Total Time-Pass, Fun and Entertainment

April 29 2009 Shah Rukh Khan talks in Mumbai India about Kolkata Knight Riders IPL cricket

2009-04-30T09:31:00.003-07:00

IPL 2009 - Twelfth day - Without first man :(

2009-04-30T09:31:00.001-07:00

Vodafone India Cricket Commentary TV Commercial, featuring the ZooZoos!

2009-04-30T09:30:00.003-07:00

Mumbai airport Shahrukh Khan news story KKR questions April 29 2009

2009-04-30T09:30:00.001-07:00

9/11 Calls Panic As Planes Flew Over NYC 2009

2009-04-30T09:28:00.001-07:00

What We Have To Do After Mumbai Terror Strike...

2008-12-03T06:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends...

Though, it doesn't match with the theme of this blog, but it is really important and necessary....
Tell me what u think about reactions of mumbai terror strike....

well i can tell u what i think... tell me r u thinking in same way...

सेना अध्यक्षों की सलाह से एक कमांडो फोर्स गाठी जाए जिसमें मौजूदा कमांडो को शामिल करें और आतंक से लड़ने के लिए विशेष विभाग हो, जो किसी मंत्री या नेता के अधीन काम न करे। सारे राजनीतिक दल शपथ पत्र प्रस्तुत करें कि चुनाव में कोई भी जीते इस विशेष दस्ते के काम में दखल नहीं देगा। कमांडो दल केवल जल, थल और वायुसेना अध्यक्षों के अधीन रहेंगे। इस तरह राजनीति से पूरी तरह मुक्त संगठन ही वर्तमान आतंकवादी संगठनों से लड़ सकता है। इसे उच्चतम वेतन पाने वाला व्यवसायी संगठन बनाना होगा जिसे टेंडर निकालकर घटिया हथियार खरीदने पर बाध्य नहीं होना पड़े।

A commando force has to be established in guidance of all army chiefs, and existing commandos should be included in it. There should be a separate department to fight against terror, which will not be working under any minister or leader. All political parties should produce an affidavit, that whom so ever be in govt, will not interfere in work of this special force. This special force will receive instructions only from chief of air force, military and navy. This kind of organization, which will also be free from any kind of political pressure, can only fight with existing terrorist organizations. This organization should be formed as a highest salary paying professional organization, which will not be required to purchase worst quality weapons by inviting tenders in a government method....

Tell me about your opinion....

India ! Learn from Sweden...

2008-09-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

स्वीडन से सीखने लायक एक मिसाल
गुरचरन दास
Sunday, September 21, 2008 13:44 [IST]

सामयिक. भारतीय स्कैंडिनेविया के बारे में बहुत कम जानकारी रखते हैं। इसमें उत्तरी यूरोप के चार देश- स्वीडन, नार्वे, डेनमार्क और फिनलैंड शामिल है।

हममें से कुछ लोग मोबाइल कंपनी नोकिया के बारे में जरूर जानते हैं जो फिनलैंड की है। भौगोलिक विविधताओं में आनंद लेने वाले लोगों की नजर में यह ऐसी जगह है जहां गर्मी में मध्यरात्रि तक सूरज के दर्शन किए जा सकते हैं।

मेरे जैसे पुराने उदारवादी स्कैंडिनेविया को अत्यंत नियंत्रित, नौकरशाही ग्रस्त और अत्यधिक टैक्स वाली अर्थव्यवस्था के रूप में याद करते हैं। लेकिन आर्थिक सुधारों के बाद वहां का परिदृश्य काफी बदल गया है। अब स्कैंडिनेवियाई देश समाजवाद और पूंजीवाद के मिश्रण का बेहतरीन उदाहरण हंै। यह अपने नागरिकों का सबसे ज्यादा ख्याल रखने वाला समाज है। यह व्यापार करने के लिए भी बेहद अनुकूल क्षेत्र बन चुका है।

अगर आप वहां कोई उद्योग शुरू या बंद करना चाहते हैं तो आपको केवल एक दिन लगेगा। वहां कर्मचारियों को नौकरी पर रखना भी आसान है और निकालना भी। लालफीताशाही न के बराबर है, भ्रष्टाचार का भी उन्मूलन किया जा चुका है। वहां के लोगों का जीवन स्तर दुनिया मंे सबसे ऊंचा है। ऐसे में अगर अन्य देशों को इससे ईष्र्या हो तो कोई अचरज नहीं होगा।

डेनमार्क में श्रम सुधारों ने व्यापार को बेहद आसान बना दिया है। ऐसे ही श्रम सुधारों की भारत में भी दरकार है, लेकिन इस मामले में हम आज भी पिछड़े हैं। भारत के श्रम कानून नौकरियों का संरक्षण करते हैं, जबकि डेनमार्क के कानून नौकरियों का नहीं, कर्मचारियों का संरक्षण करते हैं। इससे वहां उद्योगपति और कर्मचारी दोनों ही खुश रहते हैं। इसके विपरीत भारत का व्यवसायी किसी को अधिकृत तौर पर नौकरी पर रखने से डरता है, क्योंकि एक बार नियुक्ति देने के बाद उसे हटाना लगभग असंभव हो जाता है। भारत में तब तक औद्योगिक क्रांति की उम्मीद नहीं की जा सकती, जब तक कि वह बाबा आदम के जमाने के श्रम कानूनों का पूरी तरह से खात्मा नहीं कर देता।

स्वीडन में 1990 के दशक के पूर्वार्ध में हुए शैक्षणिक सुधारों में भारत अपने लिए भी सबक ढूंढ सकता है। स्वीडन में शैक्षणिक सुधार दो चरणों में हुए। पहले चरण में स्कूलों का नियंत्रण स्थानीय प्रशासन के हाथों में सौंप दिया गया। दूसरे चरण में अभिभावकों को सरकारी या निजी स्कूलों में से किसी में भी अपने बच्चे का दाखिला करवाने की छूट दी गई। इसके तहत सरकार अभिभावकों को वाउचर (एक प्रकार की छात्रवृत्ति) देती है। इन वाउचरों को हासिल करने के लिए स्कूलों में प्रतिस्पर्धा होती है क्यांेकि इन्हीं के बदले में उन्हें सरकार से पैसा मिलता है। हर स्कूल की कोशिश बेहतरीन शिक्षा देने की होती है।

स्वीडन का यह स्कूली मॉडल हमारे देश के लिए बेहद प्रासंगिक है जहां सरकारी स्कूलों की विफलता जगजाहिर है। मध्यमवर्ग के लोगों ने काफी पहले ही सरकारी स्कूलों में अपने बच्चों को भेजना बंद कर दिया था। अब तो गरीब भी सरकारी स्कूलों से कन्नी काटने लगे हैं, अपने बच्चों को सस्ते निजी स्कूलों में डालने लगे हैं। यदि हमारे यहां का कोई राजनेता स्वीडन के इस स्कूली पैटर्न का अनुसरण करे तो यकीन मानिए, वह कभी चुनाव नहीं हारेगा।

इससे मध्यम वर्ग से लेकर गरीब परिवार सब खुश होंगे क्योंकि सभी को शिक्षा के समान व बेहतर अवसर मिलेंगे। जिस स्कूल का शैक्षणिक स्तर जितना अच्छा होगा, उसे उतने ही अधिक वाउचर मिलेंगे और जितने अधिक वाउचर मिलेंगे, शिक्षकों को भी उतना ही अधिक वेतन मिलेगा। इससे सरकारी स्कूलों में भी शिक्षा का स्तर सुधरेगा क्योंकि शिक्षकों का वेतन उनके स्कूलों को मिलने वाले वाउचरों पर निर्भर करेगा।

स्वीडन में स्कूली सुधार एक बड़ी मिसाल है। यह निजी उद्यमियों व निवेशकों के अनुकूल है। इसमें सरकार को भी भूमिका निभाने का मौका मिलता है। वैसे स्वीडिश सरकार अपनी ओर से केवल संसाधन मुहैया करवाकर मूलभूत दिशा-निर्देश तैयार करती है। शेष जिम्मेदारी निजी क्षेत्र की होती है।

यहां कुछ ऐसे भारतीय भी होंगे जो कहेंगे कि स्वीडन जैसे छोटे-से देश से भारत को भला क्यों सबक सीखना चाहिए? लेकिन हमें यह नहीं भूलना चाहिए कि महान देश केवल इसलिए महान बने क्योंकि उन्होंने दूसरों से सीखने में कोई शर्म महसूस नहीं की और जो भी उन्हें ठीक लगा, उसे स्वीकारने में भी देर नहीं लगाई।
(लेखक प्रोक्टर एंड गैंबल इंडिया के चेयरमैन व मैनेजिंग डायरेक्टर रह चुके हैं।)

California teen gives birth in shower, walks to hospital

2008-05-04T06:34:00.000-07:00

LONG BEACH, Calif. - A 17-year-old girl gave birth secretly at home, then walked four blocks to a hospital with the baby still attached by its umbilical cord.
"I was just a little nervous" when the labor began, Xochitl Parra said Friday from St. Mary Medical Center as she cradled her 8-pound, 3-ounce son, Alejandro.
The boy was normal and "eating like a champ," said Dr. Jose Perez, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
The teenager said she was alone and taking a shower around 5:30 a.m. Wednesday to get ready for school. Then the contractions took over.
"I felt his head coming, so I sit down and pushed so he could come out," she said.
Parra did not call 911 because the home phone was disconnected, and she did not want to wake the neighbors because it was so early. Instead, she wrapped the baby, got dressed and went to the hospital on foot.
"I started walking and jogging to the hospital," she said.
The teen came into the hospital lobby and asked for help, Perez said.
"She still had the placenta and the baby was still attached, so of course everyone said, 'Don't move!'" he said.
Perez praised the girl for taking quick action.
"They could have bled to death; thank God that didn't happen," the doctor said. "She was very clever. She knew what to do. She wrapped the baby up and walked over here."
Parra, a sophomore at Long Beach Poly High, said she had kept her pregnancy a secret because she was afraid her mother would "kick me out of the house." Her mother has now accepted the situation and is going to help the teen care for the baby so she can continue attending school, Parra said.
Perez called the outcome "heartwarming."
"We hear so much negative with teenagers throwing their babies in the Dumpsters," he said. "This baby is fine, and hopefully there will be a happy ending with the extended family."

Spontaneous Generation

2008-05-03T12:58:00.001-07:00

Uncensored scene from Maya Memsaab... Now really uncensored!

2008-04-22T11:51:00.001-07:00

एक 15 साल पुरानी लो प्रोफाइल फिल्म माया मेमसाब अचानक चर्चा का विषय बन गई है। फिल्म के किसी दृश्य के कारण नहीं, बल्कि सेंसर किए गए एक सीन के कारण। इस सीन में आज के सुपर स्टॉर शाहरूख खान और फिल्म के निर्माता केतन मेहता की पत्नी दीपा मेहता के अंतरंग दृश्य हैं। अब तक न देखे गए इस सीन को किसी वीडियो शेयरिंग साइट यू ट्यूब में डाल दिया। यह वीडियो क्लिब सबके आकर्षण का केंद्र बन गया है।

माया मेमसाब(1993) मंगल पांडे जैसी फिल्म बनाने वाले केतन मेहता की एक आर्ट फिल्म थी। इसकी प्रमुख पात्र माया (दीपा मेहता) कई लोगों से विवाहेतर संबंध बनाती है। इसमें से एक युवक ललित(शाहरुख खान) उससे उम्र में कहीं छोटा है। मौलिक फिल्म में दोनों को बिस्तर पर एक साथ लेटे भर दिखाया गया था। लेकिन हालिया वीडियो दर्शकों को कल्पना करने के लिए कुछ भी नहीं छोड़ता। इसमें दोनों के बीच आक्रमक कामुक दृश्य हैं। यह दृश्य बेहद उत्तेजक हैं।

इस वीडियो के बारे में अभिनेत्री दीपा मेहता ने मुंबई के एक टेबलॉइड को बताया कि उन्हें इस अंतरंग वीडियो के इंटरनेट पर उपलब्ध होने की कोई जानकारी नहीं है। उन्होंने बताया कि हो सकता है किसी ने डीवीडी से लोड करके इसे इंटरनेट पर डाल दिया हो।

कुछ भी सेंसर नहीं था
दीपा ने कहा कि माया मेमसाब पर सेंसर बोर्ड ने कोई कैंची नहीं चलाई थी। यह जैसी की तैसी सिनेमा में गई थी। हालांकि उन्होंने इस कामुक दृश्य के बारे में कुछ भी कहने से इंकार कर दिया। उनकी इंटरनेट पर जाकर इसे देखने की कोई हसरत नहीं है। उनके पति और केतन मेहता का कहना है कि यह हो ही नहीं सकता कि इंटरनेट पर फिल्म से अधिक हो।

कोई आपत्ति नहीं
यह सीन 15 साल बाद कैसे इंटरनेट पर आया कैसे दीपा यह सोचकर समय जाया नहीं करना चाहती। उन्हें इससे रत्ती भर भी आश्चर्य नहीं। अगर मौलिक फिल्म में कोई दृश्य था तो उसे इंटरनेट पर आना ही था। आखिर इस पर इतना हंगामा क्यों। 50 साल पहले के मुकाबले भारत आज कहीं ज्यादा आजाद है।

माया मेमसाब(1993)
माया(दीपा महेता) बड़े सपने देखने और अपनी शारीरिक, भावनात्मक हसरतों को पूरा करने में यकीन रखती है। उसके पिता एक बार सीढ़ी से गिर जाते हैं। उनका इलाज करने आए डॉ चारू दास(फारूख शेख) से उसे प्यार हो जाता है। जल्दी ही दोनों शादी कर लेते हैं।

शादी के बाद धीरे-धीरे माया एक छोटे कस्बे और मध्यवर्गीय जीवन से ऊबने लगती है। उसके लिए अपनी हसरतों को रोकना मुश्किल हो जाता है और वह कई लोगों से विवाहेतर संबंध बनाती है। पहले ठाकुर रुद्र प्रताप सिंह(राज बब्बर) के साथ फिर अपनी उम्र से बेहद छोटे ललित(शाहरुख खान) के साथ। फिल्म का अंत अपनी इन अर्थहीन ख्वाहिशों के दलदल में फंसकर माया के आत्महत्या कर लेने के साथ होता है।

Strange Alien Creature

2008-03-31T15:26:00.001-07:00

weird alien baby

2008-03-31T15:25:00.001-07:00

re RE: UFO Haiti - Real ALIEN CORPSE recovered from UFO cras

2008-03-31T15:23:00.001-07:00

Alien Autopsy Roswell UFO Crash (Original footage) 1/2

2008-03-31T15:22:00.001-07:00

Alien autopsy area 51 real and new -- Roswell UFO

2008-03-31T15:21:00.001-07:00

Alien Autopsy Area 51 real - new - Roswell - Spaceship - UFO

2008-03-31T15:20:00.001-07:00

Alien Autopsy Roswell - UFO OVNI Crash - FAKE ? REAL ?

2008-03-31T15:11:00.001-07:00

Batista vs. Undertaker vs. Finlay vs. Khali vs. Big Daddy...

2008-03-28T12:49:00.001-07:00

Hitler Speech - 8 november 1942 - Stalingrad

2008-03-28T12:46:00.003-07:00

Adolf Hitler - Speech (1932)

2008-03-28T12:46:00.001-07:00

Eyewitness: Mahatma Gandhi Assassination

2008-03-05T11:44:00.003-08:00

Mahatma gandhi Funeral Cremation

2008-03-05T11:44:00.001-08:00

Born Twice

2008-02-18T09:57:00.001-08:00

An experimental – and controversial – procedure for treating a crippling birth defect in the womb offered Trish and Mike Switzer the only chance that their daughter would walk like other children. But the fetal surgery posed a fatal dilemma: Their baby could die before she was born.

Photographer Max Aguilera said about this photo: “During a spina bifida corrective procedure at twenty-one weeks in utero, Samuel thrusts his tiny hand out of the surgical opening of his mother’s uterus. As the doctor lifts his hand, Samuel reacts to the touch and squeezes the doctor’s finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shakes the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. At that moment, I took this 'Fetal Hand Grasp' photo. As a photojournalist, my job is to tell stories through pictures. The experience of taking this photograph has had a profound effect on me, and I’m proud to share this moment with you”

The image accompanying the text quoted above is real in the sense that it is indeed a photograph taken during a revolutionary fetal procedure undertaken on 19 August 1999 to fix the spina bifida lesion of a 21-week-old fetus in the womb. The operation was performed by a surgical team at Vanderbilt University in Nashville which developed a technique for correcting fetal problems in mid-pregnancy by temporarily removing the uterus, draining the amniotic fluid, performing surgery on the tiny fetus, then restoring the uterus back inside the mother. The patient shown above, Samuel Armas, was the 54th fetus operated on by the surgical team; Dr. Joseph Bruner, the surgeon whose hands are pictured above, alleviated the effects of the opening in Samuel's spine caused by the spina bifida, a congenital disease that often leads to paralysis and other problems. Pictures from the surgery were printed in a number of newspapers in the U.S. and around the world, including USA Today, and thanks to the remarkable surgical procedure performed by the Nashville team little Samuel was born healthy on 2 December 1999.

However, it is not true, as described in the accompanying text, that these photographs were taken as Samuel's hand "emerged from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life," or that Dr. Bruner said "when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life." This misinformation has been propagated by many different sources, including the Michael Clancy, the photographer who snapped the pictures: "As a doctor asked me what speed of film I was using, out of the corner of my eye I saw the uterus shake, but no one's hands were near it. It was shaking from within. Suddenly, an entire arm thrust out of the opening, then pulled back until just a little hand was showing. The doctor reached over and lifted the hand, which reacted and squeezed the doctor's finger. As if testing for strength, the doctor shook the tiny fist. Samuel held firm. I took the picture! Wow! It happened so fast that the nurse standing next to me asked, 'What happened'?" "The child reached out," I said. "Oh. They do that all the time," she responded.

What actually took place, as described in news reports of the surgery, was that: Just as surgeon Dr. Joseph Bruner was closing the incision in Julie Armas' uterus, Samuel's thumbnail-sized hand flopped out. Bruner lifted it gently and tucked it back in.

(The dubious veracity of the photographer's version of events is highlighted by the disclaimer he appended to it on his web site, stating that it represented his "opinion of the events as they took place during the surgery for Samuel.")

The surgeon, Dr. Bruner, later elaborated on some of the exaggerated and false claims made about the photograph:
"It has become an urban legend," says Bruner, the Vanderbilt University surgeon who fixed the spina bifida lesion on Samuel. Many people he hears from wonder whether it's a fake.

"One person said the photo had been reviewed by a team of medical experts and they had determined that it was a hoax," Bruner says with a laugh.

More commonly, people want to know how the photo came to be. Some opponents of abortion have claimed that the baby reached through the womb and grabbed the doctor's hand. Not true, Bruner says. Samuel and his mother, Julie, were under anesthesia and could not move. "The baby did not reach out," Bruner says. "The baby was anesthetized. The baby was not aware of what was going on.

Google Finds New Way to Give

2008-02-15T23:12:00.000-08:00

Searching for solutions

Google.org aspires to use the power of information and technology to address the global challenges of our age: climate change, poverty and emerging disease. In collaboration with experienced partners working in each of these fields, we will invest our resources and tap the strengths of Google’s employees and global operations to advance five major initiatives.

Plug into a Greener Grid: RE

A significant amount of global greenhouse gas emissions are generated by coal-fired power plants and vehicles. To slow global warming, we must radically – and quickly – cut these emissions. Plug-in vehicles offer a major opportunity to reduce oil use and corresponding emissions while renewable energy sources – solar, wind, geothermal and others – could supplant a major portion of the planet's electricity generated from coal.

Google.org is confronting the climate crisis on two fronts: We're working on developing utility scale renewable energy cheaper than coal (RERechargeIT
Through our RechargeIT initiative, Google.org is working to accelerate mass commercialization of plug-in vehicles by seeding innovation, demonstrating technology, informing the debate, and stimulating market demand. In June 2007, we officially launched this initiative by unveiling our plug-in demonstration fleet, debuting Google's 1.6 megawatt solar installation, and announcing over $1 million in grants to support plug-in vehicle adoption. We also teamed up with PG&E to demonstrate vehicle-to-grid technology to show how electricity might be transmitted back and forth between plug-in vehicles and the grid.

Recharge a Car, Recharge the Grid, Recharge the Planet

RechargeIT is a Google.org initiative that aims to reduce CO2 emissions, cut oil use and stabilize the electrical grid by accelerating the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and vehicle-to-grid technology.

By demonstrating the technology using our own fleet and supporting others through grants and investments, together we will drive toward a plug-in revolution. See for yourself how our plug-in hybrids are performing in real world conditions.

Predict and Prevent

Rapid ecological and social changes are increasing the risk of emerging threats, from infectious diseases to drought and other environmental disasters. This initiative will use information and technology to empower communities to predict and prevent emerging threats before they become local, regional, or global crises.

Google.org's initial focus will be on emerging infectious diseases, which are on the rise worldwide. Climate change, urbanization, and rising international travel and trade all contribute to this threat. Moreover, humans and animals are coming into closer contact because of environmental degradation and increased demand for animal products. Nearly three out of four new diseases in the last three decades have spread from animals to humans. While everyone faces increasing risk from emerging infectious diseases, the world's poor – who have minimal or no access to health care and may live with and depend on animals for their livelihood – are exceptionally vulnerable and stand to suffer the most.

This initiative supports two inter-related pathways from prediction to prevention. The first is vulnerability mapping and identification of "hot spots." The second, creating systems to better detect threats to provide early warning and enable a rapid response.

Identify Hot Spots

Understanding the complex drivers that lead to emerging threats can help communities anticipate surprises and reduce vulnerability. Google.org is initially focusing on:
+ Sharing knowledge across human, animal, and environmental health sectors
+ Improving data collection, sharing, and analysis for enhanced vulnerability mapping and modeling
+ Contributing to enhanced resilience of communities to withstand threats and adapt to changes

Enable Rapid Response

Timely, accurate, and accessible information can help prevent localized health crises from becoming regional or global threats. Google.org is focusing on:

+ Using innovative methods to quickly find threats wherever they occur
+ Confirming outbreaks and identifying their cause
+ Alerting key stakeholders, from villagers to global health authorities

See Google.org's Grants & Investments page for a list of current partners. For a closer look, please read our initiative brief.

While we are not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time, if you are working in the following specific issue areas and are interested in a partnership, please contact us.

+ Collection of specimens at the human/animal interface to identify and map hot spots
+ Innovative, event-based surveillance at the community level in the developing world
+ Integrated vulnerability mapping to the drivers of emerging infectious diseases

Inform and Empower to Improve Public Services

In rich countries we take it for granted that when we turn the tap clean water comes out, when our children go to school there will be a teacher present, and when we have health problems the medical provider will be attentive. Quality public services – clean water, health, and education – are vital for human welfare and a strong economy. But in many countries in the developing world, essential public services are failing, especially for the poorest members of society. Conventional approaches to tackling this challenge have focused on tracking money spent rather than results achieved. Accountability to citizens and communities has largely been absent.

While there are no quick fixes, Google.org believes that providing meaningful, easily accessible information to citizens and communities, service providers, and policymakers is a key part of creating home-grown solutions to improve the quality of public services. Better information can help governments and other providers spend scarce resources wisely. And, empowered by information, citizens and communities can demand better services from providers or develop new solutions to meet their own needs.

We will work with public, private, and civil society partners to address each side of this problem. This initiative will begin with a focus on education, health, and water and sanitation services in East Africa and India. Our work will support efforts that lead to empowered citizens and communities, responsive providers, and informed decision-makers. Success will depend on the presence of strong and effective leadership. We are committed to investing in the next generation of business, government, and civil society leaders to ensure the sustainability of this initiative.

Empowered Citizens and Communities

Google.org supports efforts to generate accountability and "bottom up" citizen engagement to influence the quality of public services. We will support efforts to provide easily accessible information to people so that they can choose the best strategy for themselves and their community. We will use multiple modes of communication (such as media, mobile, e-kiosks and other technologies) to allow a broader range of people to access information and we will seek innovative methods for disseminating information. We're focused on:

+ Informing individuals and communities of their rights, entitlements, choices, and quality of public services
+ Providing tools and information to increase access to and use of available services
+ Supporting civil society organizations that strengthen links between communities and policy makers.

Responsive Providers

We will enhance public and private providers' abilities to respond to the challenges of service delivery and increased demand. Access to new tools and better information will increase providers' autonomy and flexibility, shifting away from "business as usual" approaches to public services. Top-down accountability has too often failed because it is difficult to know what happens on the ground in an information-scarce environment. We envision providers that are responsive to citizen needs and committed to improving performance. We're focused on:

+ Increasing transparency in local budgeting and performance for improved resource allocation
+ Improving data quality to inform planning
+ Expanding service delivery with innovative information-based tools

Informed Decision-Makers

We will work to enhance the quality and quantity of data and evidence available for policymaking. To "unlock" existing data that is not publicly available, we are seeking innovations in the way data can be accessed, entered, stored, analyzed and communicated. Google.org believes that the transparency that comes with more public information increases checks and balances between citizens and communities, and policymakers. We're focused on:
+ Developing local capacity for data collection and analysis to inform decision making
+ Making existing information more public and useful for planning and advocacy
+ Generating evidence on "what works" and sharing this widely

Fuel the Growth of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are critical for creating more equitable economic growth. SMEs create opportunities for more people to participate in the formal economy and help reduce poverty by creating jobs. In many developing countries large businesses have access to formal, bank-based credit and capital markets while households and micro-entrepreneurs have access to micro-loans. This leaves a massive gap known as the “missing middle.”

While SMEs in rich countries represent half of GDP, they are largely absent from the formal economies of developing countries. Today, there are trillions of investment dollars chasing returns – and SMEs are a potentially high impact, high return investment. However, only a trickle of this capital currently reaches SMEs in developing countries. Our goal is to increase this flow.

We want to show that SMEs can be profitable investments. We will do this by focusing on lowering transaction costs, deepening capital markets to increase liquidity, and catalyzing capital for investment.

Lower Transaction Costs: Investing in SMEs in the developing world can be risky and expensive because of the difficulty in assessing entrepreneurs and the lack of standardized information. We will work on developing tools and systems to make it easier for growth capital to flow to these firms.

Deepen Capital Markets: Since there are few opportunities to exit successful SME investments to recoup the upside returns, as well as weak accounting systems and lack of transparency, investors are less likely to make equity investments in the first place. We will invest in information tools and investment mechanisms to increase liquidity in the market for risk capital.

Catalyze Capital: For the reasons listed above, investors are hesitant to invest in SMEs in the developing world. Google.org will invest in funds, partner with financial institutions, and directly support these firms to help make the business case for this sector and help make the market for new financial products and instruments.

Our geographic focus areas are India and East Africa.

While we are not accepting unsolicited proposals at this time, if you are working in the following specific issue areas and are interested in a partnership, please contact us.

+ Tools for better identifying high-potential entrepreneurs
+ Systems or methods for lowering financial transaction costs
+ Technology tools to standardize financial information

The Youngest Mother of the World

2008-02-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

Pictured to the left, in 1940, is Lina Medina, her baby, and the doctor who delivered the baby. Her son was 11 months old in this photograhph

Born at full term at Lima's maternity clinic, her child was taken through a caesarian operation done by Dr. Lozada and Dr. Busalleu.

Her son, weighing 2,700 grams or 5.92 pounds, was well formed and in good health. Child and mother were able to leave the clinic after only a few days.

As a result of a disorder known as precocious puberty, Lina Medina, born September 27, 1933 in the small Peruvian village of Paurange, was 5 years 8 months old when she gave birth by cesarean section to her son on May 14, 1939 (Mother's Day of that year). The boy weighed 5 lbs and 9 ozs.

Lina is believed to be the youngest girl in the world to give birth to a healthy, full term baby.

Doctors found that Lina had a menstrual period at the young age of 8 months old. The reason for this disorder is not known. As it's not everyday a 5 year old girl gets pregnant, research on the disorder is hard. Dr. Gerardo Lozada the doctor who delivered her son was astonished.

When asked who the father was, Lina did not give an answer. Many believed her father had molested her and got her pregnant. He was arrested, but because of lack of evidence, the case was dropped.

When her son, Gerardo (named after the doctor who delivered him), was 10 years old he discovered something quite shocking: the girl he believed to be his 15 year old sister was actually his mother.

Gerardo died at the age of 40 in 1979 from bone marrow disease. There is no evidence of the disease having anything to do with the fact that his mother had been so young when she had him.

Lina got married to Raúl Jurado in 1972 and had a second child 33 years after she gave birth to Gerardo. To this day the father of Gerardo is a mystery. Lina's second son currently lives in Mexico.

She was one of nine children born to country folk in Ticrapo, an Andean village at an altitude of 7,400 feet in Peru’s poorest province

A book, written by obstetrician Joseph Sandoval in 2002, who had been interested in her case, brought fresh attention to Medina’s story, and raised the prospect that the Peruvian government may belatedly offer her financial and other assistance. “The government condemned them to live in poverty back in 1939.

Extreme degrees of precocious puberty in children under 5 are very uncommon but not unheard of. Pregnancy and delivery by a child this young remains extremely rare because extremely precocious puberty is treated to suppress fertility, preserve growth potential, and reduce the social consequences of full sexual development in childhood.

Microhoo Wave: Together, Yahoo and Microsoft, can compete Google?

2008-02-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

Seattle: Yahoo Inc's purple T-shirt and jeans-clad employees could soon be shopping for dress-shirts and khaki pants.

If Microsoft Corp manages to buy the ailing Internet icon, it faces a clash between Yahoo's free-wheeling corporate culture and Microsoft's more button-down workplace, where even casual meetings often require PowerPoint slides.

That culture clash is just the beginning of the challenges ahead for Microsoft if its $45 billion offer is accepted.

First and foremost, Microsoft must convince Yahoo's best and brightest to bury years of Silicon Valley animosity toward its wealthier neighbor to the north and work together to fight a common enemy: Google Inc.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's top brass will have a Noah's Ark of a Web company -- with two of everything -- that needs to be molded into one cohesive brand.

"It's definitely going to be a long process," said Toan Tran, analyst at Morningstar, noting Yahoo's own restructuring adds another layer of complexity to what already would have been an arduous integration.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer launched his charm offensive on Friday, telling a conference call for analysts that Yahoo employees should be "very, very excited" about Microsoft's offer and that the two companies share a common vision on the Web and will be more competitive together.

The Redmond, Washington-based company tends to breed aggressive executives in the mode of Ballmer, who rarely shies away from a fight, while Yahoo advertises its "irreverence" to prospective employees on a job site, saying "We yodel."

Analysts worry about employees wary of Microsoft leading an exodus of Yahoo talent to Google and others because, unlike mergers of companies with fixed assets and valuable patents, Yahoo's prime asset may be its people and their Web expertise.

"If you are a brainiac engineer within search or any other division within Yahoo, do you want to get usurped into a Microsoft culture where maybe they don't care as much about the Internet?" Bear Stearns analyst Bob Peck said on a call with clients.

"Culture clash will be one of the big things." The two companies tend to view the world in fundamentally different ways. Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo has always been a Web company, while Microsoft's roots are in selling software that runs on a computer's hard drive.

Microsoft Office and Windows are its core products, providing the bulk of the company's profits. By contrast, its online services division has not turned a profit in two years.

The biggest challenge of all may be how to integrate two companies with significant overlap in Web properties. Analysts questioned whether a joint MSN/Yahoo can maneuver fast enough and make the right decisions within the Microsoft bureaucracy to slice and dice overlapping products like Web e-mail and instant messaging. Yahoo Mail and Microsoft's Hotmail are the No. 1 and No. 3 US Web e-mail companies. Microsoft said it expects to be able to drive $1 billion in "synergies" from joining resources in engineering and research and development, reducing capital expenditures and reducing area of overlap. With so much money at stake, and a potentially long integration, analysts said Microsoft can not afford to repeat some of its past mistakes made in carrying out plans. In recent years, Microsoft's Web services business has undergone a series of management shake-ups and strategic shifts.

It has posted a loss in eight straight quarters and the company says the unit is still in an "investment phase." "What happens when you take a company with a fair to middling performance online and it is the acquirer of a company that has done pretty well historically. Are they going to be able to execute?" said Matt Rosoff, analyst at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft.

A criticism often lobbed against Microsoft is that it confuses consumers with too many Web services brands such as Windows Live, Hotmail and MSN.

Adding Yahoo to the mix would only complicates things. Yahoo, like most of the world's biggest Internet companies, runs many of its services on so-called "open-source" software created by volunteers in the industry. This software is a principal rival to Microsoft Windows and Exchange software.

And Yahoo paid $350 million last September to buy Zimbra, an open-source maker of Web-based e-mail, calendar and collaboration software, that is considered a major rival to Microsoft's Outlook franchise. Morningstar's Tran, who argues the two companies should spin out their Web assets into a separate company, said Microsoft will be pulled in too many directions with different parts of the company seemingly at odds with one another.

"Swallowing Yahoo whole into Microsoft is just not going to work," Tran said.

Tell Me!!! What Do You Want To Say On PERTH Test Win....

2008-01-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

Sharad Pawar

BCCI President Sharad Pawar on Saturday hailed the Indian team for their stunning victory against Australia in the Perth Test and also promised to felicitate captain Anil Kumble for joining the 600 Test wicket club.

"On behalf of the cricket loving people of India and the Board of Control for Cricket in India, I extend heartiest congratulations to Team India led by Anil Kumble for their emphatic win over Australia at Perth," Pawar said in a statement.

"It was a great team effort with each member contributing to the win, particularly the efforts of the young and inexperienced pace attack is laudable," he said.

"Anil Kumble led the team with dignity and honour both on and off the field and marshaled his resources well," he said.

Congratulating Kumble for achieving the personal milestone of 600 Test wickets, Pawar said, "The Board of Control for Cricket in India is indeed very proud of Anil's achievement and it will felicitate him in a befitting manner after the return of the Indian Team from Australia."

Sunil Gavaskar

India hailed their team's superb win over Australia in the third test in Perth on Saturday, with former batting great Sunil Gavaskar dubbing the performance as one of the greatest in the nation's test history.

India, the last team to beat Australia at home in 2003, won by 72 runs to dash the hosts' bid to break their own world record of 16 consecutive test wins.

"To win over here, this has got to be without doubt the greatest win Indian cricket has had over the last 35-40 years." Gavaskar, who was commentating on the match, said.

Australia, chasing 413 for victory, folded with over a day to spare. The victory was particularly sweet for the Indians as it was achieved barely a week after the second test in Sydney ended in controversy.

Gavaskar rated the performance, India's fifth win on Australian soil, ahead of memorable 1-0 series victories in West Indies and England in 1971.

The Indian cricket board praised the team and pacers Irfan Pathan, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma, who shared 14 wickets.

"It was a great team effort with each member contributing to the win, particularly the efforts of the young and inexperienced pace attack is laudable," board president Sharad Pawar said in a statement.

"(Skipper) Anil Kumble led the team with dignity and honour both on and off the field and marshalled his resources well."

The leg spinner would be felicitated on his return after becoming only the third bowler in test history to claim 600 wickets during the match.

India hailed their team's superb win over Australia in the third test in Perth on Saturday, with former batting great Sunil Gavaskar dubbing the performance as one of the greatest in the nation's test history.

India, the last team to beat Australia at home in 2003, won by 72 runs to dash the hosts' bid to break their own world record of 16 consecutive test wins.

"To win over here, this has got to be without doubt the greatest win Indian cricket has had over the last 35-40 years." Gavaskar, who was commentating on the match, said.

Australia, chasing 413 for victory, folded with over a day to spare. The victory was particularly sweet for the Indians as it was achieved barely a week after the second test in Sydney ended in controversy.

Gavaskar rated the performance, India's fifth win on Australian soil, ahead of memorable 1-0 series victories in West Indies and England in 1971.

The Indian cricket board praised the team and pacers Irfan Pathan, RP Singh and Ishant Sharma, who shared 14 wickets.

"It was a great team effort with each member contributing to the win, particularly the efforts of the young and inexperienced pace attack is laudable," board president Sharad Pawar said in a statement.

"(Skipper) Anil Kumble led the team with dignity and honour both on and off the field and marshalled his resources well."

The leg spinner would be felicitated on his return after becoming only the third bowler in test history to claim 600 wickets during the match.

Kapil Dev

Former India captain Kapil Dev on Saturday lauded Anil Kumble's men for beating the odds to end Australia's winning run in Perth but felt the victory, though impressive, pales in comparison to the 2001 Kolkata-Test triumph under Sourav Ganguly.

"It is a great victory at that, though I consider India beating Steve Waugh's team in Kolkata was a greater one," Kapil said.

The former all-rounder, however, made it clear that Saturday's victory had its own special place because of the extraordinary circumstances under which it was achieved.

"Today's win is a great and brilliant victory coming under extraneous circumstances. It is a win that boosts the pride of every Indian because every chip was down and against India's favour," he said.

Kapil said the Indians were the underdogs going into the match but did well to come out trumps.

"Any cricketer at world level, be it Indian or otherwise, would not have given even 10 per cent chance to India before the match," he said.

"If you asked anyone, including myself, all would have said a draw is impossible and would have rated Australia as hot favourites with 90 per cent chance. Being an Indian, I would have given 15 or 20 per cent chance to India," Kapil said.

Kapil lavished praise on Anil Kumble's captaincy and said, "I congratulate Anil and members of the team and say that the team has proved that their solid victory over the world champions is no fluke as they dominated and showed their supremacy in each sessions of all four days."

"More than anything each of the player has done his job successfully and this augurs well for future of Indian cricket," he added.

Kapil hoped that the team would carry the momentum into the fourth and final Test in Adelaide and level the series.

"I duly hope that they maintain the momentum and reach greater heights. Now we are in a better position to square the Test series against the Australians."

Rahul dravid

Former captain Rahul Dravid is elated that the Indian team, written off after their back-to-back defeats in Melbourne and Sydney, finally upset the Australian applecart in Perth on Saturday.

"Nobody gave us a chance to win the Test but we showed what we can do," a beaming Dravid said after India's 72-run win over Australia.

"It was a team effort and I am happy for Kumble and the boys that we came up with a remarkable win," he added.

Dravid, who top-scored in India's first innings with 93, however, refused to be dragged into the debate on whether it was India's greatest Test triumph abroad.

"We had some other wins outside India earlier and it is difficult to pick which one was the best. But, it was a sweet win for us as it came against the Australians and after we were 0-2 down in the series," he said.

The right hander was all smiles and was relieved that his dismissal at a crucial stage in the first innings did not prove costly.

"I thought I had messed up in the last half an hour of the first day by getting out at a crucial stage for the team. Fortunately, the bowlers performed fantastically and Laxman came up with a fine knock in the second innings. So, it has sort of removed my regret," he added.

Assistant coach Lalchand Rajput said after trailing 0-2, the team was determined to prove a point by winning the Perth Test.

"We were 0-2 down and lots of things had happened in the tour. The boys desperately wanted a win. We wanted to give the Aussies a run for their money," he said.

Rajput had special words of praise for the bowlers for doing a fine job on a pitch famed for pace and bounce.

"There were lots of stories going around that the Indians would not be able to cope with the pace and bounce in Perth. But our plan was simple: win the toss, put up a good total and put pressure on the Australians. RP Singh, Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma did great job in both the innings. Ishant is improving with every match. He has a bright future," Rajput said.

Comeback man Virender Sehwag rated the victory as one of the best ever.

"A lot was said about the pitch, its bounce and Australia's all-pace attack. All these make it a very special win," he said.

On his suggestion to Anil Kumble to give Ishant a longer spell, Sehwag said, "As the Delhi captain, I knew he could bowl a longer spell and that's why I asked Anil to continue with him."

Ishant removed Ricky Ponting in that over to vindicate Sehwag's trust in him.

Anil Kumble

Indian captain Anil Kumble on Saturday described the sensational victory in the third cricket Test against Australia as "one of the best" in his career and said it was a remarkable effort from his team after the traumatic events in Sydney.

"It was one best Tests in my career. Nobody gave us any chance in Perth. But we batted brilliantly, Sachin (Tendulkar), Rahul (Dravid), (Virender) Sehwag, (VVS) Laxman even at the lower order MS Dhoni and RP Singh," Kumble said after winning the match by 72 runs.

"We had tough times. After Sydney, it was important that we got together, back Harbhajan (Singh) and win this game.

"After Sydney there were two options. One was to go back home and the other was to show that we are capable of winning. I am glad the team has got together to prove that (beating Australia)," he said.

Kumble said unlike the Sydney match both the sides played the third Test in true spirit of the game but India dominated the Australians.

"The two teams played in right spirit. But here we did well and if see we did not give one session to the Aussies to come back," he said.

The Indian captain said his team was focused to win the fourth and final Test as well and draw the series.

"We need to get the confidence from this match to Adelaide and finish the series level but the Aussies would not give up," he said.

Comparing rookie pacer Ishant Sharma to former pace ace Javagal Srinath, Kumble said the young speedster notched up a superb performance.

"He was brilliant. He looks like what Srinath was in his early days. He showed a great attitude."

About Sharma's extended spell, which earned the crucial wicket of Australian captain Ricky Ponting, Kumble said, "Viru (Sehwag) is the Delhi captain. So he told me that Ishant is used to bowl longer spells. I asked Ishant if he can bowl one more over and he said yes. Since Ricky was there it was important."

Kumble also singled out Sehwag (2-24), who he brought in as a change bowler, for his outstanding performance causing the Australian collapse.

"Sehwag does something special. It was special to get Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) at that stage," he said and added "in fact, everyone chipped in to contribute to the win in some way or the other."

The 37-year-old leg spinner, who also achieved his personal milestone of crossing the 600-wicket mark here, gave credit to his team for ulitising the conditions here better than the hosts.

"It was a brilliant effort from our boys. It is really special. No one gave us a chance before the match but we utilised the conditions better.

"It was a brilliant effort from young pace attack, it also showed in their body language."

Rival captain Ricky Ponting tried to be graceful in the defeat by expressing the disappointment but offering no excuses for their below-par show.

"It is disappointing but no excuses for the defeat," Ponting said after Australian team was deprived of a record 17th successive Test win by the Indians.

Ponting, however, admitted that his team needed some bigger partnerships and more runs in the first innings which could have made their run-chase easier.

"We could have scored better in the first innings and we also needed some good partnerships. It would have helped our cause in the run-chase. But India's young bowlers really bowled well because of which it was not possible," he said.

Man-of-the-match paceman Irfan Pathan, who picked 3-54 in the fourth innings and also contributed 46 runs with the bat in India's second innings, said things were looking better for him from here.

"It's pretty good. I'm pretty happy with the way I batted and the way I bowled," he said.

He admitted that he was not bowling well last year but the return of swing in his deliveries had again made him effective.

"If a player has a stint of 10-12 years, bad times are bound to happen and that happened with me also. I worked at the MRF Pace Foundation and with our bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad. Things are looking much better for me now," he said.

On his all round performance, he insisted, "I have mentioned that I am a bowler first and would also like to contribute to the team with the bat".

Ricky Ponting

Australia are confident they will regroup from the 72-run defeat by India on Saturday to win next week's fourth and final test in Adelaide.

"Australian teams historically have been able to bounce back," captain Ricky Ponting told a news conference. "If we lose a game or have things not go our way we can turn things around pretty quickly.

"That's what our whole focus will be now. We played some great cricket in Melbourne, we played some great cricket in Sydney. We've let ourselves down a little bit in this game but it's about how we bounce back from that now."

Ponting said the visitors deserved to win the third test here and keep alive their hopes of squaring the series 2-2 in Adelaide but warned Australia would learn from their errors.

He said the home team were not at their best at the WACA, misjuding the pace of the pitch and making a string of fundamental mistakes.

"It was a tough four days, India deserved to win the game the way they did. They outplayed us for the majority of the game," said Ponting.

"A lot of our skills have let us down more than anything this week. I thought our preparation was great and it was just little critical moments in this match we faltered and it's been a long time since we've done that."

Saturday's defeat was Australia's first in a test for nearly two and a half years and their first at home since 2003.

It also ruined their chances of setting a world record of 17 consecutive test victories.

"Sixteen matches in a row is a great achievement, it would have been great to win one more...but we haven't been good enough in this game," said Ponting.

"The run was always going to come to an end at some stage, we just haven't played a brand of cricket that has been good enough to win this match."

Ponting said he was not surprised at how strongly India rebounded from the disappointment of losing the first two tests and said he was expecting his side to do the same in Adelaide.

"The Indians are a very good team," he said. "We never underestimate any opponent and certainly not the Indians because we know they, particularly their batting, can be a formidable opponent and their bowlers did a terrific job here."

Ex Cricketers Hailed on Team-India's Victory at Perth Test

Former cricketers on Saturday hailed India's victory in the third Test against Australia as a "memorable achievement" and said it was all the more creditable as it came after the turmoil that followed the Sydney Test.

The players also lavished praise on skipper Anil Kumble who showed remarkable poise in the difficult times and succeeded in regrouping the team after two consecutive losses.

"Anil's decision to bat first was great after a lot of people had written about the bounce on the wicket. Had we won the Test at Sydney (where a number of crucial decisions went against India) things would have been even better," said former captain and chairman of selection committee Dilip Vengsarkar.

"I hope the team continues to play in the same manner at Adelaide (fourth and final Test from Jan 24-28)."

"It was a tremendous victory especially considering the reputation of the Perth wicket and the opposition. I had always felt we can beat Australia in Australia and it has been proved," he added.

Another former Test captain Ajit Wadekar and left arm spinner Bapu Nadkarni also termed the victory a tremendous one and rated it as one of the top three in the annals of Indian cricket.

"It was a great victory and would rate it only behind our wins in England and West Indies (in 1971). The team showed tremendous positive attitude by deciding to bat first after all the pundits had said that the wicket would be very bouncy and put Australia on the backfoot," Wadekar said.

"The decision to introduce Virender Sehwag into the attack today was a master stroke. It reminded me of the Oval Test (against England in 1971) where I brought on (Bhagwast) Chandrasekhar for (Bishen) Bedi," Wadekar recalled.

"Anil is a tremendous fighter but does not show it outwardly. He has what I call controlled aggression. Irfan Pathan also bowled and batted very well. He looks to be a capable all rounder," he added.

"The way India have turned things around after the happenings in the Sydney Test, which would have been a morale dampener, was fantastic."

Nadkarni echoed Wadekar's views and said, "This victory should go down as among the top three by India in Tests. I was very impressed by the way the team played aggressively and as a team from the first ball. They showed zest for victory."

"Too often in the past we have come so near to victory before falling by the wayside. An example was the Karachi Test (against Pakistan in 2006) when we lost after having them on the ropes at 46 for six," the former left armer said.

"Beating Australia in Australia is not a joke. Had things gone our way (umpiring decision-wise) we would be up 2-1 now.

I am very impressed by the way Kumble has led the team, it has been tremendous," he said.

"The spirit should be kept high as we go into the final Test in Adelaide. What we have seen is tremendous team spirit.

We have showed we are capable of beating the giants of the game on their own turf," he added.

Former player and chairman of selectors Chandu Borde also lauded the team for shrugging off distracting controversies to keep the series alive.

"It is an amazing and fantastic victory because at one stage the Indian team was in a turmoil whether to stay back in Sydney or to proceed and fight back the Australians," Borde said.

"They chose the second option and the way the fought back resulted in a tremendous win for us," he added.

Borde praised comeback heroes Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan for their fine show.

"Though the team as a whole deserves all encomiums and praise, I am happy to note that Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan in their come back trail have performed remarkably well," he said.

"Sehwag and Pathan chose the right path and clicked well to send notice to others. They proved that they still have the game in them," he added.

19-year-old pacer Ishant Sharma's lion-hearted effort also caught the eye of Borde, who felt the bowler proved himself to be an exciting prospect.

"I am totally impressed with him. He was with us in the England tour but there he was struggling because of no ball problems. He seems to have got over such problems. He has speed, height and age with him and he will go a long way in serving India and has a bright future," he said.

Borde felt Kumble's gritty leadership also had huge part to play in the Indian triumph.

"I raise my hat for Anil (Kumble) for his handling the side with experienced ones and the younger lot and one could visualise as to how the team had played together for the winning cause," he said.

Legendary spinner EAS Prasanna also saluted the team's effort considering it came after a week of off-field drama following the Sydney furore.

"It is an extremely deserving win under extra-ordinary situations. The win speaks volumes about the togetherness of the team members. The trauma that they underwent has really been a motivating factor and it resulted in our superb victory," he said.

Once again Kumble's captaincy drew rich praise from Prasanna.

"Even before leaving the Indian shores, Anil (Kumble) has been saying that he leads a winning combination. He has pieced together the strengths of each member of the team effectively and proved himself in man management," he said.

"He has bestowed well in giving a fair deal to each of the playing eleven during the four days in the Perth Test."

Former skipper Krish Srikanth was also impressed by Kumble's determination.

"Hats off to each member of the team, particularly Anil Kumble for his leadership qualities. The manner in which he encouraged the three youngsters like Sharma, RP Singh and Pathan was striking," he opined.

"Anil's grit and determination and motivating his team members taking the Sydney fiasco has proved vital in our win," he said.

Man undergoes surgery for facial tumors

2008-01-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

Huang Chuncai is seen on the operating table before his second operation to remove his tumours, which currently weigh around 10kg (22lbs), at a hospital in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province January 7, 2008. Huang, a 32-year-old native from a remote village in China's southern province of Hunan, says he is relieved after a part of his facial tumours, which originally weighed about 23kg (50.7 lbs), was removed last year. His second operation will remove another part of the tumours, which weighs 4.5kg (9.9lbs). Huang suffers from neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that primarily affects the development and growth of nerve tissues.

Huang Chuncai sits in a wheelchair beside his sister before his second operation to remove his tumours, which currently weigh around 10kg (22lbs), at a hospital in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province, January 5, 2008. Huang, a 32-year-old native from a remote village in China's southern province of Hunan, says he is relieved after a part of his facial tumours, which originally weighed about 23kg (50.7 lbs), was removed last year. His second operation will remove another part of the tumours, which weighs 4.5kg (9.9lbs). Huang suffers from Neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that primarily affects the development and growth of nerve tissues. Picture taken January 5, 2008.

Huang Chuncai cries before his second operation to remove his tumours, which currently weigh around 10kg (22lbs), at a hospital in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province, January 5, 2008. Huang, a 32-year-old native from a remote village in China's southern province of Hunan, says he is relieved after a part of his facial tumours, which originally weighed about 23kg (50.7 lbs), was removed last year. His second operation will remove another part of the tumours, which weighs 4.5kg (9.9lbs). Huang suffers from Neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that primarily affects the development and growth of nerve tissues. Picture taken January 5, 2008.

Huang Chuncai poses before his second operation to remove his tumours, which currently weigh around 10kg (22lbs), at a hospital in Guangzhou, southern China's Guangdong province, January 3, 2008. Huang, a 32-year-old native from a remote village in China's southern province of Hunan, says he is relieved after a part of his facial tumours, which originally weighed about 23kg (50.7 lbs), was removed last year. His second operation will remove another part of the tumours, which weighs 4.5kg (9.9lbs). Huang suffers from Neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic disorder of the nervous system that primarily affects the development and growth of nerve tissues. Picture taken January 3, 2008.

Marion Jones sentenced to six months in prison

2008-01-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

Marion Jones, the record-breaking sprinter who tearfully confessed she used steroids after years of public denial, was sentenced to six months in prison for lying in two federal grand jury investigations.

Jones, 32, pleaded guilty in October to two counts of obstruction of justice in federal court in White Plains, New York. The International Olympic Committee stripped her of the record five medals she won at the 2000 Games in Sydney after she admitted taking banned performance-enhancing substances.

She was the first athlete convicted in the almost five-year- old U.S. government investigation of steroids in sports. The sentence was ordered today by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, who said he had considered imposing more than the maximum six-month term recommended under Jones's plea bargain because her offenses involved two separate criminal probes.

Jones was charged with impeding a San Francisco steroid probe of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or Balco, based in Burlingame, California, and a separate Manhattan investigation of a bad-check cashing scheme by fellow athlete Tim Montgomery. She argued she should receive only probation because she is the mother of two young boys.

In addition to pleading guilty to taking substances before the Sydney Olympics, Jones admitted lying about knowing that Montgomery deposited $200,000 in counterfeit checks in a bank account. She lived with Montgomery, the father of her older son, in 2005.

Biggest Sponsor

Nike Inc., the world's biggest maker of athletic apparel, was Jones's biggest sponsor at the time the drug use took place. The company, whose contract with Jones expired in 2005, said at the time of her plea that it was ``saddened, shocked and disappointed by the fact that, while we believed and trusted in Marion, we were also deceived.''

The IOC launched a probe of banned substance use in 2004 after reports in the San Francisco Chronicle and other media linked athletes including Jones to Balco's drug-distribution network.

Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's all-time home-run leader, was indicted in November with perjury and obstruction of justice for lying to a grand jury about steroid use. Prosecutors said the outfielder told a panel in 2003 that he never knowingly used banned drugs, according to his indictment.

On Jan. 9, a U.S. House Committee postponed until next month a hearing on steroids in professional baseball and requested depositions from prospective witnesses, including All-Star pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

Steroids in Baseball

Congress is returning to the issue of steroids in baseball following last month's report by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, which linked more than 80 players including Pettitte and Clemens to performance-enhancing drugs. The same House committee held hearings in 2005 and urged a tougher drug policy for the sport.

Since the Mitchell report was released Dec. 13, Clemens has repeatedly denied charges made by his former trainer that he was injected with illegal drugs.

In the Jones case, the two-time world champion in the 100- meter sprint admitted at her October plea hearing that she took performance-enhancing drugs but didn't realize she had taken steroids until later, when her performance dropped off.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers told the judge Jan. 9 that the ex-track champion should be sentenced according to her plea deal with the government. The U.S. urged Karas to consider that Jones's false statements were three years apart and that her plea saved ``immeasurable time and resources.''

'Lost Everything'

Her lawyer, Henry DiPippo, wrote that ``Marion has already lost everything -- the only livelihood she has ever known, her professional accomplishments, her financial security, and her reputation -- all in the most public manner possible.''

Jones retired from competition after giving up her medals.

Jeff Novitzky, an agent with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service investigating the Balco case, said in court papers that Jones's name showed up in a Balco ledger. The lab's records contain a list of their ``client-athletes'' and results of urine tests for anabolic steroids and masking agents, he said.

Two pages of the ledger contain the name "Marion J.," indicating she took several performance-enhancing drugs including tetrahydrogestrinone, a lab-altered steroid known as THG or "the Clear," and the anabolic steroid Norbolethone known as "Nor," between September 2000 and June 2001, Novitzky said.

Federal agents also found a yellow manila folder labeled "Marion Jones" at a Balco storage facility in California, Novitzky said in court papers, with a monthly "doping" calendar Balco created for Jones between March and July 2001.

World Champion

In February 2006, Jones settled a $25 million defamation lawsuit against Victor Conte, the Balco founder. Conte, who claimed he supplied Jones with performance-enhancing drugs including THG, served a four-month jail term after pleading guilty to steroid distribution.

Jones was one of several athletes who testified four years ago before a grand jury probing Balco. Montgomery, a former world-record holder in the men's 100-meter sprint, was banned from the sport for two years because of steroid use. Trevor Graham, a former coach of Jones and Montgomery, faces trial in San Francisco federal court for lying to U.S. agents.

Jones admitted Graham gave her steroids before the 2000 Games and that she lied to federal agents in a 2003 interview, saying the former coach told her it was flaxseed oil.

Jones was listed in government filings in federal court in San Francisco as having testified before a grand jury investigating Graham. Also listed were Montgomery, sprinter Michelle Collins, brothers Alvin and Calvin Harrison and sprinter Ramon Clay.

Prosecutors said the athletes may be called as witnesses at Graham's trial.

The case is U.S. v. Marion Jones, 05-CR-1067, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (White Plains).

How to Seduce a Woman???

2008-01-11T09:37:00.001-08:00

Have you ever looked at men who can get any girl they want and wondered, "how do they do it?" Yes, females are attracted to power and status. Yes, they are attracted to symmetrical features, strength and confidence. The art of distracting a woman from all of your shortcomings and making her fall in love with you for who you are is called seduction. But here you are going to watch an all new method to seduce a woman......

Tata unveils Rs 1-lakh car 'Nano' .....

2008-01-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

It's a hit!!!

Tata Motors, the country's largest automobile manufacturer on Thursday launched the eagerly awaited Rs one lakh car and christened it Tata Nano. The Rs one lakh car is touted as the world's cheapest mass-produced car from the stables of Tata Motors, the automotive arm of the over Rs three-trillion market value group. Rival car makers have, however, not been convinced about the safety and emission standards of the car, coming as it is at that price level.

The launch marks the realisation of a dream for Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata, who is looking forward to silencing critics of the project. The car is expected to fill the big gap between the cost of the average two-wheeler and entry-level cars such as the Maruti 800, which retails for about $5,000.

Dubbed till now as the 'people's car', Tata's faced numerous problems like a rising input cost, environmental concerns and stiff political opposition for setting up its manufacturing plant at Singur in West Bengal.

Experts, man on street give Nano 10 on 10

New Delhi: Nobody wanted to buy Ratan Tata's concept of a Rs 1-lakh-worth People's Car when he first talked of it. Some five years later, when Tata Motors finally unveiled the 'Nano', Tata's friends and foes are lapping up this tiny four-wheeler like their own.

The critics initially derided the concept mainly on the basis of the price target, more so as oil and steel prices rocketed. But Ratan Tata still kept his promise and delivered the Nano almost at his target price, forcing global car makers to take note. In fact, many top atomobile giants are now scurrying for their own versions to meet growing environmental and cost concerns.

The 'People's Car', which got critics and well-wishers all awestruck at Pragati Maidan on Thursday morning, is now not only being talked about as the 'future car'. Expert say it will also determine India's place in the global automotive arena and possibly give a leap to India's dream of becoming a global hub of small cars. The car, feel experts, is more than value for money with its 20 kmpl average and the smart price. Here are the first reactions of some of the most prominent industry experts as they told to CNN-IBN and various news agencies.

'Nano's launch is a proud moment for the country'

India must protect the interests of its auto industry from the impact of free trade pacts with other countries that allow imports at zero or reduced tariff, Heavy Industry Minister Sontosh Mohan Dev said on Thursday. "We have to see that a lot of free trade agreements that are being signed by India should not stand in the growth path of our automobile industry, as it is only 15-year-old," Dev told the inaugural event of Auto Expo 2008 here.

"If we do not do it, we will end up becoming net importers," the minister told the eight-day event, that was opened by his cabinet colleague and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, which oversees the free trade pacts. "We also have to be globally competitive. If we were to be globally competitive, we need to achieve economies of scale. I want the industry to bear in mind this aspect so that when investment is made global competitiveness is first priority," he said.

"We are certainly much more economic in terms of infrastructure costs compared to Europe and North America, but we need to be more competitive with regard to the emerging economies by achieving higher productivity." The government, he said, has the stated objective of making the Indian auto sector a $145-billion industry by 2016 that will also see the creation of 25 million additional jobs. Kamal Nath assured those present at the occasion that the United Progressive Alliance government was, indeed, cautious in protecting the interests of its industry whenever required.

Indian Call Centre

2008-01-10T08:17:00.001-08:00

This is a really funny clip espcially if you've ever spoken to someone in a call centre in india.

5 YEAR OLD GAVE BIRTH

2008-01-10T07:23:00.001-08:00

Most Youngest Mother in the World. She became mother at the age of 5 Only. A Peruvian girl from the Andean village of Ticrapo. She gave birth to a 6 LB boy by C Section May 14, 1939..... Watch this video.......

How to Unlock a Hidden Minesweeper Mode

2008-01-06T10:38:00.001-08:00

How to Unlock a Hidden Minesweeper Mode

David Blaine Rips His heart out

2008-01-05T12:05:00.001-08:00

David Blaine Rips His heart out on a TV Show. I dont know when it happened and where. I even not confirmed if the name of this guy is DAVID BLAIN. but it is the most hilarious video I have ever seen...

don you think so??? comment...

Woman ripped in half...

2008-01-05T12:01:00.001-08:00

I cant say, whether it is real or not...

but in any case it is weired....

Casey Aldridge, expectant father to Jamie Lynn Spears' baby

2007-12-25T12:00:00.000-08:00

He's a 19-year-old pipe layer; a deer-hunting, dirt-bike-riding former high school class president who still lives in his tiny Mississippi hometown. So why are the paparazzi hot on his trail?

Because Casey Aldridge is an expectant father — and the mother is 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears. And to hear Aldridge's uncle tell it, the daddy-to-be isn't quite ready to join Spears — the star of "Zoey 101" and the sister of pop star Britney Spears — in the spotlight.

"I don't think they are ready yet to sit down and talk to the media," Odus Jackson, a pastor in Gloster, Miss., told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday. "They haven't gotten their heads together yet."

Jackson said media were already swarming the southern Mississippi town — with a population of 1,073 at last census count — in search of Aldridge, not even 48 hours after the news came that Spears told OK! celebrity magazine about the pregnancy. She said she plans to raise the baby in her home state of Louisiana.

Jackson, 71, said Aldridge left before camera crews descended Wednesday and was going into hiding. Jackson said he spoke briefly with his nephew, who also lives in Gloster but was often out of town for work.

"He doesn't want to say the wrong thing to the media," Jackson said. "At the right time he will speak." It's unclear how Aldridge and the younger Spears met or where they spent time together. Jackson said his nephew briefly attended a junior college in Mississippi but now works for a pipe-laying company in Baton Rouge, La. He attended school at Amite School Center in nearby Liberty, Miss., where he played football and baseball, principal Dan Brewer said.

Brewer, who was not principal when Aldridge graduated last year, said the teen went to school with his daughter and has visited his home. Aldridge was class president, and was honored by his senior classmates as "campus favorite" and "most versatile."

"He was just a super dude," Brewer said.

Jackson said Aldridge enjoys deer hunting and rode dirt bikes. His parents, Joyce and Mark, currently live in Tennessee.

"He is a quiet guy," Jackson said. "That is why it is going to be very difficult to
corner him until everybody is ready to talk together on the same page. He doesn't like the limelight. He is going to hide as much as he can."

Jackson denied reports that his nephew and Spears, who was a guest at Jackson's home this past Thanksgiving, were no longer together.

"I think they are going to try to stay together," he said. "They certainly don't want to part."

Jackson said Aldridge has told family members that "he wants to go ahead and get married as soon as possible." Jackson added that the two do not want to "rush into it."

Source: www.APP.com

Queen Elizabeth II - Christmas Message 2007

2007-12-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

LONDON (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II, in her annual Christmas Day message to Britain and the Commonwealth, on Tuesday urged people to take responsibility for vulnerable individuals excluded by modern society.

The sovereign, 81, said the modern world could be a distant, hostile place where it was all too easy for people to turn a blind eye. The birth of Jesus Christ was a tale of a family "which had been shut out," the queen said in the pre-recorded broadcast. "The Christmas story also draws attention to all those people who are on the edge of society -- people who feel cut off and disadvantaged; people who, for one reason or another, are not able to enjoy the full benefits of living in a civilised and law-abiding community," she said. "For these people the modern world can seem a distant and hostile place. "It is all too easy to 'turn a blind eye', 'to pass by on the other side', and leave it to experts and professionals. "All the great religious teachings of the world press home the message that everyone has a responsibility to care for the vulnerable.

"Fortunately, there are many groups and individuals, often unsung and unrewarded, who are dedicated to ensuring that the 'outsiders' are given a chance to be recognised and respected.

"However, each one of us can also help by offering a little time, a talent or a possession, and taking a share in the responsibility for the well-being of those who feel excluded."

The broadcast Christmas speech is a tradition started by Queen Elizabeth II's grandfather king George V in 1932.

It is a personal message to the Commonwealth and a rare occasion where she does not need to seek the advice of ministers.

The queen reflected on the changes she has witnessed in the 50 years since making her first televised Christmas message in 1957.

Wearing the same three-stringed pearl necklace as then, she watched a black-and-white clip of the broadcast on a flatscreen television.

As a sign of the changing times, the queen posted her message on the video-sharing website YouTube for the first time in an attempt to reach out to younger audiences.

"One of the features of growing old is a heightened awareness of change," she said.

"To remember what happened 50 years ago means that it is possible to appreciate what has changed in the meantime. It also makes you aware of what has remained constant.

"In my experience, the positive value of a happy family is one of the factors of human existence that has not changed.

"The immediate family of grandparents, parents and children, together with their extended family, is still the core of a thriving community."

She also paid tribute to the armed forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and hoped that people missing loved ones would find strength and comfort in their family and friends.

The queen ended her message by quoting from a traditional Christmas carol service.

"'Because this would most rejoice his heart, let us remember, in his name, the poor and the helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and those who mourn, the lonely and the unloved'," she said.

"Wherever these words find you, and in whatever circumstances, I want to wish you all a blessed Christmas."

A Yuletide institution, the 10-minute broadcast is televised at 3:00 pm (1500 GMT) in Britain, as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch.

It is broadcast at convenient local times across the 53-nation Commonwealth, a successor to the British empire which encompasses around a third of the world's countries and a quarter of the world's population.

Source: Yahoo News

Healer told to pay up after sex with clients

2007-12-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

A disgraced North Shore healer has been ordered to pay $88,000 in damages after he duped two women into having sex with him when they came to him for counselling for previous rapes.

Geoffrey Mogridge - who claimed to be a clairvoyant, numerologist and natural health practitioner - encouraged the women to divulge personal information and manipulated the situation for his own sexual gratification, a Human Rights Review Tribunal decision said.

At one stage he even tried to force one of the women and another client to have sex with each other.

The sex, which happened in 2003 and 2004, was all unprotected and evidence suggested Mogridge was also having sex with other female customers.

Despite the decision and Mogridge being an unregistered health care provider, authorities are powerless to stop him from practising.

Mogridge told one woman an affair would help her to recover from a 1991 rape by an intruder in Europe.

Her husband also went to Mogridge for counselling and at one meeting was asked if he felt sexual arousal when talking to victims of sexual abuse such as his wife. The man replied that the question was "almost sick".

The woman told her husband about the relationship with Mogridge last year after disclosing another extramarital affair to him. The husband told the Herald yesterday that he and his wife were happy with the tribunal's decision.

"We didn't do it for the money because we don't think he can afford to pay us anyway. We just wanted to warn other women about him. "My wife is putting the whole thing behind her, she's been extremely courageous."

The second woman, who suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, initially went to Mogridge for a numerology and healing reading but was told that she needed a massage before healing. Mogridge asked her to undress before he started massaging her shoulders, kissing her and touching her breasts. The woman, who has a long history of sexual abuse, including being raped by her father for several years until she was 7, had a sexual relationship with Mogridge for seven months. In May 2004 he tried to make her and another client have sex with each other.

"She spoke of being depressed and even at times suicidal," the tribunal said.

Mogridge, who represented himself and was allowed to cross-examine the women, said his extreme techniques were designed to push the women to a point where they would say no and then feel a sense of empowerment from having refused him.

"We have no hesitation in finding that Mr Mogridge exploited both [the women] sexually," the tribunal said.

He was found to be in breach of the Health and Disability (Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights) Regulations for the abuse at the clinic at his Hillcrest home.

The husband and wife were awarded $13,000 and $25,000 respectively and the other woman $50,000.

Source: NZ Herald

Track Santa Online...

2007-12-24T11:31:00.000-08:00

Kids have been squinting at the sky for a glimpse of Santa Claus for decades. For the past several years, they've been able to turn to computer tools.

The sky-watchers at the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a cooperative venture of the United States and Canada, will observe its 50th anniversary in 2008. This December, as it has for more than half of its existence, the service will also offer high-tech tracking of Santa's journey around the world.

As you can learn on NORAD's special Santa-tracking site, it all started in 1955 when a Colorado radio station mistakenly broadcast as a Santa "hotline" a phone number that was actually for NORAD predecessor the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD). Military staff on duty obligingly told the kids who called that they'd check their radar for Santa's progress.

Today, a toll-free number and Website are available for a new generation of Santa-watchers. In fact, NORAD has upgraded the site significantly with a sophisticated Santa-tracker based on Google Earth.

Kids impatient for time to pass can also learn about Santa lore (in six languages) and click around a map of his North Pole Village, peeking into shops and finding games and puzzles in such operations as Mrs. Claus' Alphabet Soup Kitchen and the Reindeer Training Academy.

Tracking Santa requires you install Google Earth, but from there the app runs independently, following the jolly one around the globe. You can click on videos of earlier sightings and also click to learn more about the various places he's already been. (NORAD's site makes it clear to concerned taxpayers that the bulk of this service comes with the help of corporate sponsors).

As of this writing, Santa and his team of reindeer (led by Rudolph, his red nose glowing) is still cruising across Eastern Europe. Here's a shot, but check it out for yourself at NORAD Santa.

Source: PC World

Man pays for new truck with loose change

2007-12-24T10:12:00.001-08:00

FRANKFORT, Ind. - Paul Brant considers himself a penny pincher, but his savings in quarters and dollar coins really paid off.

Brant, 70, used more than $25,000 in change to help buy a new Dodge Ram half-ton pickup truck Friday — 13 years after buying another truck with spare change.

"(The old truck) didn't have four-wheel drive, and living in the country, I figured I better get a new one to help get me through the snow," he said.

Brant said he was raised to be thrifty. His father always paid in cash and saved up loose change to take vacations.

Brant has been storing his change for years, and estimated he had about $26,000 in coins for Friday's purchase. In 1994, he bought a Dodge pickup and a Dodge Neon using about $36,000 in quarters.

"As long as you don't put your hands back in the till, it really adds up," he said.

Brant stored his change in coffee cans, water jugs and piggy banks over the years, and was escorted by sheriff's deputies as he brought the rolled coins to the dealership.

A Mike Raisor Chrysler Dodge and Jeep employee who sold Brant the truck said the dealership called in an armored car to count and handle the coins.

"No bank wants to take them," Keith Gephart said.

Source: Yahoo News

Revealed: The seven great "medical myths"

2007-12-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

Reading in dim light won't damage your eyes, you don't need eight glasses of water a day to stay healthy and shaving your legs won't make the hair grow back faster.

These well-worn theories are among seven "medical myths" exposed in a paper published Friday in the British Medical Journal, which traditionally carries light-hearted features in its Christmas edition. Two U.S. researchers took seven common beliefs and searched the archives for evidence to support them.

Despite frequent mentions in the popular press of the need to drink eight glasses of water, they found no scientific basis for the claim. The complete lack of evidence has been recorded in a study published the American Journal of Psychology, they said.

The other six "myths" are:

Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
The majority of eye experts believe it is unlikely to do any permanent damage, but it may make you squint, blink more and have trouble focusing, the researchers said.

Shaving makes hair grow back faster or coarser
It has no effect on the thickness or rate of hair regrowth, studies say. But stubble lacks the finer taper of unshaven hair, giving the impression of coarseness.

Eating turkey makes you drowsy
It does contain an amino acid called tryptophan that is involved in sleep and mood control. But turkey has no more of the acid than chicken or minced beef. Eating lots of food and drink at Christmas are probably the real cause of sleepiness.

We use only 10 percent of our brains
This myth arose as early as 1907 but imaging shows no area of the brain is silent or completely inactive.

Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
This idea may stem from ghoulish novels. The researchers said the skin dries out and retracts after death, giving the appearance of longer hair or nails.

Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals
Despite widespread concerns, studies have found minimal interference with medical equipment.

The research was conducted by Aaron Carroll, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, and Rachel Vreeman, fellow in children's health services research at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Source: Yahoo News

Man reunites with birth mother at work

2007-12-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Steve Flaig wasn't sure how to approach his co-worker with his big news. It would seem brash to walk up and say, "Hi, I'm Steve, your son." How would she react to that, he wondered.

Flaig's long search for his birth mother ended in early October when he learned that she was the woman he previously knew only as Chris, the head cashier at a Lowe's home-improvement store just outside Grand Rapids, in Kent County's Plainfield Township.

"I would walk by her, look at her from a distance, not knowing how to approach her," Flaig, 22, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Wednesday. "You don't come stocked with information on how to deal with this."

When Lowe's Cos. hired Christine Tallady to work at the store last April, she had no idea that the young delivery driver to whom she was introduced was her son.

She gave birth to him on Oct. 5, 1985, while she was single and not ready to be a mother. It was a difficult decision for her to give him up for adoption.

Tallady left the adoption record open, figuring that her son might someday want to contact her. She often thought of him, particularly on his birthday, but life went on. She got married and had two more children.

Flaig, meanwhile, always knew that he was adopted. His parents, Pat and Lois Flaig, supported him when he decided to search for his birth mother. They had done the same with their younger son, Scott, who found his birth mother almost a year ago.

When Steve Flaig turned 18 four years ago, he asked DA Blodgett for Children, the agency that arranged his adoption, for his background information.

It arrived a couple of months later and included his birth mother's name. He searched the Internet for her address but came up empty.

In October, around his 22nd birthday, Flaig took out the paperwork from DA Blodgett and realized he had been spelling his birth mother's surname wrong as "Talladay."

He typed "Tallady" into a search engine and came up with a home address that was less than a mile from the Lowe's store and just around the corner from where his adoptive parents raised him.

When he mentioned it to his boss, she said, "You mean Chris Tallady, who works here?"

Flaig was stunned: "I was like, there's no possible way."

On Dec. 12, on his day off, Flaig happened to be driving past DA Blodgett's offices, so he stopped in and told them of his find. An employee there volunteered to call Tallady for him.

Tallady, now 45, was surprised to get the call at Lowe's and astonished to learn that the son she had given up for adoption 22 years earlier was a co-worker.

"It was a shock," she said. "I started crying. I figured he would call me sometime, but not like this."

Flaig said he is eager to meet her other two children, 12-year-old Alexandria and 10-year-old Brandon, his half-siblings.

"I have a complete family now, all my kids," Tallady said. "It's a perfect time of year. It's the best Christmas present ever."

Source: Yahoo News

Tattooed privates prove not so private

2007-12-20T10:18:00.000-08:00

PHOENIX - A surgeon faces a disciplinary hearing for snapping a photo of a patient's tattooed genitals during an operation and showing it around to other doctors.

Mayo Clinic Hospital administrators said Dr. Adam Hansen, chief resident of general surgery, admitted taking the photo with his cell phone on Dec. 11. The tattoo on strip club owner Sean Dubowik's penis reads: "Hot Rod."

Dubowik, who had undergone a gallbladder operation, said he learned of the photo Monday when the Mayo Clinic called.

"I got a strange call after my surgery from a doctor who said there was a problem. He said Hansen was on the phone and would explain," he said.

Dubowik, 27, said Hansen told him he took the picture while inserting a catheter into his penis. A member of the surgical staff made an anonymous call about the photo to The Arizona Republic on Monday.

"He told me he didn't want me to read about it in the newspaper first," Dubowik said.

Hansen wasn't available for comment Tuesday and has been placed on administrative leave. He could face a range of punishment from probation to dismissal.

"Patient privacy is a serious matter, and photographing someone in this manner without a good reason is something we will investigate down to the last detail," said Dr. Joseph Sirven, education director for Mayo Clinic Arizona, the hospital's parent organization based in Scottsdale.

Dubowik said he got the tattoo on a bet and that "it was the most horrible thing I ever went though in my life."

He said he planned to contact an attorney.

"The longer I sit here the angrier I get," he said.

Source: Yahoo News

Mountain for Santa

2007-12-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

Kyrgyzstan to name a mountain for Santa

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - This former Soviet republic has mountains honoring Communist and Russian leaders. Just in time for Christmas, authorities say they plan to name a snowy peak "Mount Santa Claus."

Three climbers set off Wednesday to scale the designated peak and bury a capsule containing the flag of Kyrgyzstan at the summit on Christmas Eve.

Why is a predominantly Muslim and former Soviet land honoring the jolly old elf?

"We want to develop tourism, and Santa Claus is an ideal brand to help us do this," said Nurhon Tadzhibayeva, an official with Kyrgyz tourist authorities.

Plans are afoot to hold an international Santa Claus congress in Kyrgyzstan in the summer, Tadzhibayeva said. The country also intends to hold annual games in which Santas from all over the world will test their chimney-climbing, sled-racing and tree-decorating skills.

Other Kyrgyzstan peaks bear the names of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin and former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Source: Yahoo News

Jamie Lynn Spears

2007-12-19T10:45:00.000-08:00

Jamie Lynn Spears (L), younger sister of U.S. singer Britney Spears watch the NBA game between the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles in this December 17, 2006 file photo. Jamie Lynn, 16, who stars as a schoolgirl in Nickelodeon's popular TV show "Zoey 101," is pregnant.

The cable channel confirmed a report in the forthcoming edition of celebrity gossip magazine OK! that Jamie Lynn Spears is expecting a child. "We respect Jamie Lynn's decision to take responsibility in this sensitive and personal situation. We know this is a very difficult time for her and her family, and our primary concern right now is for Jamie Lynn's well being," Nickelodeon said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.

Source: Yahoo News Photo

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Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16-year-old star of the cable TV comedy series "Zoey 101" and sister of Britney, tells OK! magazine that she's pregnant and that the father is her longtime boyfriend, Casey Aldridge.

"It was a shock for both of us, so unexpected," she says. "I was in complete and total shock and so was he."

Spears is 12 weeks along and initially kept the news to herself when she learned of the pregnancy from an at-home test and subsequent doctor visit, she told the celebrity magazine, which hits stands in New York on Wednesday and the rest of the country by Friday.

"As soon as I found out for sure from the doctor, I took two weeks to myself where I didn't tell anybody," she says. "Only one of my friends knew because I needed to work out what I would do for myself before I let anyone's opinion affect my decision. Then I told my parents and my friends. I was scared, but I had to do what was right for me."

Spears broke the news to her mother, Lynne, just before the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 22, the magazine says.

"She was very upset because it wasn't what she expected at all," Spears says. "A week after, she had time to cope with it and became very supportive."

Lynne Spears, already grandmother to Britney's young sons, says: "I didn't believe it because Jamie Lynn's always been so conscientious. She's never late for her curfew. I was in shock. I mean, this is my 16-year-old baby."

She says her actress daughter, the telegenic heroine of the popular Nickelodeon series "Zoey 101" about students at a California boarding school, has known Aldridge for years and began dating him in high school.

Jamie Lynn, a high school junior, plans to raise the baby in her home state of Louisiana -- "so it can have a normal family life."

The third season of "Zoey 101" wraps up Jan. 4.

"I haven't spoken to (Nickelodeon) personally, but they have always been so great to me over the past years and have given me so many opportunities."

What message does she want to send to other teens about premarital sex?

"I definitely don't think it's something you should do; it's better to wait," she says. "But I can't be judgmental because it's a position I put myself in."

Source: Mainichi Daily News

Man Marriages Dog

2007-12-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

We have all heard the 'man bites dog' stories, but how about a real-life 'man marries dog' tale! This one takes the biscuit, and it could only happen in India, the land of the KamaSutra.

But you won't find this kind of love story between man and beast in the ancient Indian sex manual. It took place for real during a traditional hindu ceremony at a temple in the southern state of TamilNadu. The groom in question was a 33-year-old Indian farmer named Selvakumar, and he was wed to a female dog named Selvi. He married his four legged bitch to atone for stoning two other dogs to death and stringing them up in a tree 15 years ago. He believed the act cursed him and he had been suffering ever since, he told the Hindustan Times.

After he stoned the dogs he said his legs and hands got paralyzed, he lost hearing in one ear, and his speech was impaired. With doctors unable to help him, Selvakumar turned to an astrologer who told him he was cursed by the spirits of the dogs he had killed. He could undo the curse only if he married a dog and live with it, the soothsayer warned. Family members chose a stray female dog who was then bathed and clothed for the wedding occasion. Selvi the bride was brought to the temple by village women and a Hindu priest conducted the ceremony.

The paper showed a picture of Selvakumar sitting next to his canine bride, which was adorned in an orange sari and flower garland. The paper said the groom and his family then had a feast, while the dog got a bun. It was reported that Selvi attempted to make a bolt for it -- apparently due to the big crowds -- but she was tracked down and returned to her new 'husband'.

"The dog is only for lifting the curse and after that, he plans to get a real bride," a friend of the groom said.

Deeply superstitious people in rural India sometimes organize weddings to dogs and other animals, believing it can beat certain curses.

Source: The Weird News

World's Most Premature Living Baby

2007-12-17T06:16:00.001-08:00

This handout image from October 24, 2006, shows the world's most premature living baby, Amillia Sonja Taylor's, feet held in contrast with adult hands, just after her birth at Baptist Children's Hospital in Miami, Florida. Taylor, only slightly longer than a ballpoint pen at birth was due to be sent home in the coming days from a Florida hospital after four months of neonatal intensive care, the hospital said on February 20, 2007.

Source: Yahoo Photos

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

2007-12-15T22:39:00.000-08:00

Online retailer Amazon revealed Friday it was the mystery buyer of British author J.K. Rowling's first book since the phenomenally successful Harry Potter series.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" was sold at auction at Sotheby's Thursday to art dealers on behalf of an unidentified client for 1.95 million pounds (2.72 million euros, 3.95 million dollars), 40 times its expected price.

All proceeds from the sale of the handwritten single volume will go to Rowling's charity, Children's Voice, which helps vulnerable children across Europe.

Amazon has published editorial reviews of the book's content and photographs on its website, although it did not reveal if it would also make extracts from the book available.

"Even before establishing her charity, J. K. Rowling had done the world a rare and immeasurably valuable service, enlarging forever our concept of the way books can touch people, and in particular children, in modern times," Amazon's founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos said in a statement.

Amazon has sold 12 million of the Potter books.

"The Tales" play a key role in the seventh and last Potter tome, "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows", which came out in July, featuring as the volume of five wizarding fairy tales left to Potter's friend Hermione Granger by headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

One of the tales appears in "Deathly Hallows", but the remaining four are told in "The Tales" for the first time.

There are just seven of the books, bound in brown Moroccan leather covered with a silver skull motif and jewels. Rowling gave the other six to people involved with the Potter books.

The 42-year-old author has become a billionaire, with the tales of the boy wizard translated into 64 languages.

Source: Yahoo News