Holy Toy

Toys have started going to church, or so it seems. Wal-Mart is set to market faith-based toys modelled on Biblical characters. They are aimed at religious parents who would prefer Samson to Spiderman. Though the manufacturers, One2believe, plan to cash in on the post-9/11 market for religious objects, here, too, it is the action figures who score. While action-figures of warriors Samson and Goliath retail at about $20 each, a talking Jesus Christ doll sells at $15. » Continue reading

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Technology blues

What happens when technology gets ahead of infrastructure? Residents of villages surrounding Belur in the state of Karnataka in India, have mobile phone and mobile connections. What they didn't have was power supply. For more than a week, no electricity-based device was working in Alehalli Hoblli.

But what stung them most was that mobile phones could not be charged. So they came all the way to Belur town to charge their mobiles. Shopkeepers in Belur were cashing in: they were demanding Rs.10 for charging a phone. » Continue reading

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Beat the stress - smash the hotel room

NH Hotels, a Spanish hospitality chain, welcomed stressed guests to wreck their rooms. Thirty guests smashed the interior of the Madrid hotel as part of its refurbishment.

Candidates for the "roomolition" took a strength test and a psychological test to show how stressed they were. The company owns 335 hotels in 21 countries in Africa, Europe and the United States. No, the offer was only for the Madrid hotel. » Continue reading

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The secret to living longer

Biologists reckon our bodies could last up to 120 years. We all know about smoking, exercise, diet, etc, but here are some other longevity-boosters. (Sorry, gains aren't cumulative.)

Eat three chocolate bars a month. (Add 1 year) In a study of 7,841 male Harvard graduates, those who ate 1-3 bars a month lived a year longer than those who ate more or none at all. Chocolate contains phenols, antioxidants that appear to help prevent heart disease.

Visit a house of prayer twice a week. (Add 7-14 years) A study reported that white people attending religious services more than once a week lived on average seven years longer than those who didn't. Among black people the figure was 14 years. Such people have lover rates of smoking and drinking, plus helpful factors such as strong social ties.

Don't make mobile phone calls while driving. (Add 1-2 years) Every day 99 years of life are lost when motorists blabbing on their mobiles crash. So each one-minute call shaves an average of 45 seconds off your life.

Ask lots of questions. (Add up to 5 years) Research on 1,200 pensioners for five years found those who were most curious had a 30% better chance of living beyond this period. Higher curiosity levels may mean better adaptation to changes, challenges and stress.

Think positive. (Add 2 years) AIDS patients with pessimistic outlooks, says one study, died on average two years before more positive subjects.

Be eccentric. (Add 5-10 years) A Scottish neuropsychologist studying 1,000 eccentrics (one built to lectern on his roof to preach to his sheep) found they live five to ten years longer than normal people. One reason: they're unencumbered by the usual worries the rest of us fret over. » Continue reading

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Try Thursdays

Need to ask a favor? Try your luck on Thursday. That's when people feel most agreeable, according to a Canadian study. Researchers, who tracked behaviors in people working at least 30 hours a week, found that we become more accommodating as the week progresses towards the weekend. By Friday, though, the compliant mood is over: We're in a rush to finish things. On Monday, it's back to business. Productivity peaks on Tuesday, but avoid touchy subjects on Wednesday, when people are most quarrelsome.

Do hash out your experience asking someone a favor on a Thursday! » Continue reading

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Sun StarOffice on Singapore Airlines' KrisWorld inflight entertainment system

Sun Microsystems Inc. and Singapore Airlines have rolled out StarOffice software in its new Boeing 777-3000ER aircraft.

It has introduced StarOffice software as part of its next generation KrisWorld inflight entertainment system to meet the increasing needs of travelers today. Passengers from Singapore Airlines will be able to use StarOffice's word processing, spreadsheets and presentation tools which runs on the aircraft's Linux server and is accessed via a seat-back terminal at each passenger's seat.

With heightened security, access to laptops during flights can sometimes be restricted. The availability of StarOffice software, offers Singapore Airlines' customers the opportunity to work on and access their information in an open, secure and freely available fashion independent of any vendor or file formats during their flights.

With StarOffice software supporting an increasing number of productivity file formats like Open Document Format and Microsoft Office, travelers can access such files through a single application with a USB storage device that can be plugged into the USB port embedded in the armrest of each chair (near the headphone jack) and even export documents in PDF format.

StarOffice software is an office productivity product that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, database, graphics, drawing, photo editing and web publishing applications. It is compatible with Microsoft Office. » Continue reading

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A gift to remember

The above picture has been taken from the Tata Museum in Jamshedpur, India. It is a painting that was gifted to the steel tycoon JRD Tata on his birthday by a street artist. For quite sometime no one could figure out what the painting was about. Some said it was abstract art. Others claimed it was a bad effort by an equally bad artist. Nobody was able to understand this particular work. The painting was given to JRD personally and the artist had promised to reveal the secret shortly. However, JRD passed away before the secret was revelaed. And what was the secret?


When a steel rod is placed at the circle in the painting, a sketched image of JRD Tata reflects on the rod. This shows that just because one does not understand something, it does not mean it has no any significance. » Continue reading

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