Fiddling While Rome Burns

This is a picture from Tue Aug. 30, the day after
Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Sure, the guitar was
a gift from Country musician Mark Wills and it was
graciously accepted by GWB. I just wish he would
have approached this photo op differently since
America's greatest natural disaster had struck
24 hours earlier.
AP/ABC News

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

If you've never been there, you've missed some of the best

live music on the planet

Louis Armstrong once sang :

Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans

And miss it each night and day

I know I'm not wrong, this feeling's getting stronger

The longer, I stay away

Miss them moss-covered vines, the tall sugar pines

Where mocking birds used to sing

And I'd like to see that lazy Mississippi hurrying into spring

Interesting article from a native dated Feb. 2005

" People in New Orleans look like they've had a hard life. But when you stop

to ask someone for directions, you might get a little more than you asked for

- a story, a smile. Just think of it as a survival strategy.

I'd like to close with a few tips so you don't misunderstand us when you visit

New Orleans:

	Never turn down an alcoholic beverage. You'll just have to drink something stiffer. And if you refuse to drink at all, everyone will think you're an alcoholic.
	One night in a bar, you start making eyes with a nice young lady, and she starts making some back. Suddenly, you notice some guy staring at you. Don't worry, it's probably just her boyfriend or her brother.
	Don't be surprised if everyone seems to call you "darling" or "honey". It's just our way of trying to be nice, and it doesn't mean anything... unless, of course, the person who says it is interested in you.
	If somebody asks you, "You want your po-boy dressed?", just say "yes ma'am" or "yes sir", because you don't want to miss any of the toppings on that sandwich with French bread. Within a radius of about 30 miles around the city, this question does not mean that someone is trying to sell you an impoverished naked young male.
	All of those musicians displaying their talents on the street are not dressed like they only shop at secondhand stores so you will think they're poor and give them more money. They really are poor.
	And don't forget: we are all friendly, hospitable people who are always willing to lend a helping hand and never get upset for no reason. Those 300 murders a year? That's just some crazy people..."

Link

In German

---

Slideshows

http://www.nola.com/hurricane/photos

Indian Politics and Porn

India rebels 'making porn films'

By Subir Bhaumik BBC News, Calcutta

"Rebels in India's north-eastern state of Tripura are making

pornographic films to raise money for their separatist campaign,

officials say...

The information has come from surrendered guerrillas of the

National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), according to police.

....The former guerrillas of the NLFT have told police their leaders

not only sexually abused scores of tribal girls recruited into the

rebel army but also used them - and some male guerrillas -

to produce scores of porn films, officials say."

BBC News article

Not so fast, guys !

As part of their series on people with unusual jobs,

this BBC news article exploits the word 'exploited'

by presenting this headline :

'If anyone is exploited it is the men'

Not so fast, guys !

This is not about sympathy for the devils in you.

Michelle Thorne, a top British Porn star says,

"I have never felt exploited. If anything it's giving you

power over men. The only people exploited, if anyone

is, are the men who go out and spend their money

on porn," says the 26-year-old from Bristol.

Link to BBC news article

Home truths from Indians abroad

CANADA DIARY | Gurmukh Singh

August 26, 2005

Whenever you get talking to Indians settled abroad --

be it a cabbie in Vancouver or a real estate agent in

Toronto or a security guard in Calgary or a passenger

on a plane, they always inquire about how things have

changed in India since they left its shores. Of course,

they do learn about the goings-on in their native land f

rom newspapers, magazines and 24-hour TV programmes.

But still there is that curiosity to get some first-hand information.

More so when you tell them that you are a roving journo.

Hindustan Times Article

Virtual Poona Daze Photos

This is the first of a series on Flickr entitled Virtual Poona Daze.

I will be posting pics randomly from the series here on a regular

basis. The pics represent my years in Pune/Poona before my

immigration to the USA in 1976. The reason they are mostly B/W

pics is not because of an artistic decision but because Color

processing prices were outrageous in those days before the

advent of the One-Hour Photo system.

 

 

Kronos Quartet goes Bollywood

Kronos Quartet went for an Indian theme on their latest album

You've Stolen My Heart: Songs From R.D. Burman's Bollywood.

 

Chamber group known for experimentation records Indian album

By PARITOSH BANSAL
Reuters

 

David Harrington of the Grammy-winning string ensemble Kronos Quartet

says his group jumped at the chance to work with legendary Indian singer

Asha Bhosle and take its eclectic chamber music to Bollywood.

In choosing songs for the group's latest album, all of them composed

by Bhosle's late husband, R.D. Burman, Harrington said he selected

those that appealed to his ear as a musician, with no understanding

of their Hindi and Bengali lyrics.

It wasn't until days before Kronos began recording last summer that

Harrington realized the group had put together a collection of plaintive

love songs.

The result was You've Stolen My Heart: Songs From R.D. Burman's

Bollywood , to be released today by the New York-based independent

label Nonesuch Records.

Full Story via The Houston Chronicle

The Mahabaleshwar Throne

Once upon a time in India I was part of a Rock band known as

'Heat Wave' and in the summer of 1970 we found ourselves

in the historic hill resort of Mahabaleshwar (pics) in

Maharashtra state. We had contracted

with the Savoy,

a Grade B local Hotel, to entertain the patrons every

evening for which we were provided with cash, board and lodging.

The lodging arrangement was an ancient house (a throwback to the

days of the British rule in India) with ample space for the five of us,

complete with some antique pieces of furniture. The most intriguing

piece there was a wooden toilet 'throne' with a sliding compartment for

removing a basin that collected one's body waste. Of course it was not

used by us since the domestic staff refused to clean it out. However,

we all took turns relaxing in this impromptu wooden armchair and I

must admit some of us even attempted to pee in it. Hey ~ we were

young college kids, and musicians coming of age in the 'hippie'

era. We were forced to resort to our own minds for entertainment

in those days before the advent of TV in India.

 

Thirty-five years later, I discover this state-of-the art medieval-looking

'Throne' suitable for anyone with a sense of humour and a fat wallet.

Just wish I had taken a photo of that ancient piece of s&5!**@!!

 

Official Product Details via The Greenhead.com
"A throwback to the medieval era of knights, castles and fairy tale romance,

this throne toilet with French Merovingian style (8th century) is highlighted

by hand painted earthenware accessories (Musset poem, ashtray...)

Its high-profile seat back with a gothic-arch top and full armrests give the

toilet a majestic appearance. Inscribed on the seat back is a poem by

the French poet, Alfred de Musset.

The musical chime "Le Bon Roi Dagobert", with a voice reciting the Musset

poem, starts when you raise the lid and a bell is coupled with the flush,

making a visit to the bathroom an unforgettable experience." 

http://www.thegreenhead.com/cool-stuff/2005/07/herbeau-dagobert-wooden-toilet-throne.php

 

I love this Tourist Guide to Mahabaleshwar.

---

 

Flock to Flickr

Well folks, I'm not a Shutterbug but I'm back to trying to find

an online home for all the photos I've accumulated in my lifetime.

I think Flickr fits the bill at the moment.

 

Feel free to copy, download and distribute as you see fit.

Feel the Love. Spread the Joy. Share the Peace.

 

Keyboarders

Still a thrill, piano is being given away

The baby grand was played by Fats Domino and other legends

at Austin club

By LISA FALKENBERG
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau

 

AUSTIN - Ray Charles touched these keys.

 

Jerry Lee Lewis stood, in his sneakers, on this cherry Coke-colored wood.

 

And Fats Domino belly-bumped all 700-plus pounds of this baby grand across

the stage the night it debuted at the Armadillo World Headquarters in 1971.

 

Nearly 35 years later, the 1915 Mason & Hamlin, played by almost every piano

player who passed through Austin's seminal hippie nightclub during its brief

existence in the 1970s, is being given away in a charitable drive benefiting

Austin's Family Elder Care.

Story

---

Synthesizer innovator Robert Moog dies

 

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — Robert A. Moog, whose self-named

synthesizers turned electric currents into sound and

opened the musical wave that became

electronica, has died. He was 71.

 

"The arrival of the synthesizer came as just as the Beatles

and other musicians started seeking ways to fuse

psychedelic-drug experiences with their art.

The Beatles used a Moog synthesizer on their 1969 album,

"Abbey Road";

A Moog was used to create an eerie sound on the soundtrack

to the 1971 film "A Clockwork Orange".

AP article via The Houston Chronicle

 

Keyboardist Walter (later Wendy, he/she underwent a sex-change procedure in

the late 1960s and became Wendy Carlos, though her albums of that era were

released under the name of Walter Carlos.) Carlos demonstrated the range of Moog's

synthesizer by recording the hit album "Switched-On Bach" in 1968 using only

the new instrument instead of an orchestra."

 

Walter 'Wendy' Carlos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

 'Piano Man' discharged from care

I must admit I was taken in at first by this mystery

The so-called Piano Man found wandering in April has been released

from hospital after his condition improved.

'The man was first taken to Medway Maritime Hospital where he drew a picture

of a grand piano and was then taken to the hospital chapel.

 

It was reported that health and social workers said they were "stunned" when he

proceeded to give them a virtuoso performance.

 

However, newspaper reports now suggest he was only able to play one

note continuously.

 

Theories put forward and later discounted included that the man was a French

street musician and a Czech concert pianist.'

BBC News Story

---

HOPE

LOVE is all you need. HOPE is all we have.

Help Needed for Michael Brecker

Requests are going out in the jazz world to help find a genetic match for saxophonist Michael Brecker (BST), who is in need of a stem cell transplant. Details on the requirements are here. Please pass this information on. Blog For Hope

Yahoo! and the American Cancer Society are breaking new ground

in an effort to connect individuals in the fight against cancer.

In a 30-day Blog for Hope event, celebrities and public figures share

insights and personal stories of how cancer has affected their lives.

Bloggers include Fran Drescher, Hillary Clinton, Deepak Chopra,

Tom Green, and many others. Click below :

http://blogs.health.yahoo.com/blog-for-hope/

---

 

 

Anoushka Shankar

Ravi's daughter gives us a 'Rise'

 

Anoushka Shankar’s new album mingles heavy beats

with the sitar and vocals to get a world music feel.

Despite Anoushka Shankar’s frail frame and soft voice, it’s

apparent from the beginning that she’s quite formidable.

 

It would take someone formidable to compose, produce and

manage about 40 or 50 musicians in recording studios all over

the country, an effort she underwent to bring out her

latest work, Rise.

 

‘‘I did it very much without the label,’’ Shankar tells us,

‘‘I pretty much handed them the finished album.’’

Article in Express India

Discover Indian Food and more

"Authentic Indian food ranks with French and Chinese cuisine as one of
the great culinary traditions of the world. Reflecting many different cultures
in its tremendous diversity, Indian food ranges from exquisitely simple
vegetarian dishes to full-flavoured meat, chicken and fish concoctions
made with dozens of ingredients. Each region has its own specialties
inspired by race, religion, history and geography and each restaurant
and housewife adds an individual touch." ~ Toby Sinclair
Link to article

Discover India
India being such an amazingly diverse country, it's nice to come across
an informative and fun site that offers so much on the menu.
Link

Outsourcing hits Hollywood

WASHINGTON: And now here comes Outsourcing, the movie.

Don't forget the comma in that previous sentence.

Hollywood will take a stab at the practice of outsourcing to India

as seen through the eyes of an American writer.
Universal Pictures has just bought the film rights to an Esquire
article titled "My Outsourced Life" by A.J.Jacobs, a scribe whose
off the wall feats include reading the 33-volume, 44-million word
Encylopoedia Britannica end-to-end.

"Jacobs, Esquire's editor-at-large, wrote the outsourcing article after he

discovered that he could farm out almost everything in his life to India,

from ordering his food to fighting with his wife.

"I got the idea while reading Tom Friedman's The World is Flat," he

explained in an interview to this correspondent on Wednesday.

"I divvied up my work life and home life and sent out the tasks to two

Bangalore-based companies. It was just wonderful."

Times of India article by CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA

Fukufuji

Wonder what they call him for short ?

Yutaka Fukufuji, who played with the Japan's national
ice hockey team three times, displays his Los Angeles
Kings jersey during a news conference in Tokyo
Thursday, Aug. 18, 2005.

Yahoo! News Photo

Zoroastrianism Explained

ON THE OCCASION OF NAVROZE, BRIG N B GRANT TELLS US

ABOUT THE HISTORY, CULTURE AND BELIEFS OF

THE PARSEE COMMUNITY

Pune, August 18: IT was 1300 years ago that a band of Zoroastrians

embarked on the Gujarat coast, thus becoming an integral part of India.

The day is celebrated by the members of the faith as their New Year,

known to us as Navroze. Parsees belonged to a tribe who followed the

teachings of Zoroaster...."Zoroastrianism is a religion of happiness and

laughter, which expects its followers to eat, drink, create wealth and be

merry provided these are based on the three pillars of Good Thoughts,

Good Words, and Good Deeds, bound together with a band which

stipulates that ‘‘happiness comes only to those who give happiness to others.’’

LINK

 

 

Not Your Regular Suburbia

You Know You Live in Colorado when...

1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car.

2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home and

he stops at the Adult Day Care center.

3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.

4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.

---

You Know You Live in Arizona when...

1. You are willing to park 3 blocks away because you found shade.

2. You can open and drive your car without touching the car door

or the steering wheel.

3. You've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water

in the toilet bowl.

4. You would give anything to be able to splash cold water on your face.

5. You can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top.

6. "Dress Code" is meaningless at high schools and universities.

7. You can drive for 4 hours in one direction and never leave town.

8. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.

9. The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!

10. You know that "dry heat" is comparable to what hits you in the face when

you open your oven door.

---

Welcome to Alaska !

Today when you exit the cruise ship to tour the beautiful countryside,

please keep in mind that it is home to many bears.

 

Make sure you carry with you several small bells and pepper spray.

 

While black bears are the less harmless of Alaskan bears, grizzlies that

are dark in color are easily mistaken for them.

 

In order to tell the difference, look at the bear's dung.

If you see small bits of berries or some squirrel fur, it's a black bear.

If you see several small bells and pepper spray, it's a grizzly.

---

T r u c k  S t o p  D i n e r 

A young man at his first job as a waiter in a diner has a large

trucker sit down at the counter and order, "Gimme 3 flat tires

and a couple of headlights."

 

Bewildered he goes to the kitchen and tells the cook, "I think

this guy's in the wrong store, look at what he ordered!"

 

The cook says, "He wants 3 pancakes &2 eggs sunny-side up."

 

A few moments later, the waiter takes a bowl of beans to the trucker.

 

He looks at it and growls, "What's this? I didn't order this!"

 

The young man tells him, "The cook says that while you're waiting

for your parts you might as well gas up."

---

Hot and Wet for Laptops

Laptop offer sets off bargain-hunters' bedlam

Dean Hoffmeyer/Richmond Times-Dispatch

Henrico County Police Sgt. A.J. Scott

tries to control the crowd rushing into

Richmond International Raceway in Virginia on Tuesday.

By KRISTEN GELINEAU
Associated Press via The Houston Chronicle

 

RICHMOND, VA. - Witnesses likened it to the running of the bulls.

 

Screams filled the air and police called for backup as people were

trampled, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over.

A child's stroller was crushed. A woman urinated on herself.

 

All in the name of getting a bargain.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3313671

He Squeezes His Buns and Wins

Eating champion wins new contest

 

 

Japan's champion speed-eater has won his second contest

in two days by ingurgitating 100 roasted pork buns

in 12 minutes in Hong Kong.

 

Takeru Kobayashi ate twice as many buns as the first runner-up,

Johnny Wu, who only managed to guzzle 47.

 

Mr Kobayashi, 27, used a special technique - squeezing the buns

tight and sipping plenty of water while chewing to soften them up.

From BBC News

 

News@HindustanTimes.com

Australia opens its arms to skilled workers
They want over 20,000 workers from all over the world
and they're taking the show on the road.

HindustanTimes.com

What's On at Boudreaux

Boudreaux Cajun Kitchen
Last week I was invited to drinks and dinner by an old female friend

and I suggested something spicy, like Cajun cuisine. We wound up at

Boudreaux which was a big mistake, except for the Frozen Margaritas
which were frozen perfectly for the unrelenting Houston humidity.

There is 'never a waiter' at Boudreaux, as we were informed by the

Bartender female. Talk about a mixed-up 'Theme' restaurant

the decor was 60's Diner-type, cuisine was Cajun, the staff was Hispanic
(Mexican ?) and they were obviously aiming for a Sports-themed ambience.
So they had ESPN on the multiple TV sets around the Bar and while bar-goers
sipped their drinks and others ate their Tex-Mex-Cajun mix, the ESPN channel
had something disgustingly funny playing :

The Alka-Seltzer-sponsored contest of the

International Federation of Competitive Eating: http://www.ifoce.com/eaters.php

Boudreaux seems appetizing to some folks who ate there.

We went to Perry's Steakhouse instead and had a scrumptious meal

and a real pleasant evening.

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — 37 year-old Sonya Thomas, at 99 pounds, gobbled her way

to another speed-eating title over the weekend by attacking a Wisconsin staple —

the bratwurst.

The woman known as The Black Widow on the competitive-eating circuit downed

35 brats in 10 minutes to win the first Johnsonville Brat-Eating World Championship.

She edged out her nearest competitor by half a brat to win.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/bizarre/3300014

---

The Rising and Farrukh Dhondy

From Bishops' School Poona to BBC to Bollywood and Beyond

As a former 'Bishops' Boy' I try to keep track of ex-Bishopites

so I was delighted to put this set of links together....

'The Rising is based on an 1857 uprising by Indian soldiers.
Hindu and Muslim soldiers revolted against the British East India Company,
over fears that gun cartridges were greased with animal fat forbidden by
their religions...
The film has been scripted by writer Farrukh Dhondy,

a former commissioning editor at BBC Channel 4, and set to music by
top Indian composer AR Rahman.'
from BBC News :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4145032.stm

Farrukh is currently in competition at the Montreal World Film Festival
with his script for 'Red Mercury' which is about three British-born Muslim
fanatics who hold a restaurant to siege with a lethal bomb. Stars include
Ron Silver, Juliet Stevenson, Stockard Channing and rising British talent
Navin Chowdhry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4146792.stm

He developed the successful films Bandit Queen and Salaam Bombay and is
also the acclaimed author of Bombay Duck and Poona Company.
Split Wide Open was his feature debut as a screenwriter.

Poona Company (1980) is a series of nine loosely-connected short stories
that together constitute a lively depiction of an Indian boyhood and early youth
in the town of Poona, about 200 kms. south-east of Bombay. The little urban
community in which the protagonist-narrator grows up is constantly in the grip
of intrigues and dramatic upheavals. A large number of characters are deftly
sketched through well-observed details and turns of speech, his subjects
being the gangs of boys in which the narrator participated when at school,
a duel with knives on the school playground, a war between two typewriting
classes, the murder of a brilliant young journalist, rowdy college elections
followed by the college students' Annual Social, and the foibles of an inveterate
gambler. Throughout these ups and downs a gentle humour is maintained,
conveying an overall sense of affection and fascination, while the tension is
adroitly defused in each tale by means of a soothing humane touch.

Army Not So Rock 'N' Roll

Music great Jimi Hendrix
was booted out of the army for letting his sex drive and
guitar playing get in the way of military life, show records.

The rock legend was kicked out aged 19 in 1962 after
superiors deemed him "one of the poorest" soldiers in
his platoon with "no known good characteristics".
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91059-13401532,00.html

Kids with Cameras, Dharna and Hinglish

Kids with Cameras
In Calcutta's red light district, over 7,000 women and girls work as prostitutes. Only one group has a lower standing: their children.

Zana Briski became involved in the lives of these children in 1998 when she first began photographing prostitutes in Calcutta.
Living in the brothels for months at a time, she quickly developed
a relationship with many of the kids who, often terrorized and abused, were drawn to the rare human companionship she offered.

Fascinated by her camera, Zana thought it would be great to see
the world through their eyes. It was at that moment that she had the
idea of teaching photography to the children of prostitutes.
http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/calcutta/

---

Heathrow gets a taste of 'Dharna'
The dharna down at Heathrow, which fancies itself as "hub of the world",
is instructive at this point of time in Britain's maudlin preoccupation with
multi-culturalism. The strike started after a dharna. There is no other word for it and never
mind that it is manifestly foreign to British working practices. Even though the dharna, may not, at last count, have entered numerous
English language portals, such as the OED, it is an Indian import into
the British capital. It underlines the complex multi-layering of 21st-century Britain's identity as
a "salad bowl" of immigrants and white host community.
from The Times of India

---

Oxford Speaks Bindaas 'Hinglish'
RASHMEE ROSHAN LALL

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2005 12:00:40 AM

LONDON: Indian English, complete with misused words and made-up
phrases, has made it to the Oxford Dictionary in a an entertaining
revamp-review-renew ritual faultlessly observed by the single volume
that is officially regarded as the linguistic equivalent of the
US President's State of the Union address. On Wednesday, the Oxford Dictionary of English (ODE) revealed its
new cache of linguistic treasures, including 'bindaas', 'tamasha',
' mehndi', 'desi' and 'lehnga'. Lollywood, Lahore's fledgling film industry, with pretensions to being
a poor man's Bollywood, finds honorable mention. So does 'kitty party',
the chaat-and-chatter mainstay of bored Indian housewives for decades.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1197175.cms

---

9/11 New Details Uncovered

NYC Officials Reveal New Glimpse of 9/11

Firefighter Maureen McArdle-Schulman recalled hearing
someone yell before the collapses that something was
falling from the towers.

"It turned out it was people coming out, and they started coming
out one after the other," she said. "We didn't know what it was
at first, but then the first body hit and then we knew what it was. ...
I was getting sick. I felt like I was intruding on a sacrament.
They were choosing to die and I was watching them and shouldn't have been. So me and another guy turned away and looked at a wall and we could still hear them hit."

AP Article via Yahoo

Slideshow on Yahoo

BBC News : India state battles flood disease

India state battles flood disease
Over 80 people die of water-borne diseases in India's
Maharashtra state, which was badly hit by floods two weeks ago.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/world/south_asia/4144402.stm

Bollywood in our backyard

HOUSTON TEXAS :

Bollywood in our backyard

By TARA DOOLEY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle LINK

It's Saturday night at the Bollywood Cinema 6
and the drama has kicked into high gear.

In the lobby, popcorn pops. But in addition to
Kit Kats and sodas,

the concession stand also offers an assortment
of chutneys for more traditional movie snacks
such as samosas or kebab rolls.

Related Links

http://www.bollywoodcinema6.com/

http://www.funplex.org/

Lovemaking!

The Sexologist and the Sardar

Banta and Preeto came to a sexologist.

"Doctor, we're married for a few months already, and we love each other,
but we get no pleasure whatsoever from our lovemaking."

"Hmmm. Maybe you should try another position. Like this."

The doctor described the new position.

Banta said, "Doctor, thank you very much. Would you kindly permit us
to try it here?"

"Just go behind that screen and try."

After a while the doctor asked, "So?"

"No pleasure whatsoever, doctor."

"Hmmm. Then try one more position."

Banta and Preeto again went behind the screen. The doctor heard some
sounds suggesting that the new position did help indeed. However, when
they reappeared from behind the screen, they again complained that they
had no feelings whatsoever. As to the sounds, they just tried to excite
themselves by saying certain words, but it did not help.

"Hmmm," the doctor said. "It's a hard case. Let me call your family doctor."

The sexologist dialled the family doctor's number and told about the hard
case he was treating.

"Kick them out," the family doctor said. "They just make rounds through
all doctors' offices in the city as they live with her parents and do not have
a place of their own."

The Mount. Everest of Toilets

Lately this has turned into a Toilet - themed Blog.....

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Scaling Australia’s highest mountain will

soon become a more civilized climb after the construction of the

country’s highest toilet.

Dubbed the “Loo with a View,” the all-weather toilet block is to be built

into the wind-swept side of Mount Kosciuszko, 390 feet below its

snowcapped peak in a New South Wales state national park.

Link

A Real Winner

Winner of this year’s Jidda Puraskar, Kamalakar Desale’s

journey should be an inspiration to all

Rashmi Kumar

Pune, August 7: When there is no choice, there are two options—

either you succumb to the harshness that life metes out or you fight

back and come out victorious!"

 

These words of motivation come from Kamalakar Desle, recipient of

this year’s Jidda Puraskar. One look at him with the sunshine smile

and you can see his indomitable confidence.

The Jidda Puraskar was bestowed upon him for his contribution in the

field of literature through his regular write-ups for various publications

and collections of poems.

 

Desle says, "Behind this award, there are years of

hardwork and pain. There were times when I was completely ostracized

from my village, but I think I was a born optimist. I never gave up."

 

Desle, who lost both his legs during childhood, is presently teaching at

Janata Vidyalaya High, Zodge (Malegaon).

Link

---

No toilet, no seat, says minister

 

(AP gratuitous photo)

 

Sit at home first

Village council candidates in India should be allowed to

stand for election only if they can 'sit' at home, a

rural development minister says.

 

In a letter to all chief ministers, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh

said the toilet rule should be set out in law.

He said too many elected members "do not have toilet

facilities in their own houses and defecate in the open".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4742929.stm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cash Cow

Earn Easy Money in Your Spare Time !

http://tinyurl.com/86fmv

Real Women Revealed

Gents, your suspicions were right. Your ladylove is
Supermodel material. Or so says the latest Dove campaign. http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/flat3.asp?id=2364

Typing Test online

typing test (c) CalculatorCat.com

THE RAIN IN PANVEL

Pune, August 3: THE week-long steady drip, drip, drip
has surely dampened spirits. Rising water levels in the
rivers around the city painted a grim picture, making
even the happy-go-lucky sorts want to stay indoors and
curl up. While normal life looked gloomy and business
grew duller, the normally chirpy entertainment avenues
took a battering making the rain the latest villain.
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=142292

THE RAIN IN PANVEL

by Kathy Patel, trapped in Panvel, trying to adjust
to the move back to India from Toronto, Canada

'The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain'
but the rain in Panvel is driving us both insane.

When I came in March, it was HOT, the heat was harsh.
In June the rains came and now the land's a marsh.

Going to the market has now become a chore,
because it's all mud and puddles, not dry like before.

Red bricks have been put to use as stepping-stones,
but balancing is tricky, we could end up breaking bones.

Umbrella in one hand , shopping bag in the other
You wobble, stand or stumble from one brink to another.

Shakily you reach the road and think you're safe at last,
but suddenly your umbrella's turned upwards with the wind blast.

You struggle to control the upward motion of the spokes,
and risk the danger of hurting other street folks.

A rain suit would have been better than the umbrella any day,
In it you could move easily- you could even jump and play.

Inside the home the day passes drearily by :
Cooking, cleaning, washing or watching the overcast sky.

Dusk approaches and the stage is now set
for all the Insects to come in from 'THE WET'.

The grill is up and the netting is in its place,
but to come into the flat, all the insects have a race.

The lizards and dragonflies stop short at the netting outside,
but the tiny fleas and beetles come quietly crawling inside.

Some adventurous mosquitoes manage to squeeze themselves through.
To make our nights a nightmare, you need only a few.

We have poured Phenyl on every window ledge,
pumped 'Mosquito Spray' in the rooms on every edge.

We have burned 'Agarbatti' , Incense smoked up every room,
desperately trying to bring the Insects to THEIR DOOM !

Some perish, some die at once or linger, then pass out,
but the insects win the BATTLE without any doubt.

For every horde you annihilate another horde is ready.
They may be small in size but their numbers are quite steady.

A few nights of continous spraying has no effect at all.
The joy of a flat in Panvel is now beginning to pall.

Papa's frustrated, tired out, his struggles to no avail.
" Let's go back to Canada, " he says, " I'm fed up of Panvel !"

Jimi Hendrix played gay to leave Army - book

Jimi Hendrix, regarded as one of the greatest
electric guitar players and known as a prodigious
womanizer, lied about being gay to get out of the
U.S. Army and pursue his true love -- music,
according to a new biography of the rock legend.

"Room Full of Mirrors," written by Charles Cross
and published by Hyperion, recounts the life of
Hendrix, from a troubled childhood in a black Seattle
neighborhood, to brushes with the law and a fast
climb to the top of the rock world with hits such as
"Purple Haze," and "Hey Joe," and "The Wind Cries Mary."
Link

Remember The Man With No Name ?

Remembering the Spaghetti Western

"Then came Alessandro Alessandroni, the man who whistled (and wailed)

on some of the haunting scores that Ennio Morricone wrote for Leone.

Although some of his notes wobbled, Alessandroni filled the cool

Los Angeles night air with notes as sweet and piercingly strange as

those in the films."

A NY Times article by Manohla Dargis

Some of us are 'barely' amused by this

Rockers perform naked on live TV show

Two South Korean rock musicians stripped off their clothes while performing live on television, prompting the network to scrap the popular music show.

http://tinyurl.com/9k6n8

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"And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?"

A U.S. appeals court has rejected a lawsuit charging 1960s

psychedelic rocker Country Joe McDonald with copyright

infringement for his 1965 protest song "Fixin' to Die Rag,"

which became a rallying cry for opposition to the Vietnam War.

http://tinyurl.com/7amsv

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Airport Screening on the Defensive

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- A woman who was upset over being searched

bodily at an airport was convicted Tuesday of assaulting a security

screener by grabbing the federal officer's breasts.

A federal jury heard the case against retired teacher Phyllis Dintenfass,

who also allegedly shoved the screener during the search at the

Outagamie County Regional Airport in Appleton in September 2004.

Dintenfass, 62, faces up to a year in federal prison and $100,000 in fines.

The judge set sentencing for Nov. 1.

On Monday, Transportation Security Administration screening supervisor

Anita Gostisha testified that Dintenfass activated metal detectors at a

checkpoint, and she heard Dintenfass say she thought the problem was

bobby pins and barrettes in her hair.

Gostisha said she took the woman to another screening area, where she

used a handheld wand. Gostisha said she was following protocol when she

also performed a "limited pat-down search."

Gostisha said she was using the back of her hands to search the area

underneath Dintenfass' breasts when the woman lashed out at her.

"She said `How would you like it if I did that to you?' and slammed me

against the wall," Gostisha testified. "She came at me and grabbed my

breasts and squeezed them."

Distenfass claimed she acted in self-defense.

"I said, 'What are you doing? No one's done that to me before,'" she said.

"And she kept going ... for what felt like an interminably long time."

Dintenfass denied shoving Gostisha, but admitted putting her hands on

the agent's breasts.

"I was mortified that I had done that," she said. "I was reacting to what felt

like an absolute invasion of my body."

U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic said TSA officers perform a vital service and

are entitled to protection from assault.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601245_pf.html

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