Bikini's Birthday Today!

Last updated on: July 5, 2006 at 8:00 am By Desh Kapoor

On July 5, 1946, the bikini was unveiled during an outdoor fashion show at the Molitor Pool in Paris. According to Wikipedia, here is some of Bikini's History According to the official version, the modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Reard and fashion designer Jacques Heim in Paris in 1946 (introduced on July 5), and named after Bikini Atoll, the site of nuclear weapon tests in the Marshall Islands, on the reasoning that the burst of excitement it would cause would be like the atomic bomb. However it should be noted that women in Paris were wearing bikinis one year before the bikini was "invented." This fact is documented with pictures in the July 16, 1945 issue of Life Magazine. Read more

Discovery Launched Despite Foam Problems

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 6:57 pm By Desh Kapoor

The shuttle had foam problems already! And then while take-off debris fell again like the ill-fated journey of Kalpana Chawla and friends! Are we seeing a repeat of the last time? Read Griffin's response which is more jingoism - specially given the launch date - July 4th! NASA's first-ever Fourth of July manned launch came after two weather delays and a new crack in foam insulation on the fuel tank. Shuttle managers said early video images showing small pieces of debris breaking away — and one even striking the shuttle — were not troubling. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said of the launch: "They don't get much better than this." Read more

ITC's E-choupal

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 6:34 pm By Desh Kapoor

ITC’s International Business Division, one of India’s largest exporters of agricultural commodities, has conceived e-Choupal as a more efficient supply chain aimed at delivering value to its customers around the world on a sustainable basis. The e-Choupal model has been specifically designed to tackle the challenges posed by the unique features of Indian agriculture, characterised by fragmented farms, weak infrastructure and the involvement of numerous intermediaries, among others. Read more

Google Alert – India

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 6:25 pm By

Google Alert for: India Suzuki to build Nissan cars for Europe in India Reuters - USA TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. (7269.T: Quote, Profile, Research) will build a new compact car in India for Nissan Motor Co. ... See all stories on this topic India to build Rs. 1600 cr. satellite navigation system Hindu - Chennai,India ... They noted that ISRO and the Airports Authority of India are implementing a satellite-based navigation system for civil aviation called Gagan. See all stories on this topic India's Eros raises 22.5 mln pounds in London debut Reuters - USA Eros International owns and distributes Indian films around the world in a variety of formats and has more than 110 employees in India, Britain, the United ... See all stories on this topic China, India gear up to open silk road Business Day - Johannesburg,South Africa LHASA, China - China and India on Thursday will reopen an historic trading route through Tibet that has been closed for 44 years, in a further sign of warming ... See all stories on this topic Cocaine may be new status symbol in India Seattle Post Intelligencer - USA ... of snorts has fast become a media-driven blizzard over whether, along with German cars and French handbags, another Western import is sweeping India - cocaine. ... Qantas seeks carrier alliance for India Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia More destinations … Qantas wants to code-share services with India's Jet Airways to Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai. QANTAS has ... See all stories on this topic Honda launches Civic in India Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai,India "With the launch of the latest generation 'Civic' in India, we are reinforcing our commitment to the market," Honda Motor President and CEO Takeo Fukui told ... See all stories on this topic Hu to visit India this year, Wen informs LS Speaker Hindu - Chennai,India 4 (PTI): Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit India later this year to give further impetus to Sino-India ties, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee was ... See all stories on this topic This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google. Remove this alert. Create another alert. Manage your alerts. Read more

Why Hot Water Freezes Faster Than Cold Water

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 6:13 pm By Desh Kapoor

Hot water freezes faster than cold water! Did you know this? John Lienhard of University of Houston explains: Water starts freezing only after its temperature has fallen to its freezing point. Then its huge latent heat must be removed at that temperature. Starting out with hot water means only a little more heat has to be removed. Read more

Her Land is More than the Soil she Treads on!

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 5:24 pm By Desh Kapoor

For a Yanomani, her land is much more than the soil she treads. An ad from Survival. Survival is the only international organisation supporting tribal peoples worldwide. It was founded in 1969 after an article by Norman Lewis in the UK's Sunday Times highlighted the massacres, land thefts and genocide taking place in Brazilian Amazonia. Like many modern atrocities, the racist oppression of Brazil's Indians took place in the name of 'economic growth'. Survival has supporters in 82 countries. It works for tribal peoples' rights in three complementary ways: education, advocacy and campaigns. They also offer tribal people themselves a platform to address the world. They work closely with local indigenous organisations, and focus on tribal peoples who have the most to lose, usually those most recently in contact with the outside world. for more Read more

Google Alert – Pakistan

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 4:32 pm By

Google Alert for: Pakistan Pakistan says Taliban are regrouping in Afghanistan Monsters and Critics.com - Glasgow,UK Islamabad - The Taliban are regrouping in neighbouring Afghanistan in nexus with nationalist forces, said Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao ... See all stories on this topic This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google. Remove this alert. Create another alert. Manage your alerts. Read more

Osama Helped Bush beat Kerry: CIA

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 4:11 pm By Desh Kapoor

Wasn't this obvious? For anyone with a bit of common-sense it was obvious that Osama's appeal to throw out Bush was intended for opposite results! Who in Osama's shoes would want such a strong ally as Bush gone from the scene! Bush has done whatever could possibly be done to instigate the Jehadis as well as rally them around one cause - the worst scenario for Americans!! Now it seems CIA is also on board with that conclusion based on their research! On Oct. 29, 2004, just four days before the U.S. presidential election, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden released a videotape denouncing George W. Bush. Some Bush supporters quickly spun the diatribe as “Osama’s endorsement of John Kerry.” But behind the walls of the CIA, analysts had concluded the opposite: that bin-Laden was trying to help Bush gain a second term. This stunning CIA disclosure is tucked away in a brief passage near the end of Ron Suskind’s The One Percent Doctrine, which draws heavily from CIA insiders. Suskind wrote that the CIA analysts based their troubling assessment on classified information, but the analysts still puzzled over exactly why bin-Laden wanted Bush to stay in office. According to Suskind’s book, CIA analysts had spent years “parsing each expressed word of the al-Qaeda leader and his deputy, [Ayman] Zawahiri. What they’d learned over nearly a decade is that bin-Laden speaks only for strategic reasons. Read more

Google Alert – Cricket

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 3:48 pm By

Google Alert for: Cricket Schools cricket: report and results The Sunday Times - UK ... end of an era at Eastbourne on Saturday when Nigel Wheeler, a giant of the South-East circuit, retired after thirty very successful years as Master i/c Cricket ... See all stories on this topic Cricket bonanza set for Police Club Watford Observer - Watford,England,UK MET POLICE BUSHEY Sports Club is set to play host to a feast of cricket tonight. For the first time in the history of the Watford ... Market news: a cricket classic, Angus McBean and Patrick Heron Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom A classic cricket painting, which immortalises Kent's first victory in the county championship 100 years ago, is to be loaned to the MCC Museum at Lord's after ... This as-it-happens Google Alert is brought to you by Google. Remove this alert. Create another alert. Manage your alerts. Read more

Value of the Names of Past Sports Legends

Last updated on: July 4, 2006 at 2:11 pm By Desh Kapoor

Interesting factoids on how much the sports celebs earn from just their names as they rent it out to people. These folks - though legends - have long retired from the world of sports.. but their name remains intact! Pelé the man signed a 40-year deal with Prime Licensing, a company devoted solely to Pelé the brand. Before long, his name could show up on everything from real estate to cell phones. Prime estimates that the Pelé business will earn $30 million worldwide in 2007 and up to $100 million in 2008, boosted by long-term endorsement deals with MasterCard and Pepsi. Ali is behind a new line of healthy snacks aimed at preventing obesity in young people. His partners at Mars, Inc. and G.O.A.T. Food and Beverage (Greatest of All Time, natch) are staying mum on what the snacks might earn the former heavyweight champ, but one estimate says the foods could bring in $50 to $100 million a year—meaning a $1.5 million cut for Ali. It’s a mad mad mad mad world of celebrity athlete endorsements. Sometimes a mythical product pairing (Michael Jordan’s dunking silhouette on a sneaker) comes naturally; sometimes the endorsements are sort of creepy (Rafael Palmeiro for Viagra). There was Hulkamania, “Bo Knows,” and the erectile dysfunction drug blitz. Then came Mark McGwire’s missed opportunities, Kobe’s blown opportunities, and Lebron’s $90 million Nike deal—before he'd played a single NBA game. And then, of course, there was the grill. Read more

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