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One more shot to female emancipation. I have never heard a woman complain that guys never had to take Contraceptive Pills but just in case they did here is the solution.

A side-effects-free male contraceptive pill is being developed which can be taken as a one-off dose just before a date, according to researchers at King's College, London.

This kind of hormone-free tablet could prevent a man from being able to impregnate a woman, but within a few hours his fertility would return to normal.

"If the man was taking the pill over a period of several months and decided to come off it, we would expect his fertility to return just as quickly as if he had taken it on a one-off basis," said Dr Christopher Smith, a researcher from King's College.

The results of trials on laboratory animals, published in the Nature Medicine journal, had shown the contraceptive effect is reversible, with no apparent long-term side effects. It is hoped human trials will start shortly and the pill is on the market within the next five years. Annual worldwide sales of the female pill are worth 41 billion U.S. dollars a year.

Story was seen here.

As I have never been a big tennis fan I am a nobody to comment on Tennis Beauties. If I was asked to compile a list I would have started that list with Sharapova and would have sat there staring at the ceiling. Luckily other people have made that list and it just convinces me that there is a serious dearth of beauties. The list begins with Gabriela Sabatini and ends with Sania Mirza and this is an alltime list so that should tell you something about what to expect. Nevertheless I think I should just post that list here starting from the bottom of the lot:
Note: This list was compiled by the chineese. So no use abusing me about my choice.

Sania Mirza
Justine Henin-Hardenne
Maria Sharapova
Mary Pierce
Daniela Hantuchova


Martina Hingis
Anna Kournikova

Steffi Graf
Chris Evert
Gabriela Sabatini
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Q.I recently discovered that you can type a vehicle information number (VIN) right into Google and get the details on a specific car. What other shortcuts like this is Google capable of?
A.In addition to roaming the Web on regular keyword searches, Google can recognize certain types of numbers and codes typed into its search box and save you a step in your quest. (Some of these shortcuts will also work with other search engines, like Yahoo.)For instance, instead of searching for a Web site that tracks current flights, you can type a flight number (like “VS046” for Virgin Atlantic’s Flight 46 or “United 156” for United Airlines Flight 156) right into the search box on the main Google page. If Google recognizes the flight number, it returns a set of links to sites like, Travelocity or the aviation Web site FBOWeb.com that displays the flight’s current status.You can track packages from Google’s main search box by typing in its tracking number from carriers like Fedex,or the United States Postal Service. For example, to hunt down a FedEx package, you can type “fedex 854223553690” to get a link that lets you directly track that package on the FedEx Web site.You can search for patent numbers by typing “patent” followed by the number in the search box, and look up stock quotes by entering the company’s ticker symbol on Google’s main page. And in addition to getting a link to the Carfax site when you enter an automobile’s VIN number, you can get similar information on aircraft by typing in a plane’s registration number from the Federal Aviation Administration.Google’s main search page can also serve as a calculator, phone book and dictionary. More information on these browser shortcuts is at Google Guide.

Story was originally seen here.
Asha Bhosle wants to slap Himesh now thats what I call a story. This scoop was sent by vyom. Apparently Himesh is rather defensive about people criticising his style of mooing (oops, freudian slip), singing style that seems more nasal than vocal. So when some reporters cornered him and asked him how he tackled charges that he was singing through his nose, Himesh shot back asking why R D Burman and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan were not troubled by the media? Asha was not pleased with what seemed like an attack on R D Burman and she retorted that anybody accusing Burman of nasal singing should be given one tight slap.

What i wonder is what is the problem if anyone wants to sing through his nose? I mean people do things much worse than that. And if a large number of people love Himesh's burping, farting or sneezing; why does he need to be defensive about it? Loves to be fodder for the media i guess. No other explanation.
PMS SURVIVAL TIPS

Really funny video. Made my day.
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The good thing about reading the Indian Express is the number of good editorials that you get to read. So I was rather surprised when I saw this shoddy article on whether channels were promoting voyeurism. Not that I am a big fan of shows like Big Boss but neverthless it critices it using almost non existent points.

And just in case you dont know what the Big Boss is all about its a show based on the same format as the American Big Brother the difference being that we have celibrities instead of normal folks. These people stay together at one place and the camera captures all the ensuing drama and tension that is bound to arise.

Here is a sampler:
Celebrity culture is itself a turn-off. Now, their exhibitionism under the powerful glare of public gaze makes it repugnant. The camera has become privy to a seed-bed of base human emotions — intrigue, manipulation, embarrassment, depravity and so on — to quench the viewer’s thirst for such action. Is it not the same appetite that drives us towards gossip?


Now what can I say? Celebrity culture a turn off? For whom? Not for the millions who tune in to these shows everyday for the latest news about their favourite stars. Gossip a bad thing? Try and tell that to my sister or my female friends, then you will know about the reaction to such a statement. One of the problems that the writer of the article seems to have against the show is the fact that it is scripted reality. Now who has a problem with that? Not the tv channels if they rake in the moolah and definietly not the viewers who love these shows. She even tries to raise the issue of the privacy of the stars. When they have agreed to publically display their lives then who are we to judge whether it is an infringement of their privacy? She finishes of the article with an attack on popular culture which is supposedly anti-morality. Would just love to say that its not anti-morality, its just anti holier-than-thous like the writer of the piece.

Oh yeah and the most insane part of the article is where she pours scorn on people for voting for such shows and people not voting in elections. Just says how disillusioned people ae with the political system rather than any problem with their morality as the writer would like to believe.

Read the Express article here.
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Oogling at the burger may cause involuntary drooling which may in turn lead to a wet floor. Issued for your safety by the management of Eatalica restaurant.


Headlights that can burn a hole? Delivers the message that M-Tech Plasma HID lights are 300% more powerful than normal headlihts.


No better way to demonstrate that smoking kills more people than car accidents. The message reads: 'Death from car accidents: 370, Death from smoking related causes: 6027, Quit before it kills you.


The Fitness Company has an innovative idea. Creating the illusion that the person holding the safety bars is doing weights.


Innovative ad for a yoga center in Hong Kong.



Mini Cooper ad placed at railway station in Zurich, Switzerland. Fab ad placement.


A sticker has been placed on a high voltage box depicting the duracell batteries as the source of power. Cool.


Life size stickers depicting people were pasted on a sliding door at a mall in Mumbai. When someone approaches the door moves apart and it feels as if the people on the door are moving away. The person enters to find the message: People move away when you have body odour.


This is a great advertisement campaign at Unicenter shopping mall at Buenos Aires, Argentina for Valentine's day.


An innovative idea on a large billboard in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

A print of a cup of Folgers coffee was placed on top of manhole covers in New York City, USA. Holes on the print allow steam to come out. Wordings from the cup reads "Hey city that never sleeps, Wake up." Folgers.




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I read this article in the Indian Express about how political parties were teaming up to oppose a government directive which proposes to dedicate 50% of the area of the cover of a cigarette packet towards an injurious to health warning decorated with skulls and bones. The aesthetics of it did not appeal to me but I do not propose to write about that.

But I did not loose hope. I knew that there was hope for some blogworthy thing in that directive. So I looked it up here. And I read about the most amazing thing:
no messages that directly or indirectly promote a specific tobacco brand or tobacco usage in general are inscribed on the tobacco product package
Now I wonder what that is supposed to mean. Are you not supposed to propagate your own brand on your own cover? Writing your name in such a way that attracts a person's eye is obviously advertisement. Giving a catchline to your product is a form of advertisement too. So what the government actually wants is the rest of the cover should be blank and the part that is not should have the skull and bones. That would make it look perfectly like a bottle of poison. So much for aesthetics.
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The Hole - video powered by Metacafe
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A new legislation by the Chineese government wants to make sure that you never keep more than one dog at your place and even more absurd that should you chose to keep even one its height should not be more than 14 inches. If none of this makes any sense to you then rest assured that you are not the only one. I was equally puzzled too. So i decided to dig a little and this is what came out:

  • This law is not new, its just that it was not enforced very strictly earlier.
  • The reason for this ban is the fear that it may cause rabies.
  • In August, tens of thousands of dogs were killed in Yunnan province in southwestern China after three people died of the disease.
From this one thing stands out rather obviously. China's public health system is not in good shape and instead of trying to solve this problem, China is taking the easy way out: eliminating the dogs. As of today registering a dog and subsequently taking care of its health are rather expensive in China and the government has been doing nothing about it partially because of a Chineese perception that keeping a dog is one of those bourgeois tendencies that any communist loves to hate so much. One thing that worries me is the fate of all those dogs who are with owners having more than one pet.

After hearing so much about the way China is progressing this news comes as a confirmation that all the progress that we see is on the economic sector, personal freedom and liberty are still alien concepts to the ruling party.

And oh if you were wondering about the limitation on the dog's height, the official spokesman's reason was that dog's that are higher than 14 inches "make those who don't own dogs psychologically afraid." Now thats what I call a reason.

More on this here.

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I was surfing around the internet when I read this article on The Telegraph. It reports how graffiti on your walls by political parties in West Bengal is not a crime any longer and how you have no right to protest or file a case against a party if they write up whatever bullshit they want on your walls. Sweet.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government is all set to scrap the existing anti-defacement law because according to his esteemed opinion it is a “Draconian law dating back to the Emergency period” and he wants to “the democratic right of political parties to write on walls”. Ah thats what i call the spirit of democracy. So there will be no penal provisions for grafitti termed as non commercial. The fun part is that the citizen's permission has to be asked before putting up the graffiti. As if anyone would dare to oppose.

That brings another question to my mind. Why did Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s government pass this law and put itself under the media glare? Even with the anti-defacement law in place political parties could get away with defacing anybody's property. Then why bother?

If you are interested you can read the full text here.
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I have always wondered as to why when vegetarians had a word to describe themselves why should we people who are almost fully meat eaters but are condemned by our fate as humans to be omnivores not be given a name? Of course I had heard somebody suggest carnivore but that was supposed to be for animals who ate only meat. So I was glad to read here that when my friends said that I am vegetarian I could proudly state that I am a Carnist.
Till today I never knew that choking yourself could lead to heightened sexual pleasure, nor was I aware of the fact that people had to employ ways like these in order to end their lives. Then again I wasnt aware that your autopsy report could show the reason for your death as erotic asphyxiation.

Read more if you do not want to be as ignorant as I am.
Rather sick scenes were enacted in the Pakistani assembly recently when the controversial and out right stupid Hudood law was being modified. The Hudood ordinance was brought out by General Zia ul Haq and were aimed at the general islamisation of the Pakistani society. Crazy features in the law include branding all sex outside marriage as criminal. But you expect organized religion to be against sanity and the clerics to oppose all forms of human enjoyment.

One of the most absurd clauses in the law is that in order to confirm that a woman was raped atleast four men must have been enjoying the show and all four must testify in court and in case the woman failed to produce the four witnesses she herself was branded as a criminal. Now you cannot possibly imagine any right thinking individual to oppose a law as draconian as that but the MMA managed to surprise me by offering to resign from all the houses of parliament. According to the esteemed members of the MMA repealing this law would lead to free sex trade. My stinking foot it will!

Well here is an example to prove it all:
The court introduced the new norm on the petition of a woman who lodged a report, on June 4, 1997, alleging that she was raped at gunpoint by Jamroze, her neighbour, who threatened to kill her if she reported the incident to the authorities.

Both were charged under Section 10(2) of the ordinance at the trial for committing adultery: sentencing the female accused to five years RI with a fine of rupees 10,000. Jamroze however was sentenced to ten years RI with a fine of rupees 20,000.

Read more about it here.
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Recently the Gujarat State BJP office sent out press releases informing the media about former BJP president Vajubhai Vala being conferred the 'Best citizen of India' award by a little known Delhi-based organization called 'Best Citizen Publishing House'. Vala was honoured for the same by national BJP president Rajnath Singh at the BJP worker's meeting too. Interestingly award givers like the one mentioned above can be found by the dozen in Delhi. They write letters to the 'selected' few informing them of the honour and asking them if they want a copy of the best Citizen's book. In Vala's case the book was priced at Rs. 3500.
Story was seen at Ahmedabad Newsline.
If you give a search for the word hate in Orkut communities, among the top 5 results two of them are anti-Himesh Reshamiya communities. Both of them ahead of one of the I Hate Exams Communities and in the company of personalities like Kareena Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor. Now I being allergic to Himesh's nasal crooning was obviously very pleased but a little surprised too.
Atleast till the last month or so, he was the hottest thing in India. There was no escaping him. You could hear him mooing from every damned radio or loudspeaker in your vicinity. At any given period of time atleast 2 of his songs were always there in the top 10 lists. If he had a fan base like that then why this massive anti Himesh following on Orkut?
I have been thinking and have even cooked up a theory. Orkut just like G mail was, is a 'join-by-invite' thing. Just like there was this huge craze for getting into Gmail when it was launched, there was a mad rush for getting into Orkut too. I have experienced that myself, so many people, friends and friends of friends had called me up requesting an invite.
Now who are the people who were members of Orkut at first? They were the so called 'in' crowd. As Malcolm Gladwell would have explained, they are the trend setters . Now one thing that sets apart trendsetters from the usual crowd is their general disdain for popular culture. Because of this reason or because they genuinely hated Himesh, they made these communities.
When new people came into Orkut, they were eager to fit in and as it happens in all societies and communities, they started following the trend setters. Suddenly hating Himesh achieved that elusive aura of 'cool'.
Once I asked my friend Richa that when everybody seems to hate Himesh, then why are his albums selling like anything? Who buys them? Her reply was that the 'ghaati' crowd buys them. I dont know Marathi but I suppose 'ghaati' is like uncool.
But Orkut is expanding everyday. Almost everyone I know is on Orkut these days. Consequently the 'cool' kids will become more and more invisible. If he doesnt burn himself out with over exposure then pro Himesh communities will grow. Moreover the in crowd will start moving away from Orkut once it looses its appeal. This is no prediction. Too many variables to determine anything.

P.S. All of this could be bull shit and the only reason for the number of people in anti Himesh communities could be the fact that they genuinely hate them and through a wierd twist of statistics all of them landed on Orkut.
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Freedom of expression is supposed to be just that, the freedom to express what you want to express. But more often than not it turns out to be the freedom to express what others feel is right for you to express. I have always believed that India is one of the best places to live in as far as this aspect was concerned. The governments have always been criticised balantly sometimes with reason and sometimes without any reason by the media and the people alike. The number of parties with different views on different issues was supposed to be a representation of the right to hold an opinion which is true according to you.
But every now and then an incident occurs which shakes my faith in the system. A recent one was the controversy involving the movie Ore Oru Gramathile a movie which showed how reservations are used and abused by people to secure jobs and admissions in educational institutions. Some people were not happy with the movie and as has become a convention in India they threatened vioilence against cinema owners if the movie was screened.This much was the epected part. Living in Gujarat and having seen the kind of responses that Fanaa got the kind of reaction was not actually a surpise. What actually surprised me was the High Court judgement against the screening of the movie. The Supreme Court did finally reverse the High Court's decision but that does not correct the basic feeling of fear among the government and the judiciary that a film will provoke people to violence.
What they chose to forget every now and then is the fact that people generally do not prefer to get violent and burn down whole cities just because they did not like the message of the movie that they just saw. They have better things to spend their time on. Its only the political parties or the units that work under them that have the time for stuff like this. And they have a very good reason for this: They donot have issues to stir up people with and if there are any issues that deserve to be raised they never are as they will only reveal the failures of the parties.
And a request for the judiciary: You people up there are no different from us citizens and if you have enough discretion to not go on a city burning spree every time you see a new movie, so do we.
I read an excellent article on Freedom of Speech by Dr. Ajai Sahni. If you would like to go through it too, read it here.

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Everyday you wake up to read a story about India Shining and if its not about Shining then its generally the oponnents talking about India Whining. As far as i was concerned i was very happy to believe in the theory that India was all set to take off but i never had any evidence of that optimism from people around me.
But today i got the very first glimpse of this optimism. I was thrown out of class today for talking with my friend. The physics teacher has a grudge against us so it was neither unexpected nor unwelcome. Coincidentally there were 6 more people outside. Conversation when a gang of boys is around is quite obvious. Girls, sex and stuff. But out of the blue a guy named Chirag started talking abou privatisation. He said that within the next ten years or so India will become like America: Totally privatised. My first feeling was like here goes another America bashing session, because nobody ever seems to have anything good about that country but then he said: Most of our problems will be solved yaar. Corruption can only come down from the stratospheric levels and job oppurtunities will also start coming up like never before.
Just goes on to prove that the government can go ahead with their privatisation plans because the opposition is from the oldies and they are in a minority when compared with the youth. Yipppeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!

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