Tweet of the day: @Chetan-bhagat: "If you can stuff lots of Rs.5 meals in a train from Delhi and get it to Mumbai, you could sell them at Rs.12 and make a huge profit"
(Me: a reference to Raj Babbar's claim that one can get a meal for Rs.5 in Delhi and for Rs.12 in Mumbai)
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Patient to doctor: "You've got me on a beta blocker and a calcium-channel blocker. Can you prescribe a criticism blocker?"
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His girlfriend's father was interviewing Charles.
"So," said the impressive personage, "you want to be my son-in-law, do you?"
"Not necessarily," said Charles tactlessly, "but if I want to marry your daughter I haven't much choice, have I?"
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GM crops cultivation: where, who much..
Of the land under GM crop..
US accounts for 40.8%
Brazil, 21.4%
Argentina 14.03%
India, 6.30%
"Transgenics (GM) should be resorted to when other options to achieve the desired objective are either not available or not feasible" Task force of Union Agriculture Ministry in 2004.
(Source: Hindustan Times, 29/7/13)
(Me: Indian parents their kids to US, not just for higher, college education in science and engineering, but also to their schools. Every budding talent in science or technology wants to join NASA. Yet, most "educated" are anti-science, even when the same US whom Indian parents are so crazy about has taken to GM crop cultivation in such a big way and made giant strides. While on the hand we give so much publicity to the anti-GM propaganda - all directed against Monsanto - by our ignoramus NGOs, one hasn't come across the news of the benefits of GM crops to mankind.
If Brazil – one of the BRIC countries – with a mere population of 180 million (18 crores) and comparatively much, much better off in economics and affluence terms have no qualms producing GM crops - @ 21.4% of world total, how come India, of poorest of poor countries and with the largest number of poor (at 400 million, more than double the Brazil's entire population!), is so mindlessly opposed to GM? See, there is a price to pay for economic development and if we see a Frankenstein monster in every scientific breakthrough we will forever remain at the bottom in all development indices.
The anti-GM groups say there are potentials and possibilities for foodgrain production with conventional methods. Well, these have been available since decades, how come nothing concrete is seen with hundreds of our scientists working in over a dozen research labs in India? Simple truth is, they are not practicable or viable)
What is reprehensible and beyond comprehension is that many highly educated very well-settled NRIs also support the anti-GM tirade).
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According to the comparative figures quoted in Hindustan Times on 28/7/13 on who is considered poor in various countries, 99% of India's population will be poor if compared with those similarly ranked in the US and UK…. For example, in UK anyone earning less than equivalent to Indian Rs.11,00,000 – only relatively top executives in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, gets such salaries - is considered poor. Even though many in our country would gloss over such comparisons or glibly say such comparisons are odious…
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News of the day..
Acid attacks on women: 100% arrests, 0% conviction.
News courtesy: Times of India, Mumbai edition, 30/7/13)
(Me: Shameful! Our law courts sometimes take up cases suo motto based on press reports or letters in newspapers. This is a fit case. One may conclude that most cases flop because not too many of our countrymen who are witness to such cases do come forward to give evidence for reasons not unknown to us, or on technical grounds. In such open and shut cases, do we let the criminals off or drastically simplify the laws so that the guilty is punished summarily, to act as a solid deterrent for future potential evil-doers).
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"Poverty line to be revised", says Montek
Amid a raging political controversy over poverty, Planning Commission deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Monday acknowledged that the poverty line based on Tendulkar methodology was a bit low, and that it would be revised after the Rangarajan committee submits it report.
(Me: The poverty line is now pegged at Rs.27.50 per day per person in rural areas and Rs.31.50 for those in the urban side. If it is increased to, say Rs.40, the BPL population will rise by another 200 million… One may be accused of being hard-hearted, insensitive or selfish, why should the tax-payers be penalized by being asked to shell out larger taxes for the irresponsibility of the poor and the incompetency of successive governments to remove poverty? For a strange and inexplicable reason, the media and tax-payers feel indignant at the government having fixed the cut-off mark for who can be called poor– most probably because they are ignorant of the consequences of raising the bar higher)
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UK confirms Pounds sterling 3,000 (about Rs.3 lakhs) visa bond for Indians.
'High-risk- visitors from six countries will have to make deposit..
(Me: Relax! We are in the good company of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Ghana)
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Tongue very much cheek…
As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take or leave it!
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"Although you can take a nation's pulse, you can't be sure that the nation hasn't just run up a flight of stairs" – Elwyn Brooks White, American writer.
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From the world of science…
New gel promotes tissue regeneration…
Researchers from the University of Frelburg develop hydrogels for tissue regeneration that can be fine-tuned to fit any body part.
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Most testicular cancer cases can be cured.
London: Successful treatment of testicular cancer has now become a reality with 96% men suffering from the disease getting completely cured. Survival for testicular cancer has risen by almost 30% in the last 40 years in UK, with nearly all men now beating the disease.
Strawberry blonde, the mixture of blonde and red hair, is the rarest type of blonde hair. The Melanesians of New Guinea are the only dark skinned group of humans known to have a high blonde hair rate. Just two percent of the world's population is naturally blonde.
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Spice up your food with fresh ginger and garlic. They help your body fight everyday wear and tear.
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Walking in the woods can keep heart disease at bay…
London: Nature's own stress buster! A simple walk in the woods can boost heart health by lowering stress and blood pressure levels.
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Weird world…
Slow reader returns library book after 41 years..
A man has returned a book he borrowed from a library in Ohio – after 41 years. The self-confessed slow reader not only returned the book last week, but also handed over a fine of $299 (About Rs.20,000) in cash along with a hand-written apology letter.
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This man is turned on by fart!
A US man has bizarrely admitted to being sexually aroused by people who pass wind. The 22-year-old man from Illinois, America has revealed that he is not sexually attracted to flatulence per se, but the personal releasing the flatulence. It's called "eproctophilia", if you didn't know it.. Those suffering from it are said to spend an abnormal amount of time thinking about farting and flatulence and have recurring intense sexual urges and fantasies involving farting..
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Parrot tells man trying to rescue it to "B***er off"
London: Here's a parrot with a tongue as sharp as his beak, as a Good Samaritan who tried to rescue it from a busy road found out. George the African grey was spotted wandering among the traffic at Guiseley, West Yorkshire, after escaping from its owner's home in Leeds through an open window.
When a motorist tried to rescue it, George told him "b***er off" and repeatedly tried to bite him. The man eventually managed to get the grumpy bird into his car and took it to a local vet's, where it lashed out at staff. "The parrot was really grumpy when we first went out to him and started attacking us with his sharp claws," said the vet. Nurse Hayley T. George's owner later took it home.
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