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bench3
News Letter
March 2009
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bench3 March 2009
CONTENT
1. Three Good Tips To Quit Smoking
2. Can Honey Really Cure A Cough?
3. Effective Ways To Quit Smoking
4. What You Mean By "DEFLATION"
5. Know About "Revenue Deficit"
6. What Do You Mean By "DEVALUATION"
7. Bail Out Package And Indian Economy
8. A Bundle Of Contradictions In Article 16 Of the Constitution Of India
9. Sit-Ups Exercise Is Not Useful For BELLY FAT Reduction
10. ByPassing Windows with a Quick Boot [Presto - Review]
11. Augmenting Farmers’ Income
12. Medium Is The Message
13. Secret Of Blogging!
14. The Tasks Of A Leader
15. An Upgrade For The Web [HTML 5]
16. Privatisation Affecting Human
17. How Twitter Could Bring Search Up To Speed
18. What is Twitter? And Why People Use Twitter
19. India Misleads On Inflation Figures
20. How To Overcome This Recession
21. How to Write With Confidence
22. Microsoft Reveals Details Of Gazelle Browser
23. Worst Movie Set Disasters (Part 1) | bench3
24. Worst Movie Set Disasters (Part 2) | bench3
25. Santa and Banta Story | Chilling Story | bench3
26. The Begging Cat | bench3
27. Why 1 Is One And 2 Is Two? | bench3
28. Worst Movie Set Disasters (Part 3) | bench3
29. All About "Presence of Mind" | bench3
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bench3
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In the movie The Godfather there is a quote that could be one of the most important of the tips to quit smoking,
“Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.” The reason that this should be one of the tips to quit
smoking is because it should be used in reverse for those looking to complete this lifestyle change. Keep your
enemies, the cigarettes, close enough to remember the damage they caused, but keep your friends closer. In the
end, your friends will remind you why you made this change in the long run, keep them in your circle during
this difficult time, they will help you succeed.
Become part of a Community of people that have quit smoking or is attempting to quit smoking in order to
learn the tricks of the trade from the real survivors. This is one of the tips to quit smoking that the cigarette
companies and gimmick providers don’t want you to know. The fact that you can get help from ordinary
people that are not looking to earn a dime from your success or failure is very powerful. Keep this tip at hand;
it is one of the biggest tips to quit smoking.
Ignore the urge to become part of the crowd at work or in a social setting by making it an opportunity to get a
leg up on the competition. If you are at work, use the time you previously spent smoking to do more research
or get ahead on your work. If you are at a party use the time to brush up your makeup or talk to somebody you
normally wouldn’t. Don’t just use this as an opportunity to quit something, use it as an opportunity to begin
something anew! These are some very important tips to quit smoking for you to utilize and succeed in riding
yourself of this filthy habit. Read more...
Labels: Health
Cut half lemon into slices(or use lemon juice) and put it in a mug of hot water. with this add 1/2 teaspoons of
honey(depending on how much you want). the honey and lemons are great if you have the symptoms of the
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flu, such as coughing etc. the honey has anti bacteria properties that will decrease the frequency of coughing
and is a great antioxidant. it has been used throughout history to cure bronchitis and other respiratory diseases
the honey doesn't always have to be mixed with lemon, it can also be mixed with brandy or ginger.
You need to first really come to terms with the fact that stopping smoking is not easy. You may find that it
takes some time to actually quit smoking for good. This is not uncommon, but is something that can serve as a
huge disappointment if you are trying to quit in only a couple of weeks. If you are not able to quit when you
really want, but you are showing signs of serious progress you should still take this as a good sign of progress.
Any signs of progress should be celebrated no matter how small they are; of course, large signs of progress
should have a larger celebration though in order to be truly successful.
One mistake that many smokers make is trying to pick out a single approach to quit smoking. You probably do
not easily fit into a single category if you tried to describe yourself, so your smoking likely will not either. This
means you probably need to spend a good amount of time considering different options and techniques to help
you until you find the combination that works best. If something is not working you need to take advantage of
the ability to change. There are enough products on the market that finding something that suits your needs
really is possible, just be willing to look for something whenever necessary.
Always choose a non-stressful time to stop smoking. If you are already stressed out when you start trying to
quit you will find that it is much harder to quit. One example, would be attempting to quit smoking right as you
are bringing a new baby home. While this might seem like a fabulous idea so that your child is not exposed to
the second hand smoke, it is also a very stressful time. You should instead try to quit before the baby is born,
or wait a while after the birth for the best chances at success at quitting for good.
One of the biggest secrets that people will not tell you is the fact that you really can quit smoking. In addition,
if you really are determined to quit you may not even need the expensive stop smoking aids that are on the
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market. Just the mere desire to quit for good is often all that is needed, but you need a super strong support
team in place to make this happen. What often happens is smokers become so determined that expensive stop
smoking aids are needed and they convince themselves that without these gadgets and contraptions that they
will not be able to quit. If you look beyond the attractive packaging, you are often left with nothing more than
something which will keep your hands occupied or help distract you during periods of strong urges to smoke.
Looking for alternatives can often be much cheaper, as well as just as effective in the end to your stop smoking
effort. Read more...
Labels: Health
cheaper against the foreign currencies and exports of that country become more competitive in the global
market. It turns out to be advantageous to the exporters and the imports under such a situation become more
expensive in terms of domestic currency. Read more...
Labels: Economy, General, Money Market
The economic problems of the global slowdown began to surface in India during the mid-2008 when a few
major investment banks in the USA collapsed and the US economy began to feel the heat of the meltdown.
After a phase of bullish euphoria in the financial markets in 2007, the Indian stock markets began to suffer
heavy setbacks after January 2008. While the markets were hoping to recover to some extent at the time of
Diwali, in October 2008, it turned out to be the other way around as the markets suffered major reverses. To
add to the woos of the common man, the inflation rate was hitting the roof. In addition to the exorbitant price
level, there was liquidity crunch in the market and the interest rates were very high, discouraging the investors
from making any investment. The grim market scenario forced the investors to put on hold even the most
viable projects. The banks were also shying away from funding the projects on one pretext or the other. By
October 2008, many companies, particularly in the IT and Aviation sectors, began to hand over pink slips to
quite a few of their employees. New recruitments were stopped and in many cases the salaries of the existing
staff were slashed. This was for the first time after the onset of the process of reforms that such a situation was
encountered in the country. Despite the brave face put up by the government, the feeing of recession in the
economy began to sink in. As the crisis loomed large over the world economy, the US government took the
lead to save its investment banks through a bail-out package. The US government also considered the bailout
package for its three major automobile manufacturers. On the national front also, many corporate entities
began to announce salary cuts and reduction in the employee strength, forcing the government to announce a
package of unemployment doles for such employees. This was the time when the Indian government also
tightened its belt and came out with an economic package which was multi-faceted and encompassed areas like
indirect taxation, interest rate cuts, monetary policy measures and duty cuts. Focus of the package announced
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on December 6, 2008, was primarily on reducing the prime lending rates of the commercial banks. The aim
was to revive the economic activity by reviving the housing, infrastructure and automobile sectors. The
government tried to increase the availability of liquidity in the market by adopting various monetary policy
measures to trigger the downward trends in lending rates of various banks, including the house building
advances and car loans. The first bailout package was estimated to have pumped in additional funds to the tune
of Rs 40,000 crores into the Indian economy.
The second bail out package, announced in the beginning of January, 2009, provided the system with
additional liquidity to the extent of Rs 20,000 crore, taking the total additional fund availability to Rs 60,000
crores. As an automatic corollary to the above mentioned measures was the resultant easier credit at reduced
rates. With the RBI announcing reduction in the Repo Rate and the Bank Rates, most of the commercial banks
reacted positively and announced reduction in their prime lending rates, making it easier for the borrowers to
borrow at reduced rates. Hence, not only the availability of credit was enhanced, its cost was also reduced
considerably. Among the most important sectors is the automobile sector. During the last about one decade,
this sector has been the backbone of India’s industrial growth rate.
Reduction in the excise duties for most of the vehicles has helped this sector to cut the prices of the vehicles
significantly, pro- tecting it from further slide. Reduction in the petrol and diesel also helped the auto sector to
tide over the difficult situation. The growth rate of the auto sector may not have improved greatly after these
measures, but the measures have certainly helped this crucial sector to survive the global scare. Civil aviation
is yet another important sector that had been fuelling the growth rate of the country in the recent years. But
after the rise in fuel prices and global slowdown, this sector came under immense stress. The government cut
the prices of the aviation fuel three times during the months of December and January, bringing down the costs
in the aviation sector drastically. Effectiveness and Future The measures taken by the government in India
were timely and apt. Any other government under such a situation would have reacted in the similar manner.
Certain visible improvements have been observed in the Indian economy after the measures were initiated.
The capital markets have stabilized even though at a lower level. The inflation rate, which had touched the
figure of 12 per cent, has come down to a comfortable level of less than 6 per cent. Despite the projection of 1
to 2 per cent growth rate of the global economy, the Indian economy hopes to post 7 per cent growth during
2008-09, which would be among the highest in the world. It is expected that after the first quarter 2009-10
things would begin to improve and the economy would again be back on the path of rapid development. One
of the classical criticisms of the fiscal and monetary policy measures can be summed up in a proverbial
expression that one can take the horse to water but cannot force it to drink. Government may provide a good
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environment for the investors but the investors may wait for the recession to be over before taking major
investment decisions. In other words, the government may provide the framework of revival but the revival
may actually take longer than expected. Further, the improvements in the global situation, particularly in the
USA, would certainly play a major role to bring the situation back to normal.
Many people feel that the attempts to add liquidity in the economy were too tentative and too less. Rs 40,000
crore is just about one per cent of the GDP of the country.
In a large and diverse economy like ours, this sum may have no significant meaning. It is also believed by
many that the liquidity added by various measures was sucked in by the oil bond operations of the government
and the net impact on the liquidity was virtually negligible. The government has made clear its intention to
encourage the private investment and step up the public expenditure to keep the economy buoyant. Mere
statement of the intention to invest is not sufficient and higher investment must happen quickly and effectively
and the routine delays in the government expenditure must be curbed. Infrastructure and social sector are two
such areas in which the government agencies can push up the investment rate significantly. Programmes like
the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Bharat Nirman, and Sarv Siksha Abhiyan are some of the
programmes having a lot of funds for investment in the rural areas and, if implemented properly, these would
keep the economy vibrant despite the global economic blues. Housing is another important activity in India.
There are many countries in the world that had grown rapidly by supporting their housing activities. With
about 4 per cent increase in population in the cities, half of which is due to large scale migration from the
villages to the cities, housing is going to be a basic need of the people in India. Affordable housing must be
encouraged by the government to counter the situation of economic slowdown. With a huge rural population
base, the policy makers must ensure that the real incomes in the rural areas of the country continue to rise.
With the economy offering a lot of scope for development and growth in the rural areas, increased income
levels in the rural areas would generate demand on sustainable basis. Besides, a large chunk of the Indian
population is still not adversely affected by negative growth of the Indian stock markets. In this way, India is
different from rest of the world.
Mere statement of the intention to invest is not sufficient and higher investment must happen quickly and
effectively and the routine delays in the government expenditure must be curbed. Read more...
Labels: Economy, Money Market
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Article 16 of the Constitution is part of the Fundamental Rights and provides for equality in the matters of
employment in public employment. Many people feel that this Article, instead of equality in these matters,
perpetuates the inequalities and offers a framework of contradiction. The Fundamental Rights should ideally
provide the measures vide which the equality is ensured but the exceptions provided to this right overweigh the
right provided. Article 16 provides that there shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in the matters of
employment or appointment to any office under the State.
This Article also provides that no citizen shall be ineligible for any office or employment under the State on
grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth or any of them. After having stated the above,
several exceptions are also provided for. Place of residence may be laid down by the legislature as a condition
for particular classes of employment or appointment in any State or any local authority. Further, the State may
reserve any post or appointment in favour of any backward class of citizens, who, in the opinion of the State,
are not adequately represented in the services under that State.
In addition, the offices connected with the religious or denominated institutions may be reserved for the
members practicing that particular religion. The most important and controversial exception pertains to the
provisions of Article 16(4) relating to the claims of the members of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe
communities in the matters of appointment to the services and posts under the Union and the States, to be
consistent with efficiency in administration as far as possible (Article 335). The Supreme Court has held that
while the provisions of Article 16(4) are without any limitation upon the power of reservation, yet it has to be
read with the provisions of Article 335 for maintenance of efficiency in administration. The Apex Court also
held that the total reservation under Article 16(4) should not exceed 50 per cent.
Detailed study of the provisions of the Article 16 reveals that while originally this Article aimed at protecting
the rights of common man with regard to equality of opportunity but gradually, due to the need felt by the
government to extend the benefit of reservation to the other backward classes and also the political
considerations, its focus has now shifted to providing the benefit of reservation to the backward classes and the
SC/ST. But one thing has been confirmed that the extension of the benefit cannot be arbitrary. Various
pronouncements of the Supreme Court of India during the past almost six decades have plugged the gaps in the
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provisions of this Article and also provided a standard framework for extending the benefit of reservation in
future to any other categories. The measures that looked to be controversial initially have also been settled by
the judgments of the highest court of law in the country. Read more...
Labels: General, Indian Constitution, Public Awarness
Belly fat reduction by exercise can be achieved slowly and uniformly with fat reduction from other area of
body. It is useless to do only those exercises like Sits-Ups which causes much stress on stomach. This type of
practice may cause harm.
Software called Presto could provide an alternative to waiting. Demonstrated this week at Demo, a tech
conference held in Palm Desert, CA, it joins a handful of products that have emerged recently in an effort to
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get people working on their computers faster. These products, offered by companies including Intel, HP, and
DeviceVM, generally allow a person to boot up in less than 30 seconds, and in some cases less than 10.
When a computer running Presto is first switched on, the user is given the option to load the Windows
operating system or Presto. If she chooses Presto, then the system launches within a few seconds, providing a
task bar and icons for several applications, including a Web browser, an instant-messaging application, and the
Internet phone system Skype. If the user wants to switch to Windows, she needs to log out of Presto and start
up the machine as usual. Presto, which will be made available in beta on March 16 and as a product on April
13 for $19.95, is built by software company Xandros, located in New York, and it's based on a slimmed-down
version of the open-source Linux operating system.
Presto differs from other instant-on products such as DeviceVM's Splashtop in that it doesn't need to be
integrated into the computer's hardware: it can simply be downloaded and installed. This also means that PC
owners can use Presto regardless of the hardware they have. Even old laptops and desktops can be turned into
quick Internet-access points using the software. Xandros also offers an online application store through which
people can download software for Presto, including games, media players, and other tools.
One of the main reasons why modern operating systems take so long to boot is that they are very bulky: a huge
amount of code needs to be read when a computer is first turned on. Consisting of far fewer lines of code than
Windows, Presto needs just a few hundred megabytes of memory, says Jordan Smith, product marketing
manager at Xandros. Microsoft's Vista operating system, in contrast, recommends at least 15 gigabytes of free
disk space to install.
Rahul Sood, chief technologist of HP's Voodoo brand, says that modern operating systems also spend time
establishing connections between hardware and software to help the system run faster when it's being used. But
there is hope that Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system will address this issue and "make a huge
difference," he says.
As Presto is installed on a computer, explains Smith, it inspects the machine, identifying the DVD player and
the network card for instance, to determine what type of hardware it has. "During installation, we figure out
what you have and install only the software that you need," Smith says, instead of software drivers for lots of
different devices. Since many applications now run over the Web, Smith argues that systems like Presto can
perform lots of tasks simply via the browser. "Ninety-five percent of what [users] do is check the Web," he
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says. If a person needs to read a document in an e-mail, Smith adds, he or she can download Open Office, a
free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Word.
"You need the browser and you need a network connection," Smith says. "You don't need the resources for running a first-
person shooter game."
Read more...
Labels: Softwares, Technology, Web Technology
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in its report-2007, brought out the startling figure that fortysix
farmers commit suicide every day in the country, even as packages are being rolled out in a bid to bailout the
debtridden community from crisis. Along with some right thinking and knowledgeable people and the
Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), some practical proposals have been worked out, and if they
are implemented in letter and spirit, the lot of the Indian farmer could improve a good deal. Since
augmentation of income of Indian farmers is the key to ameliorate his ‘hand to mouth’ existence, it is in the
fitness of things that farm produce is given fair price by taking into account the hard labour put in by the
farmer, high cost of inputs, uncertain weather conditions and so on. Enhancing of irrigation facilities and
storing and marketing facilities are the other major issues that need to be addressed. Besides, providing
opportunities for supplementary income by developing dairy, poultry, sheep rearing, piggery, etc, wherever
possible, also needs immediate attention.
Experience, knowledge and ground realities give out a simple and straightforward message to planners and
policy makers. Farmers’ livelihood is beset with umpteen problems and farming is the most risky profession. It
is time for all those who sit in legislatures/Parliament to legislate policies and measures which will ensure that
farmers get fair compensation for their toil and travails. India is predominantly an agriculture-dependent rural
economy. Making plans focused on sitting in accommodating them only in industries is not possible. The best
solution is to develop agriculture sustainability by providing huge resources in the years to come.
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Encouraging rural artisans, and the village and cottage industries as envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi is another
way to help the rural masses to enhance their income. Read more...
Labels: Economy
‘Enough is enough’ was the spontaneous outburst of their angst and anger as caught by the television cameras
covering the horrendous happenings. The messages ‘deliver or disappear’ and ‘perform or perish’ were not lost
on those who were at the helm of affairs, both at the State and Central levels. People may hold different
opinions on the role of television sending out live pictures of the terrible time that both the hostages and people
at large had to suffer, but one thing that came out very candidly was that the country was no longer in a mood
to hear platitudes but was demanding action tangible and credible that could secure their lives anywhere in the
country. The people were shocked to see a handful of terrorists holding the entire country hostage and those
entrusted with the responsibility of keeping the perpetrators at bay, shamed at their utter failure to prevent the
outrage. In such a trying and tormenting situation, like a diligent delivery boy, the medium of television, that is
known more for its live performances, reality shows, soap operas, news and views et al, delivered the most
meaningful message to the ‘corridors of power’. The message had its desired effect on the political class.
Heads began to roll, though not too many. A new more stringent Anti-Terror Law was passed and the National
Intelligence Agency created. Besides, Multi Agency Centre (MAC) was activated so that all loopholes and
communication gaps between various intelligence gathering agencies could be removed. In the tragic events of
26/11 (Mumbai) people discovered the potential of the medium of television, both as a message and a
messenger.
This new found power should be taken a little further. In TV (and to a lesser extent in news papers) the people
of India now have a medium, not mean but monumental, which can not only carry messages far and wide but
can also serve to unite the masses in a common cause. Since we live in a democracy, and know that politicians
are indispensable to democracies, we should evolve an instrumentality to ensure that our politicians comply
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with some minimum levels of propriety, and perform the functions for which they have been elected. Surely
that instrumentality is the medium of TV, the carrier of message for now and future. Read more...
Labels: Media, Politics, Technology
Secret Of Blogging!
For any blog to be success, it needs content. “Content is the king of any blog.” Without content, there are no
links. Content is the foundation of traffic. Everything starts with content. You have no content, you don’t have
a blog. So let’s take a look how to make a creative content.A
Source Of Content
There are many places and ways to get content. I write all the content for this blog myself and if you’re doing a
blog then you should do most of the article like a blog with free articles on it. Many people have asked how to
keep up the level of content generation? It’s really not that hard. This is how I go about it.
The Blog Comments
Much of my content ideas come from blog comments. This article is in answer to requests made in the
comments of the blog. Producing content this way is really the best because you know this is the content your
readers are looking for – you can’t get better targeting than giving the readers what they asked for. Chances
are, this article will lead to future articles as readers comment on it.
If you don’t have a reader base yet, then your method of creating content will have to be based on what niche
your blog covers. When I wake up in the afternoon, I really don’t have an idea on what I’m going to write
about. The first thing I do is read the blog comments, as this is my best source for article ideas. After that, I
surf the list of sites in my bookmarks. This is my second biggest source of article ideas. I also get article ideas
from magazines and newspapers.
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The leader’s most important task is to clarify the overall goals of the organisation. This is what transforms a
mere crowd into a community, a directionless mob into a group with a purpose. A crowd in a fair, for instance,
is joyous, free spirited but selfoccupied. In the same way, a gathering may have individually talented and even
highly motivated people but they will achieve nothing if they lack vision or goal to achieve collectively. The
success of leadership depends on personal characteristics that include experience, imagination, persuasiveness,
farsightedness, and astuteness in interpersonal dealings. The leader will not be able take his/her organisation
very far if he is not able to generate, manage and monitor the use of resources. Most organisations have
resources available, but seldom are they sufficient for everything that everyone wants to do. Resources do not
manage themselves; allocation and monitoring systems have to be established. Budget, timetables, staffing
plans, policies, procedures and priorities need to be set and worked out.
Empowerment and delegation of authority demands astute handling because human material is not like
machines or furniture that can be allocated in a fixed pattern. To select, develop, and share power with
subordinates/associates is an art that is not easy to learn or acquire. Winning trust and loyalty of disparate
persons can be demanding but is necessary for the task of assigning tasks to others. Decision-making and
responsibility need to be dispersed for accomplishing current tasks and preparing others for future leadership.
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Relations within and outside an organisation play an important role and this is yet another essential task for a
leader. Building relations and range of contacts require friendliness, wit, wisdom, negotiation skills, and the
ability to entertain or at least to hold the attention of a wide range of people. A leader also has to be
Enterprising because finding new opportunities and creating desirable change is also his/her task. Every
organisation has certain momentum that imparts it continuity yet, obsolescence is a constant challenge for a
leader. In large organisations this can require a massive refocusing of people and resources. Leaders are
needed at all levels but most people would want to follow rather than lead. Finally, a great leader creates more
leaders. Like Gandhi. Read more...
Labels: Education, General, Management
The next generation of HTML, the markup language that is used to build most Web content, promises to make
Web applications work even better. Some proposed features of this new standard--HTML 5--are already being
built into several popular browsers, offering a glimpse of an application-enabled Web.
As things stand, Web applications are hampered by the code used to build them because they were never
designed to make fullfledged desktop-style programs run. For example, most browsers can only run one piece
of JavaScript code--a scripting language that can run on top of HTML--at any one time, and this limits the
functionality of a Web application. To make matters worse, different browsers react differently to existing
Web standards, leaving developers to struggle to make sure that their application is compatible with different
browsers.
"We started to see a migration to doing more and more stuff on the Web," says Christopher Blizzard, open-
source evangelist for the Mozilla Foundation, which maintains the Firefox browser. Blizzard says that most
browsers simply cannot access data stored offline, or perform complex graphical capabilities without the use of
a plug-in such as Flash or Java. "We're trying to find ways for people to be able to take the live, programmable
documents that make up the Web and start integrating them with all these other pieces outside the scope of the
browser."
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But guided by HTML 5, browsers are finally being reengineered to address many of these problems. hat the
most important part of the effort has been creating specifications to ensure that different browsers perform
more tasks in the same way.
To help browsers handle intensive Web applications, HTML 5 includes a feature called worker threads. These
allow a browser to deal with heavier computation by running JavaScript in the background, while a user goes
on interacting with the application as usual. This part of HTML 5 will be supported in the next release of
Firefox, and a similar technology is already part of the Google Chrome browser. Brian Rakowski, director of
product management for Chrome, says that Google's browser will move toward the technology described in
HTML 5.
HTML 5 will also bring new video and audio capabilities to Web pages. A feature called Canvas--now
supported by every major browser except Internet Explorer--lets developers create HTML graphics that match
those that they would build using Adobe's Flash software. Andreas Bovens, Web evangelist for Opera, says
that "developers are still exploring the richness of Canvas," but he believes that the feature could be used to
create sophisticated games and other graphical applications employing HTML and JavaScript alone.
The new standard also focuses on making Web applications work offline. Google Gears and Adobe AIR
already allow a Web-based application to access local storage and processing on a user's computer, but HTML
5 aims to make offline capability even easier for a browser to use, without requiring additional plug-ins.
Mozilla's Blizzard adds that it's not just about going offline: it's also about allowing a browser to access more
of the user's hardware. For example, he says, standards are starting to emerge for defining how a browser
running on a cell phone should access the location information stored on that device.
All the major browsers--Safari, Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer--have started adopting
parts of HTML 5. But each browser has taken a slightly different approach. Apple's Safari, for example, has
focused on performance, incorporating new features only when they do not harm the browser's overall speed.
The latest version of the Opera browser includes many features of HTML 5, and an experimental version
supports HTML 5's video capabilities. Both Google Chrome and the beta version of Safari support HTML 5's
offline features.
For the features described in HTML 5 to become an official Web standard, they need to be incorporated into
two different browsers. Since they are built on the same framework Safari and Chrome count as one browser in
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this respect. A Web page that uses the feature will then need to work just as well in both browsers. "There's no
way to speed it up," As it may take some time to make progress, since there are so many independent browsers.
Read more...
Labels: HTML 5, Technology, Web Browsers, Web Technology
Along with a few islands of prosperity represented by multiplexes, malls, skyscrapers, and the like, the issues
of under-nourishment of millions across the board and resource-depletion are some of the rigorous realities that
pose serious problems. We have come to such a precarious pass of rapid economic development versus hunger
malnutrition, rich-poor divide and so on as a result of our over-enthusiasm and over confidence on the so-
called visible successes of privatisation.
The resilience and sustainability of the capitalistic economic development based on market-led forces is
already facing a serious global recess, as a consequence of which millions of jobs are going to be lost across
the world. This dismal scenario may further add to the already prevalent high degree of diversity and economic
development process of the Asian societies, which requires revamping of the policy processes to enhance the
economic prosperity and overcome severe constraints in the light of increasing threats of food security and
environmental crisis.
Despite the highly publicized and propagated claims of privatisation having provided enough leverage to
enterprising and innovative entrepreneurs, even now nearly one-fourth of world population has no access to
safe drinking water. There has been a serious threat to agricultural land, air, water, forests and
marine resources that form the basic inputs and resources than can thwart the positive effects of privatisation,
adversely affecting human sustainability. Read more...
Labels: Economy, Money Market
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Twitter users now cover breaking news, posting links to reports, blog posts, and images. Twitter's search box
also reveals what people think of the latest new gadget or movie, letting visitors eavesdrop on often spirited
conversations and some insightful opinions.
Earlier this week, on The Charlie Rose Show, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, was asked directly whether
Google might be interested in acquiring Twitter. He responded, somewhat coyly, that his company was
"unlikely to buy anything right now."
Nonetheless, as Twitter grows in size and substance, it's becoming clear that it offers a unique feed of real-time
conversation and sentiment. Danny Sullivan, editor of the blog Search Engine Land, compares this to the
unique real-time feed of new video content offered by YouTube, which Google acquired in 2006, and says that
Twitter could help improve real-time search. Notably, says Sullivan, this is something that Google isn't
particularly good at. Even by scouring news sites, Google simply can't match the speed and relevancy of social
sites like Digg and Twitter, he says.
Twitter's ability to capture the latest fad is evident from its "trends" feature, which reveals the most talked
about topics among Twitterers. At the time this article was written, Twitter users were discussing topics
including National Napping Day, DST (daylight savings time), and the new movie Watchmen. A quick search
also reveals that five people within the past half hour have posted tweets about last weekend's Saturday Night
Live skit called "The Rock Obama." The most recent tweet includes a link to the video and was posted just
three minutes ago.
Bruce Croft, a professor of computer science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says that Twitter
search could perhaps help make news alerts more relevant. "If you could search or track large numbers of
conversations, then there would be the possibility of developing alerts when something starts happening," he
says. "And, of course, it's yet another opportunity to do massive data mining on people's activities to learn even
more about what they are doing and when they are doing it."
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An upswing in the number of marketers and companies that have joined Twitter over the past year also reflects
big interest in using Twitter to tap into the online trends. Sullivan admits that right now the average Twitter
user isn't turning to the service for the majority of its searches, but he says that marketers who want to track the
sentiment of their brands and products are finding it an indispensable tool. "Is it essential to search Twitter
because you're a brand manager?" asks Sullivan. "Yeah, it's becoming very important." He notes that outside
search engines, such as Google, cannot easily go through Twitter's data because it is not releasing it. "If I were
over at Google, I'd definitely be concerned about that," he says.
Meanwhile, Twitter is clearly thinking about ways to better mine its users' tweets. When you search Twitter, its
search engine looks for keywords in the most recent tweets, explains Biz Stone, one of the company's
cofounders. The results are then ranked based on the time when they were posted; for some popular topics, this
can mean just seconds ago. The search technology used for this was developed at a startup called Summize,
which Twitter acquired last July. Until recently, Twitter users needed to go to the address search.twitter.com to
use the technology: a link was buried at the bottom of a user's homepage. Twitter is now testing a "more
integrated" search box at the top of the page for a small number of users, says Stone.
As simple as it sounds, dealing with the volume of messages posted on Twitter in real time poses a big
challenge, according to Stone. "Our biggest technical challenge right now is not that exciting: it's just scaling
from an operations and engineering standpoint," he says. In other words, engineers have to make sure that the
system doesn't crash under the weight of all the messages that Twitter handles.
Summize was given access to a higher volume of tweets than most third-party developers. In the early days of
Twitter, it wasn't a problem to let developers use such a large volume of tweets, but as the service has grown,
the application programming interface (API) that allows for such access "requires special design and
attention," Stone says. Engineers at Twitter have also been working on a new, more scalable solution. "We'll
need to be thoughtful about how, when, and who we partner with to test this technology when it's ready," he
adds.
When asked whether Twitter and Google could work together to build a real-time search engine, Stone is a bit
more optimistic. "We're huge fans of Google," he says. "And we'd be delighted to partner or work with them in
the future." Read more...
Labels: SEO, Web Technology
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Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com said, “We’ve found that Twitter has been a great way for us to connect on a
more personal level with our employees and customers. We use it to help build our brand, not drive direct
sales. It’d be like asking how does providing a telephone number for customer service translate into new
business when they are mostly non-sales-related calls. In the long term, Twitter helps drive repeat customers
and word of mouth, but we’re not looking to it as a way of driving immediate sales.” Bestselling author David
Meerman Scottsaid, “I have personally connected with hundreds of people I otherwise wouldn’t have, and I
booked an interview on NPR and a big daily newspaper using Twitter.” Read more...
Labels: Blogging Tips, Technology, Twitter
Almost every Friday for the last 7 months we are cheering up that Indian inflation is coming down. Is it really
true? Prices are going up like anything.
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India calculates its official inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) rather than Consumer Price Index
(CPI) based inflation. WPI is never an indication of the inflation simply because the consumers do not buy
from wholesale markets. They buy at retail level. Most economies like US, UK, Japan, France, Singapore, and
China etc. have selected CPI as its official barometer to weigh its inflation. And hold your breath even
Pakistan follows CPI. (And all that while you laughed at high inflation in that country).
But our country, India, is amongst rare countries of the world, which uses WPI as its official scale to measure
the inflation in the economy. Simply because WPI is always lower than CPI, thereby painting a false picture to
the electorate that prices have fallen. So figures of 2.63% as claimed by Indian authorities are untrue. As per
CPI our inflation figures stand at 10.5% in January up from 9.7% in December. Now you can make out the
huge difference between WPI and CPI, 6.5%!
If that is the reason why CPI is being used by Indian authorities? I see two main reasons. Since WPI figures are
always lower than CPI, the innocent public is fooled into believing that prices are coming down and hide the
actual price rise on the pocket of consumer.
WPI index tells us about commodity producers, manufacturers, bulk sellers and market owners. A low WPI is
an indication to them that their selling prices rate is decreasing and gives them all good reasons to raise the
wholesale prices. After all money for elections come from these rich people.
1st Flaw - At least 1,918 quotations should be received for assessing changes in WPI but Indian authorities
invite not more than 1200 quotations. So price information is not even.
2nd Flaw – From 435 commodities in WPI , more than 100 are no more important from consumer point of
view so the price fall in these 100 commodities does not really affect the Indian consumers.
3rd Flaw - There is a huge difference between the provisional and final index figure!! Once in April 12, 2008,
the provisional figure of inflation was 7.33, which were revised as final inflation figure of 7.95 what a healthy
error!!
4th Flaw - WPI measures the general level of price changes at the level of either the wholesaler or at the
producer and does not take into account retail margins. WPI does not reflect the actual price hike, which the
consumer is paying.
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5th Flaw - Service sectors are not duly accounted in WPI. Service sector like health and education are
important as consumers are increasingly spending more money on these items. So if education fee goes up or
Doctor fees goes up, it doesn’t matter to Indian government.
6th Flaw - WPI measures the price changes from the production side and never from the consumption side It is
surely a lop sided viewpoint of consumers.
Besides all these Frauds Indian Authorities will thump their chests at bringing down the Inflation. That’s what
I call 'Shamelessness' Read more...
Labels: Economy, Money Market, Politics, Recession
And if you look back over most of the time we human beings have been on the planet, you realize that it’s in
our nature to be entrepreneurs. In most times, most people created something valuable, then arranged to
exchange that for something else.
The Industrial Revolution came along and we started to think it made sense for most people to work for
somebody else. Just a few people knew how to do very complicated things like run factories.or to run a website
etc., Most of us had to settle for being the faceless masses who could be trained to work in those factories or
for someone else. The shake-up we’re in now could change our lives as profoundly as the Industrial
Revolution did. Every week, thousands of employees are becoming entrepreneurs, whether they wanted to be
or not. A job, once seen as a necessity, might be a pretty scarce resource for awhile. So it might be time to
think about the ancient traits that have helped entrepreneurs since the dawn of history, and how they relate to
the emerging 21st-century economy.
1. Self-Reliance
Back when we moved from farms to factories (and later, to cubicles), once we got a few things like child labor
and worker safety straightened out, a lot of us got into the habit of letting a company take care of us. An 18th-
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century farmer and a prehistoric cave dweller had one thing in common: if they didn’t hustle their asses off,
they starved. There was no benevolent employer who would make sure things turned out OK. Often, things
didn’t turn out OK at all. But you worked hard and you kept your eyes open and you made your own luck.
Today’s version of self-reliance is unimaginable luxury in comparison. You’re highly unlikely to get eaten by
a saber-toothed tiger, if you get appendicitis it probably won’t kill you, and if you need to figure out how to do
something, you can tap into the better part of human knowledge at any public library.
Enjoy the incredible benefits of the 21st century, but don’t lose that ancient human drive to make our own
fates. Keep hustling.
2. Great Ideas
Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom (two wild and crazy guys) argued in Funky Business that Karl Marx
was right. The workers now control the means of production. Because in the emerging economy, the means of
production are between your ears.
Being an entrepreneur isn’t (necessarily) about making physical things any more. The value you can create
now comes from your own wisdom, perceptiveness, style, intelligence, flexibility, and creativity.
Even if you’re making an object, it’s the design and intelligence you put into that object that make it valuable,
not the physical molecules.
In every market, you win by offering people what they want and need. The winners in the new marketplace
will sell information, road maps, digital tools, education, and entertainment—often, all contained within one
product.
These aren’t capital-intensive projects. They don’t require armies of workers to build physical infrastructure,
or legions of slaves to dig plantations or build pyramids. Every entrepreneur is the product of a specific
cultural environment, and the environment we’re in now is information overload. The normal human brain was
never meant to process this much data. Most people are completely overwhelmed by the endless tangle of
information, and it just gets more complex every day. As an information entrepreneur, you can navigate that
roaring river and pluck out just what your customers need, then wrap it in the package that makes it exactly
what they want.
Pay attention, keep learning, and keep evolving. Entrepreneurs have always prevailed by solving problems in
smart new ways. There are more ways to do that today than there have ever been before.
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Now the village is back. If we blow it, customers publicly rap on our window (with social media, blogs or
Twitter) and give us a piece of their mind. Once again, our reputation and our products are one and the same.
What we create doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to show that we give a damn. The inconvenient part
is that the village isn’t stuck with you. If your baguette isn’t great, your customer can FedEx something from
an artisanal bakery.
The cool part, though, is that if you make something handmade (even if it’s delivered in pixels), personal,
and/or magnificently useful, your village can and will find you. Whether you make homespun yarn or an
interactive course on how to start a dog-walking business, your product can find its own profitable village of
happy customers.
But you can! Embrace the entrepreneurship that’s in your DNA. Keep your eyes open for problems to solve
and markets to serve. And buckle up. Like every exciting ride, this one’s got a few hairpin curves.
Read more...
Labels: Economy, Money Market, Recession
Writing sounds easy enough, right? Just slap some words onto a page, spell-check, sense-check, job done.
Piece of cake. Or at least it would be if you didn’t start second guessing yourself. “What was the point I was
trying to make here anyway?” “Is this article working?” “Will anyone read this, or will it slip into spectacular
insignificance?”
And then there’s the big question. Is it good enough? Do you think that Stephen King doesn’t have a bad day
of writing? Does Stephanie Meyer (http://www.stepheniemeyer.com) think every word she writes is peachy
first time round? How about McEwan, Rowling or Kawasaki? Irving, Huffington or Coelho?
Every writer writes rubbish, because writing requires it. It’s part of the process of great writing. The trick then,
is to find ways to keep your confidence going during the times when you can see that you’re in a writing funk.
You might hit writers block at 24%, you might write some killer copy at 68% that you’re insanely proud of,
and you might write a super-stinky paragraph at 82% that you’ll never speak of again. Every word and every
sentence adds to the whole, whether it’s good or not. You need to trust that you can spot the gold along the
way.
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And this is something that google and rest have been vehemently opposed to. because if this project becomes a
success, then google search engine could take a big hit. If (Gazelle) browser can be run like a explorer too,
then people would not have to go anywhere outside the browser... see pics from there, listen to music from
there, watch videos there and surf web pages from there. Reference: Microsoft R&D
Read more...
Labels: Microsoft, Technology, Web Browsers
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The cause? No one can say for sure, but many attribute the cancers to radioactive fallout from U.S. atom bomb
tests in nearby Nevada.Produced by Hower Hughes, he thought the movie was so bad that he bought up every
copy (which cost him about $12 million) and refused to distribute the film. For years thereafter, the only
person who saw it was Hughes himself, who screened it night after night during his paranoid last years, this
until 1974 when Paramount reached a deal with him. This would be the last film that Hughes would produce.
The Twilight Zone - The Movie (1983): A Helicopter Decapitated Three Actors
During the filming of a segment of the 1983 movie The twilight zone producted by Steven Spielberg, actor Vic
Morrow and child actors Myca Dinh Le (age 7) and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (age 6) died in an accident involving
a helicopter being used on the set. The helicopter was flying at an altitude of only 25 feet (8 meters), too low to
avoid the explosions of the pyrotechnics used on set. When the blasts severed the tail rotor, it spun out of
control and crashed, decapitating Morrow and Le with its blades. Chen was crushed to death as the helicopter
crashed. Everyone inside the helicopter survived sustaining minor injuries.
The accident led to legal action against the filmmakers which lasted nearly a decade, and changed the
regulations involving children working on movie sets at night and during special effects-heavy scenes. The
incident also ended the friendship between director Landis and producer Spielberg, who was already angered
before the accident that Landis had violated many codes, including using live ammunition on the set.
But that wasn't the only accident; the set was plagued by numerous accidents even before Lee's death. On the
first day of shooting, February 1, 1993, a carpenter was severely shocked and received serious burns when the
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scissor lift he was driving came into contact with high-voltage power lines. On March 13 heavy storms
destroyed some of the elaborate sets causing delays. Later a prop master discovered a live round in one of the
prop guns and an enraged carpenter drove his car into the studio's plaster shop. Also a worker was injured
when a screwdriver was accidentally driven through his own hand and a stuntman fell through the roof of one
of the sets.
After Lee’s death, a stunt double, Chad Stahelski replaced Lee in some scenes to complete the film. Special
effects were used for digitally compositing Lee’s face onto the double. The original footage featuring Lee’s
actual death is the source of some controversy. Some accounts claim it was destroyed immediately, without
even being developed while others suggest it was later given to Lee’s family. Brandon Lee was buried beside
his father. Read more...
Labels: Disaster, Entertainment, Movie
NOTE: our reader Chris comments: "I think it is notable for the list that Diesel's stuntman had already done the
stunt successfully before he was killed. He felt that it wasn't good enough, that he hadn't got close enough to
the bridge(for suspense purposes) and asked the director if he could do it again. It was during this second take
that he was killed. I believe, as a side note, that his family had arrived in Prague just before the accident to
watch his stunt and were present during his death."
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Ocean, off the southern California coast near Carlsbad on September 16, 1985. Neither Scholl nor his aircraft
were recovered, leaving the official cause of the accident unknown.
Suddenly, he saw a car coming towards him. It slowed and then stops next to him. Without thinking the guy
opened the door and jumps in. Seated in the back, he leaned forward to thank the person who had saved him.
He realizes there is nobody behind the wheel!
Even though there's no one in the front seat and no sound of any engine, the car starts moving slowly. The guy
looks at the road ahead and sees a curve coming. Scared almost to death he starts to pray, begging the Lord for
his life.
He hasn't come out of shock, when just before he hits the curve, a hand appears through the window and
moves the wheel! The car makes the curve safely and continues on the road to the next bend. The guy, now
paralyzed in terror, watches how the hand appears every time they are before a curve and moves the steering
wheel just enough to get the car around each bend.
Finally, the guy sees lights ahead. Gathering his courage he wrenches open the door of the silent, slowly
moving car, scrambles out and runs as hard as he can towards the lights. It's a small town. He stumbles into a
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dhaba, and asks for a drink, and breaks down. Then he starts talking about the horrible experience he's just
been through.
There is dead silence in the dhaba when he stops talking And that's when Santa and Banta Singh walk into the
dhaba, Santa points and says, "Look Banta, that's the weird guy who got into our car when we were pushing it"
Read more...
Labels: Fun Zone, Story
frozen to the wall for exterior design came unstuck as the set was being torn down, falling and crushing
Ritchie. The film kept going, eventually receiving widespread criticism and poor reviews from critics.
Troy (2004): hurricanes, a broken leg, and ironically, Brad Pitt's achilles tendon
What could go wrong in a gazillion-dollar epic production starring Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom and Diane
Kruger? Ironically, during the filming of Troy, Brad Pitt who played Achilles had a mishap during the
production and tore his left achilles tendon. But the worst was yet to come when George Camilleri, a keen
bodybuilder, broke his leg while filming an action sequence at Ghajn Tuffieha. He was operated on the
following day but suffered complications and died 2 weeks later. In addition to that, while filming in Cabo,
Baja California Sur, Mexico, the production had to deal with two hurricanes in less than a month; the last
hurricane came the last week of production, when everything was pretty much wrapped. Despite all of that, the
movie kept going and was finally a box-office hit. Read more...
Labels: Disaster, Entertainment, Movie
After the customer left, the manager said 'You have saved your position by being clever enough at the right
time. Where do you come from?' To this the boy said, 'I come from Mexico. The place consists of only
prostitutes and football players!'
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As per the latest estimates of the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the growth rate of the Indian economy
during 2008-09 is expected to be around 7.1 per cent, as against the earlier expectations of 8 per cent. Not only
this, it has now been estimated that India’s growth rate during the financial year ending March 2010 would
moderate further to 5.5 per cent, which would be lowest during the past several years.
As direct fallout of the ongoing global recession, rapidly increasing unemployment rate has been a major cause
of concern. In USA, the unemployment rate has gone up to 8.7 per cent and the same in Japan has also been
the highest in the recent times. China has reported 20 million job losses. In India this figure is officially
estimated to be about 5 lakh during the quarter ending December 2008. Loss of jobs in the unorganized sector
due to reduced economic activity is going to be much higher and beyond estimation.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) maintains that the employment rate in India and other South Asian
nations may by lower than the world average, due to their lesser exposure to the Ameri-can economy and the
financial markets. Further, relatively larger rural base in India is a positive and strong factor in combating the
ill effects of global recession. It is perhaps for the first time after the onset of the process of reforms that the
Indian government has realized the importance of the rural economy to tide over the difficult economic
situation. Read more...
Labels: Economy, Recession, Rural Economy
He then goes on to recite the complete poem in Hindi, and to peals of laughter, tries to translate it in English.
The Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, is seen covering his mouth as he tries to suppress his laughter at
Yadav's inimitable attempts to translate the poem into English. Yadav says, "Everybody is appreciating, ki I
have done a tremendous work. Each and every year, I have earned crores and crores every day. And they are
saying, Lalu has planted a fruit tree, and every year, it is duty of my, to grow fruit tree." To much mirth in the
House, Chatterjee quips, "After this, the railways will not face any problems."
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He is great for having termendous power to put their view in simpler way to make people undestand. What
ever happened in past is now history. Mr.Lalu Prasad Yadav has shown his calibre and his abilities and worth
by doing what no other RAILWAYS MINISTER could not even think of doing in the past. And on top of that,
his style and approach has attracted people across the globe. Hats off to him.... Read more...
Labels: Fun Zone
Albert Gray said it best, "The common denominator of success - the secret of success of every person who has
been successful - lies in the fact that they formed the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do."
Gray "nailed" it! Why?
Because self discipline affects so many facets of your life. It affects your ability to reach your goals; it affects
your personal health, your time management, your ability to manage your finances and even your character.
Brian Tracy is one of America's leading authorities on the development of human potential. He speaks to over
250,000 people a year, and is also a best-selling author who has written 25 books. I'm honored that Brian has
written a book for Simple Truths titled: The Power of Discipline.. .7 Ways It Can Change Your Life. Today,
I'd like to share a brief excerpt from Brian's chapter on Self Discipline and Goals.
It seems that only 3% of adults have written goals and plans, and they earn more than the other 97% put
together. Why is this? The simplest answer is that, if you have a clear goal and a plan to achieve it, your focus
is fixed on a set course of action. Instead of becoming sidetracked by distractions and diversions, your time is
focused on a straight line from start to finish. This is why people with goals accomplish so much more than
people without them.
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The tragedy is that everyone thinks they already have goals. But what they really have are hopes and wishes. A
wish has been defined as a "goal with no energy behind it." Hope is not a strategy. Goals that are not written
down and developed into plans are like bullets without powder in the cartridge. People with unwritten goals go
through life shooting blanks. Because they think they already have goals, they never engage in the hard,
disciplined effort of goal setting, the master skill of success.
USA Today reported on a study a couple of years ago. First, researchers selected people who made New Year's
resolutions. Then they divided these people into two categories: those who made New Year's resolutions and
wrote them down, and those who made New Year's resolutions, but neglected to write them down.
Twelve months later, they followed up on the respondents in this study. What they found was astonishing! Of
the people who made New Year's resolutions but neglected to write them down, only 4% actually followed
through on their resolutions.
However, among the group that took a few minutes to record their New Year's resolutions, 44% followed
through on them. This difference of more than 1100% proves the simple act of crystallizing resolutions or
goals on paper increases likelihood of success.
In my experience of moving with several million people over the past few years, the disciplined act of setting
goals, making plans for their accomplishments, and then working on them daily, increases the likelihood of
achieving your goals by ten times, or 1000%.
This does not mean that goal setting guarantees success, only that it increases the probabilities of success by
ten times. These are very good odds to have working in your favor.
Read more...
Labels: General Tips, Health
The research team says trials of the prototype lab—constructed heart have been successful on small animals
and the gadget is being perfected on goats. The institute has applied for permission to conduct human trials.
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The Total Artificial Heart (TAH) — said to be the first such in the country — has been developed by a team of
scientists at IIT-Kgp's school of medical science and technology.
After four years of painstaking research, the scientists say their creation is better and far more affordable than
the first artificial heart developed in the US, which showed a ``high rate failure'' and at Rs 30 lakh, beyond the
reach of the common man.
The inventors hope to fit the heart into an ailing patient within a few months, once permissions from the Indian
Council of Medical Research come through. The unique 13—chamber heart is working fine in small animals,
said a member of the team. Human tests are to be conducted at Medical College and Hospital (MCH), Kolkata.
Senior cardiac surgeons — Madhusudan Pal, Bhaskar Ukil, Tarun Saha and Kalishankar Das from MCH and
Rajiv Narang of AIIMS, Delhi — will conduct the human trials.
``We are also in touch with P Venugopal, former AIIMS director and one of the leading cardiac surgeons of
the country. We expect him to be part of the team as well,'' said Sujoy Guha, IIT-Kgp faculty member and bio-
medical engineering expert, who is leading the artificial-heart team.
``The TAH will be of great help to patients whose heart muscles have become so weak that they need
immediate transplantation. Angioplasty, stents and even bypass surgery are of no use for such patients because
they cannot strengthen muscles. It is difficult to find donor organs and even if transplantation is done, the body
develops auto rejection and severe medication is required to suppress immune reactions," said Guha.
``TAH will be a life-saver, for the price of a Tata Nano,'' said one of the scientists. ``Bengal may have lost the
Nano, but the world cannot miss this Rs 1-lakh invention.'' Source
Labels: Health, Technology
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To give it a cool interior, the autorickshaw has tinted windshield. Some other cosmetic changes include
changing the shape of the mudguard. A neon bulb has been fitted under the chasis to give variegated feel
during movement.
"The paint job was difficult because I changed it thrice to get the 'gold computer metallic' colour, I spent more
than a Rs one lakh for the modifications which include Rs 30,000 for video and amplifier, Rs 20,000 for
special cushion, Rs 10,000 for nickel plating and painting. The rest I spent for special MRF tyres, a Sumo
battery and fluorescent stickers,"*
Interestingly, Abu had installed an automatic device in his vehicle, which can be operated to open the petrol
tank at the back eliminating the need for the driver to get down and go back. Abu's autorickshaw forms part of
the fleet at the Annai Therasa Auto Stand at Shanthi Colony in Ashok Nagar locality.What more, Abu does not
charge any extra fare from the passengers for the ride. The passengers could ask for any movie or a song of
their choice during their journey.
"I play only original CDs to my passengers," he said adding "I always take minimum 50 CDs, which include
movies and songs from different Tamil cinemas", he said adding "To satisfy non-locals, I carry some of Hindi
and English songs too. I drive the auto only in the evenings and most of my customers call me to their door
steps."*
Abu, who had already modified three vehicles, is busy attending to new customers, not the passengers, but
those who want to modify there autos in similar fashion. His creativity has not gone unnoticed with Abu being
flooded with enquiries to churn up more luxury autrickshaws.
"It is painstaking job. It takes minimum three to four months to do the modification job,"*
Abu is planning to set up a big unit in future to undertake such modification works.
*Backer told PTI.
Read more...
Labels: Chennai, Creativity, Technology
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Its manufacturer says it is easy to keep and run since it uses normal unleaded fuel and will fit into a garage.
Carl Dietrich, who runs the Massachusetts-based Terrafugia, said: “This is the first really integrated design
where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle.”
The Transition, developed by former Nasa engineers, is powered by the same 100bhp engine on the ground
and in the air. Terrafugia claims it will be able to fly up to 500 miles on a single tank of petrol at a cruising
speed of 115mph. Up to now, however, it has been tested only on roads at up to 90mph.
Dietrich said he had already received 40 orders, despite an expected retail price of $200,000 (£132,000). “For
an airplane that’s very reasonable, but for a car that’s very much at the high end,” he conceded.
There are still one or two drawbacks. Getting insurance may be a little tricky and finding somewhere to take
off may not be straightforward: the only place in the US in which it is legal to take off from a road is Alaska.
Dietrich is optimistic. He said: “In the long term we have the potential to make air travel practical for
individuals at a price that would meet or beat driving, with huge time savings. Read more...
Labels: New Launch, Technology
Bharat Nirman
Another gigantic rural development programme is Bharat Nirman, which aims at huge public expenditure in
the rural infrastructure. It has six components, including rural roads, rural telecommunication, irrigation,
drinking water supply, rural housing and rural electrification. As per the Finance Minister, the allocation to this
programme was increased by 261 per cent during the period between 2005-09. A provision of Rs 40,900 crore
has been kept in the interim budget, 2009 for this programme. I
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13,100 crore has been allocated for Sarv Siksha Abhiyan, most of which is to be spent in the rural areas. Mid-
day meal programme, which is also termed as the largest school feeding programme of the world, has been
allocated a sum of Rs 8,000 crore. To further supplement the efforts of nutrition to the rural students, another
provision of Rs 6,705 crore has been made under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), under
which the pre-school children and the lactating mothers are provided nutrition and healthcare under
Anganwaris. Another important scheme with rural focus is Rajiv Gandhi Rural Drinking Water Mission, which
aims at providing drinking water supply to the villages not covered by tap water supply. A sum of Rs 7,400
crore has been provided for this scheme for the financial year 2009- 10. Rural sanitation is also an ongoing
programme for which Rs 1,200 crore provision has been kept. NRHM, which is a healthcare programme for
the rural areas, has been provided with a hefty provision of Rs 12,070 crore.
More than 72 million Kisan Credit Cards are in use in the rural areas of the country, which number almost
matches the number of Credit Cards under use in the urban areas.Read more...
Labels: Economy, Interim Budget, Recession, Rural Economy
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If you are rich enough you can bring them on your own private jet. Another trick is to have your animal
certified as a “service animal,” (you can even do this online http://www.goldstar-
germanshepherds.com/certification_licensing.html) and I hear you can then take them just about anywhere. It’s
a loophole that is sure to be plugged once too many people take advantage of it.
Enter Pet Airwayshttp://www.petairways.com/, a new startup launching next month that flies pets and only
pets: “With Pet Airways your pet will be safe and comfortable, flying in the main cabin, not in cargo. From
check-in at our Pet Lounge, and throughout the flight, our Pet Attendants will be caring and catering to all
your pet’s needs. You can even monitor how your pet is doing.” Fees start at $150. Sadly, only your pet can
fly, not you (they won’t even put you in the cargo area of the plane).
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acquaintances, so to some extent I follow along those paths. Naturally, the popular services are usually popular
for good reasons. Regretfully, I could not find space to describe some great resources, programs, and services
that have not yet gained widespread usage. I left out one blog program that I use and love, because I concluded
that its features would not serve readers enough to justify many posts of description.
As for creating a blog, despite the millions who have already started one, millions more don’t know where to
begin. They hear that it’s easy, but nothing is easy without a nudge in the right direction.
Note that a blog is a Web site, not an entry on that Web site. Some new bloggers say, “I wrote five blogs
today.” Actually they wrote five entries in their blog. So, what distinguishes a Weblog from other sites?
Weblogs have a certain type of software running in the background. This answer might seem obscure, but that
software is the hidden key to blogs. In fact, blog software is so useful that it has spawned the blogging
revolution with its millions of new sites. So what is this powerhouse that lies behind blogs, and how does it
make blogs different from other sites?
Here is the crucial power of blogs: They make it easy to frequently add content to a Web site. Blog programs
and ready-to-use blogging services cut out the laborious and technical traditional process of building a Web
site and adding pages to it. Consider what a site owner needed to do before blogs were available:
1. To create a single Web page, a site owner had to gain some familiarity with HTML (hypertext
markup language, the underlying code of all Web sites). The choice was to write out the code
by hand (fairly difficult) or use software that made page-creation a little more intuitive. Design
skills were needed and the software could be expensive. Ready-made templates eased the pain
somewhat, but building a single page the old way was never as easy as blogging.
2. After creating a single-page, old-style site, the owner had to get it up on the Web. Usually, this
meant using an internet system called FTP (file transfer protocol), which is somewhat like the
My Computer program in Windows but operates across the space between two computers.
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Please Note: I am using the past tense here. But the fact remains that most sites today are not blogs, and their
owners still go through the old pagecreation and FTP processes to update them. I don’t want to imply that
those methods are obsolete. But I do want to emphasize that the HTML and FTP system is like lifting weights
compared to the ease of blogging, which can be likened to lying in a hammock. Escaping the arduous manual
update system is one major reason blogging has taken off.
Thus, creating a nonblog Web site is hard, and the difficulties discourage frequent updates. Blogging is easy,
and blogging software encourages frequent site updates. Creating a blog page doesn’t need to be any harder
than writing and sending an e-mail or posting a message to an online discussion forum. In fact, these three
tasks — blogging, e-mailing, and posting a message — follow the same basic three steps:
1. Go to a Compose screen.
2. Type something brilliant (or not).
3. Click a Send (or Post) button.
So far what ever i said is what a blog is technically, but on a more practical way, How do people use a blog?
This is where you find a definition of blogs and blogging that you can talk about with friends or at a party,
without appearing geekish. Of course, if you are a geek, there’s nothing wrong with appearing so.
Blogging software encourages frequent updating of the Web site. And frequent, easy updates result in the
following typical blog characteristics:
Fresh content on the site: Many bloggers update their content every day or several times during the day. Even
weekly updates result in a fresher Web site than most nonblog personal sites.
Personal content: When given the opportunity to self-publish on a daily basis, most people reach into their
own lives for content (like how i am writing about my college, friends, my outings, etc.,). Many blogs are like
personal, public diaries.
Newsy content: Other bloggers take a less personal approach, keying their updated content to news items or
pages on other sites. These blogs can still have a personal slant, especially if the blogger offers comments on
the news or outside pages. These commentary blogs typically use lots of links to those other pages so visitors
can see the source material as well as the commentary.
Many types of blogs have been created, with many unimagined types to come. Weblogs have no official
categories or designations. And you might think that blogs are always solo efforts. They usually are, but there
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are notable group blogs, such as the famous BoingBoing (www.boing boing.net) and The Huffington Post
(www.huffingtonpost.com). Teamwork can ease the grind of frequently updating the blog. But blogging lends
itself to individual publication and self-expression. Most blogs are run by individuals (bench3) and, to some
extent, are about their owners.
Blogging is throwing the Internet forward and backward at the same time. Forward into a new era of consumer
empowerment, and backward to the grass-roots spirit of the early Web. Read more...
Labels: Blogging Tips, Web Design
Related Topic:
How To Write A Blog In 20 Min
Choosing The Best Keywords For Your Website
Blogging Tips
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and
stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without
stopping continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and
started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid
stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his
head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced
them to move on.
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In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him
money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took
over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of
the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Few days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average
$100. This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington
Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a
commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do
we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen
to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we
missing? Think ALL of You. Because most of the time WE DO NOT even listen to the music in our heart and
the HARMONY in others Souls. Read more...
Labels: Entertainment, General, United States
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4. Dress well
Even if you're going for a drive down by the beach to get some coffee, make sure that you wear something
attractive. Most importantly however, ensure that you dress comfortably. The last thing you want to be doing is
fidgeting.
8. Share stories
Share stories about what you've been up to for the past few years. Remember: If you don't sound very
interested in what you're saying, most people will probably feel the same way. Speak with conviction and
passion!
9. Use humor
She's not going on a date with you to get all serious like it's a job interview. However, if you steer the first date
that way, she will likely follow and not enjoy herself.
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Main reasons for such immunity are stated to be higher percentage of total expenditure on food items and the
fact that majority of the population is involved in self-employment occupations, having no fear of loss of jobs.
The telecom sector has witnessed a rapid growth in the villages and small towns. The total telecom subscriber
base for India grew from 70.83 million in the first quarter of 2008 to 90.98 million in the second quarter. Out
of this growth 71 per cent rise in this sector came from the rural India, while the urban areas accounted for the
remaining 29 per cent growth. The study also brings out that more than 72 million Kisan Credit Cards are in
use in the rural areas of the country, which number almost matches the number of Credit Cards under use in
the urban areas. During 2008, larger part of growth of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) came from rural
and sub-urban markets. Majority of the people in the rural areas do not invest in stock markets and park their
savings in low risk portfolios like post office/bank savings or fixed deposits. The government of India was
quick to realize this and immediately after the recession began to show its impact began to direct its economic
policies towards the rural sector. Fortunately for the country, at the critical juncture when the great recession
knocked at the doors of Indian economy, several government sponsored programmers involving huge public
expenditure in the rural areas were already being implemented. Labels: Economy, Recession, Rural Economy
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hear the truth even if we know what the truth is. It’s so hard to hear it like it is from even the doctor or the
lawyer. But strangely, I’ve found that it is easier to tell children the truth - they take it so much more in good
spirit that adults dont... Especially these days, with people sick to death of being lied to and betrayed. But if
people reject what you say, truth or not, you’re back where you started.
Nobody likes the truth no matter how you try to gently give it to them. But then if you lie they get just as mad
so you can;t really win. It is best to be truthful, if you start by telling lies, then you have more lies to cover up
the initial lie and before you know it you are so confused you forget what you are lying about. I would prefer it
if people told the truth to me, then I know where I stand and we would be on equal footing. Unfortunatly the
world doesn’t work like that and it is down to us to work out what is the truth and what are lies. Some people
though would deny the truth until they are blue in the face. I don’t know what you could do in that situation.
At the damnedest times, Truth will rear up...
If we’re smart, we love it.
If we’re brave, we embrace it.
If we’re wise, we own it.
Now, who you are?
Read more...
Labels: General
How many of you know for sure that the seemingly ordinary mirror ( in bathrooms, hotel rooms, changing
rooms) hanging on the wall is a real mirror, or actually a 2-way mirror i.e., they can see you, but you can't see
them? There have been many cases of people installing 2-way mirrors and It is very difficult to positively
identify the surface by just looking at it. So, how do we determine with any amount of certainty what type of
mirror we are looking at?
Simple Test:Place the tip of your fingernail against the reflective surface and if there is a GAP between your
fingernail and the image of the nail, then it is a Genuine mirror. However, if your fingernail DIRECTLY
TOUCHES the image of your nail, then beware, it is a two-way mirror! (there is someone seeing you from the
other side). So remember, every time you see a mirror, do the "fingernail test." It doesn't cost you anything. It
is simple to do This is a really good thing to do. The reason there is a gap on a real mirror, is because the silver
is on the back of the mirror UNDER the glass. Whereas with a two-way mirror,the silver is on the surface.
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Keep it in mind! Make sure and check every time you enter in hotel rooms. May be someone is making a film
on you. Read more...
Labels: General Tips, Public Awarness
First, the IPL, in which eight city-based “franchises” play a shortened and fast-paced form of cricket, is an
emblem of Indian aspirations. Its franchises are owned by some of the country’s best-known billionaires.
Several are co-owned by Bollywood stars. With huge salaries on offer, foreign cricketers have flocked to the
IPL. Second blow is that this marvel is being taken away from India because of its democratic system—which
Indians should feel proud of but often do not. The IPL, which is spread over six weeks, would have coincided
with India’s general election, and, after long debates with state governments and the cricket board, the central
government decided it could not be adequately policed.
To make matters worse, there is a suspicion that electoral politics played a part. The Congress party, whose
home minister made the decision, has less influence on India’s rich and powerful cricket board than some of its
rivals. The franchise owners are said to be livid. Having mostly lost money in the inaugural season, they were
expecting profits this year. The extra cost of sending teams abroad makes this less likely. The damage to the
IPL brand, could be costlier. Read more...
I wish we’d outsourced the election to South Africa and kept the IPL. - Suhel Seth, a branding guru.
Labels: Cricket, Politics, Sports
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nations have marched onto the global stage in recent years, spooking the rich world’s established
multinationals with innovative products and bold acquisitions. The Nano is a symbol of the ambition of these
emerging giants. But much has changed since Tata Motors first took the wraps off the tiny car in January 2008.
The financial crisis, collapsing stockmarkets and plunging commodity prices have hit companies in rich and
poor countries alike. Tata Motors, which bought Jaguar Land Rover, a British premium carmaker, from Ford
last year for $2.3 billion, now faces the difficulty of refinancing its debt, and was downgraded this week by
Standard & Poor’s. Does this mean that the threat to established giants from emerging-market giants has
receded? Far from it. The crisis has strengthened the relative position of the emerging giants, for several
reasons.
1. First, as companies and consumers around the world cut costs and trade down, the emerging giants’ low-
cost production models, based on cheap local labour, provide even more of an advantage.
2. Even though growth in developing countries has slowed, it has not vanished altogether, so the emerging
giants can fall back on their domestic markets. Car sales have collapsed in the rich world, for example, but
are still growing in many developing countries: they are expected to increase by 10% this year in China, for
instance.
3. Many rich-country multinationals have become much more inward-looking as they struggle to cope with
the recession, and are less able to invest to defend their market positions, providing opportunities for
disruptive new entrants.
Again, a good example is that of carmaking, where the convulsions of the established giants, and the switch to
greener technologies, give newcomers an opening. Ratan Tata, the boss of the Tata Group, spoke this week of
his ambitions to sell the Nano not just in Europe, starting in 2011, but eventually in America, too.
There are, of course, weak points among emerging-market giants. Some, including Tata Motors, overextended
themselves when commodity prices were high and credit was easy to come by. Cemex, the world’s third-
largest cement firm, is selling assets around the world as it struggles to meet its debt repayments.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, which grew into a global giant from its roots in Indonesia,
Trinidad and Mexico, launched a $1.5 billion convertible-bond issue this week to refinance some of its debt.
But plenty of rich-world multinationals made the same mistakes and face similar problems, or worse.
The emerging giants of the developing world are still a rising force during the good times. The launch of the
Nano serves to remind rich-world bosses that they still need to keep an eye on their rear-view mirrors.
Read more... Also Read: An Artificial Heart For $2000 (Rs 1 Lakh)
Labels: Automobile, New Launch, Technology
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