Archive for September, 2008
And Now, Palin Wine
Appears Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin just can’t stay out of the news. Well, I’m talking about the kind of news a vice presidential candidate wouldn’t necessarily be jumping with joy to be in.
A hitherto inconsequential organic wine from Chile has suddenly shot to limelight caught up in the US presidential race — for the simple reason it’s called Palin Syrah. Not that Ms Palin has anything to do with it, but that’s the way news works, I guess.
San Francisco’s Yield Wine Bar manager Chris Tavelli has been serving Palin Syrah well before Republican presidential candidate John McCain asked Palin to be his running-mate. But once that (nomination) was announced, Palin Syrah sales have plummeted in Frisco. But Tavelli is not taking it off his wine list.
“It’s good, organic and affordable,” he said.
But Palin Syrah is not running dry in Texas, where a store reports that out of a stock of the wine stacked 20 high, only less than a hundred bottles remain. And the spirit has hit new sales highs even in the Democratic New York City.
“I think is that some of the reason is that some people are going to buy it and cross out her name and maybe write Obama or Biden’s name,” said shop owner Scott Pactor.
Related post(s):
U.S. vs Chinese Diplomacy
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Chinese president visits U.S.  |
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U.S. president visits China  |
Can This Really Make You Smell 10 Years Younger?
Is it that time in your life you wished you looked 10 years younger? Or weighed 10 lbs less? Or smelled 10 years younger? Well, according to a report in Daily Mirror, a new perfume can fulfill that last wish in literally a whiff.
Researchers say that the new Ageless Fantasy perfume can lead people around you into thinking you’re at least eight years younger than your real age.
“From the point of arriving at the fragrance we had to negate the body odor that comes with age, it is not enough to simply mask the smell of aging,” said Kumar Ramani, president of Harvey Prince. “Our goal was to find a fragrance that men and women would associate with youth.”
Harvey Prince, the perfume maker, attributed ‘natural biochemistry’ to the scent’s effect. The firm said the perfume’s tropical-based top notes of pineapple, mango, apple and leafy greens prompt happy childhood memories in anyone who smells it, though for a short period of time.
However, its middle notes — cherry blossom and pink jasmine — start telling withing 20 minutes after application, and the real blast comes with the heavier notes — musk and vanilla — which allegedly have a lasting effect. What they really do is disguise the unpleasant fatty odor that comes off Nonenal pheromones in women aged above 40 years.
Dubbed ‘the world’s first and only anti-age perfume‘, Ageless Fantasy is £59 (US$108) for a 100ml bottle, expected to be available at Harvey Nichols next month.
This is great. Hopefully soon the researchers will come up with something that can make you smell 20 years younger.
Wonder if they have checked out Johnson’s Baby Powder yet.
How REALLY Big is the Big Bang Experiment?
Most of us are aware that something extraordinarily BIG is happening inside a 27-kilometer (16.8-mile) long tunnel on the Swiss-French border. We also know that a $10 billion dollar machine is smashing protons at close to the speed of light, completing about 11,000 laps each second.
We can also try to appreciate that the detectors on a collider in the tunnel, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN*, will look for signs of new physics, including origins of mass and extra dimensions, hunt for the Higgs boson (dubbed “The God Particle” for its potential to answer the most basic questions about existence, such as how anything came into existence), investigate what happened to the “missing” anti-matter that was created in parallel with matter as well as attempt to study ’some kind of liquid’ that theoretically existed shortly after the Big Bang.
Anyways, I’m not here to talk physics or the origin of the universe nor to discuss whether this experiment will soon mean the ends of days (or nights) as we know them. With the media raising so much hue and cry about the ‘mega’ project, I wanted to dig in and find out, within the confines of my limited ability to envision, just how big this so-called Big Bang Experiment REALLY was.
Whatever it was that I expected to find out, I certainly was not ready to take THIS in:
| Be sure to CLICK on the thumbnails below (opens in new Window) |
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| Aerial view of CERN and the surrounding region of Switzerland and France . Three rings are visible, the smaller (at lower right) shows the underground position of the Proton Synchrotron, the middle ring is the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) with a circumference of 7 km and the largest ring (27 km) is that of the former Large Electron and Positron collider (LEP) accelerator with part of Lake Geneva in the background. (© CERN) |
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| The Globe of Innovation. The wooden globe is a structure originally built for Switzerland ’s national exhibition, Expo’02, and is 40 meters wide, 27 meters tall. (Maximilien Brice; Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN) |
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| View of the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment Tracker Outer Barrel (TOB) in the cleaning room. The CMS is designed to explore the physics of the Terascale, the energy region where physicists believe they will find answers to the central questions at the heart of particle physics. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN) |
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| Assembly and installation of the ATLAS Hadronic endcap Liquid Argon Calorimeter. The ATLAS detector contains a series of ever-larger concentric cylinders around the central interaction point where the LHC’s proton beams collide. (Roy Langstaff, © CERN) |
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| ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment @ CERN) will study the physics of ultrahigh-energy proton-proton and lead-lead collisions and will explore conditions in the first instants of the universe, a few microseconds after the Big Bang. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN) |
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| View of the LHC cryo-magnet inside the tunnel. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN) |
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| Insertion of the tracker in the heart of the CMS detector. (Maximilien Brice, © CERN) |
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| Transporting the ATLAS Magnet Toroid End-Cap A between building 180 to ATLAS point 1. (Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN) |
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| View of the Computer Center during the installation of servers. (Maximilien Brice; Claudia Marcelloni, © CERN) |
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| Installation of the world’s largest silicon tracking detector in the CMS experiment. (Michael Hoch, © CERN) |
*The European Organization for Nuclear Research (French: Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire), known as CERN is the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, situated in Geneva on the Franco-Swiss border, established in 1954. The organization has twenty European member states, and is currently the workplace of about 2600 full-time employees, as well as some 7931 scientists and engineers (representing 500 universities and 80 nationalities).
Why the Tourist Numbers Fell at Beijing Olympics
The Olympics Games, while being the ultimate picture of grandiosity in sports, is also seen as a source of major spike in tourism to the host country. However, not so for China.
The Chinese had a program and the works needed to inflate tourism — the theme itineraries of “Beijing Historic and Cultural Heritages”, scenic spots like the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, mega projects as the Bird’s Nest, the Water Cube, and the Olympic Park. Yet, far from causing a tourist boom, the 2008 Olympic Games actually caused a drastic fall in the numbers of visitors to the Chinese capital.
In August 2008:
Beijing hotels received a total of 708,000 guests from other areas in China, 47% less than last year.
The number of foreign visitors was only 389,000 arrived, a 7.2% decrease from last year.
Visitors from Hong Kong (the richest city in China) to Beijing dropped by 16.5%, while those from Taiwan (nearest foreign country) dropped by 57.3%.
And the eight months in 2008 prior to the Olympics? Not really a pretty picture, either:
Beijing saw 3.8% less internal tourists and 8.9% less foreign visitors.
The media has not come out explicitly with any explanation for this disappointing performance, but insiders put the blame on several factors including strict security, asphyxiating controls, heavy restrictions on movement and the strong police presence. Do you think these ‘reasons’ were powerful enough to override the passion to watch any sport or the Olympics?
Well, the media, the Chinese government and the organizers might have their own theories, but I believe that the following images from Beijing may have had something to keep the tourists at bay:
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How to be Happy Most of the Time — if Not Always
An extract from Chetan Bhagat’s speech to the new batch of MBA students at Symbiosis, Pune, India in July, 2008.
There are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the spark to be happy in us. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.
Disappointment
Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do, come out stronger. Failure can and will make you feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.
Frustration
Disappointment’s cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign that somewhere you took it too seriously.
Unfairness
Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damn lucky by Indian standards. Let’s be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don’t. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don’t get literary praise. It’s ok. I don’t look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It’s ok. Don’t let unfairness kill your spark.
Isolation
Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, perhaps all you wanted was ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.
There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.
What the Heck is Palin-tology? Newsweek Defines
On stands today, the September 15, 2008 issue of Newsweek helps define the new word with a story on Sarah Palin’s record to get a better understanding of where she stands on issues.
UPDATE
September 16, 2008
Now that I’m talking about ‘palintology’, little did I realize that a site devoted to the subject has been around much before I saw the word on Newsweek’s cover. And that is Palintology: the science dealing with Alaska’s first female governor & USA VP nominee, Sarah Palin. Check out the latest ‘Palinistic’ news, stories, forums, the store and more:
Now, I’m not sure if the above Newseek photo is authentic or not, well, it does look real, but the following ‘image’ of Palin is definitely, positively Photoshopped:
Check out the orginal here.
Source The Huffington Post
You’d Have to Go Nude to be More Eco-friendly Than This
How eco-friendly can you get? In the words of EcoGear founder Robert Hii, “you’d have to go nude to be more eco-friendly” than the world’s first 100% recycled clothing.
Incredible EcoGear is just about to change forever the way we think about our clothes. Robert Hii, a 20-year veteran of Toronto’s garment industry, began researching the possibility of creating a 100% recycled fabric in 2007, following a string of devastating natural disasters around the world. His research led to the possibility that a wide range of clothes could be created for even the fashion-conscious, and that was when Hii struck out with Incredible EcoGear.
The fabric is created from leftover cuttings from the floor of clothing factories. The cuttings are separated by color and shade, then cut into ultra-fine fibers and attached to a continuous strand of polyester thread made from recycled plastic bottles. The resulting yarn is then spun into EcoGear clothing products. The process is free of dyes, bleaches and other harsh chemicals. To top it, the inks used on EcoGear labels are organic, and garments’ hang tags are printed in soy inks on recycled paper.
“EcoGear clothing is the first 100% recycled clothing available to consumers,” said Hii. “We realized that any difference in climate change will have to start with you and me, and that is the founding principle of EcoGear.”
Incredible EcoGear’s commitment to environment doesn’t end with producing eco-friendly clothing. It also donates 1% of sales to environmental organizations, including the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the World Wildlife Fund and the Toronto Zoo to name a few.
SOURCE Incredible EcoGear
Naughty Duck Promotes Sex Line
Some think that former governor of New York Eliot Spitzer could be behind the slip in the proofreading, but the carrier card for the new duck stamp also carries a misprint that’s sending callers to a sex line.
Duck hunters are invited to a different kind of sport when they call the number, which takes them to a certain “Intimate Connections” with a husky female voice inviting them to “talk only to the girls that turn you on,” for $1.99 a minute.
Blame it all (or thank) a printing error — instead of listing 1-800-782-6724 (1-800-STAMP24, it lists 1-800-872-6724 (1-800-TRAMP24).
Strangely enough though, no one seems to be complaining.
“I’m going to order a lot more stamps,” said New Jersey native Brad Jones, who’s suddenly become a die-hard fan of duck hunting, having called the number three times to ‘order duck stamps.’
It has even enabled 14-year-old Kevin Anderson to discover a new world. He’s raised money with his neighborhood gang to pay for some steamy chats. “I had no idea such a thing existed, me and my friends love it,” said Kevin.
About 3.5 million federal “duck stamps,” featuring artwork by a Plymouth artist, are affixed to a card that bears the misprinted number, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday. Cost of reprints? About $300,000.
The revenue from duck stamps goes toward purchasing waterfowl habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. For 2006-2007, that amounted to nearly $22 million.
The card also carries their website URL duckstamp.com. Hmm… wish there was a misprint there as well and they’d printed offbeatbuzz.com.
Top 10 Biggest Mistakes Made by Travelers
I agree traveling is meant to be fun. Matter of fact, even the sheer anticipation of a holiday can be so exciting that some us tend to overdo or underdo something or the other, which can end up making a mess of our travel experience. And we always see what we did wrong when it’s too late. (Recall Murphy’s Law? If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.)
But there’s no need to panic. Help is available — travel experts at VirtualTourist.com reveal what not to do on vacation.
“Every experienced traveler has a war story or two of missed flights, nights spent in train stations, or full vacation days at an embassy trying to get missing paperwork,” explains Giampiero Ambrosi, general manager of VirtualTourist®. “While there are always situations that can’t be avoided, this is a great checklist to help you avoid some very common blunders. The list may help you avert disaster, but remember that the biggest travel mistake of all is not to keep a sense of humor about your mistakes!”
1. Overpacking. A good rule of thumb is, if you have to sit on the suitcase to zip it up, you’ve packed too much.
2. Not anticipating passport expiration. Double-check the expiration date the day you start planning your trip and be sure to confirm that it won’t expire while you’re on vacation!
3. Leaving too little time between flight connections. As any seasoned traveler will advise, any between-connection time less than two hours and you’re really rolling the dice.
4. Forgetting time differences. Not taking into account time differences is a very common mistake travelers make, along with not realizing that some countries count time from one to 12 while others count from one to 24.
5. Not renewing prescription medication. Getting refills in some countries isn’t easy, so ask your pharmacist about an advance refill.
6. Neglecting to confirm hotel reservations. Even if you booked months ago and made a deposit, always call a few weeks before to confirm and if possible, get something in writing.
7. Not bringing an adaptor. If a day without a hairdryer is a day spent in agony, make sure to bring the appropriate adaptor.
8. Not checking to see if your ATM card works in other countries. Even if you’ve used your ATM card somewhere before, always check with your bank and keep in mind that different countries often require shorter or longer PIN numbers so ask about that as well.
9. Leaving valuables in a hotel safe. When you come back to the hotel each night, make it a habit to leave your key on the safe so when you’re ready for a final departure you’ll be reminded to have one last look.
10. Not learning how to say “help” in another language. Before arriving, learn words like “help” and “fire,” and make sure you know the local equivalent of 911.
Now, from my experience — the problem is that these tips seem too obvious. And I tend to take them for granted. “Knowing” something never worked for me, while actually “doing” it always did. Take care of the finer details, and the bigger ones will take care of themselves.
Bon Voyage!
SOURCE VirtualTourist.com