At launch, Hulu will offer full-length episodes of more than 250 TV series from current hits such as "The Simpsons" as well as older shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It also will offer 100 movies including "The Big Lebowski" and "Mulholland Drive."

Hulu said it has signed licensing deals with the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League.

Hulu's launch is a big bet by big media companies that consumers are as eager to spend long periods of time watching TV shows and movies in front of their computers as they are in front of their televisions.

Ahead of its test launch four months ago, the service, dubbed by the press as a rival to Google Inc's YouTube video sharing site, was skewered by the press and influential technology blogs for attempting to compete with the Web's most popular video destination.

Hulu has won over some of its harshest critics including technology blog, Techcrunch, which has since praised the venture for focus on professional content, clean, easy-to-use design, and video quality. Its readers voted it as the best video start-up of 2007.

With no marketing and a private test pool of users, Hulu Chief Executive Jason Kilar said they have attracted over five million viewers in the past month with its breadth of legally available contemporary shows and clean design.

Some 80 per cent of its entire video library is viewed every seven days, a sign likely to be viewed favourably by programming partners seeking ways to boost profits from vintage shows, Kilar said.

Shows on Hulu also are distributed on AOL, Comcast Corp's Fancast.com, Microsoft Corp's MSN, News Corp's MySpace and Yahoo Inc.

Ad formats impress

Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey said he was most impressed, not with its features, but with its range of options for advertisers. "It's the part people overlook," he said.

Among the range of new advertising options, Hulu said that Nissan, for example, can give Hulu viewers the option to choose to watch any one of its several car ads.

Advertisers spend "billions of dollars getting the right ad in front of the right person," McQuivey said of marketing to traditional television viewers. Hulu's online advertising permits "self-selected targeting."

McQuivey added, "From the advertisers perspective, it can't get any better."

Hulu said most of the companies which signed up for the test also are a part of the official launch, including Nissan, Best Buy Co Inc, and Unilever PLC.

Wife gets angry, burns 400 phones

2008-03-11T01:22:00.000-07:00

BEIJING: A spurned Chinese wife set fire to more than 400 cell phones owned by her and her husband after he walked out on their marriage, according to a news agency report.

A Chinese news agency said the 37-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Wang, was arrested for arson.

The couple had owned a successful retail phone business in Weifang, the eastern province of Shandong. However, their shaky relationship hit rock bottom when her husband left her on March 3, the news agency reported, citing the local Qilu Evening News .

Overcome with despair, the woman gathered up their entire stock of more than 400 new mobile phones, reportedly valued at more than 300,000 yuan ($42,000), and set them on fire, before walking out of the house, the report said.

Neighbours who saw smoke coming from the house called fire-fighters, who quickly extinguished the blaze.

How To Light A Fire Under A Post

2008-03-11T01:12:00.000-07:00

This post it is dedicated to all my blogger readers. Thanks to Hendra for ask me for this post:

Hm…I rarely get any comment on my post.
I wonder whether someday you gonna share us your secret how to pull a commenter to a post

Here are some tips on how to get a good discussion on your blog, producing multiple comments on each post. The post is something unique, I have posts with 30 comments and others with 3, and this variations are due to the information which you wrote in the post.

I can know when a post will get several comments depending to the type of post which it is. I classify the posts in two types, actives or passives. Basically if a post is active, it will have several comments. Instead if it is passive, it will have few comments. Now you know when you will have a good discussion on your post. Let’s check the characteristics of each type of post:

* Active Post: An active post is these which lend itself to discussion, a post which express only the point of view of the blogger. When you share your ideas with your audience, exist the possibility that someone has a different idea that yours. This is called diversity, and it is the major characteristic of the human being. If you write a post about what do you think about a service or just why do you think that my blog is good, you will get several comments of people critiquing your post, is how it works. Try in the most of possible to write post of this nature, this way you will light a fire under each post .
* Passive Post: A passive post is these which simply do not cause to discuss, the reasons could be many. Generally in this type of post, you don’t share your ideas or something related to your blog’s niche, and this is why the people don’t feel interest and don’t comment on the post. Old news and off topic posts are example of this type of posts.

Once you know the basics about the active and passive posts, you need to understand that you will not get comments if you don’t promote your posts. Being active or passive, you may submit your post to the social networks, this will attract more visitors to your blog and you will get a big burning fire on it, getting a good discussion on the submitted post.

The goal of each blogger is to get several comments on each post, but this is not possible every time. Try in the most possible to write active posts and cross your fingers to get people commenting on it .

Nice topic to share, i got this post from other site & i am here to help my friends that why i am sharing with you people. i think its cool ( mrjavo.com )

Researchers identify drugs that reverse cause of autism

2008-03-10T11:48:00.000-07:00

New York, March 10: A new method of screening fruit flies has helped researchers identify several drugs and small molecules that reverse the features of fragile X (FX) syndrome - a leading cause of autism.

'Our discovery of glutamate toxicity in the Drosophila (fruit flies) model of FX syndrome allowed us to develop this new screen for potential drug targets,' said lead researcher Stephen Warren of Emory University, Atlanta.

Findings of the study have been published in the online edition of the journal Nature Chemical Biology.

'We believe this is the first chemical genetic screen for FX syndrome, and it highlights the general potential of Drosophila screens for drug development,' Warren said.

Autism is caused by the functional loss of the FX mental retardation protein (FMRP). There is no known drug therapy for the FX syndrome.

Scientists believe FMRP affects learning and memory through regulation of protein synthesis at synapses in the brain.

One of the leading views, proposed by Warren and colleagues, suggests that over-stimulation of neurons by neurotransmitter glutamate is partly responsible for brain dysfunction resulting from the loss of FMRP.

In their current experiment, Emory scientists used a Drosophila model lacking the FMR1 gene. These fruit flies have abnormalities in brain architecture and behaviour that parallel abnormalities in the human form of fragile X syndrome.

When FMR1-deficient fly embryos were fed food rich in glutamate, they died during development, which is consistent with the theory that the loss of FMR1 results in excess glutamate signalling.

The scientists placed the FMR1-deficient fly embryos in thousands of tiny wells containing food with glutamate. In addition, each well contained one compound from a library of 2,000 drugs and small molecules. Using this screening method, the scientists uncovered nine molecules that reversed the lethal effects of glutamate.

'Most importantly, it identifies several small molecules that significantly reverse multiple abnormal characteristics of FMR1 deficiency. These findings open the door to development of effective new therapies for fragile X syndrome,' said Warren.

Pygmy hippos survive two civil wars in Liberia

2008-03-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

London, March 10: Rare pygmy hippos are surviving hidden in Liberia's forests against all the odds, despite two civil wars that have ravaged their habitat, British scientists said on Monday.

The creatures, which are almost never seen in the wild, were spotted in Liberia' Sapo National Park using special camera traps.

The West African country is one of the last refuges of the endangered pygmy hippopotamus but conservationists had feared recent forest destruction and poaching might have wiped them out.

In fact, a team led by Ben Collen of the Zoological Society of London recorded images of pygmy hippos just three days after setting up their camera traps among the trees.

"We were delighted to discover that a population still persists there, but remain highly concerned for the species, which continues to face significant threats from poaching and habitat degradation," Collen said in a statement.

The animals -- whose closest living relatives, besides the common hippopotamus, are whales -- hide themselves away in the rapidly shrinking Upper Guinean forest ecosystem.

The forest has been hit by unsustainable logging and mining operations, which were especially devastating during the civil wars. Pygmy hippos are also targeted by bushmeat hunters.

Only 10 percent of the original Upper Guinean forest is left, of which Liberia accounts for about 40 percent.

Things that Orkut users are unaware of

2008-03-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

No, I am not going to talk about how much money Orkut Buyukkokten is making every time anyone scraps anyone or by what time he is going to be the richest person in this world.

I am going to talk about things that are always in front of many Orkut users but no one talked about it.

#1 Orkut Feed Fetcher
Orkut added the feature of adding the feeds on Orkut a long time back but anyone knows how it fetches feed? The feeds are fetched from your email subscription by the email id “unknowngal@orkut.com”. This is what I found out when I checked the email readers and found this entry.

#2 Orkut Crush
Orkut allows you to add anyone on your crush list. Suppose you have added someone on your crush list and that user has also added you on their crush list. In such a case, Orkut plays a sweet role of notifying both the users that the other person has a crush on you. Isn’t it one of the awesome feature?

#3 Orkut Today’s Fortune Feature
Well I strongly believe in astrological predictions. The reason being simple that they matches with my day to day happenings perfectly. The question is how they decide the quotes to display each day? Surely, it is not decided on random basis and no one seems to know of it.
I even tried getting in touch with the people behind Orkut but didn’t got any answer. On searching the internet, I found out that it might be decided on the basis of details in your profile but I personally believe that they decide it on the basis of some astrological algorithm by fetching the birth date from the account.

If you too have something weird or cool to share or some unanswered query then let me know through your valuable comments and I will add your query / explanation (after verification, of course) with a link back.

House Demolition

2008-03-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

A drunk soldier in Moscow took his tank for a ride to buy 2 bottles of Vodka. Drinking and driving a car is a bad idea, but drinking and driving a tank is terrible one While driving back from the store he drove on an house and took part of it with him. This strange story happened in a village called Oktiabrskaya.

Armies spokesman, Konstantin Lazutkin, promised that the army will pay for all repairs for the house

Dog Names

2008-03-09T01:47:00.000-08:00

Dog Breeds and Great Dog Names for Them

You have a brand new puppy coming to live with you, what kind is he, and what would be wonderful dog names for them? Below are a few different breeds of dogs and some cute and unique dog names to go with them. This will give you a head start on finding a dog names.

The Miniature Schnauzer is a beautiful dog, very loyal and affectionate and highly energetic. They are also intelligent and thrive on companionship. Some wonderful girl dog names would be Rain, Babe, Lacey, Ladybug and Roxanne (Roxy) for short. For the little male dog names how about Racer, Lancelot, Mojo and Frodo, these are cute and unique.

What if you brought home a baby Scottish terrier or Scottie, these babies love to play and run. They can also be very independent and free willed dogs. Good girl dog names are Fallon, Fanny, Paisley and Paprika. For the handsome boy dog names why not try Popeye, Porter, Badger, Bagel or Sprocket.

What if you have found the love of a Border collie? These dogs make absolutely wonderful pets and become part of the family in no time. Great girl dog names could be autumn, Beauty, Misty and Nanny. The boys dog names how about Napoleon, Jock, Prince or Striker.

Chihuahua's make terrific purse and lap pets. They are so delicate and small. They devote to their owners with affection and love. Girl dog names that would be perfect are Brandy, Heidi, India, Bessie and Mira. For the boys how about these dog names Binky, Checkers, Dash, Spike and Tex.

For the lovely and elegant white coated Maltese who is always friendly and happy with whatever they are doing and strongly devoted to their owners, these would be great dog names for the girls Sugar, Taffy, Tippy, Diamond, Pearl and Snowflake. For the boys dog names what about Dusty, Elvis, General, Sharkey, Skipper or Socrates?

If you have gotten a devoted and beautiful Labrador Retriever then you have picked a wonderful affectionate pet. Great girl dog names are Flicka, Phoenix, Loretta, Sunrise and Emily. Good boy dog names are Nipper, Sonny, Laddie, King, Tucker and Spirit.

Looking for the perfect lap dog then a Yorkshire terrier is just for you. They are elegantly beautiful, small and very affectionate. Some wonderful girl dog names would be Willow, YoYo, Zsa Zsa, Millie, Meggie and Crystal.

The boy dog names for this breed are Ranger, Scout, Patches, Chips, Darby, Maxwell and Goliath.

Whichever dog names you choose, you'll know you made the right choice for you and your new furry bundle of joy, the first time he acknowledges his or her name for the first time. Let your children help in the naming process, make a game out of. Tell them to write down the names they think fit the puppy and you will do the same, put all pieces of paper with the names on it in a hat or bowl and draw out one by one and say it to the puppy whichever he or she responds to then that would be the name.

Dog survives 115ft fall into the sea

2008-03-09T01:41:00.000-08:00

A pet Labrador must be thanking its lucky stars after surviving a fall from a 115ft cliff.

The dog, Dexter, was being walked by owners Jonathan and Christine Dodd on the clifftop at Old Harry Rocks near Swanage, Dorset, when he suddenly ran off the edge and plunged into the sea below.

Unbelievably, the hardy dog not only survived but came through the ordeal without a scratch.

115ft cliff -paddle to a lifeboat that had been called to rescue him.

"He must have fancied going for a swim and thought that was the quickest way down," the Telegraph quoted Jonathan, as saying.

"I couldn't bring myself to look over the edge as I thought he was a goner. There was no way he could have survived that fall, it was a sheer drop.

"There was a party of schoolchildren standing further along the cliff edge and they gave out a shriek when they saw Dexter go over. But then one of them said he was OK and was swimming towards the shore," he added.

Luckily, Dexter had rolled off the uneven surface of the cliff as he fell and landed in the sea.

Although unharmed, there was no way of getting to him, so an inshore lifeboat from Swanage was called to pick him up.

"Dexter normally hates boats but he must have been so relieved to see this one because he doggy-paddled out towards it," Jonathan said.

"I met the lifeboat further along the beach and I was amazed because there wasn't a single scratch on him. He is a very white dog but he is a bit pale now after what happened," he added.

Becky Mack, from the Swanage lifeboat, said, "Some dogs are just incredibly lucky and Dexter is one of them."

Mission 42: Chacha tries to break exam jinx

2008-03-09T01:19:00.000-08:00

Lucknow, March 6: The 62-year-old man waited among a crowd of amused teenagers.

“Chacha, is baar bhi (Uncle, this time, too)?” smirked a 16-year-old as some 20 other boys broke into laughter.

Jabbar Hussain didn’t even bother to reply. He wanted to remain focused on the task ahead — the state board exams, his 42nd try.

Elderly candidates writing board examinations is not unusual. But Jabbar has made history of sorts in Uttar Pradesh by appearing for the tests 41 times.

Last time he cleared his Hindi paper but flunked four other subjects, including English and mathematics.

Of all the subjects, Jabbar finds these two the toughest, and has never cleared them in his 41 previous attempts.

Some local people had suggested that he take the help of “copying agents” to break the jinx.

“I was told I could get through if I paid these agents some money. But I refused. I want to pass on my own effort,” says the vegetable vendor from a village in Fatehpur.

District officials know that Jabbar is obsessed with clearing the board exam. But they also recognise his tenacity.

“He is honest and loves reading though he does not succeed in getting a degree. We encourage him to try over and over again,” says Sanjay Raut, a school officer in Fatehpur.

So at 10 in the morning on March 4, half an hour before the gates of Saraswati Vidyamandir in Fatehpur was to open for the first day of the Uttar Pradesh Board Examination, 2008, the 62-year-old waited among a crowd of amused teenagers.

Does he feel angry at the taunts from his fellow candidates?

“No,” he says, “I take them in my stride. The snide remarks are not worse than my failures. So why should I mind?”

As if to remind himself of his failures, Jabbar has preserved the marksheets of his earlier efforts. Laminated, they adorn the walls of the room where he sleeps. “They are important examples of the efforts that I have made.”

Nur Alam, the eldest of Jabbar’s four sons, isn’t all that bothered about his father’s education mission. “The only problem is he is discussed more for his failures,” the 34-year-old says.

Nur and his three brothers — all of them school dropouts — cultivate the 16 acres Jabbar owns in Bindiki, a semi-urban town about 130km from Lucknow.

Jabbar and his wife Fatima take the produce — potato, cauliflower, ladies finger and onion — to the Fatehpur market in the morning and in the evening.

They return late in the evening, when Jabbar sits down with his books. Sometimes he studies sitting in his stall.

“Even when he sells vegetables, he would keep some books nearby,” says Manish Srivastava, a clerk with the Fatehpur civic body.

Now that his exams are on, Fatima comes to the market alone. Jabbar is busy mugging up at home.

“I will continue to sit for the exams as long as I live,” he says with a smile. “Hope I succeed before my death.”
Top

Get wired, send SMS from your ailing heart!

2008-03-09T01:03:00.000-08:00

New Delhi, March 7: This comes straight from the heart. Doctors in the Indian capital have successfully implanted a device on a heart patient that can keep a tab on cardiac problems, send an SMS and even e-mail to the doctor concerned.

"The device is as big as a carom striker and is programmed to serve a patient better. We have successfully implanted the device in a 55-year-old lady from Kolkata and this is the first-of-its-kind implant in South Asia," said Viveka Kumar, cardiologist and electro physiologist at Max Devki Devi Hospital here.

A US-based company, Medtronic CareLink Network, is the manufacturer of the device called Medtronic Virtuoso ICD.

"After the implant, the device can send an alert SMS and e-mail to doctors every time the patient faces any problem in the heart. If the patient wants, then a 'patient alert system' can be given to him or her that has the facility to flash alert visuals to the patient,' Kumar said.

The patient alert system is an external device that allows heart patients to automatically receive visual notification on a special home monitor called the 'patient look indicator' when their device detects an alert.

The cost of the medical device is nearly Rs.450,000 and the hospital charges for a patient who avails himself of this service is around Rs.80,000.

"After the implant, the patients or the family can get a printout of all the developments taking place inside the heart from a special computer as well. The chip inside the device records all such developments and helps the patient, doctor and the family keep a record of health developments," the doctor added.

The device also helps the patient contact the doctor without visiting a hospital every three or six months. The alerts can help the patient avert a major crisis, Kumar explained.

"The patient or the family can act ahead of time and help avert a health crisis," he explained.

Kumar claimed that so far in South Asia, only two patients had implanted the device and he was behind both the cases. While the first was 55-year-old Lalita Saraf from Kolkata, the second was a 66-year-old male from Delhi.

The device was implanted on Saraf Feb 13 and it will take nearly two months before she starts a normal life.

"Lalita was a heart patient of grade C4 which means she was just behind the stage where you need a heart transplant to survive. She was also suffering from water retention in lungs and this was suffocating her a lot," said P.K. Saraf, her husband.

"After reading a lot of literature, we went for the procedure and doctors have told us that she will be normal in two months. As of now, I can say her clinical condition has improved," Saraf, a senior official of multinational company, said.

Kumar said these were the initial days of the device in India and it would certainly help tens of thousands of heart patients across the country. In India, about 100,000 patients suffer from the bradycardia problem every year. Bradycardia slows down a person's heart beat. Experts believe nearly 15,000 patients resort to pacemakers in India annually.

"It's a much better device than a pacemaker and I am sure a lot of people will go for it in the near future," Kumar added.

Girl in Clinton "Phone Call" Ad an Obama Supporter

2008-03-09T00:41:00.000-08:00

Remember Hillary Clinton's "scare ad?" The one with the phone call at 3 AM? Well, the young girl in the ad is now a young woman and she'll be of voting age before the election - and she's not a Clinton supporter.

The footage in the ad is stock footage from eight years ago when Casey Knowles worked as a TV extra. The footage is now owned by Getty Images and was used by the Clinton campaign.

"It's really sort of ironic that my image would be used to advocate for Hillary when I myself do not," Knowles told King5.com. "I've been campaigning for Barack Obama for a few months now. I was actually a precinct captain at the caucuses a few months ago. I attended his rally a few months ago and I'm a very, very avid supporter."

"I think it would be really wonderful if me and Barack Obama could get together and make a nice counter ad," she laughed.

Knowles did agmit that if Clinton wins the party's nomination, she will vote for her.

lion attacks? SCARY? or CUTE?

2008-03-08T23:44:00.000-08:00

this lion jumps up on a woman but then hugs and kisses her.

Indian English will conquer globe: Expert

2008-03-08T05:39:00.000-08:00

LONDON: English will fragment into "global dialects", forcing speakers routinely to learn two varieties of the language — one spoken in their home country and a new kind of Standard English with pronounced Indian characteristics, a leading expert on English has said.

The new Standard English, which will be understood globally, would be necessary if the growing ranks of English-speakers around the world are to understand each other, said Professor David Crystal, one of the world's foremost experts and author of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.

The new Standard English's likely Indian characteristics would signify the end of the primacy of American English. Future users of global Standard English might routinely say "I am thinking it's going to rain" rather than the British "I think it's going to rain", said Crystal.

"In language, numbers count. There are more people speaking English in India than in the rest of the native English-speaking world. Even now, if you ring a call centre, often it's an Indian voice you hear at the end of the phone. As the Indian economy grows, so might the influence of Indian English," he explained.

Because Indians tend to "use the present continuous where we would use the present simple (with an Indian saying) 'I am thinking, I am feeling, I am seeing' rather than 'I think, I feel, I see'... this way of speaking could easily become sexy and part of global Standard English," said the professor, who has written more than 100 books.

Feel and manipulate 3-D images

2008-03-08T05:27:00.000-08:00

A controller developed at Carnegie Mellon University allows computer users to manipulate three-dimensional images and explore virtual environments not only through sight and sound, but by using their sense of touch.
The device, expected to be used mainly for research, training and industrial purposes, comes close to the sensitivity of the human hand.
Using magnetic fields, the socalled haptic device replicates the response a hand might have to textures and gravitational forces, the devices convey the sense of touch.
The controller — like a joystick topped with a block that can be grasped — has just one moving part and rests in a bowl-like structure connected to a computer. Two of the controllers can be used simultaneously to pick up and move virtual objects on a monitor.
Researchers had built 10 of the devices, six of which were to be sent to other universities across US and in Canada, and that a new company, Butterfly Haptics, would begin marketing the device in June or July.
The controller, which will cost “much less” than $50,000, could enable a would-be surgeon to operate on a virtual human organ and sense the texture of tissue or give a designer the feeling of fitting a part into a virtual jet engine.
The interface might also convey the feeling of wind under the wings of unmanned military planes.

Google and Microsoft Going at Each Other over Digg

2008-03-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

By: Vlad Constandes, SEO News Editor

Digg is shopping itself around, and a purchase is really likely to happen any time soon, according to Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch. The user-generated news site has been working with investment bank Allen & Co., that I last mentioned was the one behind Bebo being sold.

An inside voice quoted by Arrington said that at the moment
there are four companies interested in the acquisition, two major media / news companies and two Internet companies, namely Google and Microsoft. The latter two are really close to making the bids. According to the same source, Digg had a valuation last year at some $300 million, but at the moment they’re willing to take less.

Guess which of the two Internet giants will probably make the highest bid? Which has the cash flow and the stability to give away without blinking a ton of money? Google, of course, as it is believed to make a bid of $200 - $225 million, as opposed to Microsoft, which has a smaller number in mind.

Most of the user-generated news site’s revenue comes from a three-year advertising deal it signed last year with the Redmond-based company, so the smaller bid would only make sense – it’s difficult to pay for the revenue you supply. The deal will most likely be terminated, should Digg accept the Google bid, but that shouldn’t be a problem for Brin and Page’s company, as it has the means to provide the same thing as Microsoft.

Kevin Rose decided to sell, and that’s all that matters at the moment for the two companies to start a bidding war. Whichever manages to get it, it would be a big slap in the other’s face. Microsoft would be noted as a much-more-open presence on the Internet stage, while Google would be grinning from ear to ear in case it manages to swipe Digg from Gates’ company’s grasp.

Naked Man Found Stalking Alligator

2008-03-07T23:40:00.000-08:00

A man who was rescued from the jaws of an alligator by deputies two years ago was taken into custody after officers spotted him naked and apparently stalking an alligator, according to a sheriff's report.

Deputies patrolling Saddle Creek in Lakeland said they found an abandoned pickup near a pond early Friday and investigated.

During a search of the area, officers said they found Adrian Apgar of Polk City standing naked in the water about 50 feet from the shore. He was walking toward an alligator, the report said.

Deputies were able to talk Apgar out of the water without incident.

Apgar told deputies that he had been bitten by a snake and was looking for an alligator.

"He told deputies that he knew he was gambling with his life," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. "Our deputies have been placed in danger twice as a result of this man's actions."

Apgar was transported to Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

The report said four officers rescued Apgar from the jaws of an alligator in November of 2006.

Apgar faces possible charges in connection with the incident, the sheriff's report said.

I knew it - Digg is up for sale

2008-03-07T09:22:00.000-08:00

Ever since the last Digg town hall meeting where Kevin and Jay Adelson skirted around the “Is Digg for Sale” question, I knew there had to be more to the story. The silence spoke for itself. There was no admission or denial of the rumor.

I had no idea though that Google and Microsoft both were sniffing around Digg. It does make in a sense that both industry giants would be interested in Digg, after all Digg is one of the most visited websites on the Internet.

The visitor traffic alone is probably enough to give Microsoft and Google executives raging woody's.

Rumors and speculation have been floating around for several months that Digg was looking for a buyer.

If nothing else, Digg would make a good acquisition target for Microsoft in case the Yahoo deal fell through. Of course Microsoft isn’t going to sit on its hands if it knows Google has eyes for Digg. I think it is a tit-for-tat thing between Google and Microsoft ever since Google began to undermine Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo.

I think that if either of the companies does buy Digg that much of the shadiness going on behind the scenes at Digg (insta-digg, insta-bury antics, behind the scenes censorship) will disappear. I also believe that if Digg is purchased additional social features will appear on the site in an effort to dominate social networking and social news

Even if Microsoft buys Yahoo it won’t affect Google’s dominance

2008-03-06T23:18:00.000-08:00

Even with all of the speculation that Microsoft will end up buying Yahoo, Google doesn’t have anything to worry about in regards to search dominance. According to what I see every month on several of the sites I own and operate Google clearly dominates the search referrals I see. Ninety-three percent (93%) of the search referrals I receive are Google, with MSN/Live trailing at 1.3% and Yahoo a measly 0.2% of referral of referral traffic. AOL search (powered by Google) provides more search referrals than Yahoo does on more than one of the websites I operate.

Below are the February 2008 statistics for designertoday.com (10 year old medium traffic website). As you can clearly see Google out performs all other search engines.

With the popularity of Google’s other services such as Google Docs, I think Google has such an pervasive presence online that Microsoft (including the Yahoo purchase) will not gain much traction with the launch (beta) of Office Live Spaces. While Microsoft does hold a tight grip on business productivity software (offline), the company has a very long battle to take online application market share away from Google.

Jason Calacanis (CEO of Mahalo) is claiming that Google will own ninety percent (90%) of the search market in the US within a year. From what I see each month, I believe that Google is already there.

“That's an insane prediction I was told, after I made it in front of a half dozen of the most important public market investors in the tech world at a conference recently (think the largest shareholders in Yahoo and Google). It was midnight and folks were on their second or third Macallan 25*, but folks immediately sobered up.” Jason Calacanis

I hope that, in the event that Microsoft ends up with Yahoo that the combined companies do become more aggressive and gain more of the online services market share, as it could only benefit consumers. Competition on such a grand scale will ultimately lower costs of products and services and with the US economy being in the shape it is in, would help tremendously.

Don't dare to die in this French town

2008-03-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

BORDEAUX: The mayor of a village in southwest France has threatened residents with severe punishment if they die, because there is no room left in the overcrowded cemetery to bury them.

In an ordinance posted in the council offices, Mayor Gerard Lalanne told the 260 residents of the village of Sarpourenx that "all persons not having a plot in the cemetery and wishing to be buried in Sarpourenx are forbidden from dying in the parish."

It added: "Offenders will be severely punished."

The mayor said he was forced to take drastic action after an administrative court in the nearby town of Pau ruled in January that the acquisition of adjoining private land to extend the cemetery would not be justified.

Lalanne, who celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday and is standing for election to a seventh term in this month's local elections, said he was sorry that there had not been a positive outcome to the dilemma.

"It may be a laughing matter for some, but not for me," he said.