From Rediff.com
A woman in China has been hired to stay in five-star hotels and rate the services offered by the staff.
Zhuang was selected as one of three final winners out of 7,800 candidates and started working for Qunar as a Professional Hotel Test Sleeper in March 2010.She has stayed in more than 200 hotels until now.
(Follow the title link to read more)
Monday, March 19, 2012
Friday, March 09, 2012
No country for women
To be killed before you are born is inexplicable. For the 10 million girl children who were brutally killed due to selective abortions [after pre-natal screening between 2001 and 2011], the first blow landed before they were born. ABC News did an expose last year where it claimed that a staggering 40 million women have gone 'missing'. The result? The sex ratio has dipped to 918 girls for every 1000 males in 2011 from 927 girls in 2001.
For the girls who make the cut, it's not over, gendercide awaits. India has among the highest rates of girl children being killing after birth in the world (by women who can't afford pre-natal screening). It's a girl; three words that sound the death knell. After carrying their babies for nine months, mothers or midwives will put an end to the 'burden' by slamming their heads against the wall, burying them alive or stuffing a wet cloth in their mouths. Survive this and malnourishment follows, felling more. Around 2.5 million children die in India every year, that's one in five deaths globally, with girls being 50 per cent more likely to die. Dowry is cited as the main reason for boys being preferred to girls.
One of the biggest challenges of being a woman is the feeling that they are burden to the family and must be quickly unloaded to any suitor. Minors being married before they are physically and emotionally mature is the norm. According to a UNICEF report 'State of the world's children 2012: children in an urban world' almost 22 per cent of women have children before they turn 18! Only 41 per of them initiated early breastfeeding, which is crucial for mental and physical nourishment resulting in 48 per cent of children under the age of five being stunted.
The unfortunate part is that selective abortions, gendercide and high infant mortality rates for girls below five are a widely reported phenomena, and the government has tried to address these issues. But, discrimination and a nation obsessed with male children for hundreds of years will not be easy to set right. This is not just in villages where illiteracy is widespread and discrimination runs generations deep. Urban, well-educated families also behave in the same fashion. One of Delhi's districts has a sex ratio of just 836 females per 1,000 males.
Being a girl child in India must be a constant looking over the shoulder and crawl through the trenches. While literacy rates are abysmally low for men and women, the fairer sex is worse off. According to a UNICEF report the national literacy rate of girls over seven years is 54 per cent against 75 per cent for boys. Girls in the Northern states are worse off, between 33 to 50 per cent.
For the girls who make the cut, it's not over, gendercide awaits. India has among the highest rates of girl children being killing after birth in the world (by women who can't afford pre-natal screening). It's a girl; three words that sound the death knell. After carrying their babies for nine months, mothers or midwives will put an end to the 'burden' by slamming their heads against the wall, burying them alive or stuffing a wet cloth in their mouths. Survive this and malnourishment follows, felling more. Around 2.5 million children die in India every year, that's one in five deaths globally, with girls being 50 per cent more likely to die. Dowry is cited as the main reason for boys being preferred to girls.
One of the biggest challenges of being a woman is the feeling that they are burden to the family and must be quickly unloaded to any suitor. Minors being married before they are physically and emotionally mature is the norm. According to a UNICEF report 'State of the world's children 2012: children in an urban world' almost 22 per cent of women have children before they turn 18! Only 41 per of them initiated early breastfeeding, which is crucial for mental and physical nourishment resulting in 48 per cent of children under the age of five being stunted.
The unfortunate part is that selective abortions, gendercide and high infant mortality rates for girls below five are a widely reported phenomena, and the government has tried to address these issues. But, discrimination and a nation obsessed with male children for hundreds of years will not be easy to set right. This is not just in villages where illiteracy is widespread and discrimination runs generations deep. Urban, well-educated families also behave in the same fashion. One of Delhi's districts has a sex ratio of just 836 females per 1,000 males.
Being a girl child in India must be a constant looking over the shoulder and crawl through the trenches. While literacy rates are abysmally low for men and women, the fairer sex is worse off. According to a UNICEF report the national literacy rate of girls over seven years is 54 per cent against 75 per cent for boys. Girls in the Northern states are worse off, between 33 to 50 per cent.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Massive solar eruptions may hit Earth
The strongest geomagnetic storm in more than six years could affect airline routes, power grids and satellites, the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center said.
The sun unleashed two massive X-class solar flares on March 6, 2012. The flare erupted from the giant active sunspot AR1429
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Internet firms agree to install 'do-not-track' browser button
Washington, Feb 24 (ANI): A coalition of Internet firms, including US-based Google, have agreed to support a "do-not-track" button to be installed in web browsers that would help protect the privacy of computer users across the globe.
The 'do-not-track' feature has been announced as part of the White House's call for Congress to pass a "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" that will allow Internet users greater control over how their personal information is collected and used online.
For more than a year, Internet browser companies have resisted embedding the button.
But slowly, various browsing companies have adopted the feature, including Mozilla with its Firefox browser, Microsoft with Internet Explorer and Apple with its Mountain Lion operating system.
People who clicked on the button, however, were still being tracked because advertisers and tracking companies hadn't agreed to honor the system, The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the Digital Advertising Alliance, which represents over 400 companies, firms will now have to begin adopting and honoring the system within nine months.
But the new do-not-track button is not going to stop all Web tracking, the report said.
The companies have agreed to stop using the data about people's Web browsing habits to customize ads, and have agreed not to use the data for employment, credit, health-care or insurance purposes.
But the data can still be used for some purposes such as "market research" and "product development" and can still be obtained by law enforcement officers, the paper said.
The do-not-track button also wouldn't block companies such as Facebook from tracking their members through "Like" buttons and other functions. (ANI)
The 'do-not-track' feature has been announced as part of the White House's call for Congress to pass a "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" that will allow Internet users greater control over how their personal information is collected and used online.
For more than a year, Internet browser companies have resisted embedding the button.
But slowly, various browsing companies have adopted the feature, including Mozilla with its Firefox browser, Microsoft with Internet Explorer and Apple with its Mountain Lion operating system.
People who clicked on the button, however, were still being tracked because advertisers and tracking companies hadn't agreed to honor the system, The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to the Digital Advertising Alliance, which represents over 400 companies, firms will now have to begin adopting and honoring the system within nine months.
But the new do-not-track button is not going to stop all Web tracking, the report said.
The companies have agreed to stop using the data about people's Web browsing habits to customize ads, and have agreed not to use the data for employment, credit, health-care or insurance purposes.
But the data can still be used for some purposes such as "market research" and "product development" and can still be obtained by law enforcement officers, the paper said.
The do-not-track button also wouldn't block companies such as Facebook from tracking their members through "Like" buttons and other functions. (ANI)
Frenchman sues Google over streetview image of him urinating in yard
Melbourne, Mar 3 (ANI, Yahoo news): A French man is taking legal action against Google for making him the butt of jokes in his village after the company's Street View service put on the internet a picture of him urinating in his garden, his lawyer has said.
"He discovered the existence of this photo after noticing that he had become an object of ridicule," the Herald Sun quoted lawyer Jean-Noel Bouillaud as saying.
The slightly hazy picture shows an individual relieving himself in a garden in the village in the west-central Maine-et-Loire department.
"My client lives in a tiny hamlet where everyone recognised him," Bouillaud said.
He further said that his client was on his own property and the gate to his garden was closed at the time the photo was taken.
The man is suing the internet giant in a court in the city of Angers for infringement of his privacy and of his right not to have his photo published without his accord.
He also wants the offending photograph to be withdrawn from the site.
Google's lawyer, Christophe Bigot, said the lawsuit against his company was "implausible."
Street View allows users to take a ground level panoramic view of some locations on Google Maps, based on still photographs taken by specially equipped vehicles. (ANI)
"He discovered the existence of this photo after noticing that he had become an object of ridicule," the Herald Sun quoted lawyer Jean-Noel Bouillaud as saying.
The slightly hazy picture shows an individual relieving himself in a garden in the village in the west-central Maine-et-Loire department.
"My client lives in a tiny hamlet where everyone recognised him," Bouillaud said.
He further said that his client was on his own property and the gate to his garden was closed at the time the photo was taken.
The man is suing the internet giant in a court in the city of Angers for infringement of his privacy and of his right not to have his photo published without his accord.
He also wants the offending photograph to be withdrawn from the site.
Google's lawyer, Christophe Bigot, said the lawsuit against his company was "implausible."
Street View allows users to take a ground level panoramic view of some locations on Google Maps, based on still photographs taken by specially equipped vehicles. (ANI)
A good picture from Yahoo pics of the week :03 Mar 2012
A woman dries her saree, a traditional cloth used for women's clothing, after washing it on the banks of river Tawi in Jammu March 3, 2012. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta
Interesting facts
1. A lady named Marthe Odile Charton (C), 100, celebrated her 25th Leap Day birthday, in Ingersheim near Colmar, Eastern France, February 29, 2012. Odile is a "leaper" born on February 29,1912 in Ingersheim. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler
2. Boys between the ages of 7 and 18 in Myanmar are traditionally sent by their family to experience the life of a monk for a short span of time. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
(Source: Yahoo pictures of the week March 3,2012)
2. Boys between the ages of 7 and 18 in Myanmar are traditionally sent by their family to experience the life of a monk for a short span of time. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar
(Source: Yahoo pictures of the week March 3,2012)
US special forces stationed in India, reveals Pentagon
TOI, 2 Mar 2012
WASHINGTON: US special forces teams are currently stationed in five South Asian countries including India as part of the counter-terrorism cooperation with these nations, a top Pentagon commander has disclosed.
These teams have been deployed by US Pacific Command as part of its effort to enhance their counter-terrorism capabilities, in particular in the maritime domain, Admiral Robert Willard, the PACOM Commander said on Thursday.
"We have currently special forces assist teams - Pacific assist teams is the term - laid down in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, as well as India," Willard told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing in response to a question on co-operation with India on counter-terrorism issues.
"We are working very closely with India with regard to their counter-terrorism capabilities and in particular on the maritime domain but also government to government, not necessarily DOD (department of defence) but other agencies assisting them in terms of their internal counter-terror and counterinsurgency challenges," Willard said.
(To read the full report, follow the title link to TOI news article.)
WASHINGTON: US special forces teams are currently stationed in five South Asian countries including India as part of the counter-terrorism cooperation with these nations, a top Pentagon commander has disclosed.
These teams have been deployed by US Pacific Command as part of its effort to enhance their counter-terrorism capabilities, in particular in the maritime domain, Admiral Robert Willard, the PACOM Commander said on Thursday.
"We have currently special forces assist teams - Pacific assist teams is the term - laid down in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, as well as India," Willard told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing in response to a question on co-operation with India on counter-terrorism issues.
"We are working very closely with India with regard to their counter-terrorism capabilities and in particular on the maritime domain but also government to government, not necessarily DOD (department of defence) but other agencies assisting them in terms of their internal counter-terror and counterinsurgency challenges," Willard said.
(To read the full report, follow the title link to TOI news article.)
Saturday, March 03, 2012
One who doesn't earn Rs50000 per month, is a poor by Persi standard
Not many Indians will qualify to be above poverty line if the Persi standard, as set by Bombay Persi Panchayet, is followed in differentiating 'poor' Indians from 'rich' Indians.
See this news that came online at TOI today (3 Mar 2012)
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MUMBAI: The Bombay Parsi Punchayet on Friday told the Bombay High Court that it considers a Parsi who earns under Rs 50,000 a month to be "poor" and hence eligible for allotment of a flat at subsidised rent.
A division bench of Justices P B Majmudar and Ramesh Dhanuka was hearing a petition filed by Rohinton Taraporewala against BPP's president Dinshaw Mehta and other trustees.
Taraporewala, who is in his 60s, lives in Tarapur. He has contended in his petition that he is "poor and eligible'' for housing, but BPP has allotted flats at Panthaky Baug in Andheri to people who are "richer" than him. He has also said that he and his wife are ailing and require to live in Mumbai to avail of medical treatment.
When the matter came up for hearing, Taraporewala's lawyer was not present. BPP advocate Percy Gandhi said a copy of the petition had not been served to his client. "He is not poor and has moved court because he was not allotted a flat at Panthaky Baug. He is very rich and has acres and acres of land. These flats are for the poor and needy,'' said Gandhi.
To a query from the judges as to who is defined as poor by the BPP, Gandhi replied, "A person earning income below Rs 50,000 a month is regarded as poor.'' Justice Majmudar remarked, "We have not come across any poor Parsi."
On October 15, 2009 the HC allowed BPP to sell 108 flats at Panthaky Baug at rates approved by the Charity Commissioner to cross-subsidise housing for needy Parsis. Some 300 flats are to be constructed and given on a merit-rating scheme.
Gandhi submitted that the108 flats "are also to be also sold to poor and needy Parsis'' and as Taraporewala is "not poor", he was not allotted a flat. Directing that a copy of the petition be served on BPP, the judges have adjourned the matter for two weeks.
See this news that came online at TOI today (3 Mar 2012)
-----------
MUMBAI: The Bombay Parsi Punchayet on Friday told the Bombay High Court that it considers a Parsi who earns under Rs 50,000 a month to be "poor" and hence eligible for allotment of a flat at subsidised rent.
A division bench of Justices P B Majmudar and Ramesh Dhanuka was hearing a petition filed by Rohinton Taraporewala against BPP's president Dinshaw Mehta and other trustees.
Taraporewala, who is in his 60s, lives in Tarapur. He has contended in his petition that he is "poor and eligible'' for housing, but BPP has allotted flats at Panthaky Baug in Andheri to people who are "richer" than him. He has also said that he and his wife are ailing and require to live in Mumbai to avail of medical treatment.
When the matter came up for hearing, Taraporewala's lawyer was not present. BPP advocate Percy Gandhi said a copy of the petition had not been served to his client. "He is not poor and has moved court because he was not allotted a flat at Panthaky Baug. He is very rich and has acres and acres of land. These flats are for the poor and needy,'' said Gandhi.
To a query from the judges as to who is defined as poor by the BPP, Gandhi replied, "A person earning income below Rs 50,000 a month is regarded as poor.'' Justice Majmudar remarked, "We have not come across any poor Parsi."
On October 15, 2009 the HC allowed BPP to sell 108 flats at Panthaky Baug at rates approved by the Charity Commissioner to cross-subsidise housing for needy Parsis. Some 300 flats are to be constructed and given on a merit-rating scheme.
Gandhi submitted that the108 flats "are also to be also sold to poor and needy Parsis'' and as Taraporewala is "not poor", he was not allotted a flat. Directing that a copy of the petition be served on BPP, the judges have adjourned the matter for two weeks.
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