Saturday, April 23, 2011
Earth Day: How safe are CFL bulbs?
So are you switching off lights this Earth Day to save precious resources?
If your excuse is you use CFL bulbs at home instead of the usual filament ones, you might be doing something for the environment but harming yourself in the bargain. A recent study says that energy saving bulbs and lamps contain cancer-causing elements in them.
And you thought only shampoos were bad.
I've heard of shampoos containing carcinogens and that eating one potato is as good as smoking a cigarette, but hold on — there's more. If you use a spring mattress, you're at greater risk of getting cancer in this lifetime, says another study.
Back to lumpy cotton mattresses, folks.
Jokes aside, what are you doing this Earth Day for our planet? We have our annual freecycle fair, some of our colleagues have planted saplings, Bangalore's trying to do away with throwaway plastic for good, among many other things.
Ending today's post with this sensational video of time-lapse photography of God's green earth and the Milky Way:
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Sri Lanka reject BCCI request on IPL players
Colombo, (PTI): In what could strain the relations between the BCCI and Sri Lanka Cricket, the Lankan government and SLC have decided to stick to their decision of calling back national cricketers, playing in the IPL, by May 5. Early this month they had ordered the players to return to the country to prepare for the upcoming England tour. Though no meeting took place between the BCCI and SLC but Indian officials did speak to their Lankan counterparts on the matter and requested them to let their players play in the Twenty20 event at-least till May 15. But Sports Minister Mahindanada Aluthgamage and the cricket board (SLC) have decided to ignore the Indian request. A Sri Lankan cricket source said on Wednesday that Aluthgamage, Sri Lanka Cricket and the national selection committee had lengthy deliberations on Tuesday on the matter. Accordingly some 11 Sri Lankans including the star players Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardena and the newly appointed Sri Lankan captain Tillakaratne Dilshan would have to abide by the Sri Lankan decision. Aluthgamage has said that interests of Sri Lankan cricket was his priority and Sri Lankans would be sending a polite explanation on the decision to the Indians. Sri Lanka summoned all IPL players to return in order to prepare for the tour of England which starts on May 10. Former captain Sangakkara, now leading Deccan Chargers, said the players will have to abide by the Sri Lanka Cricket decision but expressed hope that two boards would sort out the issue.
'Dead alien' found in Siberian snow
It may just be an elaborate hoax, but a video has surfaced showing the body of an alien found dead in snow in Siberia.
The slender, badly damaged corpse was found lying on a bed of snow with its head to one side and mouth slightly open, the Daily Mail reported.
The video, posted on April 17 on YouTube, has already had over 100,000 views and showed the body of the unidentified "creature".
Irkutsk, Russia is apparently a known UFO hotspot, and UFO believers think the body was left behind by alien visitors after an accident, or was missed in a clean-up by the Russian government as part of some sort of alien cover-up.
Dozens of UFO sightings are reported every year in the area, and only last month there were reports of an unidentified object hurtling into the nearby Irkutsk region of Siberia.
"We couldn't believe it when we saw it. And what was spooky is that there was no sign of the spaceship. Perhaps that was taken away and the body overlooked," said Igor Molovic, one of the pair that uploaded the video.
However, not everyone is a true believer.
Some believe it is actually a carefully crafted model of an alien's body, and not the real deal.
However, many UFO lovers still believe.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sourav is the best Indian captain: Azhar
Kolkata, April 18 (PTI): Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin today said it was Sourav Ganguly's good work that has helped Mahendra Singh Dhoni yield rich dividends.
"Sourav Ganguly was the best India captain who made a major turnaround in Indian cricket in bad times. Current captain MS Dhoni has improved it further to yield highest dividend," Azharuddin said here.
Azharuddin declined to make any comment about Sourav not being bought by any of the 10 franchises.
"It's upto the management of the franchisees."
Welcoming players in cricket administration, the former India captain said, "It's always good for players in administration as has been done in the Karnataka Cricket Association."
Azhar feels that there is no need to speculate on Sachin Tendulkar's retirement.
"Sachin knows what he is doing. He doesn't need any service."
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Over Rs 1.2 lakh cr lost in stock market today
, On Friday 4 February 2011, 8:51 PM
Mumbai: The downslide on bourses today wiped off over Rs 1,22,000 crore from the market wealth, including that of company promoters and public investors, as huge losses were seen in blue-chip stocks like RIL, ITC and TCS.
The stock market today plunged sharply with a 441-point fall in the benchmark Sensex, as growing concerns over inflation and rising interest rates led to fears that companies' profitability could be hurt due to surge in raw material prices as also borrowing costs.
In the process, the total investors' wealth, measured in terms of cumulative market valuation of all the listed stocks, fell by Rs 1,22,129 crore in a single day to stand at just over Rs 65,00,000 crore at the end of the trading session.
This level of investors' wealth was last seen in July 2010 and the overall market valuation has now fallen by over Rs 12,00,000 crore since Diwali on November 5, 2010.
On the Diwali day, the Sensex had scaled its record high closing level of 21,004 points, while the total investors' wealth had surged past Rs 77,00,000 crore.
Out of the total loss recorded today, the value of promoters' holding in the market plummetted by an estimated Rs 70,000 crore, while the public shareholders lost over Rs 50,000 crore.
The public shareholders lost a cumulative amount of more than Rs 35,000 crore in 30 blue chip stocks alone, which constitute the benchmark index Sensex. The promoters' holding in the 30 Sensex stocks fell by over Rs 25,000 crore.
Among the biggest stocks, Reliance Industries lost close to Rs 7,800 crore from its market worth, including a loss of Rs 4,300 crore from the value of public shareholding.
Other major losers included TCS (Rs 7,200 crore), ITC (Rs 5,200 crore), NTPC (Rs 4,500 crore), Infosys (Rs 4,000 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 300 crore), L&T (Rs 3,500 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 3,000 crore).
Internet IP addresses will run out 'in the next 24 hours'
London, Feb 3 (ANI): Growth of Internet-enabled phones like the iPhone and web use in Asia has seen a rapid depletion of IP addresses, which are going to run out in the next 24 hours.
Every device, which connects to the Internet, is assigned a "number" but with millions of web enabled phones now online they are fast running out.
IP addresses act as "phone numbers" to ensure that surfers reach websites and e-mails find their destination.
The system, which had been set up in the 1980s, with a maximum of 4.1 billion addresses was supposed to never run out.
But it does not mean the Internet will come to a halt once the addresses have finished, as a system called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6 has been created to replace version 4.
"It will just be 'business as usual' if everyone gets their job done," the Daily Mail quoted John Curran, Chief Executive of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, one of five regional groups that dole out such addresses, as saying.
Curran said only about 2 percent of websites support the new Internet Protocol version 6.
The "end game", the distribution of the last five blocks, was triggered by the distribution of two of the last seven blocks on February 1.
They went to the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, the regional registry for East Asia (including India), Australia and the Pacific islands. (ANI)
Internet IP addresses will run out 'in the next 24 hours'
London, Feb 3 (ANI): Growth of Internet-enabled phones like the iPhone and web use in Asia has seen a rapid depletion of IP addresses, which are going to run out in the next 24 hours.
Every device, which connects to the Internet, is assigned a "number" but with millions of web enabled phones now online they are fast running out.
IP addresses act as "phone numbers" to ensure that surfers reach websites and e-mails find their destination.
The system, which had been set up in the 1980s, with a maximum of 4.1 billion addresses was supposed to never run out.
But it does not mean the Internet will come to a halt once the addresses have finished, as a system called Internet Protocol version 6, or IPv6 has been created to replace version 4.
"It will just be 'business as usual' if everyone gets their job done," the Daily Mail quoted John Curran, Chief Executive of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, one of five regional groups that dole out such addresses, as saying.
Curran said only about 2 percent of websites support the new Internet Protocol version 6.
The "end game", the distribution of the last five blocks, was triggered by the distribution of two of the last seven blocks on February 1.
They went to the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, the regional registry for East Asia (including India), Australia and the Pacific islands. (ANI)
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