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July 31, 2005
jest for pun (July'05)
July'05 BlogThoughts
Every calendar's days are numbered.
July 31, 2005 in Humor | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 24, 2005
My favorite word
My favorite word. Add your own.
July 24, 2005 in Fun | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 23, 2005
The Air Car
The Air Car. A car that runs on compressed air. While not a new idea, or unique,
the MDI car can reach a speed of 68 mph and has a claimed range of
roughly 124 miles. To recharge the tank, the car reportedly needs to be
plugged into the grid for 3 to 4 hours or attached to an air pump in a
gas station for only 2 minutes.
Is the wind of the future about to break? Will this technology pass gas as our urban fuel of choice?
July 23, 2005 in Tech/Science | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 22, 2005
BloginSpace
"I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords"
- in what looks like a thinly-veiled attempt at viral marketing, a company claims to be giving bloggers the opportunity to send a piece of their lives into space to potentially connect with extraterrestrials.
Let's just hope that future generations will not have to endure this kind of thing, next time a blogger decides to quit ranting on about themselves.
July 22, 2005 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 21, 2005
Andy Borowitz: white male shocker
ROBERTS VOWS TO BE MOST GENERIC WHITE MALE IN HISTORY OF SUPREME COURT by Andy Borowitz
Bush Praises Nondescript Nominee
John G. Roberts, President Bush's nominee to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the United States Supreme Court, made a case for his own nomination today, telling reporters that, if confirmed, he was determined to be "the most generic white male in the history of the Supreme Court."
With a beaming President Bush at his side, Judge Roberts said that if he serves on the nation's highest court, "The nondescript American white male, who is woefully underrepresented in this country at present, will finally have a voice."
Judge Roberts summarized the life experiences that had put him in touch with the needs of the generic white male, including a brief period in the early 1980's when he modeled generic men's sportswear for K-Mart, as well as a later stint as a downloadable generic white male icon for ClipArt.
While President Bush praised his nominee for being both "interchangeable" and "unremarkable," a poll taken just hours after the nomination was announced suggests trouble ahead, with a clear majority of Americans being unable to remember Judge Roberts' name.
According to the poll, over fifty percent of those surveyed identified Mr. Bush's nominee as either "Jim Rogers" or "Bob Roberts," with over seventy percent confusing him with CBS news anchor John Roberts, yet another prominent generic white male.
For his part, President Bush appeared unfazed by such numbers, telling reporters at the White House, "I have total confidence in Don Rogers."
Elsewhere, over 150,000 women in Great Britain submitted applications to become actor Jude Law's new nanny.
July 21, 2005 in Columnists, Humor | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Google Moon
Google Moon - Google Maps gets the Lunar treatment, in honor of the first manned moon landing. No directions, though, so you won't be able to plot the best route from Tycho Crater to Mare Imbrium. (Fun Hint! - try the maximum zoom level)
July 21, 2005 in Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 20, 2005
UK bans 'magic mushrooms'
UK bans 'magic mushrooms' (except the poisonous ones), rendering them class A like heroin and crack. Shroomers fight back. Mushroom have been used for a while and we have a lot of information about their effects and safety, just as we do with alcohol - but facts schmacts, right? You can't be too careful.
July 20, 2005 in Info | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 13, 2005
Britain's true National Dish - Chicken Tikka Masala
Believe it or not, UK has around 8,000 curry houses which employ 70,000 people - more than steel, coal and shipbuilding put together.
Do you know how much British spend on Indian food? Almost 2.5 million pound!!!!!!!!!!!.
Anyway, Chicken Tikka Masala is the most ordered Indian dish in UK. That's why, it has been hailed the British's true National Dish :-)
The popularity of Indian dish led to choose Vindaloo as the unofficial anthem of England's 1998 football World Cup.
continue reading ...
July 13, 2005 in Info, Reality, World News | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
July 08, 2005
India ranks 4th on global rich list
(by CHIRDEEP BAGGA & SHANKAR RAGHURAMAN, TIMES NEWS NETWORK)
As the G-8 meet in Gleneagles, there’s a question increasingly doing the rounds: what is the relevance of the group? It was supposed to be a group of the world’s largest and most powerful economies. The plain truth is, it no longer is.
Look at it whichever way you will, the US, Japan, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Canada and Russia are simply not the biggest economies. Nor can anyone today suggest that China can be left out of any list of the most powerful economies.
If economies are ranked by sheer size, China would be second only to the US and India would come in at No. 4, one place behind Japan and ahead of Germany. How? That’s because the sizes of economies are no longer measured by converting their GDP into US dollars at the prevailing exchange rates. Instead, we have what is called the purchasing power parity (PPP) rate that is used by institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to compare GDPs of different countries. What the PPP method does is to recognise that exchange rates do not properly represent what different currencies can buy in their own home economies and hence distort the picture when we are comparing sizes across countries.
Exchange rates are determined essentially only by goods that are traded across borders.
They would not, therefore, take into account the fact that, say, a haircut in New Delhi or Mumbai may cost just Rs 50 while the same haircut in New York may cost around $20.
Now if India’s GDP were converted into dollars using the normal exchange rate, our barber’s contribution to GDP would be just over a dollar for each hair cut he provides while the New York barber would be weighing into the US economy at $20 per cut.
Using the PPP method, now globally acknowledged to be the most appropriate for such comparisons, China, India and Brazil would all be bigger than Russia and Canada, which are G-8 members. In fact, the Chinese economy alone is almost as big as those of Germany, UK, France and Italy put together. India has an economy that would comfortably outsize those of Russia and Canada put together.
You could argue, of course, that size alone is misleading and per capita GDP is a better indicator. If this were to be used as the criterion, it is true that China, India or Brazil would be nowhere in the picture, being ranked 95th, 120th and 67th respectively in terms of per capita income. However, you would then have to explain why Luxembourg and Norway, the countries with the highest per capita incomes, are not a part of the list. Ireland-ranked 4th just behind the US-Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, may also legitimately ask what other European countries ranked below them (that includes everyone in the group) are doing in the G-8.
To return to the size issue, if ten-year average growth rates estimated by the IMF for 1997-2006 are extrapolated over the next few years, India would catch up with Japan in just three years and overtake it in four years, while China would become the world’s biggest economy by 2014, overtaking the US.
July 8, 2005 in Reality, World News | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 07, 2005
Indians can wear flag with pride
Years after having won independence, Indians are now free to wear images of their flag on their clothing.
But not where it hurts national sentiments - below the belt. The flag can only be displayed on garments above the waist.
The federal government has passed an amendment easing the restrictions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act (1971).
Caps and T-shirts are in but swimsuits and evening gowns are still a no-no.
Neither can the flag be embroidered or printed on cushion covers, gloves, handkerchiefs, napkins and dress material.
July 7, 2005 in World News | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack