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Joke Thread - Keep it Clean

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:33:52 GMT

Sometimes, the crew of airliners make an effort to be a bit more entertaining. Here are some real examples that have been heard or reported:

1...On a Continental Flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, Ladies and Gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."

2...On landing the stewardess said, "Please be sure to take all your belongings. If you are going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have."

3..."Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride."

4...As the plane landed and was coming to a stop at Washington National, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker: "Whoa, big fella. WHOA!"

5...A flight attendant on a Northwest flight announced: "Please take care when opening the overhead compartments because, after a landing like that, sure as he*l everything has shifted."

6...From a Southwest Airlines employee...."Welcome aboard Southwest
Flight 859 to Los Angeles. To operate your seat belt, insert the metal tab into the buckle, and pull tight. It works just like every other seat belt, and if you don't know how to operate one, you probably shouldn't be out in public unsupervised."

How to save Gas???

smith — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:08:05 GMT

Six ways drivers typically waste gas every on every trip

1. Racing away from green lights

When the light turns green, you don't have to take off as quickly as possible. That pedal under your right foot is called the "gas pedal" for a good reason. The more you press down on it, the more gas you're pumping into the engine.

Press lightly on the gas pedal, and you'll still accelerate, and you'll still get where you're going. You might be surprised at how little pressure it takes to get your car up to speed in a reasonable time.

2. Racing up to red lights

When you're driving down the street, and you see a light red light or stop sign up ahead, you should lay off the gas sooner rather than later.

There's no point in keeping your foot on the gas until just before you reach the intersection. Let off the pedal sooner and give your engine a rest as you coast to the stop while braking gently. As an added benefit, your brake pads will last longer, too.

By themselves, these first two tips can improve your fuel economy around town by as much as 35 percent, according to tests conducted by automotive information Web site Edmunds.com.

3. Confusing the highway with a speedway

Even if it doesn't involve hard acceleration, speeding wastes gas. The faster you go, the more air your vehicle has to push out of the way. It's like moving your hand through water. The faster you try to move your hand, the harder the water pushes back.

In tests by Consumer Reports, driving at 75 miles per hour instead of 65 miles per hour reduced fuel economy by between 3 and 5 miles per gallon, depending on the vehicle.

4. Bumper-buzzing

Tailgating is a bad move for many reasons. First of all, it's unsafe. You reduce your ability to react if the car in front of you slows or stops. It also means you have to pay ultra-close attention to that car which reduces your ability to scan for other hazards ahead of you and to the sides.

And tailgating wastes gas. Every time the driver ahead taps his brakes, you have to slow down even more than he did. (That's because you can't react immediately so you have to slow even more because you're slowing down later.) Then you accelerate again to get back up to speed and resume your bumper-buzzing routine.

Hang back and you'll be safer - plus you'll be able to drive more smoothly and use less fuel. A good rule of thumb is to allow two seconds of space between your car and the one ahead. You can figure that out by counting off two seconds after the car in front of you passes an obvious landmark like an overpass.

5. Driving standing still

You've probably heard that it takes more gas to restart a car than to let it run. Maybe that used to be true, but it isn't anymore. With modern fuel-injection engines, it takes very little extra gas to restart a car once it's warmed up.

Idling, meanwhile, burns about a half-mile worth of gas every minute, according to the California Energy Commission. That's why hybrid cars shut down their gasoline engines whenever they stop, even for a moment.

Now you don't want to shut your engine down for every little stop in your regular, non-hybrid car - it's not designed for that - but if you're waiting for someone to run in and out of a convenience store, turn off the engine.

And don't go through the drive-through at fast food restaurants. You're already paying enough for the oil in those chicken nuggets.

Bonus tip: Don't idle your engine to let it warm up before driving. It does your engine no good and it wastes gas. Instead, start driving right away, but drive gently until the engine is warm.

6. Short hops

For really short trips, take advantage of the opportunity to get some exercise. Try walking to the store instead of driving. You can save gas and burn a few calories instead.

If you can't hoof it, save up your errands. A lot of short hops that let the engine cool down at home between trips can use twice as much gas as starting the car once and making a big sweep to all your stops, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Go to your farthest destination first so your engine has a chance to reach its optimal operating temperature. Then make your other stops on the way back. With the engine warmed up, the car will restart easily and run efficiently all the way home.

Food crisis

nano — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:44:40 GMT

What a foolish argument

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Indians-Chinese-behind-food-crisis-Condi-Rice/303179/

Rebate check to stimulate the economy!

Ragha — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:30:25 GMT

How to use Your IRS Rebate check...

As you may have heard, each of us will be getting a tax rebate check to stimulate the economy.

:)If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

:DIf we spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs.

:PIf we purchase a computer it will go to India.

;)If we purchase fruits and vegetables it will go to Mexico , Honduras , and Guatemala.

:w00t:If we purchase a good car it will go to Japan . If we purchase useless stuff it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

:hehe:We need to keep that money here in America . The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since those are the only businesses still in the US !

Trouble Sleeping? You're Not Alone

nano — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:27:07 GMT

According to Harvard Women's Health Watch, more than 225 million people in the United States encounter sleep difficulties at least a few nights a week. While occasional insomnia generally is not cause for concern, chronic sleep loss can be. Routine difficulty sleeping can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure and a decrease in the effectiveness of your body's immune system.

Medications (over the counter or prescribed) aren't always the best solution to insomnia. Sometimes, making simple changes to your lifestyle can help. Take charge of your health by following these suggestions from Aetna InteliHealth:

Stay on schedule. Go to bed and get up around the same time every day. The body's natural sleep-wake patterns, called circadian rhythms, can be disrupted by abrupt schedule swings. Maintaining a regular bedtime schedule helps train the body to sleep at the desired time.
Make your bed a resting place, not a media center. Go to bed when you're tired, but if you find you can't sleep, get out of bed. Go into another room and watch television or read a book. When you're truly sleepy, go back to bed.
Say "no" to naps. If you nap during the day, you will require less sleep at night. This can cause insomnia, and your sleep times may become too brief to include high-quality deep sleep.
Exercise regularly. Do exercise regularly (but not right before bedtime). It helps regulate your metabolism and will prepare your body for sleep.
Choose the right soundtrack. Use a fan or a white-noise generator in the bedroom to create a soothing sound and help mask other noises.
Cut back on caffeine and alcohol. Don't drink anything caffeinated after lunchtime. Avoid alcohol late in the evening, or give it up entirely for a while. Even though alcohol acts as a sedative, it disrupts normal sleep patterns and causes awakenings later during the night.
See the light. Properly timed light exposure can shift the body's sleep-wake cycle. People who wake up earlier than they'd like should minimize morning light with heavy curtains or comfortable eyeshades and maximize their exposure to bright light in the evening before bedtime. People who have trouble falling asleep at bedtime and then tend to oversleep in the morning can shift their rhythms earlier with the reverse strategy.
Try warm milk at bedtime. This old advice does seem to help some people. The effect may be strictly psychological -- but so what, if it works? There also may be a physiological explanation: The warm beverage may temporarily increase the core body temperature, and the subsequent temperature drop may hasten sleep.
Check your medications. Many medications can cause insomnia, so ask your doctor or pharmacist about all the drugs you take. For example, the decongestants that many people take at bedtime can have a stimulating effect.
Don't self-medicate. There's little evidence that supplements and other over-the-counter "sleep aids" are effective. In some cases, there are safety concerns. Antihistamine sleep aids, in particular, have a long duration of action and can cause daytime drowsiness.

Sleep is important in that it doesn't just refresh your body, it also recharges your brain, says the Better Sleep Council. While you are sleeping, your brain is cataloging the memories and other information you've acquired over the course of a day. According to James D. Walsh, director of St. Luke's Hospital Sleep Medicine and Research Center, "Sleep is a time when the brain can rehearse recently learned material. If you're sleep-deprived, you'll remember less of newly presented information."

Make time for sleep. Your body and mind will thank you for it.

Earth Hour

nano — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:46:31 GMT

On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone. On this day, cities around the world will hold events to acknowledge their commitment to energy conservation. Good initiative from Earth Hour for everyone think about global warming. Various organizations, cities across the globe are supporting Earth Hour. Google made its search engine index page black in support of Earth Hour.

I am supporting Earth Hour by swithching off lights from 8PM - 9 pm. Does anybody from here supporting it?

ONE BEDROOM FLAT

nano — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:54:15 GMT

This story is in circulation for few years now. Received again from my colleague. Read on...

A
Bitter Reality

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in
Software Engineering and joined a company based in USA, the
land of braves and opportunity. When I arrived in the USA, it
was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I
would be staying in this country for about Five years in which
time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India.

My father was a government employee and after his retirement,
the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.

I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling
homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and
speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone
cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and
pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange
rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went down.

Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have
only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within
these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight.
Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for
all my friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be
talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through
all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting
shorter I was forced to select one candidate.

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get
married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After
the marriage, it was time to return to USA, after giving some
money to my parents and telling the neighbors to look after
them, we returned to USA.

My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she
started feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India
increased to twice in a week sometimes 3 times a week. Our
savings started diminishing.

After two more years we started to
have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us
by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked
me to come to India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India… But part work part
monetary conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting
India was a distant dream. Then suddenly one day I got a
message that my parents were seriously sick. I tried but I
couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India ... The
next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there
was no one to do the last rights the society members had done
whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents had passed
away without seeing their grand children.

After couple more years passed away, much to my children's
dislike and my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down.
I started to look for a suitable property, but to my dismay my
savings were short and the property prices had gone up during
all these years. I had to return to the USA...

My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to
stay in India... My 2 children and I returned to USA after
promising my wife I would be back for good after two years.

Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an
American and my son was happy living in USA... I decided that
had enough and wound-up every thing and returned to India... I
had just enough money to buy a decent 02 bedroom flat in a
well-developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is
for the routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife
has also left me and gone to the holy abode.

Sometimes

I wondered was it worth all this?

My father, even after staying in India,

Had a house to his name and I too have
the same nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM.

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing.
This damned cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these
children are losing their values and culture because of it. I
get occasional cards from my children asking I am alright. Well
at least they remember me.

Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will
be performing my last rights, God Bless them.

But the question
still
remains 'was all this worth it?'

I am still searching for an answer.................!!!

START THINKING

IS IT JUST FOR ONE EXTRA BEDROOM???

LIFE IS BEYOND THIS …..DON'T JUST LEAVE YOUR LIFE ……...
START LIVING IT …….
LIVE ITAS YOU WANT IT TO BE …….

Jim Cramer - Mad Money - Bad Stock Recommendations

James2008 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:17:46 GMT

I remember when the internet stocks crashed in 1999 and Jim Cramer ran a mutual fund that lost millions because he kept on buy stocks on the way down. His share holders of that run road down with him losing all money hand over fist.

Recently he recommended that people keep their money in Bear Sterns. Even if you do not follow the stock market you probably heard that Bear Sterns went from $80 a share to $2.00 recently. Now JP Morgan Chase is going to buy the company for "pennies" $2.00 a share.

Well Jim Cramer tells a caller (before the crash) of the stock to keep their money in Bear Sterns. His recent stop picks for callers over the last few weeks of this post have been losers, some more that 20%.

This guy has written book after best selling book on stock trading, has a show on MSNBC, part owner of TheStreet and RealMoney.com, and makes millions. This guy does not even need to try to make money in stocks but he sure can lose it for the people that take his advice.

Click Here to see his comments regarding Bear Sterns on You Tube and what he recommended to a caller on Mad Money Lightening Round.

Microsoft's future vision

nano — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:45:07 GMT

Beyond Windows Imagine calling up your health data any time, any place. Microsoft already is hard at work to make that happen, along with other projects aimed at rebuilding society's infrastructure.

A few years from now, when you drive into a McDonald's parking lot, your dashboard computer will start beeping.

The computer is synced to your phone, and both devices have geographic location services. They know where you are and, based on your credit-card activity, they guess you're about to order another burger and supersized fries.

But because you've subscribed to Microsoft Personal Trainer 2015, a premium feature of the online health-management system you've been using since 2012, technology intervenes. The services are gathering information on your behalf, using a new software platform that began taking shape in 2008.

When your car stops moving, the phone projects your image on the windshield, similar to the way R2D2 played the holographic image of Princess Leia in "Star Wars."

On the windshield, you're looking chubbier than you do in the rear-view mirror, because the image shows what you'll look like if you keep eating this way.

Superimposed on the image is your current weight, the cholesterol reading from your last checkup and -- highlighted in red -- a notation that you haven't used your Web-connected treadmill for over a month.

The image flickers and zooms ahead two years, showing how you'll appear after gaining an extra 30 pounds and being diagnosed with diabetes. With the ka-ching sound of a slot machine, it starts calculating what will happen to your health and life-insurance premiums. Somewhere in the background, it sends an update to your physician.

The image on your windshield is more than virtual. It's reality, based on the medical imagery, health records and genetic profiling accumulated in your online medical-record repository.

All of those images are stitched together using Photosynth technology Microsoft acquired in 2006 when it purchased a Seattle imaging startup. The images and other records are stored and distributed by HealthVault, the health-information platform the company launched in October 2007.

HealthVault plugs into Amalga, the health-care-information platform Microsoft plans to launch this summer after testing by top- tier hospitals across the country.

The McDonald's scenario is a bit facetious, but that's how I visualize the direction Microsoft is heading with its software-plus- services strategy.

Why Yahoo?

It also sheds light on why Microsoft is willing to spend nearly all of its cash on Yahoo -- to give its Web search and online services like HealthVault the scale needed to attain critical mass - - and why it's confident enough to keep hiring thousands of developers and building all those new buildings in Redmond and Bellevue.

Looking far ahead, this is no longer about protecting the Windows- Office desktop franchises.

The company's long-range goal is to rebuild society's infrastructure, to paraphrase Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer and Bill Gates' successor as the company's visionary.

The platform isn't on any particular computer, phone or Web site. It's more the webbing that ties them all together and the tools you'll use to manage your personal data.

Google and others are going after the same thing, and the building blocks are falling into place. It's starting with search, with systems that draw on personal medical information to tailor searches for information about health-related topics.

Just Wednesday, Aetna announced a program that lets its insurance customers tap their medical records to focus Web searches done on a special medical search engine powered by San Francisco-based HealthLine Networks.

Comfort factor

The biggest challenge may be getting people used to the new tools and comfortable with the information sharing.

"We'll have the technical capability in a relatively short time," Mundie said. "Like other things, we've learned that when you're changing the infrastructure of society, it doesn't happen overnight. You have to get the thing started and stick with it until it tips over and everybody realizes it's the way."

Within a few years, consumers will probably collect and store their medical records to help them make better decisions about their care and have more control over their personal information.

Doctors and hospitals will use better systems for accessing and using all of this data.

Once these foundations are in place and dramatically more powerful computers appear, it's not so far-fetched to think of ways this information will be used and displayed, keeping you informed of your health status as if you're a character in a video game.

The first step is developing better tools to manage and use the medical data that's already being collected.

At Microsoft, that's the task of Peter Neupert, vice president of the health-solutions group, who reports to Mundie.

Neupert joined Microsoft in 1987 but left in 1998 to become chief executive of Bellevue-based drugstore.com.

Before returning to Microsoft, he served as co-chairman of a presidential committee that examined ways information technology could improve health care. Among its recommendations were making disparate health-care systems work together.

Its advice also led President Bush to establish an objective that everyone should have an electronic health-care record by 2014.

Neupert sees health care as "fundamentally an information- management problem," where Microsoft can help by building systems that "make it easy to synthesize vast amounts of data that people are collecting in various environments."

He compares health care to the travel industry in around 1998, before it was revolutionized by online services that gave consumers more options and involvement in their travel planning.

Consumer impetus

The privacy implications are spooky, but Neupert said Microsoft's research has found people want their health-care providers to get into the Internet age, starting with online lab results and the ability to communicate with physicians.

"I think you'll see a progression -- if we, online, deliver real value where value is better convenience, better safety, better results, make my life easier, they'll start to use it," he said.

Regulations about sharing medical information could be a challenge, and Microsoft will undoubtedly try to have a say in how those regulations evolve, but Neupert said the company designed its systems "to be operable and legal and successful in the current regulatory environment."

The "connected health environment" that Neupert describes gets more interesting when you think of how it could modernize the health- care payment system.

Today doctors are paid when patients are in their offices, but what if they were able to remotely keep tabs on the health of their patients and intervene (and get paid) when necessary?

"With the infrastructure, I think you can change the economics, and then it's a question of who gets the benefit," Neupert said.

Fertile ground

For Microsoft, the benefit will come from selling its Amalga enterprise software to hospitals and its tool kit to software developers and firms building services that run on its health-care platform.

HealthVault is free to consumers and doctors, and supported by advertising.

So when you're sitting there in McDonald's, perplexed about the messages flashing on your windshield, the system will display an advertisement for an organic juice bar across the street.

You can drive there, leave the phone in the glove box, walk back to McDonald's and pay cash for that burger.

Later, after your heart attack, paramedics will swipe your medical card through a reader to call up your HealthVault and see if you're allergic to any medications.

The hospital will be using Amalga to line up your bed and a defibrillator, and pull your records into a dossier for the emergency-room crew.

It will also sync up with your insurance company so the treatment is covered, as long as they don't notice the ketchup stains on your shirt and the receipt in your pocket.

Sania Mirza

nano — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:30:33 GMT

Thanks to mullas and hindu fundamentalists, Sania skipping Bangalore Open. Bangalore tennis lovers going to miss Sania's beautiful.................................................................................................tennis. (Whats your nasty mind in thinking about ? :) )

Read on..

http://sports.indiatimes.com/Sania_opts_out_of_Bangalore_Open/articleshow/2756289.cms

Democrat Poll

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:45:25 GMT

Cast Your Vote on this Democratic Poll

New Forums & Topics?

Traveler — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:38:52 GMT

I was thinking about new forums to generate more discussions, how about Bollywood, .NET, and other technology? Can we have it?

Car that swims

nano — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:42:12 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgnSljm-lgY

It's now or never for N-deal: US envoy

nano — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 07:55:42 GMT

http://deccanherald.com/Content/Feb92008/national2008020951320.asp?section=updatenews

10 tips to help topple that cold

nano — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:45:47 GMT

Green tea, probiotics, herbs and vitamin-spiked drinks promise to help fight nasty viruses lurking on doorknobs and phones.

But most of these products are more about marketing than strengthening the immune system, said Dr. Damon Schranz of the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Here's what works and what doesn't:

1. Soap and water

Most colds are transmitted by shaking hands, but a 2006 survey found that only 34 percent of respondents washed their hands after coughing or sneezing. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are less effective than ordinary soap.

2. Probiotics

Long used in Europe, probiotic dairy drinks have hit the U.S. market with promising results. There's evidence to suggest probiotics can reduce respiratory symptoms and boost immunity. A cup of plain yogurt does the trick just as well.

3. Exercise

A half-hour of brisk walking most days can pay off. One study found that active people had 25 percent fewer colds than others. Walking appears to increase immune cells in the bloodstream, leading researchers to theorize exercise can fight off germs.

4. Eat fruits and veggies

Carrots, pumpkin, squash, spinach and broccoli are packed with immune-boosting carotenoids. Dried fruit, such as raisins, may also be helpful. This is a good practice year-round.

5. Avoid germs

Anything a sick person touches can get infested with germs, including money, mail, ATM keypads, credit cards, pens, shopping cart handles, etc. Take no chances. Use your own pen when signing receipts or to punch numbers on the ATM.

6. Echinacea

It's said to increase the number of infection-fighting white blood cells. A 2007 study found that echinacea cuts the chance of catching a cold by 58 percent and can reduce the duration of colds. That directly contradicted other major studies. Look for echinacea made by reputable companies to be sure the product actually contains the herb.

7. Green tea

Green tea's claim to fame is its antioxidants, which may help boost the immune system. But can it prevent the common cold? A 2007 study found the ingredients in green tea can enhance the body's immune system by 28 percent. It may not prevent a cold, but it does have other health benefits.

8. Vitamin C

Doctors say there's no evidence that vitamin C can prevent a cold, and they have decades of research to support that. Extra C may reduce the duration and severity of a cold, but not significantly.

9. Zinc

Several studies have found zinc nasal sprays can cut cold symptoms by a couple days. But other studies have shown it doesn't work. Use the nasal spray with caution until studies demonstrate the risk to smell. Zinc lozenges are also available.

10. Sleep

When people don't get enough sleep, the body's T lymphocytes, which help destroy infections, don't work as well. Even if extra sleep doesn't boost immunity, it makes people feel better.

How much water we should be drinking?

Ragha — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:45:44 GMT

Most people should drink at least 7 to 10 average sized glasses of water each day. Many people do not drink enough water and the consequences of this can be severe. People often think that drinking cups of tea, coffee or even alcohol makes up for not drinking water. This is incorrect. Instead of quenching your thirst these drinks can actually make you feel more thirsty

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/diet.fitness/05/24/cohen.water.otsc/index.html

Customs at Indian airport

nano — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:24:18 GMT

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Jail_beckons_airport_duty_evaders/articleshow/2739058.cms

Baba Amte passes away

nano — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 11:52:40 GMT

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Amte_the_great_social_reformer/articleshow/2768984.cms

Diabetes Health Goes Beyond Blood Sugar

nano — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:02:17 GMT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/health/08diabetes.html?ref=health

Bihar IIT Coaching center

nano — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 05:29:10 GMT

This is pretty remarkable

http://bihartoday.blogspot.com/2007/06/200-from-patna-made-it-to-indias.html

A Nano leap into the future

nano — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:21:12 GMT

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/A_Nano_leap_into_the_future/articleshow/2695521.cms