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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Swine Flu Prompts Shutdowns

The swine flu continues to spread slowly but surely, with 114 confirmed cases in 12 states on Thursday, up from 91 in 10 states on Wednesday. Many more states have suspected cases, and 11 countries have been affected so far.

But little else seems sure about the disease, including how bad it will turn out to be and even its name, now officially influenza A(H1N1), according to the World Health Organization.

“This is a rapidly evolving situation,” said Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “It is a situation filled with uncertainty.”

Dr. Besser praised a decision by the W.H.O. on Wednesday to raise the global alert level to Phase 5, one step below a pandemic. He said the move would not affect the United States, which is already taking measures against the outbreak, but would alert other countries to get pandemic plans in order. On Thursday, officials of the health organization said Phase 5, which means a pandemic is highly likely, was still the appropriate level.

In this country, hundreds of schools have closed, including Fort Worth’s entire school district of about 80,000 students. (Read more>>)

SSLC harnataka 2009 resuts

The results of the SSLC examination 2009 will be declared on May 2, 2009, reports DHNS from Bangalore. The decision was taken by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB). As many as 40,000 teachers were part of the evaluation process. Nearly 8.58 lakh students had taken the examination this year. With the CET scheduled for May 6 and 7, the Pre-University Board will declare the II PUC results in the second week of May.

Justice Souter retires from supreme court

Justice David H. Souter has indicated that he plans to retire at the end of the term in June, giving President Obama his first appointment to the Supreme Court, three people informed about the decision said Thursday night.

Justice Souter, who was appointed by a Republican president, George Bush, but became one of the most reliable members of the court’s liberal wing, has grown increasingly sour on Washington and intends to return to his home state, New Hampshire, according to the people briefed on his plans. His decision was first reported by National Public Radio.

The departure will open the first seat for a Democratic president to fill in 15 years and could prove a test of Mr. Obama’s plans for reshaping the nation’s judiciary. Confirmation battles for the Supreme Court in recent years have proved to be intensely partisan and divisive moments in Washington, but Mr. Obama has more leeway than his predecessors because his party holds such a strong majority in the Senate. (Read more>>)

Tags: ohn paul stevens, justice souter, supreme court, ruth bader ginsburg, anthony kennedy, souter retire, david souter, souter, supreme court, souter retiring

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Kolkata Knight Riders fake blog

Shah Rukh Khan has spent a lot of money building up PR for Kolkata Knight Riders. He’s hired the right firms, been out there in the public just about all the time; there’ve been parties, press conferences, cheerleaders, music and almost all the right kind of bytes given by the superstar himself.

Yet, he’s a troubled man. That’s not just because KKR got off to bad start or that relations between ex-captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Buchanan continue to be strained. It’s mainly got to do with an unknown blogger - who claims to be a KKR team member - bent on letting the cat out of the bag all the time.

The blogger - calling himself Fake IPL Player - is sure he’ll never be a part of the playing XI. "But, there’s one thing I do very well. Serve drinks. And that’s what I am expecting do in South Africa," he writes.

Evidently, he’s doing much more. The day begins with posts on what KKR did at the breakfast table to what Khan had to say to his team, who listened, who smirked, what the coach did the whole day, how’s Ganguly coping with lost captaincy and of course, what the rest of the teams and their players have been up to.

The blogger uses names coined by him to refer to these people. So the pieces are about "our megalomaniac owner", Badshah d****, Coachie, Skipper (Brendon McCullum), Calypso King (Chris Gayle), Lord Almighty or Lordie (a former skipper) and fast bowlers Kaan Moolo and Little John.

Then there are non-KKR personalities like a commentator, Kishen Kanhaiyya, a star batsman, Prince of Patiala and a pacer, Appam Ch*****, among others.

Fake blog: http://fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 13, 2009

Can flowers bloom in deserts?

you think of deserts as arid areas devoid of any colorful plants or flowers, but did you know that flowers can bloom in deserts? Once in a while, a desert experiences rain, and it is followed by a sea of beautiful flowers in brilliant colors that seem to have sprung up overnight!

These flowers grow from the millions of seeds left lying in the sand since their last blooming. The seeds lie dormant in tough shells that protect them from drought, so that the next time the desert experiences rainfall, they germinate and blossom to fill the desert with color and beauty.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

How did typhoons save Japan?

In 13th century, the great Mongol warrior Kublai Khan sent his mighty fleet to invade Japan. Fortunately for the Japanese, a fierce typhoon developed off the coast, and completely wiped out the invading ships, killing more than 20,000 troops. During the second attempt by Kublai Khan, a vast fleet of 4400 ships and more than 100,000 Chinese and Mongol soldiers were destroyed by another typhoon. These two storms that saved Japan added a new phrase in the Japanese language, 'Kami Kaze', meaning 'divine world'.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Who is laughing Buddha?

The laughing Buddha is an interpretation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the predicted Buddha to succeed Gautama Buddha in the future. He is also called Hotei or Pu-Tai. In China, he is known as the Loving or friendly one. The laughing Buddha has become a deity of contentment and abundance. According to legend, if one rubs his great belly, it brings forth wealth, good luck, and prosperity.