Saturday, July 28, 2007

Andhra cops firing 8 killed

The Left parties' agitation seeking land for the poor in Andhra Pradesh took a violent turn on Saturday as at least eight activists were killed in police firing on protestors in Khammam district.
CNN-IBN has more of it here
NDTV says more may be injured here
Eenadu report (in telugu) here

Maxed out movie

Maxed Out takes viewers on a journey deep inside the American style of debt, where things seem fine as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. An excellent movie to learn about the credit card system in the US. must see for everyone who has acredit card. Your credit score is very important try to maintain it as high as possible It is going to get tougher and tougher to get credit in the coming months because of the mess of subprime lending , according to the wall street journal. A little bit lenghty movie but worth it. If you are not able to view the video below click here

Friday, July 27, 2007

The mysterious birth of a mule foal!

A mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey. The horse has 64 and the donkey 62 chromosomes but the mule has an odd number i.e 63 chromosomes and hence all mules are sterile by birth. But recently kate a mule in colburn colorado gave birth to a mule foal. which is befuddling scientists. NPR has a podcast do listen to it to know more.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Darjeeling Limited trailer!

THE DARJEELING LIMITED is an emotional comedy about three brothers and their family bonds. The eldest, played by Wilson, hopes to reconnect with his two younger siblings by taking them on a train trip across the vibrant and sensual landscape of India. Here is the trailer


Disabled athlete may be too fast for his own good

The Hindu has a stirring news story on Oscar Pitrius who hopes to run in the beijing olympics with his artificial legs. Here is an excerpt


It is something, isn’t it, that the most contentious argument in athletics this year concerns the speed of a runner who has no legs.

Oscar Pistorius is 20, brave and, perhaps, too fast for his own good. He is a double amputee, who runs on carbon fibre feet, and wants to run in Beijing. Not in the Paralympics where he is already a gold medallist. But in the Olympics. Like any other man.

But not everyone is convinced he should run in the Olympics, against able-bodied athletes, because they feel he is ‘not’ any other man, but an athlete whose prosthetics give him a technological advantage


Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Red crab invasion

Wow this is spoooky.!!

Shocking strategy for the second test.

After just escaping defeat by the grace of the rain gods in the first test. The Indian think tank has assembled in a secret location and have been strategizing about the second test. And they have come up with some path breaking innovative ideas to bamboozle the England players. Since then the Indian cricket team has been practising only indoors and the strategy has not yet been revealed to the general public. Vijayanand Kumar Laxminarayana IyeNGar (VKLING for short) our staff report has obtained some exclusive photos from inside the practise halls and he was stunned from what he found. Here are the photos he obtained


Thats right people Sachin Tendulkar and rahul Dravid will bat left handed in the next test!!! and we also have a new weapon in our bowling arsenal Mahendra Singh Dhoni!!!.





Saurav Ganguly not wanting to be left out wanted to try batting right handed but got himself injured in the process. Dont miss the second test catch it live here and thanks to VKLING for the excellent photos.

Rajiv Gandhi Bofors coverup

In a new book by former RAW chief B. Raman "The Kaoboys of R&AW". He alleges that Rajiv Gandhi ordered a coverup of the Bofors scandal. CNN-IBN has this report.

Rediff has another report on the same book in which he says that RSS wanted to setup anti-terrorist cells in Jammu and Kashmir


Raman writes in his book, 'In a potentially controversial move, Vinod Pandey (Cabinet Secretary in the 1989 V P Singh government) wanted R&AW to organise clandestine arms training for the cadres of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in the Jammu area so that they could be used for countering the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists.'
UPDATE: Rediff has a new article today based on the same book by B. Raman (is is going to be one heluva book) In this he says CIA acted alon with ISI to stoke the khalistani movement.
Jagjit Singh Chauhan, a Sikh leader from Punjab, went to the UK and took over the leadership of the defunct Sikh Home Rule movement and renamed it after Khalistan.The then Pakistani military ruler Yahya Khan invited Chauhan to Pakistan, "lionised" him as a leader of Sikhs and handed over some Sikh holy relics kept in Pakistan, which Chauhan took to the UK to win a following in the Sikh diaspora.


10 simple ways to buid your self confidence

John Wessley at pickthebrain.com has an article on how to improve your self confidence instantly. Go there to read the complete article I have listed his main points below.

1. Dress Sharp
2. Walk Faster
3. Good Posture
4. Personal Commercial

"One of the best ways to build confidence is listening to a motivational speech. Unfortunately, opportunities to listen to a great speaker are few and far between. You can fill this need by creating a personal commercial. Write a 30-60 second speech that highlights your strengths and goals. Then recite it in front of the mirror aloud (or inside your head if you prefer) whenever you need a confidence boost."

5. Gratitude

"When you focus too much on what you want, the mind creates reasons why you can’t have it. This leads you to dwell on your weaknesses. The best way to avoid this is consciously focusing on gratitude. Set aside time each day to mentally list everything you have to be grateful for."


6. Compliment other people
7. Sit in the front
8. Speak up
9. Work out
10. Focus on contribution

"Too often we get caught up in our own desires. We focus too much on ourselves and not enough on the needs of other people. If you stop thinking about yourself and concentrate on the contribution you’re making to the rest of the world, you won’t worry as much about you own flaws. This will increase self confidence and allow you to contribute with maximum efficiency. "

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

36 ways to spot a desi

I got this funny email. some of them are so true, how many apply to you?
1. Everything you eat is savored in garlic, onion and tomatoes.
2. You try and reuse gift wrappers, gift boxes, and of course aluminum foil
3. You are Always standing next to the two largest size suitcases at the Airport.
4. You arrive one or two hours late to a party - and think it's normal.
5. You peel the stamps off letters that the Postal Service missed to stamp
6. You recycle Wedding Gifts , Birthday Gifts and Anniversary Gifts
7. You name your children in rhythms (example, Sita & Gita, Ram & Shyam, Kamini & Shamini.) 8. All your children have pet names, which sound nowhere close to their real names.
9. You take Indian snacks anywhere it says "No Food Allowed"
10. You talk for an hour at the front door when leaving someone's house.
11. You load up the family car with as many people as possible.
12. You use plastic to cover anything new in your house whether it's the remote control, VCR, carpet or new couch.
13. Your parents tell you not to care what your friends think, but they won't let you do certain
things because of what the other "Uncles and Aunties" will think.
14. You buy and display crockery, which is never used, as it is for special occasions, which never happen.
15. You have a vinyl tablecloth on your kitchen table.
16. You use grocery bags to hold garbage.
17. You keep leftover food in your fridge in as many numbers of bowls as possible.
18. Your kitchen shelf is full of jars, varieties of bowls and plastic utensils (got free with purchase of other stuff )
19. You carry a stash of your own food whenever you travel (and travel means any car ride longer than 15 minutes).
20. You own a rice cooker or a pressure cooker.
21. You fight over who pays the dinner bill.
22. You live with your parents and you are 40 years old. ( And they prefer it that way).
23. You don't use measuring cups when cooking.
24. You never learnt how to stand in a queue.
25. You can only travel if there are 5 persons at least to see you off or receive you whether you are traveling by bus, train or plane.
26. If she is NOT your daughter, you always take interest in knowing whose daughter has run with whose son and feel proud to spread it at the velocity of more than the speed of light.
27. You only make long distance calls after 11 p.m.
28. If you don't live at home, when your parents call, they ask if you've eaten, even if it's midnight .
29. You call an older person you never met before Uncle or Aunty."
30. When your parents meet strangers and talk for a few minutes, you discover you're talking to a distant cousin.
31. Your parents don't realize phone connections to foreign countries have improved in the last two decades, and still scream at the top of their lungs when making foreign calls.
32. You have bed sheets on your sofas so as to keep them from getting dirty.
33. It's embarrassing if your wedding has less than 600 people.
34. All your Tupperware is stained with food color.
35. You have drinking glasses made of steel.
36. You have mastered the art of bargaining in shopping.

Girl passes IIT entrance, loses seat for money

This is sad. she got good marks and also cleared the IIT JEE but wasnt able to get the seat because her father could not pay the Rs. 40,000 entrance fee. It is very difficult for lower middle class and poor families children to get admitted into IIT first of all there is no money for all the tuitions, coaching classes etc which have become essential for IIT nowadays, and now even if they pass the exam they are damned because of the tuition fees. But why didnt any bank come forward to help that poor girl?

Stonehenge mystery solved?

Stonehenge is considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.(Do you know how many of them are still existing today click here for more info on seven wonders) It is a big puzzle how these huge stones were erected with primitive tools available at that time. well a michigan man has devised a method which might have been used to build these gigantic structures. And the tool they used to do this pebbles and sticks!!!. (also click here to see another engineering marvel)


Monday, July 23, 2007

Andhra CM abuses Chandrababu Naidu in Assembly!

CNN-IBN has a news report that says YSR used unparliamentary language in the assembly.



The Andhra Pradesh Assembly hit a new low today, when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy hurled verbal abuses at Opposition Leader Chandrababu Naidu in full public view.


YSR insulted Naidu's lineage, after the latter accused the Congress-led government of favouring a BJP-MLC in awarding mining contracts. Reddy was trying to make a statement when TDP members started shouting, interrupting him mid-way.


Reddy blew up in anger and used un-parliamentary language against Naidu. “I shall wipe you out on the assembly floor and you shall live to regret why you came out of your mothers womb,” YSR Reddy told Naidu in full assembly.

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Sunday, July 22, 2007

nice tamil song

Excellent photography and picturisation. Notice how the scree sort of reverberates with the music very nice ..