1. Talk slowly and emphaize your words. Exercise by recording yourself with the recorder - even if at the beginning you may be shocked by how your voice sounds - different than how you think it is; or let the recorder running, while you’re chatting with your friends. This way you’ll found out the way you’re socializing.

2. Exercise the tonality you use for the typical phrases. For example: "I’m not lying!", "I never said something like that!", "What do you mean by that?","I won’t agree with you on that."

3. Don’ t let yourself overwhelm by others, but try to discover the best catch lines to attack them. Even using common words, but pronounced in different ways, can be interesting.

4. Don’ t get stuck if you said something you shouldn’ t have! Continue arguing as if nothing had happened, or start laughing if others do so.

5. Someone took offence and you haven’ t noticed? Then just say: "I’m sorry, I didn’ t meant to hurt you by saying that." And avoid insisting on the theme, because you’ll only make things worst.

6. Breathe normally, without getting fussy while you’re telling a story, so it won’t sound like a statement.

7. Stay calm, and be the first who says : "I’m glad to see you again! How’s it going?"- "Thanks for making some time to meet!"- "I don’ t like to interrupt you, but..."

8. Don’t discuss your private problems with your job colleagues and don’t tackle job problems in your private life. You’re risking destroy the harmony if you mix them up.

9. Avoid making too many compliments and use a kind language: "Thank you!". Avoid telling something like: "Really? You think I’m looking good?"

10. Don’t forget: men are rational, women are emotional. We can say: men are approaching directly the problem, meanwhile women are making detours- that’s why it happens that we are not taken seriously. So be with one step ahead from the very beginning.

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Beauty is something more than being only skin deep. It is a unique grace, a shining light, a confidence which sparkles through your eyes when you smile. Beauty of a lady does not come through her style of dressing or the physical figure that she possesses, but through the glitter of her eyes that are actually the doorway right to her heart. There are no boundaries to beauty. Being the most beautiful woman is the foremost pre-occupation of every woman. No body would deny the fact that beauty is strength.There is no one in the universe who does not want to look beautiful. It is a well accepted fact that if a woman looks good, she feels good, and thus her confidence level increases. This increased confidence level leads to her enthusiasm in leading a positive attitude towards life.

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India launched its first unmanned moon mission on Wednesday, joining the Asian space race in the footsteps of rival China and reinforcing its claim to be considered a global power.

Chandrayaan-1 (moon vehicle), a cuboid spacecraft built by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) blasted off from a southern Indian space center shortly after dawn in a boost for the country’s ambitions to gain more global space business.

"What we have started is a remarkable journey," G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO, told reporters.

The successful launch comes less than a fortnight after India closed a landmark nuclear energy cooperation deal with the United States, ending decades of isolation and making it a de facto nuclear power.

The space operation is ostensibly about mapping the moon, but the mission comes on the heels of China’s first space walk last month, when Chinese astronauts were feted as national heroes.

It also follows unmanned probes from China and Japan in 2007.

India does not want to fall behind in an Asian race to space that could have technological and military implications. There is disquiet in the West that China has military ambitions in space, with developments like anti-satellite missiles.

India’s national television channels broadcast the countdown to the launch live. Some scientists thumped their chests, hugged each other and clapped as the rocket shot up into space.

Read the full article here: The Reuters.

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Women had poor dental health compared to men back in the hunter-gatherer era, and it got worse as societies turned to farming.

Now an anthropologist is pointing to an overlooked explanation - hormonal and dietary changes related to higher pregnancy rates.

Anthropologists usually argue that women’s poor dental health resulted from culture-driven factors, such as cooking duties and the ongoing nibbling that can go along with that. But that narrow focus may overlook biological factors connected to women bearing more and more children in agricultural societies.

Today, men are more likely than women to suffer from gum disease, possibly because men are more likely to ignore dental care, according to Delta Dental. Nonetheless, women do not tend to have better oral health than men, for hormonal reasons, according to the American Academy of Periodontology.

New look back

"We deal with skeletons," said John Lukacs, an anthropologist at the University of Oregon. "There’s no saliva, no hormonal effects to be detected."

Lukacs first reviewed studies of both living and prehistoric humans, and found a familiar story across different cultures and nations. Women suffered more cavities than men as they became adults. However, both sexes saw a dramatic boost in cavities as societies became agricultural.

"People do generally agree that a shift from hunter-gathering to agriculture includes a cost in terms of health and nutrition," Lukacs told LiveScience. "Dietary diversity decreases, and people become reliant on fewer crops."

He then honed in on clinical evidence of how reproductive biology affects women’s dental health, especially as high estrogen levels trigger certain effects.

For instance, some studies show that women may produce less saliva during pregnancy. Whatever saliva is produced also can’t protect as well against bacteria that produce acid byproducts that eat away at teeth.

Those cravings

Other changes in the body and in dietary cravings may also play a role. Women crave high-energy, sweet foods during the third trimester of pregnancy, meaning that they risk more cavities.

"Women eat more frequently during pregnancy because of having a smaller stomach," Lukacs pointed out, calling it an "acid challenge for teeth."

Lukacs added that cultural explanations favored by anthropologists are not necessarily wrong - he himself swore by them earlier in his career. But he said that focusing just on those reasons and ignoring the biological changes that accompany increased fertility misses out on the big picture.

"One of the lessons to be learned is that anthropologists have to take a broader, more inclusive perspective on causation," said Lukacs, whose results are detailed in the October issue of the journal Current Anthropology.

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Making money in 2008 looks like a grim proposition, but not because U.S. government printing presses can’t create enough dollar bills.

The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing (whose web site name perhaps says it all: moneyfactory.gov) churns out about 38 million bills of varying denominations daily, all worth $750 million in face value. Facilities in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington D.C. use 18 tons of ink per day to keep up.

Yet 95 percent of fresh notes simply replace those already in circulation. Common $1 bills last about 21 months, while a $100 bill can go for roughly 7.4 years before requiring replacement. Taken all together, these physical bills represent just a drop in the bucket of global money.

The real trick to funding the $700 billion bailout of the financial industry: Make more money. However, most of that money never actually gets printed at all. Rather, it’s infused into the economy by the ultimate ATM: the federal government. And it grows and grows by a rather mystical process that works only when everyone plays the lending game.

Virtual cash

Most money lives not in our wallets but in something like a banking Matrix - a virtual world of electronic numbers running between bank accounts. People typically look at their money as a figure in a bank statement, and trust that number is real. The economy runs on that faith as workers deposit their checks in banks.

Banks then get down to the business of creating money by lending it out. Assume that you put $100 in your bank account. The government requires banks to hold a certain amount in reserve, say 10 percent, so the bank may just take $90 and lend it out to someone else. That person can then buy something with the $90. The store deposits the $90 in another bank, and the lending process continues to inflate the original $100.

"The original $100 that came in gets blown up by the banking system into something much bigger - essentially $1,000 [assuming a 10 percent reserve]," said Menzie Chinn, an economist and public policy expert at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

This system may sound a bit magical, yet it works as long as banks and other lenders believe that debtors will pay them back. And if the loans go toward spending or investments that make even more money, everyone gets paid and the money-creation cycle continues.

The problem

People typically deposit their money with commercial banks such as Citibank or Wells Fargo. Corporations and large groups deposit their money with bigger investment banks such as Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley.

However, this lending-as-creating process imploded this year after seemingly everyone had bet their borrowed money on the idea that housing prices would keep going up. When housing prices began to fall, many debtors lost that gamble and ended up failing to pay back their loans. Investment banks also found themselves in serious trouble after they had bet on the housing market, and either filed for bankruptcy, ended up on the auction block, or needed a federal hand.

Remaining banks have become scared of lending out money when there is no guarantee they will get any of it back. That reluctance to lend out money "short circuits the money expansion process," Chinn told LiveScience.

This is a problem because the global economy depends heavily on borrowing and loans. Individuals and corporations may need to borrow heavily during bad times, and the lack of available loans can further plunge the economy into a downward spiral of recession.

The collapse of confidence in the lending system also destroyed any grand illusions of greater wealth created by the long chain of loans and ever-rising housing prices that weren’t supposed to come down. The money-creation cycle screeched to a halt.

"But at the bottom of it, there was some reality of greater wealth," Chinn said. "Just not as much as we thought."

Solutions

The U.S. government’s central bank, the Federal Reserve, normally has several tactics to tweak the money-creation process. The Fed can change the amount of money that banks are required to hold in reserve, which either frees up more for loans or reduces the amount available for loans. It can also deal with banks to buy or sell Treasury securities, again to increase or decrease the amount of money available for loans.

That’s how it normally works. But as Chinn and other economists point out, these are strange times. The government is now taking "extraordinary means" to try and unlock the freeze on loans, and may even consider more extreme measures such as guaranteeing all bank deposits in case a bank fails.

"They’re trying to make it so banks and other financial institutions trust each other," Chinn noted.

The $700 billion bailout bill for Wall Street is another attempt to save faltering banks and financial institutions, but the government has to get all that money somehow.

One option involves issuing more U.S. Treasury bonds so that U.S. and foreign investors or governments can buy them up - basically borrowing more money from the rest of the world. That would tend to drive the interest rate up, so that the U.S. government would ultimately have to pay back more money to its lenders.

The Fed could also buy up some of the Treasury bonds itself and reduce the interest rate on its bonds. That action essentially represents "printing money," Chinn said. Creating money out of thin air may help in the short term, but in the long run reduces the value of U.S. dollars.

"Or the U.S. government can raise taxes," Chinn added.

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The BLOODHOUND SSC Project, led by Richard Noble OBE, is aiming to set a new world land speed record of a thousand miles per hour by 2011.

The challenge at the heart of the project is to create a car capable of 1,000mph - a car 30% faster than any car that has gone before.

An aerodynamics team at Swansea University - funded by EPSRC - is playing a vital role. Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the team has spent the last year creating the predictive airflow data that has shaped the car.

In time, the research could lead to better vehicle or aircraft design, improved fuel efficiencies, and even new medical techniques.

"From the nose to the tail, anything that has any kind of aerodynamic influence we are modelling," says researcher Dr. Ben Evans - who as a school boy watched the Thrust SSC record on TV.

Read the full article here...

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Menopause is the normal time in a woman’s life when the monthly menstrual cycle stops, usually between ages 45 and 55.

Here are common symptoms of menopause, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

• No menstrual period for the last 12 months, without surgical or other biological cause.


• Differences in the pattern of your period -- shorter or longer, lighter or heavier, more or less frequent.


• Hot flashes or night sweats.


• Vaginal dryness.


• Moodiness, irritability or crying frequently.


• Difficulty concentrating or focusing, or confusion.


• Thinning hair, or the appearance of more facial hair.

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New research suggests HIV can hibernate inside a small number of cells -- or even a single cell -- until re-emerging to wreak havoc.

Study co-author Huldrych Gunthard, a researcher at University Hospital Zurich, in Switzerland, said the findings are actually good news, because they suggest that the virus isn’t replicating itself while dormant. That could mean that AIDS patients who adhere to their drug regimens as prescribed will avoid having to fight a newly strengthened virus.

"It is a very good message for patients and doctors," Gunthard said.

While drugs available since the mid-1990s have allowed many AIDS patients to reduce the level of the virus in their blood to zero, the disease remains incurable. According to Gunthard, the virus can hide in the lymphatic system -- which includes lymph nodes, the spleen and other organs -- and in the brain and bone marrow, among other places.

Doctors generally urge AIDS patients to take their medication on a regular basis, because the virus can make a dramatic -- and potentially deadly -- reappearance if there aren’t drugs in the body to keep it at bay.

In the new study, Gunthard and colleagues examined the AIDS virus from 20 patients who had gone off their medications for two weeks at a time as part of a study. By examining how the virus evolved over time, the researchers found that the disease can emerge from a small number of cells, or even a single one, when medication is stopped.

"This is actually very surprising, if one considers that there are millions of cells in the body from which the infection can take off," Gunthard said.

The research, published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also suggests that the virus doesn’t evolve into new forms while patients aren’t taking AIDS drugs. Evolution of the virus can lead to new forms that aren’t as susceptible to drugs.

"This is a very good finding and suggests that our treatments are really very potent, and the effects will be long lasting," Gunthard said.

Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, director of the Laboratory for AIDS Virus Research at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, said the new findings reflect the findings of other research.

"These studies imply that current anti-HIV drug regimens are about as potent as they can be, completely blocking viral replication, and thus cell-to-cell transmission of virus," he said. "Therefore, any virus measured in the blood of a patient on long-term therapy -- assuming they are adherent to their medications -- most likely comes only from cells infected prior to the start of HIV treatment."

SOURCES: Huldrych Gunthard, researcher, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland; Jeffrey Laurence, M.D., professor of medicine, and director, Laboratory for AIDS Virus Research, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York City; Oct. 20-24, 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

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Girls who live in poor neighborhoods are more likely to have sexual intercourse in early adolescence and to have their first sexual experiences with older boys, a Canadian study says.

The study included 2,596 Canadian teens who were followed from ages 12 to 15.

"Young girls who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to initiate sex at an early age, especially those young women with conduct problems," lead author Veronique Dupere said in a University of Montreal news release. "The results suggest that neighborhoods shape peer groups, which in turn influence when girls become sexually active."

The researchers also found that teen girls from poor neighborhoods who have a history of conduct problems are more likely to associate with deviant peers and to have their first sexual experiences with males who are three or more years older.

"Deviant peers are thought to provide a pool of willing partners and cultivate a sense that early sexual activity is desirable," Dupere said.

About 13 percent of the adolescents in the study were considered to have conduct problems, defined as engaging in three at-risk behaviors -- such as bullying, fighting, vandalism, stealing, running away, and staying out all night -- over one year.

Among boys, living in a poor neighborhood wasn’t directly associated with the start of sexual activity in early adolescence, the study found.

"Contrary to girls for whom peers were of primary importance, family and individual risk appeared more influential in boys’ timing their first sexual experience," Dupere said.

The study was published in the journal Child Development.

From a public health perspective, it’s important to identify when and why young girls become sexually active, Dupere said.

"Other studies show that early initiators are more likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases, undergo unwanted teen pregnancy and to report involuntary sexual experiences," she said.

"By identifying young adolescents who are particularly at risk, this study provides valuable insights for future intervention efforts. To maximize effectiveness, prevention programs need to take the larger social context into account and make special efforts to enroll vulnerable young adolescents."

SOURCE: University of Montreal, news release, Sept. 16, 2008

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OLD habits, however brutal, die hard. It’s six years since Egypt banned female genital mutilation but still it continues. And FGM is unlikely to stop as long as religious leaders condone it and parents believe their daughters will otherwise be disadvantaged.

Mohamed Bedaiwy of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio interviewed 3730 Egyptian girls aged 10 to 14. Eighty-five per cent of the girls had been subjected to FGM since it was outlawed, almost two-thirds of them by non-medical personnel (Reproductive BioMedicine Online, vol 16, p 27).

"Female genital cutting is a deep-rooted practice in Egyptian culture, and it will take more than a law to change it," says Bedaiwy.

His colleagues in Egypt also interviewed the girls’ parents, who said they disobeyed the law to comply with religious and traditional beliefs and curb the sexual drive of their daughters.

There have been reports of punishments meted out to doctors, including fines, imprisonment and suspension of their right to practise, but there’s no record of who and how many.

Counselling parents and religious leaders is the only way to eradicate FGM in Egypt. Paul Van Look of the World Health Organization says that a significant number of families within a community will have to "make a collective, coordinated choice to abandon the practice so that no single girl or family is disadvantaged by the decision".

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FAR from being hapless eccentrics, the majority of people who stalk royalty have a serious psychotic disorder. The discovery has been key to reducing the risk of attacks on the British royal family, and British and European politicians.

Paul Mullen, a forensic psychiatrist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and his colleagues looked at records held by the Metropolitan Police in London on 250 people who had stalked members of the royal family between 1988 and 2003.

Of these, the team reckons about 80 per cent show symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions that are typical of people with schizophrenia.

The findings, known for two years, were made public this week at a forensic science meeting in Melbourne. They show that royal stalkers are clearly different from those who stalk ordinary people, who tend to be depressed, socially inept rejected lovers.

In the past, royal stalkers who were causing a nuisance were merely removed from the scene. Now mental health professionals from the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC), which was quietly set up two years ago by the UK Home Office, assess the stalkers and refer them for treatment if necessary.

In the past, stalking behaviour was typically repeated. "Now that they are treated it is not," says David James, clinical director of the FTAC. Few VIP-stalkers go on to commit an attack, but when they do, the attacks tend to be serious.

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IF YOU discovered that your genes made you prone to obesity, would you eat dessert as usual or rush to the gym? It’s not a trick question. Whether people act on news of their genetic fate or simply ignore it is the subject of a 20-year study of 10,000 Americans.

Announced last week, the study was prompted by the recent launch of a clutch of companies offering genetic tests directly to consumers. The study will be partly funded by one of these firms - Navigenics of Redwood Shores, California.

Nevertheless, Eric Topol of the Scripps Translational Science Institute in San Diego, California, says that independent scientists will be in charge. "We have complete, independent control of the database and all publications derived from the study."

Topol says plenty of gene variants have robust links to disease, despite a recent analysis in the American Journal of Human Genetics which casts doubt on many claimed associations between genes and disease, and a US Government Accountability Office investigation which found that different companies interpret the same gene data differently.

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Intel has begun shipping its first dual-core Atom processor, the company said on Friday.

On its price list, Intel characterizes the processor as one designed for nettops and netbooks, such as the Asus Eee PC line.

The Intel Atom 330 is clocked the same as the existing single-core Atom 230, or 1.6 GHz. It contains a full megabyte of level-2 cache, split over both cores; the 230 contains just 512 Kbytes. The new chip also is rated for 8 watts of thermal design power, and includes support for DDR2 667 memory. The Atom 330 is designed for the Intel 945GC Express chipset, Intel said.

The Atom 330 is priced at $43 per processor in 1,000-unit lots; the Atom 230 is priced at $29.

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Reliance Communications (RCOM) is offering free netbooks to customers in India. All you need to pay is Rs 1,500 every month for its wireless Internet service over two years and the netbook will be yours. To make this happen, Reliance has entered into a strategic agreement with five leading laptop manfacturers -- HCL, Intel, Acer, Asus and Lenovo.

As per the scheme, customers will get free netbooks which are powered by Intel’s ’Atom’ and packaged with RCOM’s Net Connect data card services. The company is expected to release more details regarding availability, schemes and pricing shortly.

“With a population of close to 1.2 billion and only 12 million Internet connections, the growth potential of Internet data services in India is all set to trace the penetration curve of mobile services which are currently adding over 100 million new subscribers every year. The growth of Internet services in India is one of the key visions of Reliance Communications,” said Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance Communications.

“The next phase of growth of Internet penetration in the country is linked to the growth in PC and laptop penetration offering an opportunity to empower all Indians by making the overall cost of Internet access more affordable,” he added.

With unlimited Internet access and Atom-branded laptop priced at Rs 1,500 per month for two years, the offer looks quite attractive and within reach of the common man. According to the company, it would mean a total spending of Rs 36,000 in two years, with no hidden cost.

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Google planned to announce on Tuesday that the source code for its mobile operating system, Android, is now available for anyone to use free.

The move was expected, although the timing was uncertain.

Developers can find the source code on the Web site for the Android Open Source Project.

"An open-sourced mobile platform, that’s constantly being improved upon by the community and is available for everyone to use, speeds innovation, is an engine of economic opportunity and provides a better mobile experience for users," said Andy Rubin, senior director of mobile platforms for Google, in a statement.

The first Android phone isn’t yet on the market -- the G1 goes on sale in the United States from T-Mobile on Wednesday. Journalists were first able to publish reviews of the G1 last week.

Google expects that by making the source code for the operating system open, a wide variety of applications will appear, as will less expensive and faster phones.

But Google’s model for Android has some critics. The LiMo Foundation, which publishes specifications for middleware for mobile Linux devices, and of which Google is not a member, says that Google’s model might be too open.

"There’s a debate about whether Google’s approach to openness is sustainable and good for the industry," said Andrew Shikiar, director of global marketing for the LiMo Foundation.

Android will be released under the Apache license, which doesn’t require developers to share their changes to the code back with the community, he said. This is one of the reasons why some people wonder whether Android will become fragmented as various incompatible versions of the software appear in phones across the market.

Source

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Analysing the challenges and opportunities ahead of the Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Business Process Industry Association of India jointly organised a Business Process Industry Leaders Forum. Elaborating the global failed credit control, Samir Chopra, president, Business Process Industry Association of India and founder and promoter, PKCL Group, said, "The present scenario in the backdrop of the global financial meltdown is credited to complex financial components."

According to K.V.Subramanian, chief financial officer, Oracle Financial Services BPO, "There is no need to panic as things will settle down. India offers huge talent pool and productive human recourses. I agree that we are in a midst of a crisis, but at the same time we need to brainstorm the opportunities this crisis brings along."

Praveen Senger, head, software, services and industry, vertical research, IDC India Limited presented a five point agenda towards balanced development of the industry. He said, "We are in an urgent need to centralise our operations and move towards technology-enabled unique models to market our skills. We should follow a five point strategy namely centralise, standardise, modularise, optimise and outsource. As around 60 per cent of the BPO business comes from the United States of America and maximum of this is from the financial and banking institution. In the wake of failed global financial machinery, we have to look towards the domestic BPO segment and reach out to the remote and rural bases to expand the scope of business."

For full Story

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Everybody is waiting for the moment when the Indian national flag, the tricolour, will land on the Moon, marking India’s first step towards conquering the Moon. India entered history books of space missions by sending Chandrayaan-1, India’s maiden moon spacecraft, into space in a textbook-perfect launch early this morning. One of the most successful rockets of India, the PSLV C-11, lifted off sharp at 6:22 AM from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.

The 1,380 kg Chandrayaan-1 has been successfully put into Transfer Orbit around the earth by the rocket. The Indian space craft is carrying 11 payloads. Out of these, five are designed and developed indigenously in India, three from European Space Agency, one from Bulgaria and two from the US. These probes will explore the Moon over the next two years.

Putting the craft in the Transfer Orbit is the first step. It will take at least two weeks for the Indian scientists to take the craft into Lunar Orbit. The craft will take several revolutions around the earth to gain enough momentum to cover some 4 lakh km and reach the Moon. Once the craft reaches close to the Moon, it will be captured by the gravity of the heavenly object. There the craft will start revolving around the Moon just the way satellites revolve around the earth. The craft will revolve around the Moon at the height of 100 km from the surface.

One of the primary objectives of the mission is to map the surface of the Moon. Till date, the images of certain specific regions of the Moon available are of low resolution. The Indian mission carries imaging systems which will further enhance the quality of the images manifold. Thus, it would be a picture-perfect Moon.

The craft will be controlled by scientists in India. Imagine instructing and controlling a satellite hovering around the Moon, some odd 4 km away? To effectively communicate with the craft, scientists have set up a 60 tons antenna at a small village called Bylalu near Bengaluru. Bylalu will be the point of contact for the India’s presence on the Moon.

The Moon has always been an object of attraction for writers, and science fiction has a special place for the Moon. "India’s quest to conquer the Moon has started. This is a proud moment for all of us. More than 100 years ago, in 1900 one of the most famous literary magazines of that time published a science fiction story Chandralok Ki Yatra (Journey To Moon) by Babu Keshav Prasad Singh. The achievement of ISRO is like realisation of that dream. It also indicates that there is nothing as impossible for humans to realise their dreams. This mission has earned more respect amongst the ’space’ community of the planet. We congratulate all the scientists associated with the project," says Dr Arvind Mishra, secretary, Indian Science Fiction Writers’ Association.

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Scientists at the Rocket launching station in Thumba, were in the habit of working for nearly 12 to 18 hours a day. There were about Seventy such scientists working on a project. All the scientists were really frustrated due to the pressure of work and the demands of their boss but everyone was loyal to him and did not think of quitting the job.

One day, one scientist came to his boss and told him - Sir, I have promised to my children that I will take them to the exhibition going on in our township. So I want to leave the office at 5 30 pm. His boss replied - O K, , You are permitted to leave the office early today.

The Scientist started working. He continued his work after lunch. As usual he got involved to such an extent that he looked at his watch when he felt he was close to completion. The time was 8.30 p.m Suddenly he remembered of the promise he had given to his children. He looked for his boss,, He was not there. Having told him in the morning itself, he closed everything and left for home.

Deep within himself, he was feeling guilty for having disappointed his children. He reached home. Children were not there. His wife alone was sitting in the hall and reading magazines. The situation was explosive, any talk would boomerang on him.

His wife asked him - Would you like to have coffee or shall I straight away serve dinner if you are hungry. The man replied - If you would like to have coffee, I too will have but what about Children??? Wife replied- You don’t know - Your manager came at 5 15 p.m and has taken the children to the exhibition.

What had really happened was the boss who granted him permission was observing him working seriously at 5.00 p.m. He thought to himself, this person will not leave the work, but if he has promised his children they should enjoy the visit to exhibition. So he took the lead in taking them to exhibition

The boss does not have to do it every time. But once it is done, loyalty is established. That is why all the scientists at Thumba continued to work under their boss even though the stress was tremendous.

By the way, can you hazard a guess as to who the boss was????????

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A guy lost his girlfriend in a train accident....

but the gal’s name nowhere appeared in the dead list. This guy grew up n became IT technical architect in his late 20’s, achievement in itself!!

He hired developers from the whole globe and plan to make a software where he could search his girlfriend through the web..

Things went as planned...

And he found her, after losing millions of dollars and 3 long years!!

It was time to shut down the search operation, when the CEO of Google had a
word with this guy and took over this application,

This Software made a whopping 1 billion dollars profit in its first year,

which we today know as ORKUT.

The guy’s name is ORKUT BUYUKKOTEN Yes its named after him only. Today he is paid a hefty sum by Google for the things we do like scrapping. He is expected to b the richest person by 2009..

ORKUT BUYUKKOTEN today has 13 assistants to monitor his scrapbook & 8 to

monitor his friends-list. He gets around 20,000 friend-requests a day & about 85,000 scraps!!!

Some other Cool Facts about this guy:

* He gets $12 from Google when every person registers to this website.

* He also gets $10 when you add somebody as a friend.

* He gets $8 when your friend’s friend adds you as a friend & gets $6 if

anybody adds you as friend in the resulting chain.

* He gets $5 when you scrap somebody & $4 when somebody scraps you.

* He also gets $200 for each photograph you upload on Orkut.

* He gets $2.5 when you add your friend in the crush-list or in the hot-list.

* He gets $2 when you become somebody’s fan.

* He gets $1.5 when somebody else becomes your fan.

* He even gets $1 every time you logout of Orkut.

* He gets $0.5 every time you just change your profile-photograph.

* He also gets $0...5 every time you read your friend’s scrap-book & $0.5 every time
you view your friend’s friend-list.

’ WOW!!!

Happy ORKUTTING
THE MAKING OF ORKUT

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A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a Rupee 500 note.

In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this Rupee 500 note?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this note to one of you
but first let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the note up.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and
started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all
crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?"
Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not
decrease in value. It was still worth Rupee 500/-.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt
by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as
though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose
your value.

You are special. Don’t ever forget it! Never let yesterday’s disappointments overshadow tomorrow’s dreams.

" VALUE HAS A VALUE ONLY IF ITS VALUE IS VALUED"

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Hard times are coming. To avoid difficulties, strictly follow the following:

1.Do not use credit cards to buy things unless u have money in the account. Do not buy with credit cards to spend tomorrow’s income today

2.Do not take any bank or other loans to buy durables, cars, houses etc. future is uncertain. Do not buy if you don’t have means to buy today

3.Do not buy any shares now because it is a bear market. You will have to wait for 3 years to get returns of 10% p.a. you might lose everything in meantime

4.Defer purchase of house even from your own money as market is crashing. You will repent paying too much if you buy now.

5.Do not take housing loan even if interest goes down. Remember, your loan is what helps the builders to jack up prices artificially. So you end up paying higher than what you should, your interest saving is gone and you have borrowed more and not getting value.
If your income goes down you will lose everything and be on the roads.

6.Avoid posh hotels and restaurants where you pay 100% more just for so called ambience for an hour.

7.Do not indulge in gift culture by giving gifts indiscriminately. Avoid celebrating father, sister, brother, lover, hater, teacher day etc. They are only to fool you to spend.

8.Avoid multiplexes where you pay double. Go to regular theaters.

9. Take jobs in your own town as far as possible, where you have place to say.

10. Ignore ppl who criticize this advice.

Courtesy

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Opera Software has launched its latest desktop browser -- Opera 9.6 -- for the Indian market. With new features such as Opera Link and Opera Mail, the new browser is now available in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Opera 9.6 is said to be optimised to run on slow hardware with low memory.

Jon von Tetzchner, chief executive officer, Opera Software, travelling to Mumbai and Delhi during this important launch, said, "India has proven to be a strong customer base for Opera, as the country is currently the third-largest user of Opera Mini. India has definitely shown Opera the love with their devotion to Opera Mini. We are giving the love back today by ensuring that Indians from New Delhi to Tamil Nadu can use Opera in their own languages. This support also extends to our e-mail client, Opera Mail."

Opera 9.6 allows Web surfers in India to synchronise bookmarks between multiple computers -- and even Opera Mini -- on their mobile phone using Opera Link. With Opera’s Speed Dial feature, users can get their favourite Web page with one click. Opera’s built-in e-mail client, Opera Mail, allows users to write e-mails in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. The version also comes with an added fraud protection. Users can resume downloads with an new feature added to the download manager and the zoom in feature allow you to get the bigger picture of the Web page.

Opera 9.6 is now available as a free download at http://www.opera.com/. To get Opera Mini in Hindi on your mobile phone, go to http://www.operamini.com/download/pc/generic/ generic_advanced_midp_2/ and select ’Hindi’ from the language select box; or visit mini.opera.com using your mobile phone browser and click on ’Download in another language’.

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India is the 7th largest spam sender in the world, according to a Trend Micro report. India is the leader among Asian countries in spam, accounting for more than 4 per cent of the total global spam. It is ahead of other Asian countries such as China (3.39 per cent), Republic of Korea (2.57 per cent) and Thailand (2.04 per cent). Asia contributes 16.57 per cent of the global spam volume.

According to Niraj Kaushik, country manager - India and SAARC, Trend Micro, “In simple terms, spam is the unwanted e-mail messages dropping into your mail box. Since 2003, the volumes of spam have been growing steadily, now reaching in excess of 80 per cent of all Internet traffic. The rapid growth of broadband connections and the use of virus distribution by spam have created large collections of ‘Zombie’ machines on broadband networks sitting ready to serve the needs of the spammer (creating large volumes of spam mail from previously unknown systems). The amount of spam globally today has reached a whopping 66, 470, 097.”

He further adds, “Most spam today is to advertise ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes and similar dubious products. Starting off being a small irritant that most enterprises used to ignore, spam has today has taken the shape of a huge calamity. Enterprises not having a policy to curb spam will eventually see their profitability and productivity being affected.”

Globally, the Russian Federation heads the list of spammers accounting for more than 11 per cent of total spam, followed by the United States of America at 9.36 per cent. Trend Micro reports that the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia India and China) together account for around 20 per cent of all spam. Experts at Trend Micro further indicate that spam from emerging markets will continue to grow till the proper Internet infrastructure is in place. The world’s top 10 spam relaying countries account for about 57.4 per cent of the global spam volumes.

Elaborating on how to effectively fight spam, Mr. Kaushik says, “The most effective solutions against spam combine a strong reputation system with a comprehensive filtering system that includes heuristics, statistical analysis, signature filters, and multi-lingual detection. We must also note that newer types of spam and other malware attacks have become so rampant that the traditional batch-mode updates of signatures are unable to keep pace with them, leaving user systems vulnerable to the latest threats. The key lies in security solutions that keep user systems updated in real-time. For example, Trend Micro’s Worry-Free™ Security Solutions provides multi-layer spam protection by blocking spam ‘in-the-cloud’ itself before it reaches corporate networks.”

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1. Vision and mission of your life

The old age by W W Ziege goes like this: ’Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude and nothing on earth can help the man with wrong mental attitude’.

Without vision and mission you are like a jet without a flight plan or maybe a brain surgeon operating with a blindfold on. Lasting self mastery and excellence will only come about when you set precise goals and have a clear vision and mission plan in place.

Clear goals are foundation of success and if you do not set clear cut goals then it would be like a ship moving through deep seas without a course. And alas these are not a commodity which can be bought!

2. Networking and building nurtured relationships

You are the centre of your own universe. Where your universe intersects or overlaps someone else’s, your lines cross that person’s universe. If you could draw a map of the entire universe, you’d have a mesh or a web. Staying in touch and focusing on action is not only important for our evolution but is also a vital need to meet the larger challenges facing us today.

When we join hands with other people and share our dreams, aspirations, concerns and dreams not only do we find inner strength in this kinship but also practical help and ideas to carry out joint initiatives effectively. Remember, together each achieves more.

This is something that has to be cultivated and is not something that can be bought overhand.

3. Values

The highest good in human beings is their own self. This is the love, awareness and bliss of our inner most divine being. Everything worthwhile in life is an expression of this divinity. All that we value is the hidden quest for this divine source: Jack Welch in his book Winning.

Everything we do is based consciously or unconsciously on our values, attitudes and or conceptions of what is good and desirable. They are our inherent notions of what ought to be. Thus values are set of behaviours: specific, nitty-gritty and so descriptive they leave little to imagination.

People must be able to use them as marching orders because they are the how of the mission, the means to the end: Winning. And if u guessed it right folks values is not something which you can buy but what is nurtured by your traditional roots.

4. Personal development

There goes an old age saying: ’A little bit of something is better than plenty of nothing’.

The challenge is to use your energy to cut through and go beyond all your fears, your weaknesses, your insecurities and doubts and bring about a change in your lives. Making things happen and anything thought of and considered useful must finally be converted into inspired action.

Aptly put by a Chinese thinker: ’Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with one logical step’ and that is development of self.

Everyone aims at self development and this is something which, again, cannot be bought. One has to build personal development as a way of life by organising the day effectively, identify transferable skills and personal competence and improve the overall quality of working.

5. Genius

It’s like tooth extraction of a cavity-filled tooth. As a dentist removes the cavity-filled tooth you must get rid of your weaknesses and focus on your strengths and bring out the genius in you by realising what is your liking and your passion.

Genius in you is built by keeping a focus and bringing about daily improvements thus striving to build a genius through sustained efforts.

6. Mentor and guide

Mentoring is a relationship between openness, freedom and confidence. It is a protected relationship in which learning and experimentation can occur, potential skills can be developed, and in which results can be measured in terms of competencies gained.

Mentoring comes in by developing a special relationship which is based on mutual trust and dependence for learning and growing to upgrade your knowledge and skills.

All this cannot be bought but developed and nurtured through constant interactions. Guides / gurus cannot be bought by money. You need to find a friend, a philosopher and guide with whom you can develop an understanding for future guidance for help in your career, your profession. You cannot force anybody to become your mentor but develop a mutual trust and understanding over time.

7. Team spirit

’See the world for yourself. Have faith in the way things are. Love the world as yourself, then you can care for all things’: Tao Te Ching.

Existence is one whole symphony of working together joyfully similar to thousands of species of plant and animals found in a rain forest. Team spirit brings about a sense of belonging and helps us realise the truth that each achieves more.

This spirit has to be developed with mutual benefits to all and incorporates a deeper understanding, a sense of commitment and compatibility by dissolving ego and individual differences. Rabindranath Tagore rightly said: ’There is no such thing as absolute isolation in existence and the only way of attaining truth is through interpenetrating our being into all our objects.’

8. Humility

The state of being humble .Getting rid of the feeling of pride, ego and being self obsessed. Let others also express themselves. Do not try to superimpose our views on others every time. One has to cultivate humility and, I bet, money cannot buy humility.

9. Developing efficiency

Follow the POLCA mantra: Planning, organising, leading, controlling and taking action. All this cannot be bought with money but it’s a discipline in one’s life which has to be incorporated in to become efficient and successful.

10. Adaptability and acceptability

Changed conditions induce an almost indefinite amount of fluctuating variability, by which the whole organisation is rendered in some degree of plastic: Charles Darwin. Hence it’s your capacity to react and adjust to new and changing situations that will help you achieve your aims. The innate nature of human adaptability can be seen in the way infants adjust physically, socially and emotionally to their new world from the time they are born.

Constant reinforcements of our adaptability to differing situations make it a habit and frame an acceptable behaviour towards the society. This is something that comes naturally and money cannot buy.

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Red Hat has announced the delivery of the industry’s first integrated Linux-based high performance computing (HPC) platform with the global availability of the Red Hat HPC Solution, an all-in-one stack that customers can leverage to deploy, run and manage their HPC clusters. For deploying and managing HPC clusters, Red Hat, Dell and Platform Computing have also partnered to offer customers a comprehensive cluster computing package, Platform Open Cluster Stack (OCS), to ease cluster deployment, management and operation of the Red Hat HPC Solution.

"With our HPC Solution, we’re enabling our customers to focus on their business goals and competitive advantage without needing to worry about the challenges of deploying and managing their HPC cluster - we’re taking care of this for them," said Scott Crenshaw, vice president, platform business unit, Red Hat. "We’re delivering the first Linux-based solution that allows our customers to deploy a fully integrated high-performance computing environment in minutes rather than in weeks or months. No one else in the industry has yet been able to deliver this type of compelling Linux solution for HPC clusters."

The Red Hat HPC Solution incorporates all of the components necessary to deploy and maintain HPC clusters, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 and Platform Computing’s cluster software framework, Platform Open Cluster Stack 5. The solution also includes device drivers, a simple cluster installer, cluster management tools, a resource and application monitor, interconnect support and Platform Lava, a powerful job scheduler.

"Dell is committed to simplifying high performance computing solutions and sees benefit in the approach that Red Hat is taking with their HPC Solution," said Judy Chavis, director, business development and product management, Dell. "By utilising our existing relationship with Platform Computing, commitment to simplify IT and established practice of utilising standard-based components in complex environments; this solution helps strengthen our position in the HPC market and fits well into our overall strategy."

Source: Electronics For You

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Genius has once again been named as one of Taiwan’s Top 20 Global Brands. This is the fourth consecutive year that Genius has been in the Taiwan Top 20 Global Brands. The award not only recognises Genius for its determination in long-term brand building, but also demonstrates the result of positioning itself in the global market as well as its strong ambition in building their global branding, the company said.

"We are honoured with Genius being one of the Top 20 Taiwan Global Brands for four consecutive years. The award not only recognises the efforts of brand building in the global market, but also demonstrates the result of the leading brand in emerging markets and the successful transformation from the PC peripheral industry to audio and video industry. Genius will keep investing marketing resources and promoting its brand value, to contribute to building the Taiwan brand value," opined Alex Lee, president, KYE Systems Corp., Genius.

"The award reinstates our claim to be the most innovative product company that brings in lot of value to the customers. Winning the award for four consecutive years says volumes about our R&D capability and the quality that we have been maintaining," commented Me Sandeep Ramani, country manager, OBM sales division, KYE Systems.

The survey evaluates all Taiwan global brands based on financial analysis, the role of branding, brand strength and brand net value to generate a list of the top 20 companies with the highest brand value of the year. According to the Interbrand analysis, there were four brands that grew over 15 per cent, including Genius. And Genius increased their rank to 17th from 19th.

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India has imposed a new ban on smoking in public places from October 2, 2008, the 139th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Four years ago too, one such ’ban’ was ’imposed.’ However, it was royally ignored and people continued to puff away in restaurants, clubs, bars, you name it. . .

According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in February this year every 10 deaths in India from 2010 would be smoking-related.

So will the ban be successful this time? Anti-tobacco activists, general public as well as law enforcement officials offer a pelthora of feelings: from sceptical to confident.

As per the law while smoking in places like restaurants, offices, bars, libraries, malls, trains, buses is prohibited, people can smoke at home, in their cars, in parks, and on streets. But can this ban be implemented? The revenue that tobacco generates for the government, the resistance to the ban by smokers, the lack of manpower with local governments to enforce the ban, et cetera, are big hurdles to a total ban.

So what do corporates think about the ban? What are the kind of revenues that the government gets from tobacco? And what is the economics behind this entire story?

Read on to find out. . .

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Do you feel that stress is squeezing the fun out of your rocky bedroom life? If yes, then you can bring back the action, courtesy tips provided by sex educator and relationship expert Dr Yvonne Kristin Fulbright.

According to the expert, many couples become frustrated, even panicky, when their sex lives go to the wayside during stressful times.

When it comes to the factor that governs a person’s sex life, its personality, reports Fox News.

Fulbright says that how an individual’s sex life fares depends on whether he tries to get closer to his partner in tragic times or wants to be totally alone - and if he’s the withdrawing sorts, then it can create misunderstandings in the relationship.

In order to avoid any such misunderstandings and still keep sex life full of fun and passion, Fulbright has suggested that couples need to establish a common ground and mutual understanding during stressful times.

Also, they should make an effort to stay connected during life’s highs and lows, because if they don’t, it could lead to dire consequences.

And in case, sex is not on mind and also the time to be spent in the sack is less, then a person can try the following:

1. Showing appreciation for one another. Giving compliments, for example, is a simple way of expressing affection and letting your partner know that he or she is still being noticed and loved.

2. Talking daily. Chat during dinner or at bedtime. Conversations foster bonding by providing support. It’s also important for couples to check in with each other, showing concern and care for one another’s well-being with simple statements like, "Tell me about your day."

3. Staying positive. Bite your tongue if you’re about to complain. Stressful situations are hard enough to deal with. Don’t add to the situation if you can avoid doing so.

4. Believing in your future together. Stressful times can make lovers doubt their ability to stay together for the long haul. Insecurity issues that arise can only make matters more difficult. Making plans is one way to indicate that you’re feeling secure about your future.

5. Helping each other with responsibilities. Approaching tasks with a team effort provides a greater sense of being in this together.

6. Balancing ’alone time’ and ’together time’. Create a sensual atmosphere, for example, soothing scents, dim lights, delicious food, and relaxing music, to help you unwind.

7. Getting creative in how you’ll be intimate. Redefine your definition of sexual intimacy when needed; try a simple body massage.

Not to forget, lovers should make it a point to give in to one another’s requests for intimacy whenever possible, as it might just prove to be a big stress-buster.

In fact, sex has many physical and emotional benefits, which may help in boosting your desire for more sex and emotional intimacy. Sex can easily take your mind off of your worries.

Also, patience is the key to get your sex life back on track. One should make sure that your relationship, in general, doesn’t get neglected.

Source: Rediff.com

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I feel that these products won’t be too successful at all. However, creativity may create this in future!

1. The water proof towel
2. Solar powered flash light
3. Sumberrine screen door
4. A book on how to read
5. Inflatable dart board
6. A dictionary index
7. Ejector seat in a helicopter
8. Powdered water
9. Pedel powered wheel chair
10. Water proof tea bag

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For those who’s love life has always been constrained to the bedroom, it is time for some outdoor adventure.

Who knows what it will open both your eyes to? Have fun!

1. In the Car
The bigger the vehicle the more scope there is for sexual adventure, but if you don’t drive a Bentley have no fear. You’d be surprised at how well you can get down in the most cramped spaces. Set the satellite navigation for the local lovers lane or secluded parking lot and start steaming up those windows.

2. In the Pool
The water rushes around your genitals making both of you feel different and more exciting. The buoyancy allows great thrusting with minimum effort, and orgasm is reached with ease as the water relaxes and soothes. You can take it slow or reenact one of the steamy scenes in Showgirls. Beware as water may kill the natural lube and make entry a little difficult, but ultimately worth the effort. Aim for a hotel pool after dark rather than the local rec center unless you want a criminal record for your efforts.

3. The Cinema
It’s what art films were made for, so go really late to a sexy film and choose a secluded spot. Knowing that no one can see you back there invites naughtiness. Thing is, can you cope with the shame of being caught in the beam of a torch wielded by an awkward, acne-ridden teenager suffering from a bad case of girlfriend envy?

4. Back of a Cab
Why wait until you get home? You managed to haul your drunken asses into a cab. Slip the driver a crisp note and tell him to take the scenic route as you make full use of the spacious back seat. So long as you can handle the cabbie getting his kicks as you get yours, fun for all parties ensues.

5. On a Train
Watch Risky Business for some foreplay inspiration then book two tickets on the A train to O. Find a secluded train, wait for the carriage to empty then get frisky to the swaying motion. Booking a night in a sleeper car is the less risky option for fulfilling this particular fantasy, but in essence you’re still doing it aboard.

6. In the Woods
Show your appreciation for the beautiful countryside around you and get your kicks al fresco. Bend your girlfriend over a stump for earthy pleasures and let your mating call resonate through the trees. Just watch out for stinging nettles, Army reservists and rambling church groups, all instant passion killers.

7. In a Nightclub
For those times when you’ve met a horny new lover and all that bumping and grinding has left you both a hot mess, the average nightclub has a number of options for near-public sex. The washrooms, provided you can both sneak into one of the booths, are prime spots for a tempting splash of oral sex before going home to really explore each other’s bodies. If you find a booth in a dark corner, a long skirt and an open fly can disguise all kinds of mischief.

8. On a Boat
Provided you’ve got your sea legs, the motion in the ocean is a chilled-out aphrodisiac. A small vessel is preferable to the cross-channel ferry (the bunks are too narrow). Slowly rocking into the sunset and diving off the side to cool off afterwards: pure bliss.

9. A Mile High
Defying the laws of physics to get two people in an airline lavatory truly marks you out as a sexual pro. Positioning is limited but rear entry is possible and promises a high chance of success. Virgin Atlantic has the most spacious toilets and even used to offer a bed for transatlantic sky-high action, but other airlines are not so sympathetic to passion. Make sure to give that proud smile as you walk back to your seat.

10. On the Beach
The crashing of waves, stars twinkling above and hot blood coursing through your veins - what a potion for romance. So drop down and get it on as you sink into the sand. Take a blanket for maximum comfort, and be prepared to be scratching sand out of every crevice for the next few nights.

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Accountant - Someone who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

Auditor - Someone who arrives after the battle and bayonets all the wounded.

Banker - The fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain. (Mark Twain)

Economist - An expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today.

Statistician - Someone who is good with numbers but lacks the personality to be an accountant.

Actuary - Someone who brings a fake bomb on a plane, because that decreases the chances that there will be another bomb on the plane.

Programmer - Someone who solves a problem you didn’t know you had in a way you don’t understand.

Mathematician - A blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn’t there.

Lawyer - A person who writes a 10,000 word document and calls it a “brief.”

Psychologist - A man who watches everyone else when a beautiful girl enters the room.

Schoolteacher - Is some one who likes children. A royal baby sitter.

Consultant - Someone who takes the watch off your wrist and tells you the time.

Diplomat - Someone who can tell you to go some where you don’t like in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

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