It can happen only in India

Another one in the series, picked this one up from Amit Varma's blog.

A pregnant woman unexpectedly gave birth to a child while travelling in a train. This happens quite often in India, thought I really dont know why pregnant ladies dont take precautions against travelling.

But what is unique about this incident is that, she gave birth in the toilet (we all know how bad they are) and the child slipped through the toilet bowl of the moving train. But fortunately the child survived, and debate rages on what to name here, as she is a miracle baby!

Inner party democracy

Dont have time to elaborate but, Deva Gowda seems to have taken a leaf out of US Presidential candidate nominee elections. He is conducting an exam for Janta Dal nominees.. Fair enough..
But what will they be tested on..Noneother than Gowda himself...

Pakistan bans Youtube

Pakistan seems to be going down the drain and in another shocking move, the government has blocked its citizens from viewing Youtube.
Whats next?
On the same note, a similar incident in Saudi Arabia deserves a special mention.  While these are quite funny to read, I wonder how it must be really for the more liberal citizens of these Islamic countries. Does the governement or the King, really think the people will continue to follow the stupid system.
Till they do, there will also be a couple of funny articles to read.

Google goes for the moon

Lunar materials to make solar collectors! Sounds interesting as well as impossible. Im not sure how Google is going to get this done. Even if they do convert solar energy into electrical energy, how the hell do they plan to transmit it back. Remember Attenutaion is directly propotional to the amplititude of the wave!
Link from KJ

Indian Poaching League

A lot has talked about in the media for the last few days about IPL, and the huge amounts of money that have offered for the cricketers. But what is going unnoticed is the poaching of the "Under 22 players" as well. As per stipulation, each team needs 4 U-22 players in its team, and teams are going for broke in making sure they get stars from the U-19 team.
The U-19 Indian team is currently in Malaysia for the U-19 World Cup, but already teams have signed quite a few players and exposure to such huge sums of money at such an young can have adverse effects writes Sriam in his Cricinfo column.
Where is the IPL leading too? And when BCCI said the ICL is a rebel league and should be banned, and that it will affect international cricket schedule, Im not sure how far behind IPL is.

The right tool for the right job..

Ever felt peeved by someone else smoking beside you. This is the way to put it out

The Barack Bubble will burst soon

Laugh of the day

From none other than Michelle Obama

"Hope is making a comeback and, let me tell you, for the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country."

Never really liked her from the beginning.

It can happen only in India

A couple of articles from Times of India,

The first one, a woman was molested inside Gandhi Ashram in Ahemadabad, but no case was registered as it would have required the police to enter the ashram therby destroying the sanctity of the place!!!!

Another one, where the airport in Udaipur gets ready in time for...  Praful Kumars daughter's wedding..... 

All star Dunk contest

Check it out, worth watching "Superman" in action.

Link Courtesy: Arun J

The One crore slap

Want to make quick money? Well here's your golden chance. But Im not sure if you will be alive to enjoy the wealth.

Bending a few rules and tracks

One must appreciate that Lalu still tries to stay in the good books of his in-laws, despite so any years of marriage, but the cost ? A railway track between the two villages for 2.5kms. Wonder what would have happened if Lalu became the aviation minister.

Anti-Hijacking Act..

The Indian parliamnet has deffered its decision on passing the ammendment to the Anti Hijacking act, where they intend to shoot down a hijacked plane. I dont know if this decision also takes into account the number of passengers inside the plane. They also intend to penalize the hijackers with death penalty.. incase they survive :).. Wonder whos terrorizing whom.

A swimsuit in time buys nine

Nine cows... to be precise... A swimsuit which was left behind by Nicole Kidman in a Swedish resort was sold to buy nine cows for poor Indian families. Chk it out

Hi-Tech campaigns

Wondering how Obama is cutting into Hillary's Hispanic vote bank?
Here's how

CBSE, India moving towards the right direction

India's Central Board for Secondary Education seems to be making the right moves. While other state boards encourage their students to learn by rote, CBSE has come up with HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills).

MNS

To continue on the previous post this is what happens when fanatics like Raj Thackeray have some even more fanatical followers...

Thackeray Thuggery

After being sidelined by his uncle Bal (would any father favor his nephew over his son.. ?) and people not paying much attention to what he was doing, Raj knew he had to get something going to create a niche for himself.
Well what better than what he (Shiv Sena fanatics) is best at.. Come up with some junk like North Indians favoring their home states than Mumbai. Im not sure how he makes the classification, and I bet he has no idea what his lineage is or where his ancestors where originally from.
As a south indian, I always had the impression that Mumbai was N.India, Thanks to Thackeray.. I now know.

For the lazy men..

Good news .. The unkempt stubble and even the beard are in vogue.
I have always been lazy and shaving my stubble,before I rush to my research lab is not exactly what I like to do early in the morning. My point is, once you enter the corporate setup, you have to do it everyday, so why not enjoy the freedom now?

Ice Hotel in Japan

What an irony.. It would work out chaper if they visited Iowa.. -40C guaranteed.
Chk it out
Link Courtesy:My sister.

Logo logic.

An interesting read on how Google got its logo

Roof riders..

India should seriously think of taking this up, especially Chennai where people (mainly college students ) travel on roofs of buses.

Whites - A minority group in the US in 2050

No wonder politicians push for immigration reform bills.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080211/ts_alt_afp/uspopulationimmigrationethnic

Take it with a pinch of salt..

Salt seems to have fallen out with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)... So next time you sprinkle salt over those delicious french fries or your omlette.. think again

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-02-10-salt-dangers_N.htm

Ron Paul stays determined

The Texas congressman seems determined to fight till the finish. While his attitude must be appreciated, his lack of basic common sense seems to take me by suprise.
Out of the total 1091 delegates needed for a nomination, Senator McCain has already garnered 719, and Huckabee coming in a distant second with around 200 while Ron Paul has a mere 16. This is what he says
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1711688,00.html

Wii Therapy

Wish my current physical therapy, inlcuded some Wii usage.

http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/W/WIIHABILITATION_MEDICINE?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-02-09-06-24-37

Nobel Prize winner Lessing predicts Obama assasination

Lessing who won the Nobel Prize for literature last year, predicts Obama will be assasinated if elected..

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-02-10-lessingobama_N.htm

Skeleton in the cupboard!

Well the saying came true for a real estate agent in London. Looking to make a decent commision of a  huge mansion, the agent opened the closet only to discover ...

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSEIC75235620080208?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Slim Down!

Cops in Mexico get a bonus for slimming down.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article779335.ece

"We are the ones, we have been waiting for"

So with the primaries and caucusses concluding last night, we learn there is a long fight ahead for the Democrats, while the Reublicans seem to kind of have a front runner in their ranks in Sen. John McCain.
The victory speeches of the candidates from their respective hometowns was something I was looking forward to last night. Huckabee began first and he is a pretty good speaker though his claims were a bit ridiculous. I dont empathize much with Huckabee and his policies, and certainly not his beliefs. Nope I definetely dont beleive in Intelligent Design.
McCain did a good job too, but Hillary was a big letdown. She spoke from a prepared text and looked it every other minute and her actions were a bit contrived. But I genuinely feel a candidate should not be judged by his/her leadership qualities rather than his/her oratory skills.
The man of the moment was Barack Obama and his speech was really inspiring, especially the bit about
"We are the ones, we have been waiting for"



Lot to look forward to in the coming months!

Man's best friend?

A recent study has shown that head lice has co-exsisted with man for more than 100,000 years.
Wonder what they used to clean heads then. :)

Obese? The govt loves you..

A study by the Dutch government finds its easier(read cheaper) to care for obese people who have higher chances of an earlier death compared to healthy people.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8UK6QRG0.htm

Britain promotes polygamy!

Strange? But yes, British PM Gordon Brown has given the thumbs up for a proposal thats helps men with multiple wives claim extra welfare benefits.

http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2008/feb/04uk.htm

Super Bowl Economy

2.7 million $ for a 30 second ad.!!! Read on... Contrary to popular notions the players seem to be at the lower end of the spectrum.

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2008/pi20080128_435071.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

What kind of food are you?

'Picked' this interesting site from my sisters blog.
Finish the short quiz, 6 questions or so and get to know urself.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindoffoodareyouquiz/

Super Tuesday coming up!

Who will it be? Obama or Clinton?
22 states going into Super Teusday. Most polls are unable to differentiate between the candidates.While Hillary is sure to win delegate rich states like California and New York, Obama is ecpected to pick up Tennessee, Utah and a few others like Missouri.  What is your guess?

Soothe aliens with music

* NASA has decided to beam across the universe the Beatles’ song recorded 40 years ago. The music will be digitised and beamed through its deep-space communications network on a 431 light year journey to the North Star, Polaris, where it is scheduled to arrive in 2439.
* The song is titled “Across the Universe”.
* Today is the 45th anniversary of NASA’s deep-space communications network and 50th anniversary of NASA’s foundation.

Sania Mirza

Just one incident seems to have put her off!  
Sportsmen(women) dont quit..do they?

http://ia.rediff.com/sports/2008/feb/04sania1.htm

A Giant upset

Giants win 17-14... :)))
Great drive by Eli in the last couple of minutes.

Laugh of the day

Strange things happen in India, but stranger things happen in Bihar.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/feb/02bihar.htm


Students protest for their right to cheat!

Donate!

A couple of easy ways to donate, at the click of a mouse.

www.bhook.com




www.freerice.com

First ODI India Australia

The weather gods helped save India from another embaressment. You can always argue that India would have made a contest out of it, but given the original target of 195, and also Indias bowling lineup it was always a tough ask.

Indias batting as expected collapsed. The only silver lining was Rohit Sharmas knock though he didnt go on to make a big score, not even a 50 for that matter, he was lovely to watch. A casual laid back approach which reminds of one my favourite players Mark Waugh . Gambhir failed to capitalize on his two lives.  Manoj Tiwary seem to be at odds with Brett 
Lee' s pace, but the poor kid deserves another chance. You dont expect him to score on his debut against an in form Brett Lee. But his selection seems baffling. Dhoni seems to go by some random theory wherein he drops Karthik a well established player for a debutant. Ulterior motives? You never know.
Looking forward to the superbowl today. 6pm ET on Fox.

Laugh of the day

Actually its from yesterday, after India lost the Twent20 match against Australia.

Let me quote our beloved skipper Dhoni:
"The batsmen forgot their roles
We ended up [in a situation where] players who should have played their strokes were [forced to] play some other game, and guys who should have stayed there and given the strokeplayers a base played their shots and got out,"

What the hell does Dhoni mean? Does he end up blaming the top order for his pathetic score of 9 in 27 balls?
Its high time our ODI captain learnt a few things from Kumble.

This week

After a long hiatus from blogging, Im back. (Sorry if its sounds like Ajith in Billa)
Lot of things to look forward to this week. First thingthat comes to my mind is the Super Bowl XLII. (watever that stands for roman numerals, never been good at roman numerals and puzzles me why it cant be just called as Super Bowl 37 or something.)


Two teams from the N.E. US of A and as it is for most people, my heart says Giants but my brian says Patriots. Lets hope its an even contest and not some runaway victory for the Patriots.
Lots of talk in the air about how the younger Manning has matured. But in my opinion he can never match Peyton, he lacks the flamboyance and flair of his elder sibling.

Another thing thats coming up is Super Tuesday, where the candidates try garner as many of the states as possible. With respect to the democrats, its a standoff between Clinton and Obama, and Im not too sure if this Tuesday will reveal who the frontrunner is. Its a tight contest and definitely is turning out to be an ugly one.
In the Republican field, McCain seems have a taken a lead and I guess Super Tuesday will cement his place as the nominee from the Republicans.

The tri-series in Australia starts off today, with India taking on Australia and despite the drubbing India received in the Twenty20 game, I think we will see a more closely fought match today.

Lots more to write on, especially with a slew of Tamil movies releasing this Pongal.