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“Life itself was only futility, vain words, a squabble of cap and bells. ”
| VBA's Positive News |
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Canada: Hate crimes down for second straight year: StatsCan
Hate crimes reported to police declined for the second straight year in 2011, newly released data from Statistics Canada show, with mischief the most common type of hate offence. Police forces across the country dealt with a total of 1,332 reported hate crimes in 2011 -- 3.9 hate crimes per 100,000 people, a rate 5 per cent lower than in 2010, StatsCan said.
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Countering Africa's genetically modified 'green revolution'
Civil society groups are taking on the policies of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which promotes the use of genetically modified (GM) crops and Green Revolution technologies. They argue that GM and Green Revolution practices - those aimed at increasing developing countries' crop yields through specific innovations -- will, in the long run, be detrimental to ecosystems across the continent. Earlier this month, a coalition of almost 60 civil society groups across Africa came out to protest AGRA ahead of the G8 Summit in London.
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Myanmar President disbands controversial border force
Myanmar's President has disbanded a security force accused of rights violations against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State in the west of the country. 'It is hereby announced that Border Area Immigration Control Headquarters has been abolished,' President Thein Sein said in a one-line statement dated 12 July but posted on his website on 14 July.
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'World's oldest calendar' discovered in Scottish field
Archaeologists believe they have discovered the world's oldest lunar 'calendar' in an Aberdeenshire field. Excavations of a field at Crathes Castle found a series of 12 pits which appear to mimic the phases of the moon and track lunar months. A team led by the University of Birmingham suggests the ancient monument was created by hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years ago.
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World Round-Up
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Hyderabad: BJP to cash in on Modi's popularity with Rs 5 ticket for rally
Hyderabad: BJP's Andhra Pradesh unit has decided to cash in on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, literally.
In a first, the party's state unit is collecting a registration fee of Rs 5 per person to attend a public meeting to be addressed by its election campaign committee chief in Hyderabad on August 11.
"Other parties ferry people for their public meetings. The idea of collecting the nominal amount is to encourage seriousness and commitment. We will contribute the collected amount towards Uttarakhand relief," state BJP spokesman N Ramachandra Rao told PTI.
And, keeping in mind Modi's following in the virtual world, the registration can be done online.
The registration process began recently and will continue till August 10. The Lal Bahadur Stadium in central Hyderabad is the venue for the meeting and the target is to mobilise one lakh people in the age group of 18-40, Rao said.
BJP aims to reach out to the large crowd of IT professionals and college students in the tech-savvy Andhra Pradesh capital, he said.
About 40,000 people have already registered and the party hopes that it will go up to at least 70,000, Rao said. Modi's rally was originally scheduled for July 27 but was postponed to August 11 in view of the Gram Panchayat elections.
The BJP poster boy's rally in Hyderabad would be the first for him in south India after being made the chief party's election campaign committee.
BJP, which has four members in the Legislative Assembly, is making a determined bid to increase its strength in the state in the 2014 general and assembly elections. The party is focusing on Telangana region and has aggressively taken up the cause of separate statehood.
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Astrology
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Aries March 21 to April 19
A supportive exchange today among Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune favors emotional connections with family and friends. A general sense of belonging will be emphasized, and you may benefit from any interactions with family members or groups of people who share your passions. Now will also be a great time to plan home renovation or gardening projects to tackle this weekend. Any projects started now should help to reinforce positive feelings about home and family.
Taurus April 20 to May 20
A loved one may need cheering up or a few words of wisdom, and your advice will be right on target today. In general, you will be full of good ideas and enthusiastic about sharing your thoughts with others. People will be eager to listen, but be realistic in your approach. The combination of Mars and Jupiter now in your communication sector tends to be overly optimistic, so consider the realistic application of any new ideas before moving forward.
Gemini May 21 to June 20
 Today will be a day to focus on your resources and the practical endeavors that support your lifestyle. A creative idea may manifest that will allow your career to surge forward in new directions. Perhaps you have realized lately where improvements can be made to give you more financial security. Stay focused on any new goals. Now will be a great time to reach out to colleagues or do some networking to enlist support in taking your career on a different path.
Cancer June 21 to July 22
Today you will feel optimistic in general and will generate momentum toward new projects. You may have recently broken ties with people or situations that were not serving your needs, and now will be the time to redirect energies and begin to establish a new course. Mars is the planet of action, and its pairing with Jupiter currently in your sector of new beginnings will signal much energy and optimism to put toward a new course that will better define you as an individual.
Leo July 23 to Aug. 22
 Family history and traditions could be in focus today, and a connection between Moon and Saturn suggests that strong emotions could arise. Know that addressing certain aspects of the past may be difficult, but there will be enormous growth potential available during this period if you take the time to face difficult emotions that may have lingered for a long time. Work done now can leave you in a better position to relate to family, friends, and neighbors.
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TAM mess: Top advertisers give TV networks midnight deadline
Some of the country's top advertisers, including Dabur, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Marico, Procter & Gamble, L’Óreal, Godrej Consumer and Coca-Cola, will pull out their ads from eight large television groups beginning Tuesday. The move, the full impact of which will be visible in two days from the date of cancellation, follows nearly a month-long stand-off between the two sides over frequency of TV ratings to be given by service provider TAM Media Research to its subscribers.
The eight broadcasters are: STAR India, Multi Screen Media (MSM), Discovery, NDTV, Network18, Viacom 18, BAG and the ZEE Network. Another 20 to 22 advertisers from auto, telecom and consumer electronics are expected to follow suit this Thursday (July 18) in protest against the demand for monthly ratings by these broadcasters.
A statement from the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the apex body of ad and media agencies in the country, which has been firmly backing the advertisers, said: "Cancellation of TV releases by many advertisers on eight network groups that have insisted on unilateral changes is a natural outcome. More clients are following.” A Dabur India spokesperson confirmed his company was pulling out ads from tomorrow.
Weekly ratings has been the standard practice so far by TAM in the Rs 35,000-crore television industry. Since last week, the service provider no more provides weekly viewership data to the above-mentioned broadcasters, switching instead to monthly ratings. TAM is believed to have done so following pressure from broadcasters who stopped subscribing to its data. The monthly viewership ratings was said to be a compromise formula arrived at between the protesting broadcasters and TAM recently.
The move, however, raised the hackles of advertisers, with eight or nine of them, who are members of the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), sending letters to the broadcasters asking them to revert to the old practice of weekly ratings.
“What we have asked for is that we have had a system in India which has been in practice for the past 14 years. If at all we are making any change, it should not be done unilaterally, but in discussion with all stakeholders in the industry. Until we can be sure of the measurement system, we would like to continue with the old system of weekly ratings,” ISA media chairman Hemant Bakshi, who is executive director, home and personal care at HUL, the country's largest advertiser.
HUL, along with consumer goods peers Procter & Gamble, Dabur, Marico and Godrej Consumer, shot off letters on Friday (July 12). But the broadcasters have not blinked yet. Barring Viacom 18 and NDTV, whose executives confirmed off-the-record of having received the first set of notices on Friday, the other broadcasters remained unavailable for comment.
The AAAI and advertisers are believed to be in discussion with them on the issue. If there is no resolution, an ad blackout beginning tomorrow is inevitable. Interestingly, the Indian Broadcasting Federation, the apex body of broadcasters in the country, has washed its hands off the affair, saying it exists between individual advertisers and broadcasters.
TAM has reiterated all along that it has no comments to offer on the matter.
While broadcasters have frequently questioned the methodology used by TAM to arrive at weekly ratings, the matter reached a head last year when NDTV dragged Nielsen and Kantar, partners in the joint venture that runs TAM, besides others, to court for allegedly rigging TV ratings.
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How to use meditation for pain relief?
With its origins in ancient religious and spiritual traditions, meditation is a widely used mind-body practice used even today, to complement medical procedures and treatments.
Although, used mostly for relaxation and stress reduction, meditation-based therapy is increasingly offered in medical centers and clinics today to manage pain and reduce anxiety prior to surgeries. Surprised? Recent studies have shown that frequent practice of meditation can lead to significant control of pain. Read on to know how meditation alters your pain perception and quells pain even better than some of the most powerful drugs.
Meditation and common forms
The term meditation refers to a set of techniques wherein a person minimizes the activity of the mind without altering the level of alertness. Broadly, the technique has been categorized under five basic categories:
Mantra meditation
This comprises the Transcendental Meditation techniques, Clinically Standardized Meditation and Relaxation Response. In this process, by repeatedly using a sound or phrase, a person focuses to achieve a state of perfect consciousness.
Mindfulness meditation
This form of meditation involves focusing on what you experience while performing the technique like the very flow of your breath.
Yoga
Here, a person attempts to achieve a state of calmness by combining bodily postures with controlled breathing. Tai-Chi - A form of Chinese martial arts, the technique is performed using self-paced series of movements in a slow-graceful manner along with deep breathing. Qi gong - This involves a combination of meditation, breathing exercise, relaxation and physical movements.
Meditation and pain management: In the past, meditation has been explored extensively for its effects on stress reduction and other similar clinical functions. However, researchers have now identified another significant health benefit of the technique that suggests that it is actually possible to overcome debilitating pain with the help of meditation. What's more, some of these studies have also suggested that the pain-relieving effects of meditation might be even more effective than morphine.
Back in April, 2011, a study by the researchers at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center indicated that a person can attain at least 40 per ent decrease in pain intensity and 57 per cent in pain unpleasantness merely by practicing these techniques regularly. This decrease in pain was found to be much higher than with morphine or other pain-relieving drugs. With the help of magnetic resonance imaging, the brain activity of study participants after meditation demonstrated how the technique increased the activity of certain areas which are responsible for pain perception.
Despite such findings, scientists were unable to ascertain the actual mechanism of this phenomenon until now. According to a recent research published at the Brain Research Bulletin, investigators from Harvard, MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified a possible answer. They suggested that the explanation probably lies in alpha waves manipulation in the brain.
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Virgo Aug. 23 to Sept. 22
Saturn in your communication sector could signal a serious conversation that needs to take place. If something has been troubling you for a while now, today will be the day to clear the air. Your thinking will be especially focused today, which will also favor any type of strategic planning. Your ambitions will be heightened, and you could be full of ideas for implementing plans to improve various aspects of your career or lend support to others regarding theirs.
Libra Sept. 23 to Oct. 22
A harmonious interplay among Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune today puts the spotlight on your career or any projects that you undertake that are meaningful to you. An encounter with a friend or colleague today could lead you to consider new ways to define yourself creatively. You will need to feel that your work is valuable. You already know what you need to do to make improvements in your work and you can take the initial steps today.
Scorpio Oct. 23 to Nov. 21
 Mars will join Jupiter in your travel sector, so now will be a great time to plan a summer vacation. If you are planning to stay closer to home, today you could find some books or films that can take you mentally to exotic locales. This will be a great time to step outside of your comfort zone and explore different cultures and ideas. Ethnic restaurants and street festivals are also potential sources of cultural stimulation to add richness to your daily life.
Sagittarius Nov. 22 to Dec. 21
Contact with a friend or family member today could trigger emotions that have been buried for a long time. The acknowledgement of these feelings alone can bring affirmation that you are correct in how you feel about the situation. You may have recently let go of an idea or situation in your life that was creating difficulty, and today you could particularly appreciate the freedom that action brought. You will feel the positive energy of a fresh start today.
Capricorn Dec. 22 to Jan. 19
 With Mars joining Jupiter in your relationship sector, today you could enjoy meaningful connections with close friends and loved ones and may find ways to improve your relationships with them. If unattached, you could meet someone special under this planetary influence. In general, you will be unusually interested in meeting people and learning about them. They, in turn, will pick up on your curiosity. Any social connections you make today will seem especially interesting and worthwhile.
Aquarius Jan. 20 to Feb. 18
 Financial matters, large and small, that have been troubling you lately could finally be cleared up today as Mars, the planet of action, supports Neptune in your financial sector. If you have been planning to make changes in your work life or daily schedule, today will be the time to implement these changes. A conversation with a boss or mentor could lead to the new direction you have been seeking. Changes made now could mean greater financial security in the future.
Pisces Feb. 19 to March 20
Your general philosophy regarding how you want to live your life may have undergone changes recently. You may have made decisions about the direction of your life and as a result, you could feel confusion about who you are, and which people and activities are important to you now. With support from Mars today, you should begin to feel more certain about the path you have chosen and more confident that it will lead to fuller expression of your unique talents.
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Moral Story
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SMS
“Life has a value only when it has something valuable as its object.”
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
"True love doesn't mean being inseparable; it means being separated and nothing changes."
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.”
A Funny husband was returning home after cremating his wife.
He sees heavy lightning and thunderstorm in the sky.
Funny Husband thinks: She must have reached there.
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Anna University to offer ME in power engineering & management
CHENNAI: Anna University is set to offer an ME course in power engineering and management from this academic year. The university called for applications for the ME course on July 11.
The self-supporting programme will be conducted under the faculty of electrical engineering at the College of Engineering in Guindy, under the auspices of the Anna University-Ryerson University Urban Energy Centre.
The aim of the course is to understand the future energy demand and address the R&D initiatives needed to tackle the demand through energy management.
"Researchers say most people in villages will move to cities in the next 10 years. With energy already in demand in Indian cities we have to focus on research in energy management and how to generate renewable energy," said S Chandramohan, director in charge of the centre.
The university will allow an intake of 20 students in the course, and the eligibility will be a BE degree. The course would be made available for students through the single window counselling system, said university vice-chancellor M Rajaram.
Officials are considering a study abroad component for the course, based on their collaboration with Ryerson University in Canada which has funded Rs 2 crore for exchange programme internships in the field.
All the 20 students might be given a Rs2.5-lakh scholarship in the third semester to go abroad and register for courses, credits of which would be added to their ME transcripts, Chandramohan said. The proposal is pending approval by the syndicate.
The last date for issue of the application forms is July 20, and the last date for submission of the forms is July 22. Details are available on Anna University's website - www.annauniv.edu.
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MI captaincy helped me become more responsible: Rohit Sharma
MUMBAI: Taking guard in the unusual role of an opener, Rohit Sharma stroked 177 runs in five games@35.40 in England and 217 runs @54.25 in the West Indies to emerge as a vital component of Team India. Excerpts from an interview...
When the team left for the Champions Trophy, all talk in the country was about the spot-fixing controversy. Did that affect the team?
The controversy was completely off our mind when we left India. We just wanted to do well. We had a new, huge challenge in front of us. We had a bunch of young players, and most of them hadn't even played in England. It wasn't easy. We decided to work hard, and not bother about winning or losing. That was our mindset. It paid off and we didn't lose a single game, not even in the warm-ups. Even at practice, we were giving 100 per cent.
These victories came on the back of the IPL. Does this event help our players prepare better?
Definitely. It has improved what I would call our 'situation awareness.' In the IPL, you are often single-handedly responsible for the fortunes of your team. It makes you more responsible as a player. In my case, the experience of having captained the Mumbai Indians helped me become even more responsible. That reflected in my game. My strike rate in the Windies was 61.64, which shows that I sacrificed my natural game.
How did the opening role happen?
The offer to open the innings was thrown to me during the home ODI series against England. It came as a surprise but I had self-belief. I stroked 83 at Mohali and there has been no looking back. Somewhere, I knew that in the longer run, I may have to open for India and I was well-prepared. It's obviously different than batting in the middle overs. I have to ensure a good start. Batting against the new ball is a different ball-game. There is lateral movement and I have to ensure we keep wickets intact. On both the tours, we didn't mind being 20 for no loss in 10 overs, because we knew could cover up the run rate in a couple of overs. The idea was to see off the new ball.
Has opening ensured more discipline in your strokeplay?
Yes, I was leaving the ball much more, playing straighter. I had to avoid driving the ball too. Though having the cut and the pull in my armoury has helped me immensely because in England, all the fast bowlers were bowling a shorter length as the wickets had something for them. I was looking to stay on the wicket longer because it is said that England is the best place in the world to bat once you are 'set' in the middle. I knew I could play my big shots then.
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Ramaiya Vastavaiya
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Ramaiya Vastavaiya
Movie Name : Ramaiya Vastavaiya
Release Date : July 19, 2013
Genre : Romance film
Producer : Kumar Taurani
Director : Prabhu Deva
Music Director : Sachin-Jigar
Cast : Girish Kumar,Shruti Haasan
Synopsis:
The story starts in a jail, where prisoner Muthupandi (Prabhu) is telling his life story to a police officer (Vijayakumar). Muthupandi is a self -made, Hard working man, who dotes on his only sister Kavitha (Trisha Krishnan). Their mother died when Kavitha was little and it was Muthupandi who brought her up with a lot of love and care. Kavitha’s best friend Lalitha (Richa Pallod) is getting married; 15 days before her marriage she takes Kavitha to her house. This is the first time Kavitha has been away from her brother. At first she refused because she doesn't want be away from her brother. However, her brother advised her that its only 15 days and he'll be fine; he wont be alone because he has two servants to accompany him. After a lot of persuasion from her brother and her best friend she agrees to the visit. Lalitha's cousin Santhosh (Jayam Ravi), the happy-go-lucky son of multi-millionaires Krishnan (Bhagyaraj) and Janaki (Geetha), comes to India with his mother for Lalitha's marriage. Santhosh is the opposite of Kavitha in terms of upbringing and status. The first time they met does not leave a good impression for both. As fate would have it, the two fall in love. Santhosh’s sophisticated mother refuses their relation and cares for socio-economic status over her son's happiness. Santhosh's mother has already agreed to marry her son to her older brother's daughter, Shalini. Santhosh's mother had never broke a promise until then. Shalini gets suspicious about Kavitha and Santhosh. When she sees Santhosh chasing Kavitha, she can tell there is something going on between them. Angrily, she went up to Kavitha's room and sees a beautiful horse and, next to it, a note saying do not touch.
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Most lipsticks contain fish scales.
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" INSPIRING STORY "
Five More Minutes
While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. “That’s my son over there,” she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide.
“He’s a fine looking boy” the man said. “That’s my daughter on the bike in the white dress.”
Then, looking at his watch, he called to his daughter. “What do you say we go, Melissa?” Melissa pleaded, “Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes.”
The man nodded and Melissa continued to ride her bike to her heart’s content. Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his daughter. “Time to go now?”
Again Melissa pleaded, “Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes.” The man smiled and said, “OK.” “My, you certainly are a patient father,” the woman responded.
The man smiled and then said, “Her older brother Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year while he was riding his bike near here. I never spent much time with Tommy and now I’d give anything for just five more minutes with him.
I’ve vowed not to make the same mistake with Melissa. She thinks she has five more minutes to ride her bike. The truth is, I get Five more minutes to watch her play.”
Moral: Life is all about making priorities, and family is one and only priority on top of all other, so spend all time you can with loved ones.
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“Never tell your problems to anyone...20% don't care and the other 80% are glad you have them.”
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