Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 Theme Song - "Winter Games" - song by Stylus Mirek Rosh

How to use Google Street View for Vancouver - Demo

Olympics 2010 Torch Relay Interactive Map

Check out when the Torch Relay will pass your area - to catch a glimpse of it.....

http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/olympic-torch-relay-interactive-map/

Use of electronics devices while driving from FEB 1 2010

"electronic device" means

(a) a hand-held cellular telephone or another hand-held electronic device that includes a telephone function,

(b) a hand-held electronic device that is capable of transmitting or receiving electronic mail or other text-based messages, or

(c) a prescribed class or type of electronic device;

"use", in relation to an electronic device, means one or more of the following actions:

(a) holding the device in a position in which it may be used;

(b) operating one or more of the device’s functions;

(c) communicating orally by means of the device with another person or another device;

(d) taking another action that is set out in the regulations by means of, with or in relation to an electronic device.

Prohibition against use of electronic device while driving

214.2 (1) A person must not use an electronic device while driving or operating a motor vehicle on a highway.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), a person must not communicate by means of an electronic device with another person or another device by electronic mail or other text-based message.

Exceptions to prohibition – emergency personnel

214.3 Section 214.2 does not apply to the following persons who use an electronic device while carrying out their powers, duties or functions:

(a) a peace officer;

(b) a person driving or operating an ambulance as defined in the Emergency and Health Services Act;

(c) fire services personnel as defined in the Fire Services Act.

Exceptions to prohibition – certain permitted activities

214.4 Section 214.2 does not apply to a person who uses an electronic device

(a) while operating a motor vehicle that is safely parked off the roadway or lawfully parked on the roadway and is not impeding traffic,

(b) to call or send a message to a police force, fire department or ambulance service about an emergency, or

(c) that is configured and equipped to allow hands-free use in a telephone function, is used in a hands-free manner and is used in accordance with the regulations, if any.

Exceptions to prohibition – by regulation

214.5 Section 214.2 does not apply to

(a) a prescribed class of persons who, while carrying out their powers, duties or functions and driving or operating a motor vehicle or a prescribed class of motor vehicle, use an electronic device or a prescribed class or type of electronic device,

(b) a person who uses an electronic device while engaged in a prescribed activity or in circumstances or under conditions set out in the regulations, or

(c) a person who uses a prescribed class or type of electronic device.

Power to make regulations

214.6 The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:

(a) prescribing classes or types of electronic devices for the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of “electronic device” in section 214.1;

(b) setting out actions for the purposes of paragraph (d) of the definition of "use" in section 214.1;

(c) for the purposes of section 214.4 (c), setting out the manner in which, or the extent to which, a hands-free electronic device may be used in a telephone function;

(d) for the purposes of section 214.5;

(e) regulating the installation or mounting of classes or types of electronic devices in motor vehicles;

(f) exempting or excluding, with or without conditions, classes or types of electronic devices, classes of persons or classes of vehicles or classes of persons while driving or operating a motor vehicle or class of motor vehicle from the operation of a provision of this Part.

Never miss a flyer at FlyerLand - In Canada only - English/French/Chinese versions available

http://www.flyerland.ca/

Want to know Where is the cheapest gas price in town? US/Canada

http://gasbuddy.com/
http://gastips.com/
http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx
http://gasprices.mapquest.com/

Free WIFI spots across globe

• http://www.wififreespot.com/index.html - Main Page/USA
• http://www.wififreespot.com/can.html - Canada
• http://www.wififreespot.com/asia.html - Asia
• http://www.wifi.com/find.php - Wifi Finder
• http://v4.jiwire.com/search-hotspot-locations.htm -WiFi Finder

In The President OBAMA's word

IT'S NOT MY FAULT

- "One year ago, I took office  amid two wars, an economy rocked by a severe recession, a financial system on the verge of collapse and a government deeply in debt."

- "We can't afford another so-called economic 'expansion' like the one from the last decade-- what some call the 'lost decade.' "

- "At the beginning of the last decade, the year 2000, America had a budget surplus of over $200-billion. By the time I took office, we had a one-year deficit of over $1-trillion and projected deficits of $8-trillion over the next decade ...All this was before I walked in the door."

OK, SOME OF IT IS MY FAULT

- "Now, even after paying for what we spent on my watch, we'll still face the massive deficit we had when I took office."

- "I campaigned on the promise of change--change we can believe in, the slogan went. And right now, I know there are many Americans who aren't sure if they still believe we can change--or that I can deliver it."

BUT I FEEL YOUR PAIN

- "I know the anxieties that are out there right now."

- "I realize that for every success story, there are other stories, of men and women who wake up with the anguish of not knowing where their next paycheque will come from; who send out resumes week after week and hear nothing in response."

IF WE COULD ALL JUST WORK TOGETHER

- "And what the American people hope -what they deserve-is for all of us, Democrats and Republicans, to work through our differences; to overcome the numbing weight of our politics."

- "But what frustrates the American people is a Washington where every day is Election Day."

- "In this new decade, it's time the American people get a government that matches their decency; that embodies their strength."

BECAUSE THIS IS AMERICA

- "America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, as one people."

- "Well, I do not accept second place for the United States of America."

- "Let's leave behind the fear and division, and do what it takes to defend our nation and forge a more hopeful future-for America and for the world."

- "In the end, it's our ideals, our values, that built America...These aren't Republican values or Democratic values that they're living by; business values or labour values. They're American values."

- "Despite our hardships, our union is strong. We do not give up. We do not quit. We do not allow fear or division to break our spirit."

HOWEVER, IF YOU WANT A FIGHT

" ... when I ran for President, I promised I wouldn't just do what was popular --I would do what was necessary."

- "So, no, I will not give up on trying to change the tone of our politics."

- "There will be difficult days ahead. But I am absolutely confident we will succeed."

BUT I CAN ALSO BE FUNNY

- On the bank bailout: "I hated it. You hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal."

- On cutting taxes: "I thought I'd get some applause on that one." (Looks at Republicans).

- "I never thought that the mere fact of my election would usher in peace and harmony."

OR I CAN BE A BULLY

- "People are out of work. They're hurting. They need our help. And I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay."

- "And if the [financial reform] bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back until we get it right."

- "Like any cash-strapped family, we will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don't. And if I have to enforce this discipline by veto, I will."

MY BIG FINISH

"The spirit that has sustained this nation for more than two centuries lives on in you, its people. We have finished a difficult year. We have come through a difficult decade. But a new year has come. A new decade stretches before us. We don't quit. I don't quit. Let's seize this moment -- to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more."

Starbucks to join Toyota in recall

Health Canada and Starbucks have issued a joint recall of a glass water bottle sold by the coffee company.

The recall involves bottles with the SKU number 11003503, which is located on the bottom of the product. The Consumer Product Safety Commission in the United States issued a similar recall.

Starbucks has received 10 reports of the water bottles shattering, including eight reports of hand lacerations, when the stoppers are inserted or removed.

Consumers should return the bottles to any Starbucks location to receive a full refund. Starbucks is also offering a complimentary beverage, of any size, to customers who return the bottles.

For more information contact Starbucks toll-free at 1-877-492-6333 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET or visit its website or the Health Canada website.

APPLE - What they call it new era in computing/Appliance world - iPAD

Well have a look at this stunning 9.7", LED backlit, IPS display, with a multitouch, only 0.5" thin and weighs only 1.5lbs starting price point for 16 gb version will be $ 499 US, 32 gb will be $599 and 64 GB will be 699 in wifi version and add $130 for 3g capability for each ipad. Wifi Will be shipped in late March and 3G models will be shipped in late April. It will be GSM version only and in USA 250 mb plan will cost only $14.99 and unlimited plan will cost $29.99 as per Steve Jobb...enough said ...reveal the iPAD features yourself

http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/
http://www.apple.com/ipad/ipad-video/#large

Apple iPADor iPod Touch on Steroid?

I know this will come as a relief to one and all that the hype surrounding Apple's expected tablet computer is nearly over.

At 10:00 am this morning PST (Jan 27th 2010) Apple founder and boss Steve Jobs will put us all out of our misery and take the wraps off the "major new product". so Let's see what apple has to offer in this much anticipated tablet.

Meet your MEAT - What you are about to see will makes you think before buying any MEAT product

Reasons why you should become vegetarian----Very Importanat Video that can change your life.

January 26th 2010 - India celebrates 61st Republic day

New Delhi,January 26  - India today celebrated its 61st Republic Day draped in a heavy security curtain.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid tributes to the war heroes at the war memorial in New Delhi.This year,South Korean President Lee Myung-bak was the chief guest at the parade,in a nod to his country's growing bilateral business ties with India.He watched the tanks and armoured cars roll by and fighter jets roar over the heads of thousands of people attending the celebrations.

Charlie Simpson, 7yr old, raises £85k in for Haiti appeal in one day

The mother of Haiti bike boy Charlie Simpson, who is seven-year-old has raised an astonishing £85,000 for earthquake victims in London with a sponsored ride, said she was stunned at how Charlie's idea had taken off. She added: What started off as a little cycle round the park with his dad has turned into something a lot bigger than that and we can't believe it.

He's done really well. He's worked hard and he's raised a phenomenal amount of money. He really felt strongly about this and thought that something had to be done. It was great to see him so motivated. I am extremely proud of our Charlie.

Charlie initially hoped to raise a more modest sum of £500 for Unicef's Haiti appeal by pedalling five miles round South Park, near his home in Fulham, West London. But things began to take off after he put his appeal on the JustGiving website, which helps raise online charity cash.

Then as his story was picked up by TV stations money began to flood in. Within hours of Charlie climbing off his bike donations had reached £53,000 in just 24 hours.

Leonora said her son had been deeply moved by the plight of the Haitians. She added: He was really upset by the pictures on TV. He actually burst into tears. He sat on my lap and we had a chat about the things he could do. He decided to do the cycle ride and he made me do a sponsorship form and that was it. We sent it out on the web and it just went everywhere.

Charlie said: I just think it was quite sad when I saw the pictures on the TV.

On his JustGiving page, he added: I want to do a sponsored bike ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives. I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti.

Unicef's Michael Newsome said: Theres something quitespecial about a child in the UK reaching out to the children of Haiti.Its quite fabulous.

The charity said the cash raised by Charlie would make a huge difference. It added: Hes helping to provide water to hundreds of thousands of people. Were all overwhelmed with the response to Charlie's bikeride. We've never had anyone raise so much in one day.

Most of the donations to Charlie's JustGiving page were for £10 or £20,although some had given as much as £500. Charlie's grandparents were among the first to donate, giving £100. They said: Well done Charlie we are proud of you, Nanna & Pops.

Dad Daniel also gave £100 and wrote: Go on Charlie!!! I will be right by your side!!

The messages from other donors showed how inspirational Charlie's efforts had been. One said: People like you can change the world.

Another added: Charlie, you're a little star. Thanks for making me put my hand in my pocket.

And Charlie is one of many raising money to help the quake victims. Simon Cowell yesterday said he was racing to finish his charity single for Haiti and had pledged £5,000 to Charlie's appeal.

Wal-Mart To Lay Off 11,200 Sam's Club Staffers

Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Sam’s Club chain, the second-largest U.S. warehouse club, will cut about 11,200 jobs in the next month after hiring an outside company to take over in-store product demonstrations.

About 10,000 demonstration employees, most part-time, will lose their jobs in the U.S. as marketing firm Shopper Events LLC takes over sampling, Sam’s Club Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell said in an interview yesterday. The company also is cutting about 1,200 membership recruiting jobs.

The hiring of Shopper Events, which already works for Walmart’s namesake stores, is part of an effort to improve demonstrations and lure customers from rival clubs, Cornell, 50, said. Sam’s, which trails Costco Wholesale Corp. in sales, will use savings from labor costs to improve the sampling of food, beverages, health items and electronics, the CEO said.

“This was not a cost-cutting move,” he said. “We view it as an investment in building membership loyalty and attracting new members and ultimately fueling growth for Sam’s Club.”

India Questions Russell Peters

Police to fine B.C. drivers tinting windows to avoid cell phone tickets

White Rock RCMP Const. Janelle Shoihet said that police have noticed an increase in tinted front side vehicle windows, which are illegal, since the cell phone driving ban was announced last year in 2009.

“We’ve noticed there are quite a few people with tinted windows,” she said.

“I don’t know if there’s been an increase but we’re looking inside vehicles more [looking for illegal cell phone use] and we have noticed there seems to be a greater prevalence,” Shoihet said.

Changes to the Motor Vehicle Act, introduced by government last fall, took effect Jan. 1, allowing drivers to only use hands-free cell phones and devices that require one touch to activate.

Starting Feb. 1, a driver caught talking on a hand-held phone or electronic device will be subject to a fine of $167.

Drivers caught texting or emailing, while the car is moving, also will be subject to three penalty points.

Shoihet said that police now are noticing more drivers have their front windows tinted, which can result in a $109 fine. If drivers don’t remove the tinting and are caught a second time, they will be fined $598, she said.

She said police usually issue a warning, giving the motorist two weeks to comply by removing the tint.

But if caught a second time, they will received a ticket for failing to comply,

Windows behind the driver may be tinted, including the rear window, the officer said.

But it is illegal to tint front side windows, Shoihet said, because the driver needs to make eye contact with other drivers and pedestrians, and also police need to see inside a vehicle for safety reasons.

Kristyn Christiansen of the Tint Centre in Vancouver said he tells people who want their front side windows tinted that it’s against the law, but sometimes people request a light tint to block UV rays.

“It’s against the law so I try to steer them away from that direction,” he said, adding he hasn’t seen an increase in requests for front tinted windows since the new cell phone driving ban was implemented in B.C.

“I think it’s a good law,” he said of the cell phone ban, adding he uses a hands-free cell while driving.

New Curriculum to Teach Canadian Teens Dangers of Text Messages

Texting education is coming to Canadian schools as part of a new curriculum that will inform teens of the dangers of sexually explicit messages, harassment, and other forms of wireless communication that can be harmful to others.

The pilot course, textED.ca, will be introduced to 100 7th grade classrooms this month with the launch of a full program in the fall as recently announced by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. This initiative will be aimed at addressing what police have stated is an “education gap” that has caused youth to become vulnerable to text-related abuse.

Signy Aranson, who works with the Centre for Child Protection notes, “It doesn’t even have to pertain to an adult offender; we’re seeing so much harm come to adolescents within their own peer circle, whereby they’re sending nude images or inappropriate messages (by phone), and those are being transferred to a larger group of individuals.” The goal is to provide students with important information to prevent these acts from happening.

The Pew Research Center in a recent report found that 15% of teens aged 12 to 17 received nude photos or videos on their cell phones and a similar survey done by LG electronics suggested that number could be as high as 22%.

It is Canada’s hope that the textED.ca curriculum will address the risks and outcomes of this behavior along with other concerns like harassment, privacy issues, and “text-luring.”

Bernard Lord, president of the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, wants teenagers to know that they can notify a trusted adult at any time if they are feeling threatened in any way.

2010 Winter Olympics Countdown

Some Cool links and free events during Olympics 2010 in Vancouver

http://livecityvancouver.ca/
http://placefranco2010.ca/en/index.html
http://www.citycaucus.com/2010freevenues

SAN 101

What is SAN (Storage Area Network) in a shell

http://www.allsan.com/sanoverview.php3

Highlights of 'Hope for Haiti Now' Concert

Have you ever thought of DIY - Do IT Yourself concept?

There are lots of great resources on home improvement and many other projects that you are not sure how to handle it or where to start. There are professionals who can show you on how to tackle some of the challanges you might have in various forms of online help...have a look

http://www.doityourself.com/
http://www.diynetwork.com/
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/?_requestid=76026
http://www.diyideas.com/
http://www.refdesk.com/doitself.html
http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/energy_audits/index.cfm/mytopic=11170 - US Dpt of Energy.

Have some Health Issue - Need to know more?

http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/default.asp

This site has some good information on health issues like Acne, Arthritis, Backpain, Eczema, Gout, Hair Loss, Hip replacement, and many other issues. good source of information.

Also look at KIDSHEALTH for Kids, Teens and Parents.

Educate yourself and your teens about texting or should I say sexting?

Well visit  -  http://www.texted.ca/app/en/dyk

A national program hopes to educate teens about the hazards of sexting on cell phones.

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has launched a website called textED.ca as part of a pilot project where 100 Canadian schools will use the site to teach students about safe and responsible texting and when to seek intervention from an adult. Sexting involves sending out sexually suggestive or nude pictures from a cell phone via text messages.

In Florida, 13-year-old Hope Witsell sent a topless photo of herself to her boyfriend who then showed it to other people at the school. Witsell eventually killed herself.

Junior high guidance counsellor Carolynne Pitura says many young people don't grasp the seriousness of some of the things they put on their cell phones. Pitura hopes to one day see education about cell phones and responsible texting in all schools.

The issue of punishment for sexting is another area being analyzed by experts. In the U.S., a teenage boy was put on a sex offender registry after sending a nude picture of his 16-year-old girlfriend to her friends.

Children's rights advocates say sexting is different than the harm done by pedophiles and should be treated differently by the courts in Canada.

"Are we going to start charging children who have really made a nano-second error without even thinking...I don't think so," says Roz Prober, a children's advocate with Beyond Borders.

Currently, the courts in Canada take the view that if two teenagers of the age of consent of 16 or older agree to take sexual pictures and keep them among themselves, that is not distributing pornography, say officials.

But if the material is sent to a third party, the court could take the position that sending the material is an invasion of privacy.

"In terms of privacy legislation, if you have something in your possession that could really damage them and you're going to forward it on to others without their consent, you might be finding yourself in a court," says privacy lawyer Brian Bowman.

The school program aimed at educating students about cell phones, texting and sexting will be introduced in February.

Have you forgotten about Bill Gates? Well think again....He is planning to bring something big to the world in climate and energy savings

Well read more form cnet Green Tech

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-10438720-54.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0

http://www.gatesnotes.com/

Genius Kid - Parents must be so proud of him - Youngest IT Administrator

Nine year old Marco Calasan from Skopje, Macedonia has been dubbed the Mozart of Computers by local press after becoming the worlds youngest IT Professional when he passed the Microsoft Certified System Administrator exam.

According to a report, Microsoft presented Marko with games and DVDs after he'd passed the exams, and although he considered it a nice gesture, he said he wasn't "really interested in those things."

Marko, who has a bent for mathematics and physics, was reading and writing by the time he was two years old, and by four he was speaking in English. In a video posted on YouTube (Macedonian), Marko explains that computing is a simple matter of mathematics and following instructions.

This simple understanding has made him into something of a local celebrity who has since been offered his own IT lab by the Macedonian Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski.

Marko's parents plan to publish a book for small children about computing based on Marko's experience and success.

http://news.cnet.com/2300-13860_3-10002230-4.html?tag=mncol

Microsoft fixes 8 IE holes, including one used in attacks

Microsoft released a cumulative critical patch for Internet Explorer that fixes eight vulnerabilities, including a hole targeted in the China-based attacks on Google and other U.S. companies. The security update is rated critical for all supported releases of IE 5, 6, 7, and 8, according to the advisory. The more severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a malicious Web page using IE, and the issued patch should fix that vlunerabilities.

Canadian Olympic School Program

Teachers  - Inspire yourself, your teaching and your student  - http://www.olympicschool.ca/

Winter Olympics 2010 Vancouver Resources

http://www.official2010olympics.com/resources.html

Vancouver Olympics 2010 - 21 days away - Do you know how to travel during Olympics?

Everything you need to know to travel during the 2010 Olympics - TRAVELSMART2010

NOKIA offers free OVI turn by turn GPS to it's phone.

Phone giant Nokia has launched a free map and navigation service for its handsets that analysts believe could challenge standalone sattelite navigation devices. The service stores maps on the phone, cutting down the need to update and download new ones over the network.

Ovi maps will initially be available on 10 handsets and will offer so-called "turn-by-turn" navigation, similar to that in existing GPS devices. It can display local data from travel guides, such as Lonely Planet.

Stephen Harper fine tunes his cabinet -

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has unveiled his new lineup of cabinet ministers -- a process Harper described as "fine tuning."

Stockwell Day becomes president of the Treasury Board, where he'll team up with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to try to slay the ballooning deficit.

Of course, while some ministers' profiles go up, others by necessity go down.

Lisa Raitt is a case in point. Touted as a big star when she was first appointed, Raitt has drawn tough criticism for her handling of an isotope shortage, and for her inappropriate comments about her fellow cabinet-mates.

At the same time, another female minister is getting a leg up once again. Rona Ambrose, who was once removed from the Environment file for weak performance, now gets a second chance at a major portfolio: Public Works.

But on balance, more women were demoted than promoted. Diane Ablonczy moves from tourism and small business to the seniors file, an even lower-profile assignment. Ablonczy clears the tourism and small business portfolio for a backbencher that Harper also went out of his way to praise: Rob Moore of New Brunswick.

And Harper promoted two members of his Quebec caucus. Former revenue minster Jean-Pierre Blackburn will take on the more visible role of veterans affairs minister. And former public works minister Christian Paradis moves up to natural resources, where he'll handle tough files like nuclear energy and oil sands development.

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff dismissed the shuffle and Harper's attempt to make his star players more prominent.

"It's a one-man show," he said. "I think there's never been a cabinet so under the domination of the prime minister's office. We don't think that's good for Canadian democracy. And we think the sign of that is the prorogation of Parliament."

Google postpones Android phone launch in China

Google has postponed the launch of two mobile phones in China which use its Android platform, in the first sign its business in the country is starting to be affected by a dispute over hacking and censorship.
The manufacturers of the telephone, which was scheduled for launch in China on Wednesday, are Motorola and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, and China Unicom would have been the carrier, a Google spokeswoman said. A source familiar with the situation said Google Inc wanted customers to have a "positive experience" with the product, but felt that would be difficult considering the publicity surrounding the company in China at present.

Google said last week that it and other companies were targets of sophisticated cyber-spying from China that also went after Chinese dissidents, and threatened to pull out of the country.

It also said it no longer wants to censor its Chinese Google.cn search site and wants talks with Beijing about offering a legal, unfiltered Chinese site.

Android is an open source mobile operating system, already adopted by China Mobile's OPhone and Dell's Mini 3, which were launched in China late last year.

Analysts say that without search, Google's most important business in China, the firm would struggle to retain a foothold is the world's biggest Internet market by users.

Bank of Canada sticks to low interest rates

Central bank says again that, depending on inflation, borrowing costs will hold at record lows until middle of year

The Bank of Canada kept its benchmark lending rate at a record low 0.25 per cent Tuesday, and reasserted a plan to keep it there through the middle of the year depending on the outlook for inflation, saying slack remains in the economy and that the global recovery still depends on government spending and low interest rates.

“Conditional on the outlook for inflation, the target overnight rate can be expected to remain at its current level until the end of the second quarter of 2010,” Governor Mark Carney and his rate-setting panel said in the statement accompanying their decision, echoing the wording in their December statement.

The bank repeated that policy makers see inflation returning to their 2 per cent target in the second half of 2011 and risks to that projection “are tilted slightly to the downside,” a reminder to markets that unless this changes policy makers are unlikely to speed up a return to higher rates. The bank also extended its schedule of term purchase and resale agreements, a mechanism designed to help the overnight rate achieve its target level, with the longest maturities coinciding with July, another sign that it's unlikely they'll tighten before then.

While the central bank said the outlook for global growth through the next two years is “somewhat stronger” than policy makers projected in an October forecast that they'll update on Thursday, the global recovery that's under way “continues to depend on exceptional monetary and fiscal stimulus, as well as extraordinary measures taken to support financial systems.”

The central bank tweaked its growth forecast slightly, saying the Canadian economy will expand by 2.9 per cent this year and 3.5 per cent in 2011 after shrinking by 2.5 per cent last year. In October the bank said the economy would grow 3 per cent this year and 3.3 per cent in 2011, after contracting 2.4 per cent in 2009.

Policy makers also said Canada's economy operated about 3.25 per cent below its production capacity between October and December as “considerable excess supply remains,” and repeated that it will return to full tilt in the third quarter of 2011.

Mr. Carney and his deputies largely echoed language from their December statement on the strong Canadian dollar's effect on exporters, saying the loonie's “persistent strength” combined with “the low absolute level of U.S. demand” continue to act as “significant drags on economic activity in Canada.”

Domestic demand is driving the economic recovery, the bank said, and the private sector “should become the sole driver of domestic demand growth in 2011.” So far, the economic recovery has relied heavily on fiscal stimulus spending that's allowed Canadian companies to start hiring again.

The central bank said nothing in its statement about the hot housing market, where some observers continue to warn low interest rates might be fuelling a new bubble.

On Thursday, the bank will release a full quarterly update of its growth and inflation forecasts. Policy makers' next interest-rate decision is scheduled for March 2.

Twitter - Be careful what you write or post on social networking sites - it could go against you...

Man arrested over Twitter airport joke

LONDON — A man was arrested by anti-terrorism police and suspended from his job after he sent a Twitter message joking that he was going to blow up an airport, a report said Monday.

When heavy snow at Robin Hood airport in Doncaster, northern England, threatened to ruin Paul Chambers' plans to fly to Ireland, he vented his frustration by tapping out a message on the social networking site.

"Robin Hood airport is closed," he wrote, according to The Independent newspaper. "You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!"

A week after posting the message, Chambers was arrested under anti-terrorism laws at his office after police had apparently received a tip-off.

The 26-year-old was questioned for seven hours by officers who failed to see the joke in his message. He has been bailed to February 11 when he will find out if he will be charged with conspiring to create a bomb hoax.

He has also been suspended from work pending an internal investigation and banned from the airport for life.

Detectives have confiscated his iPhone, laptop and home computer.

"I would never have thought, in a thousand years, that any of this would have happened because of a Twitter post," Chambers told The Independent. "I'm the most mild-mannered guy you could imagine."

Internet Explorer major security flaw

France warns against Internet Explorer use

France has followed Germany's lead, and has advised computer users to download a different web browser after Microsoft's Internet Explorer was found to contain a critical security flaw.

The French government issued an advisory to computer users, recommending that they switch to a different web browser, such as Firefox or Google Chrome. It follows a similar move by the German government, after it was discovered that Internet Explorer contained a serious security flaw that could be exploited by hackers and cybercriminals.

Microsoft last week admitted that its Internet Explorer browser was the weak link in recent attacks by hackers who pried in to the email accounts of human rights activists in China. But the company said that the German government had over-reacted about the threat posed by the vulnerability, and that general users were not at risk.
Windows 7 on sale at slashed pricesBut that did not stop the French government issuing a bulletin through Certa, a government agency responsible for managing and protecting against cyber threats. The bulletin said that all versions of Internet Explorer were affected by the security flaw, and recommended that people use an alternative browser.

However, security experts say that computer users should only use a different web browser if they are confident they know what they're doing.

"My advice is to only switch from Internet Explorer if you really know what you are doing with the browser you're swapping to," said Graham Cluley, a senior security advisor at Sophos. "Otherwise it might be a case of 'better the devil you know'. Every browser has its security issues, so switching may remove this current risk but could expose you to another.

"My guess is that Microsoft will be working hard to release an out-of-band patch for the vulnerability. They will be keen to fix the serious security problem before more damage is done to Internet Explorer's reputation."

Advantage of drinking water on empty stomach

DRINK WATER ON EMPTY STOMACH

It is popular in Japan today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value. For old and serious diseases as well as modern illnesses the water treatment had been found successful by a Japanese medical society as a 100% cure for the following diseases:

Headache, body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear nose and throat diseases.

METHOD OF TREATMENT

1. As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink 4 x 160ml glasses of water

2. Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minute

3. After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.

4. After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for 2 hours

5. Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink 4 glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to 4 glasses per day.

6. The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life.

The following list gives the number of days of treatment required to cure/control/reduce main diseases:

1. High Blood Pressure (30 days)

2. Gastric (10 days)

3. Diabetes (30 days)

4. Constipation (10 days)

5. Cancer (180 days)

6. TB (90 days)

7. Arthritis patients should follow the above treatment only for 3 days in the 1st week, and from 2nd week onwards – daily.

This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times. It is better if we continue this and make this procedure as a routine work in our life. Drink Water and Stay healthy and Active. This makes sense .. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals ..not cold water. Maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating!!! Nothing to lose, everything to gain...

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.

It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.

Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. Very soon, this will turn into fats. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks:

• Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting,

• Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.

• You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack.

• Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.

• 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.

• Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive...

This post is only intended for helping people out. If you have any other chronic problem or disease, please consult your doctor first. These are only guidelines so don't rely  100% on this and stop taking medication....Please use your best judgement. Good Luck.

Facts to make every Indian proud

Q. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?

A. Vinod Khosla

Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the today's computers run on it)?

A. Vinod Dahm

Q. Who is the co-inventor of USB? (has revolutionized the way dital devices connect)?

A. Ajay Bhatt

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world's No.1 web based email program)?

A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?

A. Arun Netravalli

Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?

A. Rajiv Gupta

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000, responsible to iron out all initial problems?

A. Sanjay Tejwrika

Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?

A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America , even faring better than the whites and the natives.

There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,

38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

Amazing Facts of India

1. India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization.

2. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

3. India is the world's largest democracy.

4. Varanasi, also known as Benares , was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha visited it in  500 BC, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.

5. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

6. The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

7. Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. Sanskrit is the most suitable language for computer software - a report in Forbes magazine, July 1987.

8. Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to humans. Charaka, the father of medicine
consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago. Today Ayurveda is fast regaining its rightful place in our civilization.

9. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India 's wealth.

10. The art of Navigation was bornin the river Sindhu 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word NAVGATIH. The word navy is also derived from Sanskrit 'Nou'.

11. Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. Time taken by earth to orbit the sun: (5th century) 365.258756484 days.

12. The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century long before the European mathematicians.

13. Algebra, trigonometry and calculus came from India . Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10**53(10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 BCE during the Vedic period. Even today, the largest used number is Tera 10**12(10 to the power of 12).

14. IEEE has proved what has been a century old suspicion in the world scientific community that the pioneer of wireless communication was Prof. Jagdish Bose and not Marconi.

15. The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra.

16. According to Saka King Rudradaman I of 150 CE a beautiful lake called Sudarshana was constructed on the hills of Raivataka during Chandragupta Maurya's time.

17. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India .

18. Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India . Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

19. When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization) .

20. The four religions born in India , Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.

21. The place value system, the decimal system was developed in India in 100 BC.

22. India is one of the few countries in the World, which gained independence without violence.

23. India has the second largest pool of Scientists and Engineers in the World.

24. India is the largest English speaking nation in the world. (INDIALISH....Just kidding)

25. India is the only country other than US and Japan , to have built a super computer indigenously.

Famous Quotes on India (by non-Indians)

Albert Einstein said: We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

Mark Twain said: India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only. French scholar Romain

Rolland said: If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India .

Hu Shih, former Ambassador of China to USA said: India conquered and dominated China culturally for 20 centuries without ever having to send a single soldier across her border.

Natural therapy for HEART BLOCKAGE/OBESITY/CANCER/ASTHMA/ARTHRITIS

For Heart Vein opening

1) Lemon juice 01 cup
2) Ginger juice 01 cup
3) Garlic juice 01 cup
4) Apple vinegar 01 cup

Mix all above and boil in light flame approximately half hour, when it becomes 3 cups, take it o ut and keep it for cooling. After cooling, mix 3 cups of natural honey and keep it in bottle. Every morning before breakfast use one Table spoon regularly. Your blockage of Vein's will open (No need for any Angiography or By pass surgery)

Nature's wonder drug is a cheap way to beat obesity, cancer, asthma and more.

Top doctors have revealed that the combination of garlic, vinegar, and honey is a wonder drug that can cure every thing from cancer to arthritis. Amazing studies from respected universities around the world prove the miracle home remedy that costs just pennies a day to make is a super way to fight just abo ut any affliction. Experts have verified that this health-restoring trio of garlic, vinegar and honey can wipe o ut both common and uncommon ailments. Successes include ache, Alzheimer's disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, some forms of cancer, excessive cholesterol level, colds, flu, gas, and indigestion, headaches, heart and circulatory problems, hemorrhoids, infertility and impotence, toothaches, obesity, ulcers and many other diseases and conditions. In a study of arthritis victims Dr. Angus Peters of the University of Edinburgh 's Arthritis Research Instit ut e found a daily dose of vinegar and honey reduced pains by 90%.

A daily dose of garlic and vinegar has proved to be a powerful fat destroyer and weight reducer, according to Dr Raymond Fish of London 's famous Obesity Research Center.

The prestigious British medical journal Lancet reported that cholesterol levels plunged on average from231.4 to 224.4 after volunteers consumed 50 grams of garlic and four ounces of butter. The study proved the dangers associated with high fat foods can be ne ut ralized by adding garlic to your diet. A study of 261 adult patients by the German Association of general Practitioners indicated that serum cholesterol and triglyceride level factors associated with the risk of heart disease are significantly reduced by regular use of garlic in the diet. Studies at Housing's MD Anderson Cancer Instit ut e in Houston , the Pennsylvania State University and GCLA support earlier evidence that certain ingredients in garlic block agents the cancer of the breast, colon, esophagus and skin. The National Cancer Instit ut e found in a study of 1,000 people that eating a lot of garlic is linked to a reduced risk of stomach cancer. Dr.Etik Block of the State university of New York at Albany has discovered garlic unleashes at least 100 sulfur producing components, all of which are powerful medicines.

There appears to be little doubt that this astounding remedy of garlic vinegar and honey can extend life by protecting the user of many proven killers.

Dr. Hen Lee Tsao writes in China 's respected journal of Natural Medicines..

'Patients given this miracle drink before breakfast showed a remarkable reduction in high blood pressure and cholesterol in less than a week.' Italian n ut ritionist Emilio Steffani adds, 'Years of scientific investigation by experts around the world have proven beyond a doubt that garlic, vinegar and honey are nature's magic potion.

'The three powerful ingredients are available everywhere and they cost only pennies a day. Considering all that these natural substances can do for human health, it is a amazing they are not more widely used' Dr. Jack Soltanoff a n ut ritional expert from New York , praises the benefits of the apple cider vinegar. He has recorded remarkable success stories involving arthritis sufferers,' I have seen many arthritis patients start to loosen up at once 'says Dr.Soltanoff. Some even call it (apple cider vinegar) a natural arthritis tonic that frees them from stiffness pain and throbbing aches..

Within just few weeks most pain wrecked arthritis patients can perform normal activities because of this simple tonic 'boxing legend Mohammad Ali reportedly take a daily dose of garlic. Vinegar and honey to fight the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and many other athletes use it to gain competitive edge. Dr. Tsao is sweet on the power of honey. 'Honey has been described as the perfect food 'notes the respected researcher. It contains at least 31 nutrients, 13 minerals, the component parts of nine vitamins six acids and four key enzymes. Patients, who took the traditional vinegar and honey drink daily, were more vigorous, had never cold or infectious diseases and in general were healthier than those who didn't. There is no question that this astounding drink can elixir can extend life by protecting you from many proved killers.

Honey not only makes your daily dose taste better. The sweet stuff also aids in your body's ability to absorb the medical properties of the powerful ingredients. Garlic provides in storehouse of vitamins and minerals, b ut what excites researchers most is growing evidence that allicin, an enzyme (amino acid) present in large amounts in garlic stimulates the immune system.

BASIC ELIXIR RECIPE

Here is how to make your own miracle medicine:

In a bowl, mix together one cup of cider vinegar-use only cider vinegar, one cup of honey and eight cloves of chopped garlic. Place the combination in a blender and mix on high speed for 60 seconds, pour the mixture in to jar or other glass container, seal and have in the refrigerator for minimum of five days. Normal dosage is two teaspoon in a glass of water or fruit juice, grape or orange juice is best, before breakfast. A second dose, if desired can be taken in the evening.

I hope this natural ingredients will help you in your daily life - Please pass this along to your friends and families and even if it helps 10% op people who reads it, my time would be worth well spent posting this for my readers.

Listen to Bhagvad Gita in different languages

http://www.gitamrta.org/audio/gujarati/bg_guj.html - Gujarati
http://www.gitamrta.org/audio/sanskrit/bg_sans.html - Sanskrit
http://www.gitamrta.org/audio/english/bg_english.html - English
http://www.gitamrta.org/audio/french/bg_french.html - French
http://www.gitamrta.org/audio/spanish/bg_spanish.html - Spanish

Looking for reviews on different products???

• http://reviews.cnet.com/
• http://www.dpreview.com/ - Digital Photography Reviews
• http://www.reviewcentre.com/ - Consumer Reviews
• http://www.resellerratings.com/ - Reseller ratings
• http://www.epinions.com/ - Unbiased reviews from consumers
• http://review.zdnet.com/
• http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm
• http://www.pcmag.com/ - PC Magazine Reviews
• http://www.pcworld.com/ - PC World Review
• http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/home.php - Phone Reviews

Looking for some good downloading site?

Check this out - http://www.filehippo.com/ This site has different catagories of downloads and mainly freeware or major downloads from Microsoft, Adobe, Google and many more vendors...Enjoy.

Online Storage Services - Want to backup Online???

http://www.onlinestorage.org/ - This blog has all the sites where you can do an online backup, send large files to recepient(s) regardless of your mailbox limitation and store your data for free or host it for a nominal fee.

Online Music - Full Songs

Listen to online music - listen to full songs not just a teaser....good one.

http://www.deezer.com/en/#index.php

Toll Free Numbers in INDIA

For those who live in India or for those who frequently travel either on a business or for pleasure...Have this handy and will help you for sure.....Toll Free Numbers in India.
============ ========= ========= =====
Airlines

Indian Airlines -1800 180 1407
Jet Airways - 1800 22 5522
Spice Jet - 1800 180 3333
Kingfisher - 1800 180 0101
============ ========= ========= =====
Banks

ABN AMRO - 1800 11 2224
Axis Bank Ltd. - 1860-425-8888
Canara Bank - 1800 44 6000
Citibank - 1800 44 2265
Corporation Bank -1800 443 555
Development Credit Bank - 1800 22 5769
HDFC Bank - 1800 227 227
ICICI Bank - 1800 333 499
ICICI Bank NRI -1800 22 4848
IDBI Bank - 1800 11 6999
Indian Bank - 1800 425 1400
ING Vysya - 1800 44 9900
Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1800 22 6022
Lord Krishna Bank -1800 11 2300
Punjab National Bank - 1800 122 222
State Bank of India - 1800 44 1955
Syndicate Bank -1800 44 6655
============ ========= ========= =====
Automobiles

Mahindra Scorpio -1800 22 6006
Maruti - 1800 111 515
Tata Motors - 1800 22 5552
Windshield Experts - 1800 11 3636
============ ========= ========= =====
Computers/IT

Adrenalin - 1800 444 445
AMD - 1800 425 6664
Apple Computers -1800 444 683
Canon - 1800 333 366
Cisco Systems -1800 221 777
Compaq - HP - 1800 444 999
Data One Broadband - 1800 424 1800
Dell - 1800 444 026
Epson - 1800 44 0011
eSys - 3970 0011
Genesis Tally Academy - 1800 444 888
HCL - 1800 180 8080
IBM - 1800 443 333
Lexmark - 1800 22 4477
Marshal's Point -1800 33 4488
Microsoft - 1800 111 100
Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334
Seagate - 1800 180 1104
Symantec - 1800 44 5533
TVS Electronics -1800 444 566
WeP Peripherals -1800 44 6446
Wipro - 1800 333 312
Xerox - 1800 180 1225
Zenith - 1800 222 004
============ ======== ========= =====
Indian Railway Enquiries

Indian Railway General Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Central Enquiry 131
Indian Railway Reservation 131
Indian Railway Reservation Enquiry 1345,1335,1330
Indian Railway Centralised Enquiry 1330/1/2/3/4/ 5/6/7/8/9
============ ========= ========= ========= ========= =====
Couriers/Packers & Movers

ABT Courier - 1800 44 8585
AFL Wizz - 1800 22 9696
Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1800 11 4321
Associated Packers P Ltd - 1800 21 4560
DHL - 1800 111 345
FedEx - 1800 22 6161
Goel Packers & Movers - 1800 11 3456
UPS - 1800 22 7171
========== ========= ========= =========
Home Appliances

Aiwa/Sony - 1800 11 1188
Anchor Switches -1800 22 7979
Blue Star - 1800 22 2200
Bose Audio - 1800 11 2673
Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1800 44 7171
Daikin Air Conditioners - 1800 444 222
DishTV - 1800 12 3474
Faber Chimneys -1800 21 4595
Godrej - 1800 22 5511
Grundfos Pumps -1800 33 4555
LG - 1901 180 9999
Philips - 1800 22 4422
Samsung - 1800 113 444
Sanyo - 1800 11 0101
Voltas - 1800 33 4546
WorldSpace Satellite Radio -1800 44 5432
============ ========= ========= ======
Investments/ Finance

CAMS - 1800 44 2267
Chola Mutual Fund- 1800 22 2300
Easy IPO's - 3030 5757
Fidelity Investments - 1800 180 8000
Franklin Templeton Fund - 1800 425 4255
J M Morgan Stanley - 1800 22 0004
Kotak Mutual Fund - 1800 222 626
LIC Housing Finance - 1800 44 0005
SBI Mutual Fund -1800 22 3040
Sharekhan - 1800 22 7500
Tata Mutual Fund -1800 22 0101
============ ========= ========= ====
Travel

Club Mahindra Holidays - 1800 33 4539
Cox & Kings - 1800 22 1235
God TV Tours -1800 442 777
Kerala Tourism -1800 444 747
Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1800 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours - 1800 22 9900
Sita Tours - 1800 111 911
SOTC Tours - 1800 22 3344
============ ========= ========= ====
Healthcare

Best on Health -1800 11 8899
Dr Batras - 1800 11 6767
GlaxoSmithKline -1800 22 8797
Johnson & Johnson - 1800 22 8111
Kaya Skin Clinic -1800 22 5292
LifeCell - 1800 44 5323
Manmar Technologies - 1800 33 4420
Pfizer - 1800 442 442
Roche Accu-Chek -1800 11 45 46
Rudraksha - 1800 21 4708
Varilux Lenses -1800 44 8383
VLCC - 1800 33 1262
============ ========= ========= ===
Insurance

AMP Sanmar - 1800 44 2200
Aviva - 1800 33 2244
Bajaj Allianz - 1800 22 5858
Chola MS General Insurance - 1800 44 5544
HDFC Standard Life - 1800 227 227
LIC - 1800 33 4433
Max New York Life - 1800 33 5577
Royal Sundaram -1800 33 8899
SBI Life Insurance -1800 22 9090
============ ========= ========= =======
Hotel Reservations

GRT Grand - 1800 44 5500
InterContinental Hotels Group - 1800 111 000
Marriott - 1800 22 0044
Sarovar Park Plaza -1800 111 222
Taj Holidays - 1800 111 825
============ ========= ========= ======
Teleshopping

Asian Sky Shop - 2 0-1800 22 1800
Jaipan Teleshoppe -1800 11 5225
Tele Brands - 1800 11 8000
VMI Teleshopping -1800 447 777
WWS Teleshopping - 1800 220 777
============ ========= ========= ========
Pizza

Domino's Pizza -1800 111 123
============ ========= ========= ====
Cell Phones

BenQ - 1800 22 08 08
Bird CellPhones - 1800 11 7700
Motorola MotoAssist - 1800 11 1211
Nokia - 3030 3838
Sony Ericsson - 3901 111

May be you all know but I had to post this - Google in Gujarati (my mothertonge)

http://www.google.com/intl/gu/

ONIONs

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people, there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their families had contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then).

The doctor couldn't believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions, to place under the microscope. She gave him one, and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Whatever, what have you to lose? Just a few bucks on onions!!

Most interesting experience about onions:

I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion, put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar...placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs. Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

Obama unveils 100 million dollars of Haiti aid

President Barack Obama promised Haitians Thursday they would not be forgotten, offering 100 million dollars in immediate earthquake aid and every element of US power to help them.

"To the people of Haiti, we say clearly and with conviction, you will not be foresaken, you will not be forgotten," Obama said.

Obama offered "every element of our national capacity, our diplomacy, and development assistance, the power of our military and most importantly, the compassion of our country" following the disaster.

Google beefs up Gmail security

Google is tightening the security of its free email service to combat computer hackers like the ones that recently targeted it in China. With the shift, Gmail accounts will automatically be set in an "https" mode, meaning contents of email will be scrambled so they're less likely to leak out to unauthorized users. Before, only the log-in data was encrypted. Google hadn't been using this more secure format as Gmail's default setting because it can be slower than the unprotected mode. The shift to the more secure setting began late Tuesday, just a few hours after Google announced Chinese hackers had pried into the email accounts of human rights activists.

Google to end censorship in China

Google Inc. will stop censoring its search results in China and may pull out of the country completely after discovering that computer hackers had tricked human-rights activists into exposing their email accounts to outsiders.

The change of heart announced Tuesday heralds a major shift for the Internet's search leader, which has repeatedly said it will obey Chinese laws requiring some politically and socially sensitive issues to be blocked from search results available in other countries. The acquiescence had outraged free-speech advocates and even some shareholders, who argued Google's co-operation with China violated the company's "don't be evil" motto.

The criticism had started to sway Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who openly expressed his misgivings about the company's presence in China, but the tipping point didn't come until Google recently uncovered hacking attacks launched from within China. The apparent goal: gathering information about dozens of human rights activists trying to shine a light on the country's censorship and other secretive policies.

Google officials said they plan to talk to the Chinese government to determine if there is a way the company can still provide unfiltered search results in the country. If an agreement can't be worked out, Google is prepared to leave China four years after creating a search engine bearing China's web suffix, ".cn" to put itself in a better position to profit from the world's most populous country.

Haiti devastated by 7.0-magnitude tremor

Haiti's worst earthquake in 200 years

Haitians piled bodies along the devastated streets of their capital Wednesday after the strongest earthquake hit the poor Caribbean nation in more than 200 years crushed thousands of structures, from schools and shacks to the National Palace and the U.N. peacekeeping headquarters. Untold numbers were still trapped.

The devastation was so complete that it seemed likely the death toll from Tuesday afternoon's magnitude-7.0 quake would run into the thousands. France's foreign minister said the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was apparently among the dead.

some things you can do to conserver energy

Whenever you save energy, you not only save money, you also reduce the demand for such fossil fuels as coal, oil, and natural gas. Less burning of fossil fuels also means lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary contributor to global warming, and other pollutants.

You do not have to do without to achieve these savings. There is now an energy efficient alternative for almost every kind of appliance or light fixture. That means that consumers have a real choice and the power to change their energy use on a revolutionary scale.

The average American produces about 40,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per year. Together, we use nearly a million dollars worth of energy every minute, night and day, every day of the year. By exercising even a few of the following steps, you can cut your annual emissions by thousands of pounds and your energy bills by a significant amount!

Home appliances

1. Turn your refrigerator down. Refrigerators account for about 20% of Household electricity use. Use a thermometer to set your refrigerator temperature as close to 37 degrees and your freezer as close to 3 degrees as possible. Make sure that its energy saver switch is turned on. Also, check the gaskets around your refrigerator/freezer doors to make sure they are clean and sealed tightly.
   
   
   
2. Set your clothes washer to the warm or cold water setting, not hot. Switching from hot to warm for two loads per week can save nearly 500 pounds of CO2 per year if you have an electric water heater, or 150 pounds for a gas heater.
   
   
   
3. Make sure your dishwasher is full when you run it and use the energy saving setting, if available, to allow the dishes to air dry. You can also turn off the drying cycle manually. Not using heat in the drying cycle can save 20 percent of your dishwasher's total electricity use.
   
   
   
4. Turn down your water heater thermostat. Thermostats are often set to 140 degrees F when 120 is usually fine. Each 10 degree reduction saves 600 pounds of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 440 pounds for a gas heater. If every household turned its water heater thermostat down 20 degrees, we could prevent more than 45 million tons of annual CO2 emissions - the same amount emitted by the entire nations of Kuwait or Libya.
   
   
   
5. Select the most energy-efficient models when you replace your old appliances. Look for the Energy Star Label - your assurance that the product saves energy and prevents pollution. Buy the product that is sized to your typical needs - not the biggest one available. Front loading washing machines will usually cut hot water use by 60 to 70% compared to typical machines. Replacing a typical 1973 refrigerator with a new energy-efficient model, saves 1.4 tons of CO2 per year. Investing in a solar water heater can save 4.9 tons of CO2 annually.

 Home Heating and Cooling

1. Be careful not to overheat or overcool rooms. In the winter, set your thermostat at 68 degrees in daytime, and 55 degrees at night. In the summer, keep it at 78. Lowering your thermostat just two degrees during winter saves 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That's a reduction of 420 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home.
   
2. Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Energy is lost when air conditioners and hot-air furnaces have to work harder to draw air through dirty filters. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5 percent of the energy used. That could save 175 pounds of CO2 per year.  

Small investments that pay off

1. Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights. Although they cost more initially, they save money in the long run by using only 1/4 the energy of an ordinary incandescent bulb and lasting 8-12 times longer. They provide an equivalent amount of bright, attractive light. Only 10% of the energy consumed by a normal light bulb generates light. The rest just makes the bulb hot. If every American household replaced one of its standard light bulbs with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb, we would save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in one year. In a typical home, one compact fluorescent bulb can save 260 pounds of CO2 per year.
   
   
   
2. Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket, which costs just $10 to $20. It can save 1100 lbs. of CO2 per year for an electric water heater, or 220 pounds for a gas heater. 
   
   
   
3. Use less hot water by installing low-flow shower heads. They cost just $10 to $20 each, deliver an invigorating shower, and save 300 pounds of CO2 per year for electrically heated water, or 80 pounds for gas-heated water. 
   
   
   
4. Weatherize your home or apartment, using caulk and weather stripping to plug air leaks around doors and windows. Caulking costs less than $1 per window, and weather stripping is under $10 per door. These steps can save up to 1100 pounds of CO2 per year for a typical home. Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy inefficient. This service may be provided free or at low cost. Make sure it includes a check of your furnace and air conditioning.

Getting around

1. Whenever possible, walk, bike, car pool, or use mass transit. Every gallon of gasoline you save avoids 22 pounds of CO2 emissions. If your car gets 25 miles per gallon, for example, and you reduce your annual driving from 12,000 to 10,000 miles, you'll save 1800 pounds of CO2.
   
   
   
2. When you next buy a car, choose one that gets good mileage. If your new car gets 40 miles per gallon instead of 25, and you drive 10,000 miles per year, you'll reduce your annual CO2 emissions by 3,300 pounds.  

Reduce, reuse, recycle

1. Reduce the amount of waste you produce by buying minimally packaged goods, choosing reusable products over disposable ones, and recycling. For every pound of waste you eliminate or recycle, you save energy and reduce emissions of CO2 by at least 1 pound. Cutting down your garbage by half of one large trash bag per week saves at least 1100 pounds of CO2 per year. Making products with recycled materials, instead of from scratch with raw materials, uses 30 to 55% less for paper products, 33% less for glass, and a whopping 90% less for aluminum.
   
   
   
2. If your car has an air conditioner, make sure its coolant is recovered and recycled whenever you have it serviced. In the United States, leakage from auto air conditioners is the largest single source of emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which damage the ozone layer as well as add to global warming. The CFCs from one auto air conditioner can add the equivalent of 4800 pounds of CO2 emissions per year.

Home Improvements.

1. When you plan major home improvements, consider some of these energy saving investments. They save money in the long run, and their CO2 savings can often be measured in tons per year.
   
   
   
2. Insulate your walls and ceilings. This can save 20 to 30 percent of home heating bills and reduce CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds per year. If you live in a colder climate, consider superinsulating. That can save 5.5 tons of CO2 per year for gas-heated homes, 8.8 tons per year for oil heat, or 23 tons per year for electric heat. (If you have electric heat, you might also consider switching to more efficient gas or oil.)
   
   
   
3. Modernize your windows. Replacing all your ordinary windows with argon filled, double-glazed windows saves 2.4 tons of CO2 per year for homes with gas heat, 3.9 tons of oil heat, and 9.8 tons for electric heat.
   
   
   
4. Plant shade trees and paint your house a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color if you live in a cold climate. Reductions in energy use resulting from shade trees and appropriate painting can save up to 2.4 tons of CO2 emissions per year. (Each tree also directly absorbs about 25 pounds of CO2 from the air annually.)

Business and community

1. Work with your employer to implement these and other energy-efficiency and waste-reduction measures in your office or workplace. Form or join local citizens' groups and work with local government officials to see that these measures are taken in schools and public buildings.
   
2. Keep track of the environmental voting records of candidates for office. Stay abreast of environmental issues on both local and national levels, and write or call your elected officials to express your concerns about energy efficiency and global warming.

Where people go to Know...Another good site for your favorite.

http://www.msfn.org/

Understanding Hinduism

This web site is dedicated to understanding SANATAN VED DHARMA (Hinduism). amazing information.

http://www.hinduism.co.za/

Please make sure you take a look at the PAGES/Topics listed on the left. It contains vedic mathematics, oldest civilization, Hinduism & Quantum Physics, Hindu festivals and many more items that I can not list them all. Enjoy reading.

Google Drops Storage Prices for Gmail, Picasa.....

Big cuts to the price Google charges for additional cloud storage

Google announced it has "dramatically" lowered the price it charges for online or cloud storage. Instead of the old $20 per year price tag, Google is now charging $5 per year for 20 GB. The search colossus also said it now offers storage of up to 16TB.

Seagate Goes Super Thin and Solid State

The storage giant goes into the enterprise SSD market and has a laptop drive almost the size of a credit card.

Seagate, the world's largest hard drive vendor, is expanding into new territories with the announcements of solid-state drives (SSDs) and a revamp of its mobility drive business to include the smallest drive yet.

Seagate has been cautious about entering the market, giving it time for the flaws in the technology to get shaken out before going forward with its Pulsar line of SSD drives for mid-range enterprise servers.

The Pulsar will be targeted at mostly blade and rack-mounted servers in non-mission critical environments but eventually Seagate plans to move up into those areas in the future, according to Richard Vignes, senior product line manager for Seagate.

Speed Boost Coming to SSDs Running Windows 7

Corsair Memory and OCZ Technology Group, two of the leading suppliers of DRAM- and flash-based memory used in the making of solid-state drives (SSDs), have issued firmware updates to add a feature that will boost the performance of Windows 7 on an SSD.


The feature is called the "TRIM" command, or function. Windows 7 shipped this past October with support for the feature even though none of the SSDs on the market actually could support it. Intel released a firmware update to add TRIM support in August but had to quickly withdraw it due to data corruption problems.

When SSDs first hit the marketplace, users loved the performance, but noticed over time that performance degraded. That's because unlike a platter-based hard drive, when you delete data from an SSD, the contents in the cells aren't truly deleted, but are rather marked as being disposable and can be overwritten. So when new data is written, the old data had to be physically deleted first.

TRIM acts like a garbage collector in an application. When you delete data, it actually deletes it and frees up the cells for immediate data writes. This is done when the drive is not otherwise in use.

Are you tired of USB 2? wait USB 3.0 is in the market now

USB (or Universal Serial Bus) is a 13-year old standard that was originally designed to connect then smart phones to PCs in the mid-90s coinvented by AJAY Bhatt (Indian Fellow). It later became the de facto standard for connecting any external devices. Thanks to USB's built-in power supply and relatively fast speeds. The then-unique one-cable approach sparked a revolution that spawned everything USB ranging from flash drives, hard drives, headsets, speakers, TV tuners to webcams. All these top at 12Mbps, at which speed is only good for mice and keyboards; so the official USB body upgraded the specs to USB 2.0, adding Hi-Speed USB mode operating at 480Mbps. As more applications moved on to wireless thereafter, the same group decided to follow the trend by cutting the wire in the latest Certified Wireless USB standard, completed in 2005. And now, we are currently in the pre-WUSB and SuperSpeed USB era.

now you may ask what is USB 3.0? In a nutshell, USB 3.0 promises the following:

1. Higher transfer rates (up to 4.8 Gbps)
2. Increased maximum bus power and increased device current draw to better accommodate power-hungry devices
3. New power management features
4. Full-duplex data transfers and support for new transfer types
5. New connectors and cables for higher speed data transfer...although they are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices and computers.

Looking for a tech Review?

Look at this site...Trusted Reviews.

List of Indian inventions and discoveries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_inventions_and_discoveries

Stuck with your current cell phone carrier? want a cheaper alternative? well Wind Mobile makes that happen for all Canadians.

Look at some amazing voice plans, and Data Plans from win Mobile. Currently Wind Mobile is only offered in GTA (Toronto) and Calgary area and hopefully soon in Vancouver.

Apple's Apps Store Reaches Astonishing 3 Billion Downloads

It has only been open for a year and a half now, but already Apple's Apps Store has reached 3 billion downloads, representing a mix of both free and paid programs for the iPod Touch and iPhones. While other companies have been quick to launch their own mobile app stores, most notably Google and RIM, neither has come close to offering the same selection of apps, let alone a similar rate of downloads. Google's Android Market, which only offers free apps, has a catalog of approximately 20,000 applications compared to Apple's more than 100,000. The BlackBerry App World offers both free and paid apps through PayPal and currently has a catalog of approximately 4,000.

“Three billion applications downloaded in less than 18 months—this is like nothing we’ve ever seen before," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO in a issued release. “The revolutionary App Store offers iPhone and iPod touch users an experience unlike anything else available on other mobile devices, and we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

Canada Post to boost mailing rates on Monday Jan 11th 2010

OTTAWA — Come Monday, Canadians will have to shell out a little more capital to mail a letter.

Canada Post says the cost of sending a first-class letter within the country will rise to 57 cents from 54.
Letters to the United States will cost $1.00 -- an increase of two-cents -- and letters to all other foreign countries will rise by five-cents to $1.70.

Canada Post says it currently delivers to about 15 million addresses across the country, with an additional 200-thousand being added each year.

The Crown corporation says delivering to those additional addresses boosted operating costs by $26 million in 2008 alone.

Canada Post says its mail-processing equipment is now stretched to the limit, and it needs to invest in some new machinery.

The Best Kids Sites on the Web

About.com has a really good information on best kids sites that has following information....

Science For Kids
Biology for Kids
History for Kids
Government Sites for Kids
Kids Books and Kids Stories
General Kid Web Sites

Ever wondered How Stuff Works?

Learn How Everything Works! an Amazing Site. lots of information and videos.

Air travellers on standby for more changes in Canada

Travellers may soon find even more to deal with when flying outside of Canada.

This week, the federal transport minister announced Canada will speed up its plans to buy full body scanners. Ottawa placed an order this week for 44 new machines. Some will be arriving in airports within the next few weeks.

The federal government has already tried one in a pilot project in Kelowna.

Transport Minister John Baird admitted the machines are not a perfect solution. "The reality is, there's no system that is 100 per cent. It would be like we could reduce a lot of road deaths if we went to a 25-kilometre speed limit on our 400 series highways. The reality is, we have to take a balanced approach, based on the freedoms and civil liberties of living in a liberal democracy like Canada," he said at a news conference this week, but some Canadians argue there is not the right balance between security and people's civil rights.

"The number of Canadians caught in the last two years is huge, and this will only increase substantially once [the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's] Secure Flight [Program] is in place sometime late in 2010," said Roch Tassé, the group's national coordinator.

The Secure Flight Program will work like this:

Right now, airlines that land in the United States must share their passenger lists, and passengers' basic information, with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

They run the names against their no-fly and terror watch lists.

But starting sometime in 2010, the U.S. will ask airlines to share that information from all flights that pass over the United States, even if the plane does not land there.

Tassé believes this should raise a lot of red flags for Canada. "In our opinion," he said, "the airline giving this information to the U.S. might be in violation of the privacy regime in Canada that protects [the] privacy of Canadians."  According to Tassé, if anything, the last bomb attempt shows the problem is not the amount of information the U.S. is receiving, but how they use it. "We're putting our attention by surveilling everyone, and therefore we're not focusing our limited resources on following the real threat. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack and instead of following the needle we keep adding hay to the stack, and we're running the chance of not finding the needle."

It's not just civil liberties groups who are concerned about all the new security measures. Airlines are worried too.

George Petsikas is the president of the National Airlines Council of Canada. It represents the major carriers in the country, including West Jet and Air Canada.

The council has asked that Canadian airlines be exempt from the new Secure Flight rules.

For example, it will give the United States, for the first time, access to names of all people who travel from Canada to Cuba.

"As we know, Canada has full and open relations with the government of Cuba. Cuba is a major destination for Canadians, a very popular destination. And obviously the United States sees things differently. How does that impact the ability for people to travel to Cuba freely who may thereafter want to travel to the U.S. on business or whatever other reasons?" Petsikas asked.

Petsikas is also unclear what airlines are supposed to do if someone's name pops up on a list.

"What happens if we have to deny those persons boarding?" he said.

"What happens if it's missed and for whatever reason through the system at check-in and in flight you get a call from the U.S. authorities and [they] say, 'Well look, this person is on board, we'd like you to land the plane right away or we'd like you to get out of U.S. airspace?' I mean, this has happened unfortunately in the past on some occasions. This has potential for disruption in that respect."

In the past, those calls have happened only occasionally, and they were all resolved without any problems.

But Petsikas is worried they will become more frequent once Secure Flight is extended to international flights sometime this year.

And then there's the cost of all of these changes.

The federal government collects between $600 million and $700 million a year from the airline sector, partly from a security tax added on to every ticket. Petsikas doesn't want to see that tax go up.

"The impact has been major on the premium side of the market, business travel as we know," he said. "We also don't want to kill off discretionary travel, the guy who, the family who are counting money and spending after-tax income."

The Department of Public Safety is handling the negotiations with the United States on the issue of Secure Flight.

Officials would only say in an email that Canada will work with its allies on aviation safety and security.

And that leaves travellers, civil liberty groups and the airlines on standby in 2010, waiting to see if and when the rules around air travel might change again.

Source - Google News.