Shiv - Random Thoughts

Top 10 Consumer Electronics Companies

2012-03-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

I did some research on the top 10 innovative consumer electronic companies (read many articles, visited websites) and this is a consensus from many of the industry experts and my personal opinion as well:

1) Apple - Do not have to talk about the non-newtonian apple!!
2) Jawbone - Amazing blue tooth head sets and wireless speakers that pack a punch. The company has seen some astronomical growth in 2011. For more details visit www.jawbone.com
3) Lytro - Introduced a new way to capture interactive, living pictures. Lytro is going to give the big gun camera makers a run for their money in the coming years. www.lytro.com
4) Nest - The self programming, intelligent Thermostat. Visit www.nest.com
5) Samsung - No comments..everyone knows about it right?!
6) Amazon - There is more fire to Amazon..than the Kindle
7) Fitbit - Fitbit is dedicated to helping people lead healthier, more active lives. It keeps track of every step you take in your day to day life, visit www.fitbit.com
8) Sifteo - A geeky gadget which marries a classical game to latest technology. From playing a solo arcade mission to multiple player game to match puzzle to music sequencer..the possibilities are numerous. Visit www.sifteo.com
9) Lark - Powered by the top sleep experts in the world, the Lark sleep system helps you wake better and sleep better as well. For both of you... Visit www.lark.com

10) Cue Acoustics - combine the latest digital technology breakthrough with innovative acoustical engineering to create unique products that delivers amazingly clear sound with clarity and deep bass. Visit www.cue.com

Hope you enjoyed reading this article. Post your feedback at http://shiva-randomthoughts.blogspot.com/ or Twitter - @subashclty

Dhoni (2012) - Tamil Movie Review

2012-03-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

Dhoni (2012) Produced and Directed by Prakash Raj tells the trials and tribulations of a middle class man Subraminum (Prakash Raj) a
State Government employee, widower and hard working father of two kids (Son Karthik - excellent performance by Aakash, daughter Kaveri - played effectively by Sriteja).

There are an ensemble of supporting cast who add strength to the screen play - Thalaivasal Vijay (Neuro Surgeon), Sharat Babu (Chief Minister), neighbourhood well wisher (Radhika Apte), Nasser (Cricket Coach), Murali Sharma (Ghani Bhai), Bhramanandam (Subraminum's boss) and Prabhu Deva (Guest appearance for a song). Prakash Raj has effectively used all the actors. Particularly - Radhika Apte, Ghani Bhai and Aakash providing stand out performance. In fact all the three stand up to Prakash Raj in performance.

Subramanium runs from dawn to dusk working hard to make ends meet by doing overtime at work, selling pickles to ensure that his son and daughter get a good education. His son on the other hand wants to become like Dhoni - the star cricketer and captain of the Indian team. He is not able remember the 17th table of multiplication, but he knows all the nitty-gritties of Cricket, right from dimension of Cricket ball to the circumference of Cricket stadium.

This is the story of every ambitious parent who wants his son and daughter to live and become their dreams and in the process not realizing the dreams of their children. It focusses on the Indian education system and the commercialization of education as school's focus on the 100% result in public exams trampling on the natural interests and talents of aspiring students.

Karthik fails to cope up with Subramanium's ambition, while his coach (Nasser) praises his cricketing talent. Subramanium takes his son out of the cricket coaching and puts him through a series of tuition classes without the desired result. His anger on his son takes serious consequences, which changes his outlook to life, makes him understand his son and brings about a change in his life and surrounding people. The screenplay is interspersed with irony, humour and melodious music of Maestro Illayaraja which will keep the audience engaged.

Prakash raj has shown time and again that he is a serious student of Cinema and movie making. This decade is going to show Prakash Raj in a new light. Dhoni brings out the star performer in Prakash Raj and he does not wait this the last over to hit the winning run...Enjoy Dhoni and its realistic story which will touch every heart. Rating - 3.5 / 5

Technical facts about Mullai Periyar dam - The Water Bomb is ticking..

2011-11-23T20:27:00.000-08:00

http://jamewils.blogspot.com/2010/11/arugments-by-tamil-nadu-and-counter.html?spref=tw

- Partisan politicians and short sighted bureaucrats, it is time to think about the life of lakhs of people who will be affected if the Mullaiperiyar dam breaks. Time for Tamil Nadu Government to start thinking of their generous neighbours. Are you listening?

My Review of Roku HD Player

2011-11-23T19:51:00.001-08:00

Originally submitted at Roku

The new HD, with built-in wireless, delivers top value in high-definition streaming.

Roku XD|S player product review

By Subash Sivakumaran from Centreville, Virginia on 11/23/2011

Pros: Easy to set up, Compact, High quality picture, Easy to use, Built in Wi-Fi

Cons: Want more video choices, Does not replace cable tv

Describe Yourself: Home entertainment enthusiast, Movie buff, Early adopter, Power User

I primarily use it for watching netflix and hulu and watch few news channel, Indian movies and television channels.

(legalese)

HootSuite - Social Media Dashboard Tool

2011-05-05T12:38:00.000-07:00

HootSuite (www.hootsuite.com) is a website and online brand management service, which publishes to websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, MySpace, and WordPress. It is also a Twitter client. The service, created by Invoke Media, but later spun off as a separate entity, was founded in November 2008 and launched in December 2008. Version 2 of the client was released on July 31, 2009. The iPhone version of HootSuite was released on December 9, 2009.^[5] An Android OS version of the application also exists.

The HootSuite software has won awards from Mashable at their Open Web Awards 2009,^[12] the Canadian New Media Award,^[13] the Shorty Awards,^[14] and "Best Twitter app" from Australia's mX newspaper.^[15]

HootSuite is competing in a marketplace for social media dashboard tools or platforms, where marketers are focused on social media management for their clients' web engagement activities ^[16]. The most well known competitors of HootSuite include TweetDeck and Seesmic. Each of the big three dashboards pursues innovation strategies that emulate the most recent feature enhancements of the other two; for example, TweetDeck launched with a desktop application based on the Adobe AIR platform, and eventually Seesmic rolled out its own Desktop version.

I have been using Hootsuite for posting and scheduling articles in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It provides you a birds eye view of all your Following and Followers in Twitter and Posts in Facebook. Plus you can post contents from your RSS feeds to SMM engines. Try it out.

The history behind why people drive on the right hand side

2011-02-11T09:25:00.001-08:00

Why do some countries drive on the right

and others on the left ?

History and origin
About a quarter of the world drives on the left, and the countries that do are mostly old British colonies. This strange quirk perplexes the rest of the world; but there is a perfectly good reason.

In the past, almost everybody travelled on the left side of the road because that was the most sensible option for feudal, violent societies. Since most people are right-handed, swordsmen preferred to keep to the left in order to have their right arm nearer to an opponent and their scabbard further from him. Moreover, it reduced the chance of the scabbard (worn on the left) hitting other people.

Furthermore, a right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse, and it would be very difficult to do otherwise if wearing a sword (which would be worn on the left). It is safer to mount and dismount towards the side of the road, rather than in the middle of traffic, so if one mounts on the left, then the horse should be ridden on the left side of the road.

In the late 1700s, however, teamsters in France and the United States began hauling farm products in big wagons pulled by several pairs of horses. These wagons had no driver's seat; instead the driver sat on the left rear horse, so he could keep his right arm free to lash the team. Since he was sitting on the left, he naturally wanted everybody to pass on the left so he could look down and make sure he kept clear of the oncoming wagon’s wheels. Therefore he kept to the right side of the road.

In addition, the French Revolution of 1789 gave a huge impetus to right-hand travel in Europe. The fact is, before the Revolution, the aristocracy travelled on the left of the road, forcing the peasantry over to the right, but after the storming of the Bastille and the subsequent events, aristocrats preferred to keep a low profile and joined the peasants on the right. An official keep-right rule was introduced in Paris in 1794, more or less parallel to Denmark, where driving on the right had been made compulsory in 1793.

Later, Napoleon's conquests spread the new rightism to the Low Countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Russia and many parts of Spain and Italy. The states that had resisted Napoleon kept left – Britain, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Portugal. This European division, between the left- and right-hand nations would remain fixed for more than 100 years, until after the First World War.

Although left-driving Sweden ceded Finland to right-driving Russia after the Russo-Swedish War (1808-1809), Swedish law – including traffic regulations – remained valid in Finland for another 50 years. It wasn’t until 1858 that an Imperial Russian decree made Finland swap sides.

The trend among nations over the years has been toward driving on the right, but Britain has done its best to stave off global homogenisation. With the expansion of travel and road building in the 1800s, traffic regulations were made in every country. Left-hand driving was made mandatory in Britain in 1835. Countries which were part of the British Empire followed suit. This is why to this very day, India, Australasia and the former British colonies in Africa go left. An exception to the rule, however, is Egypt, which had been conquered by Napoleon before becoming a British dependency.

Although Japan was never part of the British Empire, its traffic also goes to the left. Although the origin of this habit goes back to the Edo period (1603-1867) when Samurai ruled the country, it wasn’t until 1872 that this unwritten rule became more or less official. That was the year when Japan’s first railway was introduced, built with technical aid from the British. Gradually, a massive network of railways and tram tracks was built, and of course all trains and trams drove on the left-hand side. Still, it took another half century till in 1924 left-side driving was clearly written in a law.

When the Dutch arrived in Indonesia in 1596, they brought along their habit of driving on the left. It wasn't until Napoleon conquered the Netherlands that the Dutch started driving on the right. Most of their colonies, however, remained on the left as did Indonesia and Suriname.

In the early years of English colonisation of North America, English driving customs were followed and the colonies drove on the left. After gaining independence from England, however, they were anxious to cast off all remaining links with their British colonial past and gradually changed to right-hand driving. (Incidentally, the influence of other European countries’ nationals should not be underestimated.) The first law requiring drivers to keep right was passed in Pennsylvania in 1792, and similar laws were passed in New York in 1804 and New Jersey in 1813.

Despite the developments in the US, some parts of Canada continued to drive on the left until shortly after the Second World War. The territory controlled by the French (from Quebec to Louisiana) drove on the right, but the territory occupied by the English (British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland) kept left. British Columbia and the Atlantic provinces switched to the right in the 1920s in order to conform with the rest of Canada and the USA. Newfoundland drove on the left until 1947, and joined Canada in 1949.

In Europe, the remaining left-driving countries switched one by one to driving on the right. Portugal changed in 1920s. The change took place on the same day in the whole country, including the colonies. Territories, however, which bordered other left-driving countries were exempted. That is why Macau, Goa (now part of India) and Portuguese East Africa kept the old system. East Timor, which borders left-driving Indonesia, did change to the right though, but left-hand traffic was reintroduced by the Indonesians in 1975.

In Italy the practice of driving on the right first began in the late 1890s. The first Italian Highway Code, issued on the 30th of June 1912, stated that all vehicles had to drive on the right. Cities with a tram network, however, could retain left-hand driving if they placed warning signs at their city borders. The 1923 decree is a bit stricter, but Rome and the northern cities of Milan, Turin and Genoa could still keep left until further orders from the Ministry of Public Works. By the mid-1920s, right-hand driving became finally standard throughout the country. Rome made the change on the 1 of March 1925 and Milan on the 3rd of August 1926.

Up till the 1930s Spain lacked national traffic regulations. Some parts of the country drove on the right (e.g. Barcelona) and other parts drove on the left (e.g. Madrid). On the 1st of October 1924 Madrid switched to driving on the right.

The break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire caused no change: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary continued to drive on the left. Austria itself was something of a curiosity. Half the country drove on the left and half on the right. The dividing line was precisely the area affected by Napoleon's conquests in 1805.
When Germany annexed Austria in 1938, Hitler ordered that the traffic should change from the left to the right side of the road, overnight. The change threw the driving public into turmoil, because motorists were unable to see most road signs. In Vienna it proved impossible to change the trams overnight, so while all other traffic took to the right-hand side of the road, the trams continued to run on the left for several weeks.
Czechoslovakia and Hungary, among the last states on the mainland of Europe to keep left, changed to the right after being invaded by Germany in 1939 and late 1944 respectively.

Meanwhile, the power of the right kept growing steadily. American cars were designed to be driven on the right by locating the drivers' controls on the vehicle's left side. With the mass production of reliable and economical cars in the United States, initial exports used the same design, and out of necessity many countries changed their rule of the road.

Gibraltar changed to right-hand traffic in 1929 and China in 1946. Korea now drives right, but only because it passed directly from Japanese colonial rule to American and Russian influence at the end of the Second World War. Pakistan also considered changing to the right in the 1960s, but ultimately decided not to do it. The main argument against the shift was that camel trains often drove through the night while their drivers were dozing. The difficulty in teaching old camels new tricks was decisive in forcing Pakistan to reject the change. Nigeria, a former British colony, had traditionally been driving on the left with British imported right-hand-drive cars, but when it gained independence, it tried to throw off its colonial past as quick as possible and shifted to driving on the right.

After the Second World War, left-driving Sweden, the odd one out in mainland Europe, felt increasing pressure to change sides in order to conform with the rest of the continent. The problem was that all their neighbours already drove on the right side and since there are a lot of small roads without border guards leading into Norway and Finland, one had to remember in which country one was.
In 1955, the Swedish government held a referendum on the introduction of right-hand driving. Although no less than 82.9% voted “no” to the plebiscite, the Swedish parliament passed a law on the conversion to right-hand driving in 1963. Finally, the change took place on Sunday, the 3rd of September 1967, at 5 o’clock in the morning.

All traffic with private motor-driven vehicles was prohibited four hours before and one hour after the conversion, in order to be able to rearrange all traffic signs. Even the army was called in to help. Also a very low speed limit was applied, which was raised in a number of steps. The whole process took about a month. After Sweden's successful changeover, Iceland changed the following year, in 1968. Ghana swapped sides in 1974.

In the 1960s, Great Britain also considered changing, but the country’s conservative powers did everything they could to nip the proposal in the bud. Furthermore, the fact that it would cost billions of pounds to change everything round wasn’t much of an incentive… Eventually, Britain dropped the idea. Today, only four European countries still drive on the left: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta.

On 7 September 2009 Samoa (population 189,000) became the first country ever to change from right- to left-hand driving. It had been driving on the right since it had become a German colony in the early 20th century, although it was administered by New Zealand after the First World War and gained independence in 1962. Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi wanted to swap sides to make it easier to import cheap cars from left-hand driving Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

Some anecdotes…
While all countries that have swapped sides have transferred from left to right, the only three cases recorded of a transfer from right to left were in East Timor in 1975, in Okinawa on 30 July 1978 and in Samoa on 7 September 2009.

A newspaper story on April Fool's Day suggested that, to further European integration, the UK was to convert to driving on the right. However, owing to the huge amount of work this conversion would cause, it would be phased in: for the first six months the regulation would only apply to buses and taxis.

Myanmar (formerly Burma) was a British colony until 1948, and drove on the left until 1970, when it changed sides. It is said that the ruler of the country, Ne Win, interpreted a dream to mean that all traffic should keep to the right. However, virtually every vehicle is right-hand-drive, since there are still many old cars and buses driving around and almost all the modern cars are second-hand imports from Japan. You can still even see old traffic lights in downtown Rangoon on the wrong side of the road.

Location of the steering wheel
Almost always, in countries where one drives on the right-hand side of the road, the cars are built so that the driver sits on the left-hand side of the car. Conversely, driving on the left-hand side of the road usually implies that the driver's seat is on the right-hand side of the car. It used to be different, though.
All early automobiles in the USA (driving on the right-hand side of the road) were right-hand-drive, following the practice established by horse-drawn buggies. They changed to left-hand-drive in the early 1900s as it was decided that it was more practical to have the driver seated near the centreline of the road, both to judge the space available when passing oncoming cars, and to allow front-seat passengers to get out of the car onto the pavement instead of into the middle of the street.
Ford changed to left-hand-drive in the 1908 model year. A Ford catalogue from 1908 explains the benefits of placing the controls on the left side of the car:
“The control is located on the left side, the logical place, for the following reasons: Travelling along the right side of the road the steering wheel on the right side of the car made it necessary to get out on the street side and walk around the car. This is awkward and especially inconvenient if there is a lady to be considered. The control on the left allows you to step out of the car on to the curbing without having had to turn the car around.
In the matter of steering with the control on the right, the driver is farthest away from the vehicle he is passing, going in opposite direction; with it on the left side he is able to see even the wheels of the other car and easily avoids danger.”
Nowadays, the driver always sits on the side of the car that is nearest to the centre line. However, there are a few exceptions, among other things certain kinds of specialised service vehicles. For example, street-sweeping vehicles may have the reverse driving position to place the driver next to the gutter. Italian-built trolley buses were right-hand-drive for many years in order to observe the passenger doors better.
Until the mid-60s, all Lancias, even in left-hand-drive Italy, were manufactured as right-hand-drive. Lancia intended the cars to be suitable for use on the Alpine passes, so when driving on the right, the driver was also on the right, and could see the edge of the road. Falling off the edge of the road was considered a greater danger than head-on collisions. Modern Italian trucks in the Alps are still often right-hand-drive for the same reason. Similarly, Spanish buses and trucks were right-hand-drive until the 1950s because of the need to watch for unstable road edges.
Some countries restrict imports of vehicles that have their controls arranged differently from the norm for the country, but foreign tourists are usually allowed to drive their odd vehicles while they visit. Non-standard vehicles may be required to have a sign on the back announcing this, which typically reads, "Right-hand-drive" or "Left-hand-drive" or just "RHD" or "LHD". Cambodia (which drives on the right) banned all right-hand-drive vehicles in January 2001 in order to control imports of stolen and smuggled vehicles from Thailand. It required all car owners to have their vehicles modified so that the steering wheel is on the left or risk confiscation. About 80% of the officially registered vehicles in the country had to be modified in order to comply.
One comfort in all this is that the arrangement of the pedals and the gear shift is the same worldwide. An international standard was arrived at some time ago which determined the order of the pedals, no matter on which side the steering wheel is located. Going from right to left, the order is always “A-B-C”, or accelerator, brake and clutch (if the vehicle has manual transmission). Thanks to this international standard, the driver who lives in a right-hand-drive country and, say, rents a car in a left-hand-drive country, does not have to re-educate himself before he can drive a car which has the steering wheel on the “other” side.
The manual (as opposed to automatic) gear lever pattern is also the same but only for commercial reasons. Since the cost-benefit ratio would not be favourable, the same transmissions are generally used, no matter whether the car is left-hand-drive or right-hand-drive.
One area which is not standardised is the location of the turn signal lever. In most places, the turn signal is mounted on the left side of the steering column. This includes right-hand-drive vehicles in the UK, and left-hand-drive vehicles in America and continental Europe. Vehicles built in Australia and Japan, however, have the turn signal lever mounted on the right. At one time this meant that cars made by Nissan in Britain had the signals and wiper controls one way round, but cars made by Nissan in Japan for the British market had them the opposite way round. In recent years most Japanese cars sold in the British Isles seem to conform to the European convention.
Cars driven on the right side of the road usually have headlights which are aimed slightly to the right when not on full beam, and vice-versa with cars intended to be driven on the left. In Europe, it is common for travellers from the UK to affix deflectors to their headlights to prevent them dazzling oncoming drivers when driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Also, windscreen wipers are usually aligned to give more coverage to the driver's side than to the passenger side.
Japanese people sometimes import left-hand-drive models of cars, whereas the standard Japanese car in Japan is right-hand-drive. This is done purely for prestige. A Mercedes or BMW with the steering wheel on the left is seen as more authentic and carries something of a cachet. It is also more expensive than the right-hand-drive version of the same vehicle.

Source: Location of the steering wheel

Almost always, in countries where one drives on the right-hand side of the road, the cars are built so that the driver sits on the left-hand side of the car. Conversely, driving on the left-hand side of the road usually implies that the driver's seat is on the right-hand side of the car. It used to be different, though.
All early automobiles in the USA (driving on the right-hand side of the road) were right-hand-drive, following the practice established by horse-drawn buggies. They changed to left-hand-drive in the early 1900s as it was decided that it was more practical to have the driver seated near the centreline of the road, both to judge the space available when passing oncoming cars, and to allow front-seat passengers to get out of the car onto the pavement instead of into the middle of the street.
Ford changed to left-hand-drive in the 1908 model year. A Ford catalogue from 1908 explains the benefits of placing the controls on the left side of the car:
“The control is located on the left side, the logical place, for the following reasons: Travelling along the right side of the road the steering wheel on the right side of the car made it necessary to get out on the street side and walk around the car. This is awkward and especially inconvenient if there is a lady to be considered. The control on the left allows you to step out of the car on to the curbing without having had to turn the car around.
In the matter of steering with the control on the right, the driver is farthest away from the vehicle he is passing, going in opposite direction; with it on the left side he is able to see even the wheels of the other car and easily avoids danger.”
Nowadays, the driver always sits on the side of the car that is nearest to the centre line. However, there are a few exceptions, among other things certain kinds of specialised service vehicles. For example, street-sweeping vehicles may have the reverse driving position to place the driver next to the gutter. Italian-built trolley buses were right-hand-drive for many years in order to observe the passenger doors better.
Until the mid-60s, all Lancias, even in left-hand-drive Italy, were manufactured as right-hand-drive. Lancia intended the cars to be suitable for use on the Alpine passes, so when driving on the right, the driver was also on the right, and could see the edge of the road. Falling off the edge of the road was considered a greater danger than head-on collisions. Modern Italian trucks in the Alps are still often right-hand-drive for the same reason. Similarly, Spanish buses and trucks were right-hand-drive until the 1950s because of the need to watch for unstable road edges.
Some countries restrict imports of vehicles that have their controls arranged differently from the norm for the country, but foreign tourists are usually allowed to drive their odd vehicles while they visit. Non-standard vehicles may be required to have a sign on the back announcing this, which typically reads, "Right-hand-drive" or "Left-hand-drive" or just "RHD" or "LHD". Cambodia (which drives on the right) banned all right-hand-drive vehicles in January 2001 in order to control imports of stolen and smuggled vehicles from Thailand. It required all car owners to have their vehicles modified so that the steering wheel is on the left or risk confiscation. About 80% of the officially registered vehicles in the country had to be modified in order to comply.
One comfort in all this is that the arrangement of the pedals and the gear shift is the same worldwide. An international standard was arrived at some time ago which determined the order of the pedals, no matter on which side the steering wheel is located. Going from right to left, the order is always “A-B-C”, or accelerator, brake and clutch (if the vehicle has manual transmission). Thanks to this international standard, the driver who lives in a right-hand-drive country and, say, rents a car in a left-hand-drive country, does not have to re-educate himself before he can drive a car which has the steering wheel on the “other” side.
The manual (as opposed to automatic) gear lever pattern is also the same but only for commercial reasons. Since the cost-benefit ratio would not be favourable, the same transmissions are generally used, no matter whether the car is left-hand-drive or right-hand-drive.
One area which is not standardised is the location of the turn signal lever. In most places, the turn signal is mounted on the left side of the steering column. This includes right-hand-drive vehicles in the UK, and left-hand-drive vehicles in America and continental Europe. Vehicles built in Australia and Japan, however, have the turn signal lever mounted on the right. At one time this meant that cars made by Nissan in Britain had the signals and wiper controls one way round, but cars made by Nissan in Japan for the British market had them the opposite way round. In recent years most Japanese cars sold in the British Isles seem to conform to the European convention.
Cars driven on the right side of the road usually have headlights which are aimed slightly to the right when not on full beam, and vice-versa with cars intended to be driven on the left. In Europe, it is common for travellers from the UK to affix deflectors to their headlights to prevent them dazzling oncoming drivers when driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Also, windscreen wipers are usually aligned to give more coverage to the driver's side than to the passenger side.
Japanese people sometimes import left-hand-drive models of cars, whereas the standard Japanese car in Japan is right-hand-drive. This is done purely for prestige. A Mercedes or BMW with the steering wheel on the left is seen as more authentic and carries something of a cachet. It is also more expensive than the right-hand-drive version of the same vehicle.

Source: http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm

Miracle drink - Apple, Carrot, Potato

2011-02-07T12:24:00.001-08:00

Anyone know the truth in this??

CALL IT A MIRACLE DRINK

Combination of Carrot, Potato & Apple

This MIRACLE DRINK formula has been circulating since long time. It is worth while trying and to keep this information handy. There is a Chinese celebrity Mr. Seto who swears by it. He wants to draw the attention of all the people who want to remain fitter and especially whose close family members have suffered from cancers.

This is a drink that can protect bad cells from forming in our body and restrains its growth! Mr. Seto suffered from lung cancer. He was recommended by a famous Herbalist from China, to take the above drink. He took this drink diligently for 3 months and his health is restored. He is now ready to take a pleasure trip. Thanks to this drink! It does not hurt to try. It can only help maintain good health.

It is almost like a Miracle Drink and very simple to make.

Take one medium size potato, one large carrot and one apple. Wash these properly, cut into pieces with the skin on and put them into the juicer. Try drink the juice almost immediately and lot keep in fridge. It’s good to have this juice first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach. You can add some lime or lemon and little Ginger for more refreshing taste.

This Miracle Drink will be effective for the following ailments:
1. Prevents cancer cells from developing i.e restrains cancer cells from growing.

2. Prevents liver, kidney, pancreas decease and it can cure ulcer as well.

3. Strengthens lungs, prevents heart attacks and high blood pressure.

4. Strengthens the immune system

5. Good for the eyesight, eliminate red and tired eyes or dry eyes

6. Helps to eliminate pain from physical training, muscle ache

7. Detoxify, assist bowel movement, eliminates constipation.

Therefore it will make skin healthy & LOOK more radiant.

It is God sent for acne problem.

8. Improve bad breath due to indigestion, throat infection,

9. Lessen menstrual pain

10. Assist Hay Fever Sufferer from Hay Fever attack.

There is absolutely no side effect. Highly nutritious and easily absorbs!

It’s also very effective if you need to loose weight. You will notice how your immune system improves after 2-3 weeks routine.

Please make sure to drink immediately from the juicer for best effect.

WHEN TO DRINK IT;

DRINK IT FIRST THING IN THE MORNING WITH THE EMPTY STOMACH!

AFTER ONE HOUR YOU CAN EAT BREAKFAST.

FOR FAST RESULTS DRINK 2 TIMES A DAY, THE MORNING & BEFORE 5 P.M.
YOU WILL NEVER REGRET!

ABOVE INFORMATION IS WORTH SHARING WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
1) Carrots – Contain Vit-A - Good for eye sight
2) Potatoes - Contains Potassium. Help to lower down the blood pressure.
3) Apples - contains pectin that helps eliminate toxins out of the system.

The Top Ten Daily Consequences of Having Evolved

2011-01-27T17:35:00.000-08:00

The Top Ten Daily Consequences of Having Evolved

From hiccups to wisdom teeth, the evolution of homo sapiens has left behind some glaring, yet innately human, imperfections

By Rob Dunn
Smithsonian.com, November 19, 2010

From hiccups to wisdom teeth, our own bodies are worse off than most because of the differences between the wilderness in which we evolved and the modern world in which we live.

The Print Collector / Corbis

Natural selection acts by winnowing the individuals of each generation, sometimes clumsily, as old parts and genes are co-opted for new roles. As a result, all species inhabit bodies imperfect for the lives they live. Our own bodies are worse off than most simply because of the many differences between the wilderness in which we evolved and the modern world in which we live. We feel the consequences every day. Here are ten.

1. Our cells are weird chimeras
Perhaps a billion years ago, a single-celled organism arose that would ultimately give rise to all of the plants and animals on Earth, including us. This ancestor was the result of a merging: one cell swallowed, imperfectly, another cell. The predator provided the outsides, the nucleus and most of the rest of the chimera. The prey became the mitochondrion, the cellular organ that produces energy. Most of the time, this ancient symbiosis proceeds amicably. But every so often, our mitochondria and their surrounding cells fight. The result is diseases, such as mitochondrial myopathies (a range of muscle diseases) or Leigh’s disease (which affects the central nervous system).

2. Hiccups
The first air-breathing fish and amphibians extracted oxygen using gills when in the water and primitive lungs when on land—and to do so, they had to be able to close the glottis, or entryway to the lungs, when underwater. Importantly, the entryway (or glottis) to the lungs could be closed. When underwater, the animals pushed water past their gills while simultaneously pushing the glottis down. We descendants of these animals were left with vestiges of their history, including the hiccup. In hiccupping, we use ancient muscles to quickly close the glottis while sucking in (albeit air, not water). Hiccups no longer serve a function, but they persist without causing us harm—aside from frustration and occasional embarrassment. One of the reasons it is so difficult to stop hiccupping is that the entire process is controlled by a part of our brain that evolved long before consciousness, and so try as you might, you cannot think hiccups away.

3. Backaches
The backs of vertebrates evolved as a kind of horizontal pole under which guts were slung. It was arched in the way a bridge might be arched, to support weight. Then, for reasons anthropologists debate long into the night, our hominid ancestors stood upright, which was the bodily equivalent of tipping a bridge on end. Standing on hind legs offered advantages—seeing long distances, for one, or freeing the hands to do other things—but it also turned our backs from an arched bridge to an S shape. The letter S, for all its beauty, is not meant to support weight and so our backs fail, consistently and painfully.

4. Unsupported intestines
Once we stood upright, our intestines hung down instead of being cradled by our stomach muscles. In this new position, our innards were not as well supported as they had been in our quadrupedal ancestors. The guts sat atop a hodgepodge of internal parts, including, in men, the cavities in the body wall through which the scrotum and its nerves descend during the first year of life. Every so often, our intestines find their way through these holes—in the way that noodles sneak out of a sieve—forming an inguinal hernia.

5. Choking
In most animals, the trachea (the passage for air) and the esophagus (the passage for food) are oriented such that the esophagus is below the trachea. In a cat's throat, for example, the two tubes run roughly horizontal and parallel to each other before heading on to the stomach and lung, respectively. In this configuration, gravity tends to push food down toward the lower esophagus. Not so in humans. Modifications of the trachea to allow speech pushed the trachea and esophagus further down the throat to make way. Simultaneously, our upright posture put the trachea and esophagus in a near-vertical orientation. Together these changes leave falling food or water about a 50-50 chance of falling in the “wrong tube.” As a consequence, in those moments in which the epiglottis does not have time to cover the trachea, we choke. We might be said to choke on our success. Monkeys suffer the same fate only rarely, but then again they can’t sing or dance. Then again, neither can I.

6. We're awfully cold in winter
Fur is a warm hug on a cold day, useful and nearly ubiquitous among mammals. But we and a few other species, such as naked mole rats, lost it when we lived in tropical environments. Debate remains as to why this happened, but the most plausible explanation is that when modern humans began to live in larger groups, our hair filled with more and more ticks and lice. Individuals with less hair were perhaps less likely to get parasite-borne diseases. Being hairless in Africa was not so bad, but once we moved into Arctic lands, it had real drawbacks. Evolution has no foresight, no sense of where its work will go.

7. Goosebumps don't really help
When our ancestors were covered in fur, muscles in their skin called “arrector pili” contracted when they were upset or cold, making their fur stand on end. When an angry or frightened dog barks at you, these are the muscles that raise its bristling hair. The same muscles puff up the feathers of birds and the fur of mammals on cold days to help keep them warm. Although we no longer have fur, we still have fur muscles just beneath our skin. They flex each time we are scared by a bristling dog or chilled by a wind, and in doing so give us goose bumps that make our thin hair stand uselessly on end.

8. Our brains squeeze our teeth
A genetic mutation in our recent ancestors caused their descendants to have roomy skulls that accommodated larger brains. This may seem like pure success—brilliance, or its antecedent anyway. But the gene that made way for a larger brain did so by diverting bone away from our jaws, which caused them to become thinner and smaller. With smaller jaws, we could not eat tough food as easily as our thicker-jawed ancestors, but we could think our way out of that problem with the use of fire and stone tools. Yet because our teeth are roughly the same size as they have long been, our shrinking jaws don’t leave enough room for them in our mouths. Our wisdom teeth need to be pulled because our brains are too big.

9. Obesity
Many of the ways in which our bodies fail have to do with very recent changes, changes in how we use our bodies and structure our societies. Hunger evolved as a trigger to drive us to search out food. Our taste buds evolved to encourage us to choose foods that benefited our bodies (such as sugar, salt and fat) and avoid those that might be poisonous. In much of the modern world, we have more food than we require, but our hunger and cravings continue. They are a bodily GPS unit that insists on taking us where we no longer need to go. Our taste buds ask for more sugar, salt and fat, and we obey.

10 to 100. The list goes on.
I have not even mentioned male nipples. I have said nothing of the blind spot in our eyes. Nor of the muscles some of use to wiggle our ears. We are full of the accumulated baggage of our idiosyncratic histories. The body is built on an old form, out of parts that once did very different things. So take a moment to pause and sit on your coccyx, the bone that was once a tail. Roll your ankles, each of which once connected a hind leg to a paw. Revel not in who you are but who you were. It is, after all, amazing what evolution has made out of bits and pieces. Nor are we in any way alone or unique. Each plant, animal and fungus carries its own consequences of life's improvisational genius. So, long live the chimeras. In the meantime, if you will excuse me, I am going to rest my back.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article stated that your ankles once connected a foreleg to a paw. This version has been corrected to say hind leg.

Cycle to work - Simple, Enjoyable way to commute and you burn fat as well!!

2011-01-25T11:36:00.000-08:00

Turn your cycle to work commute into a workout

You’re on your bike, but how fit is it really making you? We explain how to get a toned body in the saddle

Peta Bee

The number of people getting on their bikes is rising. In London alone, crowds pedalling to work have doubled in the past decade. But does cycling regularly make you fit? The distance of the average cycling commute in the UK is 8.7 miles. This could be a good a workout as going to the gym but only if you have the right technique. So, how can you maximise the fitness gains?

Tweaks to your cycling style can work muscles harder. Experts recommend not setting gears too high, to avoid expending unnecessary effort, and placing the ball of the foot on the pedal, with toes pointing forwards, while aiming for 60-80 revolutions a minute on flatter surfaces. This will maximise blood flow to the legs.

In her book Cycle For Life, the Olympic cycling champion Nicole Cooke suggests pointing the toes slightly upwards at the top of a pedalling stroke and slightly down at the bottom. “This makes your calf muscles do extra work during the dead spots between up and down pedal strokes,” she says.

Choosing the right saddle can make a difference. You might wince at the thought of the hard, narrow saddles used by serious cyclists, but skinny saddles are better for your body. A good saddle is designed to support the two bones at the bottom of the pelvis that bear a cyclist’s weight in the saddle. Cushioning does not help. “Narrow saddles let you slide to and fro to relieve different areas on a long ride,” Cooke says.

The stop-start nature of a cycling commute creates a chance to add short, fitness-boosting injections of speed. Last year a study at the University of Copenhagen found that subjects who performed up to 12 30-second sprints during their regular cycle ride improved their 10km times after six weeks’ training, having hit a fitness plateau after training at a similar pace and intensity for the previous four years. Another study showed that six sessions of four to seven all-out 30-second sprints (with four minutes’ recovery between) on a bike could be as effective at improving cardiovascular fitness as an hour of moderate aerobic exercise a day.

Cycling does not work the arms and shoulders, but it can put strain on them. “Cyclists often have a hunched posture, with the head placed low over the front wheel,” says Sammy Margo, of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. For short cycle rides an old-fashioned sit-up-and-beg-style bike encourages good posture.

Make sure your handlebars are positioned correctly. Cooke says that if you struggle to touch your toes while keeping your legs straight, you should start with the handlebars higher than the saddle. Cyclists who can touch their toes easily should position the handlebars at the same level (or slightly lower) than the seat. A saddle that is too low, so that the legs get crunched, or too high, so that you rock from side to side, can cause knee problems. Once you get going, Cooke says, “look 50m ahead, not directly down at the road, and keep your hands relaxed”.

Most of the power to pedal and stay balanced on a bike comes from the core muscles that wrap around the abdominal area like a corset. “Improving your core strength through Pilates-style exercises will undoubtedly enhance your cycling performance,” says John Brewer, Professor of Sport at the University of Bedfordshire. “The less energy your body needs to devote to keeping upright, the more it can devote to pedal power, and the faster and more efficiently you will go.”

All of which means that while you cut down your journey to work, cycling becomes the route to toned, streamlined legs and buttocks of steel. (Source: Timesonline, UK)

5 proven office stress buster tips.

2011-01-07T12:07:00.001-08:00

5 Amazing Office Stress Buster Tips

Feeling overworked and overwhelmed? These simple strategies can help you reduce the strain - and they don't cost a thing.

Lots of people are also face serious problems at home, including financial worries and, often, an unemployed spouse. As all of this piles up over the course of this very long recession, people get mentally derailed by all the things they can't control. They lose their focus.

How can you help them get it back? First keep in mind that "when people are overtired and distracted, they don't hear you as well as they would normally," Bright observes. "So you need to be extra clear in what you tell them." Second, realize that right now "people are desperate for successes,". "They need to regain a sense of control."

Try the following five steps.

1. Clearly articulate your expectations. "Managers are often unaware of how they are adding stress to people's workday by being vague about what they want," says Bright.

An example: A boss will announce, "Let's have a meeting Friday to talk about cutting costs." That sets the rumor mill abuzz (are more layoffs coming?) and leaves everyone uncertain about what, if anything, they can bring to the table.

"If you say instead, 'Let's have a meeting on Friday, and I'd like each person to bring two suggestions for how we can cut costs,' that is a whole different message," says Bright. "Just by being a little more specific, you let people know what's expected and how they can succeed at it."

2. At the end of each meeting, ask someone to sum up what's been said and who is going to do what. "Knowing they may be called on to do the summing-up cuts down on people's BlackBerry use during meetings," says Bright. "But beyond that, too many meetings are just general discussions, where everybody rushes off at the end without a clear idea of what comes next." No one can succeed at something if they don't know what it is.

3. Put a cap on hours. "If you have someone who puts in 60 hours a week, then make that the limit," says Bright. What good does that do? "In many offices, nothing is said about constantly increasing hours," she explains. "So people just keep putting in longer and longer hours, not because they really have to, but because they are afraid not to."

The result, as you may have noticed, is that staffers get exhausted and irritable, and the quality of their work takes a dive. By contrast, "if you let people know there is a limit, and you set that limit at the number of hours they're already working, it makes an amazing difference."

4. Schedule some downtime each week. "One of the things that has everyone so stressed is that they never get a chance to catch up," says Bright. "If your email inbox is overflowing and your office is a mess because you haven't had time to get organized, it makes that out-of-control feeling just that much worse."

So try announcing that, say, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays is "get-it-done" time, during which no meetings will be held. Giving people permission to clear away the background noise of tasks left undone "can be an enormous stress reliever," says Bright.

5. Help people set realistic priorities. "If you ask people for a list of their priorities, they usually have so many that it is obvious where their frustration is coming from," Bright observes. "So you can help them set goals they can actually achieve. Again, it's a way of creating successes and regaining some control."

"Of course, before you can discuss other people's priorities, you need a clear idea of your own -- which means you may need to seek out what your boss's priorities are," she adds. "So often in companies these days, that information just isn't getting communicated." Too true.

Talkback: How many hours a week are you working these days? How do you deal with the increased stress? How do you help your employees cope? Leave comments.

Classic Short Stories

2011-01-01T13:42:00.001-08:00

Classic Short Stories

The Dowry

by Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)

The marriage of Maitre Simon Lebrument with Mademoiselle Jeanne Cordier was a surprise to no one. Maitre Lebrument had bought out the practice of Maitre Papillon; naturally, he had to have money to pay for it; and Mademoiselle Jeanne Cordier had three hundred thousand francs clear in currency, and in bonds payable to bearer.

Maitre Lebrument was a handsome man. He was stylish, although in a provincial way; but, nevertheless, he was stylish--a rare thing at Boutigny-le-Rebours.Mademoiselle Cordier was graceful and fresh-looking, although a trifle awkward; nevertheless, she was a handsome girl, and one to be desired.

The marriage ceremony turned all Boutigny topsy-turvy. Everybody admired the young couple, who quickly returned home to domestic felicity, having decided simply to take a short trip to Paris, after a few days of retirement.

This tete-a-tete was delightful, Maitre Lebrument having shown just the proper amount of delicacy. He had taken as his motto: "Everything comes to him who waits." He knew how to be at the same time patient and energetic. His success was rapid and complete.

After four days, Madame Lebrument adored her husband. She could not get along without him. She would sit on his knees, and taking him by the ears she would say: "Open your mouth and shut your eyes." He would open his mouth wide and partly close his eyes, and he would try to nip her fingers as she slipped some dainty between his teeth. Then she would give him a kiss, sweet and long, which would make chills run up and down his spine. And then, in his turn, he would not have enough caresses to please his wife from morning to night and from night to morning.

When the first week was over, he said to his young companion:

"If you wish, we will leave for Paris next Tuesday. We will be like two lovers, we will go to the restaurants, the theatres, the concert halls, everywhere, everywhere!"

She was ready to dance for joy.

"Oh! yes, yes. Let us go as soon as possible."

He continued:

"And then, as we must forget nothing, ask your father to have your dowry ready; I shall pay Maitre Papillon on this trip."

She answered:

"All right: I will tell him to-morrow morning."

And he took her in his arms once more, to renew those sweet games of love which she had so enjoyed for the past week.

The following Tuesday, father-in-law and mother-in-law went to the station with their daughter and their son-in-law who were leaving for the capital.

The father-in-law said:

"I tell you it is very imprudent to carry so much money about in a pocketbook." And the young lawyer smiled.

"Don't worry; I am accustomed to such things. You understand that, in my profession, I sometimes have as much as a million about me. In this manner, at least we avoid a great amount of red tape and delay. You needn't worry."

The conductor was crying:

"All aboard for Paris!"

They scrambled into a car, where two old ladies were already seated.

Lebrument whispered into his wife's ear:

"What a bother! I won't be able to smoke."

She answered in a low voice:

"It annoys me too, but not an account of your cigar."

The whistle blew and the train started. The trip lasted about an hour, during which time they did not say very much to each other, as the two old ladies did not go to sleep.

As soon as they were in front of the Saint-Lazare Station, Maitre Lebrument said to his wife:

"Dearie, let us first go over to the Boulevard and get something to eat; then we can quietly return and get our trunk and bring it to the hotel."

She immediately assented.

"Oh! yes. Let's eat at the restaurant. Is it far?"

He answered:

"Yes, it's quite a distance, but we will take the omnibus."

She was surprised:

"Why don't we take a cab?"

He began to scold her smilingly:

"Is that the way you save money? A cab for a five minutes' ride at six cents a minute! You would deprive yourself of nothing."

"That's so," she said, a little embarrassed.

A big omnibus was passing by, drawn by three big horses, which were trotting along. Lebrument called out:

"Conductor! Conductor!"

The heavy carriage stopped. And the young lawyer, pushing his wife, said to her quickly:

"Go inside; I'm going up on top, so that I may smoke at least one cigarette before lunch."

She had no time to answer. The conductor, who had seized her by the arm to help her up the step, pushed her inside, and she fell into a seat, bewildered, looking through the back window at the feet of her husband as he climbed up to the top of the vehicle.

And she sat there motionless, between a fat man who smelled of cheap tobacco and an old woman who smelled of garlic.

All the other passengers were lined up in silence--a grocer's boy, a young girl, a soldier, a gentleman with gold-rimmed spectacles and a big silk hat, two ladies with a self-satisfied and crabbed look, which seemed to say: "We are riding in this thing, but we don't have to," two sisters of charity and an undertaker. They looked like a collection of caricatures.

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The jolting of the wagon made them wag their heads and the shaking of the wheels seemed to stupefy them--they all looked as though they were asleep.

The young woman remained motionless.

"Why didn't he come inside with me?" she was saying to herself. An unaccountable sadness seemed to be hanging over her. He really need not have acted so.

The sisters motioned to the conductor to stop, and they got off one after the other, leaving in their wake the pungent smell of camphor. The bus started tip and soon stopped again. And in got a cook, red-faced and out of breath. She sat down and placed her basket of provisions on her knees. A strong odor of dish-water filled the vehicle.

"It's further than I imagined," thought Jeanne.

The undertaker went out, and was replaced by a coachman who seemed to bring the atmosphere of the stable with him. The young girl had as a successor a messenger, the odor of whose feet showed that he was continually walking.

The lawyer's wife began to feel ill at ease, nauseated, ready to cry without knowing why.

Other persons left and others entered. The stage went on through interminable streets, stopping at stations and starting again.

"How far it is!" thought Jeanne. "I hope he hasn't gone to sleep! He has been so tired the last few days."

Little by little all the passengers left. She was left alone, all alone. The conductor cried:

"Vaugirard!"

Seeing that she did not move, he repeated:

"Vaugirard!"

She looked at him, understanding that he was speaking to her, as there was no one else there. For the third time the man said:

"Vaugirard!"

Then she asked:

"Where are we?"

He answered gruffly:

"We're at Vaugirard, of course! I have been yelling it for the last half hour!"

"Is it far from the Boulevard?" she said.

"Which boulevard?"

"The Boulevard des Italiens."

"We passed that a long time ago!"

"Would you mind telling my husband?"

"Your husband! Where is he?"

"On the top of the bus."

"On the top! There hasn't been anybody there for a long time."

She started, terrified.

"What? That's impossible! He got on with me. Look well! He must be there."

The conductor was becoming uncivil:

"Come on, little one, you've talked enough! You can find ten men for every one that you lose. Now run along. You'll find another one somewhere."

Tears were coming to her eyes. She insisted:

"But, monsieur, you are mistaken; I assure you that you must be mistaken. He had a big portfolio under his arm."

The man began to laugh:

"A big portfolio! Oh, yes! He got off at the Madeleine. He got rid of you, all right! Ha! ha! ha!"

The stage had stopped. She got out and, in spite of herself, she looked up instinctively to the roof of the bus. It was absolutely deserted.

Then she began to cry, and, without thinking that anybody was listening or watching her, she said out loud:

"What is going to become of me?"

An inspector approached:

"What's the matter?"

The conductor answered, in a bantering tone of voice:

"It's a lady who got left by her husband during the trip."

The other continued:

"Oh! that's nothing. You go about your business."

Then he turned on his heels and walked away.

She began to walk straight ahead, too bewildered, too crazed even to understand what had happened to her. Where was she to go? What could she do? What could have happened to him? How could he have made such a mistake? How could he have been so forgetful?

She had two francs in her pocket. To whom could she go? Suddenly she remembered her cousin Barral, one of the assistants in the offices of the Ministry of the Navy.

She had just enough to pay for a cab. She drove to his house. He met her just as he was leaving for his office. He was carrying a large portfolio under his arm, just like Lebrument.

She jumped out of the carriage.

"Henry!" she cried.

He stopped, astonished:

"Jeanne! Here--all alone! What are you doing? Where have you come from?"

Her eyes full of tears, she stammered:

"My husband has just got lost!"

"Lost! Where?"

"On an omnibus."

"On an omnibus?"

Weeping, she told him her whole adventure.

He listened, thought, and then asked:

"Was his mind clear this morning?"

"Yes."

"Good. Did he have much money with him?"

"Yes, he was carrying my dowry."

"Your dowry! The whole of it?"

"The whole of it--in order to pay for the practice which he bought."

"Well, my dear cousin, by this time your husband must be well on his way to Belgium."

She could not understand. She kept repeating:

"My husband--you say--"

"I say that he has disappeared with your--your capital--that's all!"

She stood there, a prey to conflicting emotions, sobbing.

"Then he is--he is--he is a villain!"

And, faint from excitement, she leaned her head on her cousin's shoulder and wept.

As people were stopping to look at them, he pushed her gently into the vestibule of his house, and, supporting her with his arm around her waist, he led her up the stairs, and as his astonished servant opened the door, he ordered:

"Sophie, run to the restaurant and get a luncheon for two. I am not going to the office to-day."

Classic Short Stories

2011-01-01T13:39:00.000-08:00

Classic Short Stories

The art of telling short stories is dying. Fewer and fewer people these days read short stories. This is unfortunate--so few will ever experience the joy that reading such fine work can give. This is one among the series of short stories which i came across and would provide interesting reading for people who are interested in short stories. Read on..

The Dowry
by Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Word Count: 1870

The marriage of Maitre Simon Lebrument with Mademoiselle Jeanne Cordier was a surprise to no one. Maitre Lebrument had bought out the practice of Maitre Papillon; naturally, he had to have money to pay for it; and Mademoiselle Jeanne Cordier had three hundred thousand francs clear in currency, and in bonds payable to bearer.

Maitre Lebrument was a handsome man. He was stylish, although in a provincial way; but, nevertheless, he was stylish--a rare thing at Boutigny-le-Rebours.

Mademoiselle Cordier was graceful and fresh-looking, although a trifle awkward; nevertheless, she was a handsome girl, and one to be desired.

The marriage ceremony turned all Boutigny topsy-turvy. Everybody admired the young couple, who quickly returned home to domestic felicity, having decided simply to take a short trip to Paris, after a few days of retirement.

This tete-a-tete was delightful, Maitre Lebrument having shown just the proper amount of delicacy. He had taken as his motto: "Everything comes to him who waits." He knew how to be at the same time patient and energetic. His success was rapid and complete.

After four days, Madame Lebrument adored her husband. She could not get along without him. She would sit on his knees, and taking him by the ears she would say: "Open your mouth and shut your eyes." He would open his mouth wide and partly close his eyes, and he would try to nip her fingers as she slipped some dainty between his teeth. Then she would give him a kiss, sweet and long, which would make chills run up and down his spine. And then, in his turn, he would not have enough caresses to please his wife from morning to night and from night to morning.

When the first week was over, he said to his young companion:

"If you wish, we will leave for Paris next Tuesday. We will be like two lovers, we will go to the restaurants, the theatres, the concert halls, everywhere, everywhere!"

She was ready to dance for joy.

"Oh! yes, yes. Let us go as soon as possible."

He continued:

"And then, as we must forget nothing, ask your father to have your dowry ready; I shall pay Maitre Papillon on this trip."

She answered:

"All right: I will tell him to-morrow morning."

And he took her in his arms once more, to renew those sweet games of love which she had so enjoyed for the past week.

The following Tuesday, father-in-law and mother-in-law went to the station with their daughter and their son-in-law who were leaving for the capital.

The father-in-law said:

"I tell you it is very imprudent to carry so much money about in a pocketbook." And the young lawyer smiled.

"Don't worry; I am accustomed to such things. You understand that, in my profession, I sometimes have as much as a million about me. In this manner, at least we avoid a great amount of red tape and delay. You needn't worry."

The conductor was crying:

"All aboard for Paris!"

They scrambled into a car, where two old ladies were already seated.

Lebrument whispered into his wife's ear:

"What a bother! I won't be able to smoke."

She answered in a low voice:

"It annoys me too, but not an account of your cigar."

The whistle blew and the train started. The trip lasted about an hour, during which time they did not say very much to each other, as the two old ladies did not go to sleep.

As soon as they were in front of the Saint-Lazare Station, Maitre Lebrument said to his wife:

"Dearie, let us first go over to the Boulevard and get something to eat; then we can quietly return and get our trunk and bring it to the hotel."

She immediately assented.

"Oh! yes. Let's eat at the restaurant. Is it far?"

He answered:

"Yes, it's quite a distance, but we will take the omnibus."

She was surprised:

"Why don't we take a cab?"

He began to scold her smilingly:

"Is that the way you save money? A cab for a five minutes' ride at six cents a minute! You would deprive yourself of nothing."

"That's so," she said, a little embarrassed.

A big omnibus was passing by, drawn by three big horses, which were trotting along. Lebrument called out:

"Conductor! Conductor!"

The heavy carriage stopped. And the young lawyer, pushing his wife, said to her quickly:

"Go inside; I'm going up on top, so that I may smoke at least one cigarette before lunch."

She had no time to answer. The conductor, who had seized her by the arm to help her up the step, pushed her inside, and she fell into a seat, bewildered, looking through the back window at the feet of her husband as he climbed up to the top of the vehicle.

And she sat there motionless, between a fat man who smelled of cheap tobacco and an old woman who smelled of garlic.

All the other passengers were lined up in silence--a grocer's boy, a young girl, a soldier, a gentleman with gold-rimmed spectacles and a big silk hat, two ladies with a self-satisfied and crabbed look, which seemed to say: "We are riding in this thing, but we don't have to," two sisters of charity and an undertaker. They looked like a collection of caricatures.
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The jolting of the wagon made them wag their heads and the shaking of the wheels seemed to stupefy them--they all looked as though they were asleep.

The young woman remained motionless.

"Why didn't he come inside with me?" she was saying to herself. An unaccountable sadness seemed to be hanging over her. He really need not have acted so.

The sisters motioned to the conductor to stop, and they got off one after the other, leaving in their wake the pungent smell of camphor. The bus started tip and soon stopped again. And in got a cook, red-faced and out of breath. She sat down and placed her basket of provisions on her knees. A strong odor of dish-water filled the vehicle.

"It's further than I imagined," thought Jeanne.

The undertaker went out, and was replaced by a coachman who seemed to bring the atmosphere of the stable with him. The young girl had as a successor a messenger, the odor of whose feet showed that he was continually walking.

The lawyer's wife began to feel ill at ease, nauseated, ready to cry without knowing why.

Other persons left and others entered. The stage went on through interminable streets, stopping at stations and starting again.

"How far it is!" thought Jeanne. "I hope he hasn't gone to sleep! He has been so tired the last few days."

Little by little all the passengers left. She was left alone, all alone. The conductor cried:

"Vaugirard!"

Seeing that she did not move, he repeated:

"Vaugirard!"

She looked at him, understanding that he was speaking to her, as there was no one else there. For the third time the man said:

"Vaugirard!"

Then she asked:

"Where are we?"

He answered gruffly:

"We're at Vaugirard, of course! I have been yelling it for the last half hour!"

"Is it far from the Boulevard?" she said.

"Which boulevard?"

"The Boulevard des Italiens."

"We passed that a long time ago!"

"Would you mind telling my husband?"

"Your husband! Where is he?"

"On the top of the bus."

"On the top! There hasn't been anybody there for a long time."

She started, terrified.

"What? That's impossible! He got on with me. Look well! He must be there."

The conductor was becoming uncivil:

"Come on, little one, you've talked enough! You can find ten men for every one that you lose. Now run along. You'll find another one somewhere."

Tears were coming to her eyes. She insisted:

"But, monsieur, you are mistaken; I assure you that you must be mistaken. He had a big portfolio under his arm."

The man began to laugh:

"A big portfolio! Oh, yes! He got off at the Madeleine. He got rid of you, all right! Ha! ha! ha!"

The stage had stopped. She got out and, in spite of herself, she looked up instinctively to the roof of the bus. It was absolutely deserted.
Then she began to cry, and, without thinking that anybody was listening or watching her, she said out loud:

"What is going to become of me?"

An inspector approached:

"What's the matter?"

The conductor answered, in a bantering tone of voice:

"It's a lady who got left by her husband during the trip."

The other continued:

"Oh! that's nothing. You go about your business."

Then he turned on his heels and walked away.

She began to walk straight ahead, too bewildered, too crazed even to understand what had happened to her. Where was she to go? What could she do? What could have happened to him? How could he have made such a mistake? How could he have been so forgetful?

She had two francs in her pocket. To whom could she go? Suddenly she remembered her cousin Barral, one of the assistants in the offices of the Ministry of the Navy.

She had just enough to pay for a cab. She drove to his house. He met her just as he was leaving for his office. He was carrying a large portfolio under his arm, just like Lebrument.

She jumped out of the carriage.

"Henry!" she cried.

He stopped, astonished:

"Jeanne! Here--all alone! What are you doing? Where have you come from?"

Her eyes full of tears, she stammered:

"My husband has just got lost!"

"Lost! Where?"

"On an omnibus."

"On an omnibus?"

Weeping, she told him her whole adventure.

He listened, thought, and then asked:

"Was his mind clear this morning?"

"Yes."

"Good. Did he have much money with him?"

"Yes, he was carrying my dowry."

"Your dowry! The whole of it?"

"The whole of it--in order to pay for the practice which he bought."

"Well, my dear cousin, by this time your husband must be well on his way to Belgium."

She could not understand. She kept repeating:

"My husband--you say--"

"I say that he has disappeared with your--your capital--that's all!"

She stood there, a prey to conflicting emotions, sobbing.

"Then he is--he is--he is a villain!"

And, faint from excitement, she leaned her head on her cousin's shoulder and wept.

As people were stopping to look at them, he pushed her gently into the vestibule of his house, and, supporting her with his arm around her waist, he led her up the stairs, and as his astonished servant opened the door, he ordered:

"Sophie, run to the restaurant and get a luncheon for two. I am not going to the office to-day."

Manmadhan Ambu - Kamal Starrer - Story

2010-12-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Kamal Haasan has the habit of doing a light vein comedy after doing a much demanding film to relax. ‘Manmadhan Ambu’ is an unwinding film for Kamal after the heavy dose ‘Dasavatharam’.

‘Manmadhan Ambu’ is a full length romantic comedy produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin for Red Giant Movies. It is said to have been inspired from the 1998 American comedy film ‘There's Something About Mary’ directed by the Farrelly brothers, Bobby and Peter starring Matt Dillon, Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller.

The Tamil film stars Kamal Haasan, Trisha and Madhavan in the all important characters with stellar support from Sangeetha, Ramesh Arvind, Manju Pillai, Kavita Radheshyam, Usha Uthup in good supporting roles. If that is not enough Suriya and ‘Kalavani’ Oviya are playing a guest roles in the film.

The story of ‘Manmadhan Ambu’ is said to be this. Madhana Gopal (Madhavan) is deeply in love with Ambujam (Trisha) but their love breaks over a crazy incident and they separate. They don’t see each other for a few years. But Madhan’s is still crazy about her and is curious to trace her and begin a new life wit her. But Madhan is not sure whether even Ambu is still craving for him. At the insistence of his good friend (Ramesh Arvind), Madhan hires a private detective, a former Commando Major R. Mannar (Kamal Haasan) to track her and find out if she too is still truly in love with him.

So is the title MANnarMADHAN AMBUjam. Later Major R. Mannar traces Ambujam who is an actress now and follows her up as if on an assignment. They both get acquainted on a luxury cruise liner during a film shooting and he has seven days to complete the task. Meanwhile the detective’s love Deepa (Sangeetha) who is also a friend of Ambujam mistakes his trail and suspects that he is two-timing her. When things go off Madhan enters and explains every thing. Then they all live happily ever after.

The screenplay and dialogues of the film is written by Kamal Haasan and his favourite Crazy Mohan.
The film was launched on June 3 at AVM studios in Chennai. Most part of this urban hip comedy is taken on a luxury ship floating in the Mediterranean Sea and in out of the ordinary locations in places like Rome, Venice, Paris and Barcelona.
One important trend started by Kamal with ‘Manmadhan Ambu’ is that all the actors did perfect rehearsals before the shoot began and got familiarized with their roles. This has ensured the genuineness to the performances. Kudos to Kamal!

This is the fifth Kamal film directed by KS Ravikumar. As most of their films together were laugh riots. You can expect the same treat in this too. Trisha and Sangeetha are working with KS Ravikumar and Kamal for the first time. Trisha who missed ‘Dasavatharam’ with Kamal gets her first film with him. Madhavan co-stars with Kamal after ‘Anbe Sivam’.

The music of the film is by Devi Sri Prasad. It album has seven tracks. Kamal Haasan has written five of the six songs and more he has sung three of them. Trisha for the first time has dubbed for her character and also singsongs with Kamal for a number in Tamil. Andrea has performed a rock n roll with elegance.
There is one song ‘Oyyale’ which seems a situation song in which Suriya appears with Trisha. Trisha is an actress and this song could be a shooting of her film.

The audio of the film was launched with much fanfare in Singapore on November 20 at The MAX Pavilion Singapore Expo in Singapore. The audio launch was very dramatic with Kamal and Trisha performing on stage, Maddy break down after listening to Kamal singing and more.

A new cameraman Manush Nandan, an associate with Ravi K Chandran is being introduced. He is the son of the popular journalist Gnani.

Though ‘Manmadhan Ambu’ is a comedy it has its action moments for Kamal. Stunt Master Ramesh has choreographed some entertaining action sequences using experts like Hugo Brallier from France and William Wong from Malaysia.

‘Manmadhan Ambu’ is scheduled for release on December 17, 2010.

Butterflies kiss Bannerghatta goodbye

2010-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

http://diversityindianews.blogspot.com/2010/11/butterflies-kiss-bannerghatta-goodbye.html

For those who wonder what is the ecological significance of butterflies, in simple terms - Butterflies,like bees, help cross pollinate plants. They get nectar from flowers which helps them with their pollination. Some of the plants have a close relationship with certain species of butterfly and the mutual relationship is so evolved that the plant cannot survive without the butterfly.

Manmadhan ambu songs for download

2010-11-22T14:33:00.001-08:00

Are you looking for songs from Kamal's upcoming movie? - Check this link: http://mp3.tamilwire.com/manmadhan-ambu-2010.html

Manmadhan ambu stills

2010-11-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

Manmadhan Ambu Audio Released

2010-11-22T14:20:00.001-08:00

The much-expected audio of Manmadhan Ambu (MA) was released on Saturday (November 20) at The MAX Pavilion, Singapore Expo, the largest convention and exhibition venue in Singapore. Kamal Hassan, Trisha, Madhavan, KS Ravikumar, Devi Sri Prasad and other celebrities were present at the colourful event.

According to reports, Kamal sang a few songs of the film MA. He performed on stage along with his co-stars Trisha and Madhavan. Reports also added that the guests including Maddy, who were present at theaudio launch were in tears, when Kamal crooned 'Neela Vaanam'.

Trisha Tweeted, “Had a blastttt with the whole team..Can't believe Kamal sir made me perform with him on stage. It was one of my best shows”

As a part of pre-event celebration, Manmadhan Ambu sailed in the ship with some hard core fans on November 19. It started from SuperStar Virgo, a Leo class cruise ship, and ended with the official release of the music in Singapore.

Devi Sri Prasad compositional movie has six songs. Kamal has penned five songs out of six and has crooned three songs. Actress Trisha has also recorded her voice for a song.

Source: http://entertainment.oneindia.in/tamil/exclusive/2010/manmadhan-ambu-audio-release-221110.html

Manmadhan ambu - Kamal Hassan New Movie - Trailer

2010-11-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcOL-kwGc-I&feature=player_embedded

Manmadhan Ambu is a romantic comedy film Directed by K. S. Ravikumar. Written by Kamal Haasan, it stars himself alongside R. Madhavan, and Trisha Krishnan in the lead roles, whilst featuring Ramesh Arvind, Sangeetha, Manju Pillai and Oviya among others in supporting roles. The entire film was extensively shot across Europe and on a cruise ship. The film is currently undergoing post-production work and, following a grand audio launch event in Singapore, would be released worldwide on 17 December 2010.

Deals for watching movies online

2010-11-17T13:39:00.001-08:00

http://roku.tellapal.com/a/clk/MdbYP

Mitsubishi Outlander 2011 vs Competitors

2010-11-17T07:55:00.000-08:00

Are you buying your next SUV? Read this before you come to a conclusion:

http://www.autosite.com/content/research/vir/index.cfm/action/Competitors/series_id_int/65412

Mitsubishi Outlander 2011

2010-11-17T07:49:00.001-08:00

http://suvs.about.com/od/mitsubish1/gr/11_MitsuOutlanderSportAG.htm

Hilarious sign boards

2010-11-03T13:29:00.000-07:00

Hilarious Signboards from India

# Sign on a railway station at Patna:
Aana free, jaana free, pakde gaye to khana free.
(Coming is free, Going is free If you get caught the Food is free)

# Seen on a famous beauty parlor in Bombay:
Don’t whistle at the girl going out from here. She may be your grandmother!

# Seen on a bulletin board:
Success is relative More the success, more the relatives.

# Sign at a barber’s saloon in Juhu, Bombay:
we need your heads to run our business.

# A traffic slogan:
Don’t let your kids drive if they are not old enough – or else they never
will be…..

#THE BEST ONE:
Its God’s responsibility to forgive the terrorist organizations It’s our
responsibility to arrange the meeting between them and God.” – Indian Armed
Forces

Control of the mind

2010-11-02T19:35:00.001-07:00

An Indian Brahmin was interested in gaining supernatural powers. Learning that a monk in Tibet could grant him his wishes, he undertook an arduous journey through the Himalayas to meet him. The monk told the Brahmin: ‘‘The mantra to gain supernatural powers is simple. Just say Buddham Sharanam Gachchami, Dhammam Sharanam Gachchami, Sangham Sharanam Gachchami three times, but don’t think of monkeys.’’ Content, the Brahmin thought: ‘‘I am such a learned man. Why should I think of monkeys when I chant the mantra?’’ But when he sat down to chant the mantra, the first thought that came to his mind was that of monkeys. Later, all he could think of was monkeys. The monkeys roamed all over his consciousness until he lost his peace of mind. Seeing his condition, the monk smiled: ‘‘If you force your mind to travel in a certain direction, it will go the other way.’’

Receptivity to learning

2010-11-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

There was an American professor who had made a lifetime’s study of the Japanese tea ceremony. He was the western expert. He heard there was an old man living in Japan who was a master of the tea ceremony. So he made a special trip to Japan to see him. He found the master living in a small house on the outskirts of Tokyo and they sat down to have tea together. The professor immediately started talking about the tea ceremony, his study, all he knew about it and how he was looking forward to sharing his learning with the old man. The old man said nothing, but started to pour tea into the professor’s cup. While the professor talked, the old man continued to pour the tea, the cup filled and the old man kept pouring. The tea split down the sides of the cup in a stream onto the floor, yet the old man did not stop. “Stop!” said the professor. “You are crazy. You can’t fit any more tea in that cup. It’s full.” “I was just practising,” replied the old man, “for the task of attempting to pass learning to a mind that is already full.”

10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Google

2010-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Google

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Google is amazing (please thank me for this amazing revelation). There are some things you probably didn’t know Google can do. Take your time and read the information below. You’ll likely learn a few tips and tricks that will make you appreciate Google even more.

10. Find a beautiful wallpaper for your desktop resolution with Google images

Here’s how you do it:

Go to Advanced Image Search
Next to “Exact size” click on “Use my desktop resolution”. Then, next to “Content types” select“Photo content.”
Enter some words. If you want to find cows, enter beautiful cows Let’s see the results:

Notice that many of the images in the results are from wallpaper sites. Google Images makes it very convenient to go through these types of sites and browse them like a gallery instead of going to each gallery site separately.

9. Create unlimited disposable email addresses with Gmail

Take the following example:

That’s right, you can add one or more dots ANYWHERE between your username and send messages to that ‘new’ email. All of those messages will arrive to your old (without dots) email. Hard to explain without a picture. But somehow Google did find a way to do it…

Sometimes you may receive a message sent to an address that looks like yours but has a different number or arrangement of periods. While we know it might be unnerving if you think someone else’s mail is being routed to your account, don’t worry: both of these addresses are yours.
Gmail doesn’t recognize dots as characters within usernames, you can add or remove the dots from a Gmail address without changing the actual destination address; they’ll all go to your inbox, and only yours. In short:
homerjsimpson@gmail.com = hom.er.j.sim.ps.on@gmail.com

homerjsimpson@gmail.com = HOMERJSIMPSON@gmail.com

homerjsimpson@gmail.com = Homer.J.Simpson@gmail.com

All these addresses belong to the same person. You can see this if you try to sign in with your username, but adding or removing a dot from it. You’ll still go to your account.

Yep, this is an explanation from Google itself. Now that you understand this, let’s keep going.

8. Search videos durations using Google Video

I’ve noticed there’s not a single video site that allows you to search videos by duration. Let’s say I want to learn Spanish and I want comprehensive videos for that (longer than 20 minutes.) To search, I go toGoogle Advanced Video Search page and select “Long” next to “Duration”. Here’s what happens:

Now all that’s left is to get some free time and watch those…

7. Want to find an iPad alternative using Google Search?

Sure, you can write ‘iPad alternative’ in Google but that won’t give you the best results. Instead, try this:

Using “better than product” where product=any product will give you not only alternatives but better alternatives to a particular product. Very cool.

6. Detect any unknown language with Google Language Detector

I have a big problem:

What’s the solution? Google language detector.

Another good way to detect and also translate is to use Google Translate and the “Detect Language” option:

5. See what the Dutch haven been searching for recently using Google Insights

Google is the most popular search engine in almost any country in the world. Google Insights (like the name suggests) gives you ‘insights’ of what people have been searching for around the world. For example, Netherlands:

Hyves is a Dutch portal and social network. Weer seems to be a weather portal.

4. When did Google become more popular than Microsoft? Google Trends has the answer

Google Trends helps you discover the trends on various topics and see what people have been searching for over time. In this case, you can see when people started searching for Google more than Microsoft in early 2005.

3. Hate opening PDF files? Google Docs is the solution

So you’ve been searching on Google for a particular topic and found a PDF file:

Instead of opening the file in Adobe Reader (which is a painful process), you can click on “Quick View” and open the file in Google Docs! It takes seconds to open and it’s way more flexible. If you choose later, you can always save the file as PDF by choosing the export option in Google Docs.

2. Scan and Read your RSS feeds like email messages in Google Reader

You probably know how easy it is to open and read email messages in Gmail thanks to the list view. Well, you can do the same in Google Reader:

The default view in Google Reader is ‘expanded’ which makes the items pretty difficult to scan and read. If you change the view from expanded to ‘list’, then it becomes WAY easier to SCAN items and pick what you like.

1. Google can tell you the answer to life and the universe

I wish it was so simple .

Source: http://www.toptenz.net/what-can-google-do.php

Shiv - Random Thoughts

Top 10 Consumer Electronics Companies

Dhoni (2012) - Tamil Movie Review

Technical facts about Mullai Periyar dam - The Water Bomb is ticking..

My Review of Roku HD Player

HootSuite - Social Media Dashboard Tool

The history behind why people drive on the right hand side

Why do some countries drive on the right

and others on the left ?

Source: Location of the steering wheel

Source: http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/driving%20on%20the%20left.htm

Miracle drink - Apple, Carrot, Potato

Anyone know the truth in this??

The Top Ten Daily Consequences of Having Evolved

The Top Ten Daily Consequences of Having Evolved

From hiccups to wisdom teeth, the evolution of homo sapiens has left behind some glaring, yet innately human, imperfections

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Classic Short Stories

Classic Short Stories

Manmadhan Ambu - Kamal Starrer - Story

Butterflies kiss Bannerghatta goodbye

Manmadhan ambu songs for download

Manmadhan ambu stills

Manmadhan Ambu Audio Released

Manmadhan ambu - Kamal Hassan New Movie - Trailer

Deals for watching movies online

Mitsubishi Outlander 2011 vs Competitors

Mitsubishi Outlander 2011

Hilarious sign boards

Hilarious Signboards from India

Control of the mind

Receptivity to learning

10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Google

10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do with Google

10. Find a beautiful wallpaper for your desktop resolution with Google images

9. Create unlimited disposable email addresses with Gmail

8. Search videos durations using Google Video

7. Want to find an iPad alternative using Google Search?

6. Detect any unknown language with Google Language Detector

5. See what the Dutch haven been searching for recently using Google Insights

4. When did Google become more popular than Microsoft? Google Trends has the answer

3. Hate opening PDF files? Google Docs is the solution

2. Scan and Read your RSS feeds like email messages in Google Reader

1. Google can tell you the answer to life and the universe